Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Dad, you here?"

"Where else would I be?"

Arven stepped into the pristinely destroyed Zero Lab. His footsteps echoed silently as he made his way through the cleared path through the rubble. He looked around as he moved forward. Strange symbols on the whiteboards. Papers strewn across desks. Photos of him and Maschiff when he was a child taped in various places.

He was alone.

"Dad?"

His voice boomed, ricocheting off the walls in a deafening howl.

There was no reply.

Ding!

Arven's head snapped towards the elevator at the far wall. The buttons lit up. The doors opened slowly.

He approached. His pace matched the doors. They opened once he stood before them.

The elevator opened to a field. Purple forget-me-nots stretched out as far as the eye could see.

The faintest silhouette in the distance.

A white lab coat billowing in the breeze as a man walked away

Arven ran.

"Dad!"

No matter how long he ran, he never closed the distance.

"Dad! Wait!"

The man never turned around. He was getting farther away, disappearing into the horizon.

"Dad!"

The man disappeared, but Arven was finally moving. He was sprinting across the grass. His lungs burned. His head was pounding. He faltered where he stood where the man once was, skidding to a stop as the grass suddenly ended into a deep drop off a cliff. At the bottom he saw an ocean of flowers.

Of purple forget-me-nots.

"I'm here."

Arven's eyes snapped open at the sound of a large thud and the pain that was quickly spiking through his arm and face. He grumbled curses into the wooden floor that he'd face planted into. He could feel his legs still on the bed, tangled and wrapped up in the sheets.

He was soon sputtering as Houndstone was nuzzling him with his snout. Goosebumps erupted across his skin as the dog nudged him worriedly.

"I'm fine, bud! Calm down!"

It took a few more moments of insisting before the dog finally backed away to lay down and watch him carefully with a short whine. Arven couldn't help but glance at Mabosstiff's gravestone for a moment while he awkwardly tried to wipe away the... cold from his face.

He'd almost prefer dog slobber and wet dog noses... It felt like he would never get used to Mabosstiff—Houndstone as he was now.

Arven twisted lightly, trying to glance at his position. Hm... The sheets were wrapped around his legs quite tightly. He grit his teeth as he attempted to move them. No dice...

Stupid fucking dream...

Maybe he could crawl forward and unravel his legs that way... That would probably be for the best. He didn't think he'd be able to hoist himself back onto the bed and

He jolted at a knock on his door.

"Arven? You okay?"

"Gods, Penny!" he cursed, dropping his forehead to the floor gently while his heart raced. "Scared the shit out of me!"

"Ew, I hope not," she casually joked. There was a short pause before she added seriously, "...Do you need help?"

Arven grit his teeth. His hands clenched into fists. He needed to be able to handle himself. He was a grown fucking man. A little debilitating pain in his side and spine and leg couldn't ruin his life. He had to be better than it. He had to...

...

...If he could triumph over the pain, then...

...

"I'm fine," he hissed. "Go... steal some of my coffee."

"Already done, so I think I'll just... hang out a bit up here. Admire the elevator for a little while."

"Penny! I don't need your help!"

"Do you see me helping you? I don't even know what happened."

He floundered, glaring at the closed door. "I— That's— Shut up!"

"Wow. Sada really spared no expense on this thing, huh? Got some great buttons to push here. Very satisfying."

With a roll of his eyes as Penny complimented the elevator, Arven grunted as he lifted his head and planted his elbows onto the floor. The temporary pain from falling on himself was diminishing in his face. His chronic pain was flaring back up in his abdomen, spreading down his spine and leg at the awkward positioning he lay in. He chewed on his cheek.

Ignore it. All you have to do is crawl .

He forced himself forward. Left arm forward. Right arm forward.

See? He was fine.

Left arm forward. Right arm forward.

His legs finally dropped, but so did the rest of him. As his lower half finally hit the hardwood, he felt a strangled scream choke into a dead gasp as his vision blotted white. The pain ruptured through his abdomen with a heat of volcanic fury. He tasted vomit.

"—ven?"

"—think he's—"

"Arven…? Arven, can you hear me?"

His vision snapped back in in an instant. He was on the floor on his side. The smell of vomit burned into his nostrils. He could feel it and drool pooling out of his mouth onto the floor. It hurt to move his eyes, let alone anything else, as he struggling to gain focus on the scene.

Penny was on her knees in front of him with Houndstone at her side, boring a hole as he stared at him intensely. Penny's phone was active, floating in the air in front of her. She sighed in slight relief, "I—I think he's coming t-to. Arven? You c-c-can hear me, right? P-Please say something."

She looked… strange. Arven squinted. What was wrong? He couldn't place it.

"P-Pen—" he croaked before clamping his mouth shut at the taste of vomit on his mouth. It was enough to bring more up. He shut his eyes, tears of humiliation firing down his face as he felt Penny's hand soothingly rub on his shoulder.

"B-Better t-to let it out, o-okay? I-I'll clean up a-after the p-paramedics get here…"

Paramedics?

…

He didn't…

…

He wanted to be better than this.

"…A Service Pokemon?" He parroted quietly. He clenched his right hand into a light fist at his side, rolling his head on the pillow where he lay in the hospital bed. "…No."

He saw the doctor freeze and stiffen out of the corner of his eye. "…'No'?"

"Yeah," he grumbled. "Don't want one."

"If you're worried that it will be an expense you can't afford, don't be. Service Pokemon are—"

"I know. And I know you can't force me to accept one."

"But—"

"No."

The doctor remained silent. Arven couldn't help but curiously glance over in their direction. The professional was staring him down, brow furrowed and head tilted with confusion. "…Can I ask why you're so resistant, Arven? A Service Pokemon is there to support and—"

"I know what it's there for and I don't want one. I'm… fine. I can help myself."

The doctor's confused brow turned into a serious frown. He reminded him, "You whited out after falling out of bed. The paramedics reported that you were unable to sit up without assistance, let alone stand. What would you have done had your friend not been there to help make sure you didn't choke on your own vomit?"

Arven tensed, his shoulders shooting to his ears as the man stated the facts. He looked away in shame, a furious and embarrassed blush creeping into his cheeks and ears. "Woulda been fine…" he insisted weakly, "…'s a one-time thing…"

"How can you know that?"

"…"

"You are right, however. We cannot force a Service Pokemon to assist you, we can only highly recommend that you apply for one." His tone softened after a deep breath. Arven continued to look away as the man continued, "…I'd like to have a better understanding for why you refuse. I believe you understand that this display of bravado is not an answer."

Arven shut his eyes. The way the man spoke reminded him of—

His left hand curled into a light fist to match his right. He felt fury bubbling in his chest— not at the doctor, but at himself.

He was such a fucking idiot.

He heard a sigh. Footsteps moving round the bed towards the door. "I will be back with—"

"I almost killed a Service Pokemon," he stated quietly, glancing up at the man who whirled on his heel with surprise.

"I'm sorry?"

"…She…. Well, she was 'retired' when she came to live with me," he explained hesitantly, unclenching his fists to poke and prod at the thin blanket over his lap. "…Her name is Raltsy. A shiny Gardevoir. She… belonged to my Guardian, Clavell, before he passed… He left her to me in his will, hoping I would give her a nice life without work.

"But I… I didn't give her that. She was supposed to relax and enjoy things, but she spent all of her time using her powers to try to heal me and my fucking pain!" He sucked in a sharp breath. His chest tightened. Tears burned in his eyes. "That wasn't what she was trained for, but she still— she still—!"

He dropped his head, slamming the heel of his palms into his eyes as his body trembled. He couldn't choke back the sob that rippled through him. It was for more than just Raltsy. It was for Nemona, Penny, Sada, Saguaro and Katy and Mia and Midge, Hassel and Brassius, and everybody else he inconvenienced with his shit. He needed to be better.

He had to be better.

He didn't want to keep inconveniencing them.

He didn't want to… to be a burden.

Not for anybody… Not again…

"I…" his voice cracked and trembled as he continued hesitantly, "…I had t-to give her away before I killed her. S-She was growing weaker every day— She… I didn't want her to die."

He looked up slowly, sniffling as he tried to look the doctor in the eyes. It was hard when the man was nothing but a blurry mass behind the tears. "…I don't want to do that again… I—I don't want to be the cause of…"

He trailed off, bunching the blankets in his left hand while his right buried back into his eyes. He stared at the blankets as the doctor's footsteps moved around. There was the sound of a cupboard opening, the footsteps returning, and a tissue box being set on the side of his bed. Arven stared at it for a moment before his trembling hands pulled out a tissue, heavily blotting his eyes.

"You said it yourself, Arven," the man explained gently, "that this 'Raltsy' wasn't trained to treat your disabilities. It's not your fault that she wished to help despite that."

Arven coughed as he couldn't stop the tears. He could see a nurse and medical Pokemon peeking their heads into the room, before disappearing as the doctor waved them off.

The man continued, "Alongside your prescription, I will give you a brochure from the Service Pokemon Association. They have 24/7 lines open for communication between phone calls, video calls, texts, and emails if you have any questions. I urge you to take a look and consider it. Any Service Pokemon assigned to you will be fit for your needs, Arven; there is no need to worry about it overexerting itself."

"…"

"I will give you my contact information as well. If you do decide to apply for a Service Pokemon, which I highly encourage, then I can expedite the process." The man gently squeezed his shoulder. "Sometimes, strength is knowing when you need help from others. Don't be afraid to reach out, all right? I'll be back shortly."

Sada hummed as she leafed through the brochure. Arven watched her tiredly, keeping his chair rolling at a reasonable pace while she read.

Miraidon peeked out curiously from her side, staring up at the paper.

The woman finally closed the brochure, moving her now free hand to pat Miraidon on the head. She smiled sadly at her son, "I've… been wanting to suggest you look into getting a Service Pokemon for yourself for a long time," she admitted.

Arven's eyebrows raised in surprise, before he was immediately scowling and glaring at the trail in front of them.

She thought he was weak.

"Arvy? What are you thinking?" He could hear the frown on the woman's face.

"…Nothing."

Sada sighed deeply. He could see her hair swinging as she shook her head. He thought she would fight back with a snippy remark, but their walk fell into silence.

Minutes passed as they made their way through the ever-crowded Mesagoza. Arven moved to drum his left hand on his knee, his arm jostling Houndstone's Ball on his waistband. Thankfully, the dog didn't release. He would have released onto his lap, and they'd most likely have to turn around and go right back to the emergency room.

His right hand stayed perched on the wheelchair's control. He was tempted to rocket forward, to find somewhere to be by himself.

Even when he returned home, he knew that Penny and Nemona would both be there. He just wanted to…

…

He didn't really know.

But being alone sounded right.

"Arvy, I…" He glanced over as Sada spoke hesitantly. She rubbed her elbow with one hand and clutched the brochure with the other. She paused as it crinkled audibly, staring down at it with a slow blink.

Then, she was carefully tucking it in the prescription bag next to Arven on the chair, crossing her arms after she straightened back up. She averted her gaze, biting her lip and glancing back and forth between him and the road as it turned to trail after they stepped out of Mesagoza.

"There's something else I've been meaning to tell you, Arvy…" Sada continued slowly. Hesitantly.

Arven's brow furrowed. "Something serious?"

"Well… no… Or, no, yes… No… maybe…?"

Arven slowed his chair to a stop, simply staring at the woman with concern. She walked a few paces forward before stopping, looking over her shoulder in confusion before spotting him staring at her.

"What's wrong?"

If it was something truly serious, she wouldn't be floundering so horribly. Sada stiffened, looking back to the trail in front of them. He could see her start to pull and run her fingers through her hair.

He moved forward to be next to her again. She glanced at him nervously, swallowing harshly. "I'm… uh… You see, Arvy… I'm… um…"

Arven raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you're about to come out and tell me you're a lesbian."

Sada snorted, before cupping a hand over her face as she belted out laughing. Arven couldn't help a chuckle himself at the woman's demeanour. She was still hiccuping with short laughs even a minute later, fanning herself as light tears listened in her eyes.

"No, no," she finally continued, "I already came out as pansexual yeeeeeears ago. Don't need to do it again."

Huh… Somehow, he didn't know that.

"But… Well, I… I guess it's kind of related, in a sense. I'm…" Sada paused, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I'm… seeing someone, Arvy."

He thought his eyebrows would shoot off his forehead. "Oh," was all he could muster before he was physically biting his tongue to stop himself from adding "I didn't realize 60-going-on-70 year olds had dating pools".

"It's… ah… hm…" Her fingers were flying through her hair. She continued moving forward. Arven followed at her pace. "It's—It's not like I'm trying to replace Turo or anything—"

Arven snorted in disbelief, "Did you really think I'd think that?"

Sada pursed her lips tightly before apologizing, "I'm sorry, Arvy… Of course you wouldn't. It's just… I mean…"

"Are you happy?"

Sada blinked, glancing at him. Slowly, a short smile reached her eyes. "It hasn't been for very long, but… yes. So far, it's been… nice."

"Well, good. I'm happy for you, then."

"If… If you want to meet—"

He waved her off. "We don't have to force a meeting. Not like I'll be interrogating them on when they plan to bring you back home from a date."

Sada snorted again before sighing in relief, "No, I suppose you wouldn't be, huh?"

He shrugged jokingly. "Unless you want me to."

Sada reached over to ruffle his short hair with another laugh, "I think I'm good!"

"Blonde."

It was the first thing he blurted out as he and Sada returned to his lighthouse home, being greeted by Penny and Nemona as he thought. The shock of the woman's new look was enough to make him forget that he'd wanted to be alone. He pointed at Penny's hair, repeating himself, "Blonde."

Sada cut in, clasping her hands together. "If it wasn't for the hoodie, I wouldn't have realized it was you! It looks adorable! Can I ask why the change?"

“Blonde."

"Yes, Arvy, we can all see here."

Nemona laughed at Sada's remark, Penny grumbling as she fidgeted with her hands. The group moved into the living room, Arven carefully moving from his wheelchair to the couch and releasing Houndstone while Penny explained.

"I got really tired of re-dyeing it…" she griped, curling a finger around her bangs. "Tried to get the closest to my natural colour so I don't have to worry about my roots or anything."

"Very smart." Sada grinned, leaning forward where she sat on the armchair as Nemona and Penny joined Arven on the couch. "You dye it yourself?"

"To get it back to one uniform colour? No! I woulda messed it up so bad." Penny dropped her head to the back of the couch dramatically. "Cost me an arm and a leg, though…"

Arven scoffed, "Good thing you married a princess."

Penny nodded. "Yeah."

Nemona frowned. "I am NOT a—" she paused, staring at the shorter woman with betrayal in her eyes. "Penny!?"

Penny laughed, quickly leaning over to kiss Nemona on the cheek. "Love you~"

Nemona pouted, crossing her arms. She mumbled a quiet, "…Love you, too."

Penny hummed in curiosity, leaning forward to point at Arven's wheelchair. "What's that brochure? Never seen one of those with a prescription."

"Oh…" Arven turned to look, deflating at the sight of the brochure on the seat. "I was given the recommendation of applying for a Service Pokemon…"

"I think that's a smart idea…" Penny said softly. There was a hint of sadness in her words. "There's only so much Houndstone can do…"

"Yeah… Ooh!!" Nemona bounced in her seat. "What if he gets a shiny like Raltsy?!"

"Mona, that's next to impossible… Clavell just got—"

"But it COULD happen! And think how cool it would be! Ooh, I gotta look up all the Paldean Service Pokemon and see what shiny he might be able to get!"

Arven felt his mood drain. He turned to glare at the wall, propping his elbow onto the armrest to the prop his head onto his hand. He mumbled, "You're only gonna disappoint yourself, Nemona…"

Especially since he still wasn't convinced to get one. He knew they'd find him something suitable for his debilitating pains, but he didn't want to hurt it…

And he knew that he would end up hurting it, one way or another…

"Arven, what are you doing? Is something wrong with your leg?"

"Yeah! It won't come off!"

Turo blinked, stupefied. He shook his head and scratched the back of his neck. "I must have misheard you. What did you say?"

Arven pouted, before he resumed pulling on his left leg. "My leg doesn't come off! Yours comes off! Why doesn't mine?!"

“…Ah."

Turo moved, carefully sitting on the couch next to his young son before gently grabbing Arven's hands, pulling them away from his leg. Arven pouted even harder.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself," Turo explained gently, setting the boy's hands onto his lap before ruffling his hair. "Now… why do you want your leg to be removable?"

Arven puffed up proudly immediately, grinning from ear to ear. "So I can be just like you!!"

Turo froze.

"And if I'm just like you, then I can be really, really smart and cool and stuff!"

"Well, that's…" Turo laughed quietly, at a loss for words. He stared at his son for a moment before wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close. "I'm flattered, Arvy, but I'd rather you be your own person."

"Oh… Why?"

"If I wanted a replica of myself, I…" Turo paused. Arven glanced up at him with big, curious eyes. Turo continued slowly, "…I… I'm not as… hm… I'm… You…"

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. Arven's curiosity faded, turning into guilt as he clutched onto his father's sweater.

"I'm sorry," Arven mumbled, lip starting to tremble. "D-Did I s-say something wrong…?"

"Hm? What? No—No!" Turo was quickly rubbing the boy's arm in comfort. "Don't get upset, Arvy, it's simply a difficult 'why' to answer…"

"Oh…" Arven looked to Maschiff as the dog trotted in from the kitchen and rolled out on the floor in front of the TV. Arven kicked his legs gently in the air. "So… why can you remove YOUR leg, Dad?"

He peered up curiously at the man again, who was looking back at him with an unreadable expression. Turo stopped rubbing his arm to squeeze it instead.

"I lost my real leg years ago. What I have now is a fake leg, a medical tool. It's called a 'prosthetic leg', or a 'prosthesis'."

"Oh… Okay…" Arven shuffled himself closer to his father, nudging his face into the man's side. "How did it get lost?"

"My real leg?"

"Mhm."

"I… I injured it severely and had to be taken to the hospital for emergency surgery. The doctors tried to see if they could save it, but, it was decided that the best course of action was to remove it via a process called 'amputation'."

"Oh… That sounds scary…"

"It was… but it wasn't as scary as…" Arven looked up again as his father trailed off. Once again, the man was looking at him with an unreadable expression. He smiled gently, moving his hand off Arven's shoulder to ruffle the boy's hair. "…Nevermind. It all turned out fine in the end."

