Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The strangest thing about the sky faller was—

Well. No. That would imply that there was one singular strange thing, and Rei didn’t think that was very accurate. It was more like… gods, where could he even begin?

Well, you could just look at her and know she didn’t belong. Dark grey hair cropped boyishly short and curling at the ends, colorless eyes, and a soft voice when she wasn’t yelling at people. She’d quickly discarded her original clothing for something more suited to the weather; soft wraps around her hands and ankles and a thick hooded coat. A small assortment of scars were splattered across her skin, the largest of which covered her back. A small hair ornament with fabric triangles vaguely resembling glameow ears, although she insisted it was meant to be a zorua. But everyone knew that zorua were white, not dark grey.

She carried a cane— unusual for her age, perhaps, but not entirely unheard of. What was truly strange about it was that the entire thing was made of some strange metal, lighter and stronger than iron, and decorated with thinly painted gracidea flowers. Furthermore, it functioned as a damn weapon— she had somehow managed to bottle lightning inside that thing. It was strong enough to knock a human out, and while she didn’t use it often, citing something about a battery, Rei still felt wary about it.

On her own, the sky faller wasn’t very intimidating, especially if you’d seen her walk. One might even make the mistake of calling her weak, or dismissing her out of hand. But no one made that mistake twice.

“You’re over fifteen, aren’t you? Old enough to work for your keep. I’m sure we can find a place for you in the medical corps.”

“Listen the fuck up, boomer,” the sky-faller snarled, spitting out the unfamiliar word like it was a curse. Rei’s eyes widened as he wondered if the sky-faller had called the commander some sort of foreign slur. “I didn’t go to therapy for the last three years for you to reduce me to another fucking mouth to feed. God sent me to help your ass, got it?”

Cyllene raised a thin eyebrow, taken aback. “And what else would you be? We have no use for those who cannot keep up with us.”

“Yeah, well, fortunately for me I’m worth more than what I can give to the likes of you,” she spat. “Go ahead and say it. I fucking dare you. Tell me you don’t think I can do it because I’m disabled.”

“I said no such thing,” the commander said stiffly. “I believe you would be better suited outside of the survey corps. It is… a physically demanding job.”

“Yeah, and I know my gods damn limits better than you,” the sky-faller replied, head raised defiantly. “I’m not a child, and I can be trusted to make my own decisions. Give me your test, the same test you gave Rei, and watch me pass it. I make my own fucking fate, so do your job or get the fuck out of my way.”

“I’m not sure I like your attitude, young lady,” Cyllene said warningly.

The sky-faller grinned, an overlong tooth sticking out like a fang. In that moment, she looked more creature than human, like perhaps she was an ancient trickster god in disguise who found humans to be quaint and refused to play by their rules. “Funny, my mother said the same thing. We don’t talk anymore.”

It took a full week for the sky-faller to return, but when she did, it was on the back of a tame rapidash. The flames flickered around her, but she sat, unharmed and dirty with not a single scratch to show for it. Honestly, Rei had about written her off for dead after the first night, but somehow…she’d managed it.

“How are you not burning?” Rei asked incredulously, staring up in awe as she rode into camp.

She winced, and hopped off. “That’s… I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask. I’ve already had enough of that sort of— well.”

“But why?” Rei pressed. “It should be roasting you alive, but even your clothes are—”

“SHUT UP!” The sky-faller clutched at her arms, eyes wide and breathing shaky. Her rapidash nosed at her, but she only flinched away. “D-don’t…”

“Sorry,” Rei said quietly. He wasn’t sure if the sky-faller could even hear him, but he knew he’d gone too far. She had the same haunted look in her eyes as veterans with scars on their souls.

From her satchel emerged a pokemon with small white wings and markings of red and teal, nuzzling at her and chirping curiously. She held the pokemon in her arms and began to stroke it, as though it was a plush toy, and gradually her breathing began to slow. The rapidash retreated to a short distance away, watching her sadly.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Rei asked. She shook her head, a short, jerky motion. Rei began to rethink his opinion of her. She seemed all too human, and yet farther away than he’d ever seen her. She sat down, legs curled up to her chest, and began to make small trilling noises back and forth with her pokemon. It seemed…to enjoy it. How was she not scared? That thing could kill her, yet she treated it with such irreverence.

“I’m sorry,” Rei said again, a little while later. He’d sat, too, legs folded beneath him, and waited. She made no indication that she disliked his company, or resented it.

“Don’t do that again,” the sky-faller said shakily. “The— fire. Don’t.”

“I won’t,” Rei promised, unsure what he was agreeing too.

She gave a long, heavy sigh, and muttered something to the pokemon in her arms. “I, uh, probably owe you an explanation, though.”

“I mean…”

“I get it. I fell out of the sky from another world and you don’t know what to make of me. Some shit, I’m going to keep to myself. But, uh. I’m not here to hurt anyone. I’m here because… well, I think I can help. No idea why I was chosen, especially when— gods, almost all of my friends are fuckin’ nerds who’d give a limb to be here, but I’m doing the best I can.” She gave a small, mischievous grin. “Apparently my skills of being a soft bitch, disability, and cuddling the shit out of every pokemon I meet are exactly what Arceus needs.”

Rei nodded, even though he didn’t understand most of those words. He decided to focus on what he did know. “That pokemon… why aren’t you scared of it?”

“Her,” the sky-faller corrected. “Her name is Cari, short for Anomalocaris. And…why would I be? The worst she’s ever done is eat rocks and put people to sleep.”

“Because pokemon are dangerous,” Rei said slowly, “and they could kill you easily.”

The sky-faller shrugged, playing with ‘Cari’ by tapping her on the nose. “Yeah, and? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m kinda hard to kill. Besides, does this look like the face of a violent little bugaboo to you? Boop!”

Rei stared at the pokemon, giggling in her lap and reaching up a tiny wing to tap the sky-faller on the nose. “I really can’t tell if you’re crazy, or actually sent from the gods.”

“You say crazy like it’s an insult,” she said curtly, expression hardening slightly.

“I— are you even taking this seriously?” Rei exclaimed. “Some of us have been working our entire lives to join the survey corps, and you show up with some kind of weird god complex and tell us we’re doing it all wrong. This is my life, sky-faller. Some of us either respect the commander or die. We can’t all afford to be like you— whatever you are.”

The sky faller was quiet for a while. Rei wondered if he should take back his words, but he decided against it. He’d earned his position, through labor and study, and it… kind of pissed him off, the things she took for granted.

“Hey, Rei?” she finally said. “I am taking it seriously. I’m doing the best I can in the ways I know how.”

“I don’t understand you,” he said quietly.

The sky-faller sighed. Shrugged off her coat, and twisted to reveal part of what looked like a nasty scar on her back, a burn. Oh. Oh, this was why she was like that about fire, wasn’t it.

“Were you…burned by a pokemon, back in your world?” Rei asked tentatively.

She gave a short laugh, and made a clicking noise with her tongue to summon the rapidash from where it had been grazing. “This is from a human. A human I trusted. You wouldn’t understand unless you grew up in that place, but humans are the only monsters I know. Pokemon? They just want the same things as you and I. But people? People are capable of cruelty. They’re not all bad. And some of them even get better. But you can’t just write off pokemon as dangerous and not bother to think about how they feel.”

“You must come from a strange place indeed,” Rei marveled. “Pokemon are deadly beasts, but you speak of them as if they’re incapable of malice.”

“Well, not completely incapable, but they’re not malicious by nature, are they? Oh, what a pretty, soft girl she is, yes she is,” the girl cooed, talking to the rapidash as if it were a baby and patting its nose. She gave a tense smile, looking no further than the creamy fur in front of her and not the faintly crackling flames. “Sorry, sweetheart, I wasn’t expecting that. I’ll let you out later, okay?”

The rapidash nickered softly, and she pressed a pokeball to its nose, except it was metal too, and had a strange and eerie light to it. With that, she finally stood, using her cane for support, and pressed a kiss to Cari’s head.

“I…don’t think I ever got your name,” Rei said tentatively. You didn’t ask a stranger’s name if you knew they were going to die soon.

“Elle Chihiro. Here to do no harm, and take no shit.” She grinned, pulling out— oh. Far more pokeballs than she should have realistically succeeded with. “C’mon, I wanna see the look on Cyllene’s face when she sees me. I lived, bitch! Arceus won’t let me die and I’m about to make that everyone’s problem.”

Whoever Arceus was, Rei decided, they’d really picked a strange character to introduce to his world. But he could get used to Elle.

Chapter Text

"Uh.....do you need help?" Rei asked slowly. He'd been looking for Volo, but hadn't expected to see the man flat on his back with what looked like an electrical burn on his uniform. He would have assumed it was a pokemon attack, except. Well, the resident sky-faller was facedown on the ground next to him, her cane smoking, and he figured, what the fuck. 

There was a muffled scream from Elle. "Yes. Mental help. But we been knew."

Once again, Rei had no fucking clue what she was talking about. "Can I...ask what happened?"

"In my defense. I have a very violent startle response," came the reply. "Also a heart condition. I'm just gonna lay here until it stops doing That."

"Yeahhhhh, Volo's. A bit mischievous; he means well, but he's....well." Rei sighed, wondering what to do. Finally, he joined the other two on the ground. Elle mumbled something that sounded like he's way too hot this is not fair.

"I had a fucked up childhood. And a fucked up couple months when I was seventeen. I.... don't like being touched unexpectedly," Elle mumbled into the dirt. "Reminds me of bad shit. But now I just fucking attacked him for a prank."

"I'm just— going to fetch the medical corps," Rei said awkwardly.

"Okay. I'm gonna be pan and regret my life choices." Elle gave him a thumbs up, still faceplanted on the ground, and Rei wondered if he should also regret his life choices.

(One hour later, watching Elle turn into a blushing, stuttery mess when Volo leaned in and excitedly told her about the ruins he'd explored the other week, Rei decided that no, he didn't regret it. And he wasn't above having a little harmless fun at the sky-faller's expense and teasing her about her crush, either.)

"Oh my gods a BABY!" the sky-faller practically squealed, running across the battlefield to scoop up the pokemon. "Oh, you're just like Cari when she was little! Oh you're just a tiny little mans, aren't you? Aw, and look at those widdle hands! Do you like to go boop, too?"

Volo cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um. Are you familiar with battling?"

"Oh no, I am," Elle assured him. "Oh my gosh, your togepi is SO tiny. Where'd you find 'em?"

"I....challenged you to a battle."

"I know," Elle said cheerfully, now playing a game she called Boop The Snoot with Volo's togepi. "I just— oh my gosh that is the cutest fucking thing."

"She's just like this," Rei said, half apologetic, half resigned. "You kind of get used to it. I wouldn't mind a battle, though. I'd like to test my strength."

"Uh— miss Elle?" Volo said patiently. "Do you mind?"

Elle let out a tiny eep at that. "M-miss? I, I mean— um. Yeah. Wait shit fuck sorry what was the question again?"

"Do you mind letting go of my togepi? Rei here has requested a battle."

"Oh— oh my gods I'm so sorry I was distracted by the baby, I'll just." Elle pressed her face into her hands, practically glowing red. "Yeah."

"The baby? Careful, sky-faller," Rei said mischievously. "I doubt you'd be allowed custody of Volo's baby."

Elle shot him a look that meant he'd succeeded in getting under her skin, and Rei sent out his new pokemon, an Oshawott, to fight. It was a good battle, and both pokemon looked worn out yet excited once it had finished.

"What do you say, Miss Elle? Are you up for a battle now?" Volo asked with a little smirk.

"Uh— I really don't think that's a good idea—“

"What, scared you'll lose your cool?" Rei teased her.

"No no no, not that, I just—" Elle sighed. "Fuck it. Lola, come on out and use ice beam on that tree."

The large pink pokemon Rei had seen her cuddling to sleep last night gave a cheerful trill, before encasing the entire thing in ice. The entire. Tree. Volo’s togepi scampered back into his arms, and Rei’s oshawott gave him a look as if to say, what the hell?

 Elle gave an apologetic smile. "I'm a little too familiar with battling, see."

"Are you— are you sure you're all right?" Professor Laventon asked the third night Elle declined to eat with him, mumbling something under her breath about not being hungry. "My girl, I know you don't intend to stay here, but you can talk to me if something's bothering you."

"Yeah, the professor's good at cooking. You don't have to keep eating alone," Rei added.

"I— I don't— it's complicated," Elle said desperately, clutching at a cracked stone in her arms.

"It doesn't have to be," Laventon said gently.

She looked away. "I— I don't like eating in front of people I don't trust, okay? I don't want to talk about it. It's— messy and some days are better than others and I've been stressed since everything's new and I don't know what foods I like around here."

"Then you don't have to." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know this must be very new and confusing. But your help with my research has been invaluable."

“I'm happy to help," she said, this time with a small smile. “It…means a lot to me. Um, is it okay if I take a plate back to my tent?”

“Of course.” Laventon moved to the stove, arranging a small platter of food for her. “Even if you don’t sit down and eat with us, you shouldn’t have to go hungry.”

Elle nodded, sniffling. “Thank you. Um… please keep this to yourself, but. Centuries from now, in the place I grew up, there's a group that claimed pokeballs and the pokedex were evil. But... I can't express how happy I am to be part of understanding the truth. That your project is going to help bring our worlds together."

"Your world must be a strange one indeed," Laventon said, offering Elle the plate, "but I do hope I've made the future as kind as you claim."

"Thank you, professor. For everything." Elle set the stone down on the floor, where it gave a great, raspy sigh and began to glow from within. A swirling vortex of energy emerged from the crack, sprouted a face, and then dragged the stone along the floor, as Rei and Laventon watched with wide eyes. And Elle walked out as if nothing was wrong, nothing at all.

"I'm not even going to ask what the fuck that thing is," Rei said quietly as the sky-faller left. "Did. Did it just eat one of your latkes? How the FUCK?"

"I think," Laventon said, sounding rather faint, "that question can wait for tomorrow."

“Are you eating rocks?”

Elle choked, spewing water across the grass in front of her, along with what looked like a small red pebble. “N-no? Why would I— shit, that was one time, and I learned my lesson from the lead poisoning?”

“Wait, you mean you’ve done it before?” Rei asked incredulously. “And you got poisoned?!?”

“Not the point! It was an accident; unlike some people, I don’t poison myself on purpose.” She coughed, thumping a fist against her chest. “Gah. ANYWAYS! It’s called ibuprofen and it’s not a rock. It’s…medicine.”

“Medicine? It’s tiny ,” Rei said, leaning forward to pick up the ‘ibuprofen.’ It was lighter than he’d expected, and the red coloring was halfway melted off, revealing a flaky inside that looked fragile as sandstone. “What’s it do?”

“It helps me manage my pain. I have to take… a lot of medicines, to get to a point where I can live the way I do.” She unslung her pack and rifled around, pulling out several translucent orange containers with parchment wrapped around them. Rei couldn’t make out the writing; a few words and letters looked familiar, but it was a far cry from the script he knew. “Arceus was…. Well. Let’s just say she learned far more about the pharmaceutical system and my gripes with it than she expected. But hey, if I’m going to stick around here, I need modern medicine and modern assistive devices. That’s not something I’m willing to compromise on.”

“Does that include your lightning cane?” Rei asked, picking up one of the bottles to inspect it.

“Uh— no touching. But yeah. It does.” Elle gently removed the bottle and began to replace her medicines. “Honestly? It’s hard. Really, really fucking hard. And exhausting. Cyllene will say something like ‘Elle, why do you take so long to do your tasks? You must be an arrogant, tiny child and I will fix you by being an utter bitch about it.’ Well, guess what! Sometimes, I’m just in too much fucking pain to deal with her bullshit and I prioritize my own health over her expectations. I’ll respect her when she earns my damn respect, and so far, all she’s done is put me down for doing things my own way.”

“Have you…told her about it?” Rei asked, concerned. He’d noticed Elle wincing in pain unexpectedly sometimes, or her joints cracking and popping loudly, but he’d figured she had it under control. She was so… confident in her ability to help Laventon, sometimes he forgot she was only a few years older than him and disabled besides.

“Why would I? She can clearly see I walk with a cane, and it’s not exactly for funsies. I don’t have to spill my entire medical history just to get the respect she owed me from the start. And yeah, great! I’m glad she’s taking me seriously! But she can’t fucking hold me to the standards of an able-bodied person. That shit’s damaging as fuck, and I’m done with it. I’ll get shit done when I get it done, because I’ve got my own limitations and skillset that she doesn’t understand. I am so fucking tired of abled bullshit.”

Very quietly, Rei asked, “Does that include me?”

Elle turned away, scoffing. “Everyone’s ableist to some degree. And if you think you’re not, if you look me in the eyes and say you’re not, then you’re wrong. It’s…pervasive. Infectious. And I am so, so tired of people telling me I need to do a better job fighting it when I’m doing my best to survive it every gods damn day.”

“I’m sorry,” Rei said. He fiddled with the strap of his bag, wondering how much he’d hurt the sky-faller without even realizing it. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, to think of himself as… another environmental toxin she had to survive. To endure. “Can you. Let me know if I do that?”

Elle gave him a tired smile. “I’ll try.”

Chapter Text

“So, fair warning,” Elle said, a short distance away from the wild pokemon. “My way of doing things is… very different from yours.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Rei said drily. It didn’t seem terribly different; she had her Alomomola by her side, and the strange swirling pokemon she called a spiritomb, presumably in preparation for battle. “You said you’d show me, though.”

“Yes, because it’s easier that way, but—” she sighed. “Listen. Don’t freak out, okay?”

“Why, are you going to do some kind of witchcraft?” Rei joked. That might explain why she seemed so successful at catching Pokémon.

“Nah, I’m rather burned out on religion.” Her mouth quirked up, as if she’d made a funny joke that he didn’t understand, and she stood up. “Walpurgisnacht, darling? Make sure Rei doesn’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Wait, what do you—”

“Hiiiiiiii, sweetie!” Elle said brightly, stepping out into the open. “Aw, who’s a pretty garchomp? What a big, pretty girl you are!”

“Elle, what the FUCK?!? It’s going to—” Rei was cut off, abruptly seized by some unknown force. It dragged him back, and he saw the Pokémon— Walpurgisnacht— was holding him still. Was this some sort of move? Why would Elle’s Pokémon stop him from helping?

“Hi, big girl. Hey, it’s all right,” Elle said softly. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“It’s— don’t—” Rei protested, struggling against the pokemon’s power. “Elle…”

“̶̧̔T̵̺͗ṙ̶͜ṳ̷̃ŝ̵͙t̷̩̐ ̶̳̆m̴̺y̴͕̑ ̵̪̐h̴͕̋ú̸̹m̷̡͐ȧ̴̳ň̸̩,̵͍̋ ̴͇̚c̴̳̑ẖ̵̿i̷̯̾l̴̖̋d̶̞̾,̷͙̚”̷̖̏Walpurgisnacht rasped, with the strange voice of a hundred souls.

“Hiya there— shit!” Elle stumbled back a step as the garchomp, rather predictably, charged towards her with a roar.

“Let— go—” Rei protested, struggling against the force holding him in place. She was going to get herself killed!

“̵̟̓Ǹ̷̬ö̷̡́.̷̣͋ ̵̢͘Ṱ̵͊r̴̝̿ȗ̵̯s̵͍͝t̷̖̉ ̴̺̐h̴́ͅe̴̙͊r̷̛͚.̷̹̈́”̶̼͠

“Lola?” Elle held out a hand, and a shield materialized into existence in front of her. The garchomp slammed into it headfirst and staggered away, making a roar of confusion. “Hey. I’m not here to hurt you, sweetheart. I know you’re scared. I know you’re unsure how to feel about all these humans. It’s new and scary, isn’t it?”

“Graaaaarrrr,” the Pokémon said, poking experimentally at the shield. “Graaaaaa?”

“Yeah. I gotcha. It’s a new world, and you’re angry. You’re allowed to be mad. Your world is changing, and you can’t stop it, and you’re scared. Do you want to know what the future of Hisui holds?”

“What the fuck,” Rei whispered. “What’s she doing.”

The Pokémon by her side trilled, a sound like water flowing over stones. Lola. That’s what the sky-faller had called it. Called her . And the shield separating them fell.

“Do you want to be part of it?” Elle finally asked, holding out a pokeball. A pokeball that Rei had crafted after she’d told him she struggled with her coordination. Trilling softly, the garchomp poked at the pokeball, and flew inside without a struggle.

“What the— fuck,” Rei gasped, as the Pokémon finally released their hold on him. 

“Hey, Rei! I made a friend!” Elle said, walking back to see him with the pokeball in her hand. She finally stopped in front of him, leaning heavily on her cane. “Okay…uh. You good?”

“You’re fucking crazy,” Rei wheezed. “You’d have to be absolutely fucking zubatshit insane to try something like that.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” She gave him a massive shit-eating grin. “You see why I didn’t tell you before?”

Rei made a rude gesture at her, and she laughed. The fucking soul vortex trapped inside of a cracked rock snickered maniacally, and Lola chirped.

“Fuck you,” Rei said finally. “ Fuck you.”

“Mm, I’ll pass.”

“You wouldn’t pass if Volo offered,” Rei said with a grin, and ran like hell.

“Bitch!” Elle called after him.

“Simp!”

“So, in the future…do all people catch pokemon the way you do?” Rei asked, kneeling at the crafting bench and painstakingly carving out an apricorn to use.

“I mean…no, not really,” Elle admitted. She was using her spare cane as a chair— somehow, with the press of a button, it folded into a chair made of metal rods and sturdy, thick fabric that held her weight with ease. In her lap, the pokemon she called Sakurako was fast asleep, making little noises of contentment. “I’m just special that way.”

“Special’s one word for it.” Rei flicked a glob of apricorn flesh at her, and she retaliated by kicking dirt at him. Rei moved to the other side of the workbench, where she couldn’t reach him without waking the pokemon in her lap.

“I mean, I used to hate pokeballs, actually.”

“You?!? You have cutesy little stickers on your fancy future pokeballs!”

“Yeah, I…” Elle rubbed at the back of her neck, further down where the scar tissue began. “It took a while. Eventually, pokemon just…come to accept that humans live alongside them. They’ll battle us as a test, or just to get stronger, and sometimes we throw pokeballs if we decide we want them as our companions. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”

“But not for you?”

Elle pointed to herself. “Soft bitch. Learned my lesson about trust and informed consent. I could do it the other way, but… I’d rather earn a pokemon’s trust than their respect, if that makes sense.”

“I guess so, yeah. You don’t…” Rei set aside a pokeball. “Do you think the way I catch pokemon is wrong?”

“No way! You and your dewott are amazing together in battle, and you’ve worked hard to hone your skills! You two are… strong, separately, and together. And that’s something worth admiring. That’s something that makes pokemon see you and think, there is a tr— a pokemon wielder worth following.” Elle looked aside. “It’s just…that’s not an option for me. Not with my body being the way it is. So I use what I have, but I still think you’re pretty amazing.”

“Oh.” So much of their relationship had settled into playful banter, Rei wasn’t certain how to react to the genuine compliment. “That’s… thanks, sky-faller.”

She whacked him lightly with her regular cane. “I have a name, you know. And I am capable of giving genuine compliments, I just think Cyllene’s a bitch.”

“Come on, she’s not that bad!”

“Ableism. Don’t defend her to me.”

“Point taken,” Rei said with a grimace. “Yeah, that’s…not great. And she pushes us all… really hard. I can’t imagine what it’s like for you. But I think she has good intentions.”

“Doesn’t make her brand of bullshit any less harmful. Social Darwinism is like, halfway down the road to extremism. And I would know; I was raised by cultists. We kind of thought that everyone else could either join us or burn.”

“Seriously?”

“I don’t joke about that shit.” Elle yawned, continuing to stroke her cherrim. Across the road, Cyllene was chewing out a medical corps member for something. “Okay, seriously, what the fuck is her deal.”

Rei was…somewhat concerned by the way she’d brushed off growing up in that sort of cult, but, well. He figured it made sense, in a way. “Someone had the audacity to suggest to her that she might be getting sick, I’m guessing.”

“What, is she working her immune system to death, too?” Elle joked, but the smile faded quickly. “Okay, I’m going to talk to her about this.”

“Good luck with that,” Rei huffed. If Elle was an unstoppable force, then Cyllene was an immovable object. Frankly, whatever happened, he’d prefer to be outside of the blast radius today.

Chapter Text

“What do you want, sky-faller,” Cyllene said wearily, not looking up from her work.

“A truce, and a peace offering,” the girl said evenly.

Cyllene set down her pen, stifling the cough that threatened to escape her. “Well. You certainly are full of surprises.”

“I’m told it’s part of my charm,” Elle said with a smile. “Listen. You don’t like me—”

“I don’t take kindly to people who disrespect my authority, no.”

“—and I’ve been giving you a lot of shit. But I want to at least try to be better at communicating with you.”

“Have you tried listening?” Cyllene said drily. “I’m told it does wonders.”

“Does it now,” Elle said with a tight smile. “I’ll have to keep that in mind. Do you have time to accompany me on one of my research tasks? I want to show you how I work.”

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Cyllene conceded. She scowled at her abra, who was napping in the corner yet again. “Very well.”

She stood, pushing back her chair, and was hit by a sudden wave of dizziness. Feh. She could walk it off— push through it— had she eaten today? She took a step, then another, legs shaking beneath her. She was fine, she was fine, she was—

…ah. Well. This was a new one, Cyllene thought to herself, staring up at the ceiling of a tent. She…must have blacked out briefly. It happened; she could deal with it. But this wasn’t the med corps tent, was it? It was a very small tent, with a very soft bed. Her eyes fluttered shut before she could fight back the traitorous impulse to sleep, to rest just a little longer, and she sank back into unconsciousness.

When she woke up again, it was the strange twilight a few hours before dawn, the half-light that often strained her eyes to read by. And across from her, she could barely make out— was that a pokemon? Cyllene’s breath hitched, and she doubled over with a fit of coughing, stumbling out of the bed and crashing to the floor.

“Sh-shit, fuck, who’s— oh.” There was a short, breathy sigh, then a clicking noise before a lantern flared to life. Oh. It was just the sky-faller, Elle, and her strange hair ornament. “Hey. We, uh, need to talk.”

“I…apologize for my conduct. It was entirely unprofessional of me to lose consciousness, and it won’t happen again,” Cyllene said stiffly. Her abra’s pokeball was on a folding bedside table, and in the flickering light of the lantern, she could see that the creature was curled up inside, sleeping.

“That’s not what you need to apologize for,” Elle said dangerously, standing. Her hand was steady on the bottled-lightning cane, and her shadow was long and distorted from the lantern.

Shakily, Cyllene made her way to a standing position. Her legs felt like liquid, like her bones had gone soft when she wasn’t looking. One foot after another, and it got easier. Had it always been so hot in here? Or, maybe it was cold, and she couldn’t tell. She just had to breathe. Just breathe.

“I have work to do. It appears you’ll have to reschedule your appointment with me,” Cyllene said as firmly as she could manage. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Bullshit. You’re sick.”

“I am no such thing. I am quite behind on my work, and my health is perfectly fine,” Cyllene hissed, fighting back another bout of coughing. She had no time for such weakness.

“Go on, then,” Elle challenged, standing at the entrance of the tent. “If you’re really fine, then try and get past me.”

“I— that’s—“ Cyllene sputtered, before she finally sighed. “I don’t have time for this. I should have written you up for insubordination long ago.”

“I don’t give a damn,” Elle retorted. “Fight me. Right here, right now, clash of ideals.”

“Absolutely not.” Cyllene stepped to the side; Elle matched the movement aggressively. “Stand aside, and let me return to my work. I refuse to let your petty squabbles with me escalate to a physical altercation.”

“Sure! Then a Pokémon battle. Cari?” Without the trainer even moving, the togetic emerged from her bag. “Hi, sweetheart. Cyllene here pulled a Cynthia, so don’t let her escape, got it?”

“Are you really attempting to keep me here against my will?” Cyllene asked, her hand moving to the large knife she kept sheathed at her back. “This is the most absurd mutiny I’ve ever heard of.”

“You’re right. It’s positively absurd that an eighteen year old with a heart condition and shitty joints could kidnap a grown woman who’s doing completely fine and managing her stress in a healthy way. Even more impossible that the literal baby of her team could fend off that grown woman’s abra. Unless, of course, that grown woman was working herself to an early grave and her Pokémon was chronically sleep deprived because she called him lazy whenever he took a nap.” Elle’s smile was painted on, and brittle.

“What do you want from me, child,” Cyllene finally said. Her voice was soft, and a bit husky from the infection she’d been fending off.

“I want you to stop pushing everyone to the brink of exhaustion. You’re sick, ma’am. You criticize our work, you bury yourself in your own, and you act like we’re all expendable. Like you’re expendable. It’s not healthy or sustainable, and it’s hurting everyone around you. Call me weak if you want. Call me lazy, entitled, a special little snowflake. But unless you can back up your ideals, shut the fuck up.”

Cyllene’s lip curled for a moment, and the blade slid out of its sheath. And then, slowly, slowly went back in. “I don’t want to hurt you, child.”

“Maybe not, but you want me to hurt myself for the sake of your cause. And you call me disrespectful for having the gall to claim an ounce of self respect.”

“If my behavior has been…detrimental, then I will amend it,” the woman said stiffly. “It seems a negotiation is in order. I cannot abide by your terms, and you cannot abide by my rules. This tension between us has gone on long enough.”

“Yeah. It fucking has.” Elle didn’t back down, but some of the wariness had left her shoulders. “You chill the fuck out on the overwork bullshit, and let yourself recover. Stop giving me shit about taking rest days, and take some of your own. Got it?”

“I…accept your terms.” Cyllene held out a pale, clammy hand to shake, and Elle took it.

“Good. I..won’t keep you, then. Go see the med corps.” Elle moved aside, finally, and made a shooing motion. Cyllene stared at her. “No, seriously. Get out of my tent.”

“Very well,” Cyllene said finally, and pushed aside the flap to do just that.

Elle flopped down on the now unoccupied bed, on all the layers of blankets she’d collected to keep her joints from popping out of place when she slept, and screamed into her pillow. “What the fuck. I just held my commander hostage to make her practice self care. What the actual fuck was I thinking, and how in the fresh hell did it work.”

Oh, gods, Rei was never going to let her hear the end of this.

Chapter Text

“You’ve…been doing well,” Cyllene said hesitantly, as if she was uncertain how to give a compliment. Her hands twitched uncomfortably on her desk. “The both of you. But I believe there is room for…adjustment in your performance.”

“Adjustment,” Elle repeated dubiously. Rei held out an arm in front of her, in case she got it into her head to attack the commander— she had guts, that was for sure, but what the fuck. How was she still a member of the survey corps after her little stunt?

“Yes. I believe I have been…remiss, in my approach to the problem.” Cyllene folded her hands in front of her. “I am open to feedback from the two of you about how I can improve. I believe that you have unique strengths and weaknesses that I have been…ignoring.”

“Wait, feedback?” Rei asked, his arm slowly dropping. “But… you’re our commander.”

“Yes, and I received a harsh reminder—” At this, Cyllene leveled her gaze at Elle, “that I am only human. And therefore capable of error. Upon further review of your performance— Elle. I have been… overly critical of the speed at which you perform your research. But Laventon tells me you have been invaluable in teaching him more about pokemon, and take very detailed notes on your…device.”

“It’s called an Arc Phone,” Elle corrected.

“Yes, the… ‘Arc Phone.’ You have mentioned requiring rest days to function, and I…apologize for berating you. I believed that additional motivation was required, but my actions were counterproductive.”

“Your actions were cruel,” the sky-faller said bluntly. 

Cyllene winced. “I do not expect your forgiveness, child. But I would like to forge a better understanding. Is there any way that your rest days can become more productive without detriment to you?”

Elle sighed, spotted a chair on the side of the room, and claimed it for herself. “Yeah. Demanding shit from me only makes it worse, because my body reacts badly to the stress. If you have… any scribes? I could work on making the notes from my Arc Phone more accessible to. Literally everyone but me. I’ve been trying, but I’m still figuring out the writing system here and Professor Laventon’s handwriting isn’t very fast.”

“I will…make arrangements for this,” Cyllene said awkwardly. “Rei. I have been… especially harsh with you because of your potential. To be blunt: this world is cruel and I want you to survive it. But you are doing well, and I believe that you are a hope for our future.”

“O-oh. Thank you, ma’am,” he said uncertainly. What the fuck!

“You and Elle seem to get along well. I want the two of you to coordinate research tasks if you aren’t doing so already. Your strengths vary, and that is an advantage you should make the most of. With that said, Elle. Your methods are…unconventional, but you’ve proven yourself successful. Mai of the Diamond Clan has requested assistance with an alpha pokemon acting up; I would like you to meet her in the Obsidian Fieldlands. I understand that you are…not the most sociable, but I will ask that you not ruin this alliance for us.”

“Oh, I’m actually very social,” Elle said cheerfully. “I just have a low tolerance for bullshit.”

“Elle Chihiro—”

“You don’t know my full name. That’s not going to work.”

Cyllene let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I know you dislike me. You are a very…honest person. But please do not bring that confrontational attitude to your meeting with Mai. She approached us for aid. If you dislike her, please do so privately.”

“I make no promises.”

“Elle. Please. There are more important things here at stake than your pride.”

“Really? Do you know how long I was expected to shove down who I am just to make other people happy?” Elle retorted.

“Elle, let it go, it’s—” Rei began, but she turned to him, eyes blazing.

“It’s fine? No, it’s bullshit. I barely knew who I was for most of my life because I wasn’t allowed to be a person, just a servant to some higher cause. So what if I start fights? I’m not going to compromise on who I am. I’m never going back to that. I’d rather die. Because if I turned into the person you want me to be? It would kill me. And frankly it’s a shock I didn’t die earlier, because the girl I used to be would have doused herself in gasoline and offered you a match.”

“Sky-faller,” Cyllene said, standing up and moving around her desk, the premature lines in her face somehow deeper than usual. 

“Bryelle. That’s the name my parents gave me, but they’re both full of shit. I cut them off and good fucking riddance.”

“Elle.” Cyllene’s voice was softer. “Do you think I am asking too much of you?”

“YES!”

“I am sorry. Should I ask Rei instead?”

Rei moved towards the door, feeling increasingly uncomfortable here.

“...you’re asking too much of me,” Elle repeated. “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through. What I’ve survived. The kind of person I used to be.”

“No,” Cyllene acknowledged evenly. “But I know you’re the most capable of completing the task at hand. And I think you’re angry for a good reason.”

“I deserve to be angry,” she said, lips curling back into a snarl.

“Would you like to punch me?”

Rei spun around in alarm at his commander’s words, just in time to see Elle slam her fist into Cyllene’s face. There was an awful crunch, and Rei stumbled back in horror.

But Cyllene merely blinked, staggered back a step, a raised a hand to her jaw rather thoughtfully. “I was under the impression that your right hand was your dominant one, not the left.”

“Oh, it is. That’s why I punched you with my left,” Elle said evenly, with her fingers bent at all sorts of odd angles. Oh dear gods, that was not how hands were supposed to work. She winced, pulling at her fingers and setting them back into place with a series of audible cracks. “Thank you, commander Cyllene. You can count on me; I’ll head out as soon as I pack for the journey.”

“In the future, please feel free to request a pokemon battle rather than a free hit,” Cyllene said drily. “I’m glad we could come to this arrangement, but please find a healthier outlet than ruining your hand.”

“I look forward to beating the shit out of you and your abra, then,” Elle said pleasantly. She flexed her fingers experimentally; one of them fell sideways with a pop. She frowned, and began to unwrap the strips of fabric from around her forearms to wind them around her fingers instead. “This was a bad idea.”

“Yeah, what the fuck,” Rei said, staring. “You know you’ve got problems, right?”

“I’m working on it.” She finally finished her task, tying off the knot with her teeth, and gave him a tired grin. “Wanna help me pack? I’ve got some supplies to pick up still.”

“Okay, but next time you’re pissed, I wanna be strong enough that you can have a pokemon battle with me!” He walked out of the office by her side, bumping her arm gently. 

Elle gave a good-natured huff. “Yeah, good luck with that. I have like, eight years backlog of anger, and I’m basically always pissed. Honestly, I haven’t battled much lately; that’s usually my main outlet. I should get back on that so I don’t punch the commander again.”

“I still can’t believe you think you’re not that great at it.”

“I’m really not!” she protested weakly. “I got a bit of advice from the champion, sure, but that was just on what technical machines to buy. I doubt I’d even finish the gym challenge unless I buckled down and started battling for real instead of as exercise for my team.”

Say what you would about the crazy sky-faller. But Rei liked having her around.

Chapter Text

“Going somewhere, little sky-faller?” This time, Volo had approached them from the front, which Rei was grateful for. The togepi he’d battled last time had evolved, hovering by her trainer’s side with wings flapping gently.

“H-hi Volo!” Elle squeaked, then cleared her throat. “Um. Hi. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, just thought I’d stop by and check on my new customers,” Volo said with a little wink. “We seem to have gotten off to a rocky start, but I’d hoped that this time would be better.”

Rei snickered, nudging Elle. “Yeah, don’t tase him again.” 

"Them, actually,” Volo corrected. “Just they/them for me. It’s a recent development, but I’ve found I’m much more comfortable this way.”

“Oh, congratulations!” Elle ducked her head shyly. “I— I am so sorry about what happened last time, I swear it won’t happen again. Um— hi. I’m actually heading out to help someone from the Diamond Clan right now, but I could definitely make some time to shop!”

“I appreciate your business!” Volo sat down and spread their wares out in front of her, making idle conversation about gender envy and Almighty Sinnoh while Elle tried to hide behind her bangs and stared at them. 

“Didn’t you literally go out harvesting leeks yesterday?” Rei pointed out. 

“I don’t see how that’s relevant. I can buy leeks whenever I want to buy leeks.” Elle ignored his very valid and sound logic in favor of simping over the very pretty merchant, buying up their entire stock and blushing when Volo pressed her change into her hand.

Volo laughed, packing their things. “Well, I appreciate your business, miss Elle. By the way, that advice— have you heard of the secret back strike technique?”

She stared blankly, looking ready to combust. “Is. Isn’t that. When you tapped me on the back and I electrocuted you?”

“Not quite,” Volo said with a crooked grin. “See, it works on pokemon, too. If you throw a pokeball or have your partner pokemon use an attack when your target’s back is turned, it’s a lot more effective.”

“I— thank you. I’ll make sure to use it— I am so sorry that was a lie I just straight up hide behind a shield and talk to Pokémon directly,” Elle said in a single rushed breath.

“I’ll use it,” Rei offered. “Thanks, Volo.”

“Of course!” The merchant winked. “Best of luck on your quest! Maybe next time I stop by, we’ll have time for a nice chat.”

Elle waved until Volo was out of sight, and then pressed her face into Rei’s shoulder. He was a good several inches taller than her, and just patted her sympathetically on the head. “Volo’s too pretty, huh?”

“Why the fuck did I buy all of those leeks,” she muttered. 

“Because you’re a simp.”

“Shiiiiiiiiiiit.” Elle sighed and foisted the leeks onto Rei. “You’re better at crafting than I am, anyways, and I gotta conserve bag space.”

“You fucking disaster,” he said affectionately. “You sure your hand’s going to be okay?”

“Trust me, this is. Relatively normal,” she assured him. “It’ll be a little sore for a couple days, but it’s not nearly as bad as it looks. Honestly, it’ll be nice to just. Do a job without having to… Zisu. Volo.” Elle made a choked noise. “You know?”

“Oh, I know,” said Rei, having watched her utterly flub a battle and forget to give instructions because she was too busy staring at Zisu’s biceps. “Well, good luck!”

“So it turns out that Mai is very cute and really nice actually, and I don’t know if she was flirting with me,” was the first thing Elle said to him upon her return.

“May Sappho in her infinite wisdom bless you with better gaydar,” Rei said sagely, not looking up from his task of making medicine out of all the leeks that the local pansexual disaster had bought.

Ell carefully lowered herself to the ground beside him, watching him extract the ingredients from each leek. A pachirisu Rei hadn’t seen before scampered off her shoulder, gave the leeks a sniff, and promptly sneezed.

“My gaydar is…not great. Have I ever told you about Catherine? Very pretty female friend I had growing up, literally wanted to marry, enjoyed cuddling with, and thought we were just friends and didn’t process until I realized, oh shit, I might be bisexual because I’ve been in love with both of my best friends this entire time!”

“Almighty Sinnoh,” Rei said, awed. “Wait, thought you said you were pan?”

“I switched labels, but yeah.” Elle gave a little huff, picking at a leek. “Anyways, I may have made a new friend? And by that I mean…Lord Wyrdeer decided he wants to help me travel the region. Not sure how to feel about that.”

“Don’t you already have Madeline?” Rei said. “Your rapidash, I mean.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got fire-related trauma. Uh, you know how I said a human I trusted gave me that burn? It’s…not great. And I know Maddie’s a good girl and can’t help who she is, but we’re just…not always compatible. I’ve been actively working to reclaim that, but sometimes I think she might be better off with another trainer.”

“I’m sorry,” Rei said softly. He held out a hand to the pachirisu, who sniffed him and finally gave a slightly staticky nuzzle of approval. “It doesn’t sound like there’s an easy solution.”

“There’s really not, no. But I guess…if you want to hang out with Maddie sometimes? She’ll let you know when she trusts you enough to let you touch her mane, and she’s a really good girl who probably needs more attention and love than I’m capable of giving her right now.”

Rei flicked another leek at her with a playful grin. “Hey, maybe I’ll pick up some of your pokemon whispering secrets! Sounds like a plan to me.”

“It’s not even pokemon whispering; I’ve got an old friend back home who could actually understand their voices. All I do is pay attention to their body language and communicate with my own.”

“Like I said. Pokemon whisperer,” Rei concluded, tentatively patting the pachirisu’s head. He wondered if he should start nicknaming his pokemon, too. He couldn’t recall this one’s name, but he liked it.

“It’s pretty similar to what the clans do, actually. Mai and her munchlax were…very much in sync.”

“Yes, but was her body language towards you…?” Rei raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“Okay, but I’d feel bad if she was flirting, though, because I’m not sticking around.” Elle sighed, picking at her leek. “I’m trying not to get too attached, but… heh, you know me. Soft bitch.”

“Gonna miss Volo?” Rei teased. It fell flat somehow.

“Okay, Volo is unfairly pretty and knows a lot about Hisui, but I barely know them. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, I fall in love very easily.”

Rei gave a snort of amusement. “Zisu.”

“Listen. W-women….good. Muscles. Yes, realistically I should try learning the agile and strong styles, but she’s very distracting!”

“…hey, Elle,” Rei said, watching the pachirisu explore. “When you return to the future… I’ll be dead. Won’t I. I’ll die long before you’re even born.”

“No, you won’t,” she said with an almost artificial sharpness. “You’ll just be somewhere else. Somewhere I can’t return.”

“You’re from the future, though; can’t you—“

“No. Arceus was very clear about it. When she sends me back home, I’m not going to look up anything from this time period because you’ll still be living on right where I left you, and you’re going to be three years younger than me forever.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“My head doesn’t make sense. It’s just…how I cope. Also I had some brain damage as a kid. It’s probably the brain damage. But it’s not hurting anyone, so please just let me believe this.”

“Well, I know you asked not to leave any historical record of you,” Rei said, “but I’m still going to miss you when you go, okay?”

Elle nodded shakily, then leaned in. Rei took it as an invitation to put his arms around her, and she returned the gesture after a moment.

“Thank you for being my friend,” she whispered. “I won’t forget you.”

“I won’t forget you, either. So let’s make the most of it, ‘kay?”

Elle trembled against him, her heartbeat fluttering erratically. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s what we’ll do.”

Chapter Text

“Excuse me?” It was quiet, far too quiet, an emptiness that even the singing of the kricketot couldn’t quell. “My name is Vessa. You’re… the sky-faller, right?”

“Yep. That’s me, but you can just call me Elle,” the girl said tiredly. She looked older up close, less like the maniac who’d somehow bullied commander Cyllene into healthier working habits and more like… well, more like the commander herself, actually. “I’m actually heading off to bed soon, sorry.”

“Oh. Sorry; I’d ask tomorrow, but I’m…not good at remembering things, it’s…” the girl blinked rapidly, eyes focusing and refocusing. “I’m Vessa. I was wondering if you could help with something. There was… Hisui is in danger.”

The sky-faller didn’t seem alarmed by this; she looked to the ever-present storm above Mt. Coronet and sighed. “Yeah. I know. I’ve been trying to figure out what’s happening and how to stop it, but these rifts, and frenzied pokemon…I have no idea what it means.”

“It’s not about that.” Every word tore at Vessa, inside and out, but it had to be done. Her hands thrust forward the stone, the one that could be used to fix everything. “Long ago, there was a calamity…a…sealed away… I’m, I’m sorry, have I said this before? There are 107 wisps scattered across Hisui. With this Keystone, you can gather them, and if you return them here, I’ll reward you. We need your help.”

“We?” Elle said curiously.

Vessa put a hand to her head, trying to put her thoughts together. Had she been here before? “Uh— I need your help. I need your help, Hisui needs your help— please.”

The sky-faller nodded awkwardly. “Ah, gotcha. I knew someone— well, multiple someones? In the same body? Back home who used we, so, just making sure.”

“Oh,” Vessa said quietly. “Such people exist in your world?”

“I mean…yeah?” Elle didn’t seem to find this particularly noteworthy. “I don’t really get it, or know all the right terminology, but— uh, systems or collectives? The one I knew was pretty chill, he just sometimes seemed to forget things because the folks in his head weren’t communicating.” 

“Sky-faller,” Vessa repeated, “I… No. We apologize for lying. Or, well, the others can’t apologize right now, but I think they’d like to. The truth is, this stone…this soul-vessel…is just a tool, not a prison. I was the original vessel, or this body was, and the seal was broken by force.”

“Uh, I’m lost here,” Elle admitted. “Are you saying… those wisps used to be inside of you?”

“Just as much as your heart is within you,” Vessa said with a sad smile. “We were together. A…collective, as you said. Fully human, fully alive, nothing more. And the world cradled us and found no flaw. But… not all people see things that way. Someone made a mistake, and tore us apart. I’m the only one left, the only piece of Vessa still in the body.”

“And now the rest of you is…scattered across Hisui,” Elle said slowly. “So you want me to collect your— pieces? Uh, sorry, that’s—”

“You can just call us wisps, if that’s more comfortable,” Vessa interrupted. “All of us are fully formed, but we’re meant to be together. The keystone I gave you is a soul vessel— I’m currently bound to our body, and the seal keeping us together is broken. But if you can find the rest of us and transport them back to the body, then we can be whole again. All of us.”

“So you’re sort of like a klinklang, or a dugtrio?” Elle questioned.

Vessa gave a strained smile. “Yes. Like a dugtrio. I’d do it myself, but…I haven’t had an easy time adjusting to being the only one in the body.”

“...okay. I think I can do that. Is there, like— anything else I can do to accomodate you? Or— y’all? Is that preferable?”

Vessa shrugged. “Just… please. Bring us all back. Some wisps may be confrontational, but you don’t get to decide who stays and who doesn’t. We belong together, for better or for worse. No matter how long we’ve been around in this body, we’re just people.”

“Yeah. I promise I will.” Elle took the keystone from her; it was lighter than Walpurgisnacht’s, and absent of the same warmth. “Can I ask…one last question?”

“If you wish.”

“I know it’s not the same, and I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but… being plural? A collective? You deserve the same respect as anyone. The same choice. To be who you are. Even if it’s…difficult, for you or others, no one should force you to change.”

“Thank you, sky-faller,” Vessa whispered. When she was fully Vessa, when she wasn’t just a lonely flame in a body too big for just one, she’d heard it often. From the rest of her. But rarely from another. She lowered her gaze, and pointed across the village, to where a purple flame flickered softly in midair. Taunting her. Crying out softly, confused. “That’s the first one of us. You can stop by and ask me about the others if you need help tracking them down, but…good luck. And thank you.”

“Who’s simping now,” Elle muttered, poking Rei on the shoulder. Her hand had mostly recovered from punching the commander a couple days ago, and the two of them…actually respected each other, since then. She’d called the commander “gnc as fuck,” whatever that meant, and Cyllene took it as a compliment.

“Shut up, like you aren’t,” he protested. Because gods damn, Adaman’s chest….wow. Wow. Okay. If he wasn’t gay before...

“Collarbones,” Elle sighed affectionately.

“Whose? Adaman’s or Irida’s?”

“Yes,” she said.

Rei snorted. “You are an absolute fucking disaster.”

“Gaaaaaay.”

“Like you’re one to talk. Let me know when you’ve figured out agile and strong styles, huh?” 

Privately, Rei was a little glad she hadn’t. Was it petty? Yeah, definitely, and he kept those thoughts to himself for a reason. Elle apparently came from a land where battling one turn at a time was so normalized that she struggled to adjust to the fast-paced battles in Hisui, even with her faster pokemon.

The more Rei watched Elle, the more he realized that her style of battling was far more suited to her than anyone else. She hit like a fucking rockslide and yelled her commands with a fire in her eyes; her pokemon could shrug off attacks like they’d been through worse, and she could stop her opponents in their tracks with status moves. She’d tamed the Alpha rapidash of the obsidian fieldlands and named it Clover, returning with an exhausted grin and a massive new friend.

But it wasn’t without its drawbacks. Hiding behind her Alomomola’s shield meant her visibility was limited, and she couldn’t change position easily. The shield grew more and more opaque as it absorbed damage, which made it harder for her to assess the situation. And then there was the fact that taking a hit could leave her bedridden for much longer than Rei if a pokemon managed it, and she didn’t have the coordination to reliably dodge or aim pokeballs.

Her skin naturally just bruised easily, she’d told him one night as she was peeling off her coat to scrub it clean after a lucky mud shot left her ribs mottled purple. She’d…implied that she was beaten as a child, or something similar, and Rei didn’t press her. She’d tell him if she felt like it, so all he did was offer to refill her water canteen. Elle may have been the strongest battler he’d met, but she was a glass cannon and a person besides. And there was more to this world than just strength.

….liiiiike paying attention to the clan leaders instead of respectfully looking at the tattoos on Adaman’s chest. Oops.

“Could you have picked a worse time to show up?” Adaman snapped. “I have very important business to discuss.”

“Oh, and you just happened to show up in the same place as me? Funny,” Irida retorted, folding her arms. “Would you quit breathing down my damn neck?”

“Should we. Get between them?” Elle asked. “Like. To stop them from fighting.”

“I think it’s how they say hello?” Rei shrugged, and a few moments later, both clan leaders stormed into the same building, shoving through the door rather than going one at a time. “...yeah, that’s. Something, all right. Do you guys ever figure out who the Almighty Sinnoh is in the future?”

“It’s…complicated,” Elle said carefully. “And my knowledge might not apply here. Things might be different, and I don’t want to put the alliance in danger until I have all the facts.”

“Hey, you’re the one who helped out Mai, right?” Rei turned to see a red-haired woman clad in gradient-dyed leggings and the dark blue garb typical of the diamond clan. “Sky-faller Elle!”

“Oh, uh— yeah. Hi. Yep, that’s me,” Elle said, her face quickly turning a similar shade of red.

“Mai said you had short hair, but I had no idea it was this cute!” the young woman said cheerfully, pawing through Elle’s hair with light, practiced fingers. “It’s such a daring style, but very low maintenance… oh, I like the feathered layers you’ve got going on here,” 

“Please don’t,” Elle said in a choked voice. Her pale skin had acquired some tan during her time since she fell out of the sky, but her blush was still incredibly obvious.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Where are my manners— I’m Arezu.” She gave a short bow. “My special skill is hair cutting and styling! I even helped Adaman with that rather daring dye-job of his— some of my finest work, I think!”

“Yeah. Very fine,” Elle squeaked.

Rei had a feeling Elle was one bad decision from introducing herself as gay, so he decided to step in. “I’m Rei; Elle and I are both members of the survey corps.”

“Pleased to meet you both! If you ever feel like stopping by for a trim, we owe you one! I’ll be on my way, then!” With that, Arezu nodded and strode off, leaving nothing but Elle’s ruffled hair and massive crush in her wake.

“What the fuck,” Elle whispered. “I am having so many feelings right now.”

Rei patted her on the shoulder. “Get used to it. We’re forging an alliance with the clans.”

Chapter Text

“A Celestica Flute, hm?” The old woman, who’d introduced herself as Warden Calaba, leaned forward to inspect it. “Hm. But you’re not dressed like Diamond or Pearl clan.”

“No, ma’am, I’m part of the…expedition team,” Elle said carefully, edging away. She was always so touchy around the word galaxy in their team’s name, and wouldn't say why. Maybe she thought it was too dramatic?

“Galaxy expedition team, actually,” Rei clarified. “We’re here about—”

“I know that,” Calaba snapped. Her gaze traveled to Elle, and narrowed. “You’re the one who fell out of the sky and quelled Lord Kleavor’s frenzy, aren’t you.”

“That’s right,” Elle said warily. “Irida and Lian helped me out a lot, though.”

“It wasn’t a compliment,” she said tightly. “The poor pokemon was suffering, and all you did was bully it into submission.”

“Bully it into submission,” Elle repeated, with the same tight smile that always preceded an outburst. “Can you elaborate on that for me?”

“Well, it’s quite obvious, isn’t it?” Calaba gave a frustrated huff. “You and your strong pokemon simply pummeled the poor thing until it couldn’t cause trouble. Those rifts in space have caused nothing but misery and confusion, and I expect you’re quite the same.”

“Bullshit,” Elle said simply. She removed a pokeball from her pocket, the smooth metallic surface camouflaged with apricorn husk, and released her alomomola. “I assumed Irida told you already, but pokeballs are not the enemy. This is Lola; I’ve known her since I was a little girl, and she’s my oldest friend and trusted partner. She chose me, and for eight years, followed me with no pokeball or obligation.”

Calaba raised an eyebrow. “Oh, and then you betrayed your principles and decided to lock her up?”

“No, I escaped a cult full of extremists,” Elle said bluntly. “The pokeball? It’s not a cage. It’s a promise that we can coexist. That we hold their lives in our hands, and they trust us to do so in return for food and protection and love.”

“A gilded cage is a cage nonetheless,” the woman said archly.

“Doesn’t that make you caged, too?” Rei pointed out. “I mean, wardens can’t travel all that much, because you’re bound by your responsibility to the noble.”

“That’s different! I chose this path!”

“And you think Lola didn’t?” Elle crossed her arms. “Pokeballs aren’t inherently evil. I’ve seen atrocities committed by people who held utmost respect for pokemon, because it’s not black and white.”

“Elle’s a good person,” Rei felt the need to add. “She’s got a way with pokemon, and even though she uses pokeballs, I’ve never seen her act cruel towards a pokemon or get angry at it.”

Elle whirled on him. “And you! You’re a good person too, got it?”

“Uh—”

“Rei has been risking his life out there, trying to help the professor study and understand pokemon better so we can learn to live alongside them. I’ve recruited pokemon to help in the fields and around the village, with their informed consent, and Rei’s been catching and releasing. You know why? For the professor to have a broader sample size. He releases every pokemon that doesn’t decide to join his team. So don’t you dare insinuate that he’s evil just because he battles pokemon out in the wilderness with his team, because he’s doing it to survive and to ensure a better future for Hisui. Rei’s brave as hell and if you want to call him evil just because of the logo on his uniform, you’ll say it to my fucking face.”

Calaba studied them both intently before slowly, deliberately, raising her chin. “Am I supposed to take you at your word?”

“Ask Irida if you don’t believe me,” Elle retorted.

“Fine.” Calaba made a derisive noise, and gestured for her bibarel to follow her. “Perhaps I will.”

“About what you said…thanks,” said Rei quietly as Calaba and her bibarel left. “Really.”

“Of course.” She bumped him lightly with her shoulder.

“Am I interrupting something?” came a familiar voice. Rei spun to see Volo, well out of taser reach, leaning against the wall. Elle was certainly putting the pan in panic as the merchant approached them, their one visible eye bright even in the dim ruins. “I hope you don’t need any more of my leeks, but I was actually hoping for a battle from you, Elle. Show me how you quelled the frenzied lord!”

“Um—” Elle said awkwardly. “I. I don’t. I may have battled Lord Kleavor, but anyone could have done that. What really— well. I fed him his favorite foods and my pokemon helped him settle down for a nap, and there was some cuddling involved as well, and I noticed he was pretty roughed up afterwards so I used some potions and then decided to get some towels from Irida and a bucket of water from the nearby spring to help clean him up.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure you can show Volo the whole, you know. Cuddling and napping together with their favorite foods,” Rei said. Elle went two shades darker and jammed her cane onto his foot, hard. 

“A-anyways!” Elle squeaked. “Um. I really don’t feel comfortable battling but I had a few questions! About…some gifts from the noble pokemon. If you don’t mind.”

“Gifts from the nobles?” Volo said excitedly, leaning forward. “That’s incredible!”

“I— these plates, I— here?” Elle gave up on coherent speech and shoved a pair of stone tablets towards Volo, gaze averted. Rei wondered if they knew this was the girl who’d impulsively tried to hold Cyllene hostage in her tent for the sole purpose of chewing the latter out about being a workaholic, and was so angry all the time she punched her commander and dislocated several bones in her hand for daring to suggest she be polite.

…yeah, probably not. Volo only saw her being jumpy and flustered all the time, and Rei probably wasn’t helping. But hey! He wasn’t here to help. Not in this regard, at least.

“These— these are two of the fabled plates of old!” Volo exclaimed, their eyes flicking rapidly back and forth across the tablets. “There are fragments of a myth written here… this one is about a being that originated in the birthplace of creation. This is a very old myth indeed, Elle.”

“Wait, really? We have plates sort of like these at home; they’re not terribly rare…” Elle stared at the tablets in Volo’s hands. 

“No, these are one of a kind,” Volo said excitedly. “Maybe you’ve seen replicas. But this— this is incredible! You must be very special if the nobles saw fit to grant you these.”

“I— not really,” Elle said bashfully.

“Don’t deny it,” Volo said, leaning in and pressing the plates into her hands, their fingers touching hers. “You must have been sent for a reason— and I have a feeling there are more of these plates out there! If you could collect them all, I think you’d uncover something truly amazing! I know I may be asking a lot of you, but I have to ask— will you allow me to witness history with you, Elle?”

“I— yes! Of course!” Elle stammered. “Um. I— yeah.”

Rei stepped in, delicately taking the plates out of Elle’s hands before she lost all brain functioning and dropped them. Absolute fucking disaster, that one. “So, Volo, what brings you here?”

“Well,” Volo said, gesturing to the back wall, “I’d heard that a fragment of the wall here went missing. The ruins are just fascinating— it’s a treasure to be alive in these times, truly! But I’m almost certain that the ones who took the wall fragment are a notorious trio of bandits named the Miss Fortunes. I’m afraid Mistress Calaba can’t manage it due to her age, but I could help you track those three down. What do you say?”

“Um—” Elle fanned herself, probably overheating from the proximity to Volo. “I— we’re actually, um— Rei?”

“That sounds wonderful, actually,” Rei cut in. “We could definitely prove our trustworthiness to the warden, and it shouldn’t take too long. That actually aligns pretty well with our original goal.”

Elle shot him a grateful look. “I’m— gonna— outside. Air,” she stammered eloquently. “Too hot.”

“Shy one, isn’t she?” Volo remarked as Elle scampered away, Lola trailing after her in concern and resignation.

Rei shook his head. “You have no idea.”

Chapter Text

Elle took down the leader of the bandits in the same way she did Volo— which was to say, the woman startled her and got fucking electrocuted.

“You good?!?” Rei asked, sparing her a glance.

“Arceus fu— fucking— s-shit— what— the hell,” Elle swore, panting heavily with eyes wide and cane outstretched, still sparking at the ends.

“The fuck did you do to my sister, you bitch!” snarled the dark-haired bandit, kneeling next to the woman. “Charm? Charm, wake up.”

“She’s— she’s alive, the cane doesn’t kill people, it just knocks them out,” Rei said, frantically trying to regain control of the situation. Elle was still practically hyperventilating on her knees, the grey-haired bandit was unconscious with the front of her shirt smoking lightly, and the one with blue hair styled like pokemon ears looked a few seconds away from starting a pokemon battle.

“The boy’s right— she’s alive,” the dark-haired bandit reported, narrowing her eyes at the two of them. “Galaxy expedition team, huh? We’ve run into the likes of you a couple times. What do you want?”

“We’re not here for a fight,” Rei said, slowly moving to place himself between Elle and the bandits in case things went wrong. He just needed to buy some time for Elle to recover, and even if peaceful negotiation wasn’t his strong suit, he’d make do with what he had. “You three are the Miss Fortune sisters, right?”

“Damn straight. Coin, Clover, ‘n Charm,” the blue haired one said, gesturing to each member of the trio in turn. “Who’re you avenging? No one comes here on peaceful business. You lose a satchel, huh?”

“The— wall. Wall fragment,” Elle finally said breathlessly. Rei didn’t turn around, just kept his stance guarded. Charm was beginning to stir, and he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news. “From Solaceon.”

Clover scoffed. “That’s all? More trouble than it’s worth. We thought it might be valuable, but that shit’s too heavy to carry around. Why do you want it, anyways?”

“Alliance,” Elle said simply, planting her cane on the ground but not making an effort to stand just yet. Her breathing was ragged and shaky, and Rei’s hand drifted towards his Samurott.

“We’re helping the local warden retrieve it,” Rei elaborated.

“What, and you’re passing up the chance to ransom it?” Coin said dubiously. “Huh. All that effort to help someone just in hopes that they’ll help you back… you two really are soft.”

“This soft… bitch won’t f-fuckin’ hesitate,” Elle said, jabbing a finger at herself.

“Well. You must have lived a life full of privilege if you’re so willing and able to help others at a moment’s notice. Such luxury,” Clover drawled, voice dripping with sarcasm. She pointed towards the campfire, the one Volo had sent them to investigate. “You want the fragment so bad? We used it for our fire since it was dry. Take it back if it means that much to you. But we’re out. Coin?”

“Got it,” Coin said, lifting her half-conscious sister over her shoulder. She turned and made a rude gesture at Elle and Rei. “Go play in a stampede; maybe you’ll learn something.”

“This…ain’t over,” Elle muttered, accent slipping into something even more unfamiliar. She didn’t try to stop the bandits from leaving, just remained where she was, watching through narrowed eyes. “Privilege, my ass. Like y’all think I came someplace cushy when I had to fight my way here.”

“Hey, they’re clearly ignorant shits if they stole that piece of the wall,” Rei said, trying to cheer her up. “Don’t worry about it.”

“It ain’t— I’m soft. I’m kind. And I fought hard for this,” Elle said, clearly struggling for words. “I know this world isn’t kind. But I’ll make it kind if I have to bend it to that whim myself. I won’t lose myself along the way.”

The quelling of Ursaluna went about as Rei had expected— which was to say, what the actual fuck. Elle’s alomomola was insanely strong, and crashed into the pokemon with the force of a waterfall. Ursaluna let out a piteous mewl, and Elle made to approach.

“Not yet, sky-faller,” Calaba said, holding out a hand in front of Elle and moving forward herself. “If Ursaluna’s behavior is caused by a poison, and not the frenzy that affected Kleavor, then this will cure it. It’s a detoxifying medicine that can only be used on the most hardy, powerful pokemon.”

Elle visibly flinched at that, a jerky, full body shudder. “That— that doesn’t— isn’t that what his fucking liver’s for???”

“Are you questioning my judgment, girl?” Calaba said, tilting Ursaluna’s head to the side and pouring the liquid down the pokemon’s throat. She stepped back, seemingly waiting for something.

“I mean, I tend to question the judgment of everyone who uses the word detox — oh. Oh dear gods.” Elle’s eyes widened as the pokemon retched and vomited quite violently. “Oh. You could have just said you’re basically pumping Ursaluna’s stomach.”

“You use strange words, sky-faller,” Calaba said, as Ursaluna grumbled and clambered to his feet. “You may go now.”

“Wh— no!” Elle protested. “We literally just battled him until he puked. We should help Ursaluna eat something easy to digest to get the taste of bile out of his mouth, maybe drink a little— do you have any ginger root on hand?”

“I— I suppose I do,” the warden said, blinking in surprise.

“I’ve got a bit of onigiri I was saving for later— not too sour,” Rei offered, already digging through his pack.

“Sweet. I’ve got some potato mochi from last night— Lola, heal pulse,” Elle commanded. The alomomola trilled an affirmative, and pressed herself against Ursaluna, glowing softly.

“Ah,” Calaba said hesitantly. “I…seem to have misjudged the two of you. Rei, was it? Would you help me fetch some water for Ursaluna?”

“Of course, ma’am,” Rei said respectfully. He gave his food to Elle, who was already talking to the pokemon in the sweet, high voice she reserved for situations like this. Ursaluna seemed…miserable, frankly, but complied in having a bite to eat before rolling over and gazing up at her with eyes wide and tummy exposed.

….yeah. Yeah, this alliance was going pretty well.

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry, my warden did what?” Adaman said pleasantly, staring at Irida. 

“You heard me. She asked for my help!” Irida said, standing on her tiptoes to look Adaman in the eyes. “Because obviously, she didn’t trust you enough to tell you that her Lady was frenzied!”

“Can I please get a waffle,” Elle muttered, moving away from the door to the commander’s office. “Gods. They’re like red and blue Basculin.”

“Wait, what?” Rei asked.

Elle sighed, sliding down to sit next to the door. “Right, the ones here have white stripes instead. Back home, they’re either red or blue, and attack on sight if they see one with a different color.”

“Ah, got it.” Rei continued watching the two clan leaders bicker through the door. “They’re… really going at it, huh. Looks like we might have another noble to quell.”

“Gah, another one?” Elle groaned. “Pleaaaaase tell me it’s not going to be today. Please.”

“....yeah, sorry. Adaman’s really pissed about this.”

“Fuuuuuuuuuck,” Elle muttered. “Can a girl not recover from burnout in peace?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry. If it helps, I can handle most of the physical side of the quelling, then make the mission report afterwards so you can head straight to your tent?” Rei offered.

“It does help, yeah. I’m gonna need a couple days off after this, honestly.”

“Anything I can do to help?” he asked gently.

Elle looked away. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, but you’re afraid to ask?”

“Yes, but I don’t know if I trust you enough to ask,” she said softly, so softly Rei almost missed it. “ I… let’s talk about this later, okay?”

“Okay.” Rei stiffened, sucking in a breath. “They’re coming.”

Elle made a face as if she was calculating something, then decided, “Yeah, I’m not getting up or hiding. I do not care enough about their opinion of me to do that to myself.”

“You mind if I…?” Rei pointed to a nearby potted plant, whose leaves were thick enough for him to hide behind and pretend he hadn’t been eavesdropping.

Elle shrugged, popping open her water flask and ibuprofen bottle. “Your choice.”

Rei chose to not disappoint the commander, and— okay, maybe he was a little embarrassed and didn’t want Adaman’s disapproval either, sue him.

Cyllene walked out of the office, Adaman close behind, while Irida’s voice could be heard faintly from within. The commander glanced around, then did a double take upon spotting Elle. “Ah— hello. I was just looking for you.”

“I bet,” Elle muttered distractedly, screwing the cap onto her water flask.

“Hey, you doing all right?” Adaman asked her, brow furrowing in concern. “You’re not looking too great.”

Elle shrugged. “I’ve been worse.”

“Ms. Chihiro is rather….unique in her choice to remain in the survey corps despite her condition, but I trust her to know her own limits,” Cyllene said diplomatically. “Adaman, I believe you may have met Elle before. Elle, Adaman has requested our help with a matter in which you are the most qualified to assist.”

“Lemme guess.” Elle stared tiredly at the commander. “You want me to quell one of your noble pokemon that’s gotten into a frenzy.”

“No,” Cyllene said sharply. “You’ve done enough for today. I would like you to supervise the quelling, yes, and your pokemon’s assistance would be welcome, but I have asked enough of you today.”

“O-oh,” Elle said quietly, eyes downcast. “Thank you, ma’am.”

 “You don’t need to thank me. I am only doing my job as your commander by making sure you don’t push yourself too hard,” Cyllene said stiffly. “I would do the same for anyone.”

“Most people don’t. Because my needs are different.”

“That’s no excuse to mistreat you.” Cyllene offered her hand to Elle, a hint of a smile crossing her face. “Come on. Let’s get this over with; I’ll take a break afterwards if you do the same.”

“Ready?” Rei asked, offering a small smile.

“Almost.” Elle removed the flute from her coat, and took a breath. Her fingers were shaky and her tone breathy, but she managed to play a short tune. There was a moment like the world itself was holding its breath, and then ursaluna was standing in front of them, his breath visible in the cold morning air.

“Lord Ursaluna,” Cyllene said, dipping her head respectfully. “Would you grant us your aid?”

Elle, on the other hand, just flung herself directly at ursaluna’s exposed belly. “Look at that soft fluffy tummy, oh, you are so soft, yes you are! Yes you are!”

“Elle. Are you—” Cyllene closed her mouth, apparently left speechless, and turned to Rei with an expression of confusion and horror. Ursaluna gave a low rumble of satisfaction and gently petted Elle on the head.

“Oh yeah, she does this,” Rei said casually, remembering that Cyllene had never actually seen Elle out in the field. “It helps her relieve stress, and the pokemon really enjoy it.”

“I— I see. Well. This. Explains, ah. Several things,” Cyllene said in a stilted voice, still watching in disbelief. “Dear gods….”

“It’s not that bad, once you get used to it,” Rei offered. “She’s let me try it on her rapidash, and I’ve been trying to bond with my Mizu that way.”

“Mizu?”

Rei grinned. Oh, he’d really knocked the commander for a loop, and couldn’t deny it felt satisfying. “Yeah, Mizu! That’s what I named my samurott. I think Elle’s rubbing off on me, y’know?”

“Oh gods,” Cyllene said faintly. “Oh gods, there are two of them now.”

Rei had to physically bite down on his sleeve to keep himself from snickering right then and there. “Hey, Elle! I wanna rub ursaluna’s tummy too before we track down Arezu!” he called, joining her. Ursaluna seemed to permit him to do so; after all, more hands meant more attention.

He supposed that pokemon just wanted to be loved, too. And when the day was over, when Lilligant was quelled and Arezu was reunited with her charge, he thought maybe humans and Pokémon weren’t so different after all.

“You wanted to ask me something, right?”

“Ah. Yeah.” Elle shifted uncomfortably on her chair that was sometimes a cane. “Uh… this is going to sound weird as fuck, but please don’t laugh?”

“Promise I won’t,” Rei said.

Elle carefully removed her coat and set it aside on the cedar chest where she stored her possessions, messing with the wraps on her arms. She’d declined to wear the typical uniform undershirt and leggings, citing something about old habits, and instead wore the shorts and t shirt she’d fallen out of the sky in, with wraps of varying thickness around her limbs. 

“I…could you maybe. Rub my back?” she finally asked, eyes averted. “I know, I know, it’s—”

“For you? It’s normal,” Rei assured her, moving to do just that. He blew on his hands to warm them, then began slowly massaging at her shoulders. “You realize you’re fucking insane, right? This is the most normal favor you’ve asked from me.”

“Yeah, well, I’m kind of weird about touch,” she said awkwardly. “Like. You know by now I was raised in a very shitty place. And… I dunno. Sometimes my back is sore and I just wanna… it’s stupid.”

