𝒳

Bianca's home stood quiet in the late night, so quiet that even the gentle flow of canal water could be heard. The city had settled down hours ago. Its residents had gone to sleep not long after.

Yet, through it all, there were at least a few souls still going bump in the night.

Ash, laid on the couch in Bianca's living room, stared up at the ceiling. His eyes were wide and attentive, catching each and every detail the roof had to offer. He'd just about memorized the pattern in the plaster, when a call broke the quiet.

"Pikapi? Pikachu… ka?" It was Pikachu, lying there at his side. Ash chuckled.

"Heh, yeah. Still awake," he said, pulling the thin covers up higher and trying to get comfortable. "I'm thinking about what Serena said."

Have you had any luck, finding what you've been looking for?

Her words had been playing in his mind, on and on, and still he had no answer.

"These last few days have been great, but… I don't know. It doesn't feel like we've been getting anywhere."

"Pika, kachu. Ka pikachu."

"Yeah, it feels more like we've been on vacation than anything." Looking down, Ash gained a small smile, as he found his partner tucking into the crook of his arm and chest.

"Pi—" Pikachu extended the word with a yawn. "—Kapi, Pikachu-kapi. Pi…"

"Yeah, I guess the break has been pretty nice." Silence again, the kind that left Ash to his thoughts. He'd been in his thoughts for a while now. "Graaah, okay. Starting tomorrow, we're really gonna start looking, Pikachu. Really start looking for what we're missing."

Ash threw his arms into the air, putting on just enough of a voice to express his assuredness without waking his hosts.

Despite his enthusiasm, despite his energy, Ash couldn't muster a fiery response from Pikachu. His partner instead simply snickered and nuzzled into Ash's side.

Letting his arms fall back down, Ash went quiet again. Silence. Back to his thoughts once more.

Perhaps he should stop trying to quiet them.

"Do you remember… what Yvonne said? About going too fast?" His question hung in the air for a moment. "Do you think…"

"Pika, pikachu."

Ash broke into a laugh.

"Right, yeah. You were asleep for that one." With his concentration fully broken, Ash settled back down to rest. "Alright, g'night, buddy."

"Kachu-pi, pikapi."

Finally, the living room fell quiet once more. There was not a sound beyond the flows of the distant canals, and not a soul left awake— Except.

Around the corner from where Ash lay, in the hallway leading to the bedrooms, the floor creaked with someone's steps.

Bianca returned to her room, with much on her mind.

𝒵

Early morning came and went, passing Bianca by as she slept. She was never a morning person, not before university and especially not after 2 semesters of 7:30 AM classes. No, the earliest she liked to get up was a solid 11 AM. Not too early, nor too late that she'd beat herself up for 'getting up at noon'.

It was currently 10 AM and she was awake.

Lorenzo had left for work hours ago, and Latias was out doing her daily patrols, wanting to get them done before the day had started. That just left Bianca, lazily sipping her breakfast and keeping her bleary eyes open.

Just her, and her guests.

Her mind was stuffed, slogged with thoughts aimed at the trainer sitting only a few meters away. Ash was getting ready to go, talking to his Pikachu about something or another. Whenever she caught a word of it, her mind went wild with thoughts.

There wasn't even anything specific to the way she was feeling— it was not anger, nor distaste, nor bitterness. Instead, it was a whole mound of mixed thoughts, emotions she couldn't even begin to parse or address. So, she wouldn't, for now. She was still having breakfast after all.

With one hand holding her morning espresso, Bianca focused on the object in front of her: Her latest piece, a charcoal-line sketch on parchment paper. A professor she was apprenticing under had directed her to create a new portfolio over the break, with mediums she hadn't worked in before. Hopefully this would be enough to—

A whistle broke her concentration.

"Damn, that looks great!"

"Ash?" Bianca turned in her seat, surprised to find the boy in question at her side, dressed and ready to go. Pikachu was sitting on his shoulder like it was a throne.

"Who else! Gotta say, you do good work."

His gaze was pointing towards her art, Bianca quickly realized. Was he trying to strike up a conversation with her? For a moment, her instincts recoiled at the thought, before she pushed them down. Try as she might, Bianca couldn't find a reason to butt heads with the boy right now. He was ostensibly her friend. She should act like it.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks. I've been working on it the last few days. First time playing around with charcoal." She flicked her eyes back to the drawing itself, focusing on the scene inside. It was a sketch of light peeking through the window of her kitchen— Gentle sunbeams captured in soft black lines. "I'm hoping it'll impress my professor."