"But you lost your leg…? And—And it WASN'T supposed to come off, right…? But… it's okay? I don't get it…"

Turo chuckled, "Sorry. It's… It's simply… It's something I would rather tell you when you're older."

Arven glared. When he was older?! How old?!? Why not now?!?! He frowned as deeply as he could, almost giving himself a headache with how hard he was furrowing his brow. He crossed his arms angrily and pouted, thinking if he wanted to ask why he couldn't be told it now.

…

His dad probably wouldn't say why if he asked! Fine!! Maybe Arven didn't want to be like him, after all!!

"C'mon, Maschiff! Let's go play!" he huffed angrily, squirming away from Turo's grasp before he dropped to the floor. The dog was quickly squirming with a bark, scrambling to his feet.

As they bolted to the kitchen to run to the backyard, Arven paused as Turo called out to him.

"There is one thing, Arven… I don't regret the loss of my leg for a second."

Arven frowned, his hand falling asleep as he held his phone up while lying in bed. He didn't know how he ended up scrolling through the Service Pokemon Association's website.

'A Service Pokemon is not a Pokemon partner for battles or general companionship. A Service Pokemon is recognized as necessary medical equipment.'

He hit the power button on his phone and dropped it to his chest as a scowl fell on his face. He ignored the Rotom buzzing at the impact.

He felt fury rising in his blood.

Medical equipment? Medical equipment?! What, so Raltsy had been lumped in with a prosthesis?! That living, breathing creature with thoughts and emotions was held to the same standard as his wheelchair or cane?!

That was stupid.

Idiotic!

Bullshit!

His chair couldn't think! His cane couldn't communicate! Turo's leg couldn't eat!!

…

Arven let out a heavy breath through his nose, rolling his arm to rest over his eyes.

If Turo were here… he'd insist Arven apply.

…

He'd probably say it exactly like that doctor said it, too. He could hear it clearly in his father's voice.

"Any Service Pokemon assigned to you will be fit for your needs, Arven; there is no need to worry about it overexerting itself."

…

Fuck.

He lifted his phone back up and unlocked it, slowly scanning the rest of the page.

"Hey, Dad…" he grunted, slowly easing himself to the ground in front of Turo's grave in the back of the lighthouse. One day he'd remember to bring a chair outside. "Sorry for not seeing you for a couple of days. I was… Y'know. Stuff kinda happened.

"…I… might get a Service Pokemon. I have a consultation I guess. It's tomorrow." He scratched the back of his neck, trying to avoid the goosebumps up his arm as Mabosstiff's grave nudged against him while Houndstone lay down next to him. "…I'm… kinda worried, y'know?"

He sighed, moving to lean against the house. "…Not—Not for me, for… for the Pokemon. They're gonna ask me questions… do an assessment… maybe even let me meet some if things pan out, but… what if I… What if I make it hurt itself when it helps me? Or… worse?

"I know they say they'll match me with something that fits my needs, but what if my needs are too much? It's not like they can accurately say they've given Service Pokemon to people with my exact levels of pain…"

He closed his eyes halfway, vision blurring slightly as he stared at the grave. The purple forget-me-nots were starting to wilt. Maybe he should just get fake ones… He never liked looking at them like this.

"…And I hate… I hate how it says a Service Pokemon is like medical equipment. It's a living, breathing thing, y'know? I don't know if I can treat it like medical equipment… Am I supposed to? It's no big deal if I lose my cane… Maybe a bit of a deal if something happens to my chair… too many people chipped in to get that for me… but… but a living thing isn't equipment and—"

He closed his eyes, blowing out air of frustration. He was just going to talk in circles.

"…Sorry, I'm… I don't want to bore you with my troubles, Dad…" he mumbled. He half expected to hear the man scold him, to tell him that it was his job to listen to Arven's grievances.

But he opened his eyes to a gravestone marked by wilting forget-me-nots and silence.

He sat in silence until he felt the energy to get back up.

He left the grave without saying goodbye.

"Mona's got an appointment around then, too. We can all meet up and get some food beforehand, if you're up for it?"

"Yeah. Sure. Just tell me when and where."

Arven looked at the note on his phone as he entered Mesagoza, making sure he went to the right food plaza to meet up with the women. He hummed in thought at the location. A malasada store had recently been installed, maybe he'd grab some of those as a treat. He deserved a treat, right?

He nodded dimly to himself. Malasadas, that's what he'd grab.

He couldn't help but look down at his cane as he walked through the city. The painkillers were doing well enough to relieve the pain that he could walk, but, if he wanted to get a few, they'd give him a bigger bag.

And carrying a bigger bag while walking with his cane always sucked. He could never get a comfortable grip on it, and, if the handles dug into and irritated his fingers, he couldn't simply swap hands anymore.

Maybe he would get… a single malasada.

…and order more for delivery when he got back home.

Now that was a plan.

Humming to himself, he shuffled off to the side as he looked up the restaurant on his phone. Might as well look at all the flavours in advance.

As he perused and debated the flavours, there was a sudden chill up his spine. Unease in his chest. Someone or something was staring at him.

He lifted his eyes, trying to look around discreetly. He felt his mouth go dry. His right hand clenched his cane so hard he could see it turning bone white.

Nausea swirled in his gut and goosebumps erupted up his arms.

It was the exact same feeling he'd felt at Hassel's and Brassius' wedding, before Giacomo attempted to kill him hours later…

Just like at the wedding, he couldn't see anybody…

…

His abdomen started to burn. He bit his cheek as his mind played tricks; it felt like the wound had reopened. It felt like his blood was pooling out hot.

He gently let go of his phone, the Rotom keeping it afloat as his trembling hand clicked on the release of Houndstone's Ball. The dog wagged his tail happily and Arven forced a smile.

"I'm gonna get us a malasada, bud. I'm gonna list out the Pokemon-safe flavours and you tell me which one you want, okay?"

Houndstone let out a low 'ruf', his tail wagging faster and smacking the building beside him.

As Arven slowly listed the flavours for his Pokemon, the feeling of being watched eventually dissipated.

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He carefully unclenched his hand from around the cane, his fingers cracking as they did so. Blood rushed down into his hand, static pooling through his veins.

It was fine.

Everything was fine.

He and Mabo—Houndstone were going to get malasadas and meet up with his friends and everything would continue to be fucking fine.

After confirming Houndstone's choice and changing his mind three times for his own, Arven placed the order for pick-up and started back in his way. Houndstone trotted alongside him, just like Mabosstiff did.

…Well, almost just like Mabosstiff did. Houndstone's bones clicked and clacked with every movement. The sounds made Arven's skin crawl.

One day, he'd get used to it…

…right…?

"Hi, I'm here for a pick-up for Arven."

"Ah, yes! Here you go! Have a great day, you two!"

"Thanks. You, too. C'mon, bud, let's go find…" he stopped in his tracks as he turned. He sidestepped out of the way of oncoming customers and turned his head fully to the left. Had he seen…?

Yes. He'd seen Sada at a table in his peripheral when he'd turned.

And, sitting across from her with a hand resting on top of hers was

"LARRY?!“

He quickly clasped his mouth shut, slapping the bag of malasadas over it. The entire restaurant went quiet, staring at him for what felt like eternity, but couldn't have been longer than a few seconds.

Everyone quickly returned back to what they were doing… except for him, Sada, and Larry. They were as shell-shocked as he was, the three staring at each other and frozen in time.

It wasn't until a cold, ghostly snout pushed against the back of his knees did Arven snap out of it. He stumbled forward, digging his cane onto the tiled floor before glaring at Houndstone as the dog meandered up to Sada's side. Houndstone sat down, wagging his tail as he was no doubt begging.

Sada rubbed the top of his head, before ripping off a piece of malasada and holding it in her palm.

The dog inhaled it before Arven could say anything.

"He has one for himself," he mumbled as he approached, lifting up the bag.

Sada simply smiled, bridging her hands together to rest her chin on them. "Of course he does."

He stood awkwardly next to the table himself, eyes darting between Sada and his ex-fiancé's father.

"So—" he started, before Larry was suddenly standing.

"You can sit, Arven," the man stated, pointedly looking at his feet like an embarrassed teenager. "I'll go."

"Huh? Wait—"

The man was rushing out the door. Arven couldn't recall seeing him move so fast before.

Arven looked back as Sada stood. She wanted to go after him, that was clear, but she paused and stared at Arven with… fear?

Was she scared he was upset with her?

Arven sighed and started towards the door, himself. "Come on. Before he gets too far…"

Houndstone's bones clacked as he followed.

Sada's sandals did similar.

"Larry, wait!" she called out as they left the restaurant. He'd managed quite a distance despite simply power walking away. If Sada tried to run to catch up, she would have lost a sandal for sure.

Larry slowed to a stop at being called. He turned to look at them tentatively, before eventually letting out a sigh. He turned on his heel and started making his way back, shoulders sagging and head low.

Arven and Sada continued forward slowly to meet him halfway. He glanced over at the woman, who was running her fingers nervously through her hair.

"Arven! You beat us here! Hi, Sada!"

Arven jumped at Nemona's voice. He turned to watch the woman approach, Penny at her side. Penny was carrying an Every Wich Way bag in her hand.

They seemed oblivious to the situation. They must have just left their restaurant of choice.

"How about you two grab a table for us?" he quickly asked. "I only got a malasada so feel free to start eating without me. I gotta talk to Sada."

"Oh, sure! Let's go, Pen! Oh, hi Larry! Wow, first Katy and the girls and now Larry! Seems like everybody's…" Arven tuned the Champion out as Larry finally returned. They quickly shuffled out of the way to a small area with less foot traffic once he had.

Past Larry, Arven could see Nemona and Penny sit down at one of the public tables close by.

…The closest table to him, actually. Of course they would…

He turned his attention back to Larry when Sada moved to the man's side, gently resting a hand on his arm.

Sada sucked in a breath as she looked back at Arven. She opened her mouth to speak, before clamping it shut again.

Arven raised an eyebrow.

Finally, she sputtered, "I-I know this might be awkward because of you and Giacomo, Arvy, but—"

Arven scoffed.

"—but… Larry, he…"

She looked at the man in question, at a loss. Larry was worse off. He looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

Arven took a deep breath… and smiled. "You said he made you happy, right?"

The two looked at him. He could see Sada's fingers curl into Larry's sleeve. "I… Yes."

Larry's eyes widened in surprise. He quickly glanced at her, and then back at Arven when Arven asked, "And? What about you, Larry? Are you happy with Mom?"

“I—"

Sada's gasp quickly drowned him out. Her voice trembled. Tears were in her eyes as she croaked, "Arvy, you… You finally called me 'Mom'…!"

He flinched back in realization, a blush quickly firing onto his cheeks. "S-So what?" he stammered and then quickly put his focus back on the man beside her. "Larry! Answer the question!"

Larry tensed for a second before relaxing just as quickly, bringing up his hand to cover Sada's on his arm. The short smile reached his eyes as he finally replied with a soft, "Yes."

Arven awkwardly dropped his hands to his hips, gripping the top of the malasada bag even tighter before it fell from his grip. "Good. That's all that matters."

He paused for a beat before glancing at the ground himself, now wishing it would swallow him whole. "S-Sorry for yelling… I was just… surprised, y'know?"

Sada laughed, "No kidding! I bet the entire city heard you!"

His shoulders shot to his ears, scowling as he felt his face burn an even brighter red. Now he really wished the ground would swallow him whole.

He shut his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. Even if Larry hadn't said anything, they'd both been worried about his relationship with Giacomo, huh? That's why Larry left so fast…

"Don't… Don't worry about whatever Giacomo and I had…" he stated slowly, finally looking back at the two. He forced a smile. "It'd only be something to worry about if we were still together, right? That'd be kinda fucked up."

Larry nodded solemnly. "However, I'm sorry for—"

Sada spoke at the same time, "I tried to tell you the other week, but—"

The two paused, staring at each other. They started to speak at once again, telling the other to speak first. It happened again, then insisting the other talk.

Arven chuckled in amusement, interrupting as it happened a third time, "It's fine. Just don't…"

Goosebumps up his arm. The hair on his neck standing on end. A cold dread sinking heavy into his chest and burying his lungs. He thought Houndstone had brushed up against him, only for a millisecond, but he saw the problem quickly.

It was almost like he'd been looking for it without knowing.

The same dread from earlier, only he wasn't the one being watched.

He focused past Larry, past the table Nemona and Penny sat at, happily conversing while they ate.

"Arv—"

Sada's concern drowned out into a dull ring in his ears. The bustle of the city faded along with it as he watched an individual wander through the crowd… and march straight to Nemona's and Penny's table from behind.

A baggy hoodie masked their frame. The hood was pulled so far down, all Arven could see was their ghostly pale jaw. Hands in pockets.

There was a shift.

They took a step to the left. They were focusing on Penny. A hand moved from the pocket.

Arven's blood ran cold.

A pocket knife.

Time slowed to a crawl. The bag fell from his hand first. His cane slipped from his wrist next. He lunged forward, pushing Sada and Larry apart—no time to go around.

Penny was oblivious.

Nemona was oblivious.

The sunlight glinted off the blade as the hooded figure raised their arm. Something else shone alongside it.

Arven breathed in.

He felt eternity in a heartbeat.

Screams cut through the ringing. His heart pounding in his chest. A breeze touching his face. Pain surging through his body as he moved.

He blinked.

He was clattering to the ground with the assailant. His hand on their wrists… Something was strange with their right wrist as he squeezed, trying to get them to relinquish the weapon. It felt extremely hard.

His gaze flickered over.

A prosthesis. One of the models that could function like an actual limb, considering the grasp they still had on the knife.

"You—!"

His gaze flicked back to the person's face as they spat at him. One eye under thick glasses glared at him with utter vitriol. The other eye betrayed the emotion.

A glass eye.

Rika.

It happened in an instant. Their positions were flipped. Despite her skeletal frame masked by her clothing, she pinned him down easily.

The hood flew off as she sat on her knees. Her wig looked askew.

She raised her right arm.

He was seeing stars. Heard something crack. Tasted hot iron.

He barely registered Rika raising both hands, curled around the knife. As soon as she brought it down, she was lifting it back up to plunge it right back into his flesh.

He was stabbed. Again and again and again and

He brought up his arms to block his face. To try to grab her wrists. To get it to stop.

Stop!

He couldn't speak. Couldn't scream. He could feel warm static pooling out of his body. It was everywhere.

A screech of young children cut through the thick ringing in his skull. "UNCLE ARVY!!"

And then, Rika was gone in an instant. His arms fell immediately. They felt like anchors. His head rolled to the side.

Everything was blurry. Ghostly. Wavering like the air on a hot summer's day. Larry was struggling to restrain the woman. Houndstone was growling nearby.

Larry took a metal arm to the face.

Suddenly, there was a crowd around her. Holding her in place. Grabbing the knife. Discarding it.

His hearing popped back in as the woman screamed. She was tracking Nemona the entire while as the woman crawled towards him.

"—ruin your life like you ruined mine, you fucking bitch!! I'll gut your ugly little wife wide open and slit that fucking unwanted mistake's throat! I'll gouge out your fucking eye and tear off your arm and—mmf?!"

Rika struggled as someone slapped something into her mouth.

Arven couldn't tell what it was. Nemona was in his way. Her eyes looked empty.

The rushed pattering of small feet. Uncontrollable hiccups and sobs, "Uncle Arvy!!?!"

“Girls, stay back!"

Penny's broken voice, "Mia, M-Midge, s-stay with me."

Katy above him. Sada above him. Pushing on him. Instructing Nemona. Her brace pinched his skin as she pushed on him, too.

It hurt.

Why were they doing that?

“Arvy? Arven. Stay with us. Keep your eyes open, Arvy. Please."

Keep his eyes open?

…He did feel exhausted. A nap sounded good… He'd open his eyes later…

He could see something overhead, past the women as they crowded him. A Flying Taxi, maybe? It blotted out the sun.

He was cold.

He wished it would move so he could feel the sun again.

…

His eyelids felt heavy.

Arven breathed out.

"Arvy?! Arven!!"

He thought he heard a wind chime…

He awoke to a familiar ceiling. It felt like he knew it better than his own home. He was back in the hospital.

He sunk himself deep into the pillows with a sigh. The next few days were going to go by in a blur and

"It was like something out of a movie!" Nemona exclaimed, days later. "You jumped over the table like it was nothing!"

"I think he stepped onto it first to launch himself," Penny added quietly, frowning as she adjusted her sling, left arm sitting in a bright blue cast inside.

Arven stared at the woman sadly.

"Still! Considering how he normally moves around, it was like a superhero was running right for us!" She beamed. "And it was like that! Arven Nomeolvides, our superhero!"

Arven ignored her, staring at Penny's cast. From what little he could see, there were already a multitude of signatures on it. He finally asked, "How'd you break your arm?"

"Huh? Oh…" Penny looked at him for a moment before looking down at her feet. "You pushed us both to the ground. I landed on it when I fell."

Arven looked to his lap. "…Sorry."

"Huh? D-Don't be sorry, you… you dummy." At the sound of Penny's voice cracking and warbling as she started to cry, he lowered his head further.

Some "superhero" he was. He'd tried to stop them from getting hurt, and he ended up hurting them himself. He did notice some scuff marks on Nemona's right arm, too, and

She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Arven? You ok?"

"I've got a broken nose, a broken tooth, I can barely see out of one eye, and everything hurts when I move. You think I'm ok?"

She quickly retracted her hand. He could see her hug herself in her peripheral. "…S-Sorry… Stupid question…"

Arven shut his eyes, furious at himself. What was he doing?! He was just hurting them all over again! Stop being a fucking asshole! Fuck!

Arven quickly sucked in a deep breath, his eyebrow twitching as he aggravated one of the wounds on his chest. He couldn't remember how many times they said Rika had managed to stab him. The first one had been close to his neck, above the clavicle on his left shoulder.

It had been the deepest. It had been just shy of a major artery.

The closest to killing him.

A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. How many times had he'd escaped death now?

…

And how come he got so many chances, when his father only got one?

He could hear the scraping of chairs. He lifted his head to see the women stand. "W-We'll leave you al—"

"Please stay," he blurted out. He could feel his face burning, but not out of embarrassment, out of guilt. His eyes burned in tandem with tears. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—" He quickly looked away, staring at the floor over the edge of the bed. "I—I mean… If… If you want to go, then… I don't want you to think you have to stay, or—"

Penny managed a chuckle amidst her quiet sobs, "I-It's fine, you big lug. We'll stay if you want."