“Bullshit,” Rei said bluntly, moving down to press his thumbs across her shoulderblades. “You’ve done a lot for us, you know that? You’re allowed to rest and be taken care of.”

“Oh,” Elle said faintly. The muscles in her shoulder shifted as she wiped at her eyes. “I… thank you, Rei. That means more to me than you know.”

Chapter Text

“Morning. Just dropping this off real quick before I go out researching,” Rei said carefully, maneuvering himself just inside Elle’s tent flap. “Need anything else?”

“Mnggghhhhh…. Cece…? Oh.” Elle flopped an arm into view, grabbed a fist full of scrambled eggs, and finally found the edge of the plate. “Hi, Rei. Nnn, don’ think so.”

“Gotcha. I’ll get out of your hair now— oh, hi Cari!” Rei knelt and held out a hand for the creature to sniff, like Elle had showed him. Cari fluttered up and bapped him on the nose, making a chirping sound almost like giggling.

“Boop,” Rei said quietly, returning the favor. “I’ll play with you later, okay?”

“Mghnrgh,” Elle mumbled, half tangled in her mess of blankets but emerging from her cocoon to wipe off her hand on a napkin and grab the plate. “Thanks….Maddie’s in th’ pasture, if you wanna.”

“Yeah, no problem. Uh, you sleep okay?”

“Nope!” She shot a slow pair of finger guns. “Paaaaainsomnia!”

Rei winced. “Sorry to hear that. Uh, Cyllene wanted me to ask you if you’re free this evening or tomorrow afternoon for something, but she didn’t clarify what.”

Elle squinted at him through the haze of her bangs. “Tell her that her phrasing is entirely unhelpful. I’m literally always battling unseen demons, but I can probably clear up about enough time and energy for a grocery run tomorrow if my body cooperates.”

“Iiiiiii have no idea what that means.”

“Tell Cyllene anyways. Bitch can be confused about it for all I care until she learns to fucking communicate,” Elle grumbled.

“Duly noted, I will pass it on.” Rei ducked his head and left Elle to her breakfast.

She’d been pissed off and in pain for the past few days, something about a flare up, so he’d been making sure she had enough food and water, with the help of her pokemon. It wasn’t an uncommon sight these days to see a togetic fluttering along with a dirty plate in hand, or an alomomola carrying a flask in her mouth. He thought it was a good thing, overall; the people of Jubilife were slowly coming to see pokemon as part of their daily lives.

Speaking of pokemon— Rei stopped by the pasture, leaning over the fence and gazing over the new recruits. Most of them seemed content, if a bit bored, and Madeline trotted right up and nosed him for an apple.

“Sorry, girl, I don’t have any for you today,” he said, smiling as he stroked her long, soft nose. Madeline leaned in and snuffled his chest, and he laughed. He’d been terrified the first time she did it, but now it was just amusing. “Hey, I told you I don’t have any! What, you think I’m hiding food in my coat?”

Madeline gave him a dubious look that said she didn’t plan to dignify that with an answer. Further along the fence, a girl with braids in her hair was tentatively petting a garchomp. Those things could slice you open like a baked potato and leave your innards steaming on the snow— Elle had seen it, she’d told him once with a solemn expression. But Pokémon didn’t attack for no reason, and they generally liked head pats and tummy rubs.

Rei rubbed his thumb along the pokeball in his pocket, the one containing Mizu. “I’ll pet you later, don’t worry.”

He stopped by Cyllene’s office and passed the message along, getting about the expected reaction from his commander.

“I…likely should have foreseen that,” Cyllene admitted, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please inform Ms. Chihiro that I would be happy to provide such a measure of effort required, but it seems we lack a common unit of measurement or frame of reference for such a thing.”

“You could talk to the professor about research tasks?” Rei suggested, hands clasped behind him. “Elle usually sorts things out by effort and distance and does her tasks in bulk, and we’ve traded a couple times.”

“Ah— yes, that would be most helpful.” She nodded absently, blinking.

“Are…you okay, ma’am?” Rei asked carefully. He was still getting used to the new Cyllene, the one that had been making an effort to change after what Elle called her ‘well deserved vibe check.’

“I… don’t believe I’ve eaten today,” Cyllene said carefully, as if this was something she was just realizing. She stood, pushing her work to the side. “You’re dismissed.”

Cyllene may have been changing, but it was…definitely a process.

By tomorrow afternoon, when Mizu and Rei returned from documenting the habitats and behaviors of buizel, Elle was already waiting in the commander’s office with a growlithe in her lap and another licking at her face.

“Warm dogs,” was all she said to Rei before the Pokémon resumed its frantic attempts to lick her face clean.

“Warm dogs,” Rei agreed, taking a seat on the chair beside her. “Commander Cyllene, sir? May I ask what this is about?”

“Certainly,” Cyllene said, dipping her head. “It has come to my attention that the two of you may need more to defend yourselves with than your Pokémon, and I’d like to train the two of you in some basic combat.”

“Absolutely not,” Elle cut in. “You are not to give me a knife or any other bladed weapon, or leave them unsecured around me for any longer than necessary. I’m not going to fucking explain, and this ain’t negotiable. You wanna teach me combat, fine, but leave the blades out of it.”

“….Ah,” Cyllene said quietly. “Kamado won’t be pleased— I’m not trying to change your mind, merely warn you.”

“I think you might be better off warning Kamado, not Elle. My money’s on her winning that fight,” Rei joked.

Cyllene cleared her throat. “Well. Ms. Chihiro, please address me with any complaints that may arise before you resort to assaulting commander Kamado. Potential mutiny aside, it’s still quite important to know how to defend yourself from attack.”

Elle flicked a switch on her cane, making the tip of it split open and buzz to life, while one of the growlithe in her arms wandered off and began gnawing on Rei’s sandal. “I. Think I’ve got that covered.”

“Ah. Well. No need for that portion of your lesson,” Cyllene said awkwardly. “I…would like you both to remain safe. I’m glad you have that cane of yours, but I’d like to at least teach you how to block and strike efficiently with it in case you’re unable to use the, ah, taser. Rei, I’m going to show you a simple move for fending off an attacker with a knife when you’re unarmed. Now, this is a wooden knife, but when I rush you like this…”

“Commander Cyllene really knows her stuff, huh,” Rei said that evening, sitting outside Elle’s tent with a growlithe on each arm. They were playful, affectionate creatures, and he wondered if he could— or should— try to train one.

“Yeah. Guess she does,” Elle said faintly.

“...okay, something’s up. You wanna talk about it?”

She gave a small laugh. “I guess— I. I don’t want to change things too much here but I— I’m homesick. And I’m tired of not talking about the things I don’t want to find in a history book later. It feels like hiding.”

“I mean, your home is a part of you,” Rei pointed out. “I can’t blame you for being cautious, but… you don’t have to— I mean…you can tell me a little, if you want.”

"What do you want to know about me?" she asked Rei, staring at the stars. "I mean, I probably won't give names or specifics, but...."

Rei traced the constellations, wondering if Elle slept under the same sky as him, if she knew the stars under different names back home. "All lives touch other lives to create something anew and alive... who touched your life?"

"Hm." Elle held her pokemon tighter. "Well, you already know a bit about my parents. They were...very neglectful of my health, and controlling besides, and last year I went no contact shortly before they got arrested. I had a couple friends back there; one who could speak to pokemon as easily as humans. He liked math and formulas and puzzles, and I got back in touch with them about a year ago. There was Catherine, my oblivious gay awakening, and one other friend, who was a couple years older than me. She was lonely and desperate and she acted out, because she was angry, and I thought the solution was to just be less angry. But I get it now. And I wish I could apologize, but she doesn't want anything to do with me or the place we grew up, so I've let her be."

"Sounds...pretty fucked," Rei said. "Honestly, I never really heard of cults outside of ghost stories before you."

"Like I said. Sometimes humans are the monsters," Elle said sadly. "I don't hate humans. I love them. I think they're fundamentally good. But...they can be twisted, and it hurts everyone around them."

"What about when you escaped? Did you find better friends?"

Elle's expression softened. "Absolutely."

"What were they like?"

"The best thing that's ever happened to me. There's Cece— she's prickly at first, but intensely loyal, and she's been studying under a professor sort of like Laventon. She really chose spite as her primary motivation, and learned to make it work, and I'm so gods damn proud of her. And Maer, who comes off as quiet and awkward but then you find out that fi's the most loving, compassionate, selfless person you'll ever meet in your life. Both of them are brilliant— Maer's the one who taught me most of what I know about Hisui, you know that? And I've been taking a ton of notes for fir, and Cece too, on the culture and the pokemon here, because I don't have the mind to understand it but they're running leagues ahead of me. Fuck, I couldn't even pass my test for some pretty basic education. I was...pretty torn up about it, and on my way home to tell them, when Arceus yoinked me for this whole quest. I can't imagine how they'll react when I get back..."

"Do you miss them?" Rei asked quietly.

"Yeah. Every day. But I'm going to miss you too, when I leave."

Chapter Text

Here’s the thing— Kamado didn’t particularly like, or trust, the girl who fell out of the sky and claimed to be sent by god. She spoke with an accent that wasn’t quite right, her eyes were shifty, she threatened Cyllene and escaped punishment by some sorcery, and the way she had with pokemon… it was unnatural. Uncanny, one might even say. And then there was that hair ornament, the one that practically marked her as a traitor to her species. The glameow ears, or whatever she called them.

Frankly? Kamado had half a mind to attack her and see if she’d let down her illusion, reveal herself to be a vengeful zoroark in their midst attempting to earn their trust. But Cyllene respected her for some damnable reason, so he’d have to test her in other ways.

He brought her to Prelude Beach, the place she’d appeared, to show her the new arrivals, all of whom were counting on her and Rei to make this place safer. Maybe that would finally make her shape up— but she showed very little reaction except perhaps confusion.

“This is the future, Ms. Chihiro.” Kamado spread his arms to the new immigrants, the new residents of Jubilife.

“No offense, but I know the future better than you do, and while I’m really happy that more folks are coming here, I’m not sure why you brought me here,” she said uncertainly.

“You truly love pokemon, don’t you?” Kamado said, watching carefully to gauge her reaction. “Pokemon have killed many of our number, and injured many more.”

“Okay, well, how many pokemon have you killed or injured?” she countered. “How many could you?”

“I fail to see how that’s relevant to the discussion at hand—”

“And that failure will get you killed unless you swallow your fucking pride.” Elle shrugged nonchalantly, watching the new immigrants bring their luggage ashore; all that they had, all of their hopes. “You think I don’t know how dangerous they are? You think I haven’t seen pokemon kill before? Because I have. I’ve seen broken bones and burning flesh and much, much worse. I’ve seen more than I ever want to, and I’m tired of violence. So I choose friendship and peace, actually, but I won’t fucking hesitate to kick some asses on my way. You can either come to terms with this fact, or die sad and alone. I don’t give a damn.”

Kamado made a noise of surprise, but…had no response to that. No way to sink to her level; yes, he knew that pokemon were dangerous, but he had no intention of taking it lying down. If Laventon failed, well, weapons technology was improving by the day, and he would make the hard choices to keep his people safe. 

She acted like he wanted war, like he wanted violence, when he’d seen enough to last a lifetime as well. But, well, he couldn’t exactly say that aloud, so he looked for something else to criticize. “I expect you to stand at attention, Ms. Chihiro.” 

Elle continued to stand as she was, leaning heavily on her cane and looking shorter than usual. “I’m afraid I’ve been diagnosed with a deficit of attention, sir. Do you have a problem with my posture?”

“It’s disrespectful, is what it is!” he snapped.

“You seem to take personal offense to my spine in either sense of the word. Why don’t you calm the fuck down and touch some grass; I promise you’ll feel better afterwards.”

“I don’t believe I’m asking much of you, sky-faller,” Kamado said coldly. “You are not some overworked serf, but a member of the survey corps by your own volition.”

She looked him dead in the eyes and said, flatly, “Is there anything else you need that requires me to stay on the beach? Because I can’t exactly get much purchase here with my cane.”

Kamado blinked, startled by her bluntness. “I— not necessarily, but—“

“Okay, cool. Good talk.” And then— she had the audacity to turn away! Without even being officially dismissed! It was as if she prioritized herself over any orders from her superior officer, the most blatant disregard for authority Kamado had ever encountered. He had sacrificed everything for his people, and this arrogant little brat had the gall to disrespect him to his face.

So how the hell was she the best thing to happen to Jubilife City since he’d arrived?

“Hey, uh, Vessa? Er—” Elle held up the odd keystone, the soul vessel. “Can we talk?”

“I-I suppose, yes,” Vessa said nervously. Was this it?

“I’ve been looking for the wisps, like you asked me. But— when we first met, you said something about a great calamity…?”

Vessa winced. “I’m…I’m sorry. That was a lie. There may have been something similar that caused others to be sealed into a vessel like that one, but if so, I don’t know about it.”

“Okay.” Elle sighed. “I’m not angry, okay? I figure, you had a good reason, and you don’t always owe the truth to a stranger if you don’t know whether it’s safe to do so, but…why?”

“Because you’re the sky-faller,” Vessa said simply. “I’m…not meant to be alone. I was confused. We all are. We thought— that it was the only way to get your attention. You’re out in the wild with pokemon that can defeat nobles and alphas without flinching, and I’m just… a kid, mostly. People don’t take us seriously.”

“Yeah. I guess that makes sense.” Elle reached for a pokeball and held it out, almost like an offering. “I have a spiritomb of my own, if you’d like to meet her. She/they, their name is Walpurgisnacht. It’s not the same, but if you want a plural friend…?”

“I’ll…pass,” Vessa said carefully. “Right now, as I am… I don’t know if I could bear it. I’m so tired of being confused and fractured and alone…”

“Can I hug you?” Elle asked, eyes wide and concerned. Vessa nodded, leaning in. They’d missed being held. And no one really knew Vessa, really knew her as well as her community used to. Her collective.

“Thank you for doing this for me. For all of us. I wish I could find the proper words, but— there are pieces of my head, of my memory, missing, and we can’t properly thank you like this.”

“It’s okay,” Elle said gently. She was soft and warm, and not quite curvy but solid. She had a weight to her that was grounding. “You’re doing your best with what you have.”

“Wh-what if it doesn’t work? What if instead of putting the others back in my body where they belong, I get sucked in and turned into a pokemon? What if we can’t reunite and I’m like this forever?” Vessa was trembling, wishing she could let anyone else help her, join her, but she was the only one left in this body. “I miss us. What if this doesn’t work?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry,” Elle said softly. “The others…they talk to me sometimes, from inside the keystone. They’re confused, and they miss you, and they hope you’re taking care of yourself and the body. Some of them are angry at the person who split you up. Some of them…don’t seem to fully understand what happened. I’ve found 27, so far.”

“That’s good,” Vessa said. She felt so small, sometimes, and nothing could quell her loneliness. Even her parents, who understood her plurality to some small degree, couldn’t understand that nothing would make this newfound ache go away except reunion. “I miss them too. And I love them more than they know. I wouldn’t trade us for the world.”

Chapter Text

“Excuse me? Uh— Elle?” Irida tapped lightly on Elle’s shoulder. “I’ve been looking for you, actually.”

Elle looked up and promptly choked on her potato mochi— which, in Rei’s opinion, was entirely warranted, because damn Irida was stealthy for a clan leader, but she was also very pretty. Well, so Rei had been told.

Laventon reached across the table in alarm. “My girl, are you all right?”

“N-n—” Elle stuttered weakly, going red. Rei was halfway to standing up when Irida rushed into action, grabbing her around the midsection and squeezing. Elle hacked up a piece of dough and went limp, then gave a small, weak thumbs up.

“You scared us,” Laventon said worriedly, patting her hand.

“Mm, sorry. Wait, who—” Elle stiffened as she realized someone else was still holding her. Then went bright red as it sank in that Irida of the Pearl clan was practically spooning her, and let out a pathetic squeak.

Irida finally let go— only to move around to face Elle and cradle the girl’s face in her hands, gazing into her eyes with concern. “Are you sure you’re okay? I am so sorry for that,” she said, while Elle’s blush grew brighter and brighter by the second. “You still look…really flushed. Are you sick? Can you breathe okay?”

“Hey, Elle’s not a fan of being touched without permission. Give her a second,” Rei said defensively. 

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I…overstepped my boundaries.” Irida cleared her throat and brushed off her shirt; she wasn’t wearing her usual attire, now that Rei looked closer, but a sleeveless hoodie and skirt with no accessories. “I wanted to thank you, actually. I’m…cautious by nature, so I was hesitant to make judgments about you at first. But after both our battle and Calaba’s encounter with you, you’ve earned my approval.”

“I— wow,” Elle said breathlessly. “Thank you? I mean— thank you. Really!”

“Really,” Irida said with a smile. “That’s the reason I’ve been negotiating with your commander for the survey corps to be able to investigate the cobalt coastlands. I…wanted to warn you in person, though, that the situation is…complicated.”

“How so?” Rei asked.

Irida took a seat at the table, pulling her hood up. “The area no longer has a Noble, after a tragedy took him from us several years ago. The warden’s situation…might be easier to understand in person. But please understand: our ways are not your ways. We’re trying to learn from you, but you need to respect our traditions in return.”

“Of course we will,” Laventon said respectfully. 

Irida glanced around furtively. “I’m…unsure how to feel about Kamado, honestly. But, well, you three are all right. Elle, you’ve earned my trust. Rei, you’re on your way. And professor Laventon, you have my respect in your pursuit of understanding.

“You’ll probably get orders to make camp and survey the coastlands soon if you haven’t already. Lately, there’s been something haunting the land, attacking lone travelers. Without a lord Pokémon, it may not be safe out there. Just…please be careful, okay?”

Elle nodded fervently. “I— absolutely. Yeah.”

“Thank you. I should go now, before anyone notices my absence.” Irida gave one last respectful nod to the three of them, then slipped off between a pair of buildings. Elle just carefully pushed her plate aside and went limp, faceplanting into the table.

“You good?” Rei asked.

“Girl talk to me,” Elle mumbled. “Hhhhhhhhhh.”

Laventon patted her helplessly on the hand. “Yes, well, they do that. If it’s any consolation, I think you spoke quite admirably, given the circumstances.”

Sure enough, Irida’s words came to pass. A date was set to begin traveling, and Elle and Rei started spending more time around the lab, helping out with preparations. Laventon’s rowlet and cyndaquil scurried around, generally being underfoot and distracting.

“Ah, I forgot to tell you— they have names now!” Laventon told Elle excitedly, as she picked up the rowlet and sat him on the large centrifuge to spin. “That’s Sprig, and Spark. I’d initially planned for Spark to be the control group, but he got so jealous I had to shelve the experiment and give him a name as well. But nicknaming pokemon is absolutely vital for bonding— I don’t have a large enough test group for statistically significant results, but the numbers are very promising.”

“Hm,” Elle said vaguely. The centrifuge was a repurposed potter’s wheel, and Sprig seemed to enjoy being spun around very much, tilting his head to keep an eye on Elle and giving little chirps occasionally. “Oh, lookit those big eyes he has! He’s a stretchy boy, isn’t he. Are you a stretchy boy, Sprig? Do you have a stretchy neck? Oh, do you have cute little feathers as well? Oh my gosh, you do! You do !”

Laventon leaned in to mutter to Rei, “She’s aware that Sprig is a young adult, isn’t she? His flight feathers seem to very clearly indicate that he’s reached sexual maturity and is ready to mate. He’s…not a baby.”

Rei shrugged, helping to pack up some notebooks and reference texts. “She does that to all of them. Sprig seems to like it, so I’m not sure what the problem is?”

“...Ah. I suppose you’re right. Carry on, then.”

“Hiiiii, Sprig! Are you a clay pot? Are you a sample? Oh, I know what you are! You’re a magnet, locked on target!” Elle continued spinning the makeshift centrifuge faster and faster, as Sprig let out a series of delighted little chirps. “Art thou perchance a compass, and I thy magnetic north? Oh, that I might be a mass of iron near the poles…”

“Tell me, Rei,” Laventon said, “and Elle, you too. How do you do it?”

“Do what?” Elle asked, tapping Sprig on the beak. He fluttered his wings in surprise, and promptly took that as an open invitation to nibble on her finger.

“I know how I’ve come to terms with pokemon as part of our world; they fascinate me. I think there’s nothing more loving in the world than science,” Laventon said simply. “But what about you two?”

“I guess…I respect pokemon as opponents, and try to see it as an exchange,” Rei said slowly. “I know it’s dangerous, but I honestly love field work. It pushes me to do my best, and it’s exciting to see that the wild pokemon respect the effort I put into it, and respect me and what I want by extension. It’s a battle of wills, and even after we’ve gathered data and released the pokemon, I hope they respect my way of thinking too.”

Elle raised her shoulders and swung her arm slowly from side to side, watching Spring run around on his tiny legs struggling to hold on. “Always liked pokemon more than people. Part of it’s how I was raised, part is just…gah. People don’t usually like me. Besides, pokemon are simpler than humans. They don’t judge you for missing social cues or not making enough eye contact or canceling plans. Pokémon just want to be loved and safe, and they’ll return the favor. People…well. I don’t hate them, but I need breaks from them sometimes.”

“Knowledge, willpower, and emotion….” Laventon nodded to himself. “I’ve heard a tale of the sort from Volo of the Ginkgo Guild, you know. Apparently it’s an old Celestica legend passed down to them. I suppose we’re embodying that with our work here.”

Elle huffed. “It would be a whole lot better if some people would tone down the willpower and work on the other two— not you, Rei, I’m talking about Kamado.”

“Ah,” Laventon said delicately, sensing that another rant was incoming. “I should— SPARK DON’T EAT THAT!”

“Is Kamado still being…?” Rei made a vague gesture, as the professor ran off and attempted to pry a piece of charcoal out of the cyndaquil’s mouth. “I mean… I know you’re blunt and unconventional, but you’ve been doing a good job for us.”

 “Well, I’ll never be good enough for him, and he’s personally offended that I refuse to traumatize myself by trying,” she said angrily. Sprig looked at her with concern, and she stroked his head. “Not you, sweetie, you’re fine. I’m not angry at you. But— gah. How much are his prejudices impacting his opinion of me? He’ll deny it if you ask. Or maybe he won’t.”

“You think he’s giving you shit because you’re disabled?” It still felt strange for Rei to say the word aloud. Disabled. He’d avoided it for a while, until Elle sarcastically gave him a piece of candy and called him a good boy for saying the big scary word that was literally just a neutral way of describing her physical condition, and he took the hint. He supposed he understood a little more of her blunt, bordering on rude, nature if this was what she had to put up with.

“That too, yeah. I’m just…tired. Girls aren’t supposed to have short hair unless they either commit to butchness or compensate with makeup. I’m hard for them to classify, and people don’t like that. Girls aren’t supposed to be angry, either. I try to make eye contact when I’m supposed to, but even then, it just doesn’t look right, and that translates to some kind of unconscious ‘weird vibe’ I apparently give off. Either I don’t look people in the eye and they think I’m lying to them, or I look them in the eye and my stare is so intense I freak them out. The way I move, I’m constantly carrying pain and injury. It looks weird. It sounds weird. Normally, I don’t give a fuck, and I surround myself with people who don’t, either. And the people around me get used to it, and either learn to accept me as I am, like you, or I can stop caring, like with Kamado. But today…I’m just tired.”

Rei let out a long, shaky breath. “Gods Almighty, is this what goes through your head every time you meet someone new?”

Elle gave a brittle laugh. “It never really stops. And most people don’t bother to think about the reason, they just think I’m angry and defensive for…well, nothing. They write me off as irrational, for fighting something they refuse to see.”

“What can you even do about that?” Rei wondered.

She gave a mischievous grin. “Turn rationality against them. I’m going to walk into Kamado’s office, ask him why he doesn’t like me, act like this is just a polite invitation to resolve his grievances, and then watch him flounder to defend himself without coming off as a massive asshole.”

“And that works?” he asked incredulously.

“Absolutely.” Elle winced slightly as there was a crash from behind them, but when they looked, Laventon had wrapped Spark in a towel like a fluffy roll of sushi and was very firmly berating the pokemon on the risks of eating random things off the floor. “Knowledge is the enemy of ignorance. Honestly? Once I understood why people treated me differently, it got so much easier to deal with. Like, I’m not going to dedicate my life to being a teachable moment to everyone, but it helps sort out the ignorance from malice. Also, it makes ableism look like the completely stupid garbage it is, which is honestly fucking hilarious. You wanna watch?”

Rei held out his hand, and she clasped it in hers. “Always. I’m here for you, okay?”

Elle laughed, looking much more cheerful than she had been earlier. “Come on, let’s school this fool!”

Chapter Text

Irida was playing her flute by the shore when they found her, a haunting melody that seemed to dance in time with the waves themselves. Elle wandered forward, as if entranced, while Rei whispered something to Laventon about the pied piper that made the professor struggle not to laugh.

“Ah, youth,” he said wistfully. “Come, let’s— ah! Hello.”

Irida had noticed them, and turned to face Elle with an eyebrow raised. “Like what you see?” 

“Wait, you noticed?” Elle squeaked.

Irida laughed sheepishly. “Figured it out in hindsight, actually. Must have been a bit weird, having me hold you like when you were choking.”

“Y-yeah,” Elle said. “Yeah. I mean, you’re— uh—”

“I appreciate the ego boost, but I’m afraid you’ll have to stick to just looking,” Irida said, amused. Then, more seriously, “I truly am sorry if I crossed a line the other day. I let my personal concern override your comfort. I don’t regret keeping you from choking, but I should have backed off after that.”

“Uh— I—” Elle stuttered, grabbing her arm and looking away. “I mean. I wasn’t gonna say anything. But…it was confusing. To say the least.”

“I’m sorry about that. I won’t touch you without permission again,” Irida promised. “Don’t worry, you’re not the only one to have boundaries. But you should get in the habit of standing up for yourself, you know.”

Rei was seized with a sudden coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

“Actually, I think Elle may be a bit too good at standing up for herself,” Laventon said as delicately as he could manage. “She pulled a mutiny on Captain Cyllene.”

“You did what?!?” Irida exclaimed.

Elle buried her face in her hands. “It— it was just a minor kidnapping to prove my point and it was stupid and impulsive and I can’t believe it worked, I just wanted to go hug a garchomp or something to see the look on her face and then she passed the fuck out and my tent was right there and I got angrier and angrier…”

“You fucking disaster,” Rei said affectionately.

“Oh, fuck you!” Elle sighed, looking for all the world like the soggy glameow Rei had attempted to bathe with the professor the other day. “I’m only good at standing up for myself if I’m angry. Not if I’m pan and confused. Which have nothing to do with each other, really, I’m not confused about being pan because dear gods I absolutely will fall for anyone.”

“Well, how about this: get angry on behalf of the me who’s angry on behalf of you,” Rei suggested.

“...maybe anger isn’t the best way to go about this,” Elle mumbled. “I’ll, uh, think on it some more.”

“Good.” Irida nodded. “There is…another reason I called you here, actually. You in particular, Elle. It’s about the warden…Palina. Well, I just call her Lina.”

“You said her situation was, er, complicated, correct?” Laventon recalled.

“That’s right. Lina was a close friend of mine who was also in the running to become leader of the Pearl clan. She taught me a lot, but she’s…gotten stuck, as of late. She refuses to train a successor to the late Lord, and it’s hurting our land and its people. She has her reasons, but this cannot continue. And I need you to show her the way back, because she’s gotten lost and I can’t help her.

“You of all people should know that life isn’t fair,” Irida continued sadly, nodding to Elle. “You live your life haunted by pain, but you find meaning and dignity and support. In that cane of yours, in friends, and I want you to show my Lina the same. Listen to her story. Respect her words. Understand that this isle needs a Lord, but the successor has needs as well.”

“I….thank you. Very much,” Elle said quietly. She moved her cane in front of her, the soft tip digging into the silt. “I think I understand now why Arceus sent me here.”

There was a lot to do in the Cobalt Coastlands, and Rei quickly found himself overwhelmed by all of it. But he pushed through; after all, he had a job here, and Irida was counting on them. The professor was counting on him and Elle, and he had all sorts of new pokemon to study and no time to stop for rest.

Elle made her trip to visit Lina, and returned with the news that the young growlithe had been traumatized by his father’s death, and now Lina insisted she would let the pup grow up without such a legacy of his bloodline. But still, the fact remained, looming equally large, that the coastlands were without a guardian.

“There’s really no easy solution,” she said, twisting the grip of her cane back and forth. “I think I’m going to take a break from that problem and go digging with ursaluna a bit.”

“That’s a good plan,” Rei said breathlessly, looking up from his notes on the average height and weight of piplup. Gah, he had so much data to process— maybe if he ate while he was working instead of taking a break for lunch, he’d go faster? Or he could multitask— yeah, that would help. “I’ll do my best too, since you’re working so hard!”

Elle narrowed her eyes slightly. “Ursaluna’s the one doing all the work, and it’s really more of a comfort thing for me to go digging.”

“Still,” Rei insisted. “I— I mean, you’ve got so much slowing you down and I’m still trying to keep up, and—”

Elle whacked him on the wrist with her cane, making him drop his clipboard. “Rei.”

“What was that for?” he complained. The piplup he was weighing dropped the pebble it had been using to make itself seem heavier and scurried off into the professor’s tent.

“Bull. Fucking. Shit,” Elle said firmly. “Work smarter, not harder, and don’t use me as inspiration porn just because I’m having a good day.”

“Wait, what?” Rei took a step back, suddenly very uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. “You. You know I’m gay, ri— where did you get that idea???”

Elle looked shocked. “Wait, you— oh. Ohhhhh. Sorry, uh, that was bad phrasing on my part. I meant, don’t compare us in place of listening to your body’s needs— needs for rest, that is. I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you were being a creep, I promise.”

“Wheeeere does porn come into this?” Rei asked, uncertain if he wanted the answer.

“No, it’s like… gah. How do I explain— so basically, inspiration porn is when someone says, ‘hey, look at this disabled person holding themself to an unhealthy standard! You should emulate them because you’re a disposable resource!’ and it’s really gross and fetishy even if it’s not in a sexual way. That’s where the name comes from. It’s not actual porn, but it uses the idea of disability against us— and there’s probably something to be said about that actual nature of sex work versus how the workers are treated, but that’s really not the point. Abled or not, people deserve rest, got it? You deserve rest. You’re my friend.”

“You— you’re right,” Rei admitted. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me…”

“It’s okay. We all relapse and need reminders sometimes. But that’s what I’m here for, okay?” Elle took half a step forward, then stopped. “Can…I hug you?”

“Yeah, of course.” Rei rested his chin on Elle’s shoulder and put his arms around her, letting himself actually melt for the first time all day. There was tension digging in its claws in the slope of his back, in his clenched jaw, the heels of his feet. How had he not noticed that before?

“Go take a nap, bestie,” Elle said gently. “Cuddle some pokemon, give yourself a couple hours to breathe, and I promise you’ll feel better.”

She was right. As soon as Rei let Mizu out and told the samurott his intentions, Mizu gave a happy trill and curled up on the floor of his tent. Rei fell asleep with his blankets curled around him and his head pressed up against the soft fur of his partner pokemon, and dreamed of flying through the ocean together, to places no one had even seen, and laughing in delight at the strange creatures he met.

Chapter Text

When Rei awoke, it was in the comfortable half-light that preceded dusk, and he could hear the gentle flickering of a campfire nearby. Mizu chuffed softly, paws twitching every now and then. Rei reached out and took one of the pokemon’s paws in his hands, gently touching the webbing between Mizu’s toes, the delicate quick beneath the sharp claws, the separate pads that Elle seemed so enamored with. Toe beans, she’d called them, and refused to elaborate.

He stood and stretched, allowing himself the luxury of it. Elle had been right; he’d been too caught up in the frenzy of research to properly take care of himself. Heh, frenzy. He’d probably been just a couple hours away from Elle throwing balms of his favorite foods at him.

“Hi there, good boy,” Rei muttered, taking a moment longer to work out the stiffness before rubbing Mizu’s tummy. Mizu made a low rumbling sound, eyes closed in contentment, and wiggled his hind paws in the air. Maybe Rei wasn’t as good as Elle yet when it came to petting pokemon, but he was starting to learn more about body language this way. When he played with Spark, he learned how to identify hunting crouches; when he accidentally pulled at Sprig’s feathers, he found out what an angry or threatened bird pokemon looked like. When Elle squished Mizu’s toe beans, she discovered that there was matted fur between that needed to be trimmed to keep him from getting infections there.

Rei wasn’t exactly a scientist; he didn’t have the mind nor the education for it. He was the youngest son of a farming family, who learned to read and write and do basic arithmetic and not much more. He didn’t know what a digitigrade mammal was, nor how evolution worked, or how to isolate variables.

But he knew he liked pokemon, and he knew that Laventon loved them, and that Elle couldn’t fathom a life without them. And that was enough. If learning was the way to go, then Rei wanted to do whatever he could.

“Evening, professor,” he called, pushing open the tent flap. Mizu made a curious little noise and trotted after him, whiskers twitching eagerly.

“Ah! Good evening, my boy,” Laventon said, scrawling something down. “I take it Elle bullied you into taking a break, did she?”

Rei laughed. “I wouldn’t say bullied, but…yeah, kind of. Where’s she off to?”

“Imitating the nesting habits of murkrow, I imagine,” Laventon said wryly, pointing to a pile of rocks and a small shellos. “She dropped these off and said she was looking for more. The shellos seems to like the smooth ones best, but I may need to collaborate with a geologist for more information on what that means. I’ve been analyzing the mucus that shellos produces in order to predict their habitats, and I’ve found that the pH levels are markedly different depending on the coloring!”

“That’s great!” Rei said, having absolutely no idea what any of that meant other than something about the habitats. He knelt down and picked up one of the rocks, a smooth pebble about the size of his palm and deep green with golden stripes. “Oh, this one’s pretty. Did she say what it’s for?”

“Stress relief, actually. She really is rather like a murkrow…” Laventon pulled on a glove and delicately ran a finger down the back of the shellos. “I’ve been thinking of what she said, about relating more to pokemon than humans. What did you think of that?”

Rei shrugged and leaned up against Mizu, stroking his pokemon some more. “It’s not terribly surprising, to be honest. She’s not always right, and she’s a little pushy sometimes about integrating pokemon into our daily lives, but we could use her perspective. And she’s never put the village in danger, she’s just…challenging people.”

“Yes, perspective is…essential,” Laventon agreed. “Have you ever heard of the theory of the Renegade’s Advocate?”

“No, I haven’t,” Rei admitted. “What is it?”

“Well, it’s named for an old Celestica myth— a pokemon referred to as the Renegade. Now, the theory goes that the Renegade is evil, and a group of people wanted to kill it. Now, the Renegade’s Advocate is one person who asks them why. And this forces the group to stop and think, to make arguments and defend them, to think critically rather than as a mob. I’m sure there are sociologists and philosophers who could explain it better than I, but proponents of the Renegade’s Advocate theory say that deviance from the norm is actually good for making informed decisions, that someone should always challenge the status quo.”

“So, you’re saying when Elle asks us why we’re so afraid of, say, the bunch of shinx kittens she released in Commander Kamado’s office…” Rei began, trying to wrap his head around the theory. “That basically forced us to stop and explain that shinx discharge electricity from their claws, and then we found out that they were trying to communicate with us rather than electrocute us, and they weren’t actually malicious….that was good? Because Elle played the part of Renegade’s Advocate?”

“Precisely, my boy!” Laventon said excitedly. “Even if she’s…well, the cultural clash has been something, all right, but the dissonance in our values has forced us to question and defend everything we know. And that means progress! As a scientist, I can say she’s a delight to be around, even if as a person, she’s…well, she is something of an acquired taste, but that may be just the anxiety talking. Lovely girl, but I do wish she'd tone down the mutiny a bit. I worry, you know.”

“Huh.” Prior to this, Rei had found philosophy to be tedious and incomprehensible, a mass of tomes and arrogant old men from a land far away, out of touch with reality. But this was something that helped him better understand the world. “That’s… really cool, professor.”

“Ah, it’s just something I picked up in university,” Laventon said bashfully. “But yes, that incident with the shinx illustrates very precisely why I think understanding is essential. We are foreigners in an unknown land, and she is even more foreign to this place than us. We cannot afford to remain stagnant if we wish to thrive here— we must adapt.”

“Do you think we can?” Rei asked.

“Well, I know your generation will certainly find a way,” Laventon said. He laughed, though not unkindly, at Rei’s reaction. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. Young people hardly remember the way things used to be, and breaking tradition isn’t always so bad. Look at you, out catching pokemon that would have terrified your parents!” 

“Maybe, yeah, but the work they do in the fields would make Ma and Pa proud,” Rei countered. “The garchomp’s claws are real good at working the ground, and the budew I caught are good at making the crops bloom, and this little guy can help with the watering. Shit, we might all make it through the winter alive at this rate.”

“That we might.” Laventon was quiet for a while, watching the shellos wriggle around on the ground, making happy trilling noises. “Tell me, Rei, do you think you’d be able to convince your parents to allow pokemon to help on your farm back home?”

Rei sucked in a breath. He…hadn’t thought about his family much, to be honest. “Well, I think my cousins might like some of the cuter pokemon, and my brothers would warm up once they saw how useful the lil’ guys can be, but I dunno about my sisters. They’re scared stiff of ‘em, from too many ghost stories and not enough seein’ the real thing. And Pa… shit. He’s a lil’ quick to just use ‘em for stew, after they trampled last year’s harvest. I mean, he couldn’t just let us go hungry, but… I dunno. I wish he didn’t have ta do it, but I don’t feel bad about eatin’ to stay alive. Can’t tell Elle about it, though, ‘cause she’ll lookit me like I just murdered a baby.”

“True, true; an ecosystem will keep itself in balance,” Laventon said thoughtfully, and Rei realized he’d slipped back into his old ways of speaking. Laventon had a fancy accent, the sort of polished phrases and crisp consonants that spoke of high Galarian education, of money and knowledge. Rei was just a farmhand, an unexpected mouth to feed and a dangerous pregnancy due to his mother’s age. He’d signed up for the Galaxy Exploration Team for the rations provided, not anything noble like changing the world.

Rei cleared his throat, and with it the grit of the country. He’d left that behind him for a reason, after all. “Anyways. I’m going to grab a bite to eat and then head to bed. Is Elle still out there?”

“I haven’t seen her return; I’ll keep an eye out,” Laventon promised. “Don’t burn yourself out too quick, got it? Steady does it, and I might consider taking you on full time!”

“Really?” Rei asked excitedly.

“Well, if I can manage to steal you away from… Cyllene,” he said, face going dull as the reality sank in. “Oh. Oh dear. Ah, perhaps not officially; I’d really rather not face her accusations of poaching… but you’re a quick study and a wonderful help around the lab and if the Survey Corps can increase in number, I’d love to have a full time assistant. Now go on, before you pass out from hunger.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” Rei said politely, and swallowed hard. Laventon…wanted his help? A farmhand with little education to speak of, whose athletics and throwing arm had earned him a spot in the Survey Corps? 

…he thought he’d like that.

Chapter Text

There was a fresh pile of rocks and dirt outside Elle’s tent the next morning, and faint breathing coming from within. Somehow they’d missed crossing paths in the night, Rei supposed, and he headed out for his research like usual. Today’s subject was fresh versus salt water, and while he still didn’t understand all of it, Rei was trying to make an effort. A professor’s assistant…he wanted to live up to that.

He usually caught and released, preferring to work solely with Mizu, but when he tried to capture a growlithe to study it…well.

Heh. Things didn’t exactly go according to plan.

“Professor, this is Remus and Rhea,” Rei said upon returning to camp, face entirely serious. “They’re good dogs and I love them.”

Remus gave a happy yip and wriggled under one arm, while Rhea burped up a tiny gout of fire. Laventon stared at the two of them, looking unsure whether he wanted to laugh or just sigh.

“...two of them?” he finally said.

“Two of them,” Rei confirmed. “They really don’t like to be separated, and…I got attached.”

“Fascinating,” Laventon said, holding out a hand for Rhea to sniff. She gave a large, toothy grin before latching onto his finger. “Gah! Bad dog, bad!”

“Rhea, no biting. That’s not nice,” Rei said firmly. “Sorry, she’s just a baby. I’m gonna see if Elle has tips on training them; is she up yet?”

“Whuh?” came a vague response from the general direction of the tent. Elle stumbled out, looking strange without her headband. “Uhhhh…. Sorry, not today. Dunno when… uh, what’s the question?”

“Are you quite all right, Elle?” Laventon asked, peering at her with concern. “You don’t look well.”

“I’m not,” she said bluntly. “Fucking flare ups.”

“This isn’t time sensitive, my girl,” Laventon said gently. 

“Yeah, but I still— gah. I want to be able to help. It’s like— logically, I know that— and Lord Arcanine’s son— I’m— guh. Sorry, brain fog, it’s worse than it seems. Sounds.”

“Brain fog?” Laventon said.

“It’s like— cognitive impairment— brain machine broke?” Elle flapped her hands vaguely, looking more distressed by the minute. “It’s…scary. I can’t think properly. Thoughts won’t string together.”

“Okay, so…you’re saying that your brain is sort of limited right now?” Rei said slowly.

Elle nodded. “Yeah. Uh— like a skeleton crew. Just— be patient.”

“That sounds unpleasant,” Laventon said gently. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“I— maybe? I don’t know. Just be patient. Might take a bit. Days. Just carry on, I’ll keep in touch.” She waved vaguely and disappeared into her tent.

“Oh dear,” Laventon muttered. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that before; is there anything we can do to help?”

Rei shrugged. “I mean, besides just bringing her food and water? Not sure. But she gets pissed if you just stand around and fuss.”

“Well, why wouldn’t I? The girl’s hardly an adult, and helping us all on her own even with the constant risk of banishment!” Laventon protested. “Of course I’m going to fuss! She’s hardly told us anything about her family, and what she has is frankly horrifying.”

That, of course, was when he got bonked on the head by an apricorn.

“The girl can speak for herself,” Elle grumbled, head poking out of the tent with another apricorn at the ready. “Seriously, m-my parents are. Are in jail. My friends are good. My pokemon can— protect me. Do your fucking job.”

For the next several days, Elle mostly slept. There wasn’t much else she could do, really, and her frustration at that fact came and went. She would periodically apologize for being snappish, or sometimes scream into her pillow from the sounds of it, but mostly she was listless and vaguely frustrated. Even reading her notes aloud for someone to transcribe took a lot out of her; she could only manage a page or two before retiring to her tent.

Rei made sure she always had fresh water and enough to eat, and sometimes brought back new Pokémon to introduce her to— she loved Remus and Rhea, even if she was a bit harsh in telling off Rhea for spitting up fire.

“Sorry,” she muttered after the fact, when Rhea was whimpering near the campfire and Remus was licking his partner’s ears to comfort her. “Shouldn’t’ve snapped.”

“You’ve got fire trauma. It’s okay,” Rei assured her.

“Not an excuse,” she said. “I…think I shouldn’t see the pups. Just for a while. Tell Rhea sorry.”

Objectively, it was probably a good idea. If Elle wasn’t feeling mentally stable enough to be around a pair of bitey, fire spitting puppies without snapping at them, then waiting was for the best.

It still kind of hurt, though.

But, well, life went on. Rei collected data on the local Pokémon, and Laventon drew his conclusions on fresh versus salt water. Rei listened closely to the professor, asking question after question, trying to understand. Trying to be worthy of the faith that Laventon put in him.

News arrived from Jubilife that the Medical Corps had found a new medical treatment— refined from the scales of a gabite, and a powerful antibiotic with other effects that hadn’t yet been studied.

Remus and Rhea learned a few basic commands, Mizu reluctantly adopted the two, and Rei played with them in the evenings, letting them dart around the camp and giving them a firm no whenever one of them tried chewing on something they shouldn’t. He and Laventon managed to completely fill out the pokedex entry for Hisuian growlithe, and somehow Rei ended up the co-author of a paper on the importance of pairing to the species.

“Y’can’t just put my name on there!” he protested. “All I did was help catch the lil’ guys! Just ‘cause we used the buddy system back home doesn’t mean anything special! I’m just… a farm kid who happens to be good at catching pokemon here. I didn’t get a fancy education like you.”

“My boy, don’t put yourself down like that,” Laventon said firmly. “Your perspective has been absolutely essential on the matter.”

“I’m not a scientist,” Rei insisted. “I’m trying my best t’ learn and all, but I don’t even get all these terms you keep throwing around. I don’t get why academic papers have all these fancy rules, I dunno what a noun is or a verb clause, and I can’t be whatever it is y’ want me to be. I’m sorry.”

“Ah,” Laventon said quietly. “No. I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized it was…making you feel this way. I never meant to insinuate that you were any lesser for your upbringing.”

Rei shrugged, his anger exhausted. It left him feeling…oddly empty. “You got this fancy university education and all these big words y’keep throwin’ around, and I’m just someone from the boonies. I didn’t sign up to change the world, or revolutionize the way we view pokemon. And sure, I’m glad ‘n all, but I’m not that great.”

“Rei…” Laventon twisted his hands in his lap. “In all honesty? I’ve been envious of your upbringing. It’s given you much more practical skill than I could ever hope for; you came to us with knowledge of how to keep pokemon away from your crops, how to safely handle them— er, wrangling, I believe you called it— despite your lack of formal education, you’ve picked up new concepts intuitively, and it’s been a delight to work with you. Meanwhile, I can barely handle Spark and Sprig when they try eating croutons around the laboratory. Your upbringing and accent are nothing to be ashamed of, Rei. You bring valuable perspective to the table too.”

“But I’m so far behind— oh. Shit, I’m doing it again, aren’t I.” Rei sighed. “I’m sorry, professor. It’s a lot to learn, and a lot to do, and I get frustrated sometimes. But I think I needed t’ hear that. I’ll try to slow down and do things one day at a time, ‘kay?”

“Thank you. And I will be patient, and learn from you as well.”

Chapter Text

After an entire week of being largely confined to camp, eyes dull and sentences clipped, Elle finally emerged from her tent and pushed Walpurgisnacht’s cracked keystone into Rei’s hands.

“Here,” she said in a tired voice devoid of inflection. “She can help. And explain.”

“Wait, explain what?” Rei asked, but Elle just pointed tiredly to the pokemon and retreated to her tent once more.

…shit, she was doing really bad, huh.

“Uh. Hi,” Rei said awkwardly to the rock in his arms. He still was not used to the fact that this pokemon could talk, and was some kind of soul vortex besides. “Walpurgisnacht, right?”

“̶͇̈́Ị̸̎ṅ̶̦ď̶̝e̶̬͛ḛ̷̄d̵̳̓.̶͚͊ ̶̠̽T̴͒ͅh̶͔͒a̶͍͆ť̸͓ ̷̟͂ī̶̯s̸̺̔ ̸̣̕w̶̧͆h̷̯̃ä̵̺́ṯ̷̇ ̸̻̓w̷̭͌ĕ̷̩ ̵͈̾a̶̭̚r̵͕̾e̵̜͝ ̷̱̎c̷̝̆a̴̩l̶̛̳ľ̷̖e̴̥ḑ̷̋,̶̛̥”̵̰̒ they said. Their voice sounded like multiple people speaking at once, and sent a faint shiver down Rei’s spine.

“We, like the royal we?”

“̷͈̿N̷̪̒o̴̙̿,̶̰ ̷̻͌w̶͙̐e̵̬ ̶͇͝å̷̢ṣ̵̊ ̷̡̾i̶̛̗n̶͍̽ ̵̰̃p̷͍l̵͕ȗ̶̼ŕ̵͓ǎ̶̩l̴͎̀ ̶̧͐w̴̺̆ë̸͔́.̷̨͑ ̵̻̇W̶͕͌ê̵̬ ̷̣ă̸̻r̵̦͊ȇ̵̻ ̴͓͋s̵̩͑p̸̡̿i̶̦̒r̵͍̓i̵̞͘t̷̯͒o̶͔͂m̷̤͑b̶̯̉,̵̱̔”̸̱̏ the pokemon said simply. “̷̗̈́W̴̺é̷͔ ̷͈̃ȧ̷̺r̸̗̈́ĕ̵̯ ̴̺̊m̵̳̋a̶̡̚n̸͔͠y̶͔.̴͖̌ ̵̨O̸̻͑n̷̗̈́ë̷̡́ ̶̤̒h̴̃͜ù̷̥n̶̰͝d̶̬̽ŗ̷̛ê̸̫d̵̜̓ ̴͓̈́a̷̪̔n̵͓̐d̷̖͒ ̴͓̐e̴͙̍ḯ̸͕ĝ̷͉ḥ̴̇t̶̗͒,̶̢͒ ̷̰́ţ̸̛ö̷̬́ ̶͚̓b̷̤̒e̴̛̞ ̵̳p̵̬̿r̴̢͆è̴̺c̵̭̽i̶͈͋s̶̟̈́é̵̘.̷̲͠”̸̻͘

“Doesn’t it get crowded in there?” he wondered. He’d never heard of such a thing before, but he was learning new things every day and couldn’t find it in himself to be surprised.

The Pokémon made a noise almost like laughter, if the dead could laugh. “̶D̷o̵e̵s̵n̶’̴t̴ ̸i̸t̴ ̴g̷e̶t̷ ̷l̶o̴n̴e̴l̴y̷ ̸i̸n̸ ̸t̵h̵e̵r̸e̸,̵ ̷o̴n̸l̵y̵ ̴y̸o̴u̵ ̶a̵n̸d̴ ̶n̷o̸ ̵o̶n̴e̷ ̸e̵l̴s̴e̴ ̶i̸n̴ ̷t̵h̵a̸t̶ ̷b̷o̶d̸y̴?̵ ̶C̷o̴m̷e̵,̷ ̸w̸e̶ ̴h̶a̸v̴e̵ ̵w̴o̴r̵k̴ ̷t̸o̵ ̸d̴o̶.̶ ̷M̷y̶ ̸h̷u̶m̴a̵n̷ ̶h̷a̸s̵ ̴i̷n̵f̸o̵r̶m̷e̸d̸ ̸m̸e̶ ̶t̷h̸a̸t̶ ̸s̶h̴e̴ ̵w̵i̴s̷h̵e̵s̷ ̵t̴o̷ ̵b̸e̴ ̵a̶b̴l̸e̶ ̴t̵o̷ ̸c̷r̵o̵s̵s̵ ̴t̷h̷e̴ ̷s̷e̵a̴ ̸f̵r̸e̶e̵l̵y̷.̴ ̷S̸h̸e̸ ̵w̷i̵l̷l̸ ̶l̸i̵k̷e̵l̷y̴ ̶b̵e̶ ̶u̵n̶a̵b̴l̶e̴ ̴t̸o̸ ̶i̸n̵v̶e̵s̵t̵i̶g̶a̷t̷e̶ ̷F̷i̸r̵e̸s̵p̷i̷t̴ ̴I̴s̷l̵a̵n̸d̷ ̸w̴i̵t̷h̷ ̶y̶o̴u̶,̵ ̷b̴u̷t̷ ̷w̶a̶t̷e̷r̵ ̸t̵r̸a̴n̵s̶p̵o̶r̸t̴a̶t̶i̸o̶n̵ ̸w̶o̷u̶l̵d̴ ̵b̴e̵ ̵m̸o̶s̵t̷ ̴b̶e̶n̸e̴f̴i̵c̵i̶a̵l̵.̴”̸“

Isn’t Elle the only one with a Celestica flute, though?” Rei pointed out. “I mean. We’re kinda waiting for her t’ get better right now, and she’s not in great shape.”

“̶W̸e̷ ̸a̸r̵e̶ ̶a̴w̶a̸r̵e̷,̵ ̷y̶e̵s̷.̴”̷ Walpurgisnacht emerged from the stone and began to spin, first one way and then the other. Rei gently set the spiritomb on the ground. “̸W̴e̷ ̷h̸a̷v̸e̷ ̵d̸i̵s̸c̸u̸s̶s̶e̶d̴ ̴t̸h̸i̴s̸,̷ ̵a̷n̴d̶ ̴s̸h̶e̸ ̵b̸e̷l̵i̶e̴v̷e̶s̷ ̷t̸h̵a̶t̴ ̸s̷h̵e̴ ̶w̴i̷l̴l̴ ̸b̵e̵ ̸y̸o̶u̴r̵ ̷r̶i̶d̶e̷,̴ ̶a̸s̶ ̶s̷h̸e̷ ̷p̷u̵t̶ ̴i̷t̶.̷ ̶B̴u̵t̴ ̴f̷i̵r̵s̸t̴,̶ ̴w̴e̵ ̴m̸u̸s̷t̷ ̵f̴i̵n̷d̸ ̶B̷a̶s̴c̷u̷l̵e̴g̸i̸o̴n̸’̵s̷ ̵w̷a̸r̷d̷e̸n̴,̷ ̶i̴n̴ ̷o̷r̶d̶e̵r̸ ̸t̸o̷ ̸d̸i̵s̸c̵u̶s̴s̵ ̴m̶a̵t̴t̷e̷r̵s̷.̶”̶

Basculegion’s warden turned out to be a nervous tempered man named Iscan, who was absolutely terrified of dusclops. This wasn’t great, seeing as he needed one to make his pokemon’s favorite food, but Rei managed to catch one after quite a bit of fumbling around.

His battling style did not mesh well at all with Elle’s pokemon, he’d discovered. Walpurgisnacht had no idea how to use agile or strong styles, and insisted on keeping a close eye on him the entire battle— good for a stationary trainer, perhaps, but not so much for Rei.

Still, he’d committed to working together, and shoved down his frustration for later. A few smoke bombs, a couple attempts at hypnosis, and a heavy ball were enough to bring the dusclops down.

Huh. He’d have to see if he could do an experiment with the professor. What would be the setup, though?

“Independent variable is…dark pulse, so the dependent variable is the one that depends on it— the taste? But that needs t’ be quantifiable— okay, so a survey…” Rei muttered to himself as he made the trek back to Iscan’s tent.

“̵O̵f̸ ̸w̵h̵a̶t̸ ̸d̸o̶ ̴y̸o̸u̵ ̵s̶p̶e̵a̸k̴?̷”̶

“Just— Professor Laventon’s teaching me more about the scientific process, and I’m trying to apply it,” Rei explained. “The idea is, everyone should be able t’ do the same experiment and get similar results, because you share what you learned with a lotta people, and you don’t want room for mistakes. ”

“̵I̵n̸t̷e̵r̷e̶s̵t̶i̶n̵g̵,̵”̷ the pokemon hummed.

“It is! And it’s incredible because— science is nothing like I expected! Laventon’s superstitious as an unlucky mirror, has these weird little shrines— did you know he keeps a pair of shed claws around whenever I research bug types?” Rei gushed. “I always thought of it as some impersonal shit, but he’s passionate as hell and we gotta get creative with the limited equipment!”

“̷I̷’̵m̸ ̶g̴l̸a̷d̷ ̴y̵o̷u̸’̶r̴e̷ ̵h̵a̸v̸i̵n̴g̶ ̷f̸u̶n̴ ̴i̷n̸ ̴t̵h̵e̴ ̸p̶u̴r̷s̸u̸i̸t̸ ̶o̶f̷ ̴k̵n̴o̷w̸l̴e̷d̶g̵e̵,̵”̷ Walpurgisnacht said politely, and it was then that Rei realized they’d just been humoring him.

…yeah. Pokemon were definitely different than humans. He’d talk to Elle about this later, then.

One anxiety-ridden cooking session later, Rei finally had a treat for basculegion and some ideas on how to experiment with pokemon attacks as seasoning. Poison type moves of any sort were out, obviously, but this was definitely something to study with the professor!

“Thanks very much,” Rei said, making sure the dusclops was securely away in its pokeball, along with Walpurgisnacht in hers, before he took the ball of food. “I’ll grab Elle so she can bond with Basculegion, then!”

“Well, meet me at Ginkgo Landing,” Iscan said, squinting at the horizon. “Huh. Did you folks move camp or something?”

“Not that I know of?”

“Ah, must just be the paranoia. Looks like Lina and the pups are out and about; tell them hi for me!”

“Wait, you refer to the warden as Lina too?” Rei called. Aaaaand he was scurrying away. Well, no time to address that weirdness, he’d just pay his respects to Palina and be on his way to give the news to Elle and Laventon.

Of course, nothing could ever be that simple, because he’d just started to ask after the pups when the Miss Fortune sisters showed up.

“What do you two want,” Rei said, instinctively reaching for Mizu’s pokeball.

Clover laughed. “Oh, nothing like what you’re thinking, silly boy. We’re just here to air our grievances to the warden— after all, we live here in Hisui too, don’t we? Isn’t your clan supposed to protect this entire vast land?”

“What makes you think—” Rei started, but Palina held up a hand to silence him.

“Rei, stay back. This woman is correct; she has every right to bring her complaints to me, and I am obligated to do whatever is in my power to address them.”

“The Miss Fortune sisters have literally done nothing but steal and attack us!” he protested.

“Silence. These are our ways.” With that, Palina folded her hands behind her back and asked, rather sharply, “What do you want?”

“What we want?” Coin raised an eyebrow, smirking. “See, it’s been nice and all, having free reign over the coastlands, but we’re getting tired of this. Why not give us the official position of warden, since you can’t even do your job properly? We’ll collect taxes and fight off threats and everything.”

“The position of warden is not something to be thrown around so lightly!” Palina shot back. “I have been doing everything in my power—”

“You haven’t done shit!”

“I love growlithe more than the likes of you could ever imagine!” The warden strode forward, head held high. “If our tradition demands that I train the pup to take on the role of his father, after watching the late Lord Arcanine drown, then I will defy tradition!”

“You can’t afford to defy tradition, and you can’t protect your people, either! You’re useless, and it’s time someone cast you aside like the worthless garbage you are.” Clover released her abomasnow. “Let’s go, and use Leaf Storm!”

“Toxicroak, now!” Coin demanded. Rei made a dive for the smaller growlithe, curling his arms around the pup and wincing as razor sharp leaves swirled around him, slicing into his hair, his coat, nicking one ear and sending a warm flow of blood tricking down his neck. He could hardly hear anything over the wind and chaos; the only constant was the pokemon in his arms, warm and trembling.

“It’s okay, little guy. I got you,” Rei muttered, tucking in his head. The little growlithe whimpered— gods, he sounded a little bit like Rhea. Finally, the leaf storm subsided, but when it did— Coin was gone, and with her, the larger growlithe. 

“Mizu, let’s go!” Rei yelled, sending forth his pokeball. The samurott roared, paws digging into the sand and ready to fight.

“What, you think defeating me in battle will do you any good?” Clover taunted. “I’ve got potions to spare, and I don’t mind fighting dirty.”

“Rei,” Palina said sharply. “Don’t start a fight unless you’ve got something to gain by winning it. Where’s the third sister? Isn’t she always with them?”

“Oh, Charm?” Clover smirked. “She just had a little errand to run, to pick up that troublesome little pokemon whisperer. We’ll need some sort of incentive to convince this little one to evolve, after all, and people say she’s got a way with the beasts.”

“Shit,” Rei swore. He tore across the fields to the Galaxy Team’s camp, but in his heart he knew it was too late.

Chapter Text

Elle was gone. She’d put up a fight, it looked like; the fabric of her tent was impaled with a slowly melting blast of ice the size of a small tree, and there were droplets and splatters of blood on her blankets. Amongst the signs of the struggle, Rei found her hair ornament.

Sprig and Spark were safe in their pokeballs, at least, and Laventon… Rei found him unconscious under the table, a broken pen in one hand and his notebook crumpled carelessly beneath him.

“Professor— professor Laventon, sir! Sir, are you—” It was then that Rei noticed the claw marks on the back of the man’s neck, slightly purplish and oozing. Oh, that did not look good. Rei gently turned the professor over, inhaling sharply at the flush of his skin.

“Ah…Rei?” Laventon said blearily. “What…where’s Elle?”

“They took her,” Rei said urgently, fumbling in his pack for a pecha berry. “And growlithe too— the wrong one, but that’s not going to stop them for long. Here— this should help draw out the poison.”

“I— yes. Indeed.” Laventon’s eyes blinked and refocused. “Who’s this?”

“Warden Palina,” the woman said stiffly. “I intend to retrieve both my charge and yours, don’t worry. Rei and I are headed to Iscan’s, and then Firespit Island; it’s the only place that makes sense for those sisters to go. Will you be safe on your own?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Laventon said. Bold words for someone who was lying facedown on the ground just a minute ago and looked too feverish to walk. He took the pecha berry from Rei’s hand and smacked it against the back of his neck with a wet squelch. “Rei, Palina, I know you two can do it. This has gone on long enough.”

“Yes,” Palina said in an oddly distant voice. “I suppose it has.”

See, the Miss Fortune sisters may have been bold, but they weren’t stupid. The distinctive hairstyles and face paint, the boisterous greetings of their victims, it was all about branding. And when Charm wanted to, she could blend in well enough to keep up with the latest gossip.

A girl with a strange hair ornament, who worked with the galaxy expedition team and had a special way with Pokémon, as if she was one herself. Some said she was seething with righteous anger. Others said she was shy and meek. She spoke softly, sometimes with a stutter, and wasn’t afraid to use her cane as a weapon. She could calm the rages of any creature, and approached them without fear. She fell out of the sky— from the future, from another world, the whispers said, and her kindness had earned her the favor of both clans. 

That’s the one who’d electrocuted Charm. So it was the perfect revenge, wasn’t it? One way or another, they needed to keep the future lord under control. So why not have a little payback?

Not that it had been easy— the little fucker bit her, and her Alomomola was crazy strong before Charm managed to wrangle that thing back inside it’s pokeball. Charm got her under control eventually, but not before learning the hard way that the brat would bite everything in reach if she wasn’t gagged, and had a nasty habit of trying to escape if left unsupervised. It was almost impressive until Clover caught onto the fact that she was dislocating her thumbs.

It started out well enough— Charm met up with her sisters in the cove they were using as their hideout, and somehow the Pokémon whisperer…worked her magic. Made little purring noises at the growlithe and curled around it as much as she could with her hands tied behind her back. The Pokémon tried nibbling at her ropes, whining in concern, but Coin gave it a good smack upside the head.

“That’s enough, lordling. She’ll go free once she does her job.” 

The Pokémon whisperer growled low in her throat— Charm didn’t even know humans could make those sounds— and Charm ignored her in favor of loading her and the growlithe onto the back of Coin’s lapras.

The Pearl clan may have had basculegion, and of course there was the tried and true method of stepping on bibarel to cross over water, but the Miss Fortunes? They had something better for their purposes. Lapras may not have been able to move as fast as basculegion, or jump as high, but its shell was suited for carrying multiple passengers. 

In this case, a trio of sisters and their new prizes. Charm stepped onto Lapras’ shell, a Pokémon under one arm and a human under the other. Frankly, the human was a lot more likely to bite, and managed to slip off her gag a few miles away from the shore.

“What the hell even— what do you— the, the job,” the Pokémon whisperer said desperately. “What’s the job? Why did you—“

“Oh, shut her up, will you?” Clover complained. “I’m trying to navigate here.”

Charm leaned back, folding her arms over her chest. “I’m not getting bitten again. She probably carries all sorts of weird foreign diseases.”

“Does it really matter?” Coin said, flipping her namesake between her fingers. “We aren’t going to need her freaky Pokémon whispering magic that long.”

“It’s— not magic?”

“Sure it isn’t,” Charm drawled, folding her legs. “Pokémon whisperer. They say you’ve got some strange power over the beasts, you know.”

“My name,” she said fiercely, “is Elle. Anyone could do it. I’m not that special, I just— my experiences and my choices. That’s all I am.”

Charm sighed. “Look, what we want from you is simple enough: you make this growlithe evolve and respect us as the new wardens, and we let you go. Magic or experience, whatever, so long as it gets done.”

“Wh— I can’t just— that’s not how it works!” she protested, shoulders hunched. Charm grabbed her by the coat and yanked her forward to find that she’d been trying to use a sharp edge of Lapras’ shell to cut through the ropes on her wrists. Clever little shit.

Coin shrugged. “You’ll change your tune once we get there, I think.”

“Get where?”

“Firespit island? Big fuckin’ volcano off the coast where fire types go to evolve?” Charm frowned; Elle looked…genuinely distressed by that. Well, granted, people usually were pretty distressed by mugging and/or kidnapping, and she’d mumbled something about ‘not again’ earlier, but this was different. The lordling’s ears folded back, and it climbed into her lap, licking her neck with a whimper. Her eyes were wide and fearful, and then suddenly rolled back as she slumped forward.

“Oh, come on,” Charm complained, shaking the Pokémon whisperer by the collar. “Stop being dramatic; it’s…uh. Hey. Hey, come on, snap out of it!”

“What’s she doing now,” Clover said flatly.

Charm pried open the brat’s eyes, just to make sure. “She’s…not responding. Sisters? We may have a problem.”

That problem was that the Pokémon whisperer had caught sight of Firespit Island and passed out from fright. Oh, this did not bode well.

Rei wasn’t sure how the hell Iscan managed it— something about basculegion opening its heart to him? Whatever it was, the Pokémon begrudgingly allowed him to ride it, without a flute or food.

“I’ll meet you there,” Rei promised, still finding his balance atop the basculegion. By all logic, he should have fallen from basculegion’s scales, but something kept him attached, with nothing more than a lingering feeling of being off kilter.

“Godspeed,” Iscan said seriously. “Li— er, Palina and I will catch up.”

That nickname again. The warden nodded, growlithe by her side. “Be careful. Those three are dangerous.”

Rei made a grim expression that could charitably be called a smile. “You kidding me? I grew up scaring wild ‘mons away with rocks ‘n shit all the time. And now I got all this fancy new ammo? Those bandits won’t know what hit ‘em.”

Before he had time to doubt his own words, he was off, skimming across the ocean. Basculegion seemed to grow more attuned to Rei’s mood and movements as they rode, or perhaps Rei just got used to it. Smoke bombs, scatterbangs, sticky globs— and the knife Cyllene had given him. He hoped he wouldn’t need it— it was one thing to butcher a ‘mon with Pa, but another entirely to use on a person.

Cyllene had grown up in a world where such things were necessary. But Rei wanted to create a new world, it if this was a test of his ideals, so be it.

Chapter Text

He found Elle, finally, in the shadow of the volcano. Tied up under an overhang, eyes closed and brow furrowed, occasionally flinching. Dried blood hung from the corner of her mouth, and she looked…vulnerable without her hair ornament.

The bandits hadn’t yet noticed Rei— too busy yelling at the captured growlithe a short distance away. He crept from one piece of cover to the next, footsteps muffled by the stealth spray he’d applied earlier.

The oldest of the bandits— Charm, the one Elle had attacked— let out a frustrated sigh. “The fuck is the point of getting that brat if she can’t even look at the volcano without passing out?”

“Well, if you weren’t being such a stubborn bitch about this place,” Clover started.

“Well, maybe if you’d fucking listened to me, you’d know this was the only place for fire types around here to evolve, and he needs to become a Lord to— oh no you don’t!” Rei flinched, but Charm only stalked over to the growlithe and picked it up by the scruff. The Pokémon whimpered, pawing desperately in Elle’s direction. “Knock it off and evolve already if you want to help her, then! Aren’t you supposed to be some sort of guardian? What happened to that noble bloodline you’re supposed to have?”

Rei couldn’t watch anymore. “Mizu, Remus, Rhea, let’s go,” he ordered, releasing them in turn. “HEY! 

“Oh, looks like we missed one,” Coin cooed, looking thoroughly nonchalant about the fact that an intruder had suddenly appeared in their midst. “You want a battle, then? Three on one seems fair enough to me.”

(It wasn’t.)

Remus and Rhea held their own well enough against Clover’s abomasnow, at least, but they were puppies. They were just puppies, and they’d never been in a serious fight like this before. Mizu was experienced and strong, but he was sweating from the heat of the volcano, and getting battered pretty badly by both the toxicroak and gengar.

Clover sprayed a potion on her fallen abomasnow— shit, shit, Rei was out of potions— Coin had grabbed the growlithe again— Charm looked ready to push aside the gengar and brawl herself, pushing up her sleeves to reveal multiple bite marks seeping blood—

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” 

Rei let out a short sigh of relief. Oh, good, Palina was finally here— oh. Holy shit, she looked pissed.

Gone was the soft spoken woman who’d bristled at the idea of her precious growlithe ever becoming a lord. She didn’t cradle the Pokémon in her arms like a child, but stalked across the clearing with growlithe at her heels. Iscan followed her, looking nervous but mirroring her posture, and on her other side was Irida, shoulders thrust back and anger smoldering in her gaze.

“Palina?” Rei asked. The growlithe at her side— the true future lord— yipped an affirmative. “I thought— isn’t growlithe afraid of the water?”

“Yes, but even so, he found his courage,” Palina said firmly. “And I would be a fool to ignore that. This has gone on long enough. These cowards were right about one thing: I have been neglecting my duties as the warden, and it’s time I stepped up and did something about the land I’m obligated to protect.”

“And how exactly do you plan to do that?” Coin asked, holding up the squirming growlithe by the scruff. “We’ve got your precious lord, and a spare hostage. Toxicroak, if you will? We’ve dragged the brat all the way here, so let’s get some use out of her to show that we’re serious.”

The pokemon croaked, springing into action towards Elle— but not fast enough. The growlithe at Palina’s side leapt through the air, a blur of orange and gold, engulfed in flames— and the flames turned black and suddenly it was no longer a growlithe, but an arcanine that slammed into the toxicroak with a mighty roar.

Rei had seen a noble frenzied. But righteous anger was something else entirely. And as Coin dropped the growlithe in her hand, stuttering something about how it wasn’t right, Clover called for her abomasnow to retreat. Lord Arcanine howled and pursued them.

Irida offered Rei a small smile. “Go take care of your friend; Lina has this under control.”

Palina. Lina. That same nickname. The fact that both of them were holding her hands, Iscan on one side and Palina on the other. Maybe it was a stretch— holding hands wasn’t a sole indication of romantic connection— but—

Shit. Not the time. Rei nodded tersely and recalled Mizu, rushing over to Elle. She was breathing, at least, but…gah. She didn’t look good, and frankly the sooner they got out of here, the better. He struggled to untie her for a few minutes before finally giving up and cutting the ropes with the knife Cyllene had given him. Well, that was one use for it. He found Elle’s pokeballs a short distance away, each of them locked in a strange wooden device with a latch that seemed designed to keep them from opening on their own.

“I gotcha, bestie,” he muttered over the sounds of Lord Arcanine tossing around the gengar like a chew toy. He scooped up Elle and stood, watching the fight— if it could even be called that, one-sided as it was. Right now, it was more like Clover was frantically trying to load everyone onto her lapras while Lord Arcanine played with his new toys. “Let’s get you home.”

Just because it was over didn’t mean they could relax. Or, well, they relaxed as much as they could with Elle’s pokemon patrolling the perimeter of camp, occasionally stopping by to hover over their trainer, but Rei still felt slightly sick and twitchy and exhausted. He sat on a bench outside of Professor Laventon’s tent, wondering if any raging alpha had ever scared him so much. He didn’t think so. Alphas weren’t malicious. Aggressive, sure, but they growled as a warning. If something out in the wilds absolutely wanted to kill you, it wouldn’t growl first.

Elle woke up about an hour after their return, stumbling out of her tent and chugging two bottles full of water in a row before she walked up to Rei and shoved her forehead into his shoulder. It was a very pokemon-like mannerism, but in this case it only drove home the fact that her hair ornament was missing.