"Oh? Like a Pokémon Professor?" As soon as the words left Ash's mouth, Pikachu sighed, nearly falling off Ash's shoulder when he realized his partner's mistake. Bianca snorted.

"No, like a university professor. I've been going to college for like two years." On that word, Bianca turned in her seat, prompting Ash to follow.

"No way! That's so sick!" On his word, he took the seat next to her, leaning against the counter to keep an eye on her art. "I didn't even know they had a college on the island."

"They don't. I go to a school in Goldenrod," Bianca clarified, turning back to him after a moment. "I'm actually only here because I'm on break."

"Pika?"

"Oh yeah, if you're on break, why are you still working on stuff?"

"I'm in college. A break just means I have more time to worry about things." Punctuating her point, Bianca took a long, hard sip of her espresso, downing the drink in one motion. "I have to finish this before I get back. If it impresses my professor enough, then I can get my work placed in my university's public gallery."

With a wistful sigh, Bianca leaned back.

"And if I can do that…"

Bianca let the idea hang as she thought over her next few words. Yet, it seemed Ash was one step ahead of her.

"If you can do that, you'll be one step closer to becoming an art master!"

"A, what?" Blinking, Bianca stared at Ash, hoping to get some indication of what he meant from either him or his partner. No dice, Pikachu seemed to say, shrugging his shoulders.

"An art master! Like how I wanna become a Pokémon Master!" Ash's clarification did little to help. She barely knew what a Pokémon Master meant either. Thankfully, Ash seemed to be in an explaining mood. "You wanna learn all the different ways to draw and sculpt and paint and be one of the very best! That's your dream!"

"I guess that's one way to put it." Bianca gave Ash's words some thought, his sudden manic energy managing to bring her pause. Staring at the ceiling, she nodded her head. "But, you're right, I think. I wanna become a master artist someday. So I guess that is my dream."

"And I know you will be— You're a great artist already, and you're gonna get even better!"

"Pipika, pikachu, chu!" Where before Pikachu had let his partner speak his piece, now he was matching him, tit-for-tat. Ash had a tendency of whipping up the people around him, and now was no exception.

Yet, where Pikachu was fired up and loudly supportive, Bianca was anything but. Overwhelmed by Ash's sudden upswell of support, all she could do was snort and crack a joke.

"Jeeze, I'm surprised you care that much about art." It was meant to be a disarming crack, something to cut through the saccharine just a little. Instead, it seemed to turn the whole conversation on its head.

Ash's expression turned, becoming surprisingly sheepish. Without a word, he began to dig through his jacket pocket, before he pulled out a surprising sight for Bianca— The drawing he'd shown her the other night.

The gift from Latias.

"I'm, not really. Art has never been my thing." It was said more like a confession. "But a dream? I understand dreams better than anything! I'll always support my friend's dreams, Bianca. And you're my friend!"

Faced with Ash's passionate declaration, Bianca was shocked silent. All those thoughts from before, those tangled, difficult thoughts that had been troubling her since last night— They were gone in an instant, replaced now by just one thing: A realization.

What was she worried about?

Bianca broke into a laugh, a spirited, genuine laugh. It made her tilt her head back, nearly knocking her off her seat. That's how far her laughter went.

After a few solid moments, Ash's lively face furrowed.

"Piiiiika!"

"Yeah, why're you laughing? We say something funny to you!" he asked, visibly annoyed as Bianca finally began to recover. Wiping a tear from her eye, she sat forward.

"I'm sorry—! It's just, jeeze." Bianca let out a relieved sigh, before she looked up at Ash. "I've been so on edge these last few days, wondering what's the real reason you've come back, when I should've just realized— You're that simple!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to—!"

"You really, honestly are back, because you wanted to see us again, to see Latias again." Her words seemed to disarm Ash's temper, her meaning finally coming through. "And here I was, worrying that you were going to come and, take her, or something. As if you could ever!"

Finally beginning to see the humor in what Bianca was describing, Ash lightened up, a chuckle working its way across his lips. Soon, the two were caught in the fit of it.

"You're kidding me. Have you really been thinking about that since you bailed me outta jail!" he said, leaning up against the counter while the laughing began to take him too.