"Yeah… Thanks…"

The two sat back down, Nemona reaching over and passing Penny a nearby tissue box to clean her face with. The three sat in silence, Nemona starting to hum awkwardly as a subject of a new conversation escaped them.

Until Penny smirked past a sniffle, "So… your mom and Larry, huh?"

Arven felt his shoulders stiffen to his ears (ow ow ow) in surprise at the topic change. He cleared his throat, trying to relax them as he replied, "What about 'em?"

Nemona squealed(?!), "Aren't they just SO cute?! Not that she probably wasn't really cute with Turo, I mean, but—I never thought about it before, but Larry and Sada are like opposites attract, right? He's so quiet and she's so loud, in a good way, and—"

"She thinks they're gonna get married."

Somehow, Arven found himself choking on his spit. It turned into a short coughing fit. Tears of guilt were replaced with tears of pain. He tried to wave off any concern, asking between coughs, "Why would you think that?!"

Nemona shrugged happily. "I dunno! I just got this feeling it'll happen."

Arven balked as his coughing fit finally calmed. "They JUST started seeing each other! I doubt they'll get married—that's insane and they're old and—"

"Oooh. Who's insane and old?" They turned to the door as it opened, Sada wandering in with Larry in tow, who was pushing Arven's chair inside.

Arven stiffened again, averting his gaze. "N-Nobody."

"Look! Larry and Arven match!" Nemona laughed, pointing between the two. The men glanced at each other.

So they did. They both had a broken nose and an eye so bruised it was practically swollen shut.

"Like father like son!"

Sada screech laughed at Nemona's remark. Larry turned stark white before a blush dusted his cheeks. Arven glared at the woman. Now his face was turning red with embarrassment.

He directed his attention back towards the wheelchair as Larry slowly moved it forward, tucking it in the corner closest to the bed. Arven looked back at his mother and asked, "Am I getting discharged?"

The woman cleared her throat and shook her head lightly. She took a few deep breaths to calm down from the laughing fit before replying, "Not that I know of. I just thought… you might prefer your chair if you need to get around. The hospital ones aren't very comfortable."

Arven nodded tiredly in recognition, before frowning at the sudden seriousness that crossed Sada's face. The woman was pulling out her wallet from her pocket and pulling out a couple of bills. She passed them to Larry, who looked on in confusion.

"Can you take Nemona and Penny here to grab some food? I'll keep an eye on our superhero, here."

Nemona jumped out of her seat, pointing so dramatically she nearly touched the tip of his wrapped up nose. "I told you!"

He would have rolled his eyes if he didn't know it would hurt like hell. "Uh huh."

After the younger women followed Larry out and Sada quietly closed the door behind them, Arven frowned again as the woman stiffly moved to the chair Nemona had been sat in. Sada scooted it closer to the bed, clasping her hands together on the edge of the bed. She was averting her gaze, the light in her eyes dimming as she was lost in thought.

Arven stared, waiting. After a moment of silence, he finally asked, "What's wrong?"

She lowered her head, before looking back up just as quickly with worry in her eyes. "Arvy… Did… Did you… unearth Turo…?"

His brow pinched together in confusion (ow ow ow). "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Is… Did you… Did you bring him… into the house?"

He felt the blood draining from his face. What was she asking? "No. No, why would I? Why are you—"

"I went to… to update Turo before Larry arrived to help me with the wheelchair," she started to explain, her voice cracking. Tears of horror started to well up in her eyes, "If you didn't… Then…"

She trailed off again with a shuddering breath. Another moment of silence.

He was about to demand she continue, before she beat him to it, "…Someone… Someone dug up his grave and took his urn, Arvy. It wasn't a Pokemon; they used the shovel from the outside storage and left it next to the hole…"

"What…?" The reply came out as little more than a whisper. Confusion ate away at him. It filled his chest and heart with lead. "Who…? Why…?!"

"I… I don't… I don't know… I thought… I thought you might? I…" She grabbed his hand with both of hers, squeezing tightly as she rested her head on top of them. He could feel tears slipping through the gaps of her fingers and onto his skin.

He'd just talked to Turo the day before Rika's attack. Was it his fault? Should he have fortified the fence to the "backyard" of the lighthouse more?

No… No! It'd been fine! He'd been laid to rest there for years!

Why would anybody take the urn of Turo Nomeolvides?!

His anger melted into confusion which melted into grief that melted into a cacophony of misery and questions. He stared at the end of the bed, mouth hung open at a loss. Static encroached on the corners of his mind.

Why?

Why?!

He couldn't fathom it. Couldn't begin to understand it. Were they going to sell his father's urn?! Was some fucking freak going to try to resurrect him or something?!

FUCK!

Couldn't shit just stay PEACEFUL for fucking ONCE?!

Sada slowly lifted her head, removing a hand from his to wipe her eyes. "I'll… I'll go back to the house soon and report it, then. I didn't touch the shovel… Hopefully there's some fingerprints or hair or… some other kind of evidence…"

…Evidence.

His breath caught in his chest. "My phone—" he snaked his hand out from hers and reached for the device on the bedside table (ow ow ow). He quickly opened it, scrolling through his apps until he found the one for his security cameras.

He swallowed. He'd installed three more after the incident with Giacomo for peace of mind, but he didn't think they'd actually be useful. Sada peered at him before moving the chair closer to the top of the bed so she could peek at the screen.

He pulled up all 4 camera views at once: the original one aimed at the house door and lighthouse entrance, one at the top of the lighthouse, one on the side of the home at the gate, and one at the back, overlooking Turo's grave. He input the date when he himself last visited the grave, biting his tongue as he watched himself struggle to sit down.

He bit his tongue even harder as he fast-forwarded. He caught the split second in the sped up footage when he left.

He hadn't said goodbye.

He never would have thought that might have been his last chance…

The footage rolled over to the next day. He left the house. Barely any time later, someone approached.

He paused the footage and rewound after skipping most of it by accident. He found himself holding his breath as he played the footage back in normal speed.

A figure approached in a dark, baggy hoodie. The hood was up and blocking most of their face, though there was a brief glint as the sun hit them. Glasses…?

Arven scowled.

Rika…?

The figure opened the gate to the back without hesitation. They must have waited for him leave.

His fingers dug into the phone.

The trespasser moved towards the grave in the back. For a split second, he could barely see the lower half of their face as a gust of wind threatened to remove the hood before they pulled it back on. Their face was dark as their hoodie—a mask? It certainly wasn't skin. Soon, they were squatting and feeling the earth. There was something on both of their hands. Gloves. Thick ones from the looks of it, not simple latex ones.

The trespasser poked at the earth with their finger before standing. They moved back to the front of the house and disappeared off camera. It was only a minute later before they were making their way back around, shovel in hand.

Had they been watching him for a while? Arven barely ever took that out of storage.

The thought made him incredibly sick.

…And the feeling was exacerbated at the sight of them digging up his father's grave. They dropped the shovel to the ground and crouched down, carefully pulling out the urn. After dusting it off, they shoved it into the hoodie's oversized pocket and left, closing the gate behind them.

He dropped the phone to his lap as the playback continued.

"Rika…" he hissed, tears of unfathomable rage spilling down his face.

"We can't know that for sure, Arvy, but I can't deny that it… it definitely seems likely…" Sada mumbled, carefully picking up Arven's phone while taking out her own. He could hear the rapid tapping of screens before there was a short pause, more tapping, and then the telltale sound of a confirmed transfer. "I'll show this when I go back and file the report."

Arven ground his teeth together as Sada gently set his phone back onto the bedside table.

He was seeing red.

He was going to mount that woman's prosthetic arm on his wall as a fucking trophy.

Chapter Text

Hours.

Days.

Weeks.

Months.

It felt like the trial against Rika was never-ending, despite the overwhelming evidence in his favour. He should have known that this would be the case; it had been the same in his trial against Giacomo, after all. Part of him simply didn't understand it; this time, there was video footage from multiple angles and over dozens of witness accounts. How could it still be going on?

Despite the stress causing his hair to fall out quickly, it was still managing to grow in. He didn't have Turo's short fade anymore, and, thank the Gods for that… he was letting a beard grow in, too. He didn't need to look in the mirror and see himself as a pale imitation of the man.

There was still no sighting of Turo's urn in any capacity. It wasn't in Rika's apartment. There was no record of it being in any pawn shops.

He refused to believe it was floating around on the black market.

Rika had to have it somewhere. She had to.

Finally, at least, there was some good news. His team had been trying for a search warrant to look at a storage unit Rika had out under her initials. They kept being denied until they could prove that it was related to the case at hand. They sifted through every document, every belonging that they found in her apartment until they finally found something that stuck.

He didn't know what it had been. He didn't care. There was going to be evidence in there to finally end this bullshit. There had to be.

And Turo had to be in there… There was no other place for him to be.

…

Arven was ready for this all to be over with.

He sighed tiredly, running his fingers through his hair as he stared in the mirror. He could still see and feel the slightest touch of a bruise from his black eye. Larry's had cleared up weeks ago. Lucky bastard…

There was a short, mechanical chirp at his side. He looked down at the Pokemon that approached with a glass of water and painkillers in its small hands. A prototype Service Pokemon Magearna, brought over solely for him.

He didn't want to go for an assessment after the trial. It was going to be the same fucking song and dance of hell; putting Pokemon through their paces to see if they were good fits while he suffered for it.

They thought they were getting somewhere with the combination of a Palafin and Oranguru, but it proved to be a problem getting the two available to work together. He was tired of wearing the medical alert bracelet, but he'd deal with it if it meant he didn't have to waste everybody's time with getting the right Service Pokemon for him.

It was clear he was beyond help.

Until one day he listened to a voicemail after a court date. It had been weeks since he last went in, as they hadn't contacted him, and all he wanted to do was go home and sleep.

He called back to mention that he was on his way. Might as well just get it over with…

He was surprised at the sight of a Pokemon he'd never seen before when he walked in. It reminded him of the Iron Blissey from all those years ago in Area Zero. Was it like it? Was it from the future?

"Have you heard of the Pokemon, Magearna, before, Arven?"

"No…"

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the creature before him. It looked almost like a maid… a rabbit maid. It had long ears (ribbons?) made out of what looked to be metal. Its entire body looked to be metal, with a headband that looked like a cog cut in half. Its head was a flat, smooth surface, almost like a monitor, made even more evident by the LED lights representing its face. It stared at him with a bright pink '0v0'.

The Service Pokemon Association agent was suddenly going on a diatribe. Magearna was originally a Pokemon created in Alola. The body itself only housed the Pokemon, and the actual Pokemon itself was the glowing device in its chest known as a "Soul Heart".

The Soul Heart was made from the souls of Pokemon that had departed.

His face must have contorted into unease, as the agent was readily assuring him that the souls were collected ethically. They were only taken from Pokemon near the end of their lives with the permission of their Trainers.

They continued, explaining the original model of Magearna was archaic, built centuries ago for royalty. It took years of planning to make a new chassis that could work for a modern day scenario. He was then shown a picture of the original Magearna.

The "gear" certainly fit. Its whole body looked to be made of strange gears. The new one definitely looked much more… modern.

They kept the headband as a tribute, the agent explained.

The biggest change he could see were the small fingers protruding from Magearna's hands. The original only had little stumps.

"It was extremely difficult to make the hands functional for a Service role while still fitting the design of the body."

Okay. He didn't really care.

The agent continued on and on about stuff he couldn't care less about, only for him to zone back in on the fact that he could apparently change the colours that lit up the Magearna's face and various accents. There were accents highlighting the curve of its ears, there were accents circling its wrist to mimic the end of glaves, and the bottom segment of its "dress" was completely lit up, though it was a lot more dull than the other lights. There were more superfluous lights dotting designs around the metal.

Or, he could turn the LEDs off completely. It could turn them back on at its own discrection.

The only thing that couldn't be turned off would be the Soul Heart. It would dim at night and when the Magearna was asleep. If it started to flash or turn a dark red, he would have to contact for help immediately.

He didn't even know if this thing was going to be able to help him. They hadn't even done an assessment yet!

The agent continued, stating it was a prototype shipped all the way from Alola just for Arven's sake. They were certain of Magerna's qualifications and quite positive that it would be the perfect fit for him. And, if everything went well, they would start making more Magearna for Service Pokemon Associations around the world.

Arven sighed, "Let's see how the test goes…"

He was surprised when it went perfectly. The Magearna really did remind him of the Iron Blissey; its hands could change from hot to cold to neutral. It chirped and emoted reminiscent of the Iron Blissey (though with a little more LED face). The chest-piece could even blot out and display text or pictures, much like Iron Blissey's monitor on its stomach.

There was a lot of things the Magearna couldn't do, of course. It couldn't whip out a stretcher, or medicine, or do impromptu surgery on the spot. It could do CPR, call for emergency services, and alleviate pain with Fairy powers until medical professionals could arrive.

The one thing that surprised him was Magearna being able to lift him effortlessly. The agent was ecstatic, exclaiming that the Pokemon was easily able to lift a truck.

When the assessment was over, Arven was relieved as he was finally given paperwork to finalize things. That was one less thing to fucking stress about on top of everything else.

…He hoped it all worked out. He hoped he didn't regret it.

He hoped he didn't hurt it.

He smiled gently as he took the glass and painkillers, "…Thank you, Gigi."

They said they didn't remember who nicknamed Raltsy, but considering Penny's immediate nicknaming of Magearna, he was certain it was her. Who else could it have been?

Gigi's "ears" waved happily, her face changing to a '^_^' before it was toddling out of the room while he took the medicine. It was humming as it left, before quickly returning with a tie and hairbrush.

The smile on Arven's mouth twitched. Hopefully whatever they found in that storage unit was enough to end this fucking case and ship Rika off to jail. He was so tired of putting on a fucking tie.

The Magearna squeezed his hand tightly from under the table. He felt the blood drain from his face as they were presented with the evidence from Rika's storage unit. There hadn't been any time to debrief him before the day started. He hadn't been prepared for photos upon photos covering every wall from ceiling to floor. Of him, of Penny, of Nemona. They took up the majority of the space, but there were some of Larry. Of Sada. Of Hassel and Brassius. Of Katy and Saguaro and their daughters. They were all dated. Every photo had notes written on the backsides.

Every one of Nemona's called her "Geeta's whore".

Every one of Arven's called him "the mistake".

Penny was called a slew of rotating insults. The most common was "Nemona's bitch".

There were photos of him through his window. Photos of him, Nemona and Penny out to eat. Photos of him babysitting Midge and Mia. Photos of Penny and Nemona sleeping, taken from right outside their bedroom window. (How?! Had she scaled the fucking building?!) Photos of Penny in a salon getting her hair dyed to blonde. Photos of Nemona poorly disguised as she walked out of an adult store.

Hundreds of photos from their every day lives. None of them had been any the wiser.

It didn't stop there. No wonder there hadn't been any time to tell him what they'd found; they must have still been documenting it right up until it was time to go to court.

There was an abundance of stolen goods, all labelled and dated. He remembered Penny complaining about her phone simply vanishing one day. She'd assumed the Rotom had gone rogue and flew off.

No. It had been locked in a box in Rika's storage unit.

He swallowed harshly at the sight of his old key-ring. It was a good thing he made the decision to change the locks and get a new set of keys instead of keeping one of the extras he gave to Nemona, Penny, or Sada…

Even as they continued down the list of goods, even as the nausea bubbled faster, his heart sinking lower, he kept looking. Waiting. Hoping.

Turo's urn had to be there.

He'd get his father back soon.

The urn wasn't mentioned. They'd already been going for over an hour.

It had to have been overlooked for brevity's sake, right?

…Right?

"…guilty, on the accounts of—."

His body felt like rubber. He dropped his head into his hands as the judge continued their verdicts. That was all Arven had needed to hear. Still, he did hear the sighs and cries of relief echoing out from behind him.

He barely heard the judge continuing to list all of Rika's guilty charges. In the midst of it all, there was one solitary 'not guilty'. He missed what it was for, too busy bringing his hands down to cover his nose and mouth, lips trembling behind them as tears burned in his eyes as the relief washed over him.

Finally.

After 23 months, it was finally over.

Finally.

"You all just fucking wait," Rika's voice boomed over the flurry and final words from the judge. She stood, her chair clattering to the ground, Her lawyers desperately tried to get her to sit to no avail. "Geeta's fucking whore over there is going to ruin the lives of everybody in Paldea, mark my fucking words! Look at the way she still styles her hair, trying to emulate that fucking traitor! She'll finish what that fucking bitch started and you'll be SORRY that I didn't slit her fucking throat and—"

She flicked her arms, her prosthesis snapping the handcuffs like it was nothing. The woman started to move, eyes focused on Nemona in the audience.

She barely made it two steps before she was swarmed by security personnel and Pokemon. She screamed bloody murder, condemning Nemona and Arven. Yelling about how she was going to torture Penny to make Nemona suffer like she did. Flailing. Kicking. Somehow, she managed to flip the desk she'd sat at in the chaos, her lawyer's files scattering across the floor.

Everyone else was quickly escorted outside the courtroom.

Gigi held onto his hand the entire while. His lawyer was on the other side of him. It was hard to keep track of his cane. He could feel it knocking into the people ahead of him, then pressing into his lawyer's shoe beside him.

He was ushered to a bench immediately by both Gigi and his lawyer. The Magearna shuffled onto the bench beside him, holding a hand to his abdomen. A relief washed over the area. He'd been so overwhelmed by the chaos of everybody fleeing he hadn't realized the pain or the sweat running down his face from said pain.

His lawyer was passing him a handkerchief. Arven took it with a nod of thanks, gently dabbing at the sweat on his brow. The flurry of confusion slowly turned into murmurs and awkward standing around. He looked up tiredly at someone's approach.

It was Penny, leading Nemona by the hand. The latter looked to the floor without light in her eyes.

Penny forced a smile. Arven could tell the tears running down her face were a mixture of relief and anxiety.

"G-Guilty," she stammered.

He smiled back. They would most likely be called back into court, or at least called into a video call later, to finish the judge's verdict as a formality, but at least they knew.

"Guilty," he repeated. "It's over."

Nemona suddenly broke into a wail, throwing herself towards Arven. Penny was quickly joining in, Arven wincing at the suddenness of the women crushing him into a hug. He was wrapping his arms around them as best he could, quietly apologizing as he felt his cane bounce off one of their sides. The apology went unnoticed.