“You doing okay?” Rei asked, patting her lightly on the head. His hand still felt quite unlike it belonged to him.

“Hnnnngh,” she muttered. “Not sure. Fuck, that sucked, and I fucking hate volcanos. Never ends well. I am never going near Hoenn and their edgy ring of fire.”

“How much…do you remember?” he asked hesitantly.

Elle twisted her spine with a crack and sat down beside him. “Bits and pieces. It gets hazy. I was napping with Lola, and then there was a noise, and then I… that’s when things start to blur together. God, if Kamado has the fucking audacity to insinuate that me getting taken was my fault for having a flare up, I’m going to bite that man’s throat and shake him around like a squeaky toy. Remus and Rhea can chew on him when I’m done.”

“You bite people a lot, huh,” Rei said quietly.

“Only the ones who deserve it. I think it was Charm, but sometimes I remember one of the other sisters attacking me there, and I don’t trust my memory. It’s…you know how I said I had brain damage? My brain is…hardwired to erase or modify painful shit. I’ve got ways around it, but still not great.”

“It was Charm,” Rei confirmed, unsure how to respond to that. “I fought off Clover and Coin on the beach, and it was Charm’s gengar that poisoned Laventon.”

“They…took me to Firespit Island, right?” Elle said hesitantly. “They…mentioned it, and I saw it up ahead, and I just— I think I blacked out or something. Heh. Probably for the best.”

“Yeah. You were…unconscious when I found you there.” Rei swallowed hard. “I’m still— fuck, Elle, they attacked the camp. They kidnapped you and they hurt the professor and I know I’m not that strong but I should have been there!”

“Why? So you could get hurt too?”

“Better for me to get hurt than—” Rei looked away, choking on a sudden emotion. “I hate doing nothing. I hate being helpless and weak. If I’d been there, at least…”

“You’re not a martyr, and you shouldn’t want to be,” she said quietly. “Pain isn’t repentance. Suffering isn’t redemption. Look at me, Rei, really look at me. I bleed just the same as you do, and it doesn’t mean anything special. It just. Fucking. Sucks.”

He did as she asked, and saw a friend— who’d been kidnapped for a hopeless cause, by a trio of bandits who caught her off guard. A dribble of blood still flaking from her lip, ankles and knees darkened with bruises, hair askew.

“I keep trying to find some reason this happened,” he admitted.

“It doesn’t need to mean anything,” she whispered. “It’s okay. I’m okay now. There’s no greater narrative, there’s no meaning to any of it. Not when people hurt each other. It doesn’t mean anything. ”

“If you believe that, then what’s the point of anything?”

“Healing each other,” she said simply. “Finding each other. Choosing to love. Not making the choice, but falling in love anyways. Learning to live again after a lifetime asleep.”

“I’m glad I saved you,” he said. “Is— is that weird?”

Elle shrugged uncomfortably, rubbing the abrasions from her wrists. “I…honestly? It was nice to be saved for once. I feel like I have to be stronger than anyone else to prove I’m not worthless, and I— I— when I was little, no one ever—“

“Hey. Elle, can I hug you?”

“Please,” she whispered.

Rei held her, as she trembled and cried, and he rubbed small circles into her back just like his Ma used to do when he was young. The landscape of her burn scar was rough and uneven beneath his fingers, and he wondered if anyone had saved her back then. Probably not. 

He’d been trying to respect her wishes; to see her as a complicated person who was strong and kind and disabled all at once. But he hadn’t imagined she would want or need saving. And maybe that was a personal vice of his, that he associated the need to be saved with weakness, with a fundamental moral failure, that he regarded it with disgust. He would work on that. He would do better. He wouldn’t be like the ones who’d hurt his friend.

“I gotcha. Y’ don’t have to be strong. And I’m not gonna look down on you just ‘cause you needed saving.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

Chapter Text

Somehow, life went back to normal. Or as normal as it could be, because that was the thing— life did not stop for calamity.  It found a way around, like a river parting for a stone. And so the three of them— Laventon, Rei, and Elle— picked up the pieces and carried on, a little battered but moving forward nonetheless.

Elle, as it turned out, had a lot more medical experience than she let on— which made sense, given how often she patched herself up. She disinfected Laventon’s wound and made a few poultices and creams— Laventon, naturally, wanted to use each scratch as an individual test site to see which combinations of berries would best draw out the poison, and was shocked and delighted to learn of antiseptic. He wrote his academic papers and conclusions sitting down, with poultice slathered over the back of his neck and daily reminders to change his bandages. 

Rei was….well. He wasn’t physically hurt, but the experience had left him shaken, and he often found his sleep disturbed by intrusive thoughts of invaders, of helplessness and absence. He woke up in the night sometimes and made a lap around camp, checking to make sure everyone was safe. He stitched up the tents with a shaking hand and trained near the camp, getting progressively more reckless and desperate in battle until Mizu’s concerned whines made him realize this was getting nowhere. 

For the first time since leaving home, he missed working the fields. He missed having something to take care of. Maybe it was fate, then, that he found an abandoned pokemon egg and decided to take it in. It would be good for him, he decided. And whatever hatched from the egg, it would help with Laventon’s research.

Elle gathered up her bedding in a fit of productivity and brought it to the stream to scrub away the sweat and dirt and blood from the attack, and Rei followed her without question. They worked in silence for a while, and he wasn’t sure if her breathing was shaky from the exertion or the memory.

“Can you stitch this up?” she finally said, holding a sopping wet blanket up and almost dropping it from the weight. It was not Galarian wool, nor the silk that was so heavily prized here, but a finely made quilt in Diamond Clan colors. “I don’t— Adaman said it was a token of thanks since he found out from Volo that I collected blankets, and it’s made entirely by hand and I— I—”

“I’ll fix it right up, don’t worry,” Rei said gently, taking it from her hands to inspect the damage. It truly must have been the work of a master craftsman, and that made it all the more incredible; the Clans guarded their finer wares rather jealously. “Adaman must really like ya, huh.”

“It’s not like that,” she muttered, and he didn’t push. “I think the clans just like me better than most of the Jubilife folks because I’m not afraid of pokemon. I really don’t mind if they use me to further alliances. That’s good, after all. But…this was a gift and I don’t want it to be ruined because of some stupid fucking bandits!”

“I’ll do my best,” Rei promised. “You want me to take care of following up with Palina and Arcanine, then? I know you’re probably…not up for much fire right now.”

To his surprise, she shook her head. “No. Arcanine’s a bigger, fluffier boy now. I wanna see him and thank him. Besides, I…it’s not fire types I have a problem with so much as external flames. Like Maddie.”

“I’ll take extra special care of her, then,” he promised. “You…really love her, huh.”

“I do. She’s saved my life multiple times, gave me the freedom to travel the region like I hadn’t before…I wish it wasn’t like this. I wish I’d never remembered why I’m scared of fire. But now I’m just…I just live with it.”

Rei couldn’t focus on his research, not with this newfound anxiety, and while Elle occasionally left camp, she didn’t get much of anything done either. She mostly just watched the local Pokémon, and Rei would tag along for— well. His own comfort, really. They’d talk about anything and nothing at all, about homesickness and recovery and what the future held. The days passed in a strange haze, as they watched and waited for the day when they’d be escorted back to Jubilife by the security corps.

“I’ve got kind of a weird question,” Rei said one evening as they watched the bidoof building their nests by the river. “But I promise it’s genuine.”

“Hm?” Elle blinked drowsily at him, her pachirisu draped around her shoulders. “Yeah, go ahead and ask.”

Rei took a breath— gods, he hoped this didn’t come off as insensitive— and asked it. “If you could magically cure yourself, no strings attached, would you do it?”

She gave a short laugh. “Gods. I never explained exactly how I got the scar on my back, did I? Literally a— hm. I think the closest equivalent here would be a warden? A respected elder with religious significance, who works underneath the leader— well. I was…seven or eight, at the time. And he had this idea that he could burn the sickness out of me. Unsurprisingly, child abuse did not solve any of my very legitimate problems.”

“Holy shit,” Rei breathed, unsure what to say. How to even respond. Every word, every consolation, felt empty compared to the magnitude of what she’d told him. “That’s…that’s seriously messed up.”

“Yeah. I tried everything— whole lot of shitty doctors, invasive testing, dubiously consensual heart surgery, pseudoscience— but you know what really helped me? When I found a doctor who didn’t even mention a cure or diagnosis. They said that right now, the best thing to do was learn to manage my symptoms to improve my quality of life. So I did. I went online, ordered my first cane, and somehow stumbled into a disabled community forum. And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t alone. I saw my experiences reflected in other people and finally had the words for them, had a way to express the pain I didn’t even realize I was carrying.

“Once I started taking care of myself, a lot of the peripheral symptoms disappeared. I got a shower chair and an electric toothbrush, and stopped getting infections from my shitty hygiene. I got my groceries delivered sometimes and my eating got better. I cooked alongside my pokemon, I gained weight, and started regulating my body temperature a lot better. And from there, my doctor was actually able to treat me. I’m basically on a cocktail of drugs to manage my pain, heart rate, blood pressure, hold my connective tissue together, bolster my immune system, plus a couple psychoactive drugs for the trauma— holy shit, Rei, they just told me it was the gift of visions my entire life. BULLSHIT! That was untreated psychosis with a side of brain damage, and now it’s to the point of being manageable.”

“That’s…a lot,” he said slowly. “No offense, but how are you still alive?”

“Hard to kill,” she said with a grin. It faded, though, to something more haunted. “I don’t know. Sometimes, looking back, I think it was a miracle I lived this long. I was…abused and neglected and I could have died so many ways. I always expected to martyr myself before I turned eighteen. But the clock keeps ticking, and I’m realizing I have no idea what I want to do with my life. It’s easy to dream about dying young and beautiful, or at least beautiful by the vaguely pedophilic standards of a very sexist cult. But I think about getting older and my hair turning silver and I’m filled with this emotion I can’t describe. I think about people no longer telling me I look too young to use a cane. And I wonder…will medicine get better? Will my body get worse? Will disability rights improve? Will I fight for a public bench with a plaque somewhere, to make travel more accessible? I don’t know.

“This life isn’t an easy one, and I definitely didn’t choose it. But it’s mine, and it’s a part of me whether I like it or not. I’ve accepted that I am disabled and always will be. The people who love me have accepted that I am disabled and always will be. To take that away…it’s complicated.

“There are disabled people out there who would take the offer of a cure in a heartbeat. Whose lives would be vastly improved without their disabilities. Who aren’t proud of their condition, who only grudgingly accept it because they have no other choice. And they deserve respect too. Like I said, it’s not an easy life. And there’s no shame in wanting an easier one. But for me? I would hesitate.

“There are days when I want to just be abled and healthy more than anything. There are days when I wouldn’t give up my disability because it would feel like throwing away something important. But most of the time, it’s somewhere in between. If someone offered me a cure for my disability, I would hesitate. If someone offered me a way to cure the world of ableism, I would take it without hesitation. Does that make sense?”

“I think so,” Rei said slowly. The wild bidoof splashed and played in the river, and above him, the starly cried out to their flock. “Thank you. For everything.”

Chapter Text

She is queen of blood and bone. She walks through fire and feels nothing. She falls into darkness and there is a throne waiting for her. She dines in a grand banquet hall, and waits for the guests to arrive. Her silverware is pitchforks and cleavers and shovels. Something is wrong.

Guards stand at attention. Voices flit in through the windows. Her handmaiden is like a robed skeleton.

“Where is everyone?” she finally asks the servant nearest. Something warm dribbles down her chin and falls into the creases of her collarbone.

“Oh, darling,” the servant says coyly, “what did you think you were eating?”

The night before their scheduled departure date, Rei was making his rounds again. He knew it was bad, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to stop. He still had to sleep. He couldn’t sleep if he didn’t feel safe. And so it went.

Maybe… it would get better once he returned to Jubilife and they weren’t so vulnerable. But he was tired already. He’d already circled the perimeter. But one last time couldn’t hurt, right? Could it? Maybe. But what if he’d missed something?

He’d missed something. Because as he rounded the bend, he saw a familiar shape, one arm propped up against a tree as she coughed and spat. The stench of bile hung thick in the air.

“Hey,” Rei said, moving around so as not to startle her. Elle was pale and shaky, her body still violently trying to expel her stomach and coming up short.

“H-hey,” she whispered back. “Trying to channel ursaluna…is it working?”

Rei gave a soft huff of laughter despite himself. “No, you just look miserable. Like Spark when he takes a bath.”

“Heh.” She wiped off the back of her mouth with one hand. “Yeah, pretty much. Normalize being pathetic and sopping wet!”

“Seriously though, you need anything?” he asked. 

“Nah, just had a nightmare.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Queen of hell, ate my subjects, this is the reason I went pescatarian,” she joked. Was it a joke? Maybe. “I’ll just take something to settle my stomach and play games on my phone for a bit.”

“Want a hug?” he offered.

Elle laughed. “Ew, no! I just puked my guts out and need to shower.”

Silence, save for the chirping of kricketune and the crunching of gravel beneath their feet as they walked. The moon was bright tonight, and the wind was soft.

“Please don’t touch me right now,” Elle said finally. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I want to be near people, but if I touch them I know something bad will happen.”

“Wanna have a sleepover, then?” Rei suggested. “I’ll grab my cot and we can just sit in your tent until one of us falls asleep.”

“A sleepover,” she repeated. “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Finally, it was time to leave the Cobalt Coastlands. Rei woke up to sunlight filtering through the patches of Elle’s tent and wondered why the fuck he’d been missing out on so much sleep if being well rested felt this nice.

“Morning,” Elle said, arms wrapped around her alomomola. “You know what I miss? Microwaves.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s okay, I just needed to bitch. Speaking of bitches, think Kamado’s gotten any better?”

“Doubt it.” Rei stretched and ran a hand through his hair. “Ah, shit.”

“What is it?” Elle asked wearily. “Do I need to tase someone.”

“I don’t think Laventon knows I’m gay,” Rei said, staring at the ceiling. “How much you wanna bet he tries to very awkwardly give me a talk about this later and beats around the bush until he finally very delicately explains to me that while my sex life is my own, it’s bad form to get a girl pregnant unless you intend to marry her, and even worse if that girl is. Kind of from another world.”

"I can't even get pregnant! I'm on birth control!" Elle exclaimed. "And I— first of all, I'm— gah. Okay, I would be down for sex in theory if the circumstances were right and the stars aligned and all, but in practice I'm terrified because religious trauma and a fucked up relationship with my body. Seriously, I used to shower in the dark so I wouldn't have to look at myself naked; you think I'm gonna let other people look at me naked any time soon?"

“I’m not interested in girls that way, so I doubt the stars are aligning any time soon,” Rei teased.

Elle snorted. “Oh my gods, I wouldn’t do it with you! You’re scrunkly.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Rei protested, but he was laughing. “Are you just making words up to mess with me?”

“Scrimbo! Not dishwasher safe! Blorbo from Hisui!” Elle rolled over and poked him. “I just got plinko’d here and… and you’re my friend. Even if I did have feelings for you at any point, what we’ve got going now is more important.”

“Thanks,” Rei said quietly. “So. We’re still gonna get the sex talk from Laventon, right?”

Elle burst out giggling. “Oh my gods, can you imagine? He’d be terrible at it, but he’d try so damn hard.”

“Well, you see, in springtime when Enamorus gives her blessing of fertility, something awakens in a young man’s—” Rei doubled over, cackling. “Oh, I can’t do it.”

“Lemme try! Ah, jolly good, the flowers of youth. Well, speaking of flowers, you see, when the combee— ah shit, how do people even give sex talks?”

“Did your parents not teach you? Wait— sorry, I didn’t—”

“Oh no,” Elle said, eyes shining with mischief. “I am ALWAYS down to talk shit about my parents. See, they just went, ‘Bryelle, darling, your body is a holy temple! It’s being defiled by puberty. But it’s a glorious process and you’re on your way to the noble suffering of womanhood! And your body is designed for the holy sacrament of sex, but only if you don’t take any pleasure in it! You should get married at a very young and emotionally vulnerable age! Where you can bear lots of children! Oh wait, having kids the normal way might kill you. Or, even worse, your kid might be fucked up in the same way you are. Welp, enjoy your debilitating monthly pain and intense feelings of shame over your changing body!’”

“What the fuck,” Rei said quietly.

Elle shrugged, not seeming terribly bothered. “Yeah, it sucked, but now I’m on birth control, so no more periods! Woo!”

“Elle, that’s really fucked up, what they did to you. You realize that, right? It’s not funny.”

She leaned over and gave him a crooked smile. “Of course it isn’t. That’s why I have to laugh about it; it’s easier than crying, after all.”

After everything they’d talked about, it was almost a disappointment that Laventon didn’t notice they’d spent the night in the same tent. The three of them packed up, released all the Pokémon they’d caught to study, save for a prinplup and shellos that Elle had convinced to stay and help out in the fields, and then it was time to leave.

Palina waved the Jubilife procession off at the border, and from there it was a rather uneventful trip back to camp. Well, uneventful other than the fact that Rei asked for tips on his new egg, and Laventon launched into a passionate explanation of the inner workings of pokemon breeding.

Yes, he was talking about genetics and how traits were passed down. No, that did not stop Rei and Elle from giggling about it every time the word mating came up.

Eventually, though, Laventon caught on. “Rei, Elle, I expect you to be mature about this,” he said, looking from one to the other.

Elle held back another giggle. “Sorry, professor.”

“Is there anything you two want to tell me?” the man asked, in his best approximation of sternness. It wasn’t very good, per se, but he was trying his best.

“Nope!” Rei lied with a massive grin.

Laventon sighed, and finally his expression softened. “You really are just kids, huh. Well, let me know when that egg of yours hatches— ah. We’re almost there.”

Elle tried to explain why it was so funny, but she ended up laughing so hard throughout the entire thing that Laventon finally placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “Young lady. It’s okay. You’re allowed to find it amusing that pokemon do, in fact, fuck.”

The mood quickly faded, though, when they returned to headquarters to make the mission report— not to Captain Cyllene, but Commander Kamado. 

“Ah, shit,” Rei muttered, hesitating outside the massive oak doors. “You ready for this?”

Elle raised an eyebrow. “Pffft, I’ve been through worse. But…gah. This is going to suck, probably.” And then she pushed open the door— or tried to. She ended up having to ram her shoulder into it to make it open, while Rei winced and hesitantly asked if he could try to help. The doors were awfully heavy, after all. But she got it open just in time, and he was left awkwardly following in her wake.

Kamado…didn’t exactly look happy to see them. So that much…hadn’t really changed. “Sit down,” he said.

“No,” Elle said politely. No apologies, no excuses, just a simple refusal. The commander’s hand moved across the desk to grab something, and Rei inhaled sharply— oh. Oh, it was just a pen.

“I see,” Kamado replied. “Well. You can give your mission report standing, then. Go on, tell me what you’ve contributed.”

“I was unwell for the duration of the trip, and abducted for a significant portion,” she said lightly. “I have nothing to report to you.”

“Nothing,” Kamado repeated dangerously, drawing himself up to his full height. “You had one job, one, and even though you’ve proven yourself more than competent enough in battle, you made the choice to waste everyone’s precious resources on your pathetic—“

“If you think I would be better off simply dying so I no longer burden you, then strike me down here and now,” Elle cut in, as easily as if she was just talking about the weather. “My blood will splatter on your walls and carpet. It’ll be messy. Or maybe you’ll fail. But I refuse to hurt myself for the likes of you. My scars are proud reminders that I’ve survived worse than you. You are nothing. You. Are. Nothing.”

She turned her back to him— slowly, deliberately— and walked out at her own pace. The message was clear as day: I’m not afraid of you.

Kamado had no response, just a shocked expression on his face as he slowly turned red and made several unsuccessful attempts at coherent speech. Rei stood there for a moment, his mind a few seconds behind his body, a few inches to the left, before he spun and followed her.

Elle made her way down the central staircase, one hand on the polished railing. Rei took the other side, and behind them, the door to Kamado’s office slowly swung shut.

“I love you,” Rei said to her then. It wasn’t the romantic sort, just…the platonic, bordering on familial feelings he’d developed for her had grown and grown, and then he’d looked away for an instant and they overflowed. There was no grand burst of fireworks or swelling of violins. Only their footsteps on the carpet.

I love you. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to say.

Elle gave him an almost-smile that conveyed more than words ever could. “Love you too. Not sure what I’ll do when I…”

He bumped her shoulder. “We’ll find a way. Sometimes you just have to trust, y’know? It’s a big world that we’re exploring. So don’t say goodbye just yet.”

Chapter Text

A place for everything, and everything in its place. Pesselle ran a tight ship, so to speak, and she was proud of it. Beds along one wall, tables along the other, with curtains that could be drawn for privacy as she saw fit. The third wall was filled with her supply cabinets, including a closet in the back for overstock and things she preferred to keep out of sight of patients for the sake of bedside manner, and the final wall merely held the door.

But today, something was out of place. She walked inside to find not an empty building, but someone she didn’t recognize rifling through her closet.

"Excuse me— what do you think you're doing in here?" Pesselle asked.

The intruder, who'd apparently decided to raid her storage for supplies, slipped another roll of bandages in her bag without any shame and turned to face Pesselle— her expression wasn't guilty, but wary. She was short and dark haired, with an odd hair decoration, and wore the Survey Corps uniform.

"Professor Laventon sent me, and I figured I should stock up," she said, eyes flicking to the exit. "Can I go now?"

Pesselle moved to block the exit; there was only one door in and out of the supply room, after all. "Who are you? I don't recall seeing you before, you know."

"Name's Elle Chihiro." She let out a long sigh. "I'm from the Survey Corps; I usually patch myself up on my own, so you wouldn't have seen much of me. Also, I. Fell out of the sky. So you probably heard about that, or the slight mutiny I pulled."

"Oh!" Pesselle clasped her hands together suddenly. "You're the sky-faller! Laventon's told me you're not bad at all with poultices; have you considered switching career tracks? I could use an apprentice, you know. It's a shame about your cane, but I suppose it can't be helped. Physician, heal thyself, and all. But…you’ve been treating yourself? That can’t be a good idea."

For some reason, rather than looking flattered at the offer of apprenticeship, Elle just looked pissed at that. "I don't think I'm the one who needs to be ashamed here. Get out of my way."

"Well, fine then, no need to be rude," Pesselle huffed. "Honestly. You really should have a professional look at you, though."

Elle proceeded to none-too-gently shove Pesselle aside with her cane. "Believe it or not, I do have enough medical training to avoid seeing doctors whenever possible. So, uh, sorry I didn't warn you for grabbing some supplies? But I'm gonna take a hard pass on your offer."

"Some medical training, hm?" Pesselle repeated, following her through the building. "I wouldn't consider that an adequate substitute for a degree. What happened to your hands?"

"Got kidnapped. Bruises on my thumbs are from multiple dislocations, bandages on my wrists are from the chafing, skinned my knuckles throwing a punch on my second escape attempt," Elle said casually, rifling through the cabinets for something. She wrinkled her nose at an iron scalpel, holding it up to the light. "Ew, you actually practice medicine with this thing?"

"I'll thank you to put that down— iron is precious, sky-faller," Pesselle said sharply, grabbing her by the arm.

"It's covered in rust— let go of me!" Elle jerked away, and there was a horrifying noise, and then suddenly her arm....oh. Oh gods it was not in the proper place. "Gah— look what you did!"

"Let me see it," Pesselle insisted, capping the scalpel and putting it in her pocket for safekeeping. "Come on— that's obviously not normal."

"Yeah, no shit!" Elle's breathing was becoming irregular; a result of the pain? She backed up, eyes wide and pupils expanded. "Listen, I— don't fucking use that thing on me. I'm fine. This is fine. I can fix it if you just—"

"Nonsense. Come on, it won't be that bad. Now, can you rate how bad the pain is on a scale of—"

"DON'T!" Elle swallowed hard, realizing she’d backed herself into a corner between an examination table the wall. "Don't. Just— for the love of fuck will you stop chasing me? I told you, it's fine. Just give me a sec and I'll pop it right back."

"If you just calm down," Pesselle began to coax her, "it won't hurt a bit. I know you must be in a lot of pain right now, but I promise I can make it aaaaallllll better. See? I'll just get you some medicine and patch you right up." She moved to a cabinet where she'd been in the middle of preparing a sample— hm. The needle was a bit large, and might bruise, but it would heal in the end, and it seemed she might need it for such an unruly patient. 

"What. What's that," Elle asked in alarm.

"I told you, it's just medicine! A little prick and you'll be good as new." Pesselle smiled reassuringly. It did not seem to work.

"And I told you, back the fuck up! This feels like some kind of violation—" Elle swung her cane with a strange buzzing noise, but this time Pesselle managed to catch it and yank it out of her grip.

"Now, now, just hold still," Pesselle said, sliding the cane back across the counter. "I can't very well treat you with you swinging that weapon at me, now can I?"

"That weapon is a part of me; you might as well steal one of my legs— listen, this happens literally all the time! I can show you if you'll just— GIRL HELP I AM SO FUCKING TIRED OF HOSPITALS."

And that, of course, was when Captain Cyllene entered the building and saw them— Elle lunging across the counter for her cane, and Pesselle trying to find an opening to sedate her.

"Elle Chihiro," Cyllene said sternly, "I believe I was not clear in my previous interactions: if you have a problem with a member of the Galaxy Corps, you will take it up with me before you resort to terrorizing others."

"Terrorism was never on the table!" Elle protested, but she did relax slightly. Pesselle used the opportunity to creep forward, hoping to sedate her quickly, but the syringe was knocked out of her hands and clattered to the floor with a swift strike of Cyllene's sword. Sheathed, thankfully, but terrifying in its speed and accuracy nonetheless.

"Precisely what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Cyllene said coldly, eyes locked on Pesselle.

"It's merely a precaution, for subduing obstinate patients—"

"The bitch was trying to knock me out for daring to imply that I knew better than her! Don't tell me that when you didn't even fucking disinfect your equipment," Elle spat angrily, finally grabbing her cane. The tip flicked open, buzzing and crackling with electricity

Pesselle gave a paper-thin smile. "As I said; it's merely a precaution. I can't treat a patient who refuses to be treated, after all. Would it be possible to ask you for assistance?"

But to her surprise, Cyllene didn't turn to help her finally put Elle to sleep. No; she looked at Pesselle as if she'd suggested they go out trampling babies together. "Words cannot express my disappointment in you, Pesselle. This is not in any way proper conduct."

"It's perfectly acceptable," Pesselle protested, "and I'm well within my rights to—"

"Bullshit," Cyllene said, and it was in that moment that Pesselle realized she'd fucked up. "This is blatant abuse of your authority. You do not forcefully subdue patients who refuse treatment. I will not claim that everything Ms. Chihiro does is correct, nor do I agree with her methods in many cases, but she is not irrational. She can be reasoned with. She does not need yet another threat to her personal autonomy, do you understand?"

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" Pesselle asked desperately. 

Cyllene raised an eyebrow that she apparently possessed. "Have you attempted a compromise? I'm told it works wonders."

"I don't trust her with one of those," Elle cut in suddenly. "She'll just jab me with something behind my back and I'll wake up strapped to a table and—"

"Ms. Chihiro. Your concerns are valid, but I will personally supervise your treatment," Cyllene said. "Pesselle. You are not to view a patient's integrity as something to be violated at your earliest convenience. I am Ms. Chihiro's direct superior, and as such, any problems you have with her are to be brought to me. That said, both of you explain to me precisely what is going on here."

Elle spoke first. "She won't fucking listen to me when I say this is normal and I'm just trying to get her to leave me the fuck alone so I can fix it!"

"And this is related to your, ah, chronic health condition, is it?" Cyllene's words were short and clipped. Chronic health condition? Hm. Somehow, Pesselle doubted that, but to her surprise— the sky-faller proceeded to brace one arm against the wall, and with a click, her elbow returned to its alignment. 

"Okay. All better now," Elle said, letting out a sigh.

"That— that shouldn't be possible," Pesselle said, eyes wide.

Cyllene gave her a look that could be called a smile, but it wasn't a kind one. "I think you'll find that the realm of possibility is significantly expanded once you stop trying to force patients to do your bidding and listen to them instead. Just as I trust my subordinates to know their own limitations, I ask that you trust your patients to know their own bodies and their symptoms. And please refrain from use of force against your patients in the future; what you've just attempted here would be equivalent to me threatening someone at knifepoint to perform a mission that they've already stated themself incapable of. Do you think it would be normal behavior if I, say, snuck up on Rei while he was working in the fields and held my blade to his neck? Is that my right as his superior, in order to accomplish my goals?"

.....ah. That. Was a rather horrifying mental image, actually. Pesselle felt....sick, in a way that had nothing to do with the acrid scent of alcohol. "N-no, ma'am. My apologies, ma'am. And, ah— my apologies, Ms. Chihiro."

Elle just gave her a dirty look, then cracked her neck. "Thanks for standing up for me," she said quietly to the captain, before she was gone.

"Have I really been....?" Pesselle whispered, looking around the place in a new light.

Cyllene gave her a wry smile. "I couldn't say. But it seems there's room for improvement, so why don't you start there?"

Chapter Text

Rei was working the fields.

Not that this was, well, anything unusual. He'd been helping his siblings out ever since he was large enough to hold a shovel. But this? Well, this was different. Different shores, different soil, different crops, and the same problems as always. But now? Now he had new solutions.

The garchomp, on top of being excellent at plowing, helped to scare away the bug mons from munching on the crops by marking a line along the border. The new shellos and prinplup from the Cobalt Coastlands seemed more than happy enough to contribute water for the entire thing, and Clover, the alpha rapidash, could bring sunlight even on cloudy days.

But that still didn't solve the problems of inefficient irrigation, and so Rei was planning out some new furrows when Elle approached him.

"I fucking hate hospitals," she muttered, unfolding her chair and flopping into it. "How goes the work?"

"Pretty good," he said distractedly, wondering if there was a way to even out the elevation in the northeast corner. "Wait, what happened?"

"I was TRYING to grab some bandages for Laventon when that bitch Pesselle— gah. Long story short, next time I see her I will choose violence," she muttered.

"Pesselle? Really? She's been okay to me; what did she do?"

"...in hindsight, I may have been acting," Elle winced, "uh, slightly irrational. But she touched me without permission, was a dick about my cane, and said some triggering shit. Oh, and then I'm pretty sure she was trying to drug me so she could pop my elbow back into place after she pulled it out. So I think I was pretty justified in trying to get the fuck out of there."

"Gods Almighty," Rei said, setting down the clay tablet he'd been using. "Do you need a hug or something?"

"Yes please." Elle just leaned into him as he put his arms around her. "Bleagh. So how's your day been?"

"You're looking at it, honestly. Never thought I'd come all this way, just to end up farming again, huh." Rei pulled himself away and gave a few awkward pats to the garchomp he'd been working with. "These guys have been pretty helpful— I convinced Laventon to give me the week off after everything. It was either that or burn myself out training."

Elle nodded, surveying the area with eyes that seemed to be somewhere else. "Does it help? This, I mean."

"Yeah. I mean, we gotta survive the winter, y'know? And wearin' myself out....helps at nights. The, uh. Urges to patrol are going away." He shrugged uncomfortably. "I saw Pesselle about it, but she just told me to relax."

Elle raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, she is not a therapist. Anyways, I've got a meeting of some sort with Kamado in half an hour— I'm gonna show up late as a power move, but can I see what you've been working on for now?"

Rei handed over his tablet to the only person brave enough— or maybe stupid enough— to pull a move like that. Whatever it was....she had more of it than anyone he'd ever known.

Personally, Adaman thought that the resident sky-faller of Jubilife was a delightful young lady. Only a year younger than Irida, she was helpful and kind and clearly affectionate towards her pokemon. Okay, maybe he was a little bit biased since she’d referred to Cilantro as a sweetheart and spent a good several minutes cuddling the leafeon the last time they met, but it was refreshing to meet someone who was immune to both clan rivalries and the fear of pokemon that seemed to permeate Jubilife’s population. He’d even gifted her a quilt he’d picked up, on the advice of a merchant who’d ended up selling all of their stock of blankets to her. It was kind of an endearing hobby, honestly, and a shame she didn’t intend to stick around. 

The point was, she was quite lovely, and Adaman had no idea why Kamado looked so put out when he requested her presence at a meeting. Adaman respected his elders just as much as anyone, but since he’d begun to advance towards his late twenties, he valued the advice of those younger than him even more. It was good to have perspective, good to have balance. Even if she was a few minutes late.

“What the fuck do you— oh! Oh uh— hi Adaman! I, uh, didn’t know you were going to be here,” Elle stuttered, messing with her hair. “Sorry I’m late, I was— sorry.”

Adaman smiled good-naturedly. “Oh, no worries at all! How have you been?”

“Ah— I don’t know if you heard or not— there was a, um, incident with the Miss Fortune sisters,” she said, messing with the bandages around her wrists. Adaman kept similar wrappings on his hands, mainly due to Cilantro being a little bastard who wanted to make biscuits on them at every opportunity, but he had a feeling this might be worse. “So, still kind of recovering from that? I was. Unconscious for most of the incident itself, thankfully, but it wasn’t great. We’re all still a bit rattled.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I hope you’re at least getting time off to heal after that?” Adaman glanced at Kamado, who seemed even angrier, if that was at all possible.

“If you two are done prattling,” the man said stiffly, “we have important matters to discuss.”

Adaman raised an eyebrow, but eventually decided it wasn’t worth pursuing. “Yes, actually. Another one of our Lords,  has become frenzied, and I came to ask for help. Is Rei not available as well?”

“Oh, um—” Elle swallowed hard. “He’s actually taking some time off from the Survey Corps and helping out with the Agriculture Corps. But I’m down to help, I think— where do you need me to go?”

“The Coronet Highlands. You’ll need the assistance of a Pearl Clan warden to get there— Irida has more details for you. But right now, I think you’re the best person for the job.” Adaman smiled reassuringly, but Elle just made a noise of panic and fiddled with her cane.

“Oh— uh. Yeah, I can do that. It might be, uh, cold, but I’ll make some preparations.” Elle gave a nervous smile— honestly, she was the most qualified for this job. The girl needed some confidence, and yesterday.

There was a long, awkward silence. Adaman had run out of things to talk about. Elle shifted on her feet. Kamado glared at them both. Someone screamed out in the hallway.

Wait, shit.

Adaman sighed. “I’m sorry, I think I know what that is. Elle, I should probably warn you—”

That, of course, was precisely when Melli strode in, a very smug grin on his face and just a smudge of blood on his perfectly coifed hair. “I see you forget to invite me, Electrode’s warden!”

“Adaman,” Kamado growled, standing with his sword half drawn, “precisely what is this?”

“I apologize for my warden’s actions, and take full responsibility,” Adaman said, about one bad decision away from strangling Melli then and there. “Commander Kamado, Elle, I’d like to introduce you to Melli. Please treat him well; wardens are rather hard to come by, after all.”

Please don’t murder this man. Believe me, I’m tempted too, but politics dictate that I refrain.

“Hm,” Melli said derisively, surveying the room as if he found it lacking. “I can’t say I’m impressed, but it’s really to be expected of you, Adaman. And who’s this….” He gestured lazily at Elle.

“This is a member of my company,” Kamado said stiffly, sword halfway from its sheath and trembling. “Adaman has requested her assistance in quelling the frenzied noble.”

Melli smirked, and Adaman knew he’d made a mistake. “Oh? Showing favoritism towards your new plaything, are you?”

“I am no one’s plaything, you smug little bitch,” Elle snapped. “At least I was invited to the meeting— how many swords does it take to get it through your skull that you’re not welcome here?”

“Oh, is that a threat?” Melli said coyly, raising a hand to his mouth. “Oh, my.”

“Don’t misconstrue,” Adaman interrupted, stepping between the two of them before any more damage could be done. “Melli. You were not invited to this meeting because your presence was not required. I am ordering you as your leader, return to your post.”

“Oh, such power you command,” Melli said, deliberately taking his sweet time in turning away. He threw open the double doors and left them swinging, stepping over the fallen members of the security corps— all of them breathing, but badly beaten.

The unspoken message was clear: not for long. You only hold power over me conditionally, and things are changing.

Kamado dismissed them— or rather, kicked them out— not long after, but Adaman still felt he owed Elle an apology. Kamado? Frankly, he disliked the man, but would work with him. But Elle? She’d been forced to bear the brunt of a conflict that had little to do with her.

They sat in silence for a while on a bench in the lobby of the headquarters, listening to Kamado verbally eviscerate his security team for letting an intruder through. It…wasn’t very pleasant background noise. 

“Elle,” Adaman finally said in a low voice, “Melli strongly disapproves of us forming alliances. And his actions reflect that. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I think so, but I’d prefer it if you spelled it out for me because poor communication kills and I’m not great at reading subtext.”

“He’s trying to get a rise out of you because you’re an easy target,” Adaman explained. “He thinks the alliance is weakening us rather than strengthening us. I’m sorry; I was planning to warn you today before you had to meet him. But I need to ask that you don’t give him any ammunition to use against you.”

“You want me to keep the moral high ground,” she summed up. “Yeah. I…that’s just another strategy. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best.”

“Good to hear. Besides, it’s a ridiculous claim anyways— I’m not going to seduce you or anything.”

“That’s….good?” she said hesitantly.

Adaman furrowed his brow, leaning forward to study her expression. “Is...something wrong?”

“Ah, you might have uh, accidentally— I mean, it’s not your fault! And it’s not like I feel entitled to anything in return, I just— aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!” She buried her face in her hands. Adaman blinked and reached out a hand, then drew back.

Finally, she emerged, red-faced and refusing to look at him. “Okay. Sorry, just having some feelings. I’m good now, I promise.”

“….that’s normal and healthy for humans, you know.”

“But it’s not—“ Elle seemed to collapse in on herself. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m…allowed to have feelings and doing so does not make me a bad person.”

“Of course you’re allowed to have feelings,” Adaman said gently. “And personally? You seem like a lovely person to me. Cilantro seems to think so as well, and he’s a bitey little bastard.”

That got a chuckle out of her. “He’s baby and I love him. Guess I should go see Irida, though.”

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Adaman gave a wink— oops, he had accidentally seduced her, huh. Well, nothing to be done about it now but to try and keep a healthy amount of self awareness on the matter. (Ah, shit, he’d never explicitly turned her down. Almighty Sinnoh, he was bad at this.)

“Thank you— for everything,” Elle said, face flushed. “Sorry for making things weird.”

Adaman chuckled. “If I was weirded out by the fact that Almighty Sinnoh blessed me with such beauty, I wouldn’t have made clan leader. You’re not the first, and won’t be the last. Oh, and one more thing: if Melli gets in your way again? Kick his ass in a fair fight with your Pokémon. You’ve got this.”

Chapter Text

“You know, I think you’ll like Jubilife’s sky-faller,” Irida remarked, swinging her legs. “She’s a lot like you.”

“Is that so,” Ingo said carefully. “Can you elaborate? I’m not sure I understand the meaning of that.”

Irida continued swinging her legs, the long tails of her obi swishing behind her. “Well, the way she talks— it’s hard to pinpoint an accent, honestly, but it’s a bit like yours. And a bit like mine, too— she doesn’t sound like any of the Jubilife settlers, that’s for sure. Oh, and she’s an incredible battler— she wiped the floor with me when I challenged her, then went in for cuddles. Heh, she’s definitely something.”

“She…cuddled you after besting you in combat?” Ingo asked cautiously. That didn’t sound right, but he didn’t know enough about social norms to dispute it.

Irida burst out laughing. “Gods, no! Between you and me? Massive gay disaster, that one. I think she would die. Besides, I’ve already got my arrangement with Palina and Iscan; maybe Lina can handle more than one partner at a time, but I’m perfectly content with what I have. And she’s definitely not my type besides.”

“...so, there was no cuddling afterwards, because that would imply romantic interest on your part?”

“She cuddled Frost and Roku,” Irida clarified, eyes still mirthful. “It’s not super common, but there really aren’t any rules against it. It’s polite to ask permission, but it’s just. Unusual, affectionate.”

“I see.” Ingo imagined battling a foe, who would win— no, no that wasn’t right. Ingo would win. Liked winning more than anything, or maybe that was someone else— would their foes cross the space joyously and embrace Ingo’s pokemon?

…he didn’t know. The image faded away as he tried to grasp it.

“Oh! Here she is now!” Irida said suddenly, grabbing his hand and waving across the training grounds. “Elle! I’ve got someone for you to meet!”

Elle was rather short, and if Ingo had to choose a word to describe her, it would be scruffy. Short hair that stuck out at odd angles, a men’s Survey Corps coat, bandages on her wrists and ankles, frayed fabric wrapped around the rest of her limbs. Bruising poked in between the fabric, dark splotches on her knees, scabbed knuckles. Her headband was well taken care of, though, and looked like a pair of zorua ears. Even though they were dark grey— why was Ingo’s first thought zorua? Wouldn’t glameow be more accurate?

Hm. Perhaps scrappy would be the more accurate term.

“Hi— um. Hi,” Elle said breathlessly. “Elle Chihiro, pleased to meet— Irida? Is something wrong?”

Irida squinted at her. “Have you been crying?”

“It’s— it’s fine, Adaman and I sorted it out—”

“Almighty Sinnoh, Adaman you fucking WHORE!” Irida exploded. “Did he break your heart— gods, it’s that smile, isn’t it. That damn smile. Doesn’t he know better? I’m going to break his kneecaps myself if I have to.”

“Wha— no! Why does everyone think— no! No, he was not flirting with me or trying to mess with me romantically,” Elle said desperately. “He was apologizing for Warden Melli being a dick!”

Irida let out a sigh, apparently mollified, and muttered something about Adaman’s chest being better than hers. It took Ingo a moment to connect the dots and realize it was something about Adaman’s sexual attractiveness. Why she was still on that topic, he wasn’t sure.

“Warden Melli is indeed quite unpleasant to socialize with,” Ingo said, and gave her a short bow. “Pleased to meet you. I am the warden Ingo, of the Pearl clan.”

“I— already introduced myself,” Elle realized.

“Indeed. That deviates from the standard introduction script, but so long as the destination is reached, the journey may take many forms,” Ingo said with a nod.

Irida clasped her hands together. “Well— now that you two are acquainted, I’ll be off, but first— Elle. People keep fucking giving me coats and they’re not being subtle at all. Would you like a coat.”

“Uh— sure?” she said uncertainly. Irida beamed and grabbed a massive suitcase, carrying it with ease. “Oh. Oh wow, you are. That looks heavy.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” Irida said casually, setting it down with a thump. “Here, pick one! Let’s see, what style do you like? I’ll have to disrupt the crest, of course, but I brought some dye with me.”

“Wait, disrupt the crest?” Elle asked hesitantly. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a recent development performed for the sake of outsiders,” Ingo explained. “Wearing the Pearl Clan’s crest is a closed practice, according to our traditions, but it is also a matter of pride to place it. The disruption of the crest is any permanent marking placed on the lower segment within the outer pair of concentric circles, in order to mark the wearer apart from the clan. For the Diamond Clan, disruption of the crest would be performed in the upper segment.”

“Oh,” Elle said, brow slightly furrowed as Irida continued to unpack the options. “So…basically, it’s a sign that you’re wearing the clothing, but you aren’t part of the culture?”

“Precisely so. It’s important, religiously.”

She inhaled sharply. “It’s— religious? Doesn’t that mean that breaking tradition is forbidden— you said it was a recent development, right?”

“Indeed,” Irida said calmly. “But our traditions must change with the times, and the intent is more important. It is…something I struggle to come to terms with. But the textile exchange means that we must adapt, just as water changes course but always flows downstream. In this case, you’re permitted to wear the crest to try on, so long as you do so with the knowledge and intent that you are not Pearl Clan, and the supervision of myself, acting in my capacity as one who is an adult born and raised Pearl Clan.”

“I….guess,” Elle said hesitantly. “I didn’t know that religion could…that intent could matter.”

“Of course it matters,” Irida said, as if it was obvious.

Ingo cleared his throat. “If I may extrapolate: the ancient texts we follow are quite simple, and it is merely the interpretation that varies. For instance, the original texts use traditionally masculine pronouns when describing a leader, but the gender and pronouns of our leadership matter little. We use the constructed pronoun isea in a purely ceremonial context, on the basis that the intent was any leader and it was only the laws of the time that dictated men alone. But leadership transcends gender, and pronouns are not indicative of gender. Each leader interprets the texts differently, some more literally than others.”

“Like I said, intent matters more than action, and a malicious action lacking in malicious intent can be properly atoned for,” Irida said, holding up a coat with fur lining and scrutinizing Elle. “What do you think about this one?”

“Um…is it okay if I touch them all first? It might be a little weird, but I need to check the textures.”

“Touching is permitted, so long as you don’t touch the crest itself with malicious intent.”

“Okay, uh…yeah.” Still appearing uneasy, Elle began to run her fingers over the lining of each piece, wincing at seams and making small noises of interest occasionally. The behavior seemed….familiar, somehow.

“Miss, may I inquire as to why you need to touch everything? My intent in asking is genuine and free of judgment.” Ingo often felt the need to clarify his tone; it was difficult to read the patterns and melodies that made up the complicated social dance of speech, but he’d learned through trial and error how to communicate more concisely.

“Oh! Um, I need to see if it’s a good texture or if it’ll bother me to wear. I think I like…this one best,” Elle finally decided, grabbing a long coat with a floral pattern and a thin obi. “Is it okay to try it on now?”

“Go for it!” Irida encouraged, helping her with the sleeves. “Nope, always left over right. We reserve right over left for the dead. Tying the obi is mostly decorative, but a plain square knot with a little bow should work, so long as you remember to move it to the back. It’s more practical that way, and tying in front is a more complex social statement you’ll want to avoid if you’re new to our culture.”

“Ah.” Elle spun this way and that, testing the coat’s range of motion. “Oh, it’s very warm… I like the little panels, too. So it’s not all just tube shaped, but there’s room for me to walk without it flaring out.”

Irida beamed. “There, looks perfect on you! I’ll just disrupt the crest, then, and it’s all yours! Here’s hoping it keeps you warm up there.”

“Thank you. Very much. This is incredible,” Elle said, fumbling a bit with the knot before she managed to remove it. “I might have some questions on. How to wear it respectfully but make it a bit easier to get on and off, but I think I’m good for now.”

Irida smiled and took the coat back from her, removing a bottle of dye and a brush from her own obi to draw a few careful strokes. “Well, I’m always happy to explain our traditions so long as you’re willing to learn. Of course, if you choose to convert, there’s a bit of a process, but the disruption could eventually be removed~”

“You. You can do that?” Elle blinked. “Convert, I mean.”

Ingo raised a hand sharply. “I converted. It requires study of traditions as well as a cleansing ritual and a probationary period, but I am a full member of the Pearl Clan despite my origins.”

“Your…origins?” Elle narrowed her eyes at Ingo. Was she angry or merely scrutinizing him? It was difficult to tell.  

“Right, she doesn’t know.” Irida capped the bottle, the symbol denoting friend still drying on the disrupted crest, and gestured to Ingo. “You’re not the only one to fall out of the sky, you know.”

Chapter Text

“I— I what.” Elle stared at Ingo, eyes wide. “I thought— your accent sounded, but— I’m from Nacrene originally— why didn’t anyone tell me I wasn’t alone?”

“Because,” Ingo said, attempting to be gentle, “unlike you, I recall very little of my homeland. I couldn’t tell you— oh.”

Elle slammed into his midsection, arms around him as she trembled. Ingo looked to Irida in alarm, unsure what was going on, but she seemed just as shocked as him at this turn of events.

“I’m sorry,” Elle said, voice breaking with emotion and muffled by Ingo’s shirt. “I thought I was the only one here, I thought I— gods, I’m so sorry, that must be awful. I can— I can help you figure out where you’re from, if it— gods. Gods. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Ingo said, awkwardly patting her on the back. Oh, he was not good with emotions, or at least, not this fast with this little explanation. “Perhaps you can indeed help me regain my memories; I would like that very much. But Lord Electrode needs our help now, and if you are amenable, I propose we discuss this on the way. I will conduct your journey.”

Elle didn’t answer, just kept crying into his shirt. Ingo patted her awkwardly on the back and wondered if it would be considered impolite to pry her off. Most likely. He wasn’t…good at empathy. At guessing what other people were feeling. What exactly had made this young woman break down like that. But, well, it was his duty as— it was his duty to ensure the happiness of—

He had a duty. Was it to Lady Sneaseler? Or something before that? 

“Sorry,” Elle finally said, peeling herself off of him. “That was— I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“No harm done,” Ingo assured her, brushing off his jacket. “If you are prepared for departure, we may begin our commute.”

“Our…commute?” Elle clutched at her bag, staring. “Conduct…electrode…”

Ingo nodded in understanding. Some days you just had to repeat the words in your mouth, especially if the sensation or the sound was especially pleasing. He had a few that he liked as well, and broad gestures that made him feel confident. 

Like this one, for instance. Ingo pointed sharply with both hands, an action that felt at once immutable and asymmetrical. “All aboooooard!”

For some reason, this made Elle burst out giggling, tears in her eyes. “Ingo, do you know what a train is? I think you used to know what a train is!”

Ingo did not know what a train was. Elle only had a vague idea of what trains were, having grown up isolated from such things. Ingo had an intense urge to tell her everything about trains despite knowing absolutely nothing.

It was a bit of an issue. But! It was exciting! To talk to someone who might know something of his past! They took the long path up the mountain together, Elle riding Wyrdeer and flapping her hands so excitedly it looked as though she might fall off.

“Okay okay okay so— I grew up in Unova, right? Baby me was raised in Nacrene, then my parents fell from pseudoscience and diet culture into a cult, it’s a whole pipeline, basically I was raised either in a hidden compound/underground castle for most of my life, but there was an abandoned subway line between them that we used for transportation.”

“Subway,” Ingo repeated, savoring the word on his tongue. “Subway subway subway subway subway subway. Yes. That means something to me! I don’t know what it means but it’s important!”

“Subway!” Elle echoed.

“Subway subway subway subway….. SUBWAY!” Ingo laughed, tilting his head back as snow began to fall from above. “I love it. Trains…. All abooooaaaard! That’s what I used to shout and I would point— Nimbasa Central— Annville blue line—”

“Oh! Is it coming back to you?”

“Bits and pieces, yes!” Ingo nodded enthusiastically. He didn’t understand most of what it meant, but….subway. That word meant a lot to him. “Go ahead and keep talking, I’m just going to— yes.”

“Okay uh— I’ve never actually taken the train. Or— subway, they’re underground trains? It’s weird, I was mostly transported in backseats of cars. Oh! But trains have cars too. Or compartments. And they have conductors and make stops at stations, and I think they might have colored lines that you ride? I don’t know, but it sounds like you might be from Nimbasa or Annville.”

Ingo pointed sharply at her, the movement practiced and firm. “You.”

“Me,” she agreed.

“I liked to point— it helped— I don’t—” Ingo shook out his hands rapidly, trying to rid himself of the excess energy. “I would point! Every station we stopped at. Point and call. That’s what it was called. Memories would slip away and I’d get confused but pointing and saying it aloud would secure them in my mind so I did not make mistakes. I was proud of what I did. I don’t know what I did. But I was good at it. I liked it. Trains were fast and secure and reliable and I was always on time! I kept the trains on time.”

“You kept the trains on time!” Elle repeated. “That’s incredible! You must have been a conductor— maybe that’s your uniform!”

“Uniform,” Ingo echoed. “Yes. I wore a uniform because it made me feel secure. Unity. We matched but we did not. And now I’ve…changed.”

“Pearl Clan?”

“I am warden Ingo, of the Pearl Clan. I kept the trains on time in a place called Unova. And I am…” Ingo let his hands fall. “I would like to change the subject. I need time to process this. The station is out of order in my mind. I am not angry at you. I am setting a boundary.”

“Oh. Shit, yeah, you’re good.” Elle let out a long breath. “It’s…a process. Take it at your own pace. Do you wanna talk about something else instead?”

Ingo tapped a hand against his thigh. Reached for something that wasn’t there. Straightened his coat. Struggled to define an indescribable loss.

“I would like to know how you arrived in Hisui. I would like to know about you.”

“Ah. I…didn’t really tell anyone how I arrived.” Elle gave a soft laugh, leaning forward to stroke Lord Wyrdeer’s ears. “It’s…almost funny, really. You know what I was torn up about? I’d just failed my general education test. I wanted to catch up on my learning, since I’d missed so much, and it wasn’t like I needed it— I was going back to school because I wanted to, not because I needed to. And that’s when— well, I was— there was—”

“This is not required information. If it causes you distress, you can talk of something else.”

Elle nodded, shoulders raised like the hackles of a pokemon. “Well. A god that called herself Arceus— said I had a purpose here. And upgraded my phone to this ridiculous thing.”

“Your phone?” Ingo asked. 

“Yeah, hold on a sec—” she pulled a glowing tablet from her pocket. “Okay so. For some reason, Arceus kept in contact with me? She’s been giving me reminders, blessing on earth for my executive dysfunction, but also. Well, she’s been vague and unhelpful— Wyrdeer, hold up a sec please— okay. Yeah. Running low anyways, so I can show you. First of all— can you read this?”

She passed the tablet phone— was that what she’d called it? Or was Ingo making things up? She passed it to him, displaying an app full of text.

He could read it. Why could he read it? It wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen before. But it made sense nonetheless, and it was tugging at old memories like wind fluttering at the edges of a tarp.

“Lo— lo-ra-ze-pan?” Ingo tried.

“Lorazepam.”

“Lorazepam.”

“Lorazepam!” Elle nodded firmly. “Watch this.”

Ingo watched carefully as she removed a half translucent orange bottle from her satchel, then unscrewed the lid. She recited words that Ingo did not know, like a spell— millimeters and milligrams and dosages and chemical formulas. Reality seemed to bend, if only slightly. The bottle was filled with tiny capsules, and she capped it with an unsteady hand.

“How is this possible?” Ingo asked. He wanted to reach out, take the bottle from her hands, study it, but at the same time knew it was bad form to touch another person’s medication. Medication. Pills that he’d swallow with breakfast; it was just vitamins in the morning and gummies at night, too many hands and the same bottle with the blue lid.

Elle gave a sad smile. “Arceus…she’s not very capable of influencing this world. But she’s a creation god, and I know more about my medications than even some doctors. She can’t do much for me— but something this small? It’s within her power as long as my instructions are specific enough. She can’t do anything too complex or large— even a grape is out of the question, because it was alive at one point. But it’s enough for me. It’s small, but it’s enough.”

Chapter Text

“Arceus was responsible for your arrival, then,” Ingo said, staring at the phone. “May I— did Arceus mention me?”

“...I can ask,” Elle said slowly. Wyrdeer pawed impatiently at the ground, and she dismounted with a huff. “We’re almost there anyways; thank you for your service. Ingo? Uh, do you remember how to type?”

“I used to have something like this,” Ingo realized. “I believe in my past, I possessed a similar device. How is this possible? Was I forsaken by this god you speak of?”

“I….don’t know. You can ask him, if you want— uh, mirror pronouns.” Elle gestured to the device. “Most people just chalk it up to— y’know. Me being weird, and ignore me when I talk about Arceus. I don’t think that name is really known yet.”

“I see.” Ingo held out a hand. “May I attempt communication?”

“Yeah.”

Almost as if in a daze, Ingo navigated to the message application of the device he did not know how to use, in text he should not have been able to read. Scrolled past anger that faded to grudging acceptance on one side of the screen, and archaic hand-wringing on the other. ‘Arceus’ appeared to speak in an older dialect, substituting thou and thee for you , and repeated the phrase ‘seek out all pokemon’ quite a bit. Elle, meanwhile, swore like a sailor, frequently referred to the other as a bitch, and rarely used punctuation.

[This is the beginning of your chat with: PLINKO BITCH]

Ingo’s hands fit around the screen like he knew this sort of device, and he tapped stiffly at the keyboard. Are you listening? I am Ingo of the Pearl Clan.

I know who thou art, child. The response was near immediate; Ingo inhaled sharply.

Did you do this to me?

I did only what needed to be done. What must be done, for the greater good.

Ingo’s hand tightened around the phone. Elle swayed on her feet, hands in her pockets to protect them from the cold. The slope was nearing the top, and while the snow had stopped, the winds still blew.

Why? Why take my memories?

I did only what needed to be done. When all pokemon have been sought out, when my people know of commanding pokemon in battle, thou shalt be returned. Seek me out.

The screen went dark. Somehow, Ingo knew this was a sign. He held the phone out stiffly, afraid he might be tempted to violence otherwise.

“Is she being uncooperative?” Elle asked, taking it from his fingers.

“Deeply so.” Ingo adjusted the brim of his hat over his eyes. “I…believe my return may be conditional upon my battling skill.”

“I’m…sorry. She’s like that,” Elle said. “She…sends notifications for things I need to do, at least, but she’s not much help getting home. I had to basically threaten her into making my medications for me— it’s not fucking optional. You’d think a god would be good for more than hand-wringing and excuses, but I guess I should know better than to expect much from gods.”

Ingo nodded stiffly. “We should continue traveling.”

Elle shoved her phone back into her pocket. “Yeah. We should.”

There was a rather unpleasant surprise waiting for them at the entrance to Wayward Cave; that surprise being Melli.

“The fuck do you want,” Elle said flatly.

Melli smirked; there was pitch on his hands and a skuntank growling by his side. “Only to make you see reason, of course! The frenzy is a blessing from the Almighty Sinnoh, and Lord Electrode’s strength is something to behold. What difference does it make if Lord Electrode lets loose a few sparks here and there if he’s been blessed with such incredible power? A Galaxy grunt like you wouldn’t get it.”

Elle flinched violently at that. “Don’t ever call me that again. That’s not— you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“And why’s that, grunt?” Melli taunted.

Ingo stepped forward, holding an arm out protectively in front of his passenger. “Warden Melli! Your charge, Lord Electrode, is suffering greatly and attacking all those within reach. Allow us to pass, so that we may quell his frenzy!”

“No,” Melli said with a smug grin. “You’ll have to get through me first. Win, and I’ll stand aside. Lose, and you go home.”

“Actually, what if we were to raise the stakes?” Elle suggested. “My Pokémon against yours, no healing items. No targeting the trainer, fight to a whiteout or a forfeit. If I win, you have to stop fucking around with the alliance. Get a damn hobby or something, because like it or not, the Jubilife settlers are here to stay.”

“Oh?~” Melli said with a grin. “I like your terms, but we’re unlikely to have such a storm as that. If the snow gets bad enough for a whiteout blizzard, I’ll just face you within the cave.”

Ingo’s hand shot out to the side. “A whiteout is the terminology used to describe a fight that ends when the trainer has no Pokémon remaining conscious. It is considered acceptable in cities, but dangerous outside of civilization. In urban areas, it is common practice to call a match before the trainer’s final Pokémon can fight.”

“Hmph! It doesn’t matter to me how pretentious you two get, I can handle you where it really matters. And if I win?” Melli asked, inspecting a lock of coifed hair.

“Then I disappear. That’s what you want, right?” Elle’s stance had changed, shoulders loose and something different entirely in her posture. It was almost like wild purrloin; they were crafty and clever and strong and knew something you didn’t. “You want me to disappear. Because I’m in your way. And what you want is individual strength above all else.”

Ingo stiffened. “Attention! This is a very poor choice on your part. I strongly recommend you divert your course in the interest of safety.”

“I appreciate it, I really do. But trust me when I say I can handle this.” Elle tossed a pokeball up and down in her hand. “What do you say?”

Melli directed his skuntank forward. “I’d say you’ve got yourself a deal, grunt.”

“Lovely.” Elle opened the pokeball with a click and a flash of light. “Lola, sweetheart? Get his ass. ”

Lola made an exasperated chittering noise, but opened her mouth and let loose a mighty blast of ice that froze the stunky solid in an instant. It was almost pathetic, how quickly the battle was over. Lola turned back to her trainer with a sigh, cuddling in close as the young lady stroked her scales.

“Neeeext,” Elle called, almost lazily.

“I— I don’t—” Melli scowled. “I don’t have the rest of my pokemon… with me. We’ll continue the battle later.”

“The fuck?” Elle demanded. She didn’t give chase, though, as Melli retreated into the darkness. “I can kick his ass later, then. Lola, darling? Thank you. You did a very good job. Cari, time to go spelunking together, I guess.”

“You changed,” Ingo said to her then. “I watched you change very abruptly.”

She gave him a tired smile. “Old habits, I guess. I’m decent at faking confidence to manipulate people when I need to. Not something I’m proud of, or that I like to do, but I’m not going to be ashamed when I learned it out of necessity.”

“I see. I am not opposed to such skills being put to use in this scenario. Nonetheless, it is uncomfortable for me and I would appreciate a warning in the event that you use them again.”

Elle gave a small laugh. “Gods, of course! It’s. Uncomfortable for me, too, and I can’t do it for long, but. Can’t deny it’s been useful. Predators will jump on any sign of weakness; you gotta put up a confident front if you wanna get anywhere.”

“Predators,” Ingo repeated.

“....listen. I realize that my worldview is a bit fucked up. I promise you, I am working on it. But people have hurt me quite badly and I’m working on allowing myself to get defensive without lashing out or perpetuating shit.”

“I will take your word for it,” he finally said. “You are not a bad person. You care for pokemon, and I think you care for me as well. So we shall continue.”

“Mm.” Elle stroked her togetic, who gave a happy trill and did a flip. “Hiiiii, sweetheart. Oh, you’re such a good girl, Cari. We’re gonna go exploring together! Think you could shed a little light on the situation?”

 Ingo dipped his head, recalling flashes of a partner pokemon who wielded flames with mastery and would have been delighted to light up the darkness in place of what looked like a very subdued dazzling gleam from Elle’s togetic. “Spelunking we shall go. All aboooooaaard!”

Chapter Text

Wayward cave was, well, familiar— Ingo knew its paths well enough to navigate even in the dark. But now it felt different, more like home. Flashes of memory lit up the dark; glimpses of familiar faces spotted through the window of a moving train, the words of a partner. I like winning more than anything else. Who had said that?

“Sharp right. Take care not to come uncoupled from me,” Ingo said, turning abruptly. Elle was pointing too, mimicking the stim. “You are pointing as well.”

“Ah— sorry,” she said, hand falling abruptly to her side. “I just— pick up habits from people sometimes. I’m not making fun of you, promise, it’s just mirroring.”

“Mirroring,” Ingo repeated.

“Yeah! Like— gah. I do not know all the proper terminology but it’s something I tend to do around people, either because I want to fit in, or because I like them and I’m curious about their behavior.” She pointed again, this time at herself. “I need to adjust the way I point so that it’s easier on my joints. But you were right about how saying things aloud helps to cement it in your mind.”

“Mirror,” Ingo said again, this time more intensely. “Please hold still. There is no danger, but I believe I’ve recalled something vital.”

“Something vital?” she echoed. Ingo moved to the other side of her and imitated her pose as one might in a mirror. Then shifted, and Elle mirrored him without being asked. Back to back, shoulder to shoulder, arm parallel to arm, pointing straight ahead with one hand and sharply down with the other.

A mirror. Every time he tried to imagine someone else, the man had his own face. A mirror image. His twin brother.

Emmet. Emmet, who spoke curtly and grinned broadly. Emmet his brother. Ingo and Emmet, Emmet and Ingo.

“Uh, can I..?” Elle said hesitantly.

“Can you what?”

“Can I stop holding this pose. It’s tiring.”

“Of course.” Ingo dropped his hands to his sides and gave a swift bow. “Thank you.”

Elle nodded, reaching over to grab her togetic. “I’m having a decent day, pain-wise, but I’m still not very physically strong. Might have to break out my cane later on.”

“I see.” Disabled passengers only, he recalled; yellow lettering on the seats of his trains, making sure that those who needed it most would have comfortable seating. The subway was for everyone, and he’d been called upon more than once to provide assistance. He recalled crutches and braces and chairs that rolled, chairs whose names escaped him, sunflower pins and lanyards, bulky sunglasses and headphones. “Please notify me if you require assistance to make the commute safe and comfortable.”

Elle nodded. Stroked her pokemon. “You know, not many people say that to me. It’s usually things like the fact that I look too young to use a cane, or sometimes accusations of faking, or they want to know my entire medical history, or worse. Not really…offers of assistance if I need it.”

“Have I…offended you?” Ingo asked, uncertain how she intended her words to be taken.

“No, that’s the thing. Sometimes I do need assistance. I struggle with carrying things, or activities that require fine motor control, sometimes even opening doors. My head’s a mess and sometimes I need someone to hold me and tell me it’ll be okay. And I need chemicals that my mom can’t pronounce, and a cane that my dad sees as an admission of weakness, to function. And I deserve to live just as much as anyone else. It’s just…nice to have someone offer to help without disrespecting me.” Elle gave a short laugh, opening her arms to let the togetic flutter free while she wiped at her eyes. “I…sorry, I thought I was over this.”

“Can I hug you,” Ingo asked.

Elle stared at him blankly. Opened her mouth, gave a small, inconsolable cry, and shut it.

“Would you be opposed if I were to give you a hug,” Ingo rephrased. She shook her head, so Ingo hugged her tightly. It was a good pressure stim, being hugged, and it offered warmth and comfort. Elle had previously opted for a hug when overwhelmed; ergo, this seemed like the best course of action.

Ingo was not good at empathy, and knowing why people were upset. But he was not bad at comforting others, and he was happy to provide support to those in need, as was his responsibility.

“It is…disconcerting, to be without a schedule,” Ingo said, touching the brackets on the wall where torches usually burned. “I recall, in pieces and fragments now, but I do not know if that makes the longing better or worse.”

“Homesickness,” Elle summarized.

“Yes. But I do not fully remember my home, nor my friends.” Ingo made a sharp left, struck with another memory, another disjointed image that filled him with both longing and nausea. “I miss them all the same. I miss the scent of the subway. I want it back but I don’t know what I want. I can’t define it. But I know the shape of it, and the feelings it brought me.”

“Do you wish you’d never met me?” Elle’s voice had gone soft, breathy, choked with an emotion that Ingo could not name. He turned to look at her face and body language; her shoulders were hunched, clinging tightly to her togetic, head low. Oh. She…felt guilty? Was that the word?

“No. Complicated does not mean bad. It simply means unplanned. But I am glad not to be alone.”

“Thank you,” she said. Ingo reached out to pat her shoulder, but she stiffened and took a half step back from him. His hand fell to his side. “Ah— my apologies.”

“You’re good,” she said with a smile that quickly fell. “Gods, this is so complicated. I love it but I hate it and I miss my home. I can barely talk about it with anyone else because I don’t wanna create a paradox or some shit, but gods. Gods.”

“You miss your home too,” Ingo said quietly.

“Home,” Elle said slowly. “I…don’t know. I mean. I’ve continued to identify as Unovan this whole time— mom and dad never really talked about where our family came from before that, and I’m pretty sure the rest of my extended family is kinda shitty— but. I lived in Sinnoh— ah, shit, I’m not really supposed to— oh, fuck it. I’m tired of keeping future shit secret. I’ve lived in the future Hisui, a region known as Sinnoh, for the past three years, and only within the past year tried to get back in touch with my old friends. One of them got a divorce and a sexuality crisis, one of them refuses to talk to me, one got a new gender, and things have changed a lot. I want to go back there someday now that my parents got arrested— they were abusive anyways, good fucking riddance— but. Is it my home? 

“Because home right now is my best friend Maeral’s apartment where I moved in after a bunch of shit happened and I needed time to get back on my feet, emotionally and financially. It’s sprawling out on a couch and somehow managing to fit all three of us in a heap, and falling asleep in someone else’s lap because they’re warm, and soft, and safe. It’s Celia stopping by so often we joke about putting a hole in the wall and merging the apartments, and the fact that she still won’t let me live down the time I fell asleep on her while giving a back massage. It’s listening to Maeral infodump about fir college courses and having stupid inside jokes about the bingus growlithe and eeby deeby that no one here understands. It’s learning science in a new way from my amazing, wonderful, brilliant friends, and falling so deeply in love that I can barely breathe.

“But I also miss my home in Floaroma, with the window boxes and the raised garden beds I never got around to building. And the Sitrus berries out front and the bathtub with a door and a shower chair and Epsom salts, and the double railings on the staircase and the folding stool I use for cooking so I don’t have to stand at the stove for too long, and the windowsill where Sakurako likes to sun herself. And then in a fucked up, twisted way, I miss my home in Unova where I was…abused and neglected and used up, but there were still people that loved me in their own way. Or at least I thought they loved me. Does that make sense?”

“Home is where the heart is,” Ingo said softly, “and you have scattered yours far and wide.”

"I really have, huh," she said. "Right now...the main priorities in my life? Celia, Maeral, and me. Learning to take better care of myself, and taking care of the two most important relationships in my life. And....shit, I think Rei might have joined that number. I tried not to get attached, but....shit. Shit, I'm in too deep now."

“There is no easy solution,” Ingo said. “Not…that I can see.”

“No. There’s not. Guess I’m just too soft for this world.” Elle made a choked noise. “This world is just as real as the one I came from, but gods if I don’t miss my friends so bad it hurts.”

Ingo nodded, remembering how she’d spoken of her parents. Of their judgment. “Your friends mean a lot to you, don’t they.”

"I remember...it was a cave like this that I met a pokemon from Unova. She had three heads, and she breathed fire, but she wasn't a fire type. Maeral...took the attack head on. Still has the scars from it. I was....terrified. I recognized the roar, the fear I felt, before I even had the words to describe it, and— kinda had a flashback." Elle swallowed hard. "It was a pokemon called Hydreigon. She'd been...badly hurt, and left to die. She was trapped under a rockslide and lashing out at anything that came close. But fi managed to calm her down enough to put her in a pokeball, and that probably saved her life."

"I see. Pokeballs are...merely tools, with no moral value."

"Exactly! But...the thing is? If fi released her afterwards like fi promised, she would end up right back there the next day, with no memory of the incident. Like it didn't matter. I said I thought we should break her trust, make it quick and decisive. The lesser evil. But Maeral said no, that fi'd do whatever it took. Not to break her, but to put her back together no matter the cost. To do it all over again, no matter how many times it took. And that kind of determination… that fundamentally changed me, as a person. For the better. Made me want to… put myself back together, too. Sometimes that's the hardest choice you make. To love someone who teaches you how to love yourself."

Chapter Text

After a brief detour to return the torches to their places while Elle waited outside, it was time for the next portion of the journey: the quarry. The massive set of stairs at the entrance…reminded Ingo of another scene. Stairs descending into the underground, into the concrete and clamor and rushing of trains. Emmet was always beside him.

But this was not Unova, there were no subways, and his only companion was a short young woman who gave a massive sigh. “Stairs my beloathed. My mortal enemy. Fuck stairs, all my homies hate stairs.”

“Do you require assistance?” Ingo offered, holding out his elbow. He would have offered to carry her instead, but did not think he was strong enough to do so safely.

She blinked, as if surprised that was an option. “That…would be great, actually. Hold up a second while I grab my cane, but that…yeah. Thanks.”

He bowed. “Of course.”

Elle retrieved her cane, a very pretty one made of metal and decorated with designs of flowers, and held it in one hand with Ingo holding her arm to provide stability on the other side. Together, they began to descend into the quarry, Elle making short gasps of pain occasionally.

“Do you need to stop and rest?” Ingo asked. 

