Finally, Florian does something useful.

The following day, Juliana told her friends it was her birthday.

"You mean today?" Florian complained, and she nodded. "I would've brought a present! How old are you?"

"Fourteen." She paused to think. "Yeah, fourteen."

"We have to celebrate," Nemona announced, taking Juliana by the hand and leading her back to Artazon. "Let's ask Brassius if we can use his stadium."

"Sorry, Nemona," said Juliana, removing her hand from her friend's grip. "I'm going home to hang out with my mom. And I don't want to be in the middle of a battle when Dad calls, and Henry -"

"Henry?"

"My stepbrother. I can't believe I never mentioned him before, he's my best friend in all of Galar."

He was her only friend in all of Galar, but it didn't change that they were close. And of her Paldean friends, Nemona was disappointed by the lack of battling and Florian was still irritated.

"You don't have to tell me your birthdays until they happen," Juliana said, as if that was the reason they were upset, and she called a taxi to take her back home to Cabo Poco.

Florian got a call from Arven shortly after Juliana had left. The second Titan had been found, if the sudden rain of boulders between Cortondo and Cascaraffa were anything to go by.

Florian didn't want his town crushed by a Titan, and he did promise Arven that he'd take the first round. So that was how he found himself dodging falling boulders, ducking out of the way and praying that he wouldn't die.

"I want a Cyclizar," he grumbled as he moved closer to the rock that seemed to stop the boulders. "Or something rideable, at least. Then maybe I can..."

He stopped when he saw movement. A Mudbray, running away from the boulders.

He had a few Pokeballs left over from catching Edelgard. He ran after the Mudbray, who looked his way only briefly before continuing his own run. Florian threw the ball.

Mudbray didn't even put up a fight. It was going to be furious when Florian made it up the mountain.

It was difficult, but not impossible. The boulders seemed to have a set path, rolling down a hill and bouncing off bigger rocks, then rolling away from Cortondo and off a cliff. Still, he wasn't going to take a chance that one wouldn't deviate from the path and crush him, so he was praying the entire time he climbed up.

He found the culprit immediately. Twice the size of the Klawf he'd named Clawsette, the beast was a bird. The bird that had inspired the delivery stork myth. A Bombirdier.

Bombirdier noticed Florian, too. It tilted its head in confusion, but the rock dropping stopped. Florian went over which of his Pokémon would be best.

"Rotom," he said, and the phone flew from his pocket. "Information on the Bombirdier."

"Flying/Dark-type," was the immediate response. "Bigger than most, guarding Herba Mystica. Female."

"That'll work," said Florian, before sending out his Kirlia. He may not have had anything that was good against Flying-types, but he had a Fairy-type to deal with the Dark.

As the battle began, Arven looked up at the giant bird. Bombirdier didn't even seem to notice him.

As much as Arven didn't like to think about his parents, he nearly jumped when his intrusive thought was not about his childhood friend, or his new friend, but was instead I wonder if Turo ever hallucinated something like this.

Meanwhile, in Levincia, a short, balding psychiatrist was staring at a tall, bearded patient. The man stared back, unflinching.

"I was warned about this," the unfortunately new-to-town psychiatrist began, breaking eye contact to facepalm. "Professor Turo, when is it appropriate to tie up your roommate and lock him in a closet overnight?"

"The full moon." Turo sounded offended at the implication that it happened more than once a month. "The man thinks he's a werewolf. He gets bitey." He made claws with his hands and bit the air to emphasize the point.

"If I'm reading your file correctly, you've gotten 'bitey' yourself."

"Only in retaliation!" Turo insisted. He rolled up his left sleeve, where pink marks made the clear outline of human teeth. "I used the bedsheets as ropes this time."

"And you weren't aware that people were coming to take him to his 'transformation room' as you did it?"

"They weren't coming fast enough! He could 'feel the change,' and I could feel the need for a new roommate. He was in there for like an hour, I could've eaten all his coco puffs and taken a bath if I wanted to."

"This was just so you could steal his coco puffs?"

Turo laughed, and for once he noticed the look on the shorter man's face. "What I did to my roommate has nothing to do with what's funny," he promised. "Or his coco puffs. I'm just laughing because a mental hospital has a cereal with the slogan 'Cuckoo for coco puffs.' That's hilarious."

The psychiatrist double-facepalmed. His Hypno assistant patted him on the shoulder to reassure him, and the psychiatrist wrote something on his clipboard.

Professor Turo's evaluation shows his behavior is consistent with his previous psychiatrist's notes. Not violent unless cornered, but lacking self-restraint and foresight. I suggest a change of roommate and less coffee.