That was fine.

"I'm sorry, Arven."

She'd been declared guilty on all charges except for grave robbing. There was no concrete evidence of that hooded figure being Rika herself. There had been no fingerprints or DNA, and there had been footage presented in court of Rika skulking around Mesagoza at the same time of the theft.

He refused tp believe the hooded figure in Mesagiza had been Rika. They'd also been unidentifiable by sight. Who cared if she had a receipt that matched the timestamp of the CCTV footage? She could have picked it out of the trash…

…

"We have eyes on the pawn shops. We got a few eyes on the black market. If anything comes up, I'll let you know immediately."

Turo… Turo's urn hadn't been in the storage unit either.

Surely, they must have overlooked the urn, right? It had to be in there. Where else could it be? Who else had the motive to take it? Why would anybody else take it? That was his dad. That was…

He couldn't stop as he sobbed.

It wouldn't truly be over… not until he got his father back.

"Haircut," he blurted out, pointing at Nemona's face. From a long, voluminous ponytail that was close to reaching the small of her back to a medium length bob that framed her face.

She smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. She twirled a finger around her green strands and muttered tiredly, "Looks weird, right?"

"No! No, not at all," Arven reassured, before looking at Penny beside her. "I'm used to it already. Especially compared to Blondey over here."

Penny rolled her eyes with a noise of annoyance.

His fingers scraped and clawed and ripped up the ground.. Had he been returned? Was he home?

He could feel blisters forming. They didn't matter. He could feel rocks cut and scrape and make him bleed. It was inconsequential.

He had to find him.

His hands burned, turning raw and angry as he dug out the dirt from in front of his father's grave. He dug for minutes. Possibly hours. It was a never ending hole of dirt. But he had to be there. He was just deeper down, right? Just deeper… All Arven had to do was keep digging and he'd find him… Just keep digging… Just…

The dirt slowly turned to mud at the waterfall of tears flooding down his face. There was nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing under the earth and nothing to find and no leads and

His father was just… gone.

Just like that…

…Just like before…

The Magearna had to carry him away. He protested, kicking and screaming and crying.

"Give him back! Give him back!!"

"I bid you adieu!"

"I'm so proud of you…"

"…Arven, hello."

It was always jarring when Larry answered the door of his childhood home. It seemed like the man barely spent any time at his own place nowadays.

There was an excited chirp and light footsteps. Raltsy poked out from Larry's side and waved at him happily.

He lifted a tired hand and waved back.

"What happened to your hands?"

He froze, glancing at his roughed up hands from his stint of digging up the grave last night. Gigi wouldn't leave him alone until she cleaned and examined every cut with scrutiny. He was covered with bandages.

"Nothing important…" he grumbled, dropping his hand into his pocket (ow). "Is Sada home?"

Larry bore a tired stare at him until nodding and stepping aside. "In the bathroom."

Arven entered, kicking off his shoes as Raltsy greeted as Gigi and Houndstone entered the home behind him. Houndstone was immediately cozying up next to Sada's Mabosstiff, Miraidon, and two of Larry's Dudunsparce that were all in a pile.

Sada had rotated her zoo of Pokemon again. Some were sprawled out in the living room, others he could hear eating in the kitchen out of view, and he could see in the back-door's window some Pokemon enjoying the sun outside. Larry's Tropius, especially.

After slipping off his shoes, he gently tapped Gigi on the shoulder. The Magearna turned with a "0.0" on its screen. He smiled tiredly, "Have a break. Hang out with Raltsy, okay?"

Gigi chirped in acknowledgement while Raltsy clapped lightly in excitement. On Gigi's chest, the screen blotted out black and a timer of… 15 minutes started. Arven sighed as the Service Pokemon and former Service Pokemon started wandering and talking. He didn't know how long he was going to stay for; he wanted Gigi to take a break until they left. A long break. 15 minutes wasn't a fucking break!

But, Arven knew there would be no convincing it to change its mind.

He sulked instead to the living room himself to wait for Sada, carefully maneuvering around the piles of sleeping Pokemon on the floor before he dropped onto the couch. He unstrapped his cane from his wrist and leaned it gently against the armrest. He kept an eye on the TV as Larry shuffled in after him, awkwardly sitting down beside him. He could see Larry fiddle with his tie out of the corner of his eye.

…He was thoroughly convinced that the man really didn't own any clothes other than a suit.

Larry cleared his throat. Arven could feel the man glancing at him and looking away. Larry quickly gathered his resolve, it seemed, and leaned slightly towards him, hushedly commenting, "…She would really appreciate it if you called her 'Mom', you know."

Arven felt a scowl form on his face. He glared at the man from the corner of his eye, muttering back a quiet, "Mind your own business."

"…" Larry shifted back to his seat, staring at his hands that he'd dropped to his lap.

"Was that an Arvy I could barely hear?" He turned his head to look over the couch at the sound of Sada's voice. A grin beamed onto her face as she caught sight of him. "It was!"

She was quickly scuttling into the living room, leaning down to greet him with a hug before he could protest. He returned it lightly and quickly as she was soon pulling away, dropping her hands on his shoulders as she looked between the men. "Soooo… what kinda secrets are you two sharing?"

"Nothing."

"…Nothing."

Sada hummed in amusement with a twinkle in her eyes. She stood straight and sat in the nearby armchair, tapping her chin and playfully scrutinizing them with a gaze. "One day, I'll find out and…" The amusement dropped from her face in an instant as she glanced at Arven's hand sitting on the armrest. Then, it was darting to the other that had dropped to his lap after the hug. "Arvy, what happened to your hands?"

"Nothing important…" he repeated. He sat up straight, gently grabbing the cane as he got to the reason why he was there and asked, "…Can I see the laptop? You're not trying to recover anything on it, I'm guessing?"

Guilt and sadness covered her face in an instant. Her fingers running through her hair. She was finally starting to get gray streaks, he noted. She tried to cover up the guilt with a smile. It didn't reach her eyes as she said, "Go ahead, Arvy. It's upstairs in the office."

He nodded. Without another word, he was standing and carefully making his way up the staircase. He did his best to ignore the closed door to his childhood bedroom, entering the office just before it. He closed the door behind him with a quiet click. He stood there, staring for a long time at a briefcase leaned against the desk's side, and at a foreign laptop closed in the middle of the desk.

…

He shuffled towards the desk, glancing around at everything that he could see. The laptop he was looking for wasn't on the shelves. It wasn't behind the other laptop, either...

He started opening drawers. Papers, writing instruments, binders, folders, documents…

Ah. There. In the top drawer on the right was the laptop he was looking for, alongside its charger. He carefully leaned his cane against the desk and he fully opened the drawer. He pushed the foreign laptop to the back of the desk until it touched the wall and then finally, carefully, pulled out the one he needed.

He tried turning it on. It was completely dead.

He let out a breath of annoyance, and of something else he didn't want to fathom, grabbing the charger and wincing as he had to practically curl into a ball to reach the outlet under the desk.

He was fine… He was fine… He was fine… He needed to give Gigi a break… It needed a fucking break…

He couldn't stop the small bout of bile that rose to his throat once he plugged the charger in and sat back up. His abdomen pulsated in misery, alongside his spine and leg. It was fine. He was fine. He'd dealt with worse.

Swallowing the misery and ignoring the burn as it went down, he plugged the laptop in, staring as the screen remained blank before a symbol of a depleted battery came up.

He leaned back in the chair with an aggravated sigh before pulling out his phone to scroll through nonsense while he waited.

There was a knock on the door. He turned slightly to see Sada poking her head in. "Sorry, Arvy, I forgot to… Oh! Oh, good. You found it."

"Yup."

"Sorry. I forgot I put it away. Larry's been using the office for—"

"Not my business."

"…Right… Are… Are you okay, Arvy? You've been a bit… You… You look a little pale…"

"I'll be fine. Just tweaked something, y'know? I'm not bleeding out on the floor, am I?"

Her expression tightened. "No… Just… L-Let me know if you need anything."

"Mhm."

Her face disappeared and the door shut behind her.

He turned away, the grip on his phone tightening in frustration at himself. What was he doing? He was being such a fucking asshole again for no reason.

…Maybe it'd be better if he…

…

He let out a deep breath, heavily rubbing his eye with the heel of his palm. He was just… tired. Tired and upset. He'd apologize later. Offer to bake them some cakes or ask if they'd like some custom coffee beans. He'd… make it right.

He opened up his phone, scrolling mindlessly for a moment before he paused. He closed Togetter before opening up both Lilligram and Dittobook, finding Larry's profiles. Maybe it'd be best if he didn't ask and just surprised them with something. He had no clue about Larry's coffee or cake preferences, so maybe he could gleam something from surfing through the man's profiles while the laptop charged…

He checked Larry's Dittobook profile first. Arven had never really done so before, despite Sada having the two follow each other. His lips tightened into a disbelieving line as he looked through the man's profile. No banner, a photo of his Dudunsparce as his icon…

…No. Wait. That was a stock photo.

It got even worse as Arven scrolled through the man's timeline. Larry was so…

…

…

boring.

He and Sada were like night and day. He couldn't figure out what exactly she saw in him, but it wasn't really any of his business. They were happy, right? That was all that mattered. It even looked like Larry was missing a few stress wrinkles from his face since they got together, too.

Arven swapped to Larry's Lilligram after finding nothing fruitful on Dittobook.

…It was even worse.

Maybe Sada had something more… constructive to go off of. At this rate, all Arven was going to make them was a vanilla cake and a dark roast of beans. And that was… well, boring. If he was going to make something, then he wanted to make something fun. Backing out of Larry's profiles, he went to look for Sada's. He looked on Dittobook first again.

His heart leapt up to his throat at her personalized banner. It was a family photo of her, Turo, and himself as a baby. Only a small tuft of Maschiff's fur could be seen where it cut the dog off at the bottom. Her icon, in contrast, was her and Larry on an outing at Casseroya Lake. He quickly swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall and hastily scrolled through her posts. A lot of recent photos of her, Larry, and the smorgasbord of Pokemon that they had.

Oh.

He paused at an album uploaded the month prior. He hesitated, before clicking onto it. He was greeted with photos of the barbecue he'd missed after the court case was over. The first images he saw were of Penny and Nemona lounging in the pool with Quaquaval and Penny's Vaporeons close by.

That's right… Sada did say Larry had hired someone to fix the bottom of the pool so they could use it again.

Photos of Katy, Saguaro, and the twins…

And Hassel… and Brassius…

Sada and Larry, of course…

Miraidon watching Saguaro at the barbecue with wide, begging eyes…

…All of them were smiling… laughing… having fun…

…

He'd been brought leftovers, but…

…

He'd been looking forward to going. The leftovers hadn't been enough. It was meant to celebrate his victory in court, after all.

But he'd had to call out last minute. Got food poisoning, like an idiot. Gigi was seconds away from calling emergency services with how fucked up he was after heaving over a toilet for hours. It'd had to carry him to bed; he hadn't been able to move.

…

Sada had asked if he wanted them to postpone. Everybody had already arrived, he told them to have fun.

He'd told them that he was fine.

She still insisted that they'd reschedule. She said they'd call the barbecue just a simple get together instead of a celebration, and that the celebration could happen when Arven was feeling better.

…He hadn't heard a word about it since.

He quickly closed out of both Dittobook and Lilligram, gently tossing his phone onto the desk. It clattered and flipped over, the Rotom inside buzzing with annoyance. He paid it no mind, digging his elbows into the desk and slapping his head between his hands as he stared at the status of the laptop's charge.

5%.

Good enough.

He tapped on the power button. The fans whirred briefly as the computer booted up. He rubbed at his eyes furiously, trying desperately not to cry, thought he didn't know why. He knew he'd be crying in a short while anyway…

He removed his hands from his face once he heard the startup sound. He quickly logged into the lone profile and stared blankly at the default background. This wasn't a laptop for personal use, Sada had another one for that purpose. This one was only for recovering what had been lost.

Or… that's what it had been used for.

As Arven clicked into the lone folder on the desktop, his heart sunk as he opened up one of the nested folders inside. It was labelled "Corrupted". He grit his teeth at the item count on the bottom left. It was exactly the same as the last time he'd looked. He knew she'd started taking breaks to care for Miraidon, and now she was distracted with Larry, but… to not try again for almost two years? What the hell happened to all her bravado of making sure Turo's works and memories were recovered?

Maybe she needed to change her Dittobook banner. It was clear she didn't care about him anymore.

…

Stop being a dick.

He backed out of the "Corrupted" folder and clicked into the "Recovered" one. There were further nested folders in this one, one labelled "Video Diaries - Area Zero", another "Video Diaries - Personal", and the final one "Home Videos". Arven clicked into the last one, a handful of videos with nonsensical gibberish as titles appeared. He clicked on a video at random and rested his head in his hands.

The video started as corrupted colours and static before quickly popping into the video proper.

"Dad!" A young Arven's voice rang out offscreen. The camera was pointed down at the floor, at small, socked feet pattering across the floor. There was the sound of skidding nails, a brief blur of Maschiff flew by on the right.

The camera stopped moving, small grunts as the image shifted and raised up to point at Turo, sitting at the kitchen table and sipping on coffee.

"I got it to work! It's not dead!"

Turo laughed. Maschiff could barely be seen circling the man's chair, sniffing heartily as he looked for food scraps. Turo leaned over, ruffling the child's hair offscreen. "Did I not explain that it needed to charge?"

"Uh…" Arven started to sway, the image of Turo rocking. "…Maybe…?"

"And was there a cable attached to it that you pulled out?"

"Uuuuhhh…"

The man laughed again, setting down his coffee to reach over and gently grab the camera from the boy. The image was turned around to a young Arven pouting, before squeaking as Maschiff was suddenly circling around his feet, looking for scraps there.

"Still, thank you for making sure it works, Arven."

The boy lit up, a giant grin on his face showing his missing teeth. "Yeah! 'Course! Uh… Dad…?"

"Mhm?"

"Can I have it back? I can record a video, right?"

"Sure. Just be careful."

"Okay!"

"Do you know what you're going to record?" the man asked as the camera was passed back to the child. There was another grunt of effort as the camera was placed in the child's hands and he attempted to stabilize it.

"Yeah! I'm gonna record you!"

The camera shakily "focused" on the man just in time to catch as Turo's eyes widened. He asked incredulously, "Me? Why me?"

"Cuz you're easy to film! Maschiff moves around too much and won't sit still!"

Turo stared, registering what the child said before he burst out laughing. As the man laughed, the camera was raised and perched onto the table. There was the sound of a chair scraping and more tiny grunts of effort as Arven climbed into it. The camera moved again, bobbing slightly as Arven held it in his hands once again.

Turo finally calmed with deep breaths, wiping a few tears from his eyes. He shook his head in slight amusement. "Thank you for the… compliment, Arvy," he chuckled, taking a short sip of his coffee. "I might be an… 'easy' subject to film, but I doubt I'm an interesting subject to film. Certainly, you can find—"

"Huh? What do you mean, Dad? You're THE MOST interesting person EVER!!"

The man looked surprised again, before his face fell into a warm smile. "Thank y—"

The audio glitched. The footage skipped. There was a distorted image of the man leaning away.

"—oo close, Arvy."

"I gotta get closeups! So EVERYBODY will remem—what y—look l—"

"Remember——you——ll—forget me?"

"Uh—"

More audio popping. Footage skipping. A distorted frame of the man laughing before the video cut to static and ended abruptly.

He woke up with a headache. Arms crossed and holding his head up. They were resting on something hard. He lifted his head, arms aching with static and heavy as he moved them to his side. His entire body ached. He groaned in misery, squinting into the darkness, only lit up by the laptop screen in front of him.

The video he'd been watching had been paused, not simply ended. It was paused on a still of the backyard, Turo holding Arven in a light grasp with his knuckles lightly digging into the boy's head. The two were laughing.

Arven rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms, freezing as something slipped off his shoulders and crumpled between his back and chair. He twisted gently to peer behind him, grabbing the item. He held it out before him and blinked slowly.

One of Larry's suit jackets.

He scoffed lightly. Dropping the jacket to his lap, and hesitantly hovered his hand over the laptop's power button. He swallowed harshly at the image still on the screen. His hand trembled as it moved away from the power button, reaching up and closing the laptop lid instead.

He sucked in a deep breath as the room was engulfed in darkness.

He rubbed at his eyes again.

…He needed to go home.

He pat around blindly on the desk for his phone and turned on the flashlight. He set the light to its diameter setting begore instructing the Rotom to float and follow him. It buzzed in affirmation. Gigi's LEDs lit up as it woke up from sleep mode, unravelling itself out of looking like a giant, metal Poke Ball. It chirped at him worriedly and he waved it off as he stood from the chair, draping Larry's jacket over the back of it.

He opened the door and peered outside, expecting to hear the TV on downstairs and Sada and Larry in conversation.

The house was quiet and dark. He turned and looked at his phone.

3:19 am.

…Well, that would certainly do it. He lifted his cane up to make sure it didn't make contact with the floor as he walked. Gigi could help him stay stable. He didn't want to wake any of the Pokemon if he didn't have to…

He shooed Gigi and his phone out of the room with a gesture before following them. As slowly and as quietly as he could, he closed the door behind him. He paused as the flashlight hit the door at the end of the hall differently than he'd expected.

…The door to his childhood room was open. There were no Pokemon inside; it was an invitation to stay the night.

…

Arven quickly turned on his heel, Gigi holding him steady in place of his cane as he started for the stairs. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he descended, hoping the light creaks and groans didn't wake anybody.

He reached the bottom of the steps without getting anything more that a sleeping Pokemon snorting as they dreamed.

"Houndstone, bud," he whispered as he made his way to slip on his shoes. He heard something react. "Time to go."

There was the clacking of bones crossing hardwood. Goosebumps ran up his arm as the dog approached and stretched with a quiet yawn.

Arven turned to the door, hand poised and ready to unlock it so he could leave. He paused at the sight of it already being unlocked.

There was a million Pokemon in the house. He assumed they didn't have a need to lock the doors. Any trespasser would be demolished in seconds.

He opened the door and let his Pokemon out first.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as he left himself, Larry leaning against the building. Arven closed the door behind him, trying to remove his heart from his throat at the jumpscare.