“Nope,” she hissed, “just gotta do it all in one go, and rest at the bottom. Oh motherfucking shit I did not miss these. Please, for the love of gods, include railings when you carve stairs out of the mountain!”

“I don’t believe this place was initially even accessible to anyone ,” he felt the need to point out. “The miners who used this place and the materials within carved stairs out of the rock, in order to make it possible to enter.”

“Well, they did kind of a shit job if they stopped halfway,” she grumbled. “I’m sick of accomodating for abled people all the time. Ooooo, it’s so hard to design buildings that people can actually enter— well, maybe if you weren’t such a fucking cunt about it, it would be a lot easier. Literally, these people put in the bare minimum amount of effort and do nothing but fucking complain about how hard I make their lives by virtue of— what, existing? Oh, sorry to bother you, I’ll just curl up and die for your convenience!”

“I am sorry that this world does not have kindness to spare for you,” Ingo said, unsure of his phrasing. “And I am sorry that they choose not to be kind to you. It gets better in our future, doesn’t it?”

“It does, in a lot of ways. Technology gets better, medicine gets better, communication gets— MOTHERFUCKING HELL!” Elle stopped moving, face contorted in pain. “Sorry. Loud. Nothing you did, you’re fine. Gimme a few minutes.”

Ingo held on tighter to her elbow, uncertain what had caused the outburst. “Is there anything I can do to assist you?”

“Nope. Body’s just being a stupid piece of fuck. Ohhhhhhhh okay, okay I might just need a few minutes. Hhhhhhhh. Uh, hold this?” Elle pressed her cane into his hand and grabbed her togetic, shoving her face deep into its feathers. The togetic wrapped its stubby arms and miniscule wings around her, purring softly.

“Naturally.”

“Sorry for— outburst, and being rude and crabby. Just sudden pain and shit.” Elle grimaced. “I know I’m not normally super polite, but I try not to do that, either.”

“Elle,” Ingo said firmly. “You are my passenger and I am escorting you to your destination. Your comfort is my priority. I appreciate the apology, but please keep in mind that your pain should not be outweighed by my reaction to it.”

“...thanks. I appreciate it.” Elle swallowed hard, as her togetic nuzzled into her neck with a series of small chirps. “I swear, I’m not angry with you, and I’m sorry for any anger I may have taken out on you. Thank you for…being there and offering your support. If you could just stand and keep doing that, I’ll be good in a few minutes.”

“Of course,” Ingo said. “Would you be offended if I offered to carry you the rest of the way? I believe I could safely do so for the short period of time required to descend the rest of the staircase.”

“That would be….fantastic, actually. If you offered.”

“I am offering now.”

“Oh.” Elle gave another gasp, as if she was in pain, but her expression was something like a smile when she said, “ Thank you. ” 

In the end, they were halfway through the quarry when Volo found them.

“Afternoon!” the merchant greeted them cheerfully. “So, I’ve been thinking more about that space time rift, looking through a few old records—” 

“Now’s not really a great time,” Elle said with a strained smile, her cane slipping on a loose piece of shale. “Sorry, can I give you a rain check?”

“And here I thought you would show at least some interest,” Volo said lightly. “Need me to sweeten the deal? I found some evidence that the rift opened once before, and it must have closed, so whatever’s on the other side that you two must have seen— do you remember it, Elle? If it took Ingo’s memories—”

“Mx. Volo,” Ingo began sharply, more so than he’d intended, but Elle was already in motion.

“No means no; will you fuck off already?” she finally snapped. Something changed in the air, as if it had grown colder. Elle’s eyes went wide. “I— sorry, I didn’t— I just—”

“No need to apologize, miss Elle,” Volo said with the same unmoving smile. “I know where I’m not wanted. I’ll be on my way, then!~”

“That was not the intent,” Ingo tried to say, but Volo simply hummed and walked away, turning a corner. “Please do not misconstrue—“

“Fuck,” Elle muttered, but didn’t move to stop them. “I’ll…need to apologize later.”

“You’re in pain and they weren’t leaving you alone,” Ingo pointed out. “It’s hardly your fault.”

“Don’t make excuses for me; it’s infantilizing and I’m not having it. I’m the one who snapped, I’ll make it right.” She cracked her neck, planted her cane, and took a breath. “Okay. Lady Sneasler. Here’s hoping she likes me.”

Actually, the problem was that Lady Sneasler liked Elle a bit too much.

“Milady— Milady, please, you cannot just kidnap and adopt any human you find,” Ingo protested. Sneasler merely patted him on the head, while Elle giggled wildly from inside Sneasler’s basket. “I— granted, I am deeply grateful for you doing that for me, but this is different!”

“It’s fine, really!” Elle protested, still laughing. Between her thick coat and blankets, she was bundled up so far that only her head was visible. “I— I mean, it’s cozy, really!”

“It’s not fine! Next thing you know, she’s going to start chewing up berries to spit into your mouth and picking lint off your clothes and fixing your hair before you leave the cave and— why are you laughing?” Ingo asked desperately.

“It’s fine, it’s really fine, I’m— yes, thank you ma’am, I know my hair’s a mess. I’m fine,” Elle assured him. “It’s kinda nice— wait, what’s she doing now? Ingo. Ingo is she poisoning me.”

Sneasler was licking her claw and wiping the dirt off of Elle’s face. “No, that is how she shows affection. I believe it is a maternal gesture.”

“...oh.” Elle muttered something under her breath that sounded like no wonder I can’t tell the difference, and leaned comfortably into the pokemon’s claws with a trilling sound almost like purring. And to Ingo’s surprise, Lady Sneasler trilled back.

“You…really do have a way with pokemon, don’t you,” Ingo said. “I’m afraid this is my stop, but do ask her to introduce you to the baby sneaslets once you’re finished with the quelling of Lord Electrode. I’m sure you’ll feel right at home.”

“Wait, there are babies? ”

Chapter Text

To say that Elle had mixed feelings about Hisui would be putting it very, very lightly. And to be honest, she still wasn’t sure what to think. She was pissed the fuck off at Arceus, and she wanted to shove Ingo in her pocket and set him on the shelf like a marketable plushie, and she was pretty sure she’d help Rei hide a body if he asked.

Then there was her health. Having both her canes plus her medications was the only reason she wasn’t attempting deicide, frankly. Her health had been….moderate, for the most part. The fresh air and exercise were good for her fatigue, the cold was terrible for her joints and left her with aches and pains, and the people got better with time.

Back on topic. It was a mixed bag overall, but Lady Sneasler? Gods, she was amazing. She’d just adopted Elle on sight and gently placed her into a backpack, cooing and fussing to make sure she was all right. And, well, Elle would be the first to admit she had mommy issues. Something about the last words her mother had ever said to her…well, they stuck.

Bryelle? Do try not to be too much of a burden to your new friends, will you? They’ve got no blood obligation to look after you like we do, and they’ll just get bored and leave you in the end.

It was a last ditch attempt at lying, at controlling her, and Elle knew it. Celia loved her. Maeral loved her. Rei… yeah. Rei loved her. And she loved them all more than she could ever express. None of these people had any blood obligation to her. But they still cared. Besides, Elle was eighteen now, an adult even by Unovan standards. She didn’t need parents anyways. She was too old to be mothered, even if she’d missed out the first time.

…but she still liked it. And, well, Cari seemed happy too, so it couldn’t be bad, right? Elle nodded to herself, eyes half closed in pleasure as Lady Sneasler’s claws dug into the cliffside. She was going to fall asleep in this basket if she wasn’t careful. It was dark and warm and soft, and the motion was almost soothing.

“What do you think, Cari?” Elle cooed, extracting her hands from the mess of blankets to play with her togetic. Cari swung between her fingers and did a happy flip, wings fluttering. “Are you a happy girl too, baby? Do you wanna play with some little tiny sneaslets later? We’ll have to see if mama sneasler is okay with it, but I think she likes us.”

An indignant bark, followed by a low purr from the massive Pokémon carrying them both Nezuko style, pretty much confirmed it. Elle figured it was something along the lines of of course I’m okay with it, it’s cold and I’m not letting you return to that human village until I’ve sufficiently mothered you, now stop that self deprecation right now before I am forced to hug you.

“Ah, shit, I definitely have mommy issues,” Elle muttered. Cari tapped her on the nose with a squeak, and she gave a soft laugh and returned the favor. “Well, guess it’s not too late for me, huh. But I’m glad that you won’t have to understand what it’s like to grow up unloved. At least I can do that much.”

Melli was waiting. 

Contrary to the image he tended to present, he wasn’t unreasonable, or weak, or stupid. He had a plan, and he had a backup plan, and he knew precisely what he was doing. Everything was in place, and now he was simply preparing to move forward. There was the unexpected complication of Lady Sneasler, of course, but she was long gone by the time the girl was close enough for Melli to see the whites of her eyes.

“Oh, you made it! You know, I was rooting for you all along, in my own way,” Melli said. Her hand clenched tighter around her cane, nostrils flaring. Good.

“I’m here to quell the frenzy of Lord Electrode,” Elle growled. “Are you going to get out of my way, or would you like to sacrifice the last of your dignity to Lola’s ice beam? It makes no difference to me.”

Melli raised a hand to his mouth, laughing. “Oh, you poor, sweet, deluded little grunt. You have no idea what you’ve walked into, do you? You preach about kindness and softness and understanding, and you tear through our traditions like wet paper. Do you even know how I became a warden?”

“Nepotism? Bitch, just tell me Lord Electrode’s favorite food already.”

“Hm… no.” Melli gestured to his remaining pokemon, a skorupi and a zubat who stepped forward ready to battle. “It was my strength, you foolish little grunt, and my utmost devotion to the Almighty Sinnoh. That’s why I can’t let you take away such a blessing.”

Elle’s lip curled into a snarl over her protruding tooth, as she released her pokemon to do battle once more.. “Oh, so that’s what you are, a bully who hides behind faith and commits atrocities in the name of a god you’ve never seen. If your faith doesn’t support human rights, it ain’t worth shit. Lola, waterfall!”

“Dodge it. Skorupi, cross poison.” Melli watched impassively as the pokemon coated herself in a frothing layer of water and charged, clipping his zubat’s wing and slamming into the walls of the cave. Skorupi managed to land the hit while the strange pink pokemon was stunned, inflicting its poison in a pair of vicious slashes. “So you don’t respect my faith, then? And here I thought you were supposed to be some great savior, a bridge between our people. They’re calling you a peacebringer, O sky-fallen grunt. Did you know that?”

“I don’t give a damn what they call me. I don’t owe you shit, and I’m not bound by anyone’s expectations of me but my own. Lola, again!” Elle was swaying unsteadily on her feet now, blinking rapidly. “I— I respect the clans’ faith, even if I don’t agree with it. Because I’ve seen— seen it’s a part of— your culture. But you— you specifically— don’t you dare. Don’t hide behind your faith. It’s not— not a…”

“Oh dear, what’s wrong?” Melli said coyly, feigning surprise. “Is that weak body of yours giving out on you already?”

“You can’t just— gods, do you ever clean this place?” Elle lifted her coat to cover her nose and mouth, coughing wetly. “Bitch, you— you live like this? Gods— damn.”

Melli smiled, waiting for it to sink in. The realization would hit, or the poison would take full effect, but until then, he was content to wait. Elle continued to cough, eyes going wide, and fumbled for a pokeball—

“Zubat, confuse ray, strong style. Skuntank, now,” he ordered. The pokemon finally emerged from the crevice and slammed into Elle with a thud, still trailing noxious gas. She fell to the ground, her pokeball rolling away uselessly. “Oh, you foolish little grunt.”

There was a wet slap of scales against stone; Melli ignored it. His pokemon could take care of distracting that alomomola while he disposed of the interloper. He could kill her, yes, but she might be worth more alive. Melli motioned for the skuntank to back off, and knelt beside her.

“Clan politics are a lot more complicated than you can imagine, and I’ve worked very hard for this position,” he said, grabbing the grunt by the scruff of her coat and lifting her. She weighed next to nothing, and was clearly struggling to keep her eyes open. “I’m afraid I win, and that means you’re going to have to disappear.”

“Lola,” she whispered weakly. Another wet slap, and the sound of ice crystalizing. Melli’s zubat gave a cry of pain that was quickly silenced. He found the pokeball in her hand and located the recall mechanism, trapping the pokemon inside. Foolish grunt, giving her enemies the perfect cage for her only defense. 

“There,” Melli said pleasantly. “Now you can’t cause me any more trouble, can you?”

“You made a mistake,” Elle rasped, grinning. She must have been delirious from the poison, Melli thought, and that was the last coherent thing to pass through his mind before the familiar crackle of electricity raced up his body and left him falling into darkness.

Chapter Text

“I’m…going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but what did I just walk in on,” Adaman asked blankly. 

“It’s not what it looks like I swear — uh—” Elle looked from Adaman, to the basket of balms he’d brought along, then back over to Melli. Melli, who was tied to a stalagmite on the other side of the cave and very unhappy about the entire ordeal. The cave smelt of sulfur and bile, and Elle was kneeling beside her partner pokemon with a spray bottle of medicine. “...shit, what even does this look like.”

“That little bitch tried to kill me!” Melli spat, practically frothing at the mouth. “She grew enraged when I couldn’t tell her what Lord Electrode likes, and it’s all—”

“I have never in my life tried to kill you,” Elle cut in flatly, “as evidenced by the fact that you’re still alive. Shut the fuck up or at least come up with a better lie.”

“Why don’t you explain to me one at a time, what happened,” Adaman said in his best clan leader voice, “and then I’ll settle this. Melli, your side of the story first.”

“But—” Elle protested. 

Adaman silenced her with a glare. “I know damn well what I said, and I meant it. Melli. Now.”

Melli scoffed, and tossed his hair with a flick of his head. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, the sky-faller and I both agreed to this match, in order for me to test her strength. She won, and then accused me of cheating! Me! I informed her that I had no idea what Lord Electrode’s favorite food is, and that’s when she attacked me! No doubt she was planning to— interrogate me, or kill me, how was I supposed to know! She’s clearly dangerous and unhinged.”

“Elle?” Adaman glanced over to her, looking half-wild with her hair askew and her pokemon covered protectively in her arms. “Your side of the story.”

“Melli tried to kill me,” she said bluntly. “We agreed on a battle— no healing items, my pokemon against his. Ingo can verify it. But after I beat his skuntank, he retreated, said he had more pokemon elsewhere. I arrived here, thought we were going to finish the battle like normal, and— I started feeling sick and lightheaded, and it wasn’t— his skuntank poisoned and attacked me, and he locked up Lola!”

“And then?” Adaman prompted. 

She scowled, still bent over her alomomola. “He said— something about clan politics, and that I’d have to disappear. I think he— tried to pick me up? I don’t know, my vision was going dark at that point. So I tased him. Play bitch games, win bitch prizes. Puked from the poison a bit, managed to tie him up before he woke and tried for round two electric boogaloo.”

Adaman stiffened. “Clan politics?”

“Said he— worked hard to get here, wasn’t going to let me take away this blessing.” She spat the word out as if it was a curse, as if her stomach was still trying to rid itself of the poison.

“Melli,” Adaman said firmly. “Don’t lie to me. What happened.”

Melli scoffed, turning away. “You’re really going to take the word of an outsider over me? After everything I’ve done for the Diamond Clan?”

“Did you or didn’t you attempt to harm Elle in the name of our Almighty Sinnoh. This isn’t about what you’ve done or what you feel the clan owes you, or what we used to be. Tell me the fucking truth, Melli. Right here, right now.”

“She would have destroyed everything I’d worked for!”

“So what did you do?”

“I wasn’t really going to kill her,” Melli mumbled. “Probably. Not here; I’d do it somewhere else where I could get rid of the body easily.”

Cilantro made a disgruntled chrrrrr and leaned against Adaman’s leg, hard. He sighed, and knelt to pet the needy little bastard. “There will be consequences, Melli. You know that, don’t you? This isn’t the kind of behavior I’ll tolerate from my subordinates. Raw strength isn’t the only thing that matters when it comes to protecting my people. And mark my words, they are my people. War or peace, I will do what needs done, and you’ve crossed the line.”

“You wouldn’t,” Melli said confidently, but that confidence faded before Adaman’s unchanging expression. “You need a warden too badly to remove me. You…wouldn’t, would you?”

“Elle,” Adaman said, not looking away from Melli, “I’ve got things handled here. If you’re still up for quelling Lord Electrode after all this, I’ve brought some crunchy salt balms since I figured Melli would be unhelpful.”

Elle’s disaffected anger was palpable across the cave. “Fine,” she said in a very clipped tone. “But I’m doing this for Lord Electrode, and after that, I’m going to find Lady Sneasler. I’ve about fucking had it with clan politics.”

Ingo really should have expected that Lady Sneasler would bring back Elle sooner or later; what he wasn’t expecting was the poisoning.

“Oh no, it wasn’t Lady Sneasler who did it,” Elle assured him, climbing unsteadily out of the basket. The sneaslets squeaked and chirped in their nest, crawling over each other in an attempt to see the new visitor. “She’s been very gentle and careful. Melli tried to kill me.”

“MELLI DID WHAT?!?” Ingo exclaimed. Oh. Oh, gods.  

“Not— not so loud, please. It’s fine, I’ve probably had closer calls before, like, uh— I wanna say that one time defusing a bomb didn’t work out and I was just unconscious while my pokemon were— ah. I am not helping.”

“YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOUR CASE AT ALL!”

“It’s…it’s fine,” Elle said, but she didn’t seem entirely convinced, or maybe it was just the poison. “Guess politics are more complicated than I thought, and it probably didn’t help that I’m wearing a fancy Pearl Clan coat, now that I think about it.”

Ingo couldn’t find the proper words to articulate his distress at that, so instead he just screamed. Elle screamed back, until her voice went hoarse and she was doubled over coughing. He placed a hand on her back and made small circles, counterclockwise.

“It’s not fine,” she finally admitted. “I’m glad to help inter-clan relations, but I didn’t know that would make me enemies too. And I think Adaman likes me, but that really hammered home the fact that he’s a clan leader first and foremost. He can be scary when he wants to.”

The sneaslets screeched and chattered happily, unaware of what had transpired. Lady Sneaseler gave a low warble and nudged Elle with a claw, making a concerned noise. She just leaned into the touch, eyes fluttering closed.

“Is there anything that milady and I can do to assist you?” Ingo asked finally.

“Not sure. Already had a couple pecha berries for the poison, now I’m just dealing with the—” Elle gave a yawn. “The nausea… I came here for the sneaslets. Little ones always make me feel better.”

Ingo nodded sharply. “I understand the feeling.” (Joltik— he raised Joltik at home, didn’t he? They were small and sweet and very cuddly, and they always made him feel better too.)

Lady Sneasler made another worried noise and nudged Elle towards her nest, where the sneaslets were growing restless and trying to climb out. She laughed, settling herself into a seated position along the edge.

“Awwww, hi there, little guys! Oh, you have such a good mama, yes you do. Are you tiny baby sneaslets, huh? Are you tiny baby sneaslets? Oh, yes, you have a tiny little nose! Boop!”

“They are quite tiny,” Ingo agreed, moving to join her. Lady Sneasler’s nest was a grand design, made of wood and bracken with blankets lining the edges. A combination of her natural instincts, and the offerings made to her by the Pearl Clan in order to keep her young warm.

“Hrrrrrrrrrr,” Lady Sneasler warbled, bonking Elle gently with her forehead and withdrawing a pecha berry from her fur.

“Oh— thanks, but I’m not— wait ma’am no I can chew it myself, that isn’t— see? I’m gonna do it now.” Elle took a bite of the pecha berry and made exaggerated chewing motions, making the sneaslets begin clamoring. Oh dear.

“They’ve seen you chewing and think you’re going to share,” Ingo explained. Elle nearly choked with laughter, but dutifully spat up about half a mouthful into her palm and held it down for the sneaslets to descend upon. They were messy eaters, but nothing if not efficient. The largest one of the litter began gnawing on her thumb until it wandered off, rolled over, and promptly began to snore.

“Gods, they’re so baby,” she muttered, reaching in to stroke one of the sneaslets. It began vibrating with delight, and she giggled. “Look at this one, Ingo! It’s like I hit the activation switch!”

“Indeed! Bravo!”

“So tiny,” Elle said, reaching to pet another one, then finally swinging her legs inside the nest and leaning forward with both hands. “Oh, you are all such tiny little guys, yes you are! Both hands to pet the sneaslets. Both hands to pet the sneaslets! Both hands, both hands, humans have two hands, both hands to pet the babies, little pokemon~”

Lady Sneasler finally gave up on subtlety and made a warbling, half growling noise at Ingo; it took a moment to realize what she wanted.

“Elle,” Ingo translated, “Milady wishes to offer her hospitality to you for a time. Essentially, she says get in the nest.”

“You can understand her?” Elle blinked in surprise, looking from Ingo to Lady Sneasler, who’d retreated to the other side of the cave to retrieve something.

“To a certain degree, yes. The bond between a noble and warden allows for basic communication.” Lady Sneasler returned with another blanket, which she draped around Elle’s shoulders and then proceeded to gently push her into the nest.

“Thank you, ma’am, that’s enough,” Elle said politely, and descended to join the sneaslets. “Yeah… a nap would be nice, if she doesn’t mind. I could…sleep off the poison…aw, little guys! He just curled up under my chin, oh my gods…”

“You deserve rest,” Ingo said firmly, looking to Lady Sneasler. She made a chrrrrr of agreement and climbed in the nest herself, leaving him to keep watch while she curled around her children, biological and otherwise. The sneaslets snuggled in, to each other or their new companion or their mother’s fur, and made sleepy mewling noises.

“I deserve rest,” Elle repeated, curling deeper into the nest. “I’m tired, but I am a person who respects her needs, and I am a person who wants to take care of herself. And I can accept help. So I don’t think… these waves of life will ever stop crashing against my shore, but I… can…”

Ah. Her breathing was slowing down to a pattern Ingo recognized as sleep, and some strange protective feeling stirred in his chest. It was good, he thought, to understand one’s self. To perform routine maintenance on one’s body and become accustomed to unexpected delays, and he was proud of Elle for learning that. Yes. This was a normal amount of care for a passenger.

Lady Sneasler made a chittering noise that he understood to be laughter— why was she laughing at him? He quietly asked her as much, and she answered him quite smugly.

…ah. That was the way he felt about Elle. It was…the beginning of something familial, the fondness one might have for a niece or nephew, perhaps. It wasn’t unpleasant, he didn’t think. But it was a new stop to incorporate into his route, and he would have to learn it by heart.

Chapter Text

It was three days before Elle finally returned from quelling the frenzy of the Lord of the Hollow— longer than it should have taken. If not for his newest pokemon, Rei probably would have been even more worried about the entire thing. Was she having trouble with the quelling? Was the cold playing havoc with her joints again? Were the wild pokemon aggressive? He didn’t know. But after the second day, when Adaman showed up with a stormy expression and requested to see Commander Kamado, Rei started to suspect it might be more serious.

He got permission to make a day trip to the Cobalt Coastlands with Professor Laventon in order to follow up on studying the pH of soil now that he’d connected it with his knowledge of soil from farming— but Palina and Iscan didn’t seem to know anything. That was— fine, maybe Elle was just taking her time, but Iscan looked…guilty. Was he just nervous as usual? Or was something going on with the Diamond Clan? He…didn’t know.

Arezu was evasive when he confronted her. “S’not my place to say,” she said, eyes averted. “Sorry. You’re both good folks, and you know I wouldn’t wanna keep secrets from ya, but clan loyalty comes first.” And that was all she’d say on the matter. 

It was…really weird for Rei to feel like this, honestly. It was like a crush, but with the…well, with the crush part removed, and the intensity was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. But Elle was a girl and uninterested in him romantically besides, so this was…well, it was new territory.

He buried himself in work, and had Mizu drape a massive paw over him when he slept to help with the insomnia, and he was, well, functional. Still, it was a relief when he looked up from weeding the fields and finally saw the familiar shape of her headband on the horizon— she was approaching camp at a rapid pace, grinning as she rode Madeline and an unfamiliar man followed closely behind on Lord Wyrdeer.

“You ready to meet Elle?” Rei said to the newest member of his team, who perked up. “Yeah! She’s coming home!”

Elle slid off her pokemon’s back with a thud and grabbed her cane from the saddlebag. “I lived, bitch,” she announced with a crooked grin, throwing a peace sign.

“Elle!” Rei dropped his spade where he stood and ran up to throw his arms around her, closing his eyes. He hadn’t told her— it wasn’t fair, to push his anxieties onto anyone else— but he missed her differently now. Painfully, fearfully, as if her absence was withdrawal itself, and her presence was peace. “Gods, I missed you.”

“I know,” she muttered. “I know. I needed to take a break from shit for a while, but I wish I could have sent a message.”

Rei swallowed hard. “No. Do what you need to do, I’m just glad you’re back.” One of these days, she would leave forever and never come back, and Rei’s bones would be lost to time. It tore at his throat just to think about it, but he swallowed the feeling and let it thrash around inside his stomach instead.

“Me too.” She released a long, shaky breath. “I’m pretty sure Melli was going to kill me. He got so close…”

“It’s okay now. You’re safe. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“Yeah. Me too,” she agreed. Her voice sounded tearful, but her eyes were dry when she pulled away. “Oh, and I’m gonna introduce you to Ingo! I think he’s from my world— he’s still recovering his memories, but we’re working on a project that I think you’ll like.”

Ingo— or the man Rei assumed was Ingo— dismounted and gave a stiff bow. “Indeed. If my purpose in Hisui is to educate the people in the ways of battling, in order to bring about a more peaceful future, then that is what I shall do.”

“You in?” Elle offered playfully. “We could use another sparring partner, and it’s a good way to get stronger.”

Rei grinned. “Fuck yeah.”

Ingo was— well, he was sort of stiff and awkward and loud in everything he did. He spoke with broad gestures and was prone to shouting, and his facial expressions rarely changed. Honestly, Rei wasn’t sure what to make of him at first. He was…hard to read. Not good, not bad, just weird.

Then Rei watched the way Ingo interacted with Elle— holding doors, offering his elbow for support, helping her carry things— and very quickly came to the conclusion that Ingo was a good person who was simply very socially awkward. In the same way that Elle didn’t care about social norms, Ingo was somewhat oblivious to them, and the two simply clicked.

It took most of the afternoon for Elle to finish her duties, and for Rei to run a last minute errand to the professor, but the three of them finally managed to find time to sit down for dinner together just outside the perimeter of camp.

“Here, Elle,” Rei said proudly, holding up a pokeball carved from a green apricorn. “I want you to meet someone!”

Elle gasped. “Oh, new friend? Fuck yeah.”

Rei carefully showed off the intricate vine carvings on the husk, savoring the drama for a minute before releasing the pokemon onto his lap. “Remember the egg I found? It hatched into a sweet baby girl! Her name is Haru, and she’s a turtwig, and she likes napping in the sun.”

“Oh my gods, a baby!” Elle squealed. Haru gave a wide yawn, the tip of her tongue curling up, and mrrrped inquisitively at Elle.

“Oh! A little girl! Bravo!” Ingo declared loudly. Haru slowly circled and flopped down in Rei’s lap, rumbling softly.

“Yeah! She’s been helping me test out a theory about grass types passively impacting the plant life around them.” Rei smiled, stroking Haru’s back. “Laventon helped me set up the experiment, and if everything goes well, he said he’s going to help me write a paper on it! I mean, it’ll mostly be him doing the writing, but it’s a big step, y’know? I’m learning to organize my thoughts by the scientific method and everything.”

“A baby….” Elle cooed, rubbing Haru’s nose with two fingers. “Congratulations, really. That sounds amazing.”

Ingo nodded sharply. “Indeed! It sounds as though you are making great progress.”

“Yeah. yeah, I am.” Rei smiled, watching Haru settle down for a nap. “Aaaaand now I’m not going to be able to stand up. Heh.”

Elle snorted. “Woe, baby be upon ye!”

“Baby be upon ye,” Ingo echoed solemnly. “Oh! Is that Adaman?”

It was indeed Adamn, and he…didn’t look at all pleased. Rei watched as he approached the commander’s quarters, giving a short, formal bow to the security corps member stationed out front. Elle scowled, pulling her knees up to her chest, and Rei gave her a sidelong glance, wondering what was wrong.

“Did something happen?” he asked.

“You could say that. Melli tried to fucking murder me, and Adaman had his clan leader duties to attend to.” Elle gave a derisive huff. “I mean, I kind of get it, but I’m still pissed. There I was, stomach inside out and half blind from the poison, and he listens to Melli before me like some kind of schoolteacher trying to figure out who started it in a playground spat. I guess…he’s in charge before he’s anyone’s friend. Kinda stupid of me to forget that.”

“It was not stupid,” Ingo said sternly. “It is human nature to form attachments to others.”

Elle didn’t seem convinced. “Yeah, whatever. Let’s talk about something else— how about battle demonstrations!”

Ingo began to nearly vibrate out of his seat with excitement, and it was then that Rei realized— oh. Elle had only ever showed a moderate level of excitement for battling, despite her being the best around. But Ingo? Well, Rei may have just opened a can of wurmple here.

Chapter Text

The autumn sun hung heavy in the sky, and a small crowd gathered near the training grounds. It was mostly the younger folks— children brought to Jubilife by their parents in search of a better home, children who had not yet been taught to fear that which they did not understand.

But Rei hoped that maybe in time, that would change. And that started with today.

“All right, this match will be a two-on-two single battle,” he recited, hoping he had all of the terminology correct. Elle gave him an encouraging nod from her side of the battlefield, while Ingo was literally vibrating in place with excitement, eyes focused on his opponent and fingers tapping a rapid pattern on his pokeballs. “Substitutions are allowed, but healing items are prohibited until after the match has been decided. Fire type moves are prohibited for the comfort of the participants, as are any attacks that could damage the surroundings or viewers. Are both parties ready?”

Ingo nodded sharply. “Prepared to depart!”

Elle gave a janky salute with a grin. “Let’s fuckin’ go!”

“You may begin!” Rei called, and stepped back to watch. Elle led off with her Pachirisu, Riza, and Ingo with a tangela.

“All right, let’s start off strong! Double team!” Elle called, making a broad flourish with one arm. “We’ve got an audience, so let’s show off!~”

Riza chittered in delight, shaking off a bright, sparkling powder from her fur and dashing across the field, afterimages dancing in her wake.

“Kudzu! Magical leaf, strong style!” Ingo commanded. The pokemon gave a loud cry, sending out a storm of leaves that battered Riza and sent her skittering back.

Elle winced in sympathy. “You’ve got it, sweetie! Swift!” 

“Protect, agile style, and use knock off!” Ingo commanded in retaliation. There was a gasp from the kid next to Rei, a boy who couldn’t have been older than ten and was leaning forward as he watched. 

“Ah, shit— volt switch!”

“Bind, before she can retreat!” Ingo yelled. Rei found his breath caught in his throat— Elle seemed confident that she could get away, but that confidence turned to shock as Riza’s attack was intercepted. Holy shit, was Ingo stronger than her? Riza was struggling pathetically inside of Kudzu’s vines, and gave a loud chirp of distress.

“Forfeit Riza,” Elle called, raising one arm. “Permission to return?”

Ingo gave a short bow. “Permission granted.”

It was a strangely polite way to battle; the proceedings paused as Kudzu released Riza to return to her pokeball, and Elle took a moment to swap her pachirisu’s ball out for a different one. “Resume! Let’s go, Sakurako!”

“Bind, again!”

“Leech seed— wear ‘em down slowly, sunshine!”

“Poison powder, agile style, then slam!”

“Nice try— aromatherapy, let’s go!”

“Slam again! You’ve got this, Kudzu!” Ingo yelled excitedly.

“Uh— shit, sunny day!” Elle commanded, looking flustered. “Sorry, darling, should have led with that—”

“One last time, strong style slam!” Ingo called, and finally, Sakurako was down. Holy shit. Hoooooooly fucking shit. 

“Ingo is the winner!” Rei declared, breathless and shocked. Holy shit. Kudzu looked proud of himself, running back to Ingo and trilling for attention, while Elle walked forward to pick up Sakurako and cuddle her against her chest. Some of the small audience looked shocked, some tentatively excited, but most of them seemed like they didn’t know what to make of the entire ordeal. Rei felt about the same, honestly. But— hey, progress was progress.

“Good match,” Elle said casually, holding out her hand for Ingo to shake.

“Indeed! Excellent! Bravo!” Ingo said, very carefully accepting a small handshake and then flapping his arms excitedly. “Would you care for a rematch!”

She shrugged, yawning. “Eh, I think I’ll pass. One a day works fine for me right now.”

Rei stepped forward, raising an arm. “Mind if I give it a shot?”

“Yeah, go for it! I prefer watching, anyways,” she said easily.  “Have fun!”

“It is verrrrry fun!” Ingo agreed. He was actually a lot easier to read once you stopped relying on his facial expressions to judge his mood, Rei had noticed. “Emmet used to say that, I think. Verrrrrrry. Would you like to battle beneath the same rules?”

“Actually…” Rei held out a pair of pokeballs. “Is there any way I could train both the puppies at once?”

Ingo grinned. “A double battle? Indeed!”

“No offense, but I think Ingo might be better at battling than you,” Rei said when all was said and done. Ingo was excitedly talking strategy to a group of children— he kept accidentally almost whacking someone with his broad arm movements, but the kids of Jubilife had more curiosity than respect for personal space.

To his surprise, Elle just laughed. “Oh, definitely. I almost want to say he was a gym leader or something! That’s, hm. They’re sort of like— combine the roles of nobles and wardens, but they battle for sport and generally help out the area. And you’ve gotta solve puzzles to reach them!”

“Is it okay if I keep learning from him and practicing together?”

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t it be?” Elle gave him a weird look. “He’s the one who actually likes battling, not me. I just do it because I have to, or because it’s healthy.”

Rei shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t know, it’s kind of…your thing?”

“Okay, but I genuinely don’t care?” Elle shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me whether I win or lose. It’s just a thing I like to do sometimes— in my world, I’m what’s known as a casual trainer. I don’t need to be strong to be happy, and my identity doesn’t revolve around it.”

Rei nodded, watching Ingo describe with elaborate hand motions how to set up swords dance. “I want to be a lot stronger than I am right now. And I don’t know if it’s healthy or not. I think it might help to channel the fear into something productive, but what if that only makes it worse?”

“Sometimes, no matter how strong you are, bad things happen. I know that— Hisui is different from my homeland. Strength matters a lot here. But…don’t lose sight of what matters, okay?” Elle tapped him on the nose.

Rei blinked, too shocked to do anything else for a moment. “Did you— did you just boop me?”

“Maaaaaybe,” Elle said smugly. “You shouldn’t have had a snoot if you didn’t want it to get booped!”

“You booped my snoot,” Rei said, one hand to his chest in mock indignation.

Elle’s smile faltered. “Is…that okay?”

“Only if I get to do…this!” He leaned over and tapped her back, grinning. “Boop!”

“Alack and alas, my snoot has been booped! Woe betide thee, a plague upon thine house!” Elle monologued dramatically, falling over with an exaggerated gasp. “Bleahhhh, I have been SLAIN.”

“Hey, don’t plague my house, we’ve got enough on our plate already,” he complained lightly.

“....what’s your family like?” Elle was still lying sideways on the bench, expression hidden. “Sorry if it’s a touchy subject. But you don’t really talk about them much.”

“Eh, there’s not much t’ say. I’ve got three older brothers, two big sisters, and a bunch of little cousins running around the neighboring farm. Pa’s not around the house much, Ma’s a bit overbearing but she means well, and I… I dunno. I love ‘em, sure, but I’m happier here in the Survey Corps. I was never much good at field work, but I’m built for running around out here.”

“Why’d you join?”

“One less mouth to feed at home,” he said frankly. “And…it was getting a little suffocating, t’ be honest.”

Elle pushed herself to a sitting position. “You’re not a burden just because you’re not physically strong enough to do what they wanted for you.”

“Maybe not in your world, but we don’t exactly have any other options. I don’t want my family to starve to death, Elle. It’s a nasty way to go.”

She looked away. “Right. Sorry. Things are…different, here.”

“What about you?” Rei asked, trying to change the subject. “If— you’re okay with it.”

“Eh, mom’s… abusive. Very abusive. Dad… I really don’t know. He mostly followed her lead, didn’t really express himself much, but when he did. I mean…I always got the impression that he didn’t want kids, to be honest, and wasn’t sure what to do with me. I wasn’t outdoorsy enough for him, or social enough for my mom, I was just…tired. I was tired all the time and it hurt to move. And I didn’t have the brains to compensate for it, either, so mom and dad weren’t sure what to do with me at all. There’s this weird stereotype out there that you have to ‘compensate’ for your disability somehow, turn it into a superpower. Like, you can’t just be blind, you need to have supersonic hearing or be psychic or something to make up for it. You can’t just walk with crutches, you need to be everyone’s emotional support, everyone’s therapist, have a good attitude, be the token they all want to see. But I… wasn’t. I wasn’t good for anything but being taken care of, and I guess that was the worst sin I ever committed in their eyes. No amount of Mozart in the womb had prepared my mom and dad for a useless burden of a daughter, and it was all my fault for being born.

“It wasn’t like I had anything to offer them, so why did I even exist? I think he was secretly hoping I would just contract some deadly disease and die. It would be easier for everyone. Kinder. But I survived, and he… started working overtime. Mom looked everywhere for a cure, they eventually decided to join an organization that convinced me the best way to die would be to martyr myself. It’s taken me a very long time and a lot of effort to convince myself that I’m worth more than what I can give to other people. So I don’t take well to bitches who think otherwise.” Elle’s voice was devoid of emotion, eyes dry as she spoke.

“Like Cyllene when you first arrived?” Rei guessed. “...Or is this about Kamado.” 

Elle gave a derisive snort. “Yeah, well, Kamado reminds me too much of dad for my comfort, frankly. He’s loud and angry and refuses to take no for an answer, refuses to listen when I set boundaries, and it’s— I never want to feel that powerless again, Rei. I know they’re not the same. But it’s the same brand of bullshit. And frankly, I don’t care what his intentions are. That which you kill in jest dies in earnest. ”

“I’m not…saying it’s your fault,” Rei said carefully. “But…do you think you might be making it worse, too? I think you deserve to be pissed with him, but provoking him…isn’t great.”

“It’s not my damn job to make him better. It’s not my fault if he gets angry that I don’t respect him!” Elle’s voice dropped, as did her gaze. “...I don’t know. Honestly, I probably shouldn’t be in the same room with that man if I can help it. I’m…going for a walk to cool off. I think I need it.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Rei leaned in for a quick hug. “Love you. Stay safe, okay?”

“Love you too. I will.”

Chapter Text

A place for everything, everything in its place, and make it right. Something is out of place in your heart, in your head, Pesselle, and you need to fix it.

Don’t view a patient’s autonomy as something to violate at your earliest convenience. Well, then, when? Sometimes it was necessary, wasn’t it? Pesselle’s highest priority was to heal her patients. No matter what. No matter what. What was she doing wrong? Something was out of place. 

She needed to make it right. She just needed to apologize, and explain, and everything would be fine! Everything would be just fine. Everything would be in its place.

Pesselle waited. She organized her tools, she made supply runs, she paid attention to the news of the sky-faller— of her return from the mountain, of her daily battle demonstrations that gained more and more popularity in time.

She waited with a smile, and when the time came that Elle returned, she struck.

“So!” Pesselle began brightly, hands folded behind her back as Elle rifled through her storage once again. “I feel like we got off to a rather rocky start last time.”

Elle turned around with a glare, holding a strange cracked rock in her arms. “Ma’am. If you fucking try anything, I’ve got backup this time, and she won’t hesitate.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad!” Pesselle tried, craning her neck as Elle continued to take bandages, and the rock revealed itself to be quite haunted. “Admittedly, I think there may have been some misunderstandings, but nothing that can’t be cleared up easy breezy!”

"You touched me without permission, dislocated my elbow, refused to listen to me when I told you that what happened to my body was normal, backed me into a corner, stole my mobility aid, and attempted to jab me with an unsterilized needle full of unknown substance which you refused to explain to me. Take accountability or fuck off."

"....yes. So sorry about that. I don't believe I introduced myself— I'm Pesselle, head of the Medical Corps! We have such similar names, don't you think?"

Elle shut her satchel and moved out of the closet, circling Pesselle without taking her eyes off her. "Yes, precisely what I wanted."

“I…understand that you don’t want an apprenticeship with me right now—”

“Not at all. Not ever.”

“—but I really would appreciate some of your advice. Perhaps— well, perhaps we could combine our knowledge?” Pesselle’s eye was twitching.

“You want my knowledge, you mean,” Elle concluded. The pokemon— if it even was a pokemon— gave a ghastly hiss, and she leaned down to pet it soothingly. “Clean your fucking tools.”

“I’m afraid that only makes them corrode faster— I don’t really perform surgery with the scalpel in that state, but as I’ve stated, iron is precious. It can only be obtained from the sky, much like you, and the corrosion only spreads faster if I clean it regularly.”

“Oh.” Elle looked— well, a little bit less defensive at that, which Pesselle was going to count as a win. “So you would prefer if I didn’t pick it up like that, because it’s precious and rare.”

“Yes!” Pesselle clasped her hands together, beaming. “See, I knew we could reach a compromise!”

“Yeahhh, um, same goes for my cane— touching it without my permission is tantamount to a personal assault, so don’t ever do that again. I think you can keep iron suspended in either oil or alcohol to keep it from rusting. Or stainless steel— wait, shit, I don’t know how that’s made.” Elle scowled. “We’re still not friends, though.”

“I…see. Well, if there’s anything you’d like to know from me, go ahead and ask away! I’ll answer as well as I’m able.”

Elle thought for a moment before she answered, smiling pleasantly. “Oh, I’ve got one! What the fuck made you think it was in any way acceptable to grab a syringe from the drawer and start chasing me with it?!?”

"I know needles can be scary at your age, but It was just a bit of morphine and an opioid compound we—"

“No! You are entirely missing the point!” Elle stared at her as if she was stupid. "Do not drug people without consent. That's bad."

"Yes, well, sometimes it's necessary with uncooperative patients—"

The sky-faller held up her cane, making the tip spark. "And sometimes, this is necessary for uncooperative doctors!"

"I'll have to ask that you put that away—"

"Why? You don't feel safe knowing that you could be knocked out at any time because your behavior was deemed inconvenient? Gosh, what a horrible feeling that must be. If only someone could relate!" Her tone was dripping with sarcasm, which was really quite uncalled for. Pesselle was trying her best here!

Pesselle tried again. "You know, I'm just following what I learned. You may not be aware, being presumably self taught, but it’s quite standard procedure. I’m following the rules just as I was taught them."

"Mm. I tried that when I was fifteen; apparently that's called assaulting an officer of the law, resisting arrest, and compliance with domestic terrorism."

Oh, this was definitely going to give Pesselle ulcers. "Well, I'm not sure where you learned such things, but I graduated a year early from Blackburn University, and it's been my goal to help others ever since!"

"Oh, lovely. Gotta love the grind! Pushing yourself to an unhealthy standard, we love to see it. Sure you aren't just trying to prop up your own little savior complex?"

"Well, I've done a lot more than you have around here!" Pesselle finally snapped. "You and your little mutinies and days off— I've dedicated my life to the Galaxy Team!"

"Sounds like somebody needs a hobby,” Elle snarked. “Have you considered touching grass? Works wonders for the soul."

Pesselle swallowed hard, clutching at the front of her uniform. Gods, she’d been trying so hard here! Where did it all go wrong? "....you're really mean, you know that?"

Elle leaned against a shelf, cane in hand. "Indeed. Woe, torment shall be thrust upon me for my crimes of....uh. Being rude? Rejecting etiquette and platitudes? Why do you hate me, Pesselle? Why do you take such visceral offense to my existence? Who am I hurting?"

"Your own soul—"

"Don't care. None of your concern."

"Well, maybe it is my concern!” Pesselle shot back. “I just happen to be a naturally compassionate person, and it hurts me too to see others in pain when there's something I can do to help! You're obviously suffering."

"What tipped you off, the ibuprofen stash?" Elle rolled her eyes. "It's called empathy. And a lot of it is projecting onto other people. You need to take a step back and examine your actions sometime before you do something that can't be undone. Empathy isn't some inherently benign trait. Sometimes, it’s a blade against someone's throat."

"I don't know where you got those ideas—"

“Have you ever been suicidal?” Elle asked suddenly. Numbly, Pesselle shook her head. “Known anyone who was? Made things worse for them?”

“I…no. Never,” Pesselle lied.

“I said some things last year…that I still regret,” she continued, in a quieter tone of voice. “I thought I knew everything about someone, and I said that they should just die and make things easier for all of us. But I wasn’t really seeing them. I was seeing the people who hurt me, and the parts of myself that I hated. I was so caught up in my past that I… it sucked, okay? I’ll freely admit that I fucked up. I thought I could do no wrong, and that thought got…twisted. Hatred doesn’t go away if you bury it. It’s just waiting, and it makes suffering feel like holiness. You dive into overwork and self loathing like it’s your drug of choice, and you’re proud of how deeply you can hurt yourself. And you know exactly how to hurt others. That scalpel? It’s a tool of healing, and you know better than anyone in Hisui just how easily you could just slice open someone’s carotid artery, don’t you.”

“That is enough,” Pesselle said finally. “If you’re trying to disturb me with your little story, then congratulations, you’ve succeeded.”

“I know. It’s fucked up. But sometimes, my pain is the only weapon I have. It’s either I learn to use it, or just sit down and die.” Elle gave a crooked grin that was devoid of mirth. “Don’t tell me it’s my fault. Just don’t. I’m tired of it.”

Pesselle let out a long breath, feeling vulnerable somehow without the normal shield of cheerfulness. She sat on the edge of one of the empty beds, running a hand across the sheets. “What a pair we make, hm?”

“You’re not my friend.”

“Yes, and I hate you.” Pesselle gave her a smile that was almost genuine. “But no one will ever believe you, will they?”

Elle snorted. “Like anyone believes shit I say. I’m just the weird sky-faller from the future who can pop her bones out of place and runs into danger like I’m ready for a cuddle puddle, remember?”

“And I’m just the cheerful head nurse who’s never seen death in her life and isn’t afraid of anything at all— not failure, not inexperience, not the future.” 

“I hate hospitals,” Elle finally said. “And I hate doctors who don’t listen to their patients. I have lived with my condition; I know nearly everything there is to know about it. I searched so desperately for any scraps of information I could find, trying to make sense of my own body. Because it’s all I have. And to have that thrown away by some arrogant prick with a medical degree who thinks I need more exercise and vegetables? It makes me angrier than you’ll ever understand.”

“You’re right. I’ll never understand how someone can be so horribly angry, all the time. Why can’t you set your anger down for once?”

“Where the fuck am I supposed to put it? Inside of me, like you do?” Elle scoffed. "If you tear yourself into pieces for other people, then that's still anger and violence that's hurting someone. That's not harmless. That's fucked up and unhealthy."

Pesselle raised an eyebrow. “You really just spilled your guts on the time you suicide baited a bitch, and for what? You think you can fix me by wrecking yourself? You’re going to publicly vivisect yourself just so someone will see how badly you’re hurting?”

“You’re right. I would tear my own rib from my chest if I needed to use it as a weapon, and it scares the fuck out of me” Elle said seriously. “It’s— it’s not healthy. I know. It’s not something I’m proud of. So long as I am disabled, I will be forced to make difficult choices like that. I will be angry and a nuisance and take up space, and I will hurt myself over and over again just for the right to have as much dignity as an abled person. When I rest, it is a revolutionary act of resistance against a world that wants me to destroy myself. Honestly? Just being here and talking to you is hard. But I need you to see me as a person. I need you to see me as a person.”

“Why? If you hate being here so fucking much, why put yourself through it? For all your talk about me and my savior complex, you sure don’t have a leg to stand on.”

Elle blinked. “I…you’re right, actually. Can we continue this outside? I really don’t have any reason to talk to you in here specifically, and I have what I came for.”

Pesselle waved a hand. “No need. Get out of my fucking space, sky-faller. You can stop in for supplies on Saturdays— that’s my day off.”

Elle gave a lazy left-handed salute. “Good, then I won’t have to run into you again. Have fun haunting my nightmares, bitch.”

“Sleep with some lavender incense, you little shit!”

“Get a life, you workaholic cunt!” Elle shouted over her shoulder.

Huh. Well, that was….unexpected. But somehow it felt good. Pesselle cracked her neck, wondering how long she’d kept the tension there. It wasn’t going away any time soon, but that didn’t mean never. And maybe she was tired of waiting to live.

Chapter Text

“Weird question,” Elle said, staring at the sky as Remus curled up on her chest to nap. “Do you think there’s a difference in how you spell scrunkly and what it means?”

Rei paused in his attempts to convince Rhea of the wonders of peanut butter. “I— we literally don’t use the same alphabet or written language. But yes. Absolutely. It’s different with the curvy letter than the spiky one.”

“I haven’t been on tacklr in so long….” Elle sighed. “You know, I think it might be similar to scrimbus. I don’t even know if time will pass in my absence, or if I’ll return to my own time thirty seconds later and three months older.”

“Thought it was scrimblo? Or am I mixing it up with blorbo?” Rei finally got Rhea to lick the peanut butter from his finger, and then she promptly chomped down and began to gnaw. “Rhea, sweetie, no.”

“I don’t know,” Elle admitted. “I…didn’t mean to get— I know I’m going to take Ingo back with me. But I wish I had some way to keep in touch with you when I go.”

“It’s going to hurt, when you leave,” Rei said softly. 

“I know.” She sighed again, tilting her head back. “Ah, shit. Cyllene’s coming and I’ve got a dog on top of me.”

“I got her!” Rei carefully bapped his growlithe with her pokeball, offering a hand to Elle as their captain approached. She looked…well, frankly it was hard to say how she looked, given her stony resting expression.

“Ms. Chihiro,” Cyllene said stiffly. “The commander would like to see you in his office.”

“Ah,” Elle said softly. “Fuck. This…isn’t optional, is it?”

“I’m afraid not.”

She swallowed hard. “Did he specify whether I had to come alone? He— he’s going to flip out if I have Cari or Lola, I know he is, but I can’t—”

“Do you need an emotional support human?” Rei offered. “You don’t have to do this by yourself.”

“That would be advisable,” Cyllene agreed. “A much better idea than bringing a Pokémon for emotional support, in any case.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that would be nice.” Elle reached out for his hand and squeezed it, letting out a shaky breath, and Rei wondered how much the commander really scared her. Sometimes it was hard to tell, behind the confident front she put up, just how much she needed help. “Welp, time to get chewed out by a pissy old man who won’t listen to reason!”

Rei squeezed her hand back. It was all he could do.

This time, Elle wasn’t here alone— Rei was beside her, pushing open the doors first. Kamado narrowed his eyes, but didn’t comment. It wasn’t worth it. The doors slowly swung shut. Rei watched Elle carefully, while she opened and closed her mouth several times.

“Sir,” Elle said finally, squeezing Rei’s hand, “I’d like to request that you deliver any requests or orders in some other way in order to avoid— avoid, um, face to face communication. Let’s face it, you don’t want it any more than I do, right?”

Kamado’s face was stern and impassive. “Take a seat, Ms. Chihiro.”

“What’s this about? Could it be delivered in writing or something?”

“I will be blunt: what the hell is your goal for being here? What do you hope to accomplish? You claim you were sent by god, and yet the name you speak is no god I know. You want to help us, and yet you languish about in your tent more often than not. You offer to help survey the coastlands, and yet you contribute nothing of value to the project despite your overwhelmingly wasted potential. You claim you are in favor of improving relations, yet you don’t seem to understand how badly we have been hurt by pokemon.”

“I— I had a flare up and got kidnapped in the coastlands; I hardly think I’m at fault for that!” Elle protested, rubbing at her wrist. “Just because I’m strong in battle— gah. Sometimes shit happens, okay?”

“Sir, I really think this could be done some other way,” Rei tried.

“My word is law,” Kamado snapped. Did the boy really think he could shield his friend from this by helping her run away? “Ms. Chihiro. Do you know what pokemon are capable of?”

“I’ve— seen them— kill, don’t remind me,” Elle said with a tremor in her voice. Rei was glaring daggers at Kamado now, but he ignored it.

“Pokémon are inherently destructive creatures. Look upon me and know that I was among the lucky few that survived,” Kamado ordered, trying to make eye contact. Deceitful girl that she was, though, Elle refused. She was staring at his arms— he’d pushed up his sleeves without realizing it at some point, and now his weakness was on full display. He tugged them down, but it was too late.

“Second to third degree burns, depending on the spot,” she said quietly. “Got infected on your left arm, looks like. Left upper arm looks like a contact wound rather than from ambient flames. Burns are nasty— it’s not just the original injury, but the aftermath that you’ve gotta worry about. Was it a pokemon that did that?”

“Pokemon are not friends,” Kamado told her sternly. “They are not your little dolls to carry around and hug. You are playing with fire, Ms. Chihiro, and we are all wary for good reason. Look around you at the scars of the townspeople; ask them their stories.”

"You're not the only one here who knows of fire," Elle said. She turned her back to him— disrespectful whelp! —but Kamado inhaled sharply as he saw her coat fall. And saw the beginning of her scar on her neck, raised skin that was half melted in places. It was an ugly thing, and something inside of him connected.

"I see," Kamado said neutrally. "How recent?"

"I was seven or eight at the time. A man I trusted did this to me. My mother watched and didn't do a thing to stop it. It goes all the way down my back— used to limit my movement a lot more until I got proper medical treatment for it." Elle pulled her coat back up to her shoulders. "I still don't know where that man is— whether he's dead or arrested or still hurting kids somewhere out there. Does that give me the right to indiscriminately mistrust humans?"

“That may be how things are in your world,” Kamado acknowledged. “But such a thing is a false equivalency, and I cannot comprehend someone who refuses to see our loss.”

"Is it now." She didn't seem entirely convinced. "Did it hurt for you? The fire." 

A scream of pain, the acrid scent of burning flesh consuming his lungs, helplessly reaching out and seeing the terror in her eyes, a falling beam, hands grasping and clawing at him. He couldn't do a thing, was pulled back by a faceless tide, and he. Lost. Everything. The hands ripped and tore at him, begging for safety, begging for a new home, tearing his skin from flesh and reaching to— 

"GET OUT. Now," Kamado ordered, pushing back a cough from the phantom smoke in his lungs. "Don't forget your place, sky-faller."

“My place isn’t here,” she said softly, but it was lost in the crackling of flames. She slammed the door behind her, bringing to mind a wooden beam falling down with an awful crunch of bone and a sizzle of flame against skin.

Damn memories. Kamado tightened his grip on his sword, as if that alone could quench the raging heat. This wasn’t real, damnit, and if he was a stronger man, he wouldn’t still be burning alive in the guilt of the ones he couldn’t save. The village of Jubilife had no time for his wallowing in self pity; they needed a leader who would keep them safe.

He would not let it happen again. Never.

“Sir,” Rei said firmly. Gah. He was still here? “With all due respect, you need to knock it off. What do you even have against Elle, anyways?”

Kamado traced patterns on the hilt of his weapon, breathing in and out, air that was much too stale. “I have nothing against her. She’s simply too soft for the Survey Corps, that’s all. For crying out loud, the girl collects blankets. ”

“Yeah, well, maybe we need that. We’re trying t’ make a new home here for everyone, not just the people who are abled and can work.”

“She’s proven herself perfectly capable of work if she simply puts her mind to it—“

“She doesn’t need to prove shit!”

“Really? You’re defending a girl who does nothing but beg for pity?”

“I’m defending my friend . And you’ve been incredibly shitty to her, after everything she’s done for us. You realize Elle doesn’t need us, right?” Rei pointed out the door. “She survived a week in the wilderness with nothing but her Pokémon and the supplies on her back. You’ve done nothing but give her shit for what she hasn’t done, completely ignoring the fact that she signed up to help us because she wanted to. Have you not noticed that she hates being in the same room as you, offered to communicate via letter or messenger, and you forced her to stay?”

…Admittedly, he hadn’t. “I will send further communications in this manner, if she refuses to address me in person. It seems I have no choice.”

“Yes, you do!” Rei blurted out. “You’re literally just hurting my friend for something that’s out of her control! Why should everyone else be forced to accommodate for you?”

“I do not require accommodations,” Kamado gritted out.

“You’re right. Accommodations are about compromise.” Rei made an angry noise, shoving his hands into his pocket. “I respect you, sir, I really do. But this? It’s bullshit. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get the front door for my friend. It’s heavy.”

Chapter Text

Of course nothing good could last forever— everyone knew that. But for a while, it was… peaceful. It was peaceful, and it was good, and it started to feel almost like home. Elle’s health rose and fell, but by now Rei knew more about the kind of support she needed, and would stop in for a chat most evenings. She liked the company; even if she was in too much pain to do anything, the boredom was the worst part, she told him. Not the pain, but the constant boredom.

Ingo was always eager to battle, and something of a stickler about safety, which was a relief to most of the residents. Elle and Rei would fight him in turn— Elle lost more than she won, but didn’t seem to mind, so long as she got to fight. With such a strong opponent, her anger finally had an outlet with no fear of harm, and Rei even managed to beat her on one occasion.

 Elle may have had no desire to get stronger, but Rei found his joy in slowly improving his skills. Mizu was a strong mixed attacker, Remus and Rhea slowly gained coordination and began to work as a team to confuse and outmaneuver their opponents, and Haru…well, she provided moral support. 

The first trial of the passive grass type effect experiment ended successfully, and the second was well on its way. Rei would need three trials for conclusive data, or at least conclusive enough to publish, but it was definitely getting somewhere, and Laventon assured him that a cute picture of Haru would absolutely not be amiss in a scientific paper. 

Between that and filling out the pokedex, Elle and Rei took on errands for the villagers— finding pokemon who would be willing to try living with a human, would be willing to help out, would be willing to make a leap of faith and trust one of the strange creatures in their homeland. A geodude to help with pickling, a gorgeous shiny wurmple, a parasect that chittered and released spores when happy. Elle was best at that, but her lax attitude and tendency to easily overwhelm opponents in battle meant that Rei was a lot better at earning a pokemon’s respect in combat.

Rei started socializing Rhea and Remus after his battles with Ingo, introducing them to anyone who wanted to pet a real live pokemon and instructing people on how to let the puppies sniff their hands and what growlithe body language meant. Elle and Cari could walk the streets together without being questioned now, and the pasture was becoming a popular place to see pokemon up close.

Kamado, at least, was true to his word about sending his orders in writing— however, seeing as Elle couldn’t read it, that meant it usually fell upon Rei to be the bearer of news.

“Welp,” he said one evening as Elle was stopping by the professor’s place for dinner, “looks like…there’s another Noble to quell. Do you want to take on this one together?”

“Another?” Elle sighed, loading her plate with potato mochi. “We’re getting so close with the pokedex research, though! Whoever’s frenzying these bitches, can you not???”

“We don’t even know if it’s a sentient being behind this; it might be just some sort of strange energy from that rift,” the professor pointed out.

“Yeah, well, dear old Arceus is being evasive as fuck,” she grumbled. “Guess I’ll find out when I…seek out all pokemon. Gods. Shit.”

“Are you all right, my girl?” Laventon asked. 

“Eh. Been better. I just…miss my therapist, mostly. Ah, shit, I haven’t explained— a therapist is like a doctor, but for your brain? You just kinda sit and talk with them about your problems, and they help you out. Like, teaching you breathing exercises or listening to you vent and giving advice, and sometimes they help point you towards people who can get you more specialized medication to balance the chemicals in your brain.”

“Fascinating,” Laventon said, leaning forward. “Although…I am sorry to hear that you’re unable to access the care you need. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I dunno, just some of the shit Pesselle said to me kinda…stuck. I don’t really want to talk about it, though.” She swallowed hard. “I think I’m okay eating here tonight, just— don’t make a fuss about it, okay?”

“Ah— yes. Naturally.” Laventon nodded. “Is, ah, Pesselle still bothering you?”

“Nah, we reached…an agreement. Just, lots of shit rattling around in my brain, I miss having someone to talk about it with.”

“You’ve got a lotta secrets on your shoulders, huh,” Rei said. “Sorry if this is weird or overstepping, but— I’m here to help, ‘kay? You don’t have to do this all alone.”

“I appreciate it, I really do.” She gave a smile that was a little bit mischievous. “Hey, remember last time you spent the night in my tent? Wanna do it again tonight?~”

Laventon choked on air. “Y-you did what? Rei. I cannot emphasize this enough, what were you thinking? And Elle, I’m disappointed in you as well. Fooling around is natural enough at your age, but this is not the time to start a family. There isn’t any chance you might be—?”

“Bitch! It wasn’t like that and you know it!” Rei chucked a balled up napkin at Elle’s head, but she was too busy laughing to dodge and it fell into her soup. “Don’t worry, professor, she’s just being a little shit. Also, I like guys. ”

“Well— that does explain several things, I suppose, but—” Laventon still looked somewhere between flustered and aghast. “You’re sure your relationship isn’t anything of that nature?”

“Positive; Rei’s one of the few friends I haven’t caught feelings for. I literally can’t get pregnant, but gods, the look on your face!” Elle cackled.

“You’re dodging the question, though,” Rei pointed out. “You know we’re here for you, right? You’re not alone. You don’t have to be alone.”

The mirth drained from her face, and she carefully fished the napkin out of her soup. “I— I really appreciate it. I…don’t know if I can believe that right now. My head’s a bit of a mess. But it’ll get through eventually, I think, and I’m waiting for the day that happens.”

In the end, despite all of the joking, Rei did end up bringing his cot to Elle’s tent and spending the night. Haru was curled up on his pillow, and Elle cuddled with Lola like she always did, allowing the pokemon’s healing membrane to do its work. Their presence alone made Laventon’s eyes go wide with excitement, and Pesselle had glared jealously more than once. 

Alomomola were fascinating creatures, and their healing abilities were incredible, but they couldn’t do everything. Sleeping next to Lola could reset most of Elle’s superficial injuries, but couldn’t do anything for her connective tissue disorder. 

“I guess it’s probably because I don’t need to be fixed,” Elle had said to him once, and never brought it up again. It made Rei think about the idea of wellness, of fixing people versus just helping them live. Elle seemed….well, not happy, per se, but she lived her life alongside her disability. Not in spite of it, just accepting it day by day. Maybe disability wasn’t so much about physical limitations, but lifestyle— like how Rei struggled with heavy fieldwork back home, but found himself perfectly suited for the fast-paced life of the Survey Corps. 

That’s…what Elle wanted, right? To create a world where she wasn’t held back by her surroundings. A cure for ableism, she’d said. Rei stared across the tent, Haru snoozing gently in his arms as the sun slowly rose. He wanted to make that world, too. A world where people could live their best lives.

“Mmmmmngh,” Elle finally said, rolling over and blinking slowly at him. “Setting off for quelling later today, I think. Fuuuuuck, I hate going cold places.”

“Morning,” Rei said sleepily. “Bones don’t like the cold, huh.”

“Mm. Just picture me like a grass type. Need warmth ‘n sunlight, don’ like the cold.” She yawned and sat up, hair askew and longer than Rei remembered. “Like Haaaaruuuuu, oh, lookit that little baby all curled up next to you!”

“She’s absolutely baby,” Rei agreed. He gently shifted Haru so she could continue napping on his pillow, and began to stretch. Elle joined him, albeit much louder. “Your hair’s getting pretty long, huh. Do you want to ask Arezu to cut it for you?”

“Are you kidding me?” Elle snorted. “Pretty girl touching my hair and talking to me for half an hour? I’d die. Nah, I’ll just…keep it as it is for now. Not a fan of the tangles, though. I keep it short because it’s lower maintenance.”

“Here, I can comb it for you if you want,” Rei offered. “Used to do it back when I had long hair.”

Elle raised an eyebrow, but brought her comb over and sat next to him nonetheless. “You had long hair?”

“See, there was this boy,” Rei began, running the comb through the ends of her hair first.

“Ohhhh, that kind of story, huh?”

“Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh. See, baby Rei didn’t know he had a crush and thought it was just that he was super cool, so I started growing out my hair to be just like him! It was shoulder length at most, I think, but I eventually cut it. In hindsight, I absolutely should have realized that was not in any way heterosexual behavior.”

“Mm.” Elle nodded slowly, as Rei worked through a particularly troublesome tangle with his fingers. “I used to wear my hair really long, in a braid. It was past my waist when it was down, and I. Literally just never cut it. It was a fucking pain to take care of, though, and at one point I just hacked it off myself on impulse. I got it professionally fixed later, though.”

“Oh, damn,” Rei said. “Short hair’s a good look on you, though.”

“Yeah….” Elle let out a long sigh, leaning forward slightly. There was a weird noise that Rei thought might be from Haru, almost like growling, but softer. He looked over to his pokemon, but she was just breathing softly. No, the noise was coming from Elle.

“Are you… purring? ”

“Are you gonna make it weird, or keep going?”

“Duly noted, catgirl.” They sat there comfortably a while longer, Elle rumbling softly in pleasure and Rei running his fingers through her hair. It was nice; he didn’t have words for it, but it felt like home between the two of them.

“Mkay, I’m good,” Elle said finally, sounding sleepy and relaxed.

“You sure?” Rei teased.

“Fuck off, you’re gonna make me fall back asleep!” She swatted his hand away, laughing. “Okay, my turn. I haven’t really done it for anyone in a while, but I give really good back massages. Lie on your stomach on the cot, okay?”

“Thought you didn’t need to?” Rei asked, already complying. 

“Not the way I do it.” Then Elle began to work, and suddenly it made much more sense.

She started by rubbing down the length of his back and shoulders, nimble fingers locating knots and pressing them gently, stretching out his muscles like taffy. After that, she used her knuckles and the heels of her palms to dig deep circles into the knots, with a sensation like pain and a final release of tension Rei didn’t even know he was holding. He felt at though he were meat being tenderized for a stew, on the edge of falling asleep and yet very acutely aware of his own body at the same time.

“What the fuuuuck, how are you so— nnngh— good at this?”

“Bit of medical knowledge goes a long way. Also, I have a kneading stim,” Elle said smugly. “I used to volunteer at the local Pokémon center, did a whole lot of research of my condition and similar disorders, and now I’ve got a pretty good knowledge of human anatomy. So in addition to knowing all about connective tissue, when to DIY my healthcare and when not to, I know exactly where the muscles connect and overlap.”

“Man, that sounds amazing,” he commented. “You can do so much good with that!”

“Eh, not exactly.” She pressed down hard on a particularly stubborn knot, making Rei gasp sharply in pain. “Knowing how to heal people means you know how to hurt them, too. Which does not help with the violent intrusive thoughts, let me tell you.”

“Elle— Elle. Stop it.” Rei awkwardly pushed her hands away from him, and sat up. “Do you even realize you do it?”

“I-I do what?”

“You say shit like that when people can’t answer you seriously, can’t actually respond, or you change the subject and make a joke directly afterwards.” Rei sighed. “Like last night. You change the subject and run away. What are you so scared of? Being loved?”

Elle’s mouth opened, then shut. She looked away, fingers curling around her opposite arm, and gave a quiet gasp that was almost like a sob.

“Elle?” Rei said quietly.

“No. You’re— you’re right, I think. I do it because…well, for most of my life there weren’t a lot of people who actually gave a damn, and that was the only way I knew how to ask for help. But— I’m not there anymore, am I.”

“No, you’re not. I care about you. Laventon cares about you. Even Cyllene cares about you, but she’s awkward and bad at showing it. Just let us in, okay?”

“I know. I know that!” she said desperately. “And I really thought I’d gotten better; I guess I just…relapsed. Thanks for, um, calling me out like that.”

Rather than answering, Rei gently bonked his forehead against hers, and she leaned into him, hard, and that was all the understanding they needed.

Chapter Text

The three of them set off— Laventon and Rei riding on Lord Wyrdeer, and Elle riding Madeline with a few blankets to nest in. One of them was draped over the horse’s mane, dampening the flames, while the rest were tucked around her shoulders.

“Are you positive you’re all right with this arrangement, my girl?” Laventon said, clinging tightly to Lord Wyrdeer. “I know your reactions to fire have been…less than pleasant in the past.”

“It comes and goes,” Elle said sleepily. “Gets worse if I’m stressed or if something recently triggered it, like burning my mouth on hot food or getting dragged to the volcano. But I’ve been managing it— exposure therapy helps, meds help, and we’re figuring it out together. If anyone accuses me of faking it, I will steal their kneecaps and carve my name into them. Mm, crunchy~”

“Has anyone ever told ya that you’re kinda feral?” Rei asked affectionately.

“Y’know, they never really stop.” Elle gave him a sappy grin, and Madeline trotted closer to Rei. “Maddie can even tone it down to just glowy hair sometimes— I don’t think it’s super healthy for her in the long term, but it’s okay as long as she takes frequent breaks. Kinda like binding your chest.”

“It’s real good that you two are… learning to exist together without hurting each other,” Rei agreed, reaching across the gap to pet her. Madeline nickered, pressing her head in against her hand. “What do you mean, binding your chest?”

“Uh— how do I explain this— tiddy-be-gone?” Elle made a vague motion. “Flattening your chest via pressure, basically, using something called a binder. It looks like a tank top, except it’s more functional and can cause breathing problems if you use it wrong. It’s usually not that bad, but using ace bandages or duct tape— it’s like long strips of fabric with adhesive— is really unsafe. Mostly for folks who trans their genders.”

“Ah— like compression shirts?” Laventon suggested. “I have a relative who uses them, as well as a daily regimen of qualot berries, to reduce the size of his chest.”

“Qualot berries: organic tiddy-be-gone,” Rei joked.

“Man, I’ll have to take some with me when I go back home; we’ve got qualot berries where I’m from, but they’re smaller and a different color and not nearly as potent. You go a cup size down for every full year you take 'em, but you need a doctor to monitor your hormone levels every few months. And top surgery’s a lot quicker, besides.”

Laventon frowned in confusion. “Top surgery?”

Elle made a harsh chopping motion with her hand. “Yeet the tiddies. With a knife. Well, scalpel, actually, but close enough.”

“Yeet the tiddies!” Rei crowed. Laventon just sighed and muttered something that sounded like oh these are literal children I am working with.

“But yeah, point is. Not super healthy, but it’s fine for short trips and emergencies. Blanket is healthier for both of us, but only works in cold or she overheats. And it’s fuckin’ cold, and she’s nice and warm…” Elle blinked slowly. “I’m gonna. Nap, I think.”

“Ah, very well,” said Laventon, who sounded slightly bitter that she was comfortable enough riding a pokemon to nap on one. His coordination was even worse than Elle’s in some ways— his handwriting was neat and precise, unlike her loopy scrawl, but both of them had the same poor balance and general lack of body awareness. It was…largely unsuitable for field work, but Rei supposed that’s what he was here for.

“Hey, if you—” Rei began, but stopped as he saw Elle’s breathing had evened out already. “Heh. Take good care of your girl, okay, Maddie?”

Madeline tossed her head and gave a derisive snort— but quietly, so as not to wake her rider.

They arrived at the Alabaster Icelands around noon, and set up camp as quickly as possible. It helped to have fire types— Sprig was back at camp, but Spark was curled up in Laventon’s coat. Remus and Rhea were very wiggly at first, but after a few games of fetch Elle managed to calm them down enough. She folded a pair of her blankets into makeshift swaddling harnesses for herself and Rei to each keep warm with a puppy drowsing on their chest.