"Yes! Days of worrying about something so stupid!" With that, she broke into full-throated laughter once more, Ash and Pikachu joining along with her. Just like that, all the tension that sat in the room, that sat in Bianca's mind, was whisked away. She felt the last of the weight on her shoulders finally slip away with the giggle leaving her lips.

A peaceful moment passed, as her head was finally quiet.

And then a thought clicked.

"Ash, what did you get arrested for again?"

𝒵

A crowd had formed.

Worried locals stood by, huddled together into a loose mob that stared on and spoke in hushed whispers. Before them sat the Azalean Poké Ball Workshop, a modest business in the heart of Alto Mare. It was a familiar fixture of the local neighborhood and the only maker of Poké balls in the whole city.

Its front door had been forced open.

Glass and wood chips littered the sidewalk by the entrance, while police tape cordoned the business off from any curious souls. In the center of it all was a single, hapless Officer Jenny, trying her best to politely ask the onlookers to leave. She had little luck.

The night before, an attempted robbery had taken place. A group of men were caught forcing their way through the front door. By pure chance alone, a diligent passerby managed to alert the police in time. In the end though, the perpetrators got away.

"I should've noticed something, should've felt something." All those thoughts and more were racing through Latias's mind, as she gazed down from her perch— The roof of the building opposite the workshop. It was her perfect steak-out spot. "Graaaa, I've been too distracted. I didn't even notice this happening."

Latias buried her face into her hands, hiding from sight as she put her back to the waist-high wall at the roof's edge. Moments later, though, she felt a comforting touch pull her from her thoughts.

"It's not your fault, Latias. You very well can't be expected to keep an eye on the whole city." It was Bianca. Always a voice that pleaded with Latias to take it easier, to relax more. Latias so desperately wanted to listen to her, to be kinder with herself. Yet, look where that brought her.

She couldn't be expected to keep an eye on the whole city? Why?

Latios did.

Before Latias could speak up, another voice entered the fray.

"Do you guys have any idea who'd be trying to do this?" Ash. He stood opposite Bianca, looking down at the workshop without a hint of hesitation to him, even as the crowd below could easily spot him. Pikachu, as always, was positioned at his side, an annoyed tick to his gaze aimed right at their target.

Shaking her head, Bianca answered.

"Crime really isn't a thing in Alto Mare. Everyone's needs are usually met," she said, looking down at the scene again. This crowd probably hadn't heard of a robbery happening in years. It was practically a spectacle to them.

Latias floated back up, joining the three. She wouldn't leave this to them— This was her responsibility.

"They're not from Alto Mare. I can tell," she claimed, surprising Ash and Pikachu with her assuredness. "The people who did this, they don't feel like the locals do. They left behind an energy that feels like… Well more like you, Ash."

"Jeeze, thanks." Ash snorted, putting some extra red into Latias's cheeks as she realized her mistake.

"I-I mean, it's an energy that isn't as familiar! One I'm not used to feeling," she clarified, stumbling over herself. "I-if they were locals, I would recognize it better."

Her sudden nervousness seemed to put a snicker in Ash's voice. Latias was thankful he found her stumbling amusing, over anything else.

Looking back down at the crime scene, Latias spotted the lone Officer Jenny on duty, one of the few in the whole city. She was haggardly splitting her attention between directing the crowd, collecting glass shards, and arguing with the workshop's owner. They wanted to just install a new door and start the work day, it seemed.

All of that and more put a realization into Latias's mind, one she repeated aloud a moment later.

"There's no way she can keep an eye on just this building. If they come back…" Latias shook her head, tried shaking off her hesitation. "If they come back, that means—"

Without a word, Bianca took her hand.

"You won't have to show yourself, Latias. You don't even have to go in there," she assured, bringing some calm to Latias's nerves. "We can keep watch up here, call Officer Jenny when they come back, if they come back."

The idea was tempting, very tempting. The less Latias exposed herself, the less attention she attracted to the city, to herself. It seemed almost perfect.

Almost.

"You said it was a bunch of people who showed up last night, yeah?" It was Ash, still looking straight ahead, still unflinching. Where he got the confidence, Latias didn't know. With a nod, she answered Ash's question. "One Officer Jenny won't be able to handle that many bad guys by herself."

Stepping forward, Bianca put herself between Ash and Latias.

"What exactly do you expect her to do?" she pressed, as Ash turned away from the ledge. "Latias can't go in there alone."

Welcoming Pikachu back onto his shoulder, Ash grinned, looking right past Bianca to Latias herself.

"She won't have to."