"…Sorry," Larry apologized with a deep exhale. Arven straightened up and examined the man. He was in a tank top and plain, grey pajama pants. It was foreign to see.

But, the strangest thing was the fact that Larry was smoking.

Arven squinted. It wasn't a cigarette. A vape…? Not that that made it any better.

"You're not staying?"

Arven quickly looked away and rolled his shoulders, still stiff from falling asleep at the desk. "No. I don't need to be a bother."

"You're not. Your mother loves having you here… I don't mind, either. It was your home first, after all…"

"…Whatever."

He recalled his phone, turning off the flashlight before tucking it into his pocket. He looked over as Larry pushed away from the wall.

"I'll walk you h—"

"I'll be fine."

"If anything happened to—"

He grit his teeth. "I'll. Be. Fine. Larry."

The older man simply stared at him. Arven looked away with a huff, Gigi gently holding onto his free arm as they moved away.

"…Did I do something to upset you, Arven?"

He paused at the question.

The man continued, "If it's about the vape, Sada knows… She's helping me—"

"Not my business."

"…"

"…"

"…Is it about Turo's urn? I can—"

"What the fuck would you know, Larry?! Stay out of it!" He yelled, turning with a short stomp of his foot to glare at the man. Arven quickly bit his tongue.

He hadn't meant to yell.

He started to storm down the road. As fast as he could, even though Larry could easily catch up. He ignored the immediate strain it was putting on his injuries. He ignored Gigi's warning coos.

It could stop him by force if it really wanted to.

He glanced over his shoulder once he reached the end of the road and turned to start heading home. He could see the master bedroom light had been turned on.

Sada was emerging from the front door just as the house left his line of sight.

"Fuck!"

He hissed and cursed as the bottle of vanilla extract spilled out onto the counter and the floor. Gigi was immediately moving to grab cleaning supplies as Arven picked up the bottle.

He fumbled with it. It slipped from his grasp, his fingers covered in the extract. Soon, his socks were soaked, too, as the bottle landed on his feet.

Then, it was in his hair as he groaned in exasperation, running his fingers through.

He kicked the bottle away, sending more extract everywhere as he carefully marched over to open the window. The smell was quickly overwhelming. It was burning his eyes and stinging his nose.

His fingers kept slipping. He couldn't get the fucking window open. He tried again, this time his fingers bent awfully as he tried and slipped out from the window. His elbow flung, hitting and knocking over the bag of flour with a plume of white smoke.

He cursed as it flew and stuck all over his arm.

He cursed again as his arm caught the bowl, clattering and spilling everything'd he'd mixed into a heap on the floor.

"Knock kno—wow. What's going on in here?"

He turned to see Penny letting herself in, her keys dangling in the lock as she coveted her nose and mouth with her hands.

"I'm fucking everything up, what else?" he hissed, glaring at her. He ignored it as Gigi came back with cleaning supplies. "Help me get this damn window open already."

The woman was quickly pulling her keys from the door and closing it behind her as she entered. After kicking her shoes off and carefully stepping over the mess as Gigi started cleaning it up, Penny shooed Arven out of the way. With her clean and dry hands, she easily opened the window to air out the extract.

If there wasn't the risk of wild Pokemon storming into his house, he would have told her to leave the door open.

Arven ran his hands down his face. He paused once his fingers touched his beard.

Ah. Great.

He could feel flour sticking to his skin, smell the extract even more. As if it wasn't potent before.

He dropped his hands to his side, barely able to see Penny as he squinted.

"Go have a shower before you burn your eyeballs," she instructed, patting him on the arm. "Do you need Gigi to go wi—"

He reached over and ripped a drying towel off from the stove, carefully wiping his face. "I'm fine," he insisted, still squinting as he made his way past the mess and to the elevator.

He ignored Houndstone's concerned stare as he walked in and jabbed the button for the top floor. All he wanted to do was make a stupid cake to apologize to his stupid mom and her stupid boyfriend and

Fuck!! Why did nothing ever fucking go right?!

He blazed into his ensuite bathroom, not even bothering to shut the door. If Penny waltzed in and saw him naked, that was her own fucking fault.

He tossed the towel onto the floor, squinting afterwards as it took multiple times before he got his cane to hook onto its resting place next to the shower. Muttering curses, he stripped himself of his clothes, doing his best to ignore the pain as he did.

He was then getting into the tub, pulling the curtains closed, and hammering the water on.

He helped at the freezing water that struck his skin. He quickly turned the faucet to a warmer temperature and messily turned the showerhead to aim directly at the drain instead of at him.

He hugged himself while he waited for the water to warm. He was cold, wet, miserable, and

"Arven? You okay?" Penny's voice called from the top of the stairs.

"Did you hear me fall?" he asked between chattering teeth.

"No…"

"Then I'm fine."

Silence was his answer. He barely caught the sound of her footsteps retreating back down the stairs.

He could feel warmth starting to radiate from the water. He tested it with his hand before moving the showerhead to aim at him again. He let out a short sigh of relief as the warm water washed over him. He stood there, eyes closed, unmoving.

He could hear distant sounds of Penny in the kitchen, talking to the Magearna.

…Why was she staying?

He'd been such an asshole for no reason, yet again.

…It was probably a good thing he'd missed that barbecue.

…

He knew why it hadn't been brought up again.

They knew he'd be an insufferable prick.

At least he'd been keeping himself in check when it came to babysitting the twins…

…

He didn't want to be like this. But his free sessions of therapy had long since run out. Even with the discounts for his disability, he still couldn't afford it.

Of all the free healthcare that they had, therapy wasn't one of them? It was ridiculous.

…He wasn't about to mooch off of Sada or Nemona either. He didn't care how rich they were, he refused to even humour the thought.

…

What could he do, then? He wasn't trying to be an asshole on purpose…

…

Maybe he could try smoking weed?

…

Psht. What an idiotic thought. It would probably make him worse ifhe tried; he remembered how irritable Giacomo could get if he hadn't smoked any in a while.

It also smelled disgusting.

And probably cost an arm and a leg.

…

He'd figure something out. Maybe he could resort to slapping himself every time he felt the anger bubble.

Or, he'd get everybody else to. He was pretty certain they all wanted to slap him for themselves, anyway.

After a longer shower than he'd anticipated, spending most of his time standing there and thinking about bullshit, Arven quickly washed himself off as the water started to cool. He did close the door to the bathroom once he got out and started to dry himself off, ashamed of his anger. It wouldn't have been Penny's fault if she'd needed to come into his room for something and saw him without clothes.

He was just being an asshole.

He wrapped the towel around himself after drying off, closing his bedroom door as he tossed his clothes into the laundry basket. He was quickly shuffling into a new outfit before limping back to the bathroom to hang up the towel and grab his cane.

He stared at himself in the mirror as he moved to grab his hairbrush. His hair had grown out considerably since the last haircut. It still wasn't quite as long as it had been before, but… he didn't know if he'd want it that long ever again. He couldn't imagine having hair covering one eye like that again.

…He stared his beard in the reflection. It was annoying to upkeep, but it was also equally annoying to stay clean shaven. What did he want to do?

…

There was a sudden shift in his reflection. He jumped, heart pounding in his chest at the sight of Turo staring back at him. The man's face was sunken, covered in blood, pale and ghostly and ghoulish and—gone. Just like that.

He had his razor in trembling hands without a second thought.

Penny raised an eyebrow as he arrived back downstairs. "I almost came up to check on you again," she admitted. "Didn't think you'd be going the whole nine yards and shaving, too."

"Yeah… Sorry. Extract wouldn't come out of the beard," he lied. He was surprised to see her still in the kitchen. He could see one of his spare aprons around the back of her neck as she turned away.

"So… you're making a cake and you shaved, huh? Got a hot date that you're trying to impress or something?"

Arven sputtered, pausing in his stride to join her in the kitchen. If he'd had a drink, he would have spat it everywhere. He felt a blush creep into his ears as he blustered, "N-No! The—The cake's an apology! F-For… For Sada and Larry."

"Oh… Ok." Penny nodded, as if in understanding. She didn't pry. "…Ordered you some more vanilla extract and flour. Just got here not long ago, so I started remaking the cake. Hope that's okay."

Arven felt his shoulders sag. Out of guilt? Shame? He didn't know anymore. "Penny…" he said softly, grabbing his last spare apron and slipping it on as he joined her, "…you didn't have to."

She smiled. "No. But I wanted to."

He swallowed, biting back the question of "why". He replaced it with a solemn, "…Thank you" instead.

The house no longer smelled of vanilla extract, but instead if a fresh cake as it cooled. Arven and Penny sat on the couch, the woman happily petting Houndstone where he rested his head on her lap.

Arven didn't see goosebumps on her arms. He didn't see her hair stand on end.

Why couldn't he get used to it?

"Hey, Arven…?" She suddenly paused in petting the dog. "…Can I… Can I ask what the apology cake is for? Y-You don't have to tell me. I-I just can't think of what Sada and Larry could have done, and I'm curious… But—But that doesn't mean I have a right to know! I mean, I just, y'know it's just—it's Larry and Sada— and Sada's— I mean, neither of them are as annoying as my dad— like, I'd understand if you got mad at him, but—"

He knew she'd pry eventually. He let out a breath of hot air, glaring at his knees while he interrupted her as she continued to ramble, "…They didn't do anything wrong, I did. I was… upset. Blew up at Larry when he was just trying to help."

"Mm…" Penny nodded solemnly, bringing up her legs to her chest. Houndstone shuffled away to lay on the floor. She rested her chin on her knees, glancing at him periodically. She wanted to say something else, but was hesitating.

He chewed on his cheek at the rising anger. He bit down the curt "just say it" he could feel sitting on the tip of his tongue. He swallowed and said quietly, "…You can ask."

Penny wrapped her arms around her legs and pulled them closer, "'s not really a question…" she mumbled into her knees. There was a beat as she looked around idly, before turning her head and resting her cheek on her legs to look at him. "Guess I can make it one, though… Have you ever thought about going on a vacation?"

His brow furrowed, before he laughed dryly, "I don't have the money, Penny. You and Nemona might be my honourary girlfriends, but I'm not about to go begging you for even general pass tickets somewhere."

Penny's own brow furrowed. "Well… We could… We could set you up in a guest room at the house. You can just… hang out. Do whatever you want. We can get you a butler or something and—"

He could feel the rage building as Penny continued. Stop. Stop. Don't get upset at her, too. If he fucked up a plain vanilla cake that poorly, he didn't know what he'd do with a fucking ice cream cake.

He could feel Gigi staring at him— strange since its face was only LED lights —while he dug his nails into the armrest.

Calm down.

"…Why do you want me to go on a vacation?" he tried to keep his voice level as he asked. It was difficult.

Penny faltered, pulling on her leggings as she looked away. "…It's not just me… Everybody thinks—"

"'Everybody'?"

Penny flinched at the sharpness of his tone, but continued, "…At the barbecue… We all got to talking how it'd be… How it'd be good for you to get away from the lighthouse."

"…It's my home."

"I know! I know. Not like… forever, just… just for a little bit, you know? To… To get your mind off of everything. We thought it might help your… um… anger."

He turned, burning a hole into his lap as he glared at it. He was not doing good at keeping calm. "What do any of you know?" he hissed, furious tears brimming in his eyes. "None of you understand anything. You don't get to just— You don't get to talk behind my back and decide what's best for—"

"Where am I?"

His breath hitched at the response. It sounded like… No. No. It had to be Penny.

The anger flushed out of him all at once, replaced with a cold, dark, foreboding dread. He looked at her, wide-eyed and fearful. It was hard to see her expression past the tears spilling down his face. "…Wh-What did you say?"

"I-I d-didn't say anythi—"

"Where am I?"

He jumped off the couch to stand, eyes darting frantically for the source. He slammed an open palm against the wall to keep this balance. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear… Hear what? Arven, you're freaking me—"

He tuned her out, a ringing creeping up his spine and into his ears. He looked around frantically. Say something again. Talk again. Please. If he could tell where the voice was coming from, he would find it. He would find Turo… He just needed to hear the man's voice again.

One more time…

…

He didn't hear anything more.

The feeling of dread lifted as soon as it had arrived. He collapsed back into the couch, staring distantly at Houndstone with unfocused eyes. He felt Gigi grab his arm. He heard Penny's voice, clear as day.

"Wh-What was that?! A-Are you okay?"

"…Sorry…" he mumbled. "…Slept like shit. Musta just… heard the wind."

"…"

She didn't believe him.

He couldn't blame her; he didn't believe himself either.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Arven felt his heart sink. His stomach twist with nausea. "Am I not allowed to see the girls anymore?"

Saguaro and Katy both reeled. Katy waved her hands defensively, "Heavens, no! Of course you can… if—if we're home. It's just…"

She trailed off, looking at her husband to continue. Saguaro cleared his throat, looking on the verge of tears, "It's just that… with your recent… disposition, I'm afraid that Katy and I aren't… comfortable with you… with you babysitting them anymore. Maybe if Penny and Nemona could join you, it would still be a possibility, but, as it stands…"

"We didn't want to do this, Arven. You know we love you, the girls es—"

"Where am I?"

Arven froze. Ice in his veins. Dread stuck in his chest. He heard a concerned chirp from Gigi.

No. No no no no no. Not now. Not now not now not now

His vision blurred into static at the edges.

"Arven, sweetie?" Katy's voice was fading out rapidly as she spoke. "Are you…"

He barely noted the flit of recognition on Saguaro's face. "Oh shit. Arven—Arven, focus on me—"

Saguaro stood. Something latched onto Arven's ankle. Cold. Cold. Cold. Goosebumps flew up his arms. Hair on end. Heart in his head. He clambered to get away, only for the dining chair to slide out from under him. He hit the ground. He couldn't feel the pain. Something else latched onto his leg.

To hands were digging into him. Bones barely touched by skin. Ash falling with every movement. A white labcoat stained red and gray.

His father's face emerged from the floorboards. He was using Arven as leverage. He had a sunken face. The man blinked. His eyes were gone.

His skin eroded away to ash.

"Where am I?"

"I—I don't know!! I don't know I don't know I don't know!" he cupped his hands over his ears, and shut his eyes tightly.

"Where am I?"

The skeletal hands gripped tighter. He could feel them tearing through his pant legs, sinking into his flesh. Static filled his veins. "You're hurting me! Let go—please—I'm sorry!! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!!"

The hands curled tighter around his leg. The boney fingers burrowed further into his leg. He couldn't feel his leg anymore—was he bleeding out? He was—

gone.

The only feeling that remained was static, of a pit in his chest as he sobbed. There were gentle hands, and smaller, metallic hands, rolling him onto his side and rubbing his back. Katy's voice cut in past his sobs, "Gigi's called medical services. It'll be okay, Arven. We're here with you, sweetie… It'll be okay…"

…They made the right decision. He wouldn't trust himself to babysit the girls anymore, either. At least they hadn't been around to witness that…

He watched as Gigi opened up a compartment in its dress and carefully tucked Arven's prescription inside. He raised an eyebrow sluggishly. Huh. Didn't know it could do that.

"Fascinating," he heard Sada whisper in awe. "I wonder how many more compartments it has."

Gigi chirped with a "^_^" and toddled over, patting Sada's pocket. Her phone flew out, Arven watching as the two Pokemon communicated before there was the telltale sound of a file being transferred. Sada's phone turned back to her and she grabbed it, eyes widening with wonder.

"Your blueprints? You're sure I can take a look?"

Gigi nodded vigorously before returning to Arven's side and holding onto his free arm. Larry peeked over Sada's shoulder as she cooed and marvelled over the file. Larry nodded along. Arven couldn't tell if he was actually interested, or just going along with it.

He turned on his heel and started out of the pharmacy. He could hear Sada continuing to babble, before being interrupted by a deadpan comment from Larry.

"He's leaving…"

"Huh? Oh! Arvy, wait!"

He didn't wait, but they caught up quickly without any struggle. Sada was right back to praising the craftsmanship of Gigi's body. She was even nudging the phone in Arven's face to show him. He made non-committal sounds in response. He found it strange he wasn't told all about Gigi's functions…

…No, wait, maybe he had been told and he forgot.

There'd been a lot to go through that day.

…Whatever.

They continued their slow amble through Mesagoza. Arven kept his gaze to the floor. He was exhausted. Humiliated. He just wanted to shut himself in his room and just… sleep. Possibly forever.

Gigi squeezed his arm.

"Sada… You're going to walk into someone… Maybe put the phone away until later?"

"Pshh. You'd stop me before I did, right?"

"…"

"Ugh, all right, fine! I'll put the phone away. You don't gotta look at me like that."

Arven glanced over out of curiosity. Larry had the same expression on his face as normal. Arven had no idea what Sada was talking about.

The three continued their stroll, Arven tuning the older couple out as they conversed idly. Sada was still going on about Gigi's construction, with Larry nodding along. He only popped back in when he heard Sada question, "Arvy, where are you going?"

He stopped and turned his head slowly. He'd been going down the path to leave the city so he could go home. Sada and Larry had diverged. Sada smiled at him sadly, "Nemona and Penny invited us to that new cafe, remember?"

Arven sighed, "…Right…"

He sluggishly moved towards the couple, lagging beside them. Larry commented quietly, "…I'm sure they wouldn't mind postponing if you're not up for—"

"I'm fine…"

"…"

"…"

"…All right."

The rest of the walk was filled with silence between the three of them. The city around them still bustled with energy and life and conversation, oblivious to the dismal energy between them. Arven hung his head lower. It was all his fault.

Everything was his fault.

Everybody would have been better off if Rika had managed to—

The Magearna squeezed his hand so tight he couldn't help but flinch. He felt Sada's fingers brush his shoulder, as if she were about to try to reassure him, before pulling away.

He didn't blame her.

He was just thankful that he didn't hear the ghost of his father. Didn't feel the man's decaying hand gripping onto his ankle. He didn't need that happening here, not in front of dozens of strangers. The thought made him ill.

He barely registered it as they made it to the cafe in question. Peachy's Cafe, or something. He didn't care. He barely looked up as Nemona's voice came bubbling in.

"Konnichiwa~!"

"Oh!" Sada cleared her throat. He finally looked up in wide-eyed shock as Sada suddenly responded to Nemona in a string of, what sounded like, fluent Japanese. Nemona and Larry stared, just as slack-jawed as he was.