“Rhea— Rhea. Sweetheart. Does my face really taste that good?” Rei protested, trying to set up his tent with the growlithe frantically lapping at his chin. “Do I have food on me or something?”

“Maybe she likes the texture of your stubble or something,” Elle suggested.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. On one hand, hell yeah! On the other hand, shaving. Bleagh.”

“Bleagh,” Elle agreed. “I scratched up my legs so many times before I had the guts to use an electric razor.”

Rei shook his head. “Still can’t believe you people shave your body hair.”

“Sometimes you just gotta feel smooth like sharpedo,” she said brightly, finishing up her tent. “Hooooo boy. Madeline, you deserve so many fucking apples for that, darling.”

“Well, nearly finished, and the clan leaders should be meeting us tomorrow,” Laventon declared, removing Spark from his coat. The cyndaquil made a pathetic mewl at the sudden cold, gnawing on his sleeve. “I’m going to start a fire for us, then— Elle?”

“Hm?” she said, whipping her head around to look at him. There was an abrupt crack from her neck. 

“Having a larger fire will be a necessary evil with the climate here, I’m afraid, but is there anything I should know that might make it more comfortable for you?”

“Uh— shit. Um, the smell of burning flesh is a really bad one for me, but smoke can trigger flashbacks as well, so I try not to get the scent on my clothes. If you take good care of your fire types, they won’t produce much smoke, especially at rest, but the sound of crackling flames, uh, isn’t great. I’ve also got some medication that can help me stave off an attack if I take it in advance, and I’m pretty well versed in how to ride them out,” Elle rambled.

“Burning…flesh?” Laventon asked worriedly.

Elle winced. “I mean— I was really little and I didn't remember it for most of my life, plus I couldn’t really see anything as it was happening— actually, now that I think about it, I don’t much like blowtorches either, but I—”

“You don’t need to explain if you’re not ready, my girl,” the professor cut in gently. “It sounds like it was very traumatic for you.”

Elle blinked. Swallowed hard. “Y—yeah. It was. Are— are you sure? I mean, I can do it—”

“Elle,” Rei interrupted. “You don’t…always have to justify yourself. Okay? We’ll take you as you are, no matter how weird your needs are. Remember when you told me you didn’t need to spill your entire medical history to Cyllene just to get the respect she owed you from the start?”

She looked down at her cane, expression conflicted. “That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, it is! Because anyone can see I need this to walk, anyone can see I’m physically disabled and need help sometimes, but mentally my needs are a lot weirder and I don’t want anyone to think I’m just being annoying or needy or being dramatic or making things up because it was awful, it was awful and I was barely alive and I’ve kept it all in for so long I don’t know how to say I’ve been hurt, I’ve been hurt, be gentle with me—” Elle paused, staring at him with tears streaking down her cheeks. “Shit. Shit, fuck, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”

“I think,” Laventon began, “you could use a rest. You're not acting yourself right now.”

Her eyes went wide, and she stumbled back, breathing going shallow. “N-no! Don’t— don’t make me—”

“Elle?” Rei said hesitantly, stepping forward on instinct. “Are you—”

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” she screamed. Her hands fumbled with the knots on Remus’ sling, and she set him rather abruptly on the ground. Remus yipped uncertainly at the sudden cold and crawled out of his blankets, watching Elle inquisitively. “D-don’t touch me right now. I— I’m sorry— sorry, Remus—”

“Hey— hey. It’s okay. My bad; I won’t come near you. C’mere, Remus!” Rei took a step back and knelt, clicking his tongue at the growlithe. Remus tilted his head, then bounded towards his trainer full tilt, skidding on the snow with his tongue lolling wildly as he ran. “See? No harm done. It’s okay, Elle.”

“It’s okay,” she echoed uncertainly.

Laventon nodded, eyes worried. “It is indeed quite all right. How can we help you right now?” 

“Stay— stay back. Don’t touch me. I’m having another, another— please don’t touch me. I’m, I’m going to take some time to, um, cool off. Just. In my tent, with Lola.” It took her several tries, but she finally managed to release her pokemon and wrap Lola in her arms. “Sorry.”

“Okay. Promise me you won’t hurt yourself?” Rei said.

Elle’s expression was impossible to read. “Yeah. Yeah, I promise. Thank you.”

Chapter Text

Rei didn’t sleep well that night. No sense crying over spilled milk, Ma used to say, but sometimes feelings didn’t make sense. He wondered how things would change, once he had the money and stability to invite his folks to live here in Hisui. 

These days, he didn’t even use his cot unless it was for a sleepover. He laid on Mizu’s side, Haru sprawled on his stomach while Remus and Rhea curled around each other in the crook of Mizu’s leg. He didn’t think he could stomach meat anymore; not the kind from pokemon. Maybe Elle had a point. Things were changing, and he was changing too. He wasn’t the kid who’d set off from his farm anymore; he’d turned into someone his past self would gawk at. And you know what? He liked that. He liked the person he was turning into.

It was just….hard.

He slept, fitfully, and dreamed again. Fragments and snatches of faces and voices he almost recognized, asking him questions he didn’t understand. He tried to answer them, but found he was choking on a wave of blood that spilled from his mouth. He didn’t know where it came from, but he woke up gasping for air and feeling as though he’d seen death.

“Sorry, Haru,” Rei mumbled, gently stroking the turtwig as she blinked at him sleepily. Haru yawned and gazed at him with adoration, kneading his chest with her stumpy little legs. He laid there a little longer, petting the baby pokemon as the sun slowly rose.

Elle was already awake when he finally emerged, sitting on the bench outside the professor’s tent with her hands in her sleeves and knees tucked up to her chest. She didn’t acknowledge him, even when he sat down beside her.

“Sorry about…” Elle hesitated. “Earlier.”

“You don’t need to apologize for your mental health, you know,” Rei said, bumping her gently with his shoulder. She swayed with the force, limp and stiff all at once, unresponsive.

“I dunno. Maybe it’s not having an episode that I’m sorry about, but what came before. Laventon— you said, said I don’t need to explain myself. Don’t need to justify it. But I feel like I do, for another reason. It’s— gods, it’s so fucking stupid.” Elle laughed bitterly. “Attention. I do it because I want attention, I want validation, I want someone to tell me they’re sorry for what happened years ago. I hate it, but I don’t know how to stop or even if I want to stop. When I even think about stopping, there’s this awful tight feeling in my chest, kinda like fear.”

“Why’s it stupid to want attention?” Rei asked carefully.

“Because it’s bad, okay? I’m not supposed to burden other people with my problems, I’m supposed to be humble about my— oh motherfucker, that’s just repackaged religious trauma, isn’t it? The idea that wanting any kind of validation or glory for yourself is evil. This is just the whole ‘proud servant’s heart’ thing all over again when they convinced us that being called grunts was dehumanizing and that was a good thing.” She groaned into her hands. “Aaaand there I go, fucking oversharing again.”

Rei sighed, unsure what to say for a long time. He didn’t know if he had the words to reach her; she was so far away, and he didn’t know if just being there was enough. And— honestly, he hadn’t let himself think about it much, but sometimes it was uncomfortable. She’d just sort of…drop her trauma in the middle of a conversation, like she didn’t know what to do with it either. But she had so much of it, that he could hardly ask her to keep it to herself, and yet— and yet it was all so complicated.

“You said you have a therapy doctor back home, right?” he finally tried.

“Yeah— Haven. Gods, I miss them. I’m kind of falling apart without our regular sessions.” Elle gave him a sad almost-smile. “I don’t hate it here. And I’m going to miss you when I go. But I don’t belong here. The canes and meds can only do so much.”

“I’m sorry,” Rei said, swallowing hard. “I think— it matters that you’re trying t’ be better. And… I’ll get better at telling you if you cross a line, okay? I mean— yeah, sometimes it does bother me, the stuff you tell me about when you were growing up, but it’s not bad on its own. There’s just a time an’ place for everything. So I’ll start telling you if it’s a bad time.”

“I wish you could see the best of me,” she said quietly. “I wish you could see me sitting on a stool in Maeral’s apartment making macaroni for fir little sister. I wish I could introduce you to Celia and just listen to the two of you infodump. I wish we could sit in a pokemon center drinking shitty watered down hot chocolate and listening to the playlist I collected from Warrior Skitty AMVs. I wish you didn’t have to see me angry and fighting for my life.”

“This is my home, though. You know that.”

“I know.” Elle’s voice broke, and she finally leaned into him. “Everything’s so complicated. I’m going to strangle that plinko motherfucker.”

“Me too,” Rei said, but without any conviction behind it. Arceus had sent Elle into his life, after all, and he couldn’t bring himself to resent that entirely. “Me too.”

It was quite possible that using a puppy as a personal heater was not the best of ideas, as Rhea got wiggly and nearly peed on his jacket. Still, the trio managed to heat up a quick breakfast and tidy the camp before Adaman and Irida arrived, one after the other.

Adaman was wearing a thick overcoat buttoned in the front, with kimono-style sleeves trimmed with fur and prominent pockets. He pulled down a knitted scarf and grinned, breath puffing out in little clouds.

“Morning, folks!” he greeted them with a respectful nod. Rei and Laventon returned the gesture; Elle just stared stiffly atop Madeline. Adaman definitely took notice of that; he gave her a sympathetic smile. “Are you healing up okay after what happened with Melli? You had us all worried there.”

Elle shrugged, her rapidash shifting in place. “Spent a couple days with Lady Sneasler. I thought your clan duties came first.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to be worried,” he said gently. Rei gave Laventon a nervous look, unsure if they were intruding.

“Well, I’m fine,” Elle said evenly. “As much as I appreciate it, this is a political alliance, and it’s best to keep personal attachments out of such things. If you’re worried about my well-being, you can send a trusted messenger.”

“Indeed, Ms. Chihiro.” Adaman seemed…slightly disappointed, if anything. “You’re quite wise for your age.”

“Thanks, it’s the trauma,” she said idly, pulling an apple out of her pocket for Madeline. 

Adaman gave a wry smile. “Yeah, that would do it. It gets easier to deal with as you grow up, I promise. Doesn’t make it any better right now, but it gives you perspective and something to look forward to.”

“Oh,” Elle said quietly. “Uh. Thank you very much.”

“Of course.” Adaman turned to Rei, and oh hello gay thoughts. “So, how has that Pokémon index been progressing? I hear you’ve got a good throwing arm and a knack for dodging, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen you in action.”

Rei straightened, eyes flicking to the slit in the clan leader’s eyebrow. “It’s going very well, yeah. Indexing a lot of Pokémon, and we’re working alongside ‘em in the fields now! I mean….the ‘mons wanna survive the winter just as much as we do, right? And warden Ingo’s been fightin’ Pokémon battles with Elle and I to show folks that it can be fun and not scary, ‘n we’ve got safety regulations for it and everything!”

“Really now,” Adaman said in a tone that made Rei’s gay little heart skip a beat. “I’ll have to stop by and witness one of your battles, then. It seems difficult to safely control that many Pokémon at once, though.”

“We don’t,” Elle chimed in. “Where Ingo and I come from, it’s traditional to fight one on one. Two on two battles occasionally happen, while three on three are exclusive to Unova and tend to be a competitive thing for thrill-seekers.”

Rei nodded fervently. “It’s supposed to foster better bonds with your pokemon to command them one on one! Both of you are focused on being in sync with each other rather than just brute forcing your way by numbers.”

“Really!” Adaman said, eyes shining. “I’ll have to try that out with Cilantro— I left him at home since he doesn’t like the cold, but the little fucker keeps biting me.”

“He’s baby!” Elle protested.

“Bastard. Tiny shithead. Bitey little fuck.”

“Sweetheart, darling, love of my life!” Elle tilted her chin up in playful defiance. “I’m in a parasocial relationship with your cat and he can do no wrong.”

Adaman chuckled. “My cat is a war criminal at heart. He would commit genocide if not for ear rubs every day!~”

“Unproblematic. Beloved little meowmeow. Cilantro did nothing wrong!”

They were still debating the merits of Adaman’s leafeon when Irida arrived, out of breath and sweating in nothing but her usual outfit and a sheer haori with the sleeves pulled back. “Hey everyone,” she said, hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath. “Hope I’m not late; Calaba kept fussing over my outfit like she thought I’d get cold or something.”

Elle stared at her incredulously, still draped over the fire type she was using as a portable heater. “I mean. It is literally freezing up here.”

“Yeah, and what’s a bit of ice to the passion in your heart, I say?” Irida shrugged, then gave Elle a strange look. “You don’t need to ride your pokemon just yet, you know. We’re not leaving for a while.”

“I—” Elle opened her mouth. Shut it. Looked to Rei desperately. Was she pleading for help? Or fearful of his judgment? Finally, with a shaky breath, she returned her gaze to Adaman and Irida. “I’m perfectly comfortable where I am. I, I have to, the cold makes— this is necessary for my disability right now. So, about that frenzied noble, huh!”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Irida pressed. “If you need a warmer coat, you should have said something earlier so I could help you.”

“Elle knows her own body better than any of us. Have a little faith in her, will you?” Rei said. He glanced to his friend, wondering if he’d said the right thing or overstepped a boundary, and the small smile she gave him in return told him all he needed to know.

“Right. I know my limits better than you, and I’m already doing everything I can to manage my symptoms, so please back off and respect that. I’ll— I’ll ask if I need help, but right now our main priority is the frenzied noble,” Elle continued, sounding more confident than she had been before. “Which one is it? Sorry, I don’t really know all of the noble pokemon.”

Irida clasped her hands together, looking a bit sheepish. “Right! That would be Lord Avalugg— I’m going to take you to see his warden, and my former teacher. Gaeric’s the one who taught me most of what I know about how to be a clan leader— well. He taught Palina and I both, actually.”

“Oh.” Elle furrowed her brow, like she was struggling to remember something. “Right, you two know each other.” Adaman gave a short cough that sounded suspiciously like ‘gal pals.’ 

Irida jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, smiling. “Right; you weren’t doing too well in the coastlands, so you might not remember. Palina’s actually just a couple years older than me, so we trained alongside each other. I really thought she’d end up leading our clan, but I guess the former Lord Arcanine had other plans.”

“With respect to the late Lord, I’m not sure he made the right decision,” Adaman said casually. “It’s not terribly unusual for wardens to be chosen as young as childhood; someone like you doesn’t have the experience to lead your clan. At least Palina is marginally better.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Irida snapped.

Laventon winced. “Um, I’m not certain now is the time for—” 

“Oh no, there’s no better time for it,” Adaman interrupted. “The Pearl clan can barely fathom change; a leader must have time to come into their own maturity. You imitate the traditions of your elders like that alone will bring you wisdom.”

“Oh, like time is all that matters! Your own fucking warden didn’t trust you enough to talk about her Lady being frenzied because none of you Diamond Clan bitches ever talk to each other! You act like time will heal all wounds and ignore your personal conflicts to fester— and then let others suffer for it! Did you really trust Melli not to try and kill Jubilife’s sky-faller, or were you just unwilling to close the distance and talk to him yourself? He was your friend!”

“Don’t talk to me like you know anything of my friendships,” Adaman hissed. “I will put my people above all else, no matter what it takes.”

“And in that blindness, you would forsake the forest for the trees!” The snow around Irida was physically melting with the force of her fury, and Laventon held out a hand protectively in front of Rei. “Arezu nearly died because of you. Elle nearly died because of you. They are not my people, but I want to protect the vast land of Hisui and everything within it! THAT IS MY CONVICTION!”

“Professor,” Rei said quietly, giving the man an urgent look. “We should stay back.”

“Your conviction?” Adaman said coldly, the bandages on his arms beginning to come unraveled. Bite marks and scratches decorated his skin, but there was no blood or scabbing. Instead, beneath the skin was a strange gunmetal blue substance, like heavy stormclouds. “Your conviction is nothing but a passing breeze. You’re too young to even know what you want, and your whims will fail the test of time.”

“Professor?” Elle whispered. Maddie was shying away uncertainly, and Elle looked a few seconds from bolting herself. “What’s going on?”

“I— I don’t know, I’ve never seen this—”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

Somehow, that was enough to finally snap the two out of their bickering. Madeline whinnied in surprise, spinning and rearing with hooves flailing. Elle yelped in shock, clinging on for dear life, while there was a rather pathetic hissing sound not unlike one very short teenage clan leader falling into a snowdrift.

From the top of the glacier near which the Galaxy Team had made their camp, a shape made its way downwards, leaping agilely from one jagged chunk of ice to the next, scaling it in reverse before taking a swan dive into a snowdrift and emerging unscathed with snow clinging to carefully groomed chest hair.

Quite frankly, Rei didn’t know what was going on. He was about one bad decision away from releasing his pokemon and demanding to know what the hap was fuckening, Elle was attempting to calm her spooked horse with soft words and the same fear in her own eyes, and Laventon was trying his best, rather unsuccessfully, to brush the snow from his clothes.

“Oh, Sinnoh,” Adaman muttered as the man approached.

“Gaeric—” Irida rushed forward, clothes steaming lightly. “I can explain, I swear!”

The man regarded her a moment, chiseled muscles dripping with moisture. “Irida,” he said sternly, “you know better than to lose control of Almighty Sinnoh’s blessing here. Now, why is it that you’ve come this far north with a Diamond heretic and a collection of outsiders?”

Chapter Text

Good news: Gaeric showing up out of nowhere just about eliminated any of the previous problems; namely, Irida and Adaman getting ready for a full-on smackdown with the superpowers they apparently possessed.

Bad news: Madeline was spooked as hell and looked ready to stomp Gaeric to death, Rei was trying to help Elle calm her down, and no one was telling an increasingly desperate Laventon exactly what the hell had just happened.

“I’m a scientist, I’m here in Hisui to make discoveries, and what I just witnessed defies everything I know!”

Adaman was rather unsympathetic. “Okay, then you need to gain more knowledge. Why don’t you convert? Then you’ll be privy to all our secrets.”

Irida smacked him on the arm. “Knock it off, will you? Almighty Sinnoh grants…certain blessings, and while I’d rather not disclose the full nature, mine grants me… well, my temperature isn’t quite normal. That’s all you need to know. Even if some people worship a false god and receive their blessings accordingly.”

“We’ll never agree on which one is the true Sinnoh and which is the Renegade, will we,” Adaman muttered. He tugged at his bandages. “The true Sinnoh granted me…something like a durable second skin, but Cilantro has a tendency to keep his claws unsheathed when he plays, so it can be a little distressing for people who aren’t used to it.”

“Distressing? That’s incredible!” Laventon said enthusiastically. “You have such an amazing body; I’d be honored to study it.”

“It’s not something I’m willing to submit to science just yet,” Adaman said, but he seemed to have, uh. Mixed feelings about the entire thing, judging by his expression. Or maybe he interpreted Laventon’s behavior as flirting— that was a possibility as well. “Let’s just see how the alliance goes, maybe talk about some cultural exchange first.”

“Okay, all that aside, can we maybe talk about the reason we came here?” Elle finally looked up to Gaeric, eyes wary and defensive. “You’re Irida’s teacher?”

Irida, sopping wet and steaming lightly with her hair floating gently around her shoulders, tried her best to salvage the situation. “Warden Gaeric, I would like to introduce Professor Laventon of the Galaxy Team, as well as Elle and Rei, members of the survey corps who have experience in quelling frenzied nobles. Adaman is also here.”

“Quelling?” Gaeric asked, looking to Elle with a derisive huff. “And for what reason do you think Avalugg needs to be quelled?”

“Listen, bitch, if you’re going to tell me some bullshit about strength, I’m going to run you down with my horse,” she snapped. “I don’t know and frankly don’t care where the frenzies come from, but they’re not blessings.”

“I said no such thing, merely that Avalugg harms no one. Are you quite all right?” Gaeric asked, peering at her in concern.

“No! I nearly got killed by warden Melli last time I quelled a noble with an uncooperative warden and just watched these two trying to duke it out anime style!” Elle said, jabbing a finger at Adaman and Irida. “So you’ll pardon me if I’m a bit defensive right now.”

“In that case, I’ll ask you to defend your reasoning: why does Avalugg need to be quelled? Why not simply let it exist in peace?”

“Perhaps—” Irida began.

“Because it can’t exist in peace! Because the frenzies are literally driving them mad with rage and that’s an awful, horrifying experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I don’t care if Avalugg’s not lashing out right now, and I don’t care about any of the damage the frenzied nobles cause. It’s in pain, and you’re a piece of shit warden if you can’t even recognize that.”

“Your youth lends strength to your anger, too,” he noted. 

Elle made a gesture with her hands around the saddle blanket as if she was trying to keep herself from strangling the man. “Are you going to tell me Avalugg’s favorite food, or do I have to find it out some other way?”

To Rei’s surprise, Gaeric actually laughed at that. “You’ve got spirit, don’t you? I was expecting you Galaxy folks to insist that Lord Avalugg needed to be tamed, but I think I like you. You can find the Lord’s favorite food on top of the glacier. Avalugg likes eating Eternal Ice— technically cannibalism, but you know how it is with ice types. Some rock types, too. Imagine if the whole world was made of your flesh!”

“He’s correct and I don’t like it,” Laventon muttered.

Gaeric just laughed again. “Oh, you science types really are something else! It shouldn’t be difficult for one with a body like mine to climb, but are you up to the task, sky-faller?”

Elle’s gaze hardened. “You probably didn’t notice since it’s in my saddlebags right now, but I walk with a cane for a reason. So, the attempt would likely kill me if I tried.”

Gaeric blinked, seemingly at a loss for words, while Elle stared him down. “Ah— well, I suppose we can’t all be blessed with a physique such as my own, then. Shame that you’d rely on it to walk at such a young age, though. Did something happen to you?”

“Well, I was born. Does that count?” Elle continued staring flatly at him. Adaman looked mildly surprised to see the confrontation, while Irida looked like she wanted to disappear. Laventon made as if to speak up, but Rei silently shook his head. It looked like Elle had this under control, after all.

Finally, Irida spoke up. “Gaeric, can’t you see you’re being rude about this? Elle can’t climb the glacier the way you do, and it doesn’t matter why she uses a cane. You’re making this uncomfortable for everyone here. What matters is helping your Lord.”

“I— I see,” Gaeric said, looking rather dazed by the entire ordeal. “I…don’t know how else to reach the top, though. Or how to safely transport enough Eternal Ice back; I’ve never taken much more than a handful at a time.”

Adaman raised a hand. “I do. There’s a girl named Sabi who lives nearby; she’s one of my wardens, and part of the reason I tagged along. She could use the company. Just…be gentle, will you? She’s a bit...strange in the head, but she’s a good kid.”

In the end, it was decided that Gaeric would gather the materials needed to make balms, while Elle, Rei, and the clan leaders would leave to find Sabi and acquire help from her Noble. Laventon stayed behind at camp, this time with Spark and half of Elle’s team patrolling to make sure there wasn’t a repeat of the incident with the Miss Fortunes in the coastlands. The professor’s wounds had healed up well, but all of them were a little on edge. Honestly, Elle probably had more reason than anyone here to be nervous, seeing as she’d been kidnapped, poisoned, dragged to a volcano, nearly killed, and expected to quell a frenzied Noble on top of that within the span of their last two expeditions.

She was a little more relaxed now, draped over Madeline’s back and covered in a blanket on top of her coat with nothing but her head sticking out, but frankly if warden Gaeric tried anything, Rei was going to throw sticky globs first and ask questions later.

“I’m sorry about my mentor,” Irida said quietly to Elle, once they were out of earshot. “He means well, I swear.”

“Ah, yes, I’m much too young to be disabled. Never heard that one before,” Elle said drily. She looked down at her chest. “You hear that, body? This one random fitness nut we’ve met today says you’re not allowed to be fucked up, so you’d better start working properly, got it? That means from now on, you make collagen the way you’re supposed to and keep the bones in their sockets at all times and pump blood at regular intervals. Gaeric’s orders, and his word is law. The fundamental law of the universe, even!”

Irida half sighed, half laughed. “In fairness, it’s rare for a child to be born sickly and live to your age. He’s very much used to only seeing the elderly using canes, or those who were injured by pokemon, so he probably assumed you’d been mauled, and recently.”

“Okay, but that’s worse. You do realize how that’s worse, right?”

“...Yes. I’m sorry; if it makes things any better, I’m very much glad that your world is more hospitable than this one, and that you’re alive.” Irida smiled at Elle, which had the effect of making her flush and duck down to ‘look for something’ in her saddlebags.

Adaman made a noncommittal noise, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Guess even those with experience still have something to learn from our juniors, then. Including myself.”

“Oh?” Irida said, raising an eyebrow. “The mighty Adaman of the Diamond Clan is admitting his mistakes?”

“The leader Adaman of the Diamond Clan is changing his beliefs based on the experiences he’s gained, which is normal and a lot healthier than being stubbornly stuck in the past,” he said lightly. “You handled that with a lot more grace than your teacher. And I…think that’s an admirable trait.”

“Ah.” Irida pulled her haori tighter around her shoulders, expression inscrutable. “Then I forgive you. And…thank you.”

Chapter Text

“The thing about Sabi…it’s a bit complicated,” Adaman said carefully, leading the trio towards an imposing building in the distance. “She’s always been a little strange, and we think she might be psychic. She likes riddles and games, so it’ll probably take a while to earn her help.”

“So she’s like one of those trickster gods, from the stories?” Rei guessed. “How do we know she’s on our side?”

Adaman’s gaze darkened. “She’s ten years old, and lonely. If I hear you questioning her loyalty again, I won’t be so patient with you.”

“Sorry, sir,” Rei muttered. “So. She needs someone to…play with her for a while, and then she’ll let us borrow the services of her noble?”

Adamn nodded. “That’s right. Lord Braviary will help you gather the necessary ingredients, but after that, I’ll have to ask you not to summon him.”

“Wait, why not?” Elle asked. “Is this some cultural thing I’m not aware of?”

“You know how you use your cane, and you have pokemon to comfort you when you’re stressed?” Irida asked patiently. Elle nodded, one hand buried in Maddie’s fur. “Sometimes, the relationship between a noble and a warden is the same way. Sabi made a bit of a stir amongst the clans when Lord Braviary chose her, but it’s definitely for the best.”

“Sabi’s clairvoyance— well, whatever it is, she’ll have dizzy spells occasionally where she sees things, but without a psychic type nearby to help her manage, she’ll have those spells at bad times. Like walking down the stairs.” Adaman grimaced. “She’s always been evasive as to whether she’s really psychic or not, but that part doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’s lonely and she hasn’t gotten injured once since she became Lord Braviary’s warden.”

Elle winced. “Oh, fuck stairs. Yeah, we have like— emotional support ‘n therapy mons back home, so I get it. I know… I know one person who’s got a pokemon to help her with these awful nightmares she gets, and another who has a couple pokemon with them pretty much always to help with their balance and sensory issues. I’ve got Lola registered for medical and emotional support for me, too.”

“Are stairs really that awful?” Rei asked.

“No. They’re worse,” she said bluntly. Madeline nickered in agreement, being a horse and therefore also presumably bad at stairs.

Warden Sabi met them at the entrance to the temple. She was short, with ruddy cheeks and a thick coat, and wore a large hat that threatened to consume her head with its fluff. Almost like it was made for an adult, and not a little kid. Her face was round, with childhood still full around her cheeks, and she wore an impetuous pout.

“Hey, kiddo,” Irida greeted her with a nod. She tossed a small drawstring bag at her; it was colorful and beaded, the kind of small luxury one would expect from a clan leader, and rattled when Sabi caught it in both hands. “I got the lemon ones this time.”

“Thank you, Irida,” she said with reluctance, shoving the candies into her pocket. “Hi, Adaman. What do you want?”

“Your mother sent me to deliver a care package for you,” Adaman said, dipping his head respectfully. “She’s asked me to inquire after your health.”

The girl’s face contorted into something like anger. “Tell her I’m never going back to her, and she can’t make me.”

Adaman removed a parcel from his voluminous sleeves nonetheless, holding it out to her. “Your mother still loves you, Sabi.”

“Well, she doesn’t know how to do it properly!” she snapped, snatching the package from his hands. “I wish she’d just stop pretending. I can feel it whenever she’s near; she wishes she’d never had a kid as weird as me. She only wants me back because it made her look bad when I ran away.”

Irida sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. Hey, we brought a couple of the Jubilife settlers here— this is Elle, and this is Rei. Elle came from the sky, and Rei’s from…?”

“Johto,” he told her.

Sabi huffed, unimpressed. “I know who you are. You’re the sky-faller and the farm boy, aren’t you?” she said imperiously, looking from one to the other. “Come on; you’ve kept me waiting. I saw a future where I led you on a chase!”

The chase would have been a rather short one had she not called for her Electabuzz right then and there, disappeared behind a pillar, and somehow vanished into thin air. Needless to say, things got…complicated.

In the end, Elle and Rei were left to wander through a temple of puzzles, stopping occasionally to catch or catalogue the wild pokemon who lived there. At one point, Elle removed Walpurgisnacht’s keystone— or at least, something that looked like it— and rushed off to a corner, then returned with a broad grin.

“Hey, didn’t you leave Nacht with the professor?”

Elle inhaled sharply, as though she’d been caught. “I….yeah, I did. This is something else. It’s not anything bad, but…trust me?”

“I do,” Rei said, but he couldn’t deny that it hurt a bit to be shut out.

She swallowed hard, shoving the stone back into her bag. “It’s not anything bad, promise, just…not my secret to share. I’ll— I’ll see if I can do something about that.”

Rei nodded, moving between statues and doing his best not to slip on the floor. “Makes sense. You doing okay?”

“Eh, been better with the cold, but I handled Gaeric better than I’d expected. He’s a little, uh…” she laughed. “He sure is an experience.”

“How does he get his chest hair to grow like that???”

“I don’t know!” She nudged Madeline to stand beside the last statue as Rei ran around a tricky piece of architecture that obstructed his view, acting as a marker so he wouldn’t lose his place. “Find it?”

“Found it!” he called back, waving through a gap in the brickwork. “Ice, rock, steel, rock.”

“Ice, rock, steel, rock,” she repeated. She did that a lot, echoing words back as if to confirm them. “On my way!”

Rei nodded, leaning against the statue as rapidash and rider came into view. “Hey, can I ask a weird question?”

“Sure! Can I give an equally weird answer?” she replied cheekily, shooting him a pair of ‘finger guns.’

“So, I’ve been thinking since Gaeric. What are the impacts of being disabled that no one ever talks about?”

“God, that’s a lot.” Elle gave a long sigh. “I think really, the way it messes with your worldview. You start to catalog places based on whether they’re accessible or not, and not just to you but to your community. I can go places a wheelchair user can’t, but I still notice stairs with no ramps. Like this fucking place.” She smacked the buttons on the wall a little harder than necessary with her cane, making a hidden door rumble open. “I’m sorry, Maddie, whoever designed this temple was a massive dick.”

“That would be the Celestica people,” Rei said, making his way down the stairs with one hand on the wall and the other on his pokeballs. “The ones who made your flute. They…all disappeared a long time ago, except for a couple.”

“And they really didn’t want anyone getting here— easy, easy girl, easy does it,” Elle said, gently patting her Pokemon’s neck. They made it up the stairs, finally, and started on the next puzzle. “Huh. I guess this isn’t too bad, since it’s mostly tactile, no auditory cues. That’s another thing— I think about how a blind or deaf person would experience this, or how an autistic person with severe sensory issues might try to handle a given situation. Galaxy hall? Inaccessible as FUCK. I hate those stairs, and the acoustics are awful, and the doors are heavy and unbalanced. I don’t care if it’s a power move or whatever, it’s literally a signal that disabled people aren’t welcome. The restaurant where Laventon gets takeout from most nights? Accessible to a degree, but too close to the street noise for anyone with a hearing disability.”

“How would you fix it, then?” Rei asked. “The city’s still being planned.”

“Honestly? Y’all need to include disabled people in your planning from the start. I don’t care if we can’t work the same, we deserve a voice, and I think it was a mistake to leave us out.” She gave a disgusted huff. “Old enough to work for your keep, my ass.”

Rei swallowed hard. “...You know, not everyone was going to make it through the winter, right? I’m listening, I really am. But before we started including pokemon in the field work, we’ve been short on food. You’ve got your pills and your canes, and a good team of pokemon, and you can work sometimes. But that’s not an option for everyone, and we don’t have that much to spare for folks who can’t work. Hell, there were a couple folks who didn’t make it across the sea. I watched the burials. It’s a harsh new world, and we’re still scraping out the broad strokes.”

“I know.” Elle looked down solemnly, at her tame rapidash and her blankets and her coat and her metal cane. “Heh. Guess I am more privileged than I thought. I held onto my victimhood like a shield for a long time, it’s hard to let go. How would you do it, then?”

“I think I’d have someone designated for it in the city planning. Someone who’s got what it takes to go everywhere, and chart what needs to happen, and how to do it. They’d have to be pretty strong— but still observant. And be willing to talk to people with different disabilities to see what would help most.”

Elle raised an eyebrow at that. “So, someone who’s abled?”

“...okay, I could have phrased that better,” Rei admitted. “It’s…gods, you’re right. There’s a lotta stuff that abled folks don’t know about accessibility, and a lotta stuff that disabled folks can’t do about accessibility. I dunno if there’s a perfect solution.”

“Hey, at this point I’m not asking for perfection. I just want shit to get better. I think the best thing that abled folks can do for us is listen when we’re talking and give us a seat at the table.” Elle’s lips silently formed the words steel, steel, ice before she tapped the stone with her cane once more. 

“True. I was going to say, I’m really not sure how you could make this temple wheelchair friendly. It’s kinda steep.”

“Gah, they have the same issue with the castles back home— the place I grew up, I mean. Not very accessible, which kinda defies the point of giving out free museum passes to disabled people. I can excuse the streets here being generally wheelchair unfriendly for now because it’s hard to make even terrain when the city’s still sprawling, but Pesselle’s got a couple wheelchairs literally designed to reduce patient independence even if you discount the leather straps.” She shuddered. “That’s— another thing I can’t stand for trauma reasons.”

“Which part, wheelchairs?”

“Nah, wheelchairs are cool. I mean, medical restraints in general. And Pesselle, full stop. When you’re disabled, you generally don’t like or trust doctors because they fail you over and over again. The words ‘your tests came back completely normal’ are disappointing, because you know there’s something wrong, and people act like you should celebrate because the doctors have yet again failed to find a cause for your pain. You know what? I think we should be allowed to celebrate when we get a diagnosis. Throw a whole fucking party!”

“I…guess?” Rei said uncertainly. “It feels weird to celebrate being sick, but I guess you’re still sick whether or not you’ve got a word for it.”

“Well, maybe we need more disabled joy in this world,” Elle said, lifting her cane to set it in her lap. “Did you know that’s why I got this cane? My old one was just plain black and hurt my wrists sometimes, but this one has an offset handle to distribute the weight better, and it’s pretty. Maybe I don’t want to be the tragic broken bird in someone else’s life. Maybe I deserve to be proud of who I am, and to love every part of myself. And if that includes my disability, then so be it. I don’t care that it’s weird to love what people see as brokenness and imperfections. I deserve it.”

“There’s a lot of you to love,” Rei said softly. Elle took her cane, extended it as far as it would go, and gently hooked it around his arm to pull him closer. He took this as permission to lean against Maddie, warming his cheek on her fur while Elle rubbed circles into his shoulders with her fingertips.

“I…used to think there wasn’t enough. I’m glad I was wrong.”

Chapter Text

The wind was cold and bitter when they finally emerged onto the roof of the temple, but Sabi didn’t seem to mind. Then again, how could she? Behind her, the Lord Braviary was perched with wings outstretched to shield her from the snow, and she hummed to herself as she drew something in colored chalk on the pale stone.

“What are you drawing?” Rei asked, trying to keep his voice light and friendly.

“Bitch,” Sabi said without looking up. Lord Braviary echoed the sentiment with a loud squawk, and somehow Rei felt like he was being bullied by a small child and her very large bird.

Elle let out a small snort of laughter. “Hi, Sabi. Hello, Lord Braviary.”

“Hey, sky-faller,” she said, glaring at Elle. “You don’t belong in the sky.”

“Nope. Prefer to keep my feet on solid ground if I can,” Elle said cheerfully. “Fuck stairs, by the way. All my homies hate stairs.”

“Fuck you ,” Sabi shot back. “You haven’t even gotten off that pokemon to chase me! I watched and watched, but you didn’t even put your feet down at all, and it’s not fair if you’re riding a pokemon. I don’t play with cheaters. ”

“Would you prefer if I got down?” Elle extended a hand to Rei, and he held it while she swung her legs over. Madeline knelt, and she slid the final few inches to the ground, removing her cane from the saddlebag and setting it down. “I can walk on my own, but if you’re waiting for me to chase you, you’re going to wait a long time. I’m not able to run without consequences; never have been. I’ll hurt myself very badly if I do.”

Sabi’s face went through a full gauntlet of emotions, from frustration to confusion to something more vulnerable. “Well, why’s that?”

“I’m disabled,” Elle explained patiently. Rei hadn’t known she was capable of that kind of patience, honestly, but he’d mostly seen her around ignorant and malicious adults. And Sabi… gods, she was tiny. 

Sabi wrinkled her nose. “What’s that mean?”

“Well, it can mean a lot of things. For me, it means my body doesn’t work normally, so I’m very tired and sore all the time. And sometimes, my bones don’t stay put like they’re supposed to.” She pushed up her sleeve, revealing her elbow bent in an anatomically improbable manner. “I woke up with my left arm out of place, and it’s been in and out all day.”

“You’re weird,” Sabi said bluntly, scribbling something in purple chalk.

“Sure am,” Elle agreed. Madeline gave a loud whuff, stamping her hooves in place and moving to stand next to Rei.

“I’m weird too,” Sabi said quietly. “No one really likes me. And I’m scared of falling a lot. My body stops working and I see things I shouldn’t. And that scares people.”

“Sounds scary,” Elle said sympathetically.

“Yeah— shit, Adaman said you used to get hurt before you had Lord Braviary, right?” Rei said, gaze flicking to the Noble. 

“None of your fucking beeswax,” Sabi said petulantly. “I bet that’s the story mom told everyone, isn’t it?”

“Sabi,” Rei said slowly, “Did someone… hit you? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“I said it’s none of your fucking beeswax! Besides, she’ll just lie and say it was my imagination, or I got a vision confused with reality. I don’t do that. They’ve very distinct— distinctive.” The girl scowled, and Lord Braviary’s eyes glowed ominously behind her. “I get a few seconds of warning. I can stop what I’m doing and sit down. I only get hurt when mom’s in one of her moods.”

“We believe you,” Elle said solemnly. “Are you safe here?”

She shrugged, looking away. “Yeah. Lord Braviary will keep me safe.”

“Good,” Rei said fiercely. “I’m glad.”

“But he knows all my games. And you can’t even run around with me, so that means you’re useless.” Sabi tilted her chin up defiantly, while Lord Braviary made a squawk of alarm, as if to tell Elle and Rei, I don’t condone this!

“No, you’re just a little shit,” Elle said bluntly. Madeline circled and laid down at her back, and she set down her blanket and knelt. “Rei, c’mere, you can play too. Ever heard of twenty questions?”

Sabi was a horrible, awful cheater. She was also surprisingly fun to play with— she came up with the most creative, dramatic solutions and had an infectious laugh that made Lord Braviary chirp and flutter with delight. She was actually pretty expressive when she wasn’t, well…angry. She definitely had some kind of issues, so Rei didn’t take it personally when she called him a vacant-eyed shithead. He had better things to do than throw hands with a ten year old, after all. 

They played twenty questions and would you rather and eye spy , and when they’d exhausted all the games Elle knew, it was onto riddles, and then songs. Rei was self conscious about his voice, but thankfully it didn’t crack or give out on him. He shared a harvest song from Johto— the trees burn bright with shame, the reaper swings his scythe. The fields shall soon be bare, and bone shall chip the knife. Silver moon and golden sun, rise and fall and make all one.

Sabi wrinkled her nose and said the words didn’t make sense.

“It doesn’t have to make sense; it’s about the feeling,” Rei explained. “Back home, we don’t see the human spirit as three parts like you folks do. It’s all in twos— the heart of gold, and the soul of silver. Heart is for passion and youth, and soul is for the quieter kinda feelings, the kind that take time to bloom.”

“Where I grew up…it was about truth and ideals,” Elle offered. “The place Ingo’s from. Truth was… a blinding white flame. I was raised under truth. And then Ideal was equal and opposite— the desire and inspiration to change the world.”

“The flame of truth…it’s on your back, isn’t it,” Sabi said suddenly. “Is that why you hate your mom, too? Because all she did was watch?”

“I—” Elle froze up. “How— wait, of— I can’t—”

“I saw a little bit of it before you came,” Sabi said, fidgeting with her mittens. “You were younger than me and there was a tall man with a weird hat and some kind of shiny tool in his hand.”

“Sabi,” Elle said in a low voice, “if you have any control at all over your visions? Don’t look at that one again. At least not until you’re older.”

The girl huffed, crossing her arms. “Why are you scared of me? I know lots of things I shouldn’t. I know your mom didn’t want you, and Rei’s big brother nearly drowned him by accident when he was little, and the man in charge of the Jubilife clan is mourning his daughter, and my dad wasn’t a good person. And I don’t want to know any of it.”

Rei flinched back. That…he hadn’t really thought about it in ages. It had been an accident, of course; Akira had been watching from the top of a tree, while Rei and Hiromi and Kenji played in the stream. Hiromi was gentle with him, offering to let him ride on her shoulders, but Rei had stubbornly refused, wanting to prove he was old enough to play with the big kids. He didn’t want to be treated like a baby anymore, and he’d hit a growth spurt!

Hiromi got bored of splash fighting and decided to build huts on the shore out of twigs and mud, while Akira shouted encouragement from above and occasionally dropped pinecones. Rei and Kenji had moved farther and farther from the safest part of the stream, tripping over stones and shrieking in delight. Kenji dared him, with eyes bright, to dive under the secret tunnel— it was a rock formation in a tricky part of the current, a submerged arch large enough for a human to swim through with room to spare.

But you had to be a strong swimmer, and Rei wasn’t strong enough.

He remembered the slow sink into the haze, watching bubbles trail from his mouth like stars. Distant voices, and a panic that seized him but could not stir him into action, as if he was leaving his body through slightly parted lips and drifting into the sky he could not see. Then a tug around his waist, and the world was flung into violent motion as he breached the surface. Kenji lay him on his side, and he coughed desperately and vomited water into the mud until there was nothing left, and still he couldn’t shake the feeling that some part of him was still in there, stuck down in the darkness of the stream behind the barn.

Warm breath on his shoulder tugged Rei out of his memories, and he blinked in surprise. Madeline was nuzzling him insistently, making a low fluttering noise in her throat.

“You good?” Elle asked softly. He nodded, not trusting himself enough to speak.

“Liar,” Sabi grumbled.

“These visions,” Elle began carefully, flipping the collar of her coat up and down. “You’ve got… a lot on your plate. Do you have anyone to talk to about them?”

Sabi scoffed, leaning back into the pokemon who’d appointed himself her caretaker. “I used to talk to my mom about them. She liked it when I was special, but when I tried to tell anyone but her, she said I was making it up. That’s when she started hurting me. Your mom hurt you too, right? Rei likes his mom, and Irida never knew hers, and Adaman doesn’t talk about his family, but your mom hurt you. So you’re like me. You hate her.”

Elle took a breath. “I…don’t hate my mom. I know she’s a bad person, and she hurt me, and I’ll never forgive her. But..no. I can’t bring myself to hate her. Maybe I will someday. Maybe not. At the risk of projecting and being one of those dumb grownups who does nothing but give advice you don’t need? You don’t owe your mom shit. You don’t owe her forgiveness. Whatever care packages she sends? Consider it reparations. Even if she gets better, you don’t ever need to forgive her or want her back in your life.”

Sabi pointed at Elle. “You. You’re…the first one to ever say that to me. I think you should play with me more often.”

Rei exchanged a worried glance with Elle; she sighed, folding her hands in her lap. “I’m…not planning to stay in Hisui. I fell out of the sky, and one day, I’m going to go back and not return. I’m happy I get to meet you, Sabi. But this isn’t my home.”

Sabi swallowed hard, mittened fists clenched. “Lord Braviary? It’s time. Why don’t you and the sky-faller go collect your ice for Avalugg before I change my mind.”

Chapter Text

A few minutes had passed, rather uncomfortably, when Sabi suddenly stiffened.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay? This is normal,” she said, curling up on her side. “This is normal.”

“What’s normal? What are you—” Rei’s breath caught into his throat as the girl began to shudder, breathing rapid and shallow. Her hands twitched, eyelids fluttering but never quite fully open or closed.

“…..Sabi? Are you okay?” Rei asked quietly. No response.

Don’t do anything stupid. This is normal. It looked scary sometimes when Elle’s joints were out of place, but she always reacted with frustration or resignation or annoyance, so maybe this was similar? Sabi’s well being came first; Rei’s panic could come later. So he forced down the rising fear and tried to focus on what he could do for now.

“Maddie?” Rei swallowed hard, placing a hand on the rapidash. “I don’t want to move her, but could you move so that you’re blocking the wind?”

Madeline gave an almost human-like nod— she must have picked it up from her trainer, some part of Rei noted, because pokemon didn’t normally understand or imitate human mannerisms in the wild. She picked herself up and moved next to Sabi, tucking her hooves beneath her as she settled down again.

“Okay. Thank you,” Rei breathed, watching Sabi carefully. She seemed…well, distress was putting it mildly. But it didn’t seem like it was hurting her? This had to be one of her visions, now that he slowed down and thought about it for a second.

“This is normal,” Rei repeated to himself, hand clenching and unclenching at his side. Besides, Sabi’s thick coat and oversized hat would keep her from hurting herself. Shit, was that why she wore that hat? He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about a lot of this, honestly. He was still struggling to process the abrupt reminder of almost dying as a kid, and now this. The tremors had slowed down, by now, or maybe she was shivering? He pulled the blanket from the ground and laid it over Sabi, just in case.

It wasn’t long, objectively, before the episode was over. But it felt longer. It always felt longer, worrying, but he placated his own fear by telling himself that Sabi considered this normal, it wouldn’t help anyone to freak out, it probably wasn’t as bad as it looked.

He just…had to trust. And wait.

Oh, and try not to get too deep into introspection. That too.

Sabi blinked sluggishly, eyes focusing and refocusing as she took in her surroundings. “MotherFUCKER.”

“You okay, kiddo?” Rei asked gently.

“Din’ I tell you ’s normal for me?” she grumbled, words slurred together. Maddie leaned forward, giving her a slightly damp nuzzle. “Yes, yes, hello, you’re warm.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Sabi shrugged. “Could’ve been worse. It was nice, not waking up as cold as I thought I’d be. But it was also slightly stupid. And I told you not to do anything stupid, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Whatever.” The girl sat up, shoving the blanket aside and cozying up to Madeline. “I haven’t had a vision without Lord Braviary for a while. It fucking sucks.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Rei offered hesitantly.

She gave a huff, pulling her legs up to her chest. “Why are you still here? Are you going to stay until your pity for me runs out? I saw the fear in your eyes. You don’t like me, do you. You’re scared of me. Just like everyone is.”

“Whether or not I’m scared of you…I don’t think it matters,” Rei said carefully. “It’s not…really your fault what happened. I just want to make sure you’re okay after that.”

“You’re scared,” Sabi repeated, a little more hesitantly this time.

“Yeah. It was scary. I almost died.” Rei gave a soft laugh, sitting down beside her. “But you know what helped me to feel less afraid?”

“Are you going to tell me or not?” Sabi demanded.

“Sorry. It was the fact that my family was there for me afterwards. I know… I’m pretty lucky to have a good family. But it’s okay to lean on other people, Sabi.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever find anyone I can lean on.”

“...Sorry.” Rei tucked his legs underneath him, leaning into the crook of Madeline’s haunches. “Does it ever get lonely up here?”

“It’s better up here than it was back home. And when I have Lord Braviary, the visions aren’t nearly as intense and he protects me until they’re over. But yeah.” Sabi pulled a piece of chalk from her pocket and started doodling, idle shapes and snowflakes. “Adaman and Irida stop by sometimes. Irida brings me candy and shit, but I know she just feels sorry for me. Adaman brings supplies for me, but he tries making excuses for my mom and I hate that. I wish he’d just admit that she’s a bad person who does important things.”

“What about Gaeric?” he tried. Sabi gave him a flat glare. “...Not a fan, huh.”

“He’s Pearl Clan,” the girl said, as if that made all the difference in the world. “And he’s boring. All he does is climb that glacier over and over again. Nobody cares! I can’t climb a glacier. I don’t even like climbing stairs.”

“Really? But you seem to hang out here a lot.” He gestured to the chalk drawings covering the roof— almost all of them some variation of Lord Braviary.

Sabi gave a laugh, and this time it was almost genuine. “You really don’t know much about the temple, do you? You haven’t even scratched the surface of its secrets. But I have. If you’re nice to me, I might even show you!”

“Remind me never to do that again,” Ele groaned, sliding off Lord Braviary and into a heap of snow as if she’d gone completely boneless. The noble gave a loud squawk of delight and ran to Sabi on clawed feet, kicking up snow in his wake.

“Ah. That bad, huh?” Rei said wryly, sitting beside her. Sabi was very emphatically telling the pokemon how much she’d missed him, and that she hoped having another rider didn’t muss his feathers too much.

Elle lifted her head from the snow. “He was very eager to get back to his girl as soon as possible with not much regard for his current passenger. And THEN I had a run in with Volo where I tried to apologize for snapping at them, but they just— GUH. I think there may be some culture shock with regards to personal space because dear FUCKING gods, my brain was fried like an egg.”

“Nah, I think Volo’s just like that. Need a hand?” Rei offered.

“Uuugggghhhh, yes please. If you could help me to Maddie, I am extremely fucking cold. I swear to god, either Volo is the prettiest, most oblivious motherfucker in Hisui, or they’re doing this on purpose,” she groaned. “I got the eternal ice, and Gaeric’s going to work on balms, but at what cost?”

Rei helped her walk to Madeline, who immediately nuzzled her human and started to make a low trilling noise. “I mean, presumably the cost of your brain.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Sabi asked, wrinkling her nose. "Besides the obvious."

“She’s a lovestruck mess,” Rei said succinctly. 

“Oh, like you wouldn’t be!” Elle tossed a handful of snow at Rei. “Imagine if Adaman was deeply fascinated with your research, and you tried to hand him a paper but he grabbed your hand and got so close you could feel the warmth of his breath and then…”

“Is this a kissing part? I always skip those,” Sabi complained.

“Oh my gods, no! Nononononono there was absolutely no kissing involved at all! They just got really close and fried my brain— oh fuck off, both of you!” Elle shrieked, but she was laughing. “CHANGE OF SUBJECT. SABI, WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESEARCH POKEMON WITH US?”

“Would you like to take the fun way down?” Sabi asked brightly. “I can show you the slide!”

Rei nodded. “Fuck stairs. All my homies hate stairs.”

Chapter Text

Elle ended up retiring early to her tent, citing joint pain and fatigue, so that left Rei to watch Sabi for the rest of the afternoon. She may have been a rude little shit, but Rei definitely liked her. She was just a kid, and there were more important things in the world than being polite. 

That being said, while she was good at spotting wild pokemon, she wasn’t exactly social. Rei had the idea of introducing her to warden Gaeric and hopefully getting her some kind of regular human contact, because this did not seem like a healthy environment for a kid to grow up in. Granted, it seemed like a better option than she’d had previously— not that it was a high bar to clear.

“So,” he said casually, rearranging the pokeballs he’d gathered for the day in his bag, “Gaeric, huh. You ever talk to him in person?”

“He’s stupid and boring from here, and I bet he’ll be stupid and boring up close,” Sabi retorted. “You just want to see him because you like looking at his muscles.”

“Just because I think he’s nice to look at doesn’t mean— hey, how does he not freeze up here?” Rei tried to distract her.

“False Sinnoh’s blessing,” she said almost immediately. “We’re not supposed to talk about it with outsiders, but Diamond clan wardens get it too. It’s really slow and hard to notice, but I don’t bleed as easily as I used to. For Pearl clan, they have the ability to go wherever they want and stay warm.”

“Wait, the wardens get it too?”

Sabi scowled. “Are you thick? Sinnoh blesses us with the ability to endure, but wardens don’t get it the same way as leaders. My blessing still tears really easily, but Gaeric has been a warden for a long time, so his blessing lets him run around without a shirt.”

“I…see.” In fairness, Rei had been. A little distracted at the time, so he hadn’t considered it, but that might explain a few things. “So it gets stronger with time?”

“That’s what I just told you! And it should be proof enough that our Sinnoh is the real one, not the Renegade.” Her gaze darkened. “The visions aren’t as clear without Lord Braviary to help me. But earlier, I saw that something is going to emerge from that rift, or maybe it already did. And it’s very, very angry.”

(Somehow, not even Gaeric’s carefully landscaped chest could distract him from that.)

Rei couldn’t sleep. That wasn’t exactly unusual; these days, the insomnia came and went, and while it had gotten a lot better, sometimes it flared up for no real reason at all. Even after nearly finishing the pokedex, even after a full day’s work, it haunted him. Tonight, he gave up on fighting it and made a quick lap around the camp. That was all, right? But he found himself circling again. Circling wider. He had to make sure everyone was safe. They’d collected valuable research today, and he had to protect that, protect everyone.

He needed to stop this. He’d fallen into a rut of sorts, but he couldn’t bring himself to snap out of it. His breath came out in sharp clouds, mind racing in a panic, yet he just kept circling, driven by some obsession. The wind picked up, turning the serene landscape into a shifting and brittle place, dunes shifting and burying what few trees managed to take root here.

Come on, he told himself. You have to stop this. Stop it! You’re only making things worse for yourself! But somehow he couldn’t break the inertia, the pulse of fear, fear, fear. He was decently prepared for the snow, at least; he spent most of his money on crafting supplies and extra pokeballs and warm winter gear, so he slept warmly despite only owning a couple blankets.

What would it take? What was it going to take for the snarling thing in his head to finally be satisfied, finally feel safe?

It was almost a relief when the Pokemon, pale and hidden by the snow, attacked him. That’s what snapped him out of it— as if he’d been sleepwalking, and now he was wide awake. Stumbling forward in the snow, pain radiating from his back where he’d been struck. What manner of creature even was it? He looked around, but couldn’t find the source— only white. Where was camp, again?

“Again.” The voice was soft, almost buried beneath the snow, but Rei couldn’t find the source. There was a streak of red, almost too fast for the eye to follow, and he tried to dodge— but the snow hindered his movements, and this time the pokemon aimed low when it struck, hitting his leg with an awful snap that sounded far too faint for the pain he felt.

“Who are you?” Rei called into the whirling snow, falling into a drift. His vision was beginning to fade, speckles dancing across his eyesight in turquoise and crimson, or maybe the snow was turning strange. Would the snow consume him, too?

“Shhhhhhh, shhhhhh, it’s all right,” came that soft voice again. “You’ll play your part, not to worry.”

Whether it was pain or cold or sleep deprivation or some external force, Rei didn’t know. But he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer.

“Rei? REI!”

Someone…was calling him. Rei blinked sluggishly at the brilliant grey stretching out in a blinding expanse as far as the eye could see. He hadn’t been out for that long, had he? It was all…foggy. His fingertips hurt when he tried to move them— that was a good sign. Numbness meant the ice had spread to your bones. Pain meant you were still alive to feel it.

Still, he found he was too tired to move much, to sit up. His leg hurt, or at least he thought it did, but it all felt very far away. He heard a thump, then an irregular gait shuffling through the snow as a familiar face came into view.

“Sorry,” Rei mumbled. Elle didn’t respond, just began unwrapping the fabric from her arm.

“Oh gods, oh gods, fuck, shit, motherfucking hell, stay with me, okay?” she pleaded. “Shiiiiiiit. Lola— Lola, just stop the bleeding, he’s gonna need surgery for this one. Nacht, Maddie, Sakurako— I’m gonna need to splint it and take him back to camp.”

“Wha…?” Rei mumbled, drifting in and out of focus. “M’tired.”

“Nope, nope, no going to sleep,” Elle said fiercely, doing something with his leg that he couldn’t see. “Rei. Rei, look at me. Your pokemon have been worried sick— Rhea was so worried she pissed herself right in my tent, and Mizu— hi Mizu, please let me work— why didn’t you take your pokemon with you? Did you even leave camp willingly?”

“Course I did,” he muttered, blood rising to his cheeks with an uncomfortable warmth. It felt stupid to even try to explain it— no, he hadn’t been kidnapped, he was just an idiot who left his pokemon behind because he was too ashamed to admit to them that he was still nervous about getting attacked. And look where that had landed him now.

“What happened? Why— you weren’t trying to run away, were you?”

“No!” Rei protested. “I just…wanted to check and make sure… camp’s safe. Got carried away. Sorry.”

Elle’s face screwed up with an unknown expression— she practically flung herself on top of him, and for a minute Rei was scared she was angry. But when the first tear hit his cheek, he knew that wasn’t it. “Don’t. Please, gods, don’t, Rei, I don’t wanna lose you! Y-you said you— you were managing it, I, I thought, I thought it was fine!”

“M’not always doing great. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it was stupid, I know. I didn’t know how bad it had gotten, I couldn’t stop myself, I was scared, and then something attacked me, I don’t know what it was, it moved too fast and the snow was blowing around—”

“Don’t you— don’t you ever do that again, you f-fucking idiot,” she sobbed, heart fluttering against her ribs. “I don’t care if you slip up, okay? We all— gods know I’m t-terrified too! I know. I know— know you’re scared. But please, d-don’t— don’t. Don’t be scared alone. Take your pokemon with you. Please— please don’t be scared of this world alone. Not when I’m right here and scared to death of losing you.”

Chapter Text

Akira was humming— he always hummed to himself. Rei leaned back with his hands in his pockets, looking up at the solid oak beams of his childhood home. He hadn’t been in the same room with his entire family in so long. He expected to feel nostalgic, but the emotion was much more tangled than that.

“Hey, lookit our little Rei. You’re growing up, huh,” Akira said affectionately. “Peach fuzz already, damn! And I wasn’t around to see it.”

“It’s stubble, thank ya very much,” Rei muttered, shoving him. This time, when Akira playfully shoved him back, Rei nimbly rolled out of the way on instinct.

“Rei can do what he wants,” Hiromi said, tilting her chin up. Her hair was wild as ever, probably mussed from a rendezvous with the miller’s daughter. “Isn’t that how it goes, when a young man leaves home to seek his fortune?”

“Booooring,” Kenji complained, draping himself over the back of the kitchen chair. “C’mon, give us the juicy details! Are you fightin’ the wild mons? Do ya have a boyfriend? What kinda new treasures are you finding?”

“I mean…” Rei looked down to the pouch at his belt, where he kept his pokeballs. “There’s this lil’ turtwig.”

“A turtwig, hm?” Ma said. She was stirring something at the stove, something that smelled like dye. “You’ll wanna fatten it up for stew before the winter. Don’t let it evolve; those are only good for kindling.”

“No! It’s— it’s different. Everything is different. It’s like an entirely new world here, and I want you t’ understand. I really think this world can be better. I want ta make it better.” Rei sighed. “Her name is Haru. It means spring, and I raised her since she was an egg, and she’s helping with my research.”

“I believe you,” Fuyumi said gently. She was pregnant again— she hadn’t been when Rei left, but things had changed, and she looked down at her swollen belly. “I don’t know if I can adjust to this new world, kiddo. Not entirely. Pokemon have…taken a lot from our family. You were too young to remember, and I’m glad. I’m glad you don’t have t’ live with that memory. But you’re on the other side of the divide now. And not everyone’s gonna be able to reconcile that.”

“I…I know.” Rei sighed. “Is it selfish of me that I love it here?”

“Rei,” Pa said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Why do you think we sent you to the Survey Corps? We did the best we could, but you never seemed at home here. And if your home is in Hisui? Then you make it the best home you can.”

“I’ll try my best,” Rei promised, heart swelling with some unknown emotion. It expanded from his chest, filled his vision, and he was fading away. He knew this wasn’t real, but still, he shouted, “I’m going t’ make this world anew!”

Fog, and storm, and footsteps. The footsteps would grow louder, and then the humming began, crackling, and then the footsteps danced around and left. The snow was drifting across his vision, swirling, red, or maybe it was never snow. Rei’s hand twitched, and he was almost relieved to find himself in control of his actions again.

“….with a stick full of rusty nails,” someone was saying. It was a familiar voice, wasn’t it?

“Oh, you must be a real charmer back home. Bet you bring all the boys to the yard with your feminine wiles, huh?”

“Not just the boys, for the record, and I’m not interested in pandering to dickheads, so sorry if that offends you.” That was definitely Elle’s voice; Rei slowly opened his eyes, wishing he could wipe away the crust around them so he could see better. His arms felt heavy, weighed down with exhaustion. All he could really see was the ceiling, and his neck screeched in protest when he tried to lift it too much.

“If you would back off and stop threatening to electrocute me, I’d like to do my job,” Pesselle said coldly. Right. That was Pesselle. Rei was…injured, right? Yeah; he’d been— he’d been attacked by something out there. And his leg—

“Fuck off,” Elle retorted. Her face came into view, furrowed in some emotion he wasn’t sure how to read. “Heya, Rei. We’re back in Jubilife right now— it’s around noon, Avalugg’s been quelled, don’t worry. How are you feeling?”

Rei blinked slowly. His brain was still moving sluggishly, as if trudging through heavy snow. How was he supposed to answer that? He tried to shrug, but couldn’t make his body move the way he wanted it to.

“He’s fresh out of surgery; you may as well attempt talking to the wall,” Pesselle said dryly.

“I know that, you overcooked shitbiscuit. Don’t talk to me like I’ve never had surgery before; it’s scary as fuck and the only reason I’m tolerating your ass is because I wanna be there for him,” Elle said sharply. “Hang on a sec; I’m gonna adjust your pillows so you can see better, okay?”

Rei gave a minute nod, hardly more than a dip of his head and a slow blink, as she moved her hand beneath his neck and shuffled something around. That was better; now he could see a bit of the Medical Corps building without straining himself. 

Elle was holding a pokemon, the pink one, and Pesselle was moving around with a sour expression. Elle’s cane was the thing that had been making that strange noise, the electric one. She held it in her lap and flicked it open every time Pesselle got close. And Elle growled— literally growled, baring her teeth at Pesselle. Her body language was tense, ready to pounce, and the pokemon in her lap looked just the same, gills fluttering and fins flared in a threat display. Lola. Right, that was the name of the pokemon.

She stopped growling, though, and the two exchanged a glance filled with all kinds of subtext he couldn’t understand, as Pesselle draped another blanket over him. This one was warm, and it smelled sort of like Rhea and Remus, and he drifted off to sleep again. This time, his dreams weren’t of his family or home, but of that strange soft voice that wrapped around his throat and bound his limbs, stealing his voice and his mobility. It spoke over and over of a plan for him, a destiny, and dragged him deeper into the snow.

It was getting dark by the time Rei was fully awake and able to talk— Elle was practically vibrating with anxiety, but once Rei firmly asked for Pesselle to leave, she relaxed a bit.

“Have you…been here the whole time?” he asked hoarsely, words still moving slowly in his mind.

“Yeah, pretty much. Laventon and Lord Wyrdeer brought you back as soon as they could, and I ended up quelling Lord Avalugg in the dark. Which was, uh, not fun!”

“M’sorry,” Rei muttered.

“Oh, you should be! Woe be upon ye for thine horrendous, unforgiveable crimes of getting your fucking leg broken, Antiqui sancti, Rei, you don’t need to apologize for that.” Elle leaned back, and vaguely Rei wondered if Antiqui sancti was a new swear word. He hadn’t heard that one before, but Elle was very creative. “Do you even know what attacked you?”

He swallowed hard. “It— it was hard to see with all the snow. I think there was some red on it? Might’ve been blood…and I remember this voice. Something about…me playing my part? I don’t know what it meant.”

“Hm.” She didn’t seem satisfied with that response, or maybe it was just worrying. “Well, honestly? We’ve got time to figure it out. Laventon’s busy processing all the data we’ve gathered, so it looks like the Survey Corps might go on break for a while.”

“Break?” Rei squinted at her. “What…are we gonna do? We gotta work or die, right?”

“Emotionally, I am smacking you upside the head with my cane,” she said flatly. “Physically, I am going to beat Kamado with my cane if he tries to pull that bullshit on you. Do you think I deserve to die if I can’t work?”

“No! I—”

“Good. Then whether or not someone can work is in no way related to their worthiness of living. And honestly? This place could use a few changes.” She scowled in the general direction of the door, presumably thinking of Pesselle. “Winter’s on its way, y’know. And food’s not all we need to survive.”

“Thought you weren’t planning to stick around?” Rei quipped, but it fell flat. Elle tucked in the blanket around his chin— it was one of hers, he noticed.

“Maybe not, but winter still sucks. And I want this place to be a safe home for everyone.”

Chapter Text

The first few days were the worst— Rei couldn’t even eat without help, and it sucked that he had to call for Pesselle to empty the bedpan every time. Elle was in and out, bringing news from outside, and Laventon visited him frequently.

“I’m terribly sorry about the attack, my boy,” he said quietly, sitting on one of the chairs near Rei’s bed. “I’ve been conversing with Elle, and I believe a Zoroark may be responsible, but I can’t imagine what would make a wild one attack you unprompted. It’s possible, of course, that it could be a trainer’s pokemon, but that only raises more questions.”

“Guess the Survey Corps are three for three on getting ambushed, huh,” Rei said jokingly. Laventon raised a hand to the back of his neck— the wound had scarred, a trio of flat, pale lines with a slightly different texture than the surrounding skin.

“That’s not something to be glad for, Rei,” he said quietly. “You could have died.”

“I know.” Rei swallowed hard. “I think…something’s wrong with my head. Or, or it has been since the coastlands. I didn’t think it was a problem, or, well, both of you had it worse, and I didn’t know how t’ talk about it. But…heh. Guess I’ve gotta lot of time on my hands for introspection.”

“Well, you’ve got us now,” Laventon promised. “And, ah— if it’s not too terribly intrusive of me to say? I did take a few courses in psychological theory, and there are a few concepts that may be helpful if you’d like to learn about them. Exposure and Response Prevention therapy, Cognitive Behavioral therapy, a few more experimental treatments I’d have to look at my old notes for. Would you be interested?”

“....Yeah. I think I’d like that.” He felt as though he’d just expelled poison, like Ursaluna did— just the admission of weakness was painful. But he wanted— he wanted to do better. And if it started with learning more about why his brain was doing this shit? Then that’s where he would start.

Days passed, drifting in and out in a haze of spoonfed meals and pills that made Rei drowsy more often than not. Ingo joined the rotation of visitors, too loud and exuberant for the small building that seemed to press in closer, day by day. Mizu was too large to fit in there, and fire types were banned from the infirmary, so that left just Haru as his constant companion. Haru took life slowly and slept a lot, and that suited Rei just fine.

It was a relief when Pesselle declared Rei well enough to leave, if only for brief increments. His leg was swollen with gauze and plaster, and he had to be helped into one of the wheelchairs— it had the tops of the wheels covered, and large, unwieldy handles on the back for pushing. Or, rather, for being pushed.

Elle was the one who pushed him— she showed up looking ready to bite Pesselle and shake her like a feraligatr, but all of that was tamped down once she had permission to take Rei out for some fresh air. She handled the wheelchair with a grace completely at odds with the snarl on her face, the tension in her neck, the trembling of her clenched fists. She kicked the infirmary door open with surprising violence, and pushes him outside into the chill air with a controlled precision.

“You sure you’re good?” Rei asked, clutching his blankets tighter. He couldn’t articulate why right now, but sometimes she scared him. Or maybe it was his own vulnerability that scared him.

“I’m fine,” she said tightly. “I just…fuck. I hate Pesselle, and I also hate that she’s the only one actually qualified here. I mean, I patched you up a bit and sent you back here for surgery, but she’s the one who actually…did it. Heh. I had to throw up after seeing all that blood; isn’t that stupid?”

“I…I can’t talk about this right now,” Rei said slowly.

“Right. Sorry.” She sighed, and made a turn down the main road. “So, uh. How’s she been treating you? The food okay? Pesselle’s not, uh, sedating you when I’m not looking?”

“Why would she do that?”

“Being a difficult patient? Fuck if I know.”

Rei narrowed his eyes, confused. “I…don’t think so? Just pain meds. I don’t like the pills she makes me take. I wanna help Laventon with his research but my brain doesn’t work properly. It’s too slow and I can’t find the right words.”

“I know. It sucks,” Elle agreed. “Painkillers make everything go fuzzy and it’s scary. But it’s better than being in pain all the time.”

“I think I’d take the pain, if I could just properly think for once,” he grumbled.

“I’ll see what I can do. Why don’t we talk to Pesselle about incrementally lowering your dosage, and we’ll see how you feel from there?”

“What if I just stop taking them altogether?”

“Then you’ll go into withdrawal, and that’s risky right now. If your dosage of painkillers is too high, then that’s a problem,  but if it’s too low, that’s no good either. Constant pain makes your body produce cortisol, which slows digestion and disrupts sleep. Your muscles will turn themselves into crusty macramé and you’re more likely to start clenching your jaw, gnashing your teeth, or picking at your skin. Overall, it’s your choice, but you should be informed that pain isn’t just something you can push through. It has consequences for your health, too.”

Rei frowned. “That’s a lot of words.”

“Mm, it is.”

“I don’t know if I can…make decisions that well right now? But what you said earlier sounds good.”

“Right, informed patient consent in an altered state of mind is tricky.”

Rei tilted his head back, watching the houses passing by, the ever-present hole in the sky. “How’d you get to be so smart about all this?”

“Personal experience and lots of research, mostly.” She gave a slightly bitter laugh. “Also, uh. Being a nuisance to the entire medical field until they do their fucking jobs. I had to yell at people until I cried, just to get a reasonable amount of painkillers.”

“You cried from yelling at people?” That didn’t make sense. She never did both at the same time.

“It’s stressful. I didn’t have any support system back then. But it’s getting better for me. And after everything I’ve been through, I can still say it’s a good life I have, one worth living. Watch out; pavement’s bumpy ahead.”

“Gotcha.” Rei winced; yeah, the painkillers were probably wearing off. His head felt a little clearer, at least. “Where are we going?”

“Just around the block, to start with.” She pointed to the row of houses nearest the pasture, more windows dark than lit up. “Figured it would be easier to take a stroll in the less busy part of town— for fuck’s sake, this place has more houses than people. That’s gonna be a problem come winter.”

“Shit, you’re right,” Rei realized. “We made the place bigger than it had to be, to welcome the new folks, but it’s gonna suck trying to heat it all.”

“Eh, I can think of some solutions.” Elle parked his wheelchair and strode around to stand expectantly in front of him, then laughed at his confused expression. “Not using my cane right now, but yeah, I can walk without it. It just takes more effort.”

He blinked, trying to reconcile the sight in front of him. “I mean, I guess, yeah, just looks weird to see you without it.”

She leaned in conspiratorially. “You know how some days are better than others for me? Sometimes I don’t even need my cane, I just don’t wanna deal with the awkward questions or accusations of faking.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah. People talk about mobility aids like they’re a cage or something; it’s ridiculous. Also, it’s nice to have on hand if I need to, y’know, zappity zap. Not that it helps when I’m asleep...and tents aren’t very secure…” 

“Yeah. I’m gonna beat the Miss Fortunes if I ever see them again,” he resolved. “You doing okay with, uh, all that?”