"I believe a change of subject is in order," said the psychiatrist once Turo stopped laughing. "Tell me about your ex-wife."

Turo made an irritated sound. "It all started," he began, "with a book and a Jigglypuff with a ponytail."

The psychiatrist's face fell at the mention of the dinosaur. He'd been warned about this, too. He quickly added Remains convinced the Zero Book is real to his notes.

"What's going on?" Arven asked once he caught up with Florian.

"Short version?" Florian gestured to the giant bird. "Roxanne decided to drop boulders, I somehow managed to get up here, and then she took out Kirlia so I'm stuck using Edelgard." He paused. "Also, I named her."

The Titan - Roxanne, apparently - screamed at Arven as she recognized an intruder entering her battle zone, and broke a hole in the mountain to access her magic herbs.

"Round 2," Florian said to himself, before pushing Arven forward. "That's on you, buddy."

"We'll do it together," Arven insisted, and sent out a Nacli. "Use Rock Throw!"

Sofia had been a bit disappointed when Juliana told her that she hadn't told her friends about her birthday, but Juliana's father had called before she could voice it. Now, the house was packed with Juliana's Pokémon as they all attempted to eat cake, much to the annoyance of Sofia's Skwovet.

The Pokémon scattered when the doorbell rang. Juliana herself let out a startled yelp and fell off her chair. Unaware, Nemona let herself in.

"Hey, Juliana. Hey, Juliana's mom."

"Hello, Nemona," Sofia and Juliana said together.

Then Juliana spoke alone. "Do you want some cake? We got a big one, it shouldn't be hard to find -"

"Cake sounds nice," Nemona admitted, "but I came to bring you a last-minute birthday present." She handed her an unwrapped 6-pack of acrylic paint with a Christmas bow haphazardly stuck on it. "It took me a while to remember what you liked, other than battle. We don't seem to do much else together, do we?"

"Not really," Juliana agreed.

"So maybe, sometime, you and me and Florian could...I dunno, go get ice cream? Maybe us girls could go shopping, for battle supplies and other things?" She sighed. "Friendship is hard to figure out."

"Tell me about it." Juliana handed Nemona a piece of cake. "Maybe we could invite Penny so people don't think our shopping trip is a date."

"Penny?" Nemona tilted her head in confusion, then she remembered. "Oh, that Galarian kid with the Eevee bag. Yeah, she can come. She looks like she could use some friends."

"Good. Let's start by having lunch together at school next time - Florian and Arven, too. The four of us will all gang up on Penny together!" She grinned. "There will be no resisting the power of friendship!"

Arven had made only two sandwiches this time. Florian didn't like bitter things, so he put it in his bag with a lie saying that he'd eat it later instead of telling him that he'd take it to Koraidon.

"Hey, Arven?" Florian called as Arven stared at his sandwich, waiting to be alone. "What made you decide to go fighting Titans?"

Arven was quiet for a moment. "If I tell you," he said slowly, "you can't tell anyone. Not Clavell, not the student council girl, not even Juliana."

Florian nodded. Arven tossed out a Pokeball.

The Mabosstiff that emerged was barely breathing. It wasn't moving. And it answered several questions Florian never got around to asking.

"When you asked why I skipped class that day," Arven said, "I was taking care of Mabosstiff, not my dad. He's been with me for years, unlike that deadbeat...eh, loon. And he got hurt a while back."

"And you didn't go to a Pokémon Center?"

"It didn't work. Nothing did." He gave a piece of sandwich to the dog, and smiled a little as Mabosstiff chewed. "Then I found that book in my mom's lab."

"I thought we weren't allowed to talk about your mom."

"It was her copy of the book that brought her and my dad together." He held out a book with scarlet covers and violet letters. "The Zero Book had an entry on Herba Mystica. It said that eating all five can cure any problem you have."

"So you're feeding them to Mabosstiff."

"Wouldn't you?"

Mabosstiff made a quiet groaning noise, and slowly opened his eyes.

Arven immediately forgot the conversation, but Florian didn't mind.

He didn't even mind fighting Titans anymore. That must have been a sign of true friendship.

TEAMS:

Juliana: Webby (Quaxwell, female) Staravia (female) Tarountula (male) Fletchinder (female) Tinkatink (female) Hoppip (male)

Juliana's reserves: Fidough (female) Pawmi (male) Igglybuff (female) Minecraft (Nacli, male) Spoink (female) Azurill (female) Lechonk (male)

Florian: Lloyd (Floragato, male) Kirlia (female) Edelgard (Baile style Orocorio, female) Mudbray (male)