Nemona laughed hesitantly, "I—um… I don't actually speak—"

Penny interrupted, responding to Sada in kind. The two carried a conversation for what felt like eternity before Larry raised a hand and uttered, "…Mind bringing us into the loop, ladies…?"

Sada snorted with a laugh and pat him on the back, "She was just telling me that there'll be a wait for a table."

Arven also hesitantly raised a hand as he looked up at the cafe's outer decor. It was very cute, but… "We don't… We don't have to speak Japanese while we're in there, right…?"

Sada howled with laughter. He deflated as Penny joined in.

"Oh, this place is adorable!" Sada cooed as they sat down with their orders. Arven looked around himself.

The decor was just as cute on the inside as it was on the outside. Fake wisteria plants adourned the walls. Decals of Pokemon he'd never seen before traversed on decals of trees and mountain paths. The employees all had peach emblems stitched onto the bottom of their aprons. It was bright and bountiful, with bouncy, yet also calming, flute music playing overhead. There was even a small gift shop of hand-knitted socks you could buy, and little mask keychains.

"It was originally just a general store in a small town in Kitakami called Mossui Town," Penny explained as everybody marvelled. "It got converted into a cafe at some point, and I guess some guy visiting loved it so much he wanted to make sure everybody could experience it. I thought 'Kitakami' sounded familiar, so I looked it up. Kitakami, specifically Mossui Town, was one of the destinations some students could get a trip to if they won that random lottery in Uva Academy. They usually timed it around some kinda festival—"

Penny suddenly grunted, passing Nemona a glare as the woman was fidgeting excitedly in her seat and accidentally elbowed her. The Champion was staring right at Arven. Even if she hadn't said a word, she was still the biggest blabbermouth on the planet.

Arven frowned. "What's going on?"

"We—"

Nemona was practically jumping out of her seat, cutting Larry off. She was slamming something down on the table and fanning them out. Penny, Sada, and Larry all sighed with a shake of their heads as Arven peered over the table curiously to look at what Nemona was presenting.

Five plane tickets.

"We're all going to Kitakami for the Festival of Masks, and you can't say 'no'!!"

"…Mossui Town," Penny corrected.

Nemona stared at her for a short beat, before slapping her hand down again with the same cheer.

"…We're all going to Mossui Town for the Festival of Masks, and you can't say 'no'!!"

Chapter Text

"You're sure it's accessible for people with mobility issues, right?"

"Yeah, yeah! Penny and I did oodles of research!"

Arven stared in doubt, crossing his arms as he stared down at his phone. He'd pulled up photos of Mossui Town, and Kitakami as a whole, for himself. It sure looked like there were a lot of stairs…

He sighed, scratching at his temple. "And you can show me where it said something specific like 'wheelchair accessible', right?"

"Oh, yeah! Super easy! Penny got it all bookmarked and everything!"

"Mhm."

Larry cleared his throat, "We made sure, too."

Sada nodded. "We wanted to make sure everybody could have a good time."

Arven sunk into the chair, pinching his brow. "I'd be having a better time right now if this wasn't thrown on me as something that I'm obligated to go to. What if I'm busy?"

The rest of the group replied smoothly, "You're not."

Arven squeaked in humiliation and rage. "W-Well… Well… What if I just don't want to go? You'd go without me?"

Penny shrugged. "Sure. Houndstone can take your ticket."

Nemona snorted, "Oh my gosh, can you imagine him trying to sit like a person on the plane? We can get him a big hat and a big long dress he can wear to—"

Sada interrupted, "Nemona, sweetie, it's not a cartoon. Houndstone would be allowed out of his Ball if he fit in the seat and remained behaved."

"Oh. Right."

Arven quickly sat back up as the employees made their rounds. Didn't need to embarrass himself more in front of strangers. He sighed again, cupping his head in his hands as he stared at the tickets in the center of the table. He didn't bother pulling them closer.

"…How long do I have to decide?"

“A month."

"Oh, WOW! Look at IT! It's GORGEOUS!"

"Uuuugghhh, Mona…" Penny moaned in agony, dramatically dropping her head between her wife's shoulder blades. "Know that I say this with all the love in my heart… Shut. Up."

"Oop! S-Sorry, Pen, I forgot about your migraine…"

“Yeah, no kidding…"

"Here, sit and gimme your bag. Did you take painkillers yet?"

"Mmmmmuguugh…"

"I'll take that as a 'no'!"

Arven watched the scene sadly (and with the slightest hint of amusement) where he waited next to the bus stop. He'd been the first one off, and he couldn't help but note the bus driver giving him a pitiful look as he got off.

Was it because of his wheelchair? They probably didn't have many this far out in the countryside, right? Kind of sad, considering it seemed most of the population was older folk. What happened if they needed a chair like his? He doubted they had a store; would they have to special order them in? It'd probably cost a fortune…

It also wasn't like he'd be in his own chair for long; he'd drop it off at their hotel room and swap to his cane. He'd prefer not to use the chair, but he would if he had to.

"Gotta be in here somewhere… C'mon, where'd they go?! I know we packed em!" Nemona muttered to herself as she rifled through both hers and Penny's backpacks. The younger woman was on the bus stop bench, tucking her head between her knees in misery.

He couldn't help but feel more eyes on him as a few more tourists, and a bunch of locals (from the conversations he overheard) filed out of the bus. He tried to keep his attention on Penny, but couldn't help but glance over when one man stared at him intently.

The man gave him a short smile before his attention moved to Penny as the woman sat up, shakily retrieving some painkillers after Nemona finally pulled them out. Arven frowned at the strangest smile that plastered on the man's face before his teenaged daughter called him away.

Weirdo… Clearly a tourist, too. Hopefully they didn't run into him again.

…Though, Arven could have swore he looked familiar.

…Nah, it was probably just the jet lag talking.

Penny was soon resting her head back between her legs while Nemona tucked a water bottle back into a bag, before setting both packs down to the ground. She sat on the bench next to Penny, gently rubbing circles on her back.

Larry and Sada were some of the last people off of the bus, thanking the driver in Japanese as they left. As much as they joked about Larry only wearing suits, Arven had to admit, it was extremely weird seeing him outside of one. Sada apparently made sure he hadn't packed a single suit.

Arven tried not to look at the man's exposed legs past his shorts. Larry's legs were paler than Penny; it was like looking into the sun.

Larry mumbled as the bus drove off, "Did I say it right?"

Sada laughed quietly, "You said it just fine. How're you holding up there, Penny?"

"I wanna die."

"Good. Means you're still alive," Sada grinned, trying to lighten the mood as the bus drove off. "Saw more tourists already than I thought. Guess they had the same idea to—" she was interrupted with a yawn, "—to come early to sleep off the jet lag…"

Arven shrugged before looking down as Gigi's "ears" twitched. The Pokemon was staring at Penny. He gave it a gentle nudge, "You can help, if you want."

Gigi was toddling towards the suffering woman with an affirmative chirp. Hums came from it as she joined Nemona in trying to comfort her.

Sada's smile turned sad. She placed her hand on her hips as she said, "I'd offer to go ahead and check us all in at once, but I've a feeling that won't be allowed. Maybe Gigi can carry you to the inn, Penny? Then, we can all settle in our rooms and rest until tomorrow… or the next day. Not like we're in a rush, right? That sound okay to you?"

"Mmmugh."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'… Oh!" The woman jolted in realization, turning to give Arven an apologetic smile. "That is, only if you're okay with that, Arvy. Sorry. I shouldn't just offer Gigi up like—"

Arven waved her off with a scoff, "It's fine. Penny needs it more than I do right now."

He glanced at Nemona, and then at Sada grunting as she pulled on her backpack, clearly agitating her old injuries. Larry was rolling his neck and shoulders after slipping his bag back on before grabbing Penny's suitcase alongside his own.

Arven maneuvered his chair so the handles were facing the group, pointing at them over his shoulder. "You can all put your bags on my chair for now. Looks like it's a bit of a walk to the town, and we don't need Gigi carrying everybody up there."

He knew very well that Gigi could easily carry them all with Arven still in his chair. It definitely wouldn't be a comfortable journey for any of the humans, though.

With a symphony of thanks, the backpacks were piled onto the wheelchair's handles. Penny quickly crossed her arms over her eyes as Gigi lifted her bridal style. Nemona walked at her side, gently running her hands through Penny's hair with her free hand, the other dragging her luggage.

Thankfully, Sada had been quite adept at packing her suitcase. Anything Arven hadn't been able to fit in his own bag, she tucked into her luggage. If he'd been able to carry his giant bag like he used to during his school days, it wouldn't have been necessary…

At least he fit all his essentials in the bag that he did pack. He didn't need Sada watching those for him.

Arven looked around quietly as they started up the road. It felt like Paldea, but… different, of course. Lots of cliffs… Lots of grass… Lots of wild Pokemon. Stuff he'd seen before.

Well… the rice paddies were new, at least.

He could hear Sada 'ooh'ing and quietly, yet excitedly, pointing things out to Larry. It sounded like she was pointing out the Pokemon. Nemona was doing similar, mentioning how gorgeous it was and how Penny was going to love it when she was feeling better to look.

Arven's grip on the chair's controller tightened. It was pretty, sure, but…

…

He already wanted to go back home.

"I think we check in there…"

"No, that can't be right… We're at an inn, not a community center…"

"Hm…"

Arven looked to his right to watch the elders squint over both a phone and brochure.

"I'll see if I can find what the inn looks like on World Maps…" Sada mumbled, pulling the phone up to her face. Larry continued to look at the brochure, scratching the top of his head before yawning.

Arven looked to his left as Penny mumbled, "We there yet…? Gon' hurl… Don't wanna in public…"

Nemona responded quietly, "We're figuring it out, Pen. Hang in there…"

Arven frowned as Nemona looked around in a panic. Arven looked around for himself. The buildings of note that he could see were indeed the community center right in front of them, and Peachy's Cafe practically right next to it.

What a strange layout…

And they removed a general store for a cafe? Who did that?! Or, was some bigger general store built in its stead somewhere else? Ugh. Whatever. That didn't matter. They needed to get checked in before Penny hurled all over Gigi. He didn't want vomit getting stuck in its mechanics.

He fished out his own phone and quickly found the email with his reservation. He copied the address of the inn and pasted it into the World Maps app for himself, setting it to give directions. He frowned further as the "Mossui Inn" start of the address was automatically replaced with "Mossui Town Community Center".

He looked up at the building with a scowl. It was big, sure, but it certainly didn't give off the vibes that people were meant to stay for long periods of time. He could see a woman at the front desk through the glass doors.

He closed everything and tucked his phone back into his pocket as he started to suggest, "Maybe we should ask—"

"Ah! Found it. Gods, I've no idea why this is all so…" Sada hummed for a word, before settling on, "…confusing. I've been to other places in Japan, and it's never—"

"Less talk, more go…" Penny groaned, before quickly moving one of her arms away from her eyes to clasp her hand over her mouth.

Nemona was quick to comment, "It's better to let it out…"

Penny swallowed harshly. There was a weak and muffled 'noooooo' under her hand.

"All right, follow me. Vamos." Sada twirled her wrist and marched forward, going down the western road.

Arven tried his best not to glare as he felt eyes on him as they moved. Heard murmurs in a language he couldn't understand.

Maybe a few eyes were on Penny— it certainly looked like Gigi was carrying a corpse —but he knew most were on him.

He shouldn't have come.

"Ah! There!" Sada picked up the pace.

Arven stared up at the building as they approached. Sure enough, there was a big sign proclaiming it to be the Mossui Inn. It was strange. The building looked older, but it seemed new, as if trying to emulate buildings of the past with modern materials.

Well… hopefully that meant there was a working elevator… or an elevator at all. Their reservations were on the third floor. The first floor had remained sold out despite them checking nearly every day once Arven agreed to join. They assured him it would be fine, but he really wouldn't have had to worry if he'd been on the first floor.

He remembered asking the quartet to send all their research. They had sent him a lot of articles touting newly constructed accessibility features in Mossui Town that had sounded promising enough. He'd went and looked for himself anyway on his own time, confirming their findings.

So why was he suddenly worried again as he looked up at the building towering over them?

Larry was moving ahead to hold open the door. Nemona rushed in first, quickly asking if there was a public restroom to use. He could barely hear the receptionist explain politely, and hesitantly, that there wasn't and they'd have to check in first to use the bathroom in their room.

When Penny, clearly holding back more vomit, was brought in by Gigi, the receptionist quickly changed his tune. Arven was let in next, a rush of cool air hitting him as he wheeled in. It was almost like getting hit by a brick wall.

Air conditioning was a good sign.

He watched worriedly as the receptionist led Nemona and Penny away, Nemona abandoning her suitcase in the lobby as she followed. Arven caught the words of "employee bathroom". He hoped Penny didn't have heat exhaustion, or, Arceus forbid, heat stroke. Considering her… disposition, he wouldn't put it past that long bus ride to be the cause. They had been sitting on the side where the sun blasted through the windows.

Sada and Larry entered themselves, both sighing in relief. Arven carefully maneuvered his chair to wait next to the bench they sat down on.

"Poor Penny," Sada commented, wiping a small bead of sweat off her brow. "It was her idea, and she can't even enjoy it yet."

Larry commented solemnly, "Hopefully it doesn't land her in the hospital…"

"I'm sure she'll be fine…" Arven mumbled, trying to keep up some hope. They didn't need the vacation ruined immediately. "She's been through worse than a migraine."

"Ooh, I don't know, Arvy. Migraines can be pretty terrible."

Larry cupped his chin in thought. "…At least we know it was developing on the plane. That probably rules out anything heat related…"

Arven felt a short wave of relief wash over him at Larry's revelation. Right, she'd complained about a "big headache" near the end of the flight. Gods, that felt like it had been days ago now. He couldn't fathom it only being a handful of hours ago.

From the longest plane ride of his life to the longest bus ride of his life. The same could probably be said for Penny.

…He wondered how worse Penny's migraine would have gotten if they hadn't been in first class.

…Ah, well. Didn't matter.

Nemona's voice was fading back into the lobby from down the hall, offering an abundance of "thank yous" in a rapid mixture of English, Japanese, and Spanish.

The receptionist was laughing awkwardly, reassuring her that it was fine. They finally came into view. With Gigi at her side, Penny was walking on knocking knees, face buried in her hands with quiet, miserable whimpering, but… hey, she was walking. Hopefully she was feeling a little better.

As Larry stood to let Penny sit down, Arven was turning his chair at a gesture from Nemona, the woman slipping off hers and Penny's backpacks with a short "thank you". Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the receptionist staring at him, wide-eyed and turning pale.

Arven bit back a comment. It would have been rude.

"I-I was gonna apologize for being away from the desk, but I assume you're all together?" the employee chuckled awkwardly, quickly averting his gaze to Sada and Larry.

"That's right," Sada confirmed, before digging out her phone. She paused as she stood, asking, "Is it okay if I bring everybody's reservations and ID up and we can get checked in at once?"

"Oh, um, sure. I don't see why not…"

Arven was phishing quickly out his phone, and so was Nemona. He could feel the receptionist's gaze on him again. He glanced up, and the younger man quickly looked away. Had Arven glared by accident? The receptionist was looking like HE was going to throw up!

…Was the receptionist an introvert? He certainly gave off lowkey Penny-vibes.

After finding his email with the reservation, he grabbed his wallet and passed his ID and phone to Sada, Nemona doing the same shortly after. Sada brought everything up to the desk, fanning them out. Larry moved to stand at her side.

…Wait. Was Larry wearing high socks with sandals?

Arven brought a fist to his mouth, biting on his knuckle to stop himself from laughing. How hadn't he noticed earlier? How did Sada let that happen?!

He quickly calmed himself as he caught Nemona staring at him. He lowered his hand and cleared his throat, looking anywhere that wasn't Larry's awful fashion sense.

The lobby was simple. A lot more modern looking than he would have guessed. There was an enormous TV on the wall. It was muted and looked to be playing a tourism video. It was definitely where all the money went; the rest of the lobby was exceedingly bare.

The only other things of note were figurines of Pokemon that he'd never seen before on the desk. There were 4 in total, a dog, a monkey, a bird, and… something green. It was wearing a mask. They were holding up little signs that spelled out "WELCOME!" when put together.

"Um… Does… Can…" His attention was back on the receptionist, who was glancing between him and the elders frantically. Poor guy was sweating bullets. Arven wouldn't be surprised if his nametag said "Trainee".

…

…There was an issue with his chair, wasn't there?

The receptionist took a deep breath and tried to steady his words as he asked, "I'm sorry if this is… rude, but, can… can—" he glanced at Arven's ID, "—Mr. Nom… Nom-ee-ohl… Can Mr. Arven… stand? A-And does the chair… fold?"

Arven sighed, dropping his head to his hands. "Is the elevator out?"

"N-No… It's just… too small for your chair. There wouldn't be enough room for you to turn it or anything… I'm sorry."

Arven could feel his own migraine coming on. Gigi could carry the chair up and down the stairwell as needed, but he wouldn't want it traversing the stairwell alone, and he wouldn't be able to traverse three flights without considerable difficulty. Having the Magearna carry him up and down was also not something he wanted to do, nor would he.

And he definitely wasn't going to get anybody else to journey the stairs with Gigi, either. That wasn't their job. They were on vacation. They weren't supposed to be working.

Larry was quick to ask, "Have any rooms on this floor become available? We can swap the reservations, if so…"

Typing of keys. A shaky breath. "N-No, I'm sorry. They're all occupied at the moment."

Sada spoke next, "Are they all able-bodied? Maybe we could explain the situation and—"

"No!" Arven surprised himself with how loud he was as he sat back up. He apologized quietly to Penny, who groaned in agony, before he stared his mother down. "We are not harassing other people to—"

"Asking a question isn't 'harassing' them, Ar—"

"I don't care!"

Larry cut in, "Gigi can carry it up the sta—"

Arven folded his arms across his chest. "No. I already thought about that. Who escorts it? It's not going to be me, and I'm not letting any of you do it."

It was Sada's turn to cross her arms. "Why not? If one of us volunt—"

"Because you're on fucking vacation, that's why! I'm not about to—"

"P-Please don't f-fight in the lobby. I'll have to kick you out if you keep it up," the receptionist stammered.

Arven huffed, sinking into his chair as he averted his gaze to the floor, mumbling a "sorry". He heard Sada take a deep breath too, also apologizing to the poor employee.