“Actually,” Elle said carefully. “Since a tent isn’t really the warmest place to spend the winter, I talked to Cyllene about moving into one of the little houses near the pasture. I’m gonna do a bit of renovation— getting rid of that fucking step in the middle, for one thing, but also some added insulation, a lock on the door if I can get some iron smelted, fixing the balance issues with the door, maybe somewhere for my cane to rest so it doesn’t fall over at inappropriate times, some cushions on the floor for my pokemon to take naps, that sort of thing.”

“Mm. Glad you’re moving forward,” Rei said vaguely, unsure why she was bringing this up. “Sounds like you’re real happy with the place you picked out.”

“Rei,” she said slowly. “I’m not gonna get down on one knee for this because my knees are shit, but would you do the honor of being my roomie?”

Rei burst out laughing. “Gods, you’re so weird!”

“Is that a yes?”

“Hell yeah, it is. Can we have a drying rack for my coats? I’ve just been draping them over my cot, but I really don’t want them to mold or freeze. Or end up with frozen mold.”

“Oh, absolutely! Oh, another thing— we’ll need to have a fireplace, I know that, but I want to have a place for Maddie and the pups indoors so it doesn’t have to be as big. And I might ask you to be the one to manage the fire, if that’s okay.”

“Yeah, I can do that! Oh, and I want a table with a lamp— I’ve been looking over my notes in the evening…”

They went on, back and forth, about furnishings and cohabitation and chore schedules, planning a little place to move into. It was weird— Rei was fifteen, didn’t even swing that way, and thought marriage was something of a scam that you pulled to make your relatives give you things. But here he was, making plans to share a home. 

Chapter Text

It was a relief when Rei finally moved into his new house— he couldn’t stand for long, and had to either hobble around on crutches or be pushed in a wheelchair, but it was an improvement nonetheless.

Elle had already started sprucing the place up— there was a quilt draped over each window to keep the heat in, and an assortment of rugs decorating the floor. She’d even bought herself a real bed with a straw mattress, and what looked like several new blankets. A small vase of colored stones adorned a squarish kitchen table pressed against one wall, and there was a folding coat rack near the empty hearth.

Haru gave a quiet mrrrp? and kneaded excitedly at Rei’s lap as he gazed around the place in awe. “Where did you get the money for all of this?” 

Elle just smirked and twirled her hair around a finger. “Ursaluna and I go hunting for treasure sometimes to deal with stress,” she said smugly. “I may be shit at budgeting! But damn, I think Ginter might actually like me now! And yes, I’ve been trading with him rather than Volo, because Volo’s still acting weird around me.”

Rei nodded, setting Haru down so she could explore. “How so? Like, do you feel unsafe around them?”

“I…don’t know,” she said hesitantly. “Honestly I’m a little uncomfortable around them right now. But I’ll…I’ll figure it out.”

He pulled his wheelchair forward with his one good leg, looking around again and thinking about what it would be like to live here. It was a bit tight, but it was leagues better than what he’d had before. “I can take care of budgeting, if you want. I used to help Ma with that, back home, and it’s not too hard if you’ve got a head for it.”

“That would be verrrrry much appreciated,” Elle agreed, then gave a little huff of laughter. “Aaaaand now I’m picking up speech patterns from Ingo.”

“You could do a whole lot worse,” Rei said.

“True, true. Don’t let me forget, I invited Ingo over tomorrow to talk about improvements to the place!” Elle made a noise of frustration, and tossed her cane onto her bedding with a soft thump. She fussed with the table for a little bit, then made her way over to her chest to rearrange something. “Oh yeah, just an FYI, sometimes I don’t use the cane around the house. More trouble than it’s worth, but I’m still kinda self conscious about whether I’m using it or not, so I’d prefer if you didn’t mention it without my permission.”

“Got it,” Rei agreed, releasing Mizu and the pups. Remus immediately launched himself into his lap, yipping excitedly, while Rhea tackled Haru with a playful growl. Haru mewled in distress, and Rhea began to whine and lick her ears in apology. “Yes, hi, I missed you too. Hi, Mizu. Oh, what a good boy you’ve been. Mind helping me up?”

“Oh, I picked up a kerosene lamp for you,” Elle said absently as Mizu helped Rei to limp over to the table. “I’d prefer an electric one, honestly, but those are hard to come by and it’s a decent compromise for now.”

“Being traumatized is expensive, huh,” Rei said, the corners of his mouth quirking up in what was almost a smile.

“Gods, you have no idea. Or— shit, I guess you might have some?” Elle gave him a questioning look. “Have you, uh, been working on that? No pressure, I’m just worried.”

Rei shrugged uncomfortably. “I mean. I know that I…have a problem, and I need to address it, and I’m looking into how to do so. Until then…I can manage, I think.”

“That’s good.” Elle nodded and made her way to him, one hand against the wall for stability. “Sometimes you just gotta live to heal another day.”

“Mm. This…isn’t how I thought my life would go,” Rei admitted. “Thought I’d be late to the party in getting married and having a homestead of my own, now I’m doing…adult stuff. Might even end up— Laventon says I might be interested in agricultural sciences, but that’s a pretty serious commitment. I mean, that’s…a career.”

“Shit,” Elle said appraisingly. “You’ve got a lot on your plate, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess. The surprising part is, I feel more ready for it than I did before.” Rei clenched one hand around Mizu’s thick fur and carefully lowered himself into a sitting position. “What about you? I mean…do you have any plans like that?”

Elle opened her mouth, then closed it. Frowned. “Y’know what? Fuck having a career,” she said suddenly. “Fuck working for a living. When I get home, I’m applying for disability income and being a nuisance until I get it. Maybe I don’t want to earn my life under capitalism for a pension that breaks my body. I mean, shit, I never really imagined I’d live this long— thought I’d die, or be good as dead, before twenty. Maybe my life goals are to be a milf.”

Rei could hardly breathe for laughing— but it wasn’t a bad thing to aspire to, he thought. He took his pain medication with the last dregs of his water flask and fell asleep on Mizu that night, and for once he slept without dreaming.

It was late afternoon when Ingo arrived once more in Jubilife village, after a long journey. Granted, most of that journey was spend in Lady Sneasler’s basket, but it was a relief nonetheless to return. And it confirmed something he’d suspected for a while: that somehow, Elle’s mere proximity was actively aiding him in the process of recovering his memory. He’d arrived in Hisui a little over a year ago, wandering the mountain with nothing but the clothes on his back, and made little progress until encountering Elle.

He did not believe it was her fault— Elle seemed to be in a similar situation as him, and he’d battled her enough to gain an understanding of her. She had very little desire for power, but craved comfort and warmth, things that she seemed to find Hisui in short supply of. But she made her own, found her own, and that was something to be admired.

Seek out all pokemon. Show the people of Hisui how to battle. Ingo wasn’t sure when those objectives would be considered completed, but…he missed his home. He felt incomplete without Emmet at his side, he missed the smooth motion of the trains, he missed Elesa’s puns. They were objectively verrrrry bad. He still missed them.

He raised a hand and knocked sharply on the door of the house near the pasture with the starburst quilt hanging in the window, and was almost immediately met with a familiar face and a headband he now recognized as zorua ears. Unovan Zorua, not the Hisuian variant.

“C’mon in; Rei’s out to get some fresh air with Mizu, but he’ll be back soon,” Elle greeted him. Her togetic raised its head from the center of her bedding, but was quickly pulled back down by another pokemon. A pachirisu, and quite a fluffy one by the looks of it. “Pull up a chair, and don’t mind the girls. They like to nap on my bed when I’m not using it.”

“I see.” Ingo had another flash of memory as he was sitting down at the table; joltik, and a lot of them. Being overwhelmed and happy and helping…helping Emmet take care of them. “It may please you to know that my visit to the Highlands was quite productive. The former warden Melli’s replacement is settling well, and I have asked Irida if she would tentatively begin searching for my replacement.”

Elle nodded, grabbing her cane from a hook behind the seat and fiddling with it in her lap. “Mm, glad to hear it. Um, Lady Sneasler— is she okay with it?”

“Yes, indeed,” Ingo said. “I have…explained the situation to my Lady, and she was most accommodating. I believe she expressed her intent for a safe journey upon my departure from the nest, not unlike the way she might do so for one of the sneaslets. In many ways, she sees me as no different from them.”

“She said that, huh,” Elle said, tone strange and difficult to read. “Must be nice, understanding pokemon.”

Ingo gave a short laugh. “With respect, you’re known as something of a pokemon whisperer yourself.”

“Oh, I’m aware! Got fucking kidnapped because of that reputation, and because the Miss Fortunes are fucking assholes.” Her expression darkened at that. “Gah. I hate people like that. I’m pretty sure the whole incident…messed up Rei pretty bad.”

“And not you?” Ingo asked. “That doesn’t seem correct.”

Elle laughed, but it was not a joyful thing. “Are you fucking kidding me? Since I was little, I’ve been starved, blowtorched, mindwiped, gaslit, tied up and dragged around like a fucking prop— no. No, it didn’t mess me up, because at this point I’m basically used to it. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like this shit is anything new to me.”

“Please recall safety protocol,” Ingo said stiffly. “Abrupt shifts in velocity are not good for passengers. Recommended course: reduce speed to avoid collision.”

“I— sorry, yeah. I’m working on it.” She swallowed hard. “Do you remember Team Plasma?”

“Indeed. They believed that Pokemon and humans should be separate.” Ingo recalled the fear that had run its course in the public, and the doubt, the desperation. He and Emmet had worked tirelessly to establish safety protocol, to show the public that battling was something constructive and positive if done properly. 

“I was part of it. A…grunt, to put it bluntly, although I really don’t care for that word. Near the end…isn’t something I’m willing to talk about. But since I was seven? Yeah. That was just…my life. And there are large portions of my memories of it that I lost and found again, due to, uh, brain damage, to oversimplify. So, no. I’m not bothered by what happened to me, because I’m already quite traumatized as is and I’ve come to expect this shit, or at least see it as normal. I’m just pissed that Rei’s gotta suffer for it.” Elle picked at the hem of her coat, eyes far away. “I know it’s messed up. I’m a really fucked up person. But…I’m asking you to take me as I am. You don’t have to like me.”

“I don’t believe a comprehensive assessment of your character is relevant to the matter at hand,” he said carefully. “I appreciate you elaborating on your earlier, concerning statements. And I wish you the best in your recovery from that environment. I would not continue to seek out your company if I found you unpleasant, morally or personally.”

“Thanks.” Elle leaned back, eyes closed. “Sorry. It’s kind of a lot, and I’m trying to work on, like— when it’s appropriate to trauma dump. Can I ask how you’re feeling about this whole thing? Going home, I mean.”

“I have lived in Hisui for over a year, and leaving it behind is not without loss. I am… unsure how my travels will impact the reception I am to receive at my destination,” Ingo said haltingly. “The colors I wear have changed. I am a member of the Pearl Clan, and even if I were to pass on my duties as warden, that would not change. I worship a god that… I am coming to understand, may not be the one that Lady Irida, or my clanmates, believe.”

“Palkia,” Elle said seriously. “The Almighty Sinnoh of the Pearl Clan. Ruler of space, counterpart to Dialga.”

“These are not the only Sinnohian gods, are they?”

“They are not. There is Arceus— an open secret, and the bitch in my smartphone who sent me here. And then there’s the Renegade, Giratina.” She let out a massive sigh, more like a groan. “And no one’s gonna fucking believe me if I tell them. Arceus sending me here was a hard enough sell as it is; how do I just casually unravel the foundations of their entire fucking belief system and expect to survive? At the risk of sounding like a cult survivor, organized religion is fucking scary. ”

“You are a cult survivor,” Ingo pointed out. “I do not believe that your fears are invalid or unfounded. And I will not attempt to dispute them. But I feel the need to add my perspective, and not to speak over you. The Pearl Clan has given me a great amount of perspective and support. They have provided structure to my life. Their beliefs are not without flaws, true, but they are not without merit.”

“I know. I— I am listening to you, Ingo. And you likely have a point as well. But trauma is not logical. My trauma in particular is not logical, and I don’t trust myself to make decisions like this when it flares up. I’m— I am asking that you don’t demand a firm answer from me right now.”

Ingo nodded sharply. “I will not overload your carrying capacity. Switch tracks?”

“Switch tracks,” she echoed with a nod. “Oh shit— Rei’s about to arrive at the station.”

“Oh shit,” Ingo repeated. Hm. He did not swear much. He did not like to swear much. But Elle was especially infectious in her speech patterns, and he had a tendency to let down his guard and reciprocate. He would have to keep an eye on that. “In that case, we should welcome him.”

Chapter Text

By the time Rei returned to his house (and wasn’t that an extraordinary concept, a house of his own), the sun was already starting to dip down again, even though it had been late morning when he left. He was tired of being tired; he was beginning to appreciate at least a little bit of Elle’s erratic moods if this was the sort of thing she dealt with, but it was hard to fathom living an entire life this way.

He understood, at least, what she’d meant when she talked about Pesselle’s wheelchairs— even ignoring the hastily removed leather straps, the back was much too high and he could hardly move on his own. It was only really good for being pushed around by someone else when he was too tired or too sore to use his crutches. Which was more often than he’d like— apparently passing out in the snow was very bad for one’s overall health.

“Thanks, boy,” he said softly, sliding off Mizu’s back and grabbing his crutches from the saddlebag. His samurott nuzzled him with a massive snout, and he laughed, rubbing the Pokémon’s chin. “I’ll be back out in a while. Wait for me?”

Mizu chirred in response, and that’s when the door opened. “Heyo,” Elle greeted him. “Have a good walk?”

“Wasn’t much walking involved,” he said wryly, limping inside. “Hey, Ingo.”

“Greetings, Rei,” Ingo said, dipping his head. “Now that you’re here, we may begin our planning.”

Rei nodded tiredly, settling himself into his wheelchair— that’s the other thing it was good for. He and Elle only owned the two chairs and the small table, so they had to make do when inviting company over.

“So,” Elle began. “I’ll catch the both of you up— we’ve gathered data on most of the Pokémon in Hisui, but not the local deities. And since it’s very rude to just shove someone’s god into a ball, the current plan is to focus on cultural exchange for a bit and see if we can gather information organically.”

Ingo nodded stiffly. “Indeed! Lady Irida has been most eager to pursue alliances— however, our elders are the ones who would carry the knowledge you’re seeking.”

“Calaba could help, then,” Rei suggested. “She’s warmed up to us at least a bit; we could stop by with a gift for Ursaluna and maybe some tea.”

Elle nodded, tapping at her arc phone. “That’s a good plan. What about the Diamond clan? I…may have somewhat pushed Adaman to arms length, but would Sabi be able to help?”

“I mean, probably, given her abilities. I wouldn’t know what kind of gifts to bring a kid her age, though…”

“Books and games,” Elle suggested, making a note of that. “She’s probably bored up there; kids her age need enrichment. We’ll make a research expedition out of it— how long before Laventon adopts her?”

Rei laughed. “Oh, he would, wouldn’t he?”

“He certainly seems the type,” Ingo agreed. “However! Would it not be more prudent to have a singular, central station? Wardens work in pairs, even during times of war, in order to protect their designated regions. Ergo, you could invite them to see Jubilife village.”

“Hm.” Elle was tapping her fingernails against her cane, an almost musical pattern to a song only she could hear. “I have an idea related to that, but it’s going to be controversial as fuck. I also have an alternative that’s even worse. Ingo, you remember Pokémon centers, right?”

“It would indeed be a bold move,” Ingo said seriously. “Are you suggesting we instate such a thing here?”

“I’m not just suggesting; I’m saying a little social engineering can go a long way. For example: trying to move the crafting station so it’s no longer right next to the main restaurant? Bad plan. Conveniently opening a more accessible crafting station to the public elsewhere and giving some free lessons and supplies? Perfect cover for repurposing the original station, most likely creating some indoor seating for the Wallflower, which will encourage customers to eat together and socialize.” Elle grinned, looking a bit feral. “If we outright say we’re going to make a Pokémon center, we’ll get public backlash. But if we slowly incorporate a welcoming center into the infirmary or part of the Galaxy Hall, we can work up to changing the purpose of it one objective improvement at a time.”

“Indirect routes are inadvisable,” Ingo said stiffly. “I dislike the idea of…social engineering."

“I— sorry, yeah, I know it’s kind of manipulative. But I don’t know if I have the power to spark change any other way,” Elle admitted. “You don’t have to participate if you’re not comfortable.”

“I will ask warden Sabi if she wishes to visit Jubilife village and become my sparring partner. I wish to help, but our tracks must diverge.”

“I mean, it’s for the purpose of making the village more welcoming, right? So, you could do a lot worse,” Rei tried, but his words felt flat in the awkward tension that had fallen. “Uh. For my part, I was thinking about trying to improve trade with the Ginkgo Guild, and harvest firewood for the winter. I was planning on organizing a party of mons and getting some help from the security corps.”

“That’s— yeah, that’s a good idea, but I’m still worried. We haven’t answered the question of who attacked you, or why, or if they might strike again.” Elle’s expression darkened. “Based on what you told me, it’s probably a zoroark— they can learn human speech, but the real question is, why?”

“Actually…if it’s okay?” Rei said tentatively. “I’d…like to drop it. I don’t think it was even planned— it feels more like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“That doesn’t line up!” Elle argued. “And if the Miss Fortunes—”

“I said, drop it.” Rei sighed, his uninjured leg swinging back and forth beneath the table. “It’s— if I start trying to figure it out, I’ll just get fixated on it, and I’m not really fit to travel right now, and I’m trying not to get obsessive. It’s… not healthy for me.”

“S-sorry. Um, you should take Maddie with you, then. Just to be safe.” Elle stood abruptly, face flushed. “I’m going to get some air. Sorry for being rude.”

The pokemon curled up on her bed poked their heads up and chirped inquisitively, but she just ducked her head and left without another word, closing the door behind her. The quilt covering it flapped gently.

“Rei,” Ingo said bluntly, “were my actions in any ways lacking or remiss just now? I would prefer honesty. I would like to know if I have done anything wrong so that I may amend any problematic behavior.”

“I don’t think so. Elle’s…having trouble adjusting,” Rei said apologetically, unsure how much he was permitted to reveal. “Don’t think it’s anyone’s fault but the god that sent her here, y’know?”

“Indeed,” Ingo muttered. “The gods…care little for individual humans. And I cannot help but see their actions as cruel.”

It was cold— it was always so damn cold here. Elle shoved her hands into her pockets, wishing she’d grabbed her nice coat. She couldn’t exactly walk back home right now until she was feeling better, and the idea of fire made her feel sick. Her scar was itching again, and she wished she’d brought the cream for it along with her.

She missed her home. She missed her weighted blanket and the sunlamp that she’d bought for Sakurako but sometimes used herself when she wanted to feel the sunlight on her face. She missed her sessions with Haven, the feeling of relief that came from venting and sorting out her emotions with someone who was literally paid and trained to deal with her bullshit.

Smoke was rising from the chimneys as she walked down the street, and she absently checked her phone for any new messages from Arceus, even though she kept it on vibrate and there hadn’t been anything there ten minutes ago. Nothing. Just the familiar reminder to seek out all pokemon. 

Bitch, you created them, why do you need me to seek them out? she wondered bitterly. No answer. Her hair was brushing the back of her neck— it was kind of uncomfortable how long it was, but she didn’t want to cut it. Didn’t want to admit that she’d been stuck here for months and might continue to be stuck here for months more.

Elle gazed wistfully up at the hole in the sky. “Well, here’s hoping you doesn’t disappear entirely— you might be my only way home.”

Chapter Text

Cyllene was trying her best, damnit.

To be honest, it was mostly the accusation of pokemon abuse that got her. That she was mistreating her abra by not letting him sleep enough. Because that was the thing— she wanted to say it was impossible to abuse a living creature by accident, that she was merely doing what was best for him, that things were different now that he was no longer living in the wild.

She’d even approached Laventon, intent on receiving confirmation, only to be told in halting and stuttering sentences that psychic type pokemon often required great amounts of sleep, and that was when she realized that the man was frankly terrified of her. Not just because of her skill and battle and her scars; he was afraid that she would hurt him.

She didn’t like the word abuse. Didn’t like the implications of it. She knew that in this life, she would be unable to control how others perceived her, and at some point she stopped caring. She let them see her as a woman despite having no real attachment to her gender because it was easier than explaining that yes, she still used the same pronouns, but it was a matter of convenience and nothing more. She did not owe the world perfect androgyny, and so she did not give it to them. She let them see her as brave because it was better than admitting how confused and scared she was, how her sword was the only thing that made her feel alive, made her feel capable. She let them see her as a leader because these people needed a leader. They didn’t need a scared street rat with a knife in hand, they needed Captain Cyllene.

But the thought that others would see her as abusive, and they would be right? It stung. It stung more than she cared to admit.

But she’d get nowhere by denying it. And self improvement was something she chose to undertake for herself first and foremost, as it always had been. Cyllene was neither soft nor kind; such things had been beaten out of her as a child. But she intended to be fair and just. And if that meant acknowledging that her understanding of this world, this strange new world, was lacking? Then so be it.

She was trying, damnit. And it didn’t matter if anyone saw. She was trying.

Winter showed its fangs for the first time with a bitter frost that swept through their fields, leaving the entire settlement scrambling to salvage their harvest before it was damaged beyond repair. The assorted grass types were scattered through the fields, each at the center of a squad of anyone able to work the earth. 

Rei was perched atop Zisu’s shoulder, offering his expertise to those who had never touched a spade in their lives. Cyllene pushed up her sleeves and swaddled her abra to her chest for warmth, letting the chill air push her to keep moving. She’d warm up when she’d worked hard enough to get her blood pumping, and not a moment before. The alpha rapidash of the fieldlands summoned the sun through the clouds for precious minutes at a time, tossing her head and shooting gouts of fire.

Pokémon and humans worked alongside each other, but it was not without casualty. Kamado was stiffer than ever, wincing at the flicker of flames and eyes empty with the soul-scars of the tragedy that had taken his home. Beni threw a knife at a geodude that got too close, making an excuse about his hand slipping. Had the geodude not been made of rock, it would have been impaled neatly between the eyes. It was almost certainly a genuine accident— Beni preferred not to tip his hand like that, after all, but it was disconcerting nonetheless.

Was it really possible to adjust, Cyllene wondered? She dug her spade into the soil once more until she met resistance, gritting her teeth as she pried out yet another stone. She’d have to move soon if Beauregard and his partner got any closer.

A few more potatoes pried from the reluctant ground, and she stood, leaning heavily on her spade. Her head was swimming, hands numb and vision blurry. Would it trouble others if she passed out in the middle of work? Perhaps she could just be left facedown on the ground— no. No, she might risk hurting her abra if she did that. And she was attempting to be a good trainer, a good leader, but everyone was looking to her for guidance.

“Ma’am? You okay?”

Right. Someone was addressing her. Cyllene glanced up, and couldn’t stop herself from flinching at who it was. Best not to show weakness in front of Elle, she decided, not after what had happened the last time. She still had…complicated feelings regarding the incident.

“I am fine,” she said stiffly. “Merely taking a short reprieve. I was under the impression that you condoned such things, correct?”

“I— I mean, yeah, I— do you want to take a lunch break with me?” Elle asked hurriedly. She was dressed in her heaviest furs today, fluffy mittens and a dangling scarf. Her togetic fluttered over one shoulder, and the pink pokemon swam through the air towards Cyllene, making a concerned chitter. Behind her, the rapidash was laden with blankets and full saddlebags, one of them sloshing concerningly. “I— sorry, not trying to pry, but you seem like you could use a break and I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I can’t work the fields like everyone else but I’ve been trying to take care of everyone, y’know? Make sure everyone’s fed and hydrated, talked through panic attacks, patch up the blisters and scrapes and such.”

“I…appreciate it. You are contributing in ways that make sense for yourself and your skillset,” Cyllene said. It was such an obvious statement, and she almost wished she could take it back. She wished she could take a lot of things back, really. “I will break for lunch with you.”

“Okay— yeah, good plan. Is it okay if I, like, check you over for injuries as well? I know I fuss a bit, it’s the anxiety, just wanna clear it with you first,” Elle rambled, leading Cyllene towards a small clearing on the side of the field. “Don’t wanna be invasive or pushy or controlling or anything— just….trying to take care of everyone. Sorry, did I already say that?”

“You may have,” Cyllene said uncertainly. She was having difficulty following the conversation as it stood, and it was a relief when she finally sat down on a crudely carved log bench. Her vision blacked out for a moment, and she blinked until it cleared.

“Okay, yeah, I talk when I’m nervous, so just tell me if I need to shut up or anything. Uh— sorry, nope, bad Elle, no self deprecation, uh, yeah you can ignore me. So I made some zucchini pancakes this morning— here, they’re still warm. Do you want a blanket? Actually that’s not a question. I’m going to get you a blanket unless you’re strongly opposed to the idea.” Elle stood and moved unsteadily to her rapidash, grabbing one of the blankets draped over her back and wrapping it around Cyllene.

The effect was immediate; a warmth that was almost painful, and a comfortable drowsiness. She blinked rapidly, vision fading as her breathing noticeably slowed down. Elle was keeping up a constant narration as she pushed up Cyllene’s sleeves and wiped down her arms with a damp cloth, pouring something like water onto her scrapes. The skin knitted itself together slowly before her eyes, and she found herself struggling to stay awake.

“...membrane can actually heal on its own for up to half an hour— I’m gonna cover the blisters here, and here, and then wrap them,” Elle was saying. “Ma’am? You with me?”

“Ready for duty,” Cyllene muttered before she could stop herself. “Ah— apologies, I sometimes slip back into military habits. Yes, that would be perfectly acceptable.”

“Understandable!” Elle gave a short, nervous laugh, and finished wrapping Cyllene’s hands. “Right. Zucchini pancakes. These bitches grow like weeds, and I made the mistake of planting them one summer. Filled my entire freezer and had to look around for food banks near me who would be willing to take the extra off my hands. It was actually a good way to get connected to my community, and this was one of the first recipes I learned when I started cooking alongside my pokemon. First time using actual eggs, though, so that’s been a learning curve.”

“Cooking alongside your pokemon?” Cyllene repeated.

Elle nodded, filling a pair of flasks and bringing them over to the bench before retrieving plates and food from her pokemon’s other saddlebag. Her togetic chirped something, looking distressed, and disappeared into its pokeball.

”Yeah— oh, don’t mind Cari, she needs to take breaks sometimes. Togepi and their family are very sensitive to the emotions of others, so they can’t be around too much unhappiness or they’ll start to molt,” Elle explained. “They’re naturally able to help others, but I’ve taught her to take time for herself in her pokeball when she needs it. Right, eggs— I make these from shredded zucchini, a bit of egg, couple spoonfuls of flour, and spices. I used to just get my eggs powdered, but now I’ve gotta go out and find or harvest unfertilized eggs and check them myself to make sure there’s not a fetus in there. Cari might start laying eggs when she’s older, but she hasn’t reached sexual maturity yet, and they only do it when they’re happy.”

“And you allow her to take breaks? Because it is unhealthy for her species not to do so?” Cyllene asked. She stared at her plate, fragrant and lightly steaming, and wondered if she dared take a bite, dared break the fragile, frozen momentum by listening to her body’s needs.

“Everyone needs breaks,” Elle said firmly.

Cyllene nodded and lifted one of the floppy little pancakes into her hand, wondering if she could reconcile this. Could reconcile the soft creature with the fierce warrior, reconcile the idea of softness with the cold steel she saw in her own eyes.

“You don’t have to always address me as ma’am. Sir will do just fine,” she said abruptly. “You may use the terms interchangeably.”

Elle blinked, mouth half full, and stroked her pokemon for a moment. When she replied, it was softer somehow. “Uh— okay?”

“I am not a woman. I have no desire to live as a man, nor to change the name or terms I was assigned at birth. Enamorus’ winter is what it’s known as here; the absence of gender. I had no words for it previously, save for— nothing. I was a ‘nothing’ in a body that was apparently, allegedly, feminine. If we are to coexist, I would prefer you to address me as I am.”

“My bad.” Elle stared at her plate. “Um— thank you for telling me.”

“I am trying,” Cyllene said. It was all she could do. It did not feel like enough.

“You asked why I prepare meals with my Pokémon. I have an eating disorder,” Elle said suddenly.

“I…I’m afraid that’s an unfamiliar term to me,” Cyllene said carefully, feeling as though she’d just been handed a very precious and very fragile gift, one that could explode horribly if she handled it wrong. 

“I just…have a messed up relationship with food. Mostly mom’s fault, really. It’s… it’s a combination of feeling like I don’t deserve to eat, don’t deserve to take up space, and that I have to eat healthier, even though the definition of healthy in my head is a sawdust nutrition shake or something. It’s a very distorted way of thinking, and it never really went away, just got easier to manage.”

“You deserve to take up space. And I am sorry for insinuating otherwise,” Cyllene said in an imitation of gentleness. She did not know how to be gentle, and it was a clumsy attempt that felt stiff and unnatural on her tongue.

Elle stared at her appraisingly. “Are you really? Can you afford to understand such a thing?”

“I do not know. It is easier to believe in justice than kindness when you have the power to enact neither.”

“I don’t know where you grew up, Captain, or what kind of person you became in order to survive. But you’re not there anymore. It’s…it’s okay to change.” She gave a nervous laugh. “I mean, gods, as I am right now I’d get burned at stake if I tried returning to the place I grew up.”

“I was under the impression that grower stronger meant you’d survive better in such an environment,” Cyllene replied, curious despite herself. She’d gathered that Elle grew up in an abusive environment, in bits and pieces and familiar old habits.

“I don’t think so. I think it’s more like…getting rid of calluses you no longer need.” She looked down at her hands— they were small and soft, Cyllene noted, but there was a purplish scarring that blotched her forearms in irregular splatters, and her joints were red and swollen. “You become hardened from constant suffering, but you’re numb to everything. You can’t feel the pain, but you don’t know what joy feels like either. You starve yourself of sensation, and you cling to what you have because you’re afraid you’ll never find anything as good again. You consider poison a comfort when it quenches your thirst. It’s not living. It’s surviving to live another day. And— and, when that day comes— did you know I cried the first time I ate a cookie warm out of the oven? I couldn’t even tell why I was crying, but I couldn’t stop, and that terrified me. I was overwhelmed with an emotion that was completely foreign to me. I…I can’t find the ingredients to make cookies here, but gods I miss it more than anything.”

Elle was crying now— crying, or maybe laughing, most likely both. She pressed her face into her hands and trembled, and she was so far away. She scrubbed at her eyes with her sleeve and gave a soft laugh, smiling— or maybe she was grimacing— with red-rimmed eyes.

“Your cooking is excellent,” Cyllene said in an oddly choked voice. Her subordinate did not pounce on the display of weakness or drive in the knife, though. She simply nodded with tearful eyes too old for her face. Somehow that was worse, because Cyllene was unused to kindness, and didn’t know what to do with it.

But she would learn. One bite at a time, she would learn.

Chapter Text

Being roommates was hard. Healing was hard. Physically, and mentally, confronting his limitations was hard, and the looming threat of winter did nothing to help.

Rei struggled with adjusting— he was constantly weighed down by exhaustion and painkillers, and sometimes he wondered if he was just going to sleep months away before he got better. It was frustrating, it was incredibly fucking frustrating, to be limited like this when he’d been able to perform dodge rolls with ease just a month ago.

It was a relief when Sabi showed up and took his place as Ingo’s sparring partner, though the crowds were growing sparse for the demonstrations these days. Didn’t mean Rei wasn’t jealous of her. Didn’t mean he didn’t feel a twinge of loneliness when her elaborate retellings of the legends brought the pokedex one step closer to completion.

Laventon was sympathetic to his plight, at least. He offered his companionship on lonely nights when Rei’s anxiety got too bad, and sometimes they would patrol once and only once around the camp and then go to bed. Breaking the associations. Breaking the habit. It was… it was horrible, needing that kind of accountability, needing to be watched over like he was a child.

I am a young man, I’m asking for help because I need it, I am in control of my life, and I deserve respect no matter what I can do for my people, he repeated every day. Sometimes he even believed it.

The first snow of the winter arrived with mixed emotions— it was beautiful and soft, but it got everywhere and muffled the sound, and quickly turned into an icy slush over the streets. And it was exponentially harder for Rei to leave the house, be it in crutches or his wheelchair.

Rei liked Elle, honestly. He valued her friendship, he wouldn’t have it any other way, and she felt like family. But cohabitating…gah. That was a different beast, and he was very quickly realizing that he liked having his own space, and some part of him rebelled at the idea of sharing once again. Their sleep schedules were erratic, overlapping only sometimes, and they had no way of leaving messages for each other about when they’d be back or whose turn it was to go grocery shopping or to cook or clean.

Elle was in and out, working on her pet project of renovating the Galaxy Hall, and she didn’t like her sleep to be disturbed. She was quiet when he was sleeping, at least, but she was almost too quiet in a lot of ways. It was like living with a ghost, never knowing when he’d be haunted.

“Shit, give a guy some warning next time!” he protested after he’d tripped over her in the dark one night when she was literally lying in the middle of the floor.

Elle looked close to tears in the faint light of the fire’s embers, and that’s when he realized that he’d made a mistake. “I— I’m sorry, I just— I got up to use the bathroom and then I, my ankle, I didn’t want to bother you, I swear, I just needed a minute—”

“Shit, shit, I’m sorry,” he mumbled, crawling off her and extending his broken leg. It hurt all over again, white hot pain radiating from the center. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay,” she mumbled. It sounded like a lie. “It’s— it’s okay— I’m not. I’m not used to this. There’s so much I need to start over with. I swear, I’m just not trying to be a burden, and I— I’m trying my best.”

She was trying her best, but she was also falling apart. She needed to get back to her world, to her home, and that only made Rei even more conflicted. Shouldn’t he make the most of his remaining time with her rather than bickering? Why did some possessive part of him want her to stay?

With his body basically out of commission, Rei tried to throw himself back into studying under Laventon, but even that wasn’t what he expected. His frustration started to bleed over into his studies, and that only made him more self deprecating and stubborn, unable to learn anything. He couldn’t even work at night because Elle’s fire trauma had flared up, badly, and the kerosene spluttering and cracking from impurities in the oil made her wake up in a panic.

Rei made careful plans and grocery lists. Elle bought impulsively and freely. Rei ordered takeout, and Elle prepared meals halfway but couldn’t get too close to the hearth. Rei started chewing his lip and picking at the plaster of his cast from boredom, to the point where he was bothering Mizu at nights. Elle woke up from nightmares gasping for air or apologizing to someone whose name he didn’t recognize, and kept insisting that Rei just go back to sleep when she clearly wasn’t okay.

They needed a break from each other, or some boundaries, or some kind of escape from these four walls, or they were going to rip each other apart. 

It was probably fitting, then, that Rei found himself wandering to Elle’s project in the Galaxy Hall. He wasn’t entirely sure how he got there, granted, but that was an afterthought. He was frustrated and fed up and he needed out.

And he might just know who to ask.

“I need your help.”

Ingo stared at Rei a moment before giving a practiced bow. “Indeed. How may I assist you? Would you like to sit down?”

“That would be great, actually.” Rei hobbled over to one of the benches lining the wall— they were new, he was pretty sure, with pale wood and a long cushion covering the top. It was surprisingly high quality, if hastily constructed. The fabric had clumsily oversized stitching and a pattern of pale vines against a dark blue background, the color reminiscent of the Diamond Clan’s uniforms. Rei leaned his crutches against the wall, then winced at the loud clatter as they fell down, and finally settled for resting them on the cushion beside him.

“We have this sort of bench where Elle and I come from as well,” Ingo said abruptly. “It is in pokemon centers. They are community resource centers that offer healing, lodging for travelers, and much more. They are safe places for all. In some regions, there are items available for sale. I dislike the idea of converting the Galaxy Hall. I believe it should be a separate building. But she has been working verrrrry hard to implement it. Wasted space is not ideal, especially in winter.”

“She’s not overworking herself, is she?” Rei asked, looking around the building in a new light. Elle had taken over about a third of the main lobby, and the walls besides. At a cursory glance, he could see a wooden folding partition and a trio of flags, one for each clan and one for the ginkgo guild. Past that was the area where Ingo was staying, presumably; several of the beds lining the wall were very obviously taken from the medical corps and repurposed, and there was an arrangement of furniture around a cedar chest meant to act as a coffee table.

“I do not know. Is she? You have known her longer than I, after all.”

Elle, collapsing into bed at odd hours, flinching when the fireplace got too loud, waking up sobbing, lying on the floor in the dark and waiting for the pain to fade. She…she wasn’t okay, was she. Rei clenched a fist in his lap, wishing he’d noticed it sooner.

“I… yeah, I think she is overworking herself. Neither of us are…really okay, but we’ve been too busy with our own issues to help each other. Elle’s struggling a lot with winter, and with fire, and trying to renovate the town on top of it ‘cause she’s scared folks are gonna freeze to death if she doesn’t. It’s a lotta pressure, and she’s not handling it great.”

“She is…overflowing with emotion,” Ingo said carefully. “I will admit it is sometimes uncomfortable to be around. But it is not entirely her fault, I don’t think, and she has verrrry good intentions.”

“Yeah,” Rei agreed. It felt…a little weird, talking about Elle behind her back like this. “She kind of…dumps a lot on you unexpectedly, huh. We’re working on it, trust me. I don’t think she realizes she’s doing it sometimes, and she’ll back off if ya tell her ta. I think— when you showed up in the village and came over a few weeks ago? The reason she left so suddenly is because she got flustered. She does that when she feels like she’s doing things all wrong; she’ll go for a walk or something t’ take a break and come back when she’s feeling calmer.”

“Ah.” Ingo let out a small sigh. “That is good to hear. It was not something I did wrong, she was merely coping with rogue emotions in the way that she knew best. It is good to recognize system malfunctions and address them accordingly. Trains require attentive maintenance to keep them running in peak condition.”

“Mm,” Rei said vaguely, still unsure exactly what a train was but unwilling to ask since it would be awkward at this point with how much Ingo talked about them. “Thing is— we need a break from each other sometimes, see. And I’m having a lot of trouble with that since my leg’s busted and it’s getting colder, so we keep gettin’ on each other’s nerves and I wanna figure something out before we blow up at each other.”

“I am not good with emotions,” Ingo said warningly. “I am good with words. But I often misinterpret intentions and meanings in others. Please clarify precisely what you need my help with.”

Rei took a breath, hands folded in his lap. “I need help finding better ways to move around. Either something like Lady Sneasler’s basket, or an improvement to what I already have, or maybe both. I’m good with crafting, and Elle knows a lot about— different mobility aids, I think is the term? But I can’t do this alone, and I wanted to at least ask you.”

Ingo’s hands began to move very rapidly up and down; his expression did not change, but his body language was eager and intense. “I have an engineering degree and retrograde amnesia. I kept the trains running on time and I made sure travel was safe and accessible for all and I liked battling alongside my brother. I will see what I can do!”

Chapter Text

Sabi was bored.

Granted, she had a little more entertainment than usual to spice things up— Professor Laventon was cool and kind of weird, and she liked shopping here in Jubilife. There were a lot more people here, even if they were all scared of Lord Braviary. Maybe she wanted them to be scared. Maybe it was better than being pitied.

She liked battling with Ingo, too— her pokemon were strong! She battled with them lots so that no one could ever call her fragile again, or make her do anything she didn’t want to. Ingo made her play by all sorts of boring rules, but he was strong too, so it wasn’t too bad. And maybe Sabi liked having an audience. So what?

The problem was, no one really wanted to play with her. Elle kept running around frantically, trying to make the visitors center more hospitable even though the Galaxy Clan’s leader kept giving her the nastiest glares for it. Rei’s leg was broken and now he was moody all the time and barely visited, Professor Laventon only paid attention to her when he wanted to hear about the bedtime stories she’d been told of the gods, and Ingo kept retreating to his space to ‘recharge,’ whatever that meant.

At least she had a change of scenery, which was better than nothing. Lord Braviary hid her from view whenever she had a vision, and interesting things were happening, even if the attempt at a welcoming center was kind of pathetic. It was really hard to feel welcome when she knew that she wasn’t.

But hey, something sort of exciting was happening now— maybe it was exciting? Eh, it was loud, and that was all that mattered. Sabi wandered around the partition to the meager-looking attempt at a crafting station, and found Ingo and Rei working on…something.

“Hey, what are you doing?” she asked, swinging her arms.

“We are inventing!” Ingo said excitedly. “It is going very well and Haru is helping!”

Sabi wrinkled her nose, guessing that Haru was the little turtwig who was very, very slowly encouraging the wooden floorboards to grow fresh branches in a circle. Boooooo. Sabi wasn’t even allowed to scratch the floor, or she’d get yelled at!

“Do you wanna see?” Rei asked excitedly. “We’re almost done!”

Sabi sniffed derisively, but Lord Braviary chirped and fluttered over to watch, so she figured she might as well join him.

“Haru is small and young, but very smart and helpful,” Ingo said proudly, piecing together what looked like a wheel, but it didn’t have enough spokes. “She has excellent spatial awareness and patience. We are making a new wheelchair for Rei to navigate through the snow on his own! Proper form for self propulsion is verrrry important. Unfortunately, I do not remember it. I may not know it at all.”

“Why do you need wheels?” she asked, hands stuck in her pockets. “That’s stupid when they just get stuck in the snow. You should make a sled chair.”

For a moment, it looked as though Rei was about to snap at her, and she drew back— but then he gave her a tired smile, so she guessed it was fine. “The streets of Jubilife are clear enough that sledding wouldn’t be practical, and it would only work in winter. Pesselle says I’m not going to be fully healed until mid-spring at the soonest.”

“Well, I still think you should make a sled chair.”

“Perhaps when we are finished with this, we can do such a thing,” Ingo told her. “Do you enjoy sledding, Sabi?”

“Duh!” Sabi poked at the turtwig, who gave a wide, toothless yawn before returning to its task. “I sled all the time back home. Well, growing up I didn’t sled much, because there wasn’t much snow, but now Lord Braviary and I can go sledding and flying whenever we want and stay out past lights out and set our own bedtime! I can stay up all night if I want to.”

Ingo frowned— well, he was always frowning, but now it showed in his body and his voice. “You are still young and still growing. It is not good for children to lose so much sleep.”

“Who’s gonna stop me?” Sabi stuck out her tongue at him, then got bored with the argument. “Rei! Hey, you haven’t talked to me much at all, and it’s suuuuper boring. Can I see your pokemon?”

“I mean…we’re not really supposed to have fire types indoors,” he said hesitantly. Dummy. If you showed hesitation, the battle was already half over.

“Pleeeaaaase? I’m lonely and there’s no one to talk to!”

“Well, I guess the puppies could use some attention… okay, but you’ve gotta behave. This is Remus, and this is Rhea, got it?” He took a pair of pokeballs from his waist and unlatched them, releasing a pair of sleeping growlithe. “Remus is the little guy who’s got black and pink mottled pads, and Rhea’s got a longer mane and shorter, brighter orange fur.”

Sabi gasped in delight. “Oh Sinnoh, they’re little babies! Oh my gosh they’re so fluffy!”

“Be gentle, okay? They don’t bite much anymore, but if they do, you just firmly tell them no.”

Sabi ignored him in favor of immediately scooping up Rhea, who yipped in surprise and began to wriggle about. “I’m going to steal them and take them back home! Mine, all mine!~”

“Hey, play nice! She doesn’t like that, see?” Rei pulled the growlithe from her hands and set her back on the ground, frowning. “Introduce yourself first. Say you’re sorry, and then hold out you hand so she can sniff you.”

“Fiiiine.” Sabi pouted, but did as she was told, watching Rhea sniff her. Remus gave a massive yawn, displaying his pointy little teeth, and toddled over to flop down and display his belly, while Rhea finally decided she forgave Sabi and decided to start licking her fingers.

Huh. Sabi supposed this wasn’t so bad. Being friendly to pokemon that didn’t know her— or really, anyone that didn’t know her— didn’t come naturally. She had a very small group of those she tolerated, and that was fine. But learning new skills wasn’t so bad. And she had two hands, one for each puppy.

“How can they see with their eyes covered?” she asked Rei.

“They’ve got really long eyelashes— Rhea, sit,” he ordered. “See, if you part the fur like this you can see. Their eyelashes keep the fur from getting in the way.”

“Hm.” Sabi looked where he was pointing for a few seconds before she lost interest and picked up one of Rhea’s paws to get a closer look at it. To her surprise, the growlithe just collapsed entirely and made a playful mewling sound, paws kicking happily in the air.

Rei chuckled and knelt, gently grasping one of the pokemon’s paws and pressing his thumb down, rubbing in small circles. “Playing with their paws is good for them,” he explained. “See, you’ve gotta do it when they’re young, and be gentle about it, and then they won’t make such a fuss when they grow up and you’ve gotta trim the fur between ‘em and check their claws for dirt.”

Sabi giggled, poking at the soft pads and squeezing them to make Remus’ claws extend. He blepped in surprise, then began frantically trying to lick every inch of her hands. “He’s squishy!”

“He sure is! Elle calls ‘em toe beans. Cute name, but sometimes it’s like she doesn’t know how dangerous the ‘mons are.”

“Toe beans are very cute,” Sabi agreed. “Oh! You should warn Elle that somebody’s watching her. They’re being hidden from my sight, which is VERY rude.”

“Someone’s— wait, what do you mean, hidden from your sight?” Rei asked. “How does that even work?”

Sabi rolled her eyes, plunging her fingers into the growlithe’s soft fur and scratching. “How the fuck am I supposed to know? If they wanted her dead, they would have tried already. It’s weird and I dunno what they’re waiting for. Oh, hi Elle!”

Rei spun around and flinched in surprise to see that Sabi was not, in fact, pranking him, and Elle was indeed standing there. “Shit, you scared me. Uh, hi. You okay?”

“Yeah. Old habits,” Elle said quietly. She looked tired, and kinda depressed. “Sorry. Heya, Sabi.”

“Are you…sure you’re okay?” Rei asked cautiously. “You don’t look great.”

Elle blinked sluggishly at him. “I, uh— yeah, sorry, I think I’m still a bit worn out from the harvest. I should…probably take a nap or something…”

“Yeah. You should,” Rei said, firmer this time. “When you wake up— I wanna talk. Nothing bad, just— communicating. Sorting shit out.”

She nodded, a slow and controlled movement. “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Fuck, right, we should…yeah. Good idea. Shit, I’m more tired than I thought I was.”

Ingo stood quickly, both of his knees audibly popping. “You are not well. You are not in condition to travel. Permission to escort you back to your station?”

“Y-yeah. That would be nice, thanks,” she said softly. Ingo offered her his elbow, and she leaned heavily on him, half-asleep as he walked her out the door.

Sabi gave a great sigh, plopping herself dramatically on the floor and pouting. “Is she gonna be okay?”

Rei smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, I think she is.”

Chapter Text

Rei and Ingo ended up staying at the new crafting station for hours more, trying to perfect the designs of a wheelchair that could be self propelled and a cushion on three wheels with steering included. In the end, the design they settled on wasn’t perfect, but it was a hell of a lot better than the one Pesselle had given him— an adjustable backrest that would eventually have fabric stretched across it, a few compartments for storage, and three-spoked wheels with padding made from springy mushrooms to absorb shock and improve traction.

Sabi mainly ran around with the puppies— she needed some lessons in Pokémon handling for sure, but they didn’t destroy anything or breathe fire, and she seemed happy enough, so Rei was counting that as an overall win. She pouted when he returned the pups to their balls, but all three of them seemed pretty worn out from the entire ordeal.

“I will put her to bed at a reasonable schedule,” Ingo promised, scooping up Sabi like a kitten. She giggled, sticking her tongue out at Rei, but didn’t seem displeased by this new development.

“You can’t make me go to bed if I don’t wanna!” she cried gleefully.

“No, I cannot. However, I can recite a bedtime story for you, and tuck you in. Failing that, I have several more bedtime stories, and a lullaby on the flute that works quite well for the sneaslets. Will that suffice?”

“Maaaaaybe~!”

It was dark by the time Rei returned home, to the near-deserted street closest to the pastures. Elle had…really been working hard on the Galaxy Hall, hadn’t she. Meanwhile, Rei hadn’t even done anything about the firewood issue. Shit. Maybe…it was time to set that goal of his aside, hand it off to someone else. Let his health take priority for a while.

He knocked twice on the door before cautiously pushing it open, ducking under the quilt just inside the entryway. The kerosene lamp was unlit, but the hearth was enough to see by. Elle was lying on the floor next to her bed with her knees draped over the mattress, scrolling through her phone with a frustrated expression. She gave him a tired smile and pulled herself up into a sitting position as he made his way across the room to sit on his cot and shove his crutches underneath.

“Before you say anything, can I just— have a chance to give my side of the story?” Elle said breathlessly.

Rei blinked, not sure what she meant. “I— yeah? Yeah, go for it.”

“I know…I know something needs to change,” she began. “But I want to ask: would you rather live somewhere else? Don’t think about what I need; I can handle myself, and you’re not my caretaker. You’re my friend. If you’re done with this arrangement, it was my idea in the first place. I’ll move out and you can have the place to yourself, and let the fire burn as bright and loud as you want, and stay up late and never trip over anyone. I won’t be offended, I promise.”

Ah. Well, shit, clearly they’d been thinking about very different things here. Rei…wanted to talk about getting an electric lamp, a cooking schedule, a shared grocery list, something to make them more of a cohesive household unit rather than a pair of teens shoved into the same house with little warning.

And Elle…looked close to tears. Fuck.

Rei let out a low breath. “Shit, Elle, don’t you think we deserve to give this another shot? I mean, you’re the one who suggested it— do you still want to be roommates?”

“What I want doesn’t matter. I’m asking—“

“Yes, it does, actually!” he finally snapped. “You matter, what you want matters, and it sucks when you act like no one should give a damn about you when I’m right here, and I’m trying my level fucking best!”

“I’m trying too!” she protested.

“Trying to do what, exactly? Disappear?”

Elle’s shocked expression was frozen in place for a singular moment before it shattered, and she crumpled inwards on herself. It was like all the fight, all the fierce determination and conviction, left her, and she was just…empty. “Is— is it okay if I cry? I swear I’m not doing it just t-to win the argument, I—“

“Fuck’s sake, Elle,” Rei muttered, the tension dropping from his shoulders. “Of course it’s okay to cry.”

She nodded, arms wrapped around herself and rocking erratically back and forth, faster and faster as she grew more agitated. “I just— I just wanna go home, I don’t wanna get used to living here anymore! I’m tired of it, I miss my friends, I miss the food, I miss having internet access, I miss— I miss how easy it was at home compared to here, I hate how much I’m relapsing here just to survive, I hate how Kamado’s more concerned with making a power play than conserving heat, I feel like I’m the only one around here who’s making any effort to improve this place but I hate it! I FUCKING HATE JUBILIFE VILLAGE!”

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay to be homesick, all right? I know you’re not staying.” Rei shot a glance at the covered window, then back to her, unsure if he should cross the room to comfort her or if she didn’t want to be touched right now. He settled for staying where he was.

“N-no it’s not! It’s not okay, that the more I try to be good t-to prove something to myself, the more I resent it. The more I try to make it better, the more I hate this place. I wanna go home. A-and I don’t— I don’t wanna l-lose you either— when we fight, I think, selfishly, that it’ll make me miss you less, but I only feel worse!”

“I know. Shit, I know. I don’t wanna lose you either. But I don’t want to watch you like this either. I don’t want you t’ fall apart for anyone else’s sake, either.”

Elle sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “Wh-what else am I supposed to do?”

“Delegate. You’ve got a lotta knowledge we don’t, and good advice. You don’t have to handle it on your own. We’re gonna continue on without you, and we’re gonna do our best. We can figure it out.” Rei gave her a soft smile from across the room. “It’s been a good run, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But I think it’s time for you to go home.”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, okay. I— Arceus hasn’t been responding lately, but I think you’re right. And I can— I can make lists and go ramble and let the scribe take care of the rest. Like forearm crutches and proper wheelchair form; I wanna teach you about those before I leave so you can have an easier time getting around camp. And— and I’m gonna take it easy tomorrow, and the next day, cartilage willing, I’ll visit Calaba and find out what she knows.” 

“Good.” Rei watched her eyes flicker and droop in the dim lamplight, wondering how many more times he’d see them. “I want you to be well, okay?”

Elle nodded tiredly, slowly, and began to slump onto her bed. “So…shit, I might as well tell you now. You know how I said the Pokémon center project was for like…visitors, improving alliances?” She didn’t wait for confirmation before she said, “Yeah, that was a fucking lie. That’s a side effect, sure, but the real purpose is for us.”

“Wait— what?” Rei asked. “Why— why is it for us? Why would anyone need it?”

“I know… I can be very manipulative at times. But it’s— the reason is— listen. The Galaxy team— it is not the same as Team Galactic. It is not the same thing as Team Plasma. I know those names probably don’t mean much to you. But to me, they mean— some of the most horrifying, traumatic— what I’m trying to say is— listen.”

“I’m listening,” he said gently. “I’m right here. I’m listening to you.”

“Yeah, and no one else will!" she cried, tugging at a particularly thick quilt that had gotten stuck in the bedframe. "Look around you, Rei. Look at this town. It’s not a settlement, it’s a colony. Look at how high the walls are. Look at the fancy imported Galarian street lamps, using up precious iron when clay and rice paper are available and iron’s scarce. Look at the architecture, the layout. This isn’t Johto, it’s not Alola or Unova, it’s Hisui. And I know— I know everyone here is homesick. I am too. Gods, I just want to go home. But you can’t act like you’re not a part of the land and expect to live. Either you change it, or it changes you, or you’re going to kill each other. You’re going to kill each other if you can’t adapt.”

“Hold on— how does this relate to the Pokémon center? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.” Rei was desperately clinging to any sense of logic, but he couldn’t connect the dots, couldn’t piece together the message she was saying to him. 

“I’m saying, I don’t think Jubilife village is prepared for a Si— a Hisuian winter. And it’s too late to stop it. People are gonna die. People are gonna freeze to death because of one man’s wounded pride. I’m the only one in town who wears Pearl Clan furs. Windows are an awful heat sink; so are doorways. Does anyone know? Does anyone cover their glass? Most of the lit windows I see at night don’t even have curtains. Winter scares me. Am I making sense? Is any of what I’m saying making sense? I want a backup plan. To lead by example. A safety net.”

“You think if you don’t prepare the village for winter, there are going to be casualties,” he realized with a dawning horror. “And you don’t think they’ll listen to you directly, so you’re taking the indirect route. You’re creating an alternative in hopes that they’ll choose to live in the hall when things get too bad. But it was never their choice, was it? Not when the other choice would be death.”

The silence between them was deafening. Suffocating. It crept into Rei’s lungs like a ghost, haunting his thoughts, chilling his blood. He curled up on his barely-used cot, feeling so much more aware of how thin the walls were without extra protection.

When Elle spoke again, she was slow and quiet as the grave, deliberate as death itself.

“Manipulation. Victim blaming. Social terraforming. As a disabled person, I am unlikely to die as a direct result of a hate crime. But I can’t work a steady job, not without lying, without damaging my body. Cashiers have to stand all day for no real reason, despite it being a sedentary job. Office workers need to confirm that they can bend over and lift fifty pounds before they’re allowed to start pushing paper, and if you lie, you risk losing your job with no warning or severance pay. Getting things delivered to my house costs a lot, but sometimes just leaving my bed is a chore. Being disabled is expensive, and it's dangerous.

“If I was abruptly withdrawn from all of my medications at once, there’s a possibility I could die. If a doctor like Pesselle stuck an unknown substance into me without checking for drug interactions and I went into anaphylactic shock, I could die. If I can’t afford to eat, eat anything, eat what my fucked up brain will allow me to, I could die. If I trip and fall down a flight of stairs that don’t have railings and I get an infection that my immune system can’t fight off, I could die. If I’m a victim of malpractice because my incurable illness makes a doctor think less of me, I could die. Ableism isn’t an isolated incident. It’s a hostile design, a construction of passive malice. I am living in a world specifically designed to kill me, and told that I should work harder, die faster.

“I know the system more intimately than I ever want to. And you know what? Maybe I thought it was time for me to do some social terraforming of my own. Maybe I want to create a world that encourages people to thrive instead of setting them up for failure from the start. Maybe I was scared no one would understand. Maybe I’m tired of being misunderstood. Maybe I’m scared to die here before I can get back home. Maybe I miss home. I don’t know. It’s all so fucked up. I wanted to make somewhere safe and warm that anyone could stay during the winter. Anyone in Hisui. I…don’t know if I’m doing it right, but I have to try.”

“I’m sorry,” Rei said quietly. She’d curled up in her bed now, an amorphous lump underneath her blankets. Her bed was farther from the hearth than his; farther from the main source of warmth, the source of her fear.

She didn’t answer. Maybe it was for the best.

Chapter Text

In the end, Elle slept through a good portion of the next day, and Rei left the lamp off with a sliver of sunlight escaping into the room through a gap in the quilt when he left in the morning. There still wasn’t much he could do about the hearth, aside from setting a rice paper screen in front of it to block the sight without casting too much of a shadow, but…he figured it would be enough.

Instead, he visited Ingo, trying out his new….vehicle? Cart? Elevated scooter? Whatever it was, the control was still shaky, and the wheels could stand to be larger, but he made it to the Galaxy Hall without incident.

Ingo and Sabi weren’t there, though, presumably having a battle outside, so he waited. And waited. He…wasn’t good at waiting.

Or learning to sit with disappointment without tearing into himself. But maybe that’s why he needed to learn.

Rei and Haru had been working for about an hour, and with Ingo for about half that time, when Elle finally stumbled in. She looked like she hadn’t showered in a while, and was draped in at least five separate blankets that he could see. Still, there was a bit more color to her face, and she wasn’t visibly as tired or pained as she’d been.

“Heyo,” Rei greeted her, lifting a hand. “You doing any better?”

“Yeah. Had a good nap, spent some time thinking about— priorities and shit. What I can and need to do, versus what I could do, but someone else could do instead. Probably need to discuss it later.” She unfolded her chair cane and set it on the ground, eyeing their progress critically. “Are you guys using the floor here to build?”

“Yes,” Rei said shamelessly. “We’re gonna sand it back down later, it’s fine.”

“No no no, that’s not the problem. This is a hardwood— shit, what tree does this come from? Can I hold a piece?”

“Oak!” Ingo supplied, passing a failed wheel towards her. “It is easily available, and we were struck with inspiration.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna cut it,” Elle said bluntly, weighing the piece in her hand. “Rei, if you’ve got any information available on types of wood and their durability versus weight, I’m gonna need it to make a good judgment. Key factors to keep in mind are shock absorption, weight, and durability. You make a chair entirely out of hardwood, you’re gonna feel every bump in the road. Make it too heavy, and you’re gonna be worn the fuck out at the end of the day. Stamina and comfort are key here for an everyday aid.”

“Of course!” Ingo said brightly. “I have been using springy mushrooms to create a padded layer on the wheels, as they seem to retain their shape after squished and are deeply pleasant to the touch besides, but alternative building materials are an excellent idea. In addition, I would like to propose the addition of a suspension mechanism.”

“Wait, suspension?” Elle asked. “I’ve heard of it, but….how does that even work?”

“Suspension is of the utmost importance in redistributing shock and unwanted inertia to retain comfort for the passengers! It is also verrrrrry important for battling safely when using earthquake, which is an excellent strategy! I….do not believe I recall all of the words to describe it, though,” he said, hands falling uncertainly. “There are pieces of my memory missing still. I am adjusting to many things. I have recently begun to feel homesick. I am unable to fulfill duties that I have only partially remembered.”

“Hey— hey, that’s okay,” Elle said hastily. “I know shit’s complicated. And if we can’t get home soon, I’m going to climb Mount Coronet and throw hands with god myself, promise. We can just…work around our limitations for now, okay?”

“Yeah,” Rei agreed. “I mean— the whole project is because I can’t walk right now, but I wanna find a better way around that. Sometimes you gotta…learn to live with your limitations, rather than against them.”

….oh. Oh, gods, he was both an idiot and a hypocrite for saying that. But…at least he was right? He just…needed to convince himself.

“If we can’t get a suspension, that’s fine. Hell, we don’t even need to make a final chair for Rei— he’s the best crafter I know,” Elle said firmly. “We just— we just need to start. We need to make progress on figuring out how to do it. And I think between the three of us, we can do that.”

“Hold up— I’m gonna take notes,” Rei said, rifling through his belongings for his field notebook. It was full of misspellings and his handwriting was sloppy, but it would get the job done. It just had to get the job done. He didn’t need to look perfect or professional or educated. “Okay— springy mushrooms for shock absorption on the wheels, research alternate types of wood to use, prioritize shock absorption and reduce weight to increase stamina and mobility— I think Professor Laventon has some materials on this? I remember there was a Galarian book that might be too dense for me to read, but I know how to check for the relevant bits. Okay, what else?”

“Yeah, actually— uh, I did a shit ton of research on different mobility aids— have you considered forearm crutches? They’re harder to get the hang of, but you’ve got better control, especially for stairs. Oh! And you can get attachments for ice— hardwood or metal spikes you can just stick on the end.  Harder to get used to than regular crutches, but better control on uneven surfaces and less strain on your wrists and armpits,” she rambled. “Uhhhhh…. The cuff should be about two inches below your elbow, and then the wrist— uh, the sticky thing that you hold onto. Wrist height. Yeah. Same as my cane, actually. There’s actually a slight bend— there’s not time to explain everything, but I can probably teach you the proper gait patterns before I leave.”

“Two inches, got it. Can you draw a diagram or something?” Rei offered her his notebook, and she took it with a frown.

“Can’t promise I’m the best artist— most of the shit I made in art therapy was just sketches I never inked and paint I threw at the canvas, but it should get the view across. Uhhhh, wheelchair, wheelchair… Proper fit!” Elle exclaimed. “Proper fit. Verrrrry important. Okay, okay uh— do you have a finished frame? I can show you what I mean.”

“Yes! I have several! However, they do not have cushions for the seats— I have been stretching fabric across the frame for that purpose!” Ingo disappeared to do just that, his stride long and arms swinging widely. He reappeared carrying a wheelchair frame, and Rei stretched his coat over it in a practiced motion and sat. Elle was all over it in an instant, inspecting from every angle.

“Wheels are good, reduced spokes make it harder to get your hands caught, footrest is going to cause long term nerve damage and should ideally be adjustable to accommodate for your cast— can’t make an accurate judgment with the seat sagging, but it should never ever do that, either get a cushion or stretch it taut if it’s gonna be foldable— okay, extend your leg? Yep, I think the seat is too short? You need a good two inches between the end and here, write that down, it needs to be all square angles, sit upright with your legs flat against the seat and feet pressed flat against the footrest.”

“Two inches is approximately five centimeters! Do not get the two confused,” Ingo added. “What about handles?”

Elle made a shaky motion with her hand. “I guess they can be useful, but personally I think you should put spikes on them. Not sharp enough to cut someone easily, or to damage something by accident with your chair, but enough to make it unpleasant for anyone who tries to push you without permission.”

Ingo nodded solemnly. “Consent is verrrry important. There are many rules to interacting with people, and many of them are unspoken, but some are unknown. One of the unknown rules is that you should not push a wheelchair without permission of the occupant. This is a misdemeanor known as assault, and is verrrry scary. When assisting wheelchair users who appear to be in distress, introduce yourself by name and profession, and ask if they require assistance.”

“Wait— that’s assault?” Rei looked between Ingo and Elle, both of them nodding solemnly. “...you’re serious. What the heck. Pesselle never asked?”

“Pesselle’s a bitch,” Elle said flatly. “But yeah. Taking or grabbing someone’s mobility aids without asking? Scary as fuck if it happens to you. I had a lady try to steal my cane when I was shopping once because she said I was just doing it for attention. I, uh, didn’t react well? But my mental breakdown was loud enough for security to get her ass, and the manager gave me a whole bunch of coupons and a couple glasses of lemonade until I was feeling calm enough to go home. Also the lady basically shoved money at me and begged me not to press charges while I was crying, which wasn’t a great experience, but I used it to upgrade my kitchen.”

“I guess you’re right,” Rei said, looking down at his lap, at his working leg and the plaster cast he’d come to associate with suffocating immobility. “I’ve been thinking about this chair as— as a cage, I guess, and one that I can’t wait to get out of when I’m healed up. It’s all just…temporary, and I’ve been telling myself that over and over. But I guess not everyone has that option.”

“Yeah. They’re all over, if you know where to look for ‘em.” Elle gave a wistful smile, crossing her legs. “There’s an accessible grocery store back home, and sometimes I like to go there just to sit and people-watch. Lower ceilings, no music, a couple modified carts, one of the employees is a really cool guy in a power chair who’s got new patches on his jacket every time I see him. No one says it, but we all know he’s the one to talk to if we need help. I like seeing people with decorated canes and crutches, or folding walkers, or hearing aids. It makes me feel…less alone.”

Ingo nodded. “Sunflower lanyards. That is the symbol for invisibly disability. Depot agents are trained to be on the lookout for those people, offer them seats, and assist as needed. Those who use mobility aids to walk can receive a special mark on their subway card that grants them elevator access. The process is run by Sam, who is physically disabled in ways that make it difficult for him to navigate the subway system without heavy assistance. I can do things that he cannot, but he can do things that I cannot. He is a trusted employee of mine who helps to ensure the comfort and safety of passengers who struggle in ways I cannot fully understand.”

“If wearing the lanyard means you get special treatment, wouldn’t everyone do that?” Rei asked. He raised his hands at the angry glare Ingo gave him before remembering the man just had a stern resting face and hastily amended, “Sorry, sorry, I’m just trying to learn more.”

“You get a couple fakers, sure, and it’s absolutely a dick move, but frankly? I don’t give a fuck, and trying to root them out has done way more harm than good,” Elle said bluntly. “I think if abled people want to try our identity out like a costume, they should experience all of the struggles that come with being visibly disabled.”

“Are you…mad at me for that?” he asked tentatively.

She stared at him, expression unreadable.“...am I mad at you. For breaking your fucking leg. And not being able to walk. Because you think that’s somehow appropriation of disabled culture….when your bone snapped like a toothpick.”

“Your tone right now really isn’t helping me figure out the answer to that question?”

“Shit, of course I’m not mad at you.” Elle gave a breathy laugh, shaking her head. “I mean— yeah, there are differences in being disabled versus injured, and then there are people who became disabled after an injury, and there are— it’s not that simple, okay? They use deep pressure therapy to treat anxiety and autism and PTSD. There are disabled people who say ableist shit, especially the newly disabled ones, and then there’s this whole problem of the mental and physical separatism where mentally ill people think their lives would be easier with visible disabilities because they don’t know shit about it, and then visibly, physically disabled people try and shut them out of our spaces, and no one talks about how the struggles of being physically disabled are ignored in a different way and we need more perspectives and then there’s the curb cut effect and the fact that mental versus physical separatism isn’t that easy and— shit’s complicated, Rei. It’s really, really complicated.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is— you’re not inherently ableist by using something that benefits disabled people too if it helps you and doesn’t hurt anyone? It’s the curb cut effect— a lot of things that benefit disabled people are just general improvements to society that make life easier for everyone. It’s still possible to be ableist about it, but you literally can’t walk right now and I’m trusting you with this information for everyone else, too. I think…this is a project that I genuinely want to do. I hate that I had to practically become a disability advocate just to properly advocate for myself. I don’t always like…a lot of myself, to be honest. My scars, my knowledge, my past, my shitty joints— there’s a lot in life that I didn’t get a choice in. But this is my choice, and I think— no. I know that this is what I want to do.”

Chapter Text

After everything was said and done, there was really only one thing left for Elle to do: complete the pokedex. It was strange, really, to think that her time in Hisui was coming to an end. She found herself thinking about home in earnest. Allowing herself to hope, for the first time since she’d brushed the sand off her knees and steeled her resolve. Hope that she would go home soon. She could almost feel it.

If only Arceus would respond, for fuck’s sake! Not even so much as a read receipt. That’s another thing she was pissed about— sometimes the messaging app wouldn’t even open, and she’d decided to transfer the majority of her notes to a parchment journal for safekeeping in case the issue got worse. Frankly it was a shock that combining a poryphone with divine power hadn’t backfired sooner. Had she backed up her data before arriving in Hisui? She…couldn’t remember. But she’d get it all back, she had to! Everything would be just fine.

It didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel real, and nothing could hurt her.

(And objectively she knows, she knows this isn’t normal or healthy, she’s dissociating hard, she wants to be afraid but she can’t handle it, can’t afford to be scared. She is the mask and the mask is her and she is happy. Of course she’s happy. If she isn’t happy then she’s going to break entirely.)

So maybe she could finally face Kamado, without any fear! Elle grinned, taking more time than usual today to make sure she had all the layers she needed. Her Galaxy Team coat— she ripped off the patch and crumpled it up in her pocket— her coat from Irida, a pair of mittens, and a scarf that always got in the way. She kind of hated it, to be honest. But she could stick it in a museum once she returned. She could go home! And go to museums again!

She didn’t even bother knocking on Kamado’s door when she reached it— fuck him, he could be startled and feel unsafe for all she cared! Serve him right for her months of paranoia.

—she didn’t expect it, though. Didn’t expect him to look emotional. Didn’t expect him to be holding a photograph— was it a family photograph? Kamado, face younger and happier, standing beside two others, a young girl and a woman whose face was burned out of the photograph.

The girl in the picture looked…happy. It was hard to imagine she could be related to the stern, overbearing commander standing in the flesh, but next to the print image of her father, the resemblance was clear in their strong brows and the shape of their noses. She couldn’t have been much older than thirteen, with a slight frame and the beginning of curves carefully smoothed beneath her kimono. Her hair was a few shades paler than her father's, impossible to discern the hue from the photograph, and hung loose around her face. 

(Elle's voice doesn’t sound like her own when she tells him she’s sorry for his loss. There’s a strange feeling in her chest when he says the name Sayuri almost like a prayer, and sets the photograph back on his desk with a gentleness she didn’t think him capable of.)

“Why are you here,” Kamado said curtly. “I was under the impression you didn’t wish to speak to me in person.”

“Oh, I don’t,” she informed him. “But…I’m planning to go home soon. And I’m telling you, right here, right now, to pull your shit together and take care of your people. I’m leaving you with every pokemon who’s decided to live with the Galaxy Team, but winter in this region is nasty. I would know, after living here for three years.”

“Three years, you say?”

“When I go back to my own time? I’m going to end up right back in this place, in this region. I’ve been here longer than you, Kamado. And if you think posturing is more important than keeping your people safe, then you don’t deserve your position. Make alliances. Live in harmony with the land rather than fighting it. Survive this winter. Survive, and make sure everyone has the chance to do the same, even if some of them need more help than others.”

“Are you quite finished insulting me, young lady?” Kamado asked, finally turning to raise one bushy eyebrow.

She grinned, distant and slightly manic. “To your face? Yeah!”

The funny thing was, Elle didn’t even remember finishing the pokedex. Wasn’t that funny? She and Professor Laventon ended up riding Maddie and Lord Wyrdeer the short distance it took to get there, and the fire felt like a crisp, pleasant breeze on her skin. She almost wanted to reach into her rapidash’s mane, plunge her hand deep down and relish in the gleeful nothingness.