Arven grit his teeth. His fingers buried into his arms. He knew he shouldn't have come.

"I'll… I'll get the manager on duty. He might have some ideas. I'll be right back…" There was the sound of a chair rolling and footsteps hurriedly marching back down the hall.

Arven could feel Sada looking at him, her brief stint of anger fading into a look of sadness. Of pity. He only glanced up when he felt her gaze move away from him. She put her face in her hands, leaning her elbows on the desk. Larry reached around her to rub her arm soothingly.

Arven quickly looked away when the man glanced at him. He resumed staring a hole into the ground. He'd buy himself a ticket right now and just go home. It'd probably put him into debt, but what fucking else ever went right?

Things would have been better if Rika hadn't missed that artery.

Ringing flooded his ears. He couldn't feel his fingers with how hard he was digging them into his arms.

The scar from the near-fatal stab started to pulse in an angry heat. It felt like it was going to rip open.

A tiny, metallic hand gripped onto his shoulder. A second covered what it could of his own hand. He shut his eyes as a wave washed over him. He could feel his angered heart slowly calm…

…and feel a headache forming.

He'd buy a tent and camp outside. He didn't care. He wasn't going to bother anybody else. It wasn't their fault he—

"Hello, hello! I hear there's a—Sada?!“

"Jacq?!"

His eyes snapped open and he looked up. He could even see in his peripheral that Penny was raising her head in surprise.

Jacq and Sada laughed in shock, Larry removing his arm from around her so she could walk around to the other side of the desk and give her friend a hug. The receptionist stood a few feet behind them, looking absolutely lost. He locked eyes with Arven. Arven didn't look away this time, the two sharing a short moment of differing bewilderment before the hug ended.

"It's been so long! Did I miss you at Hassel's and Brassius' wedding?"

"No, no! I didn't go. I was watching Saguaro's and Katy's girls."

"Well, I bet that was a fun time by itsel—Larry! What a surprise!"

"…Hello."

"And—oh! Nemona?! Penny and Arven, too!“ Jacq laughed, adjusting his glasses as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Wow! Are there any other Paldeans hiding around the corner somewhere? Is this a big reunion?"

“It's just us," Sada explained, slowly retreating back to where she'd been standing on the other side of the desk. "So… you're the manager, Jacq?"

The man ruffled a hand through his hair as he moved to the computer. He explained calmly, "Basically full time here, and part time at the other inns." His calm demeanour slowly soured as he griped, "Not that they're your traditional inns, anyway… This one's more akin to hotels you'd see in Paldea. Just another thing to mislead tourists…"

Sada spared at glance at Larry before asking, "'Other inns'? I thought this was the only inn…"

"Well, they recently built a few cabins for lodging in-between Mossui Town and Kitakami Hall. The 'CabInns'," Jacq shook his head as he spelled out the pun. Sada snorted before clearing her throat.

Jacq looked at the reservations on their phones as he continued, "They're still trying to get both the trademark and domain, so they aren't really advertising them anywhere yet, let alone online. It's… frustrating to say the least. They haven't even updated the address properly for this inn, and it redirects to—ah! Listen to me ramble about nonsense. What seems to be the pro—"

Jacq trailed off as he looked up, his gaze hopping to Arven immediately. "…Ah. I see. His wheelchair won't fit in the elevator. Would he be all right standing for a moment? Does it fold?"

"It doesn't fold," Arven grumbled.

"Hm… I could ask the guests on the first floor if—"

"No."

Jacq looked at Arven in mild surprise. Arven hadn't seen the man too often during his time at Uva Academy, but it didn't look like he'd changed much at all. He still had hexagonal glasses, though the frames were slimmer. His hair had grown paler, and it still looked an unkempt mess, but was somehow a smidge more professional, now being tucked into a short ponytail.

"Hm… Let me see what I can do…" Jacq mumbled, sitting at the desk as he grabbed Arven's phone.

Nemona was suddenly raising her hand. "Um… Excuse me, Mr. Jacq?"

Jacq chuckled, "What is it, Nemona?"

"Um…" Nemona dropped her hand back to her lap. She looked at Arven, then at Sada and Larry who had turned to look at her, then finally at Jacq again. "If… If it's all right, could… could Penny and I check in like… right now? She's got a migraine and already got sick and…"

She was quickly fidgeting with her fingers, panic and guilt on her face. "I-I can come right back down and try to help out with the chair once Penny's settled! I just don't want her to—"

Arven cut her off gently, "It's fine. We're probably making her feel a hundred times worse."

"You are…" Penny moaned, head back between her legs.

Arven's fingers ached as he finally uncrossed his arms, reaching over to gently squeeze her shoulder. Guilt bubbled in him as he uttered a sincere, "…Sorry. You don't have to come back down, Nemona. Just keep an eye on her. We'll text you after we figure something out."

Nemona nodded with a trembling lip. Was she about to cry?! Why?! Arven could only assume it was the jet lag…

"All right, Nemona, let's get you checked in. Kieran, I'll handle this one."

"Yes, sir…"

Nemona was up at the desk in a flash, finalizing the check in and presenting her credit card, explaining to use it for incidentals for all three rooms. Sada and Larry were about to argue, but Nemona quickly shut them down with reassurances that it was fine.

After getting the room key, Nemona stared at Penny, then their suitcases, then Penny again. "I'll get those after," she proclaimed, before throwing her backpack on. She helped Penny to her feet, holding the woman against her. Her free hand was grabbing Penny's backpack from the floor as they hobbled to the elevator.

"I'll help," Larry offered, quickly catching up and grabbing Penny's bag from Nemona's hand.

As they moved past Arven, he uttered to Penny, "Hope you feel better soon."

"Muugh."

He could only assume that was a "thanks, me too".

…No, it was more likely an "I will, once I get away from you".

The three soon disappeared around the corner. Attention was back on Jacq as he hummed in thought. The man was soon pulling out his own phone and scrolling through it.

A frown shortly settled on his brow. "Kieran, can you grab my tablet from the office?"

“Yes, sir." Kieran nodded and was quickly speed-walking back down the hall.

"You can take your ti—aaaand he's gone…" Jacq shrugged, before glancing between the small family. "Sorry for all the trouble, you two. The Caretaker is also in charge of the tourism efforts and… well…" he sighed in annoyance. "…He's really fucked it up."

Sada recoiled. "He really must have, if he's got you talking like that!"

"He refuses to fix his fuck-ups, too, unless 'the community comes together and donates funds for the cause'." Jacq removed his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I've offered to fix it for free, but he waves me off, and I can't get access unless he gives it to me. It would be so easy to explain the limitations of Mossui's accessibility accommodations… Hell, even if I could just add an asterisk and a disclaimer—!"

Jacq sighed again, running his hand down his face before putting his glasses back on. Kieran was quietly returning, holding a tablet over Jacq's shoulder. He thanked the younger man and grabbed it, scrolling through that as he continued, "And there's not much to be done. Arven's not the first to come into this unfortunate predicament. Complaints have been made by locals and tourists alike, to no avail. I'm certain he deletes all the negative reviews, too…"

Sada nodded dimly, "I certainly didn't see much of any in my research…"

Arven hadn't, either.

"At least he'll die soon and then—" Jacq paused and looked up in horror. He pointed at Arven, Sada, and finally Kieran before stating, "I didn't say anything. None of you heard that."

Kieran nodded seriously, but his eyes were widened with shock at the statement.

There were soon footsteps rounding the corner. Without a word, Larry grabbed both Nemona's and Penny's suitcases before he was gone just as quickly.

Jacq stared after him until he was out of sight, before leaning towards Sada. He pointed in the direction the man disappeared to and whispered, "Are you and Larry…?"

Sada beamed. "Yup."

"Huh. Well, good for you!" He was sitting back proper in the seat, scrolling back through the tablet. "We really need to catch up while you're here. Oh! You can finally meet my wife!"

"Oh, yes! I remember you first telling me about her. Does she still do photography?"

"Set up her own studio in town and everything. Even sets up a booth during the Festival of Masks. We'll see you there, right? I always lend a hand."

"Of course! I'm so excited to see what it's all about…"

As the two continued to babble while Jacq looked up whatever he was looking for, Arven caught Kieran staring at him again, though this time Kieran was the first one to look away. The receptionist started fiddling with his bangs. There was a furrow of confusion still on his brow.

It was clear he had no idea what to do with himself.

Arven had to hold back a laugh as the younger man jumped at Jacq letting out a resounding "Aha!". He had to bite his tongue to hold back another laugh as Kieran jumped at Larry quietly coming back around the corner to stand back at Sada's side.

Jacq was soon standing and gesturing Arven over. Arven reached around blindly to grab his cane from the back of the chair. He was only hitting backpacks. Where—

There was a chirp. Gigi was pulling out the folded cane from one of the compartments in its skirt, reassembling it before holding it towards him. Right. Easier that way…

With a quiet thanks, he grabbed the cane and pushed himself off the chair.

His whole body was trembling as he stood. The room swayed under his feet, even as he closed his eyes. The headache was now in full force, throbbing with every heartbeat. He dug his right hand into the cane, fingers protesting in agony as he drove the cane into the floor to keep stable.

He didn't need to. Gigi was at his left side in a flash, carefully, yet firmly, keeping him upright.

"Arvy? You okay?"

"…Fine… Just tired…" he mumbled, cracking open an eye to stagger his way forward. He heavily pressed a hand down into the desk as he approached, staring at the tablet.

There was an overhead map open on its screen. Jacq was pointing at a building in the town, "This is where we are, and the CabInns are all the way over here."

He trailed his finger down the road, past the community center and cafe to the east, scrolling as he left the town, crossed a bridge, and finally ended up pointing at…

…an empty field.

"It's gonna take a while before the maps get updated," Jacq laughed tiredly, "but I promise there's cabins there. They're quite cozy. They have their own kitchen, a TV, a shower, of course…

"I can swap you over to a CabInn, if you'd like. They're all one floor, no elevators needed. Cleaning services are still offered. There are no complimentary meals, however; you'll have to buy and make your own. Considering it's you, Arven, I'm sure that's fine. What else—"

"And there is one available?" Arven asked.

"Yes. I can pull up some pictures if you'd like to—"

"I'll take it. Can the reservation here be swapped over there?"

"Not quite. But, you won't have to worry about that, I'll get it all sorted. Here—" Jacq was peering over Arven's email once again, muttering the note room to himself and jabbing notes on his own phone before passing Arven's belongings back to him.

"I'll escort you there and get you settled. Kieran, can you handle booking in Sada and Larry? I'll deal with the cancellation of the third room when I'm back."

"Yes, sir."

Jacq was quickly out of the seat and Kieran quick to replace him. Sada was looking between the two, before looking at Arven, "We can help with—"

Arven waved her off as he returned to his chair, carefully removing Larry's and Sada's bags onto to the bench before sitting back down. He kept the cane with him, leaning it backwards on the footrest and clutching it with the crook of his elbow. "Gigi and Jacq are enough help, I think. Get some rest."

"Oh, wait! Your stuff in my suitcase—"

He waved her off again as he moved towards the door where Jacq waited, Gigi marching at his side. "Just give it to me tomorrow or something. It's not like I need it right away."

"All right… See you later, Arvy."

"Yup."

Jacq was holding the door open for him. He heard Kieran typing on the keyboard and reading over the reservation with a timid, "You're booked from today until… oh, wowzers, that's a long time. I don't think anybody's—I-I mean, you're staying an entire month?"

He suddenly felt the wall of Kitakami heat on him as he made it outside. It must have shown on his face as Jacq laughed, stepping into line beside him. "Don't worry, the cabins are air-conditioned, too."

"Oh. Good."

It wasn't as bad as the Paldean heat, at least.

Jacq nodded, humming quietly to himself as they faded into silence. As they passed the community center, he stopped and pointed at it. "If you're ever in need of groceries or medicine, the general store's on the back of the community center. It was originally going to be an expansion of the center itself, but that fell through. At least it all worked out in the end, though. I think this was for the best.

"Oh! The name can get a little confusing at first for tourists. The general store is still called 'Peachy's', even though the original location is now 'Peachy's Cafe'. So, if you ever hear people say 'Peachy's', they mean the general store, and if you hear 'P-Cafe', that's… well, the cafe!"

"All right…"

"Ah, listen to me going on. You must be exhausted and probably don't care, right? Let's keep going… Although, I'd be more than happy to give you and the others a tour once you've all gotten some rest."

Arven smiled. "I'm sure Sada would like that. She was excited to see you. I thought you'd moved to Sinnoh?"

Jacq nodded, "I did, but my wife and I were both so enamoured by Mossui Town we decided to pack up and move after our son left the house. Time really does fly. It feels like only yesterday that I was still teaching at Uva Academy, single and not even considering a family…"

The man rubbed his hand back through his hair. The hair tie looked closed to snapping off. Arven could see the light crow's feet around the man's eyes, the distantly happy look on his face as he reminisced.

"…Do you miss Paldea?" Arven heard himself asking.

Jacq turned at the question. A smile so softly genuine stretched across his face. "Of course I do. Paldea will always be my home, even if I'm almost halfway across the world from it."

The man was suddenly laughing, though a hint of sadness rang through, "I certainly wasn't expecting to be the manager of Mossui Town's inns though, I can tell you that much. I thought I'd be teaching until my death bed. I wonder what Clavell would think…"

Arven turned his gaze to the road. He smiled sadly himself, "I think he'd be happy for you. It's clear that you love it here…"

"Yeah. I do… Aaand I know you and the others will love your stay!" Jacq beamed. "Who knows, maybe I'll even convince one of you to move here!"

"Hm. Maybe…" Arven could definitely see Sada and Larry moving all the way out here. Sada was always saying how his childhood home was going to be his when she was gone, and that he was practically "renting it out" to her in the meantime. He could see her "giving it back" early, even though he'd been the one to make the decision to move out and live in the lighthouse.

…

He didn't know if he'd be able to live in that house again.

"And here we are. The Ogre Lodge! It's the biggest one, too!" Jacq gestured with a flourish towards one of the 4 cabins.

Arven raised an eyebrow, blinking slowly at the cabin before him. The outside of the house was very… green. And very… shaped. It… vaguely reminded him of that one indiscernible Pokemon figurine on the inn's desk. He slowly turned to look at the other one nearby. It was also very… shaped from what he could see. It, somehow, vaguely reminded him of that bird Pokemon.

He wouldn't be surprised if the other two were that dog and monkey.

There was enough space between the four cabins that he didn't think he'd have to worry about hearing any noise from his neighbour. The Ogre Lodge was also closest to the check-in cabin, so he'd definitely have less noise there, considering how it was almost "always empty", according to Jacq. The cleaning crew would come around once in the morning and unlock it to get their supplies and that might be the most he'd hear from it. Jacq claimed he was "as quiet as a Komala" when he was in there making sure everything was in order.

Arven looked back at the check-in cabin as Jacq unlocked the door and then handed him the keys. Arven asked, "Are you sure you don't need me to fill anything out?"

Jacq shook his head. "Just leave everything to me, all right?"

Arven couldn't help but frown. "I just don't want you to get in trouble."

Jacq laughed, "That's sweet of you, Arven, but I'll be fine. Preeeetty sure I've got a handle on things by now. It'll be a bit of a process, anyway, and I'd rather you get some rest. You all looked dead on your feet in the lobby there."

Arven sighed in defeat. "…I suppose. Thanks, Jacq."

The man smiled. "It's my pleasure. If you need any help, there's a phone inside that redirects right to my work phone." He turned to start down the road before pausing and turning right back, exclaiming, "Oh! Before I go, the 'Do Not Disturb' sign is a little different from a regular one that you hang on the knob. Had a lot of Pokemon snatching them before we figured out a solution…"

Jacq shuffled back up to the door and pointed to a small light above the lock. "There's a little device screwed into the other side of the door with three buttons. They're all labelled, but the top should be red for 'Do Not Disturb', then the next one should be blue for 'Please Refresh the Room', and the last should power the device off to announce the cabin is unoccupied. Please keep it on while you're staying."

Jacq laughed awkwardly before straightening up. "If the batteries in it start to die, it should let out a warning beep. Let me know and I'll come replace them right away."

Arven nodded. "Sure thing."

"All right. If you have any questions, just, y'know, give me a call! I'll get out of your hair to let you rest now. Enjoy your stay, Arven!"

Arven watched for a moment as the man made his way back to the check-in cabin before opening the door and letting Gigi in first before he followed. He looked around for a short moment. It… certainly was a cabin. There were two single beds pushed up flush against the far wall, separated by a nightstand between the two. Or… was it a small dresser?

Hm…

Since he was alone, maybe he could get Gigi to move some things around and push the two beds together. If he was going to stay for a month, might as well make it comfortable, right?

Oh… Maybe that'd be against some kind of rule. He quickly found the phone Jacq was talking about, sitting on a small table underneath a TV on the wall. Definitely not as big as the one in the main inn's lobby. That was fine, he was sure he'd still be able to see it from the bed. If not, he could grab a chair he could see from the small dining table right next to the equally small kitchen.

The walls were decorated with hand-painted artwork of what he assumed was the "ogre" Pokemon.

He frowned, looking around for the bathroom. There wasn't much to the place, how was he missing it?

He finally found it behind him, next to the entrance. The door had been closed and blended in with the wall.

With everything surveyed, Arven moved, carefully setting down the keys onto the nightstand. He'd have to remember to attach those to his own keyring later. He pushed down on the nearest bed and pillow.

Hm… He could already tell it wouldn't be as comfortable as his bed back home, but it seemed like it would be okay. He'd find out for certain soon enough.

Parking his wheelchair near an empty wall, Arven turned the mobility aid off and slowly got to his feet, once again digging the cane into the floorboards. He shuffled back to the door, Gigi toddling at his side and holding him upright as he locked the door and switched the light to 'Do Not Disturb' before kicking off his shoes. He opened up the bathroom door while he was at it so he wouldn't have to worry about it later.

Making his way back into the cabin, he paused and stared at the backpack on his chair. He needed to get the charger and plug it in… He needed to retrieve Houndstone's Ball and let him out. He needed…

to sleep.

Gigi seemed to agree, lifting him suddenly. He protested lightly, but couldn't do much before the Magearna was gently sitting him on the bed closest to the chair, taking his cane and leaning it against the wall. Gigi was then chirping happily as it moved to close all of the curtains. The light faded from the cabin almost instantaneously; they must have been blackout curtains. Then, it grabbed Arven's backpack and settled it on the nearby dining table, rummaging through it.