Nothing. Nothing at all. She was going home! She was going—

“Elle?” Laventon was touching her shoulder. Huh. Shaking her. “Elle, are you okay? You don’t seem all right, my girl.”

“What?” She grinned. “Of course I’m okay! I’m gonna go home!”

“Yes, I’m aware, this just seems…I’m happy for you, I really am. But this is a difficult transitional phase, I imagine. I’m here to support you— I’m aware that we’re simply colleagues, but…well, I’d like you to know you can ask me if you need anything.”

“What else would I even need?”

“Elle. You were just…staring into space the entire time. I understand not wanting to socialize with the warden, or not feeling up to it, but even Lord Ursaluna was worried about you.”

Oh. That didn’t…sound right? But she couldn’t remember. Heh, whatever. “It’s fine,” she said aloud. “Everything’s fine. I’ve got one more errand to run, okay?”

She didn’t hear his response. She was swaying on her feet in front Vessa’s door— had she already knocked? A dark-haired woman with stress lining her face answered, said something, and then Vessa was rushing, half-stumbling, her mouth was moving but the words wouldn’t make sense.

Elle tugged and tugged on the shapes, trying not to drift away, trying to pull them into focus. Something about— right. Right, the reason she came. Completion. Her hands fumbled at her bag for a full minute before Vessa said something else. Took the clasp and lifted the odd keystone, the soul vessel, from her bag. It was pulsing softly with light at the girl’s touch, in and out in time with her shaky breathing.

(The sharp thing taking up residence in her chest softens, just enough for Elle to recognize the shape of her own heart. Gods, this really is just a kid— a kid who doesn’t want to be alone, and it aches. Then it goes cold again, and she can’t feel a thing. It’s a relief. She’s always felt too deeply and now she feels like she could soar!)

“I— I’m scared,” the girl said, voice trembling. She had her hand placed on the doorway— huh. Why would she do that? It was a weird place to lean.

“Don’t be scared!” Elle encouraged her brightly. “This is a good thing!”

“I know. I know, but, but what if it— can you please hold my hand?” Vessa asked. “I— please?”

(She’s scared, she’s terrified, and Elle can’t let herself feel that fear, but she can do her best to provide comfort. She knows the words by heart.)

Elle knelt, giving her a reassuring smile. “Hey. You’ve got this, kiddo. And I know everyone else missed you a lot. Of course I’ll hold your hand.”

(She’s touching someone, she’s holding the girl’s hand, but she doesn’t feel a thing. And she doesn’t know what that means. Gods, this is all so fucked. Vessa’s whispering something in a language Elle doesn’t know, and the stone glows briefly, reflected in Vessa’s eyes, then splits fully down the middle.)

It was almost anticlimactic. No crash of thunder, no blinding light, just the moment that the stone split into pieces and Vessa started sobbing uncontrollably. Elle held her hand, watching an emotion that was foreign to her as another planet.

“Thank you,” Vessa whispered, but the cadence and tone of her voice weren’t quite the same as before. “Thank you. From all of us.”

Rei didn’t notice the red sky at first, but he had the excuse of being indoors, of sketching and researching and taking notes. But Elle? Elle didn’t notice until she walked in the door, breathless and laughing, and he asked her why the sky was red.

“Huh? Oh, guess it is,” she said, shutting the door behind her. “That’s funky. Wonder why it’s like that. Heh— do you like the color of the sky? Can’t wait to see that post again.”

“Okay, but— Elle, you really don’t seem okay,” Rei pressed, wheeling over to the window to pull aside the quilt. “What does it even mean?”

“Hell if I know. How’s the saying go— red sky by morning, sailor take warning; red sky by night, sailor’s delight?” Elle commented, sticking her hands in her pockets. “Looks weird with all the snow.”

“You’re not worried about it?”

“I mean. Should I be?” Elle gave a laugh that was too bright, too cheerful. “My phone won’t even turn on now; maybe this is some kind of divine message that it’s time to go home! Maybe the sky turning red is a sign that Ingo and I finished our tasks! Yeah— yeah, that’s gotta be it. Oops, sky’s red, sorry everyone, that’s on me, I mean— gods, should I start packing? What should I take? I guess Lord Wyrdeer can help carry it— oh, do you mind getting takeout tonight?”

“I— I mean, I guess I can? Elle. Are you sure this isn’t a problem?” Rei pressed.

Elle smiled. “Rei, if this turns out to be yet another problem I have to solve? I’m just gonna fucking snap. I’m going to start biting people and there’s a decent chance I might carry diseases. One way or another, I’m going home if I have to chain the gods themselves to my will. Fuck, I miss pop tarts. Cannot wait to buy an entire box of the peach cobbler ones. Oh, and rock candy— it’s been so damn tempting to eat rocks, especially when I’m mining, I just wanna crush up some hard candy and gummy wurmple in oreo fluff…”

Rei checked the window again. No one was in sight. But that didn’t mean no one was watching, or listening.

Chapter Text

Cyllene passed out only a few hours before sunrise, after a stressful night of reports from the scouts. Dome-like distortions were popping up with increasing frequency, depositing foreign material in their aftermath. There didn’t seem to be any pattern— but there had already been accidents. Some of the distortions left harmless things behind, like squarish tiles of thin stone, and strange clothes on metal racks that could be repurposed once it was determined that there was no danger. Others deposited hazardous waste of all sorts, lava and snow and noxious fumes in places they most certainly didn’t belong. Pesselle was running herself ragged trying to treat everyone.

Hm. Cyllene stared at the ceiling of her tent. She’d been meaning to move into something more solid, but never really found the time for it. She figured she’d find time to get that worked out later. Maybe she could try and arrange for Elle to assist in the medical corps today; the girl had a talent for it, despite her preference for field work. Agh, but she couldn’t leave Elle with Pesselle— maybe split up the patients? Something like that might work. Elle wouldn’t be happy about it, but Cyllene truly hoped the two of them had built up enough of a rapport that she could ask for such a favor.

“What do you think, little one?” she asked the Abra curled up on her chest. He made a little mrrrrp and yawned, revealing tiny sharp teeth and an elegantly curved tongue. Cyllene smiled in spite of herself. He’d…grown on her, far more than she’d expected. 

“I think you’re correct. Even if she doesn’t agree, I should at least be able to make the proposal. Maybe I could send Rei to assist Pesselle, instead. He’s very good-natured, the reliable sort.”

She stumbled out of bed fully dressed, wincing as the cold hit her full force. Yes, moving into winter lodgings was definitely a priority, as was….where was she going with that thought? Ah, it didn’t matter. She’d have to check in at the Galaxy Hall.

Just another sleep-deprived Thursday, just another crisis on Captain Cyllene’s hands.

Cyllene showed up outside Kamado’s office to find the man in full armor. That in itself was unusual enough; he had a tendency to wear parts and pieces when he felt particularly unsafe, she’d noticed, but never the full suit. He was pacing a track in the rug, a loose panel on the back of his leg clanking with every step.

“Commander?” Cyllene said, rapping sharply on the doorframe as she stood on the threshold. “Any updates on the distortion situation?”

“It’s gotten worse. It’s much worse, it’s a threat, but I’m going to do something about it,” he said breathlessly, with a look in his eyes that made her nervous. “I’ve already given the orders. You’re being promoted to my second in command; you won’t need the Survey Corps anymore.”

“With respect, sir, I would like to request that Rei be released from his Survey Corps duties and reassigned. I will speak to him regarding—“

“You will do no such thing,” Kamado interrupted sharply. He moved to the back window, armor flapping noisily behind him, and flung open the sash.

“It’s done,” Beni said, slipping in without a sound. He was wearing his combat attire, Cyllene noted, and that alone would have been enough to send her on alert— but then there was the unmoving figure slung over his shoulder that sent alarm bells clanging to life. That was her subordinate, damnit.

“Commander?” Cyllene asked, one hand going to her sword. “What the hell is the meaning of this?”

Kamado raised a hand dismissively, not even doing Cyllene the courtesy of looking at her. “At ease, Captain. Beni is merely doing what I should have requested of him from the start. And Rei?”

“He won’t be making trouble any time soon,” Beni promised, setting Elle down on the floor. She looked…awful, frankly. Shivering and pale, dressed in only a thin shirt and shorts, and bound in thick, heavy iron chains that left no room for movement. Had she…lost weight since arriving in Hisui? She’d been rather stoutly built upon arrival, but she looked utterly small now. Her eyes were half-open and utterly devoid of anything but fear.

“I don’t think I made myself clear earlier, Commander,” Cyllene said coldly, wondering if this was a fight she could win. Against Kamado alone? Absolutely. But with Beni on his side, plus Elle as a hostage, she didn’t like her chances. “Exactly what the hell is going on here, and why have you seen fit to treat my subordinates as such?”

“Your subordinates are traitors, that’s what,” Kamado snapped. “Rei, at least, can earn back his place once he renounces his ways. But this intruder— we should have killed her the moment she entered the village. That’s when all the trouble began! The first night, when she fell out of the sky— that’s when the frenzies began! We allowed her among our number with the promises of her services, and she had the audacity to claim weakness. And then she started inviting outsiders from the clans within the walls of our stronghold, claiming I was running the village improperly. She’s trying to weaken us!”

“Do you have evidence? Are you going to allow her to defend herself?” Cyllene asked calmly. Her voice was calmer than she felt. “Correlation does not prove causation.”

“I don’t need evidence— I am the leader, and my word is law. Had I attempted to reason with her, no doubt I would have been struck down and lost the element of surprise entirely— this was the only way. Do you have anything to say for yourself, outsider?” he snarled at Elle. She didn’t respond, nor make any indication that she’d heard him.

“It’s unlikely she can speak right now,” Beni offered. “The drug I used may last for a few more hours.”

“You drugged her?” Cyllene asked incredulously.

“It was the only way to ensure a fair fight. Had I confronted her head-on, she would have destroyed me. But an offer of takeout from someone she trusts? I’m quite adept at lacing food, you know,” Beni said slyly. “Did you know she was quite cheerful about the entire ordeal? She hates the village; admitted to as much herself.”

“That hardly seems likely,” Cyllene snapped. “Tell me, did you make the decision to drug my subordinate before, or after Kamado told you to?”

“That doesn’t matter,” he replied with a perfect customer service smile. “I’ve known Kamado longer than you have, Cyllene. I trust him to make the right decision in the end.”

“And a good thing, too,” Kamado muttered. His expression looked conflicted as he said, “I nearly…wanted to trust her. I should have known nothing good will come from pokemon. You treat them as tools, never give them the space to turn on you, or they will. Same goes for anyone who prefers their company to that of humans.”

“This is deeply unwise, sir,” Cyllene began, and Kamado rounded on her with a snarl.

“Are you questioning my judgment, Captain?”

Cyllene paused, uncertain how, or even if it was possible, to explain to him the mistake he was making. His eyes were just as fearful and empty of reason as the girl who lay in chains on the floor.

“No, sir,” she finally said. “Only stating that you may be jeopardizing our alliances. An execution would be highly inadvisable.”

“Exile, then,” he said, turning away. “Give to her what is hers— she will not die of exposure by my hands. Take her to the borders, and let the ashes fall where they may. I don’t want to see her again.”

Chapter Text

The exile was a quiet affair.

In a room with just four people, a cover story was decided— that Rei would be kept secluded in order to keep him from revealing the truth, that Elle was implicitly responsible for the sky turning red and had abandoned them in their time of need. Anyone claiming to be her was simply a Zoroark, and to be killed on sight.

Cyllene, being the only one with a pokemon capable of teleportation, was to gather Elle’s belongings from her house and transport her to the edge of the Obsidian Fieldlands, and leave her there. It was a dangerous task, she was told, but Kamado— he had preparations to make already, to lead the security corps to the mountain. Beni gave a salute and a smirk, declared that he would ‘fix’ the Galaxy Hall and kick out the wardens who were staying there. Everyone had a task, everyone would do their job, and it was time to go into crisis mode.

And Cyllene fucking hated it. Maybe she was a soldier at heart; maybe she was cold and struggled with empathy, maybe she’d learned to tamp down her sense of justice early on in favor of pragmatism. But this wasn’t right. Some part of her wanted to stand up and say as much— but her pragmatic side told her to wait. She had power, she could bide her time and wait for a more suitable opportunity to do what was right. She was no good to anyone if she ended up exiled as well; gods knew that she’d fall apart entirely without the structure of duty and work to keep her going.

She still hated it, though.

Abra still couldn’t teleport very often, or very far, but he could manage perhaps two trips in the same day if he pushed himself. The first was to the house that Elle and Rei shared, slightly disheveled— perhaps from signs of a struggle. Maybe it was just messy from two teens, one born disabled and the other recently injured, trying to live together without support. Cyllene gathered up the necessities— blankets, warm clothing, the pair of canes placed within reach near her bed, any leftover food that wasn’t from the Wallflower, Elle’s bags that she’d already begun to pack in some misguided excitement to return to her homeland— and made the second trip.

It was the southern edge of the Mirelands, at least; a little ways off from the mountain range. As warm and hospitable a place as Cyllene could find in this region, and not terribly far from the southern ocean. They stood on a flat rock, and Abra slumped in exhaustion. The clouds threatened snow, but there was only a thin layer of frost, and half-thawed slush in between clumps of grass and piled in the shadows of trees.

Elle was still mostly unresponsive, breathing shaky and desperate but not quite sobbing. Cyllene knelt beside her and began to unravel the chains that dug into her skin, speaking softly.

“I am sorry. I am sorry you were treated this way. I am sorry I must put my people first. I do not believe you are responsible for this, nor that you harbor any malice towards us. You have taught me much, but you were at a disadvantage from the start, and it was not your responsibility.”

Her skin was darker than it had been on her arrival, but now it had acquired a greyish tint, beginning to darken with bruising in the shape of her chains. Logically, perhaps Cyllene could understand the decision to restrain her so harshly on Beni’s part, especially after Elle had displayed her skills at escape during the Cobalt Coastlands incident. It did nothing to quell the nausea in her throat, though. There was a difference between caution and cruelty; at least, she hoped there was a difference.

What a waste of iron. Iron that was either brought with them from Galar, or in smaller amounts from less technologically adept regions that did not yet have the resources to extract the iron from the ore. Maybe the Galaxy Team could find a way if they were not so averse to the help of pokemon. 

Elle made a small whimper when she was finally free, shivering violently and flinching away from Cyllene. She sighed, reaching into the bag of clothing. “I understand if you do not forgive me for my compliance in your exile. You are under no obligation to do so. But like it or not, you are my…”

No. Elle was no longer her subordinate.

Cyllene tried again, holding out a pair of wool socks. “Like it or not, I…care about your well-being, and I do not wish for you to freeze to death. I can give you no further help than my assistance here before I must return to the village, but I wish to assist in whatever way I can while there is no one to witness my acts of what would be perceived as treachery.”

Elle made no move to dress herself, only shivered and stared blankly. Cyllene set down the socks and took a step back. No reaction.

“If you do not dress yourself quickly, you will freeze to death. I understand that you do not wish to be touched without consent. However, that is vastly preferable to the consequences of frostbite. Do you understand me?” Cyllene said. There was no reaction; she may has well have been speaking to a stone.

Well. This would not be pleasant. But it had to be done. Cyllene stood there a moment, well aware that every second wasted was risky. Finally, she reached into the harness underneath her coat and untied the straps, pulling out her Abra still bundled up. She fumbled with Elle’s unusual chair-cane, and finally managed to set it down, unfolded.

Cyllene pointed to the chair. “Sit,” she ordered sternly. “I will help you dress, if you are unable or unwilling to dress yourself.”

Something about the harshness of her tone seemed to reach Elle through her stupor; she flinched, hard, and obeyed so quickly she nearly slipped. Cyllene placed her Abra on the girl’s lap, allowing his warmth and companionship to soothe her. It was hard to tell how much it helped, but she hoped it would make the next part easier.

It was… disconcerting, how quiet Elle was. She hadn’t said a word the entire time, and she didn’t protest now. She whimpered and cried and flinched and shuddered and sobbed. But she was…limp. She didn’t try to fight back, just quietly sat in her fear and pain, not even bothering to hide it or disguise it. Cyllene tried to make the process as brisk and painless as possible, dressing Elle in the warmest layers she owned, sweaters and coats and three pairs of socks. But every touch made her react like she’d been burned, and every time Cyllene would ask, ‘can you dress yourself now?’ she was met with a blank stare.

It was not pleasant. No; it was repugnant. But it needed to be done. And Cyllene was icy, but not cruel. She understood that it was necessary for survival. She did not expect understanding or forgiveness for her actions, but she hoped that Elle would survive. Would find a way out.

“I am finished. I will no longer touch you,” Cyllene announced. No response, just quiet sniffling. Why…why wasn’t Elle speaking? She hadn’t so much as nodded or shaken her head. The pokemon in her lap mewled and nuzzled her, and she reacted a full ten seconds too late, reaching out to slowly, clumsily pat his head with one mittened hand.

Good boy. He’d keep her safe. Cyllene nodded to herself, wishing there was more she could do. If leaving the village meant only leaving Kamado, then she would make that decision in a heartbeat. But someone needed to be the voice of reason, and her promotion to second in command gave her a prime opportunity to do that. Someone had to hold him back before he brought the entire village to ruin— brought her people to ruin. She would wait, she would bide her time. And she would hope beyond hope.

Elle finally let out a wordless cry of distress, folding in on herself, clutching Abra tightly. Cyllene shouldered her own bags and prepared to leave, but before she returned, she felt…she should say something. She was not good with flowery words; she was efficient. Some might even call her ruthless. But she did not wish to be unkind.

“Don’t die alone out there. Got it? That’s an order from your superior,” Cyllene said finally. “Don’t die on me, Elle. Our village has already lost too much. You have always been stronger than I gave you credit for. I know I am asking too much. I will not ask you to heal the rift in our sky, or to return, or to forgive us. Our actions were unforgivable, I know that. But don’t die. Just don’t die.”

Elle did not answer. As Cyllene began the trek back to Jubilife, she wondered if maybe the girl couldn’t, if her exile had taken more from her than just her home.

Chapter Text

Elle couldn’t bring herself to move.

She hadn’t…been able to move last night. She’d been short of breath, stiff and unable to call out— how long? How long?  

She didn’t know. She’d thought it was just her joints locking up or a heart attack, but in hindsight, it was more like the time she’d gotten hit with a thunder wave. But she remembered— remembered someone sliding through the window. Familiar eyes and a wavering shadow, and white hair that she’d seen somewhere before.

And then…for a while, she was somewhere she didn’t want to remember. Somewhere dark and cold. She’d been there before. Part of her never left. But she was so much smaller back then, she couldn’t stop to think about it, gods there was so much she’d forgotten of her childhood—

No. Nope, back on track. No more thinking about the past. Stay in the present.

Exiled. Banished without so much as closure. Probably blamed for the…what was going on, again? 

Right. The…distortion…bubble...things. There was one that started a few dozen yards from her. She wasn’t sure when it had appeared or how long it had been there. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

Kamado spoke of fear. Beni, of superiority. Cyllene, of politics. 

In her worst fits of self-loathing, Elle used to say it would be better if she disappeared. Just…vanished without a trace. She’d tried it once, only to end up bleeding and hypothermic in front of a 7-11. That was…probably the worst period of her life. She had nothing and no one, save for a pokemon she thought she’d never see again.

She had her pokemon with her this time. She was pretty sure she had her pokemon with her. Yeah; she remembered— Beni putting them into those wooden locked capsules like the ones the Miss Fortunes had used. At least she’d been inside her locked house this time rather than attacked in her tent.

She had a sneaking suspicion that, if her inference about Beni was correct, he hadn’t even needed to use the door. But that just sent her thoughts circling back to a place she didn’t want them to go.

Her pokemon. Right. Her pokemon would help her. So…why wasn’t she moving to retrieve them? She didn’t want to die here. It seemed like a horrible way to go. But…she wasn’t sure what to do next. How to carry on. At least Cyllene had left her Abra behind. Or the little guy had chosen to stick with her. It was nice. A reminder that she wasn’t entirely alone. He was cute when he was sleeping. He’d been sleeping on her lap almost the entire time.

Good boy, she tried to say, but her voice wouldn’t work. She watched him breathe, wondering if he was warm enough. The distortion’s surface rippled and fell, and she saw a figure crossing the scraggly plains, moving towards her.

Huh. If this was a threat, she hoped she could at least inconvenience them. The abra could teleport away if things got rough. She didn’t want to think about anything beyond that.

“...kay? It’s not safe to be out here alone.” It took a few seconds to register that someone was standing in front of Elle. Ugh, now she’d have to socialize, and she didn’t have the energy for that.

Gold against white blurred in front of her eyes. The pattern almost reminded her of something. Something very old and very dangerous, that walked in darkness in a world where water fell into an endless sky and trees grew sideways from vertical cliffs that dangled in midair.

“Are you hurt? Can you hear me?”

Elle blinked hard, raising her eyes. Oh. It was Volo. They looked…worried. She didn’t know how to reply, but managed to muster up the energy for a shrug.

“This isn’t good,” Volo was muttering, reaching for something. “Sol, keep her warm. Miss Elle? You shouldn’t be out here alone. I’ll escort you back to Jubilife, okay?”

That was enough to startle her into action— Elle shook her head violently, the most she’d moved in what felt like hours. It hurt. It was loud, when her neck cracked.

“...Ah,” they said, in a softer voice. There was a growlithe snuffling at Elle’s hand, and after a minute she started to pet it. “They kicked you out, huh? Hisui’s not very kind, especially if you can’t keep up with the work they demand.”

Elle wasn’t sure how to respond to that either, but her face was screwing up like she was about to start crying again. Sol. That was the name of the growlithe. Yeah, she’d been kicked out, but now she had another person with her who’d offered to help.

She settled into her body a little more, only to flinch away violently, breath hitching, when she saw a hand reaching for her.

“Hey— hey, it’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you, okay?” Volo took a step back and raised their hands. “You look like you’re in pretty rough shape, huh. Come on, I know a place where you can rest a while and warm up, and maybe…maybe even try to fix this. It might be a little out of the way, but…things like this aren’t supposed to happen, okay? Not like this.”

What a stupid thing to say, Elle found herself thinking. The world had never been fair to her. Things happened that weren’t supposed to all the time, and she fell through the cracks of a broken world and was ordered to pick up the pieces. Was she ever going to get home?

“Hey. Can you walk?” Volo asked. She made an attempt to stand up, then shook her head. “Ah. Those Galaxy folks really did a number on you, didn’t they. Well, how do you feel about tight spaces?”

…Huh? That didn’t make much sense. But when Volo removed their backpack and set it on the ground, pulling out a few bits and pieces to place in side pockets, and she understood.

“I’d offer to carry you the other way, but you don’t seem to like being touched, do you. Don’t worry, I’ll bring your luggage along as well; I’ve been carrying heavier since I was your age.”

Numbly, Elle nodded. That seemed like the best thing to do right now. Her body creaked and protested and stumbled when she finally managed to stand, short of breath, and she remembered to shake the dirt from her shoes before climbing inside and curling up. It was warmer than she’d expected, and the abra clutched to her chest made a contented purring noise.

Volo was dropping things from above— she was completely vulnerable in here, but she didn’t care. Both her canes slid inside. Her pokeballs, still stuck in their wooden prisons— Volo was asking her something, but their words slid off her mind and found no meaning. Her backpack was placed at her feet. Oh. She needed to take her meds, didn’t she. She fumbled to open it, grabbing her pill container and shoving her morning dose of meds into her mouth with only the minimum effort to swallow them dry. They stuck uncomfortably in her throat. She didn’t think she had the energy to look for her water bottle.

Then her mass of blankets slid inside, and she remembered— remembered sleeping on her cot that gradually grew softer as she used her earnings to purchase blankets, Rei at the riverside promising to patch up her quilt, proudly hanging the prettiest of her finds as curtains in her and Rei’s shared home, curling up under layers and layers, waking up warm—

And she couldn’t take it anymore. She lowered her head and sobbed, and wondered what the fuck she was going to do, and kept crying until the rhythmic motion of Volo’s footsteps lured her to sleep.

Chapter Text

It was days, maybe longer, that passed in a haze of numbness. Elle’s voice seemed to have deserted her entirely; she could only make breathy chirps in the back of her throat when she tried to speak, although purring and growling worked sometimes. She made a few halfhearted attempts at explaining the situation in writing, only to be reminded that Volo didn’t read the same language as her.

That was fine. It’s not like anyone ever bothered to listen to her anyways.

The Arc Phone remained blank. Elle rubbed arnica cream on her skin every night, and measured time by the color of her bruises. She could hardly walk a few steps without becoming short of breath and shaky, and that was with the assistance of her cane. That was fine, though. She didn’t have anywhere to go, and Volo didn’t seem to mind carrying her.

The sky was a horrible red, all the time, and the land was dotted with strange transplants for other times, other worlds. They were cropping up more frequently, now, and sometimes appeared in the sky like macabre balloons before they popped and deposited their fillings down below in a strange and deadly shower. Elle wondered if it really was her fault, or if that had been a product of her failing mental health making her take responsibility for unrelated incidents, see things that weren’t there. She found she didn’t really care.

Her pokemon…well. She’d managed to free them the second night, and she had her entire team with her, plus Cyllene’s abra. Well— not her entire team. Her lopunny, Leo, was back at home, since he’d been staying with Celia at the time that Arceus decided to yank Elle into another dimension. Just…fuck, she missed him. She hadn’t bothered telling anyone, but what if she never came back?

Leo was really soft and fluffy. She missed that. She wanted to take a picture of him napping on the bed with one paw covering his cute little nose, share it with her online friends, and smile at the response of heart emojis and declarations of fealty. 

At least she got to meet Volo’s pokemon when they stopped for breaks or meals. There was Sol, their growlithe; he was very soft and needy, and Volo said he…didn’t have a partner. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he had a twisted paw. Then there was a tiny gible named Nomura, whom Volo affectionately called Nom-nom for his habit of chewing on anything in reach. His absolute favorite activity in the entire world was trying to reach the leather straps on his trainer’s backpack. 

(Elle didn’t like leather. Didn’t like the texture, didn’t like where it came from. Didn’t like the memories it sometimes brought up. She would… grudgingly accept the use of it, since there didn’t seem to be any alternatives.)

There was a riolu as well, Saph, who seemed to be among the oldest of the bunch. Her muzzle was scratched and scarred, and there were nicks along the edges of her ears like she’d gotten in too many fights. She flinched when Elle offered her hand, and Volo explained that they hadn’t really meant to acquire a riolu, honest, but this one was being bullied by her pack and they couldn’t resist. Saph wouldn’t let Volo pet her, either, but she’d walk beside them and occasionally rubbed her head affectionately against their leg. And then there was Eva, Volo’s togetic— well, togekiss, now— but they always made excuses not to let her meet Elle. 

That was fine. The togepi family needed to be around happiness, after all, and Elle didn’t feel very happy right now. She felt slow and numb, mostly.

There was an odd keystone that Volo had somehow picked up but not awakened. Elle couldn’t tell if it was home to slumbering souls, or just empty like Vessa’s keystone had been. How did plurality work in the case of souls, she wondered? Maybe souls were like clouds, and they shifted and changed and filled up the sky. You couldn’t rigidly define something as fluid and amorphous as a person. Try to do so, and you’d always leave someone out. 

Where was she going with that metaphor? She wasn’t certain. She hoped Vessa was doing okay. She hoped Rei hadn’t been hurt in the struggle. She hoped…she hoped the kerosene lamp had been turned off. She’d always intended to leave this region, maybe, but she wanted to leave behind good things for Rei. Her warmest blankets, a handful of smooth rocks, a home built to last, lamps of glass and metal and clay and rice paper and anything at all, anything at all so long as it lit up his winters. Notebooks and leather bound journals and pencils and a new pocketknife since his old one was getting chipped. She wanted her friend to thrive.

Now she didn’t know if Rei was all right. She couldn’t go back. All she could do…was move forward with Volo, hoping she was doing the right thing.

They were…surprisingly cordial about the entire thing, to be honest. Never asked for an explanation, just accepted that people got kicked out all the time once they’d lost their value in the eyes of the ones who held the power.

“No one really wants damaged goods,” they joked once, brushing their hair aside. Their left eye was…well, there didn’t seem to be much left of it. The remaining tissue was scarred and raised, pale, in stripes like claws. The skin was sunken in the shape of their socket, not quite hollow but certainly not full either. It seemed an old wound, with no sign of infection, and Elle studied it carefully until Volo turned away, letting their hair fall again with a scoff.

“Forget it. I should have know better than to think you’d understand,” they said quietly.

Elle was…uncomfortable with the exchange, to say the least. But she couldn’t say why, or really articulate it, so she just shut up and played with Sol the growlithe.

In time, she realized…she didn’t feel entirely safe around Volo. It wasn’t something she could explain, or felt actively threatened by. And it wasn’t physical, either; she didn’t feel that any harm would befall her while they were traveling. But…some of the things they said weren’t right. Her upper back was always cold, pressed against something when she was curled up inside their backpack, but there was never anything when she got out of the bag and checked. And sometimes Volo acted…angry, and she was never sure who was at fault.

But she had her pokemon, so things were okay.

They all tried to fuss over her; of course they tried to fuss. But she needed space, and so did they, so she let her pokemon out at night and allowed them to roam freely and partake in meals with her. 

Her Pokémon needed space and she needed space. Cari was still a kiddo and Riza was a teen and Maddie needed more exercise and attention than Elle was capable of providing right now, and Lola would get burned out on their relationship and her own compassion if she didn’t have quiet time to decompress. Sakurako hated winter just as much as Elle, albeit for different reasons, and Nacht…well, Nacht was always a little mysterious. But they offered quiet companionship, and that was all she needed for now.

She wasn’t sure where Volo was taking her. But she was okay with just being a passenger.

Elle was trying to pull herself together. Not to heal, not really, not yet. Just to survive another day. Just to survive another day. Holding out for hope to return.

She didn’t even know why she’d opened her notebook. Or maybe she did, and that scared her. No one else in this entire world could read it, except maybe Ingo, and she didn’t want to think about that.

The empty page seemed to taunt her. Come on, Elle, she told herself, it’s just like when you did art therapy. Haven always said half the point of treatment was teaching me how to handle my mental health without them, right? I have the tools. Something is better than nothing. Something is better than nothing!

The sound of her pencil against the paper was like the creaking of rusty gears churning to life. Her hand wouldn’t stop shaking— she used both hands, large, blocky letters, and the words came to her one at a time. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t even that legible. But it was hers.

I don’t feel like a person but an

Open wound, gasping for air

Nerves raw

Flesh bare

Tendons straining

Not complaining 

I think I have been flayed 

(Alive?)

And now beneath my bandages I am

In the shape of a person,

Roughly,

Vaguely.

Chapter Text

His passenger had derailed, allegedly, and left him behind.

Ingo was a poor judge of social cues, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew something was verrrry wrong in Jubilife village. The sky turned red, strange rifts began to appear, and suddenly he was told that he wasn’t welcome anymore, that Elle had gone back home, that Rei was unavailable to speak to, and that the sooner he left, the better. They were tearing apart empty homes to build higher walls, using the wood-and-paper partitions and clan banners as kindling for the flames.

Ingo knew this wasn’t right. But what could he do? What was it even possible to do? He didn’t know. He couldn’t read the room, and usually he was okay with that. But today? Today it frustrated him, and his strong sense of justice seethed beneath his skin with no real outlet.

The only thing he could do, really, was escort Sabi back home. She’d reluctantly agreed to his offer, although her tone did not match her body language and he was unsure which was accurate.

Ingo was never good with children, even when he was a child himself. He always preferred talking to adults, who seemed to know all sorts of interesting things. He liked spending his afternoons in the library with Emmet, and learning everything there was to know about battling, and spending his allowance on as much lemonade as he could carry so that he could talk to the construction workers on their breaks. They were tired from their work, but gruff and honest and knew amazing things about how the world worked.

His parents did the best they could with two autistic children— they sat the twins down and calmly explained that in this life, not everything was fair. And the two of them were different; not bad, but different. Some people might judge them or make fun of them for it, and those people weren’t worth the time of day. So they were to see a therapist once a week who would teach them unconventional life skills and unspoken rules in a calm, rational voice, things like manners and coping with meltdowns and better communication. Really, it was more like life skills than therapy; it was teaching them by hand all the things that their neurotypical peers seemed to know by instinct.

It wasn’t perfect. But it was better than nothing. It taught them to be kind and polite, and to stim in ways that were healthy and helped them manage their emotions.

In the end, the twins went on their journeys later than anyone else they knew. They bounced around schools a lot and rarely made close friends until later in life, and when it was finally time for them to set off from home with Emmet’s weighted vest and Ingo’s fidget rings, they’d shot up like weeds and stood out even more from their peers.

Ingo could never manage his own laundry. He got upset watching his clothes get wet and tossed around, and he didn’t like the textures. But he knew more about winning than any of the other kids. Emmet didn’t like to go easy on kids who were younger than him, and got upset when they cried after losing. He didn’t want to battle unless he got to go all out, and he wanted battling to be fun. But he knew the best places to train and the best moves to teach your pokemon.

And then he and Emmet met Elesa, who was strange and liked machines better than people and always wore hoodies and headphones. She was nine years old, and at first she said shitty things about boys being stupid and other girls being stupid. But she liked it when Emmet didn’t hold back, and she liked that Ingo said what he meant and repeated himself when she asked, and in time, she started wearing more skirts and admiring other girls for being pretty and smart, and apologized when she said something sexist.

Ingo did not much like or understand children. But he knew that if you respected them and showed them kindness, they would learn. Children learned by example, and Sabi was no different. She allowed him to carry her on his back, much like the sneaslets would occasionally climb onto Ingo, except Sabi was a much better behaved passenger and less likely to bite.

Ingo…wasn’t certain what to do. Elle was the one with a direct line to Arceus; she was the one with all of her memories intact and a clear goal ahead. What did it mean, to teach the people of Hisui how to battle when Ingo was operating on muscle memory and intuition half the time? When would his task be complete? Would it ever be enough?

Something was going on. Something was being hidden. And Ingo didn’t know what it would take to uncover the truth.

“They’re definitely lying,” Sabi informed him. “All of them are lying. I can’t see where Elle is. But they’re angry with her. I…don’t know about Rei. He’s not doing well, I can say that much, but it might just be his leg.”

“So there is a possibility that she may be in danger,” Ingo stated, voice calmer than he felt. “But rushing in without a plan may jeopardize relations, or her well-being, even further. It is difficult to determine a course of action. What would you suggest?”

Sabi threw up her hands in frustration, voice cracking. “How am I supposed to know? I’m ten and a half, and yeah I know things I shouldn’t but I never asked for this! I never asked for any of this. I can’t make friends with the kids my age, and I can’t talk to new people without warning them, and I can’t go places without Lord Braviary. I’m creepy and weird and no one likes me!”

“Sabi,” Ingo said, coming to an abrupt halt and facing her. “You are not a burden. You are a child. Children deserve to be loved and cherished and raised properly. It is not your responsibility to be liked in order to deserve such things.”

Sabi made an angry noise, folding her arms. “I’m not gonna be a kid forever, though. What happens when I grow up and people stop tolerating me?”

“You will learn,” Ingo told her gently. “And you will learn to cope with the turbulence and sudden stops of life. Right now you are small and inexperienced, and every small bump in the track feels overwhelming. Your emotions are great, and they are valid, and in time you will learn what they mean and how to handle them. It is the responsibility of adults to teach you such things. But it is not a sin to be a child, Sabi.”

“Okay.” She walked a little closer to him then, grasping the tattered edges of his coat. “I’ll let you know if I see anything else about them. This is all really scary and I don’t know what to do.”

“We will find a way,” he said. Then stiffened. Something in the air had changed, and while he didn’t know what it meant, he trusted his instincts. “Do you sense that?”

“Are you gonna tell me what it is, or not?” the child complained. Ingo scanned the plains, trying to determine what was wrong, and then he saw the faint shimmer in the air and every fiber of his being screamed danger, DANGER!

“My apologies,” Ingo said breathlessly, scooping up Sabi and running in the opposite direction. He didn’t know what that shimmer meant— a concealed enemy, a hidden disaster waiting to strike? Sabi yelled muffled protests into his tunic, but something was pulsing in his ears, like ripples passing through his bones. His stomach dropped, and there was a singular hazy moment when he was looking at the remnants of a ruined world, crystals clawing their way through the corpses of a thousand praying skeletons and water falling into the sky—

And then the sensation was gone, as if he'd breached the surface of the ocean, and he stumbled to a halt. Sabi shoved him away, and had hardly begun swearing at him when she…stopped.

“Sinnoh Almighty,” she whispered, the color draining from her face. Behind them was a mass of swirling blue, stretching and curving as it continued in every direction, a perfect sphere the size of a large settlement. If Ingo had been any slower, he might have been caught inside as it expanded— what even was it?

Above, the sky swirled and dripped ominously, red as the blood of old gods.

“Sabi?” Ingo asked gently. “Are you all right?”

“They’re dead,” she whispered. “They’re all dead. Those were the last of the Celestican, but not from here. They’re dead and their god…it killed them all and ruined their world. There’s a whole ‘nother world, and I felt it, and I felt it die. Ingo, what if we’re next?”

“That will not happen,” Ingo promised, looking to the mountain. Lady Sneasler was distressed; he could feel it even from here. Above them, Lord Braviary gave another cry, this one almost lonesome. “We will find a way.”

Chapter Text

Elle slept. A lot.

There wasn’t much else she could do, really. She was tired all the time. Tired of healing. Tired of surviving. Tired of processing trauma. So she closed her eyes and she slept, and she dreamed, but she couldn’t make sense of it. She woke up crying and didn’t know why.

The changing scenery was just a series of snapshots, passing her by. She slept or hovered in the space between, in the darkness and the warmth, and wondered if this was what it felt like for the unborn, the unhatched, the gods in their realms. The sun no longer meant anything to her. She stopped for meals and stopped for nights and she slept, slept, slept.

She wondered, idly, where they were going. But she couldn’t exactly ask, and didn’t really care enough to make an attempt at communication. Volo talked less and less as time went by, or maybe she just stopped knowing the difference between their voice and the rest of the noise.

She couldn’t process voices most of the time. Couldn’t process a lot of things. It would probably bother her more if she did. She was just…tired, all the time, and her thoughts never went anywhere at all.

It was getting a little better, at least. Volo’s company kept the intrusive thoughts and nightmares from getting too bad— something about Cyllene’s involvement in her banishment had given her a new set of recurring nightmares, a garbled remix of the incidents of last spring. She was falling through darkness, crying out, and finally her fall was broken by a web of crystal chain that pulled tight around her skin, the same color as the blood drawn by the sharp edges. Elle threw back her head and roared, an awful sound, and the sky flashed red—

And that was always when she woke up. Elle made a noise of discontent, poking her head out of Volo’s backpack and wriggling around to see better. It looked like the inside of a cave of some sort, although they’d still been out in the open last she checked.

“Have a good nap?” Volo asked lightly. “You know, out of the corner of my eye I’ve almost mistaken you for a pokemon more than once. Must be that unique hairpiece you’ve got, hm.”

Elle made a small noise of assent and ducked back inside, took a sip from her water bottle, and poked her head out again. She hesitated, then tapped Volo on the shoulder, making another attempt at speech— her voice was still out, and all that emerged was a breathy chirp, but it was worth a shot.

“Still no luck, huh?” they said wryly. “That’s all right. Hold on a little longer; we’re heading through Mt. Coronet, and there should be a better ventilated cave up ahead. We can stop for lunch and a break there. Are you even listening? Eh, it doesn’t matter. Anyways, it’s not much further to the place we’re headed.”

…ah. That...stirred something, some kind of memory, and Elle really wasn’t sure how to react to that. She drifted for a little while, only to blink in surprise when Volo finally set their backpack down. She clambered out and stretched, her body popping and cracking so loudly that the noise echoed in the little cave and even Volo raised an eyebrow. They didn’t comment, though, just released Sol and Saph and began to build a small fire.

Elle took a short walk around the cave, trying to get her legs back into shape— she leaned heavily on her cane, and was limping near the end, but it was better than her last attempt. By the time she’d finished and decided to join Volo, there was a small blaze going, thankfully covered by a cast iron pan on three spindly metal legs, and they were unwrapping a loaf of bread.

“Getting better?” Volo asked. She nodded. “That’s good. The Galaxy Team…really did a number on you, huh.”

Elle looked away, rubbing at her bruises. It was… well, it was objectively true, even if it was uncomfortable to think about. She was more present and focused than she had been in days, and she didn’t like that. She was going to just sink back into the fog if she didn’t find a suitable distraction.

Hm. Maybe she could get Volo to infodump? She reached back for her bag to look for something interesting— shiny rocks, a cool piece of wood she’d picked up, a baby geodude— ah, shit, that wasn’t supposed to be there. She gently poked the little guy awake and set him on the cave floor. Now to look for something interesting…oh! She still had the plates! She sort of kept getting them as gifts from the nobles— she had, hm, ten of them at this point. They were buried in the bottom of her bag, but she grabbed half the stack with hands that only shook slightly, and pushed them into Volo’s lap. Then the other— Volo was giving her a wide-eyed expression that was hard to read. She sat back on the floor of the cave with her legs folded up like a gargoyle with chronic pain and rocked back and forth, watching them expectantly.

Her hip was sliding out of its socket. She frowned, shifted positions, and growled as her knee decided to act up. She was tired of having bones, actually. She grabbed her blankets from the backpack, plopped them down with a decisive flomp, and laid on her back with her head tilted so she was watching them upside down.

Volo was staring at her as if she’d grown a second head. “Uh…are you good?”

Elle gave a thumbs up. Yes, Mx. Volo, my body is just an utter piece of shit and I’m queer besides. I have never sat properly in a chair in my entire life and have no intention of starting now, thanks.

Saph gave a barking laugh at her trainer, stealing a sweater from the luggage pile and curling up near Volo. Sol tried licking her ear, only to get whacked on the snout. He trotted over to Elle instead and promptly curled up for a nap in the curve of her hip.

(She’d lost weight lately. And she hated how much it made her want to relapse into her eating disorder. She reached for a hunk of herb-infused bread and let it rest on her collarbone, hoping to jump start her appetite. She used to use fruit juice to do that; it was sweet and easy to consume and it let her work her way up to actually eating.)

“I don’t understand what you’re asking of me,” Volo said slowly. “This would be…a lot easier if you could talk, huh. Then again, I guess if you could, you wouldn’t need me, so you’d just tell me to fuck off again. Oh hey, looks like I have enough supplies for soup!”

Elle growled low in her throat; damnit, they were being evasive again. She knew this tactic— she’d used it herself, only to have Rei call her out on it. No, she had no intention of telling them to fuck off again unless they were being pushy when she was in pain, and she hoped to communicate a little better the next time it happened. This would be so much easier if her voice would just fucking work!

“Sorry,” Volo muttered. “I know you’re probably just traveling with me because you don’t have much choice. Listen, I’ll…be out of your hair soon enough, okay? Sinnoh knows I’ve caused enough trouble as it is.”

Elle shook her head. Held up her cane. I am disabled. My body disappoints me far more than I will ever disappoint you or be disappointed in you. I’m not angry with you. Everyone makes mistakes, and you have been kind to me.

Volo stared at her again, at her cane, and sighed. “Right. Well, I’m really not sure what you’re getting at, sorry. Guess I’ll just try to stick to yes or no questions, then. Are you… showing me these?”

It was hard to nod in this position, so Elle just raised a hand and curled it into a fist, bobbing it up and down twice in the Sinnohan sign language for yes. She hadn’t really practiced sign in a while— she’d tried to pick it up about a year ago, and while ADHD and joint pain made it hard most of the time, and her understanding fluency was better than her speaking, it was still better than nothing. Even if it seemed the dialect hadn’t been invented here.

“Uh…is that a yes?”

Elle made the sign again, this time forcing a bright expression onto her face. Yes, this is a positive, an affirmative. Volo seemed to get the message, nodding thoughtfully.

“Okay, so you’ve got like a…hand language? Okay, I can work with that. Can you show me the sign for no?” they asked.

Oh. Oh, that was unexpected and might open up a few lines of communication. She pressed her first three fingers together, index and middle to thumb. Volo nodded again, expression uncertain.

“Okay. Yes is like nodding, no is like shutting up. Or are you…asking me to shut up?” Volo gave an uncertain laugh. “I can if you want. I know I tend to ramble, and that’s gotta be annoying.”

Elle narrowed her eyes. How the hell was she supposed to answer that? Why did Volo have to control the conversation so that all the answers ended badly for them? She made a frustrated noise and poked the plates closer to them with her cane.

Volo shrugged, picking up one of them— the glacier plate, it looked like. “I mean, you kind of did give off the impression that you were pissed off the last time we traveled through Mt. Coronet— I know it’s not very useful, okay? I know I should be interested in small talk and marketing and training up my team so that I can reduce losses. Heh, seems like you might be better at it than me— you fall out of the sky and manage to make friends with just about everyone you meet, human or Pokémon.”

Elle shoved a sleeve up and pointed to her bruises, staring flatly at Volo.

They winced. “Okay, point taken. The Galaxy Team doesn’t like you much anymore, huh. They don’t much like outsiders— even if those outsiders were here first. So, the plates…what do you want me to do with them? I’m….guessing you don’t want to hear about my research?

No, Elle signed, narrowing her eyes.

“You…do?”

Yes.

“Oh. Uh, I suppose if you’re certain…” Volo brushed off the plate, running a finger along the inscriptions. “Where to start…well, some of the earliest depictions— we only have second- and third-hand accounts— describe Sinnoh as a four-limbed being with eighteen plates hovering around it in a ring. Well, plates may not be the best word— it’s a difficult translation, and could be used to mean slabs of stone, bread, or plots of land. The language is awfully flowery, as well; it invokes a certain awe, but it’s not very good at conveying the specifics. It’s like trying to identify a pokemon from a sonnet; not very easy, but that’s what makes it fun!”

Elle blinked slowly, indicating for them to continue, and finally tore off a small piece of bread to eat. Some part of her rebelled at the mere concept of carbohydrates and oil, churning her stomach at the thought. She took another bite, chewing slowly. Something was better than nothing, after all. Anything was better than nothing. Even if she was no longer in remission.

“The translation,” Volo continued, “is something like— the graceful/majestic— um, quadruped but with divine connotations, it seems to be a combination of the words for table and altar with a pun on beast — descends from another realm or the sky, or arguably from a higher plane— surrounded or encircled by slabs of power, and there are a few verses describing the powers as the eighteen fundamental types. I’ve always wanted to find one of the original sites and read the inscriptions myself, but…heh. That wouldn’t even come close to meeting the real thing. Wouldn’t that be incredible?”

Elle huffed. She’d already met that bitch, thanks, and hated it. But she gave Volo a small smile to show that she was listening, that she wasn’t going to put them down for having a dream.

“I guess…if I could understand the past, maybe I’d have a better idea of my future.” Volo traced the inscription once more, expression inscrutable, before carefully handing the plates back to Elle. “Here; you should hold onto these. You’re…well, you’ve got big things ahead of you, after all. If anyone can solve the red sky, it’s you. I’m just a merchant, but you’re someone special. Someone important.”

Elle narrowed her eyes at that. A compliment that was backhanded or insulting to someone else, even the one giving it, wasn’t much of a compliment at all. She pulled herself to a sitting position with the loud snapping and creaking of her joints, like her body was already old beyond its years, and began to look for something.

“What’s up? Do you have an idea?” Volo asked excitedly.

No, she signed, and pressed a smooth rock into their hand. It was a liepard’s eye, the smallest one she’d found of that quality. The iridescent stripes glowed a deep green in the faint light of the cave, of the fire. She wrapped Volo’s fingers shut around it, indicating that it was a gift, and sat back, wishing she could make them understand. Even if she could speak right now, would her words reach them? 

What she wanted to say was, you’re important too. I’m giving you one of my rocks because I’m awkward at affection and don’t want to be touched very much right now and I don’t know how else to say that you matter and you have been kind to me .

Volo’s mouth was slightly parted with shock as they stared at what they’d been given. Then, carefully, they tucked it into a hidden pocket of their clothing.

“I’m…not certain what this means, but thank you. I’ll hold onto it.”

Chapter Text

At some point Elle drifted off to sleep, but this time, when she dreamed, it was a garbled rendition of a Thursday that her therapist knew all too well. It started out in darkness, and then the darkness took shape, took form, was consumed by a will far more powerful than her own. It was swallowing her, creeping up her legs like ivy, and she stared up into the eyes the Void Dragon of Sinnoh. And Giratina stared back, and lunged—

She was breathing heavily, dripping blood from between teeth that were too sharp, atop the Spear Pillar. Dialga was screaming, the red chain sinking into its flesh, spikes emerging in places they shouldn’t, and Cyrus turned to her with their eyes dripping blood—

Now, they said, everything will end. And everything will begin. But it’s too late for that, isn’t it? You’ve ended this world before it’s even begun. Now live in your pathetic epilogue, and it will kill you slowly.

Elle woke up choking on a scream that clawed her throat bloody. It was like a creature with teeth, inside of her, snarling for escape, lashing out at the walls of her trachea, rising in her throat like bile. Someone was warm beside her, and she reached out blindly, her hands finding soft fur. 

A pokemon. A sleepy little pokemon. Her breathing started to slow, and she blinked open her eyes to see Sol curled up beside her. She wanted to tell him it was okay, it was only a bad dream, but the words wouldn’t come. And eventually, the scream in her throat gave up on escape and sulked back into the cage of her ribs. And the little growlithe with the twisted paw gave a cute little yip, and she was a bit more okay than she had been.

Sol licked her nose. She laughed and stuck out her tongue, only intending to lick his head back as a joke, but he got too excited and she ended up with a mouthful of fluff, spitting and picking his fur out of her mouth between giggles while he darted around her, jumping and spinning and barking playfully.

Well. That was definitely one way to cheer her up. She stretched her arms and neck, rolling onto her stomach in preparation to sit up. Most people didn’t understand what an ordeal it was just to sit up when your entire body hated you; the muscles required, the joints used. She was stiff today, but her pain was…probably at about a four, if she had to put a number to it. She’d expected at least a six, to be honest.

She rubbed Sol’s belly for a little while, listening to pokemon scuffling in the distance. Probably some strong wilds; maybe an Alpha, even. The fight ended pretty quickly—

And that’s when she realized Volo wasn’t there. Wasn’t…anywhere near. Sol didn’t seem particularly bothered, and Elle was quickly sinking into the fog so she didn’t have to be worried either, but this…didn’t seem right. Didn’t seem right. Didn’t— where was Volo again? Had they told her where they were going? She scooped the growlithe into her lap and patted down the rest of the makeshift blanket nest, trying to find Cyllene’s abra— there he was.

Oh. Footsteps! That was a good sign. Elle let out a sigh, eyes half closed, and then…hm. Footsteps didn’t sound like that, did they? Not unless they had a lot of feet.

There were voices, too. Several of them, and they overlapped and echoed, and— she needed help. Elle fumbled with her pokeballs until she managed to release one— Nacht. Okay. Nacht could help. She was good at explaining things, and she could speak the same language as humans. That being said, she couldn’t read any modern language, so any possibility of her translating for Elle was basically moot.

Elle pointed silently at the direction of the sound, then placed a finger on her lips. Sol whined, pawing at her leg, and she stroked his head, trying to keep herself from drifting away entirely. At least two sets of footsteps. Fabric sliding across stone. Wait, what was she listening for again? Elle stared, unmoving, eyes sliding out of focus. Figures approached, two of them dragging a third. The tang of iron dripping red. Snarling and bared teeth. Fourth person with sharp motions. Sol didn’t like that. A pink haze forming. Haze… 

“ELLE, RUN!”

Elle shrieked and flinched back, lost time hitting her like a flood. She, she didn’t— what was happening, everything was moving and she couldn’t— she couldn’t process it— fuck, fuck, fuck! She clamped her hands over her ears, curling up as her heart pounded. Something sailed over her head and splattered on the wall behind her. Abra was shivering in the folds of her coat.

Then Walpurgisnacht snarled , and everything went still. There was a series of thuds, like flesh slamming into stone, and then…it was quiet.

Quiet. Quiet meant good. Quiet meant the danger was over. And she trusted her pokemon to protect her. She didn’t entirely trust Volo. But she trusted her pokemon, and that was enough. In for four, out for four. In, two, three, four, out, two, three, four. Poisonous gunk splattered on the wall behind her. None on her skin or clothes. Sol curled up and whimpering on her lap. Nacht still spinning rapidly, her disk bristled and spiked.

The Miss Fortunes, in various states of injury, slumped against walls and sprawled on the floor. Volo, panting heavily on their knees with blood trickling from a split lip. Their working eye beginning to darken with bruising.

Huh. That was no good. Elle let out a breathy sigh and began to root around for Lola’s pokeball, and some arnica cream while she was at it. She’d have to restock soon at this rate, or find a local alternative. Arnica was a species of flowers, or maybe it was a genus, and it was one of Unova’s best exports in her opinion. Volo’s eye might start to swell shut if it wasn’t treated soon, and that would cause complications. Elle didn’t know where they were going, after all.

“Shall I dispose of these three?” Nacht asked with a hint of a growl in her voice. 

Elle paused. Considered. Then grinned mischievously. Actually, she had an idea, but didn’t know exactly how to convey it. She limped towards the unconscious sister nearest— Clover? and began rooting through her pockets.

“Sinnoh Almighty, Elle, are you mugging the bandits that were about to kill you?” Volo asked. Elle glanced up in alarm, but they were laughing. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be, but— I’ll help.”

“Will you, though?” Nacht dragged her keystone forward to approach them. “My trainer summoned me in a time of need and fear, and you followed soon after, bringing danger. Did you lead those three to us?”

“No! No, I swear, I—” Volo winced, clutching at their arm. “Maybe. I’m sorry. I was keeping watch and spending some time with Saph, and she suddenly ran off like she’d sensed something. I thought she was just going to get into another fight with one of the wild pokemon, and I wanted to support her in case she couldn’t take it. That’s it, I swear. I’ve gotten roughed up by those three before; they…they probably know my hiding spots by now. I wouldn’t tell them where I left my bag, and they…didn’t like that. I’m sorry. I swear, I didn’t mean to leave you without protection.”

Elle opened her mouth. Shut it. Continued frisking Clover, taking things she didn’t even need, taking just about everything except the woman’s coat and a bit of food. Clover must have been scavenging the dimensional rifts; she had a pair of bolas, an unopened package of twizzlers, a very modern looking wrench that must have been Unovan, and a book in a language Elle didn’t recognize. 

Hm. It would be kind of a dick move to make Volo carry all of this. She started sorting things out into piles, things to keep and things to see if Volo wanted. She was absolutely keeping the twizzlers, though. And Volo was finding some good things, too, and faster than her. Oh, gods, there was matcha flavored pocky. She knew what she was doing tonight.

“Elle?” Volo asked hesitantly. “Are you…mad at me?”

She looked up. Considered. Then shook her head. She…wasn’t sure if she had the capacity to be mad right now. She might be, later, but she didn’t think she was angry. 

“Right,” they said in a small, tight voice. “Well, um— I know I’m not the best traveling companion. Or the best person. You’ll…probably hate me eventually. But I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, okay? Whatever else happens, I never wanted to hurt anyone.”

Elle sighed and beckoned them closer, holding up the arnica cream and looking for the small bottle of vodka she used as disinfectant. Her water bottle would help, too. Walpurgisnacht dutifully began to levitate the sisters and drag them outside.

Nacht could take care of this. It was okay. She was strong and she knew psychic and hypnosis, and both Elle and Volo were too battered for the task. Volo pulled themself heavily to her side, and she began to clean off their cuts in silence. She…really didn’t like not being able to give them warnings. Things like hold this to your lip and apply pressure and this is going to sting and you have to keep your eye closed. She did the best she could in a strange imitation of charades, because it was all that she could do.

“Sorry I couldn’t keep you safe,” Volo said finally, gripping their arm. Sol climbed into their lap and gave them a comforting lick, but they just recalled him to his pokeball with a wince. “Sorry I can’t really…keep anyone safe. I just keep fucking things up every time I try to help. I just…want a world where I don’t have to suffer. That’s all.”

“It is finished,” Walpurgisnacht announced grandly, pulling herself back to Elle. “I should like to retire to my ball. You should ask one of the others for comfort, if you wish. I know my vessel is not the most comfortable to cuddle.”

Elle nodded, pressing her pokemon into their ball. She was too tired to deal with anyone else, though, so she just pulled her coat tighter around her.

“You’ve suffered a lot too, haven’t you,” Volo said quietly, something like guilt in their voice.

“Yeah,” Elle whispered. It was…the first word she’d spoken in a long time, and she saw her own surprise reflected in Volo’s eye. She tried again, but her voice had disappeared, ephemeral as the wind. Instead, she just sighed and rolled down her sock, pointing to the scar on her ankle, and then the other one. Then the blotchy scarring on her forearms. She didn’t feel like sharing the one on her back, or her shoulder. It was cold besides, even if the inside of the mountain was slightly more temperate.

“Shit,” Volo whispered. “I…had no idea. Are these…recent? Since you arrived in Hisui, I mean?”

Elle shook her head. No, these were old wounds. The burns on her ankles from an ember trap in the underground, and the marks her forearms from a sludge wave that might have killed her had Cari not evolved back then. She’d always scarred easily, anyways. Easier than anyone she knew.

“That’s good. I mean— not good that you got those back home, but that you haven’t gotten more scars from here. Hisui…it’s a dangerous place. No room for those who can’t keep up, and all. I’d leave if I could, really.” Volo brushed aside their hair. “This was…from a shinx, believe it or not. Kind of a stupid way to lose an eye, but I guess I was just a dumb kid. Ginter was pissed as hell, especially early on, but he got a lot better about it once I grew my hair out long enough to cover it. I mean, I guess I was looking for an excuse to grow my hair out anyways… Gods, how did I not realize I was nonbinary? I mean, I know the answer, actually. I wasn’t really dysphoric in ways I could easily recognize as dysphoria, but in hindsight there were so many signs.”

Elle gave a quiet little laugh and a sympathetic smile. These things always seemed obvious in hindsight, didn’t they? Volo was an adult, in their early twenties if she were to hazard a guess, and had only figured out their gender a few months ago. Working retail seemed to suck, no matter where you were, and she wondered what exactly was holding Volo back from leaving.

“Do you think there’s a solution to this?” Volo asked finally. “To any of it. Even before the sky tore itself open, it was… horribly, horribly broken. Maybe even beyond repair. Does this world even deserve to be saved?”

How could she express it? How could she say that she thought the world was beautiful? That Hisui wasn’t all bad. That she loved the feeling of watching people discover the joy of pokemon. That she found the clans and their religion to be fascinating, and maybe religion wasn’t so bad if it let people coexist. That she remembered what it was like to be scared and alone in the world, that she knew what it was like to lose everything to grand, sweeping changes.

How could she say that the world was worth living in because of the people she loved? That she’d watched someone just like Volo— a tired, desperate enby at the age of 27 with decades of weariness in their eyes— take a path to annihilation and begin the slow process of recovery after being prepared to die with their world? Someone who’d thought themself a hopeless case, who learned to live, to want to live, after a lifetime hurtling towards death?

“Yeah, it does,” she rasped, voice breathy and distorted from disuse. No more words would come, though, so she slowly wrapped her arms around Volo and let herself breathe. If Volo was sobbing into her too-long hair, she did not question it.

Chapter Text

Contrary to appearances, Rei respected his commander.

Yes, the man had his fair share of flaws. He was loud and brash and his first priority was protecting the village from outside threats, not learning to live here. He was stubborn, and that led to him getting into more fights than he should have. Back when the Galaxy Team had first arrived, it was…a mess. Everyone had different ideas on how the village should be run, and nothing got done until Kamado stepped in and starting giving orders. His stubbornness became tenacity, his refusal to compromise became a rock in the storm, and he was an inspiration to everyone who needed it. He united them under a singular front, a singular goal, and that wasn’t something Rei would forget. It didn’t mean he would excuse or forgive Kamado’s treatment of Elle, just that he respected the man’s leadership. 

But the man was Johtonian, and at the risk of cultural stereotypes? Johtonians didn’t like change, and they didn’t like what they couldn’t understand. They lived on the land that had been theirs for generations, they learned from those who had gone before them, and kept their heritage alive. 

Things didn’t work like that in Hisui, not anymore. All of them were adjusting, and not all of them could do that at the same pace. So yeah, maybe he respected Kamado on some level. Didn’t mean he agreed with the man. And right now, he was starting to suspect that he shouldn’t trust him, either. Maybe it was the paranoia— it very well could have been! He was freaking out a little bit!

Granted, any rational person would freak the fuck out in his situation. Getting attacked was bad enough— and by Beni, the chef of the wallflower, no less. Rei got takeout from the man on the regular; it was...disconcerting, to see him slipping through the window at night like a phantom dressed for war. The scuffle was…short, to say the least. Rei was fighting off the clinging fog of medication and sleep, still on Pesselle’s heavier painkillers at night, and he had a broken leg. But he was pretty sure he got a good hit in before Beni’s arm was around his throat, dragging him into unconsciousness.

So, yeah. That was bad enough. But waking up strapped to a table, his pokemon nowhere in sight? That’s what scared him. 

It was familiar. He knew the ceiling of the Medical Corps all too well. It was cold— it was never this cold the last time he’d stayed there, or maybe that was just because Elle had been taking care of him, making sure he had enough blankets and propping his head up so he could see better. Now, when he tried to sit up, he was plenty strong enough— but he was secured to the table with thick leather straps. Around his wrists, his ankle, another looped around his cast, digging in painfully when he struggled and writhed, across his chest and pressing down on his ribcage as his breathing grew more rapid—

What the hell was going on? Why was Rei being tied up like a criminal? Where was Elle? Where— where the fuck was Beni? Was this— was Beni the one who’d broken his leg up in the icelands?

The medical corps were busier than he’d ever seen them before, shadowy figures rushing around beyond the edges of his vision. What was going on? What was going on?

Rei did the only thing he could do. He called for help. Quietly at first, then louder, panicky, his struggles getting more and more desperate— it wasn’t helping it was only digging deeper into his skin—

“Knock it off, will you?” A head of dark hair poked through the curtain; Rei couldn’t see below the forehead. “You’re not even bleeding. Other people need the staff a lot more than you, so just shut up and wait your turn like the rest of us.”

“What’s going on?” Rei demanded, voice breaking. “Why am I even—”

…ah. He was alone. He was alone for… a while longer, really, just listening. Listening and trying to make sense of the conversations he overheard. Things like she really abandoned us to this bullshit? and didn’t even say goodbye and awful, I turned him over to see if he was okay and his skull was grinning at me.

There are strange things out there, in the distortions. You walk into one by accident, you get this feeling you’re being watched. This awful dread in your chest, something cold and stiff and dark. There’s not a single soul inside them. Only strange relics and artifacts and corpses. Celestican, I think. I was walking for days, looking for the end, but it was only minutes later when I emerged.

Why would the sky-faller just leave us? Is this her fault? Is our world being torn apart because she returned to hers? Why didn’t she so much as say goodbye? She was acting strange, near the end. Do you think she’d been replaced by a zoroark? Do you think she always was? That hairpiece of hers must have been some kind of sick joke.

What the hell. What the hell! This wasn’t right. The curtains moved again, pink hair and a saccharine smile coming into view, and Rei strained to lift his head.

“Where’s Elle?” he demanded.

Pesselle just laughed bitterly. “She’s gone, and good riddance,” she said, pushing up Rei’s sleeve and readying something in her hand. “She went back home, and left us with this mess. I guess now that she’s gone back to her own world, this one can just fall apart for all that bitch cares.”

“What? No! She wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye!” Rei protested. “What— what are you doing.”

“Just taking a blood sample. It won’t hurt a bit, promise,” she said, only to be proven very wrong. Rei flinched, wishing he could see what she was doing, but he could hardly move. “Oh, stop being so dramatic. It’s only a little poke.”

“No, it’s really not!” he argued. “Elle wasn’t okay yesterday. She kept staring into space and pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t, and she was barely holding it together. I don’t think she even knew how to get back to her home. And then Beni broke in—”

“Rude,” Pesselle interrupted, pulling his sleeve back down. “Beni was out for a midnight stroll when he just so happened to notice that you were having some kind of episode and would have injured yourself if he hadn’t stepped in. He was merely doing what any good neighbor would, and I’m under strict orders to keep you here for your own good.”

“I locked the door,” he insisted. “It was locked, I swear on my heart and soul. And we keep the windows covered— it helps keep the heat in better. There was no way he could have seen anything or entered without breaking in. He was going for Elle— I tried to fend him off, but—“ Rei’s voice broke.

“Well, that’s a very serious accusation to level against our town’s best cook, although I suppose that would explain the ligature marks,” she said, touching a cold finger against his neck. She looked…conflicted. “Let’s say you’re correct. What then? Beni is a dear friend of Commander Kamado, after all. Will you take it up with our Commander, risk everything on a few hazy memories and a sense of justice? Or will you learn to be an adult and suck it up?”

“Neither,” he said. “I’m going to find out what really happened, if you could just— let me go—”

“Go where, exactly?” Pesselle folded her arms, looking down at him with a mixture of condescension and amusement. “Out there? It’s a minefield of our dimension ripping itself apart. I’ve got at least three cases of shell shock from horrors beyond human comprehension, some kind of neurotoxin that’s not responding to treatment, and don’t even get me started on the shrapnel I’ve been prying out of the supply corps.”

“Anywhere but here,” Rei said firmly. “Maybe Mt. Coronet— that’s where the rift began, right? So that’s where it can be sealed up. The clans probably know more about this than I do— or maybe Volo’s got some idea! I can’t just do nothing! I have to get out there.”

Pesselle shrugged, reaching to loosen the strap holding his wrist down. “Well. If you’re leaving the village, I’d advise you to wait until nightfall, and keep quiet about it, because my sleeping quarters are next door and frankly I’d rather not lose any more sleep.”

Rei blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. Your crutches and pokeballs are in the drawer under the table, and— oh, for fuck’s sake I swear if Anise— ahem. Seriously, wait until nightfall, okay? Or at least until my lunch break. Kamado isn’t…acting himself, and I’m not paid enough to get on his bad side.”

“Then…thank you,” he said seriously.

“Don’t be silly, Rei,” Pesselle said crisply. “I’m not doing this for you, but out of my own selfishness and desire to lighten the workload. I may not have the time or knowledge to treat patients as equals, but keeping one captive like this is far more trouble than it’s worth. Keep taking your medicine every day and don’t aggravate your leg, got it? Doctor’s orders.”

Chapter Text

After the run-in with the Miss Fortunes, Elle was a bit more alert to the distortions if only out of a desire to scavenge the aftermath for hints of her home. She was savoring the twizzlers, and found other things too, familiar things— a bag of Cheetos that turned her fingers orange and made Volo stare at her in horror, a blazer that shimmered every color in the light and was clearly made for someone quite a bit bustier than her, tiny glass jars filled with raw crystals that she was so damn tempted to eat.

She…wasn’t actually sure where the bandits were, now that she thought about it. Nacht had just returned with a satisfied expression after a while and said that scaring humans was very fun, so presumably they’d just gone full eldritch horrorterror on the sisters. Seemed reasonable, all things considered. Scavenging the aftermath of the distortions was a fun distraction! Except for the one full of dead bodies. That was less than fun and she was very deliberately not thinking about it at all.

…where was she again? Right, distractions. She found plenty to distract her in the distortions they stopped at along the way. Nothing alive, thankfully— there was one time she thought she saw a person, only to realize it was a rotting corpse that had been crudely lashed to a stake and—

Elle found lots of distractions when she scavenged with Volo. They liked old ruins and hand painted murals; she liked hints of modernity and exotic new things. Volo would explain the legends to her, and she’d drink in the new information or just sit and let the words wash over her. Call her a disaster pan and a sap, but she really liked their voice. And in return, she would show them things from her world, like canned soup and a rubber squeaky toy for Nomura to chew on and even a toddler sized vest that fit Saph perfectly.

She wasn’t qualified to be their therapist if they were going to be self loathing all the time, because honestly it was uncomfortable. But at the same time, it was tolerable, and she wanted them to know that they were appreciated.

Hisui was dangerous, and her Pokémon needed space and exercise. Madeline especially needed some attention, the kind that Elle wasn’t able to give her right now. And Volo— save for Eva, all of their pokemon were unevolved. Saph was still slow to warm up to them, despite their attempts to spend time with her in the evenings, and Nomura was practically a baby, and Sol…well, Elle didn’t know why he didn’t have a partner. She’d listened to Rei rubber-ducklett debugging his theories on growlithe codependence, and she knew that the species was prone to forming pairs by nature. But, well, she also knew what it was like to be unwanted because you were disabled. The problem was, growlithe weren’t meant to fight alone, and they left their backs wide open when they attacked. So either Sol needed to find a partner or a way to cope without one, because he wouldn’t be much of a fighter until he did.

All that was to say, Volo needed protection and Maddie needed something to do, someone to pat her nose and feed her berries and tell her she was a good girl. Elle introduced them, showed Volo the places she liked to be petted, and managed a harsh whisper of “Keep ‘em safe,” before her voice deserted her entirely.

This would be a lot easier if she still had her flute. Or if Maddie trusted Volo enough to let them ride her. Or if this was just a normal flare up from stress (it wasn’t but she didn’t want to think about it.)

Flare ups usually came with pain and joint stiffness hand in hand. This was less of that, more…something was very wrong with her muscles. Almost as if the paralysis of her exile (don’t think about it don’t think about it) had lingered in some way. Huh! It was almost like getting roofied and kidnapped was bad for your health! Especially when you had stress-exacerbated health issues and enough medication in your bloodstream to give a horse an aneurysm! Who would have thought!

Okay, she needed to calm down. They were…almost to the place, Volo had said. And, well, now that she thought about it, Elle may have missed a couple doses of her meds here and there. That…might explain some of the erratic symptoms. Okay. She was going to…she was going to pull it together, a little bit at a time. One task at a time.

Elle shifted slightly in the backpack, once again acutely aware of the ever present cold spot. It was usually on her lower back, about where the lower side pocket of Volo’s backpack would be, but whenever she reached into that pouch and checked, there was…nothing. It was disconcerting, to say the least. It was… maybe the size of a paperback if she had to guess, but that was all she could feel through the thick canvas.

Maddie let out a whinny, trotting off and circling. She sounded…happy, Elle guessed. Then again, Elle was…hiding in the backpack again to let her rapidash play freely without worry. Gods, this was hard. She couldn’t help the fact that her brain had such an extreme response to fire, but asking her pokemon to censor an integral part of who she was… it felt wrong. Sometimes she thought Maddie would be happier if she had a different trainer, but she couldn’t bring herself to let go. Maybe…maybe someday, if she had the guts, she’d ask if that’s what would make her pokemon happy. But not today.

“We’re just about here!” Volo called cheerfully, tugging at the straps of their backpack. “Oh, I should warn you about Cogita. Don’t take anything she says too personally, all right? She’s…the sort of person to waste words, a lot of them, on being petty.”

Elle made a curious noise, then huffed in frustration. Right. She poked her head out of the backpack and clicked her tongue a few times to call for Madeline, holding out her pokeball and allowing Maddie to recall herself. Cari…hadn’t emerged from her own in a while. It was good that Elle had— well, had taught a literal baby how to set boundaries when her species by nature liked sharing joy. But she was worried that too much time in the pokeball might be bad for her.

Gah. Elle reached into the mass of blankets and carefully scooped out Cyllene’s abra, smiling softly as he yawned and chirped and stretched.

“Mistress Cogita!” Volo called out to someone she couldn’t see. “Well met, or as well as one can be in such unprecedented times.”

Cogita— if that’s who she was— let out a cool laugh. “Oh, you’re the same as ever, aren’t you? All wrapped up in your ruins and legends, and yet you know nothing of your history, too young and foolish to learn it. What sort of curiosity have you brought me this time?”

“Not a curiosity, a… well, an assistant of sorts,” Volo said carefully, setting down the backpack and offering an arm for Elle to climb out. She inhaled sharply, feeling a bit unprepared, and began making sure all her layers were secure and properly worn and fit for the cold winter air. “Ah. Just a moment. Elle, this is Cogita. She’s an acquaintance of mine who’s quite knowledgeable on these things. Cogita, I’m sure you’ve heard of Jubilife’s sky-faller— unfortunately, due to recent circumstances, Elle’s still recovering and can’t speak or walk much, but she’s got a good head on her shoulders and a way with pokemon.”

“Hm,” Cogita sniffed. “The poor wretched lost one, indeed. It seems the time has come for me to fulfill my duty, then. I’ll say, it took you long enough. Even with your usual attitude towards your job, the sky’s been bleeding out for far too long. I expect you made a few stops along the way?”

Finally standing with the aid of Volo and her cane, Elle got a good look at Cogita and decided she didn’t like her. She didn’t know why, but her mind was a soft, fearful creature when it was not bloody and clawed, and now it took a step back into the fog. Elle opened her mouth, then shut it.

“Well, between the Galaxy Team physically abusing her from the looks of it, and the communication barrier, progress has been slow, and I’m really not the cruel sort,” Volo said with a sharpness in their voice that hadn’t been there before. “So yes. It has been delayed, so thank you for your patience.”

Cogita’s expression changed. “Of course. Come inside, lost one, and I will tell you of the chain you must make— the red chain that binds the world.”

Oh. Oh, gods. Oh, gods. Elle stumbled, suddenly unsteady on her feet. She’d hoped never to see that thing again— not after what it had done. Literally and figuratively, that wretched chain had been bathed in blood and agony.

But it seemed if she wanted to hold onto— to hold onto safety, warmth, survival, then she might have no choice. So that… that was why some part of her said not to trust Volo.

Chapter Text

Sneaking out was the easy part. Figuring out where to go next? That was harder.

Rei waited until it was dark before starting to untie himself, tense and alert to sounds. He felt so stiff he could hardly sit up, and his good ankle throbbed uncomfortably from the pressure. Shit, he was going to end up with blisters from this, wasn’t he.

His body wouldn’t obey him properly, not at first, but it got better with stretching. The darkness reminded him, uncomfortably, of last night. Of the feeling that he was never safe, no matter what he did. He found himself repeating the same stretch over and over, only one arm and not the other, thoughts circling until he finally snapped out of it with a jerky motion. He’d…have to deal with that later.

Rei grabbed his coats and pokeballs and limped quietly towards the door, wishing he’d thought to put something on the ends to make his crutches quieter. There was a splatter of dark liquid on the floor, shining faintly in the moonlight. He knew better than to hope it wasn’t blood. The entire place reeked of it, and he was glad to get out.

The house he and Elle shared was only marginally better— most of her belongings were gone, but her flute had rolled under the bed and one of her favorite rocks, a chunk of amethyst worn smooth and perfectly sized to fit in her palm, was abandoned under the kitchen table. It was a silly little thing. But he knew she wouldn’t have left without it. Not if she’d left willingly.

He packed his bags for travel and…shut the door behind him. Where now? It had seemed so easy to run through plans in his head when he was convincing Pesselle to let him go, but now…shit. The fieldlands were pockmarked with distortions and the remnants of them, like massive crop circles scorched into the earth. There was a smooth orb of solid black rock sitting on the ground like it belonged there, and a tree unlucky enough to be caught nearby was neatly sheared in half to accommodate for its new neighbor. The remnants of a stream had been dammed and flooded by…oh. Oh gods, were those dead bodies?

Oh. And there was also some sort of…floating…creature, pale and half translucent, that drifted out of one distortion and began meandering upwards. Rei wasn’t going to deal with that. At all. He needed an adult.

….Huh. Could he actually get help from an adult? Ingo seemed like he might be willing to help. Kamado was…definitely out. Laventon might be able to provide some insight. Cyllene…maybe? She was too close to authority for him to trust at this point, but he figured he could take her in a fight if he managed to get to his pokemon soon enough.

Okay. Laventon was either at his house, or sleeping in the Galaxy Hall again. No big deal. Rei could do this. He could do this!

Update: Rei could not, in fact, do this, and had in actuality made a horrible mistake in coming here.

The Galaxy Hall was crawling with people. Sharpening weapons, packing supplies, tearing down Elle’s hard work and packing it into neat little boxes, into the fireplace. It was…mostly the security corps, he noticed. Almost all of them. Rei managed to duck down a side passage before he could be spotted, but not before the glint of the commander’s armor came into view.

Whatever was going on here, he didn’t want to be a part of it. He wasn’t sure where he was going, just that it was dark and it was quieter than the main lobby. He took a left turn. He took a left turn. He took a left turn. He took a—

Shit. He was circling again. Rei ducked through a door that seemed familiar somehow and shut the door behind him, chest heaving. He used to feel more at home here in Jubilife than he did back in Johto. Now he didn’t know. He didn’t know how to feel safe again, or even if he could.

That’s when he realized he wasn’t alone, and he understood in a singular moment of cold terror exactly why this door had seemed familiar.

“My apologies,” Cyllene said, her voice devoid of inflection and difficult to read. “It’s good to see you, Rei.”

“Sir. What’s going on,” Rei asked her, voice shaking. “Where’s Elle?”

“I’m…afraid that information is more than it’s worth to spread freely,” Cyllene said stiffly. Rei’s hand went to his pokeballs. “That being said: she has been exiled, for her supposed crimes against our reality. Last I saw her was near the southern border of the Fieldlands. Abra has been accompanying her for support and providing occasional check-ins; I believe she is traveling alongside a member of the Ginkgo Guild.”

“Who?” he demanded. “Ginter?”

“I cannot say. Abra can’t exactly speak, after all.” Cyllene gave a wry smile. “I have determined that she is…well, not doing very well, but her condition is improving to the point where I have seen it reasonable to delay my own plans in order to increase the chances of success.”

“Your. Your plans.”

“If that foolish man did not wish for me to begin planning a mutiny behind his back, then perhaps he should not have left me in charge in his absence.” Cyllene removed an iridescent knife from the wall, casually slipping it into her boot. “You’re aware of it too, aren’t you? We’ve been in need of new leadership for a long time. Commander Kamado is brave and tenacious, but right now, we need adaptability and a focus on survival and improvement. A safe home cannot be built on a foundation of fear, after all.”

“....holy shit,” Rei breathed, letting out a slightly hysterical giggle. “That’s your plan? Seriously?”

“I think I’ve had quite enough of watching my home being driven to the ground for a second time,” she said crisply. “Did I ever tell you what happened to my former battalion, Rei? Infection has taken more lives than swords and bullets ever managed. The battlefield is a brutal place, and only the strong survive. The strong and the lucky. I believed that I needed to make you strong enough for this world, and if I have been unfair or hurt you because of that, I sincerely apologize. I acted out of fear. But moving forward, I intend to let my ideals drive me. I will make a world that is not a battlefield, and hope to all the gods that you never know the fear of battle.”

“Yeah, well, what if it’s too late?” Rei snapped. He didn’t know why he was angry here and now of all places, he just knew he was pissed and hadn’t been able to express it until now. “What if I’m kind of, I don’t know, fucked up in the head from seeing my best friend get kidnapped in her sleep not once, but twice? And the second time in our own home, by a man I— I dunno, I thought I could trust him. He put oregano in the mochi one time when I told him I was homesick for Ma’s recipe. What if I don’t feel safe in Jubilife anymore? How can you talk about building on a foundation of anything but fear when there’s no room inside me for anything else?”

“I…do not know,” Cyllene admitted. “But perhaps you can make it better for those who follow you. You did not deserve what happened to you, Rei. You did not deserve this suffering. No one did. There is… no honor in war. Only bloodshed and loss.”

“What if we go to war with the clans, though? What if Kamado makes shit worse? I mean, the fighting never reached me back in Johto, but…shit, this is my home now. I don’t wanna have to fight for it.”

“I don’t want you to either.” She sighed, hands finally falling still. “I know you have only seen the sides of me that I have shown you. But if I am forced to bloody my hands once more, I ask that you do not judge me too harshly. We became monsters in order to survive, because the horrors of battle are not meant for the human mind. So we twisted our humanity, over and over again, and returned home with claws and fangs.”

“Right.” Rei swallowed hard. “Thank you, ma’am. Do you…have any idea what to do next?”

Cyllene gave him a wry grin. “As a matter of fact, I have several.”

Chapter Text

Lost one.

That’s what Cogita kept calling her. Lost one, sky-faller, all of them felt like job descriptions, titles. Not her name. Her name was Elle and she was a person, damnit. She was more than what she could do for others.

Except she couldn’t really afford to be. Not if her options were to either freeze to death out in the wild, or comply with Cogita’s demands. So she forced a smile, and nodded, and lost track of time. 

Three lakes. Three gods of spirit. Three snarling creatures in a half-remembered dream, intent on vengeance. And she was supposed to create the chain. But she knew what happened to people who misused the red chain’s power, who trespassed upon the gods. Maybe she wasn’t exactly religious these days, but she knew better than to cross a being that could kill her, or worse. The gods tended to curse those who displeased them before killing, after all. 

Cogita had given her a cot to sleep on and a place at her table, at least. They were going to a lake tomorrow— Cogita had said something about the mind, Elle didn’t know, she couldn’t process. She’d been doing so good and now she was backsliding. She wasn’t safe here. She wasn’t safe anywhere. Cogita was…a threat. And Elle was terrified.

She allowed herself to fantasize about going back home— about collapsing onto the couch and taking a real shower, long and hot, on the plastic shower chair and using the handle on the inside of the tub to pull herself up afterwards. She’d head up to the drugstore and look at the cool patterns of canes, and think about getting a thicker ferrule for better balance, and grab a bottle of icyhot and some fruit juice and compression sleeves and braces and ace bandages, and then she’d sit on the bench outside and people-watch for a little while, drinking her juice and resting in preparation for the walk back home. 

Or maybe she wouldn’t walk at all— maybe she’d order it all online and take a nap on the carpet in a big cuddle puddle. And she’d tip the delivery person generously, and turn on the heating pad, and Celia would drape a weighted blanket over her and jokingly declare that she was trapped, and Maeral would come home and chug a can of coffee from the fridge and try to slip out until Elle called out to fir, inviting fir to join and talk about fir day or just sit in quiet solidarity, and fi’d light up. And Faelynn would emerge from her room and announce that she was going out with her friends, and Maeral would tell her to stay safe, and Celia would jokingly ask her not to commit too many crimes, and Faelynn would always smirk and say she had no intention of getting caught.

Elle might have eaten a meal or two while she was staying here. She didn’t know. She didn’t know a lot. Someone was calling to her. Was it urgent? She’d fallen too deep, and had to struggle to pull herself from the fog. Some part of her didn’t want to leave.

Knocking at the door— insistent. They’d been knocking for a while. Her arms were empty. Had she been holding something? Volo was saying something to her, their eye wide. Their voice almost formed words. Finally, they placed Sol on her lap, and she instinctively began to pet him, blinking as he circled and yipped.

…Did Volo just use their puppy to pull her out of how hard she’d been dissociating? She wasn’t sure how to feel about that! Nevertheless, Elle shook her head and blinked a few times, focusing on the door.

Volo was beside her. Cogita was sipping tea with an amused expression.

“I’m not sure if you heard me, but whoever’s out there is wearing a Galaxy Team uniform,” Volo said to her.

Elle nodded to show that she’d heard them this time, then furrowed her brow. Ah. This…might be bad. Why would someone from the Galaxy Team follow her? The knocking was growing more insistent, but something about the cadence was familiar…

She placed a kiss on Sol’s head and nudged him off her lap, using Volo’s shoulder and her cane for support to stand. Her vision went a little weird at that, but she stood until her head stopped spinning. Slowly, finally, the door creaked open, and her vision tunneled. Oh. Oh, gods.

“R-rei?” Elle blinked, and let out a small cough, staring with her lips slightly parted in surprise.

“Elle! Gods, I was so worried— what happened to you? Cyllene told me you got banished— are you okay? What happened to your arms?” Rei limped inside, hesitantly holding out his spare hand, and Elle drew back, her expression conflicted— then all at once stumbled forward and leaned against him, arms dangling limp at her sides.

He was taller than she remembered. Had he grown? Had she simply not noticed? Was she just trying to make herself smaller, hunched down in pain? Rei was taller than Elle remembered. Somehow, out of everything, that simple fact was what broke her. That’s when she just…started sobbing.

“Elle?” Rei said quietly, rubbing circles into her back. “What’s wrong?”

She shivered at his touch— it was awful and it hurt but it was the only thing that felt real and it felt good. It felt like being thawed after being encased in ice and numb to the world. It was pain, or maybe it was comfort, because in the haze of nothingness she’d forgotten the difference. And if it was comfort, that was so dangerous, because comfort could make her fall to pieces.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here. Talk to me, okay? We can fix this. What happened?” Rei asked again. Elle made a choked noise and pressed herself further against him, her fingers trembling at her sides.

“I don’t think she can answer that right now,” Volo said gently. “She couldn’t speak at all the first few days after I found her, and even now she’s barely said a few words.”

“Shit,” Rei whispered. “You’re in a real bad way, aren’t you?”

Yeah. Yeah, she was. But he was the first sense of safety she’d had in a long time.

Elle was…embarrassingly clingy about the entire thing, or she would have been embarrassed about the whole thing if she had any sense of shame left. She was a physically affectionate person by nature, and she needed a fucking hug, okay? She needed a fucking hug from someone she trusted.

And, well, Rei didn’t seem to mind— if anything, he seemed about the same. Cogita made a smug comment about young love, but shut up pretty quickly when Elle growled and chucked an apricorn at her. It wasn’t an ideal method of communication, but it got the point across.

Cogita didn’t give the apricorn back. Volo gave a cheerful speech about conservation of body heat and announced their intent to go collect some firewood, so Elle tossed Maddie’s pokeball at them and returned to her priority here.

In the end, they made a cuddle puddle on top of Elle’s blanket nest— Mizu was sprawled out with his side, and Rei used his backpack as a pillow. Elle curled up with her head on her friend's stomach, with one hand absently rubbing out the tension from his shoulders. Lola was making a bubbly trill wrapped in her trainer’s other arm, and even Cari had emerged from her ball and decided she wanted to take a nap precisely on Rei’s collarbone. Haru and Sakurako made low chirps to each other, and Remus and Rhea decided that Elle’s face needed to be cleaned and they were going to do so with their tongues. Walpurgisnacht and Riza were curled up together, snoring lightly and sending static sparks dancing across the blanket, and Cyllene’s abra had finally seen fit to crawl out of Rei’s coat— oh, he’d been teleporting back sometimes, hadn’t he. 

Cogita muttered darkly to herself from time to time, but Elle was going to take a fucking nap. She felt…safe and powerful now. Wasn’t that strange? Not much had changed from before, except now she knew she had trustworthy allies. She had someone to stop her from spiraling, she had a reason to keep going, and she had cuddles. Gods, she would commit murder for cuddles. And she was so, so grateful she didn’t have to. Didn’t even have to entertain the intrusive thoughts anymore, because now she had what she needed.

This time, when Elle dreamed, it wasn’t about the red chain at all. She dreamed she was having a tea party with Hatsune Miku the life-sized lucario plushie, wearing a gorgeous ruffled black dress with a heart-shaped cutout on the chest, not dissimilar to Cogita’s. At one point, Bulbabuddy the emotional support plushie showed up, and then Faelynn arrived in a Diamond Clan hoodie and set down a wall clock.

“This was very time consuming to make,” she said, looking Elle dead in the eyes as she pulled out a knife and cut into the clock, revealing it to be a cleverly disguised cake all along. There was sugar-spun glass and chocolate and fondant and it tasted like vanilla when she offered Elle a slice, from 4:30 to 6:00. It was such a good cake, she couldn’t even find it in herself to be angry at the pun.

Chapter Text

Elle had changed.

She was a lot quieter, now. She spaced out a lot, and it took a lot to get her attention. She did it especially around Cogita, Rei noticed. When she spoke, it was no more than three words at a time, and sometimes she couldn’t even manage that. Mostly it was just nonverbal noises, frustrated squeaks and growls, hums of assent or confusion.

But Rei had changed too. He was quieter, more observant. He noticed things like sharp objects and red flags and escape routes. He fell into routines that he didn’t like and was scared that he couldn’t escape, scared that he wasn’t always completely in control of himself. It was like some unseen hand had reached into his mind and scrambled his priorities, leaving him to pick up the pieces. He hated it, and wanted nothing more than to return to normal, but some part of him suspected that wasn’t possible.

Maybe…this was his new normal. It was scary to think about, though, so he put it off to process later.

For now, he caught Elle, Cogita, and Volo up on the situation— or at least, what he knew of it. That Kamado was leading a squadron of armed troops to Mt. Coronet in hopes of defeating whatever was within, that she’d been— at least implicitly blamed for the sky turning red, and if anyone from Jubilife saw her, they’d likely take her for a zoroark and attack. She gave a soft huff at that, and pointed to the blotchy green-yellow-brown bruises on her arms.

“What are those from, anyways?” he asked, peering closer. They looked almost… regular, deliberate. Elle inhaled sharply, pulling away, but then relaxed and turned to show him the rest of the bruising, pulling aside layers of clothing. Stripes and diagonals on her legs, a streak across her midsection, hints on her collarbone when she carefully pulled the neckline of her shirt down for just long enough to show him. Cogita watched the entire proceeding with an expression of detached pity, while Volo’s cheerful facade gradually broke down until they excused themself, looking ill.

She was nearly more bruise than not, and looked exhausted, physically and emotionally, by the entire ordeal. Cogita said something about her being a poor dear and needing something for that, but Elle just shook her head and pulled out a bottle of something from her bag, presumably medicine for it.

“Holy shit,” Rei breathed. Oh. Oh, gods, this explained so much. No fucking wonder Elle barely left her blanket collection; even sitting on a wooden chair would be painful with her body in that state. “Holy shit. Are you okay? Are you…are you comfortable with telling me how this happened? Er, sorry, that’s probably hard with your. Voice.”

Elle nodded wryly, then pulled her notebook from Volo’s bag— and drew something with shaky hands, stiff strokes scribbling back and forth. Cogita eventually grew bored and left, her dress flowing behind her, but Rei couldn’t tear his eyes away as he realized what she was drawing, and exactly how she’d been forcefully evicted from Jubilife. In chains.

The meal the four of them shared was probably the most awkward one that Rei had ever eaten in his life. Elle brought her plate back to her bed, kneeling with her back to them and picking aimlessly with her fork. Volo and Cogita…dear gods, these two had history. Cogita would snipe and prod at every little mistake Volo made, while they smiled, growing stiffer and less genuine each time, and Rei was too lost in the fast pace of their banter to even make an attempt to break it up.

These people were…incredibly dysfunctional, he decided in the end, and he’d been around Elle enough to recognize emotional walls going up. Elle got angrier when pushed, or at least she used to; now, she just got more distant. Volo became polite and brittle, with a smile like a shard of glass. 

He didn’t feel comfortable leaving Volo alone with Cogita. But at the same time, Elle was his priority right now, so he decided to join her in her little corner of the house, where she was still picking away at her food.

“You gonna eat the rest?” he asked casually. Elle flinched and looked away. “Sorry. I won’t ask. It’s…damn. We really need to get you home soon, huh.”

She nodded. Pointed at Cogita and Volo. “Helping,” she said in a dry whisper.

“They’re helping you get home?” Rei guessed. A shrug. “Uh…helping with something else? I can ask them later, I just…wanted to keep you company for a bit.”

She nodded, eyes distant. Rei sat on the edge of her bed and opened his notebook, turning to one of the picture-heavy pages and taking out his pencil. He didn’t have his reference materials, but he’d taken notes of the important bits as best as he could, and now he showed her his progress.

“I ended up having to leave most of the materials behind, but…” He tapped the top of the page. “I did draft a prototype of the forearm crutches, for— well, whenever I have the time and materials to finish it. Probably…well, probably once this is all over.”

Elle tapped the pencil, a question in her eyes, and he gave it to her— carefully, holding the pencil straight up and down in her fist, she wrote a word above his header.

"This—" Rei tapped the word she'd written, "means the same thing? Prototype?"

Elle nodded enthusiastically and gave a little huff of laughter. Rei traced the letters with a finger— they were similar. Not quite the same, but now they had a starting point.

"You know what this means— we could figure out a way for you to communicate with this rather than just waiting for your voice to get back!" Rei said.

Elle nodded again, and took the notebook back from him. With careful strokes, both hands wrapped around the pencil, elbows locked in at her sides and an expression of intense concentration, she began marking off the next blank page into a grid of sorts. She tapped one of the squares, then the previous page, and handed the pencil to Rei.

"You want me to...copy it here, but smaller?" he guessed. Elle grinned, an old, familiar expression he'd missed seeing. He'd missed her. He'd missed innovating, really.

And so began their afternoon— the long, stimulating process of building a language for her to communicate with. Yes-or-no questions expanded to include "I don't know" and "It's not that." A section entirely for people consisted of Elle doing her best impressions of the person in question and the both of them doubled over giggling— Cyllene was just Elle covering her eyebrows with her fingers, and she fluffed out her hair and puffed up her chest for Adaman. 

They even worked out a loose phonetics system for words that weren't included, and stretched the limits of Rei's grammar knowledge with participles and connecting words. The last page was some kind of emotion to add to the end of sentences— Elle carefully spelled out [t-oe-n ih-n-d-ih-c-ay-t-o-r] and nodded in satisfaction as Rei transliterated it. Joking, not malicious, derogatory, a smattering of others.

She finally excused herself to curl up for a nap after a while, and Rei returned to his notes. He was pretty sure he could make this work, if he had help gathering the materials— Volo was out getting wood, so maybe Rei could borrow some of it once he’d returned, just to use the material as a starting point.

“Oh, dearie. We never did tell you our plans, did we,” Cogita said finally, reaching over Rei’s shoulder. He tensed— the woman moved entirely without sound, to the point where it was almost eerie. He…wasn’t sure what to think about her, honestly, but that feeling solidified into dislike when she casually tore out Elle’s first drawing from the notebook and held it. “The red chain— the human spirit with which we are to bind the world together. I can’t help but wonder, from her reaction, where the girl heard of it before I told her. ”

Chapter Text

There was only one bed, a fact that made Elle double over giggling when Rei mentioned it to her. Future thing, difficult [to] explain she tapped out, finger still shaking as her shoulders shook with barely contained laughter. You okay [with]... water pokemon him? 

“Mizu?” Rei guessed. “Right, I’ll have to add some more words to the book. Still a lot of words we’re missing, huh. I can add our pokemon to the list tomorrow.”

Voice is [to be] better, Elle told him, then frowned at the sentence. It must have been frustrating to have such a limited range of language to communicate with.

“I mean— yeah, it’s getting better, but that’s kind of a low bar to clear.”

She gave a little huff of amusement at that. Three w-o-r-d-s a day! she said, making sarcastic jazz hands.

Rei smiled, but it didn’t last. “I wonder if anyone has ever counted the number of words they speak per day.”

Rei. Home, some people [do] not speak. Is okay. Is better there.

“Yeah, but it’s not better here. I…genuinely think your world is better than mine. Because you can survive better there. It’s…more accessible. And this place is my home, whatever that means. But I wanna bridge that gap, make this world anew.”

 Yeah. Okay (genuine, affectionate). Elle bonked his shoulder with her head. Thank you.

He bonked her back, and she didn’t flinch. “Of course.”

Cogita announced, first thing the next morning, that it was time.

“Time for what?” Rei asked suspiciously. Beside him, Elle tensed and began flipping through her notebook at a rapid pace, looking for the right words.

Volo sighed. “Well, now that Mistress Cogita has extracted all the labor she can from me—”

“Don’t be silly, dear boy, it’s just a bit of wood chopping—”

“I’m twenty one, thank you very much, and not a boy or a man besides,” Volo snapped, wheeling on her. 

“Oh, it’s just an old habit,” she said dismissively. “Don’t make such a fuss over nothing, Volo.”

“No, that’s kinda shitty, actually?” Rei said. Cogita turned the full force of her gaze upon him, as if her intention was to make him acutely aware of every way in which he was inferior to her, to her rose-adorned hat and high, stiff collar and layered sleeves, to her haughty laugh. He shrank back on instinct, but didn’t give up. “I mean…Volo’s not a guy. Don’t misgender them. Ya just gotta apologize, correct yourself and move on.”

Cogita smiled in the most condescending way possible. “Rei, was it? How quaint. Don’t intrude, dear; you’re merely a guest, and I’ve known Volo much longer than you have.”

Elle nudged Rei with her shoulder, eyes urgent, and began to tap out a message. Cogita is [a] threat. Feels [u-n]safe. Don’t.

“I’m not scared,” he said, his anger bubbling beneath the surface.

I am. I feel [u-n]safe. Please don’t, Elle tapped out again, and he finally acquiesced. Fuck. He hated this.

“If you two are done passing notes like schoolgirls,” Cogita said coyly, “We have a sky to repair. Now, seeing as Rei is new here and has been busy cuddling his little girlfriend, why don’t you explain the situation, Volo?”

Volo, their one visible eye looking tired and resigned, sighed. “Right. Elle, I’ve explained it a couple times, but I’m never really sure if you’re listening, so…here we go again, I guess. In order to make the red chain, there are three trials one must pass, at three different lakes. They’re trials of mind, not of body, which…probably doesn’t make it much better. But it’s not like we have any other choice. And the red chain…should work to bind the rift shut. I can confirm that, actually— see, there’s this old piece of vellum that describes the original hero as sealing the rift with red trailing behind him, and most people think it’s blood, but the language used is specifically— er. Sorry.”

“And you, my dear girl— you, whom I’ve awaited so long— you are going to be our champion,” Cogita finished, smiling beatifically. “Now, there’s an old legend about that, but so long as your intentions are pure, you should be perfectly all right. Don’t harm Azelf, or look into Uxie’s eyes, or touch Mesprit, and you can avoid the curse entirely. Of course, if being cursed is what it takes, then there’s really no reason to hesitate, is there?”

Elle flipped to the page in her notebook that was reserved for swearing, looked Rei dead in the eyes, and slammed her splayed palm down on top of it.

“I’m sorry, the fuck?” Rei said, his voice sounding calmer than he felt. “Doesn’t she get any choice in this? Elle and I went through so much bullshit after the sky turned red, and now you’re just— what, deciding for us? Elle can barely walk, for fuck’s sake, and you want some god to test her strength? What makes her the only one capable of pulling this off? The only one responsible for the entire fucking world— haven’t we been strong enough already?”

Cogita smiled, the expression hollow, and it was then that Rei realized what was wrong with the way she moved. She was soundless in the same way that a stealth predator was. “You have no idea how long I have carried this knowledge with me. I refuse to wait any longer. Besides, the fate of the world is at stake here. I would prefer that you remain my guests, but I have friends in high places, and if it comes to force, I can assure you the outcome won’t be pleasant. Volo, this goes for you as well. I’d rather keep you as my ally than not. You all have three days, one for each lake. That seems fair, doesn’t it? I’d provide longer, but you’ve been quite disrespectful of my time already.”

“And what’s stopping us from taking this at our own damn pace?” Rei challenged. Elle nudged him, hard, and he took a breath. Right. Don’t antagonize the lady giving you food and shelter. Don’t antagonize the lady giving your friend food and shelter. Don’t—

Cogitia smiled again, like she was sizing him up. And then—

The world fell out from under his feet. The sky was red and now bleeding black, and something was crawling through it— something dark and shifting with the wrong number of legs, something without bones. It screamed, an awful sound, and Rei watched unfamiliar buildings collapse at the sound.

It was all he could do to simply pray. The people around him were dressed in draped silks and loose sandals, the clothing of another place or time, and knelt with hands clasped and eyes uplifted. They begged for their lives, from the god they’d worshipped, in shrines and statues and tapestries.

His body was not his own. His hands were not his own— and so he, too, knelt and prayed, whispering words he didn’t know, to a god who didn’t care.

Rei came back into awareness of himself on the floor, shivering and drenched in sweat. It took a moment to realize what had happened; the last thing he remembered was Cogita’s eyes flashing as she stared him down, and then he was…somewhere else. It felt so real— what was it? He let out a shaky breath, still half certain he’d find himself back in that place, watching something emerge from the sky.

“Don’t test me, little boy,” Cogita said, her tone dripping with venom. Elle, crouching over Rei, bared her teeth and snarled. “And you, sky-faller— you are the only one who can succeed at this task. And I will not hesitate to make sure you see it through to the end. Do not test my patience, nor my kindness.”

“I’m sorry,” Volo said, voice low. Their expression was carefully neutral, but their body language told a different story. 

“Now, now, don’t be sorry; it’s almost over now,” Cogita said brightly, dropping the threat just as easily as she brushed off the dust from her dress and poured herself a cup of tea. “Besides, your services here are still required, seeing as I’m no pack mule. Lake Valor should be your first stop, so head back when you’re finished, will you? I’ve got some shopping to do in case you fail. Don’t harm Azelf, and you’ll do just fine.”

“Did you know. Did you know she was going to pull this bullshit on us?” Rei growled, turning to Volo and peeling himself from the floor. He still felt weak and shaky from the vision Cogita had forced upon him, but did his best not to show it.

“I— no. I never know what she’s going to do. Let’s just—let’s just go, okay?” Volo set their backpack down on the floor, eyes wide and slightly manic. “Listen, there’s no point in arguing with her. I mean, the world is at stake, right?”

Slowly, deliberately, Elle shut her notebook and stared at Volo until they looked away. She made no move to stand up, or to climb inside for the journey, or to ask for help.

“Please,” they finally said. “Please.”

Elle reached under her pillow and retrieved her flute, raising it to her lips without once taking her eyes off them. The tune she played was a familiar one, and she’d improved with practice even if she paused to breathe between every other note. Cogita simply smiled and watched the proceedings, stirring a teacup with a dainty silver spoon.

A rumbling like thunder was the first thing to signal what Elle had done. She tucked the flute back into her coat and held out a hand to Volo in the instant the first stantler stampeded past the window. Then another; a wyrdeer, and more of them, dozens upon dozens, so loud Rei could barely hear a thing. The herbs hanging from the ceiling swayed with the force, and a porcelain plate rattled and fell from its place on the wall. Cogita raised an eyebrow as her tea sloshed in its cup, and finally splashed over her dress. Her lips moved angrily, but it was impossible to make out the words over the sound of hoofbeats.

That’s when there was a thudding at the door. Volo flinched violently as it came again, and again, like something was trying to bash the door in— and then, just as suddenly, it stopped. The door swung open with an anticlimactic creak, letting a blast of cold air inside.

Lord Wyrdeer stood with his breath coming out in cloud, stamping his hooves impatiently. Beyond him was an entire herd— Rei didn’t know how the hell Elle had summoned that many, and judging from her expression, she didn’t know either, but she seemed to have no problem with the power play she’d succeeded in making.

“Right,” Volo said, clearly shaken. “Well, I’m…guessing that’s our ride?”

Chapter Text

If Rei thought the meal had been awkward, it was nothing compared to the ride to Lake Valor.

For one thing, Lord Wyrdeer seemed to have decided that the entire herd was required as an escort— which was completely fair and understandable given the rather impressive record of abductions, assaults, and poisonings that Elle and Rei had racked up between the two of them. Volo had balked at the idea of riding such a creature before the Noble simply grabbed them by the scruff like a shinx kitten and placed them on his back, cargo included. Rei had mounted more gracefully, having a decent amount of experience, and they set off.

“So.” Rei would have folded his arms had he not been trying to keep Volo, and by extension Elle, from falling off. “Are you going to tell me what the fuck that was all about?”

“Ah— right.” Volo ducked their head, expression difficult to read with their back to him. “Right. I… probably owe you that much after everything. What did she…show you?”

“I— I don’t know. Praying. A hole in the sky. Something tearing through.” Rei shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts before they started circling again. “What was it?”

“I…don’t know. I’ll tell you what I do know about Cogita, though.” Volo’s shoulder’s were hunched, hair beginning to fall loose from their bun. “I guess… starting from the beginning. Or, no— um. Cogita has some psychic abilities— they’re not common, but not unheard of either. Hers are mainly telepathy— the transfer of memories. But…well. It requires eye contact to begin with, and she doesn’t normally use it to— she. There’s something out there watching over her. I’ve never seen it myself, but she leaves offerings for whatever it is, and— gah. It’s not like you’ll even listen to me anyways.”

“Yeah, well, maybe it would have been nice to know before!” Rei snapped. Elle shook her head, eyes dark and expression serious. “...okay, fine. But you realize the way that woman acts isn’t normal, right? She’s been picking at every flaw she can find, ignoring us when we correct her, making her own assumptions and acting like her word is truth.”

“Well—” Volo swallowed hard. “I mean, she’s kind of been in my life for a while. I know she’s not great, but beggars can’t be choosers, y’know? I was pretty young when Ginter told me a little bit about my heritage— not that there’s much to tell. We… barely have anything left of the Celestican people, so I don’t know much about where I came from besides an heirloom. I found Cogita by accident when I was twelve, she promised to tell me a story about them, and…well, she’s very knowledgeable. I can’t afford to pass up a source like that.”

Elle snorted. Flipped open her notebook to the page full of swearing and tapped bitch bitch bitch, which Rei relayed.

“Guess she is, yeah.” Volo turned their head and offered an attempt at a smile. “I…really am sorry. I thought, if anyone knew how to help, Cogita’s the wisest person I know. I guess I’d sort of assumed that she’d set aside her, well, usual schemes and help. But instead, she’s basically threatening you guys into saving the world. Gods, this is all so fucked up. Would it kill her to wait another week? The rifts aren’t getting any worse. What’s she so impatient for?”

Elle considered this a moment. I could take her [in] battle. But [would] feel bad. House. Winter.

Rei frowned, trying to make sense of the last bit. “Hey, Volo? What’s stopping us from challenging Cogita to a pokemon battle? Elle’s plenty strong, and I’m not too—”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never exactly seen the strength that Almighty Sinnoh was so enamored with myself,” Volo snapped. “Even when I traveled all the way to the Alabaster Icelands to watch the quelling of Avalugg or when I asked, over and over, for a battle, but no! I’ve never been good enough.”

Elle looked…taken aback, and a little guilty. Sorry. Tell them. Battle is not [why.] I don’t know [why] I [am] here.

“Honestly? I don’t think battling is why Elle’s here,” Rei translated. She nodded emphatically. “She’s…not entirely sure why. But if you’d seen her against Ingo, you’d know— it’s not really her strong suit, or something she enjoys. Just…something that’s healthy to do sometimes.”

“So— so, what, I— it was for nothing?” Volo glanced back at Rei, and there was something in their expression for a moment— and then it was gone. “Sorry. I’m…so sorry. I’ll just shut up now.”

Elle scowled, but ducked back into the backpack, her headband the last thing to disappear. Frankly, it didn’t look comfortable to Rei, but she seemed to enjoy it as much as one could in her situation. If she could fit, she would sit, and he supposed it kept her cushioned from the worst of the ride.

“You can’t fight Cogita, okay?” they said finally. “She’s not— I don’t think that woman has aged a day in all the years I’ve known her. She lives alone without a partner pokemon because she doesn’t need one. There’s…there’s no way to win.”

“So, we’re just supposed to believe you when you say she’s some kind of eldritch horrorterror who likes tea and fancy dresses?” Rei said derisively.

Elle poked her head back out. Threat. Bitch [is] a threat.

“You can try to take her,” Volo said, their voice heavy with resignation. “I know you guys don’t trust me. But I’m trying my best to warn you. You’ll only make it worse if you try to fight her. Cogita…doesn’t like to lose. Ever.”

Bitch has. W-a-r-m house. It [is] winter. Elle scowled. It [is] not time. But a-f-t-e-r sky?

“After we fix the sky?” Rei confirmed. She nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Lake Verity wasn’t like Elle remembered it.

Volo dismounted and offered a hand to help her out, but she shook her head and took Rei’s hand instead. Was Rei, by virtue of having a broken leg, a lot less steady on his feet? Yep. But her distrust for Volo had only grown stronger.

“This place used to be a volcano, you know,” Volo said, hand still awkwardly half extended. “I’m…not certain how to get in, though.”

Elle blinked. The tunnel was right there, wasn’t it? Was there something she was missing here? Did it not go all the way through? She pointed straight down the middle, into the darkness.

“Maybe there’s an opening at the top and Lady Sneasler could help?” Rei suggested. Elle pointed again, more insistently, leaning heavily on her cane. “Elle?”

She opened her mouth, trying to tell them there was a tunnel right fucking there, but all that came out was a frustrated chirp. She growled, wondering if it was real or just another hallucination. She hadn’t had one of those in a good long time, and her usual trick of snapping a picture to check if something was real wouldn’t work, thanks to motherfucking arceus!

The alpha goodra that emerged seemed real enough, though, judging by Rei and Volo’s reactions.

“Shit, that thing just walked out of a solid wall— Elle? Elle, are you good?” Rei said urgently, touching her shoulder briefly.

“Are you finally going to show us your full strength?” Volo said bitterly. “Because right now seems like it would be an excellent time.”

She didn’t respond to either of them, merely continued staring at the pokemon. It was holding a small, red crystal in its hands, and didn’t seem aggressive, despite the glowing red eyes. She took a step forward. Turned back and smiled at both of her companions to show them it was okay.

“Elle. Listen, I know you have like— no sense of danger, but that’s a fucking alpha,” Rei said, resting one of his crutches against Lord Wyrdeer to go for his pokeballs. “Do you need help commanding your mons? I remember most of their moves; I can call out attacks for you— Elle?”

The crutch toppled to the ground, and Elle moved forward slowly, using her cane for balance. The pokemon felt like…like it was calling to her somehow. It approached slowly, lumbering forward with its shell raised slightly above the ground. And then—

It bowed to her. Elle tried to do the same, but her spine protested violently at much more than a gentle incline of her neck and a slow blink. She felt a bit lightheaded now that she thought about it; the side effects of not eating enough were catching up to her.

The goodra rose and extended a hand to her, and she carefully sat down, nearly sliding off from the slime covering its skin. It picked her up and gave a respectful nod to the onlookers— to Rei, who looked relieved and panicked all at once; to Volo, whose expression was difficult to read but definitely full of emotion; to Lord Wyrdeer, whose herd had spread out and begun grazing. One of the stantler leaned in and trilled something with an expression that screamed my liege, are you seeing this shit?

And then the goodra turned and disappeared into the cave, the one that no one else could see, and all that Elle could do was trust.

Chapter Text

Mesprit was waiting for her in the center of the cave.

Hello, sky-faller. You’re a long way from home, aren’t you? the god said in a voice that rippled the surface of the puddles of water.

Elle opened her mouth. Shut it. Swallowed hard. The goodra trilled so hard she could feel it in her bones, and placed her on the floor, slime still dripping from her coat. She was going to have to wash it off, she knew, but her fingers were stiff from the cold and Cogita’s washbasin was attached to the table, meaning she’d have to stand the entire time. She sat down, but it was…tiring, and she was so exhausted and lightheaded as it was. So she laid back on the floor instead. Maybe it was rude. But she didn’t have the energy to feign politeness.

“Sorry,” she whispered faintly, staring at the ceiling. The cold stone floor felt like it was leeching the heat from her body, and she couldn’t find it in herself to stand. What was the point? The test would come soon, she figured. But instead, she found a shard of slightly warm crystal being pressed into her hand by the goodra, bringing with it a strange sense of relief.

What about the test? Elle found her thoughts somehow broadcast, echoing off the walls, and she blinked in surprise. What— um hewwo, one two three, cave slowly begins to fill with water, what the fuck?

It is a gift, to allow you to communicate freely, Mesprit said, drifting closer and finally resting with little padded feet on the ground. Elle turned her head to the side, watching carefully.

A gift, Elle repeated. A gift…gods, I haven’t— my voice, Mesprit. They stole my voice!

This will not replace it, Mesprit warned her. It is merely a stopgap measure. When you use this gift to construct the red chain, it will lose its potency in that matter.

They took my voice, she repeated, beginning to cry now. Motherfuckers! I bet they’d always wanted to shut me up, because just my existence makes them uncomfortable, because I force them to confront their shitty biases. It’s so damn dehumanizing to have to constantly censor myself for other people’s comfort, and when I decided I’d stop— Mesprit, you don’t understand!

No, the god said gently. But I will listen, because it is the least I can do.

My voice, it’s— it’s all I have, and I refuse to be erased, I refuse to be ignored, but I— even when I can string the words together, my throat gets tight and I can’t say a thing. I don’t even think there’s anything wrong with it physically, but ever since— ever since— Elle wrapped her arms around herself. I don’t think anyone else really knows the details of what happened that night. Not like I can say much, or want to say much.

I will listen to you, the god repeated. I can already feel the turmoil in your heart. 

Elle sniffled. It was— I wasn’t coping well. I was scared and falling apart. So I just…dissociated from all of it, acted cheerful. Gotta be productive and finish up the task set out for me, right? I don’t even remember half the day. It just sort of…skips around in chunks. I know I started to feel— weird, when I went to bed, but listen, I’ve literally had a heart attack and thought it was just something I ate disagreeing with me. You spend your entire life being gaslit about your symptoms and experiences, it’s hard to be aware of your own body.

Isn’t it stupid? She was trembling with silent laughter now, tears streaming down her face as her shoulders shook. Her collarbone was visible, the bones clearer than they should have been. I was literally poisoned and I dismissed it as my body being a piece of shit as usual. And then— Beni, he’s the, he’s the owner of the Wallflower— I’ve seen that technique used before. Or, well, I never saw them up close much, but— the Shadow Triad. I don’t understand fully what they’re capable of. But I never thought I’d see the likes of them again. I locked the door, the windows were closed, but that didn’t stop him. I….I couldn’t move.

I think Rei fought back. I didn’t see it. But…I know that Beni threatened to kill him if Lola, if she didn’t— didn’t cooperate. Or maybe that was just a distraction. I know— I think. I may have passed out at some point. It’s all blurry. I remember several hours in the dark, unable to move, wrapped in chains.

I cried out for help. But no one came. No one cared. And eventually I just…stopped. Why bother, right? I’m just an outsider. I told everyone I was going home— hell, I practically orchestrated my own exile. So yeah. I stopped talking. Or I lost the ability to talk. What difference does it make? I shut up in the end, that’s what matters.

Her story exhausted, Elle released a shaky breath. Gods, this is all so fucked up. Rei and I…haven’t really talked about any of it. We probably should. I know he’s not doing okay either. I mean, shit, if it wasn’t for the fact that they don’t exist here, I would be shoving him directly towards a therapist. He gets…obsessive and scared sometimes and I don’t know how to help other than keeping each other accountable.

Oh, little one, Mesprit said in a voice full of aching, You’re one of mine, aren’t you? I can feel it in your heart.

Something twisted uncomfortably in Elle’s stomach. You can feel my heart, huh. 

You fear your own inadequacy, the god noted. You worry your intentions are not pure enough, or that your intentions will never be seen. You fear that you’ve been hurt so badly, even the way you love is twisted. You love so much, and so fiercely, and for that I am sorry.

You should be. Elle squeezed her hand tight around the crystal. I’m too soft for this world. I can’t watch horror movies unless I focus on the special effects to convince myself that the gore isn’t real. I get anxious when my plushies are dirty or ripped. I cry when I kill houseplants. I read too much into people when I read them at all, and I assume they hate me before they say a word. I get burned out on relationships and I abandon people, just like… just like someone once did to me. I feel so much I could never explain, so I just use people instead of talking to them. I don’t think anyone could ever love me as much as I love them, and it hurts.

I know, Mesprit said softly. I know. Not all humans were created equally. And your heart is too big for this world.

I’m like a tree that’s outgrown the pot it germinated in, then. Elle raised a hand to the ceiling, then let it fall over in a careful stretch. Now my roots are strangling everything they touch, and my leaves are blotting out the sun. I never asked to be born this way. I am drowning in corpses no one else can see. I am drowning in the death of my self. Haven’t I earned my happy ending, god? Haven’t I been good enough?

I am not here to put you through more trial, nor are my siblings, Mesprit said gently. You have more than earned it, darling. 

No I haven’t. I’ve gotten worse ever since I arrived here. I snap at people and I break promises and I scare everyone. I relapsed and I haven’t eaten since— and I, I want to murder Kamado. Violently. I’ve made a thousand plans and I feel so disgusting, like I’ll never get the blood off my hands. Elle shuddered, fingers clenching shut and then falling numbly open. How can you call me a good person if I’m still just a weak product of my environment, swayed by any passing breeze? Maybe Melli was right. Once a grunt, always a grunt. I just hop from one purpose to the next, so really, what makes me so special?

Because you are trying to be a good person. And morality is not as simple as humans make it out to be.

I’m trying, she agreed, but it was resigned. She closed her eyes, wishing her tears didn’t waste water like this. I’m tired, Mesprit. Sometimes I wake up with my nails digging into my skin and I wish they were claws.

It is okay. I forgive you, Mesprit said softly. You hurt yourself because you want to live. Because you want to survive. You want the shock to drive you forward, because you don’t know how else to move on. I forgive you. I forgive you for surviving.

“Wh-why bother f-forgiving me? I’m just, just, going to f-fuck up again,” she choked out. Her throat was dry and tight, and it hurt to speak, but she’d tried.

Then I will forgive you for that, too. So long as you live, you will make mistakes and you will hurt others and hurt yourself, but you will try to do better, because there is a spark inside of you that doesn’t want to die. You desperately reach out for help, burning anything within reach to keep that spark alive. You overstep and you cry for help and you lash out and I forgive you for all of it.

Elle shook her head. I don’t think that forgiveness is yours to give. I— I’ve hurt people. I’ve done things that I can’t undo.

Not everyone will forgive you, true. But I am doing so right here and right now.

I don’t understand you.

I know. But when you do, I want you to return here. Come, it is time to leave, and I will help you. Elle was enveloped in a soft pink glow that she recognized as the god’s psychic power, and she allowed herself to be lifted to her feet, weightless. In her hand, still covered in the goodra’s mucus, was the crystal gifted to her by Mesprit. She was…she was going to take a nap when she was out of here. A long nap. Volo wasn’t quite safe, but Cogita was an active threat.

What was her problem, anyways? Elle was going to do it anyways, and then that woman gave her an arbitrary— or maybe it wasn’t arbitrary— deadline. What was so urgent that she would risk making an enemy like that?

I am sorry I cannot touch you, Mesprit said, leading Elle to the opening of the cave. Rei was leaning on some kind of invisible barrier, as if the rock face existed only for him and not Elle or Mesprit or the goodra that had been kind enough to help them out. I’m afraid it would inflict my curse were I to pat you on the head and wish you luck.

That’s okay, Elle said with a sad smile. It’s funny, how people show their love through touch. Exert their control through touch. And I never really learned the difference. So maybe it’s for the best.

I did not create the human spirit for you to live without it, Elle, Mesprit said quietly. I hope you find your way, truly.

Chapter Text

So hopefully Elle hadn’t been somehow hypnotized and kidnapped by a magical alpha goodra that could walk through walls. Hopefully being the key word here, because what the fuck was Rei supposed to think of that entire exchange? He was starting to think that pokemon just saw Elle as one of their own kind— just a weird, awkward kitten to play with and take care of.

It was maybe half an hour before she finally emerged from the cave, slightly dripping with water and slime and leaning heavily on her cane. She gave a tired grin, and held up her prize: a chunk of red crystal.

“Is that…?” Volo began curiously, recovering quickly from their shock to move closer. Elle nodded tersely and tucked it into the folds of her clothing, and they backed off. “Right. Well, er, one down.”

“What— what was that, though? Are you sure you’re okay? Can I hug you?” Rei asked in a rush. She nodded, eyelids drooping, and practically collapsed into his arms.

“E— um. Miss. You weren’t cursed, were you?” Volo asked. She shook her head, and Rei just held her tighter, even though she was leaning her entire weight against him at this point.

“S’okay,” she said, resting her chin flat on Rei’s shoulder. His crutch was digging in rather uncomfortably at this point, but he didn’t let go.

“Okay. If you’re sure— do you want to just rest for now, and talk about it later?” he asked gently. Elle made a hum of affirmation, but didn’t let go.

“Come on,” Volo said in a low voice. “She’s likely been through enough today. Let’s just go back to Cogita’s place.”

Elle made a noise of distress. “Yeah, I don’t think so,” Rei translated. “Is there… anywhere else we can go?”

Lord Wyrdeer lifted himself to his feet, moving forward and shoving his nose between Elle and Rei. She giggled weakly, petting his soft fur. The rest of the herd began to follow their Lord’s lead, clustering around them protectively— warmly, Rei realized.

Elle pointed down and tilted her head questioningly, swaying slightly on her feet.

“I’m sorry, you want us to— to take a picnic on the doorstep of one of the legendary gods of spirit?” Volo asked.

Elle considered this. Then nodded brightly, curling up for a nap with Lord Wyrdeer and making soft trilling noises back and forth with the pokemon.

“...fine. I’ve got snacks, I suppose,” Volo said, expression softening. Lord Wyrdeer’s herd began milling about in a rough interrupted circle, and Rei barely managed to grab his other crutch before it fell into the patchy snow. “You know, I think I prefer 30-50 feral deer to Cogita.”

“Wouldn’t we all,” Rei muttered, still processing what she’d shown him. “Has she ever— done the same thing to you? Shown you something awful unexpectedly?”

“No! I mean, only when she felt like I’d deserved it; I’ve seen…a few deaths that way, I guess, but not really for no reason.”

“...yeah, that’s not okay.” Rei shrugged, and grabbed an armful of blankets to drape over Elle. They were rather unwieldy, and he struggled to maintain his grip and walk with crutches at the same time.

“Here, I can help!” Volo moved forward, arms outstretched, and caught a falling quilt— the Diamond Clan piece that Rei had sewn up after the Miss Fortunes attack. Rei scowled, but didn’t protest the assistance, just tucked Elle in and took one of the spare wool blankets to drape around his own shoulders as he settled against the massive Lord’s haunches.

“Haven’t you done enough?” Rei asked flatly.

“I— I know. I’m trying to help.” Volo gave a short huff and looked up at the sky, sitting cross legged a few meters away. “I…didn’t have anywhere else to turn than Cogita.”

“Yeah, well, what are you even getting out of this?” he said bluntly. “Whose side are you on?”

Volo looked deeply uncomfortable with the question, probably guilty as well. “I know you don’t trust me, okay? I wouldn’t either. But you didn’t see her— when I found Elle, she was just…she’d just gotten kicked out, I think, and she was a lot less responsive than she is now. Half the time it felt like talking to a wall when I tried to talk to her, and— listen. I’ve made stupid mistakes, but I never really… never wanted to hurt anyone. Maybe I don’t know what I want. But I can’t just leave things to fester the way they are. The sky opening, the Nobles becoming frenzied— this isn’t what I wanted. And now everything’s spiraling out of control and I don’t have a lot of options. So I’m sorry.”

Rei sighed, finally looking down. “Whatever. It’s not your fault, I guess.”

“Actually…” Volo hesitated.

“What, are you going to tell me that there’s someone else in Hisui who just happens to have the same knowledge as Cogita, but with none of the bitchiness?” Rei tried for a joke, but it fell flat. “Sorry. I’m just..really pissed off and I don’t really know who to trust right now. I thought Jubilife was supposed to be a safe place for anyone who needed it, y’know?”

“Were you exiled as well?” Volo asked quietly.

“No, apparently I was an accomplice or whatever. Woke up tied to a table in the suddenly busy med corps, proceeded t’ get gaslit until I took matters into my own hands. Shit’s… complicated. And yeah, I knew our commander was paranoid, but not like this. It’s… never been like this before.”

“The sky has opened before, though,” they said. “It’s ancient history— practically a legend, shattered and lost to time. But the pieces of such things…can always be found, if you know where to look.” Volo’s gaze strayed, just for a moment, to their backpack.

“It’s been opened before? When?” Rei pressed.

“It— I’m not sure. I…can tell you what I know?” Volo offered uncertainly. “I…assumed Miss Elle must have known and told you, since she was…rather hostile last time I attempted to tell her about that.”

Rei nearly choked. “What do you mean, hostile?”

Volo glanced over at Elle, who seemed to be fast asleep with Lord Wyrdeer. “Well, she told me in no uncertain terms to leave her alone, and insinuated that my presence was irritating. So I assumed she already knew, since she seems to have a rather uncanny knowledge of… a great many things.”

“No, she’s just as lost about all this as I am. When even was this?” Honestly, Rei was still having a hard time believing that Elle would have been rude to them when most of her interactions with the merchant had been, bluntly put, simping. (Gods, she’d bought so many leeks she didn’t need. Having asked her to do grocery runs before, Rei had a fair baseline of her impulse control, but that really was something else.)

“Ah— we happened to meet in the quarries of Mount Coronet. I believe she was…on her way to quell Lord Electrode, along with Lady Sneasler’s warden.” Volo cleared their throat. “Um. Regardless. I can’t speak for the accuracy of all this— it’s what I’ve managed to put together from oral tradition and murals and a couple esoteric translations, but essentially, the sky opened once before, back in the Celestica days. The Renegade seemed to be involved, as well as Sinnoh— the one who opened it was described without pronouns, which was a very deliberate and interesting stylistic choice that I would love to explore the linguistic implications of because isn’t it fascinating? Like how the constructed pronoun isea was created solely for the— erm.

“Right. There were two humans involved as well, known as the Hero and the Rebel. Presumably they had names as well— the Hero in particular was the subject of a lot of wordplay around the word harmony, and apparently had the ability to speak with all living things, and the birthright to command them. They were described as the missing link between worlds, and the birthright— it wasn’t passed down through blood, but family. It’s… a confusing translation, and honestly I haven’t been able to make much sense of it.

“And the Rebel was described as having hair like flames, with a lot of associated imagery. There was…some sort of conflict that it was assumed everyone knew about, which is why we now know absolutely nothing about it, because oral tradition does not survive mass extinction events nearly as well as murals and paintings, but— sorry, I’m rambling again. My point is, the Rebel is the one who initially tore open the space-time rift, seeking…something, it’s not quite clear. And the Hero— here’s where it gets interesting. There are red gems embedded in that particular mural, thought to represent blood, but what if they were intended to be the Red Chain from the start?”

“And this Red Chain…closed the rift?” Rei said slowly. “Like patching a hole or darning a sock?”

“I’m…not sure. Presumably, yes, but that part of the mural was damaged.” Volo bit their lip— it was bleeding yet again. Probably needed some kind of balm, or for them to stop chewing on it, really. Rei didn’t say anything, though. Sometimes it only made things worse when someone called you out on your bad habits, and he didn’t think he was close enough to Volo to actually help with that.

He wondered if anyone was close enough to help them. He…didn’t think so, from what he’d gathered. It was kind of sad, honestly.

“Well, uh,” Rei said awkwardly. “At least we know that the sky’s been fixed once before. And that definitely counts for something.”

“It counts for more than you know,” Volo said ominously, pulling out a metal cylinder and holding it out to Rei. “Here— if you’re hungry, I picked up a bunch of these after a rift left them behind, and Elle showed me how to open them. You open the tab and peel the lid off, and then you can eat what’s inside and clean it off with snow afterwards to store it. I’ve never seen a metal quite like this before, but I’ve got a feeling it might be valuable.”

“I’ll…try it, thanks.” Rei took the can, squinting at the label— the paper had a faded image of the contents, some kind of bean dish with chunks of meat, as well as text he couldn’t make heads or tails of. “And…thanks for taking care of Elle.”

“Of course.” Volo passed over a wooden spoon, before taking a fork for themself and opening another can, this one of circular pasta in a red sauce. “You’ve got a very good friend, Rei. I’m almost… jealous.”

Chapter Text

The time-space distortions followed simple rules, as Ingo verrry quickly came to understand. There was a brief period in which the distortion was preparing to expand in which there was a feeling of danger, something like a sixth sense, a primal urge to run. When they appeared, it was at random, although the frequency fluctuated with a little more regularity. Anything caught within as it was expanding was at risk for being overwritten by the matter within. When a distortion had reached maturity, it became slightly translucent and safe to enter. After a time, like soap bubbles, they would pop, leaving behind their contents.

There was never, never anything alive inside. There were once-alive things, fallen trees and ruins and corpses— Ingo kept Sabi well away from those. She did not like being lied to, as many children disliked it, but she was very small and new to the world and did not understand many things. So Ingo told her that while the rifts were risky and dangerous for adults, they were even more so for children. And so neither of them were to enter.

Lord Braviary called a flock, of other braviary and tiny rufflet that struggled and flapped in the currents, of staraptor and their like, a few drifblim and gyarados tagging along in their wake. Safety in numbers, after all. Their cars were coupled for a safety protocol. But he could not help but wonder, as the flock swerved to avoid a popped bubble of rusted cars, who was meant to be the protector in this situation?

Lord Braviary seemed just as distressed as his warden, and his flock.

“Lord Adaman.” Ingo gave a respectful bow, while Sabi reluctantly dipped her head.

“Warden Ingo. Warden Sabi,” Adaman acknowledged them solemnly. “What brings you here in the time of the red sky? Ingo, I would have thought you’d be accompanying your lady.”

“There is a smaller lady I must escort before I tend to my duties,” Ingo assured him, although there was a twinge in his chest at that reminder. He disliked feeling so…divided. Between the life he’d made for himself in Hisui and the one he recalled waiting for him in Unova. Between Diamond and Pearl, truth and ideals, remembered and forgotten. He had his duties as warden, yes, but he had a brother waiting for him somewhere, and a train station that he always found himself returning to.

He’d told Elle of how far and wide she had scattered her heart, and yet he felt much the same. Conflicted. And yet there was comfort in that, too; he was comforted by the fact that he was, at his core, the same man he had been when his course was abruptly derailed.

Ingo would remain Ingo, after all, no matter where he went.

“I didn’t wanna go back alone. Please don’t be mad at Warden Ingo, I asked him to take me back here,” Sabi said pleadingly. 

“Hey, it’s all right, kiddo,” Adaman said, kneeling down to smile at Sabi. Huh. He had quite impressive pectorals from this angle, Ingo noted.

“Are you sure?” She pressed.

“Positive. Irida’s keeping up her end of the peace, so it’s okay if warden Ingo stops by.” He flicked her braid, and the girl screwed up her face but didn’t protest. “Hello, Lord Braviary. You’ll need to stop by Lord Basculegion’s seat so long as you are to stay here.”

Lord Braviary gave a majestic screech and took off, his flock trailing behind him— the Lords were remaining close to home, but needed to become acquainted with one another, Ingo guessed. He watched a little while longer before he became aware that Sabi was tugging at his sleeve for something.

“...know you don’t like it, but you’ll have to stay with your mom while you’re here,” Adaman was saying. “It’ll only be to sleep at night, and she’s gotten a lot better since you left. Don’t you want to give her a second chance?”

“No! She’s a bitch!” The girl stuck up her nose, and Ingo felt something awaken in him, something old and fierce.

Adaman didn’t deny it. “She’s gotten better, and she loves you.”

“That’s not fair!” Sabi protested.

“You’ll understand when you’re older,” he assured her.

“I’m older than you, and I understand perfectly well,” Ingo said firmly, voice louder than he’d intended. “Sabi may be a child, but even she understands that she’s been mistreated by her blood family.”

“She’s a child!” Adaman insisted. “She doesn’t have the experience to know what she needs, or what’s best for the clan.”

“She’s a person, and she deserves your respect. Not your neglect as she is abused.”

“Sabi’s mother is a well respected artisan in our community. I will not allow outsiders to slander her name.”

“How is that any worse than allowing Sabi’s mother to—” Ingo began, but the clan leader cut him off.

“I know, okay?” Adaman burst out. “I know. I’ve known that woman longer than Sabi has been alive. And she’s been through more than you understand, but I sent Sabi away for a damn good reason, and I can’t go back on the promises I’ve made. I cannot afford this conflict, warden, and you’ll drop it if you know what’s best.”

“Stop it!” Sabi cried. “Just— just stop. I’ll go back to her, I’ll act nice, I’ll act like I love her and everything is okay—“

“Absolutely not,” Ingo said sharply. “I am morally opposed to leaving this girl alone with her abuser for any length of time. Sabi, this is not your fault. None of this is your fault. You are a child.”

“I don’t wanna be a child. I wanna be a grown up, so no one can ever hurt me, or— or make me feel powerless again. Why do grown ups always treat kids like stuffed toys to play games with? It’s not fair !” She stomped her foot in frustration, close to tears.

“Life isn’t fair,” Adaman began placatingly. “It won’t be that long; you’re a big girl. You know life isn’t fair.”

“Does that excuse your actions, then? You are not life itself. You are alive and accountable,” Ingo growled. “Stay behind the yellow line. Rules and lines and boundaries exist to protect passengers without causing harm to anyone, but I will not hesitate to protect Sabi from you if need be.”

“She’s a child,” Adaman said softly. “She doesn’t understand.”

“She is a small person who is new to the world, and you treat her with dismissal and condescension. I would not ask that you exile her mother from your ranks. But I refuse to allow that woman to confront Sabi alone. That is all.”

“That’s all you want, huh,” Adaman muttered, dragging a hand down his face. “All right, you win. Sabi, go tell Mai you’re staying in the bottom bunk here, okay? You can use your clan duties as warden for an excuse if your mom tries to talk to you. Or tell her you need more time.”

“Time isn’t going to make me forgive her, ever,” Sabi said petulantly, hiding under Ingo’s coat.

Ingo rested his hand on her small shoulder, staring Adaman down. Normally he focused on chins rather than looking someone in the eye, but now he made direct eye contact as a threat. “Impermanence does not mean insignificance. If my time in Hisui has taught me anything, it is how to treasure the fleeting moments.”

Adaman gave a soft huff, looking up at the sky. “Well, they might be more fleeting than we think, if this keeps up.”

Chapter Text

Taking a rest out in the open, or relatively open…well, it wasn’t as bad as Rei had expected. For one thing, the bitter tension between him and Volo had dissolved, leaving them…well, something like reluctant allies? He still didn’t really like or trust the merchant that much. But he respected them, for putting up with Cogita’s bullshit, and he was grateful that they took care of Elle for so long.

It was weird, and complicated, and he didn’t have it all figured out. But it was also…well, it felt somewhat comfortable, or at least, not uncomfortable, and he could use some time away from Cogita. Even if it came with the rather unusual company.

Wyrdeer, he soon came to understand, were rather smelly. Lord Wyrdeer had a bit of a musk, but he’d gotten used to it. Bathing was something of a luxury in winter, after all, and Rei tended to wash just enough to keep himself from getting infections from poor hygiene. (And he’d needed to do it so much more in the past years; puberty’s changes really brought their ups and downs, he supposed.) The point was, Lord Wyrdeer smelled a bit like one would expect a pokemon to smell, old and visceral and a bit wild. His entire herd, settling down to rest and graze? It was, uh, very strong, to say the least.

But it wasn’t bad, even if it…reminded him a bit of home, back in Johto. And it wasn’t too long before Rei cleaned out the food-cylinder with snow, washed and dried the utensil, and handed it back to Volo so he could take a nap.

He dreamed of walking around that familiar old cabin with Haru in his arms— he couldn’t remember much of anything but blurred faces and familiar voices, but there was a moment when he guided Kenji’s hand to place on Haru’s head, and she made the most adorable little noise, and Rei woke up feeling more confused and homesick than ever.

Elle had apparently decided she wanted to bury herself in Wyrdeer fluff, which would have been an excellent idea had she not been covered in goodra slime and gotten slightly stuck. She was nibbling on an aspear berry as a pair of stantler methodically licked her free. Rei averted his eyes out of respect; he was glad she was eating something, but making a fuss over it wouldn’t help.

Volo was sleeping when Rei checked, and looked…weirdly vulnerable. Their hair was beginning to fall out of its bun, and their cap was draped over their face in a way that made it look like the brim was cutting into their left eye. It must have been just the shadows, Rei decided, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes. The sun was close to setting, casting the world in strange hues of deep violet laced with sickly lime. It was still strange, like being half in another world, and the red light played strange tricks in the sky. The night sky was a deep purplish blue, and the stars were dark speckles, and the moon oozed electric cyan.

There was a soft tapping sound, and Rei realized Elle was trying to get his attention. She’d been mostly freed from the goodra slime, and there was a bit of berry flesh stuck on her chin, but she looked…better. Calmer than she’d been before.

She flipped open her communication notebook and sprawled across Lord Wyrdeer, tapping a message for him. Cool rock. Want [to] see?

“Sure,” he agreed easily. Not much else to do out here, honestly.

Elle seemed worried, though. [From] [M-e-s-p-r-i-t]. Psychic.

“You mean the one Mesprit just gave you? That’s…the lake god’s name, right?” Rei asked, unsure why she was concerned. 

Yes. The rock [is/has] power. Psychic. [Could] help [me] talk. But not if it r-e-m-i-n-d-s [you] of Cogita.

“I…no. It’s fine. If it could help you communicate, you should go for it,” Rei said decisively. “You should absolutely go for it. Don’t worry about me.”

Elle looked doubtful, but removed the stone from her clothing anyways, allowing it to touch the bare skin of her wrist. Testing, can you hear me?

“Yeah! I can—”

Bitch. The force of the word hit him like a physical impact, and Rei blinked rapidly. You’re allowed to have trauma too, bitch . Just because I’ve been through it doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have problems and needs! We, we have to talk to each other to start with. Otherwise we’ll just end up hurting each other.

“Right. Sorry,” Rei muttered, looking away. To be honest, he’d…well, he’d been treating Elle as more fragile than usual. It was hard to know what she needed, especially now, and he wouldn’t want to deprive her of a voice after hers had been stolen away. He’d give her his own, if that would help.

But that kind of self-sacrificial attitude had been the source of most of their problems when they’d been roommates in Jubilife— both of them danced in circles around the other, and it took them far too long to simply meet in the middle and talk about what they needed. And by that time, the damage was already done. They were so afraid of causing offense over minor slights that they let each other do a lot more harm than they should have.

I care about you, okay? Elle’s expression softened. I care about you enough that I want you to care about yourself. And I’ll remind you as often as I need to, so long as you’re willing to try.

“Yeah. Yeah, thank you.” Rei’s throat felt oddly tight, and he pulled his knees up to his chest. “It’s… a little uncomfortable? I can feel… a lot of what you’re saying, it’s like I’m just getting blasted with the raw emotions. But I can handle it. I’ll…let you know if it gets to be too much. So much has happened, I don’t know what to do. I mean, at least there’s this red chain Cogita wants us to make.”

Mm. Yeah. About that. A tangle of anxiety and worry that had Rei clutching at his chest, trying to breathe. Shit, shit, sorry— um. Well basically last time I watched a bitch I suicide baited trying to destroy the world with it? Like, the incidents were unrelated and they also indirectly tried to kill me multiple times but it was a very bad time. So idk if we’re really….basically I don’t trust Cogita not to fuck with timespace if she gets her hands on this thing?

“Hold on, the red chain thing is capable of that?” Rei said incredulously. He was, uh. Gonna process the rest of that later.

Yes. It could destroy the world in the wrong hands. In this case, the person in question…thought the human spirit was so flawed that it needed to be eliminated entirely. So, genocide! She made a sarcastic gesture. Cogita doesn't seem like the kind of person who thinks other people are worth saving. Who thinks the world is worth it.

“Well, that’s bullshit. I mean— yes, I’m pissed at the world for a lotta reasons. I want t’ change it, drastically, bridge the gap between mine and yours. But…I’m not dumb enough to remake it from scratch ‘n get rid of everything there is.” Rei sighed and leaned back. “I don't...really know a lot of things. Like my place in it. If we can save it. But I want to. I want it to get better, and maybe I want to bring my family overseas here. You know, there’s still so much I don’t understand about the world. Like why ice is lighter than water, or what makes mint taste cold or nanab berries spicy and painful to eat.”

Menthol makes mint cold. It’s also in icyhot, which is good for muscle soreness, Elle volunteered, her emotions returning to a normal baseline, or something approximating it. Not sure about nanab berries.

“Nanab berries…aren’t spicy. At all,” Volo said slowly. 

Rei flinched violently, and there was a brief moment where Elle’s panic and his own fed off each other in a fearful cycle until he managed to tamp it down. It was fine, it was just Volo. Not a threat. Lord Wyrdeer would protect them if anything bad happened.

“Uh, hey. Sorry if we woke you,” Rei said awkwardly. “Mesprit apparently gave Elle a telepathy rock. Also, what do you mean they’re not spicy?”

Volo eyed Elle appraisingly, and the crystal in her hand. “I mean, they’re not spicy in the slightest. I’ve traveled farther than Hisui’s borders on delivery runs, and I’ve never heard of such a thing. Nanab berries aren’t spicy.”

“Yes they are! And my mouth kinda tastes metallic afterwards. What kind of nanab berries have you been eating?”

“Well, they’re…mild? And kind of soft, and a bit sweet but mostly savory,” they responded, brow furrowed. “I haven’t ever eaten one that tasted metallic or spicy before.”

“Literally? All of them taste like that?” Rei turned to Elle for support. “Okay, what do they taste like to you?”

This time, Elle’s mental voice came out crackly, with strong undertones of worry. I’ve eaten Hisuian bananas from the same bunch as you, Rei. They’re just like Volo described them.

“What, is it only me?” Rei complained, but it was lighthearted.

I think so. Hm. Don’t like how open this is. Elle was growing fainter, and finally slipped the crystal into her pocket with a concerned expression.

“Actually,” Volo said, a strange look in their eyes, “There’s something I’d like to ask you. The lake trio’s gift doesn’t allow you to lie, does it? Deception is their antithesis, after all.”

Elle shook her head slowly, and something in Rei’s chest twisted. He couldn’t explain why, exactly; it just felt wrong.

“So tell me, sky-faller,” Volo continued, every word deliberate and reminiscent of a predator honing in on its kill. “How exactly did you become so strong prior to arriving here?”

Chapter Text

For a moment, Elle was just…shocked. Her eyes went blank and distant, and Rei wheeled on Volo, with a snarl, ready to verbally tear into them, only to feel Elle’s fingers lightly touching his arm.

She pulled him back, and tapped her communication notebook. Lord Wyrdeer was still asleep, a physical barrier between the two of them and Volo, but Rei was willing to bet that waking up the Lord would shift the power balance here pretty damn quick.

“Oh?” Volo said, their hair slipping loose even further. Their grin was slightly unhinged, single visible eye gleaming with a manic light. “ Now she’s suddenly silent? Come on, sky-faller, Sinnoh chose you for a—”

BITCH, Elle broadcast angrily, and several members of the herd jerked their heads up at the sudden psychic energy coming from her. Lord Wyrdeer himself shifted slightly, muscles rippling beneath his thick pelt.