Arven sighed, tiredly and slowly stripping himself out of his clothes until he was in nothing but his boxers, kicking his clothes away into a small pile. He did his best to ignore the giant scar on the left side of his abdomen.

It was always hard to ignore.

It always burned when he looked at it. He could feel the knife, then Kingambit's arm…

Fucking Giacomo…

Why did he— Being wasted didn't excuse— Had he wanted to do that from the start? Was that why Giacomo let himself into the house unannounced one day and seemed surprised by Arven being there? Had he wanted to lie in wait and ambush him…? Do more than almost force himself on…

…

He was quickly digging the heels of his palms into his eyes. Don't think about it. Don't question his motives. Just go to fucking sleep.

He dropped his hands to his knees, using the nightstand as leverage as he stood. He turned around, flipping the covers over on the bed. He was just getting ready to crawl in when Gigi chirped behind him. It was telling him to wait.

He looked over his shoulder. The Pokemon gently set the chargers and Houndstone's Ball on the dining table before it was waltzing around the small corner to the kitchen. He could hear drawers open and close before there was the sound of water running.

It stopped shortly, Gigi returning and sliding a full glass onto the nightstand. It was then rummaging through a compartment in its skirt, pulling out two pill bottles. It plucked out a pill from each and set it next to the glass, watching him dutifully as it tucked the bottles away once more.

"Thanks, Gigi…" he mumbled, quickly grabbing and downing the pills with a swig of water.

Pain and PTSD…

…that was his entire life, wasn't it?

Ever since he was born, his existence caused nothing but

Metallic hands grabbed onto his, clutching tightly. Nearly breaking skin, but knowing the limits. A hum. A wave of calm filling his veins.

He was tired…

"Can you let Houndstone out for me?" he asked quietly after Gigi let go. There was an affirmative chirp. The sound of her footsteps moving back to the dining table.

He finally collapsed into the bed. It was hard to reach down and pull the covers up, his arms weighed down by fatigue.

He managed after an agonizing moment. He watched Gigi release Houndstone, who stretched and started to wander. He watched Houndstone for only a breath before his eyes closed and he was fast asleep.

He stirred at a knock on his door.

Who would be bothering him right now?

…He'd just ignore it.

He rolled over, clenching his eyes tightly, as if that would will the person outside away.

Another knock.

He didn't move.

There was a click of the door unlocking.

His eyes shot open. He sat up in a panic as the door creaked open. The blood drained from his face at the sight of his ex-fiance shambling forward with a drunken swagger.

Arven's mouth went dry. He had to get out.

Could he make it around Giacomo and run for help?

The second he stood, Giacomo was lurching forward, pinning him to the wall.

Hand around his neck. Fingers digging into his throat. Alcohol filling his nose from Giacomo's breath as the man leaned in closer. Lips over his. The taste of his tears mixing in with the alcohol. Get off. Get off.

Giacomo pulled back. His voice was low. Haunting. Disturbing. "You don't love me anymore, Arven?"

You're the one that called it off! You broke up with ME!

He couldn't speak. It was hard to breathe. The fingers on his neck dug deeper.

"What did I ever do to you, hm?" His voice quickly descended into a growl and Arven was feeling static in his abdomen. His gaze travelled down, a whimper from his throat as Giacomo's hand was digging into his side.

The hand on his throat was gone. He sucked in a breath. Swallowed his tears. The hand that had been around his throat stayed in the air.

It was holding a knife.

His eyes moved back to observe Rika's face. The hatred was clear in her eye.

"Who's gonna save you, huh, hero?"

The knife plunged into his neck and his eyes snapped open. There was cold air, but sweat rolled down his face all the same. His lungs burned. It was hard to breathe. Static in his neck. His side. His heart. It pounded against his skull.

Light purple glows above him. Small mechanical hands on him. One held his hand, the other sat on his chest. Cold snout resting near his leg. Goosebumps up his body.

Humming.

Calm down. It was just a stupid dream.

He closed his eyes as Gigi hummed and Houndstone whimpered quietly. He synced his breathing to Gigi loosening and tightening its grip on his hand.

Deep, slow breaths…

…

He didn't know how long it took for him to calm down. He didn't really care.

…No, he did care. What kind of life was this? Was he to spend the rest of his life getting angry at his friends and family for no reason and have breakdowns over his dreams?

"Gigi…" he murmured, cracking open his eyes. The Magearna blurred and shone as tears escaped his eyes. "Can you… Can you just stop my heart? I think that'd be best…"

The mortified sound that came from the Service Pokemon felt as if it echoed through the cabin. The face on the LED disappeared in horror.

He rolled his head the other way. Shit. It'd try to get him on suicide watch; he'd ruin everybody's vacation.

"…I'm kidding. Sorry. Bad joke…"

Why bother lying? He knew it could tell that he hadn't been kidding. He hoped it could feel that the want of death was diminishing at the thought of upsetting the others.

"…Please don't—Just… You can call whoever you want when the vacation's over and we're back home, okay? I… I don't need to make everybody more miserable than I already have…"

The wall grew a little brighter with purple. Its face must have returned.

The tiny hand squeezed his even tighter.

He could only assume that meant "okay".

He couldn't fall back asleep. He tried a quick shower to be rid of the sweat and tears, but that served to wake him up further. To try to bore himself to sleep, he attached the cabin's keys to his own keyring. He turned on the TV to a local station he couldn't understand. He scrolled on his phone… as much as he could, anyway. The signal was pretty awful; hopefully it was better in the town proper, otherwise Penny would fall into a deep depression.

Even after an hour, he still wasn't tired.

Arven sat on the edge of his bed with a defeated sigh. Maybe tea? He hadn't even been paying attention to the time…

1:04am.

…Ah, shit.

It was such a small town, would that general store be open this late?

…Well, he could always walk over and see. If it was closed, then maybe the walk itself would tire him back out.

…As good a plan as any. And, if the store was open, he could even stock up on a few things for breakfast.

Opting to grab clean clothes from his bag, Arven changed and turned off the TV, then clasped Houndstone's Ball to his waistband. He grabbed his cane and slipped on his shoes. He paused as he opened the door, peering around to look at the front to make sure the light stayed on.

The light stayed red. Good.

He motioned Houndstone and Gigi outside before following. He locked the cabin door and passed the keys to Gigi, who diligently tucked them away into a compartment.

Goosebumps trailed up his arm. Not from Houndstone, but a colder breeze than he'd expected. Arven tried to shake it off. He wouldn't be very long.

…and hopefully the walk would help with how stiff he'd become. The flight over had been immensely long. What had it been…? 14 hours? Something like that.

It had felt like 40.

…Great, now he was dreading the trip back home.

…

Rolling his neck while rubbing it with his left hand, Arven started his way back down the road. He couldn't help but look over at the check-in cabin as he passed by, a gentle light illuminating the door.

Strange. He didn't recall seeing a light over his door. Was that just for the check-in cabin? That would be weird, right? Why not have an outdoor light for—

Did that light just move?

He couldn't stop the startled yelp and step backwards as the light was suddenly flying right towards him. The light buzzed in panic in return.

It was a Pokemon!

Houndstone was quickly in front of him, growling at it in warning. Before Arven could fully comprehend it, it was darting over and past them in a flash. He couldn't help but scan the sky for it, catching its light as it flew over an open field before descending and disappearing from view.

Huh…

He wondered if Sada knew what that was.

"It's okay, bud," he muttered, absentmindedly reaching down to pet the still growling dog. He felt his stomach do flips as he touched Mabosstiff's gravestone. Swallowing harshly, he continued, "I… I heard it's peaceful here. Read there was lots of docile Pokemon. I don't think we have to worry…"

Houndstone's growls faded into a quiet 'ruf' of affirmation. An echo of Mabosstiff's. Familiar, yet wrong.

When would he get used to it? It'd already been a couple of years… why wasn't he used to it yet?

Why couldn't he do anything right?

Gigi was quick to hold onto his left hand and squeeze. Houndstone stepped in line at his right side, making sure to give space for the cane as Arven walked.

Arven glanced over at the dog. His tail was wagging happily, his skeletal snout to the ground as he took in all the new smells…

…

…Could he actually still smell things…?

…

…He supposed he should be glad that at least someone was having fun so far.

…

Arven looked straight ahead. He could see distant lights of Mossui Town. Farther past it, the hills and mountains and… the night sky.

He thought Paldea had little light pollution, but Kitakami had even less. His gaze moved further upward, gently tilting his head back to get an even better look at the sky.

The ocean of stars certainly felt infinitely more vast.

Even if the journey to get tea wasn't fruitful, he supposed he wouldn't mind sitting outside and looking at the stars until he got tired…

He was surprised to see both the community center and general store still open. It made sense after some thought; it was tourist season. People could arrive at almost any hour.

As he rounded the community center to the back, he gently commanded to Houndstone, "Back in your Ball, okay, bud? Don't think there'll be much room for all three of us in the store."

With a wag of his tail, the dog disappeared in a flash of light.

Gigi let go of his hand to run ahead and open one of the doors for him once it was obvious they weren't automatic. Arven entered the store to be greeted with silence and narrow aisles. It was a good thing Arven had brought the dog's Ball—there definitely wasn't room for him. If he'd forgotten it, he would have told Houndstone to wait outside, and he didn't want people to think he was wild and attack him.

He stood in place and looked around distantly before jumping at the sound of the door opening behind him. He was apologizing quietly and shuffling into a random aisle with Gigi.

He hadn't thought anybody else would be shopping so late.

He glanced over as he felt eyes on him. The woman he'd been blocking was staring him down before she disappeared out of view.

Definitely a local.

Definitely thought he was some stupid, idiot tourist.

…Well, he kind of was.

Holding back a sigh as Gigi squeezed his hand reassuringly once again, Arven finally started to look through the aisle he'd sidled into. His lips quickly thinned as he realized he couldn't read any of the packaging.

Of course it'd all be in Japanese. Why wouldn't it?

If he could find eggs, bread, and tea, that'd be fine…

Their bread couldn't be that much different from bread back home… right? He wouldn't have to fret over it being like… extremely sweet or something?

Maybe he should wait and get help from Sada or Penny…

"Excuse me."

His heart jumped in his chest at a sudden presence to his left. It was the woman from earlier, looking to get at the shelf he was zoning out in front of.

"Sorry…"

He quickly shuffled out of the way. It looked like the starting aisles were all snack stuff. He should go further in… Hm. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the woman grabbing multiple boxes of sweet treats before pausing.

"Where are you coming in from?" He jumped again at her sudden question, turning to look at her from where he'd been standing still. She grabbed another box before her brows furrowed and she set everything back onto the shelf. She was suddenly scolding him, "You look ready to pass out! This couldn't wait until you got over your jet lag?!"

Arven blinked rapidly in confusion. "Uh… Huh?"

The woman shook her head before dropping her hands to her hips. "What are you looking for? I'll help you find it. We don't have 24/7 medical services, not really, so I'm not gonna let you just stand there until you keel over."

"I… Uh…" he stammered, swallowing. He could feel a blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears. "Just… Looking for some eggs, bread, and tea… I can't read any of the packaging, so… um… The help is apprecia—"

She was suddenly asking incredulously, "Do you have a fever?"

"…Huh? I… don't think s—" He trailed off as he followed her hand as she pointed.

…

Everything was labelled in English on the price tags.

He felt his face burn even hotter. "…I promise I'm usually not this stupid."

She scoffed, "I didn't say you were, did I? You look ready to pass out; it makes sense you missed it." She was quickly scooping back all her items into her arms and saying, "I'll go put my items up at the front and come back to help you." before walking off.

He could barely register what she had said before she was back at his side empty handed. She gestured with a nod for him to follow. He did so slowly.

…Maybe he was exhausted enough to be concerned. Or, was it just her putting the idea into his head? Gigi didn't seem overly worried.

"Just tea, bread, and eggs?“

He jolted at the question before relaxing. Calm down. "Yeah. I'll do a bigger shopping trip after some sleep. Just need something to eat for when I wake up."

She nodded, before gesturing to the shelf before her. There was an abundance of tea. "Take a look and I'll grab bread and eggs," she instructed before striding away.

Arven watched after her for a short moment before turning to the tea. His eyes nearly fell out of his skull as he looked at the sheer volume of various teas. So many of them seemed to be green teas, if the labels had anything to say about it. They covered almost half the shelves!

But, he wasn't really looking for a green tea…

"What kind are you looking for?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin again as the woman returned. He cleared his throat at the piercing stare she was giving him and looked back at the shelves.

"…Something to help me sleep tonight… Like lavender or chamomile." He couldn't help but mutter as his eyes drifted back to the left half of the shelves, "Wasn't expecting so much green tea."

She laughed, "Yeah, we got quite a bit, huh? It's Kitakami's specialty, but popular all over Japan, too. Lavender or chamomile, huh? I'd think the jet lag would be enough to knock someone out, but, let's see… Ah, here."

He looked back as the woman was grabbing two bags off the shelves and presenting them to him. One lavender, the other chamomile. He was about to grab the lavender bag before she was stalking off.

"Come on, I'll pay."

…Huh?

Dumbfounded, he followed after her. The main counter was empty, she passed right by it to a self-service machine in the corner of the room. She was already scanning his items by the time he approached.

"I can pay for—"

"You're the one Kiki told me about, right?" She interrupted without even looking up. She tucked the bag with his items to the side while scanning her own items. There were a lot of snacks. "The 'one with the wheelchair' and 'really cool Service Pokemon'?"

Who? “Kiki“…? What?

A flit of recognition crossed her face at his confused silence. "Kieran," she clarified, "my little brother who just started working at the hotel. Inn. Whatever."

"Oh! Um… yeah, I guess that was me. But what does that have to—"

"You deserved a better welcome to Mossui Town than that. You didn't know the elevator would be too small for your chair. What the heck would you have done if there hadn't been a CabInn free?! On behalf of Mossui Town, I'll buy you bread, eggs, and tea to apologize for our 'Caretaker's' carelessness."

"You don't have to, I—" Arven was finally removing his hand from Gigi's and reaching for his phone, but the woman had finished scanning and bagging her items. She was pulling out her own and paying in seconds.

His hand stayed paused on his pocket as she took out the receipt and pointedly shoved it into her nearly overflowing bag. Arven could only watch with a frown on his face as she passed the bag with his items to Gigi, the Magearna chirping in gratitude.

As the woman straightened back up, she dropped her hands to her hips as she addressed him, "Well, at least I got a thanks from someone."

He balked, another flush of embarrassment hitting his cheeks. Arven stammered, "I—But—That's—You didn't have to—I—"

He clamped his mouth shut as she crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow of judgement. He cleared his throat again, glancing to the floor. Quietly, he asked, "…What's your name?"

“Carmine."

"Arven," He quickly introduced himself before clearing his throat again, his gaze moving to the bag on Gigi's arm before he was looking the woman in the eyes again. "…Thank you, Carmine."

Carmine smiled gently before grabbing her own bag. She nodded towards the door. "C'mon, you are in the CabInns, right? I'm… going that way, too, so I'll walk with you."

"Huh? Um…"

She was already walking to the entrance before stopping to stare at him over her shoulder when he didn't move. "What? I don't bite."

The way she was staring him down seemed to say otherwise.

Still, Arven mumbled an apology and started to follow. Carmine breezed towards the door and held it open for him to shuffle outside. With another mumbled thanks, he glanced at her before looking back at the ground as she walked beside Gigi on his left.

"…Was gonna let my Pokemon out for the walk back," he explained. "He was too big to fit in the store. Do you mind?"

He chewed on his cheek at the offense that covered her face as she questioned, "Why would I?"

"Sorry. I'll—" He paused to fumble with Houndstone's Ball, tapping the release. The dog emerged with a stretch and wag of his tail, before tilting his head at the sight of Carmine. "Mab—Houndstone, bud, this is Carmine. She's gonna walk with us."

Houndstone 'ruf'd in greeting. Carmine giggled, "'Hello' to you, too. You seem nice and strong, so protect us from any aggressive, wild Pokemon, okay?"

Houndstone seemed to almost glow with confidence before taking the lead as they walked on. Arven couldn't help but glance at the woman, then at the gravestone on the dog's head. She wasn't curious? Did she know what a Houndstone was already? He thought they were primarily Paldean?

…Or, maybe she knew about and thought it'd evolved from a Greavard. Maybe she hadn't looked at the engraving to realize that wasn't the case. Houndstones by evolution only had scattered symbols on their headstones, after all…

Didn't matter.

"When's the last time you brushed him?"

"Huh?" He was surprised to see the woman scowling at him, one hand on her hip in judgement.

"His fur looks close to getting dangerously matted! Even if you can't brush him, your little helper can help you to do it, right?"

Arven blinked at Carmine slowly, before looking back at the dog. Was that… not just how Houndstone's fur looked? That was how he always remembered it. Besides, could it even mat?

Even if it could, it wasn't like Houndstone had skin that—

"And don't start thinking that it wouldn't hurt him because it looks like he's all bone and seems to have no skin! Ghost types can still feel it… probably!" She huffed, sticking her nose up. "I'd rather be safe than sorry, if I were you."

Arven looked back at Houndstone, trying to gauge his fur in the night lighting.

…It really wasn't looking very good, was it? Why hadn't Nemona, Penny, or Sada pointed it out to him? Why—

It's not their responsibility to care for your Pokemon, you idiot.

A pit of guilt piled into his chest. He swallowed a lump forming in his throat. Gigi squeezed his hand.

Do better. What's wrong with you?

“I—" he croaked, before stopping and clearing his throat. He'd been about to apologize, but he bet Carmine would have chastised him for it. She was giving that kinda vibe.

"…I'll… take a look tomorrow. Thanks for… for bringing it up."

He glanced at her, her mouth open and scowl still on her face. Her face stuck like that for a beat until she clamped her mouth shut, her expression softening. "You're welcome. They sell some nice brushes at Pe— the general store —if you forgot to bring one."

"Okay, thanks…" Arven paused for a short moment as his brow furrowed in realization. "Hey, where was the cashier, anyway? Nobody was there."

"Hm? Oh! Of course you wouldn't know," she laughed lightly. "The store is always open, but nobody wanted to work night shifts when it's so quiet. Unlike other towns or cities, there's no extra pay for the overnight shift, either, so that really killed any motivation to work it, too.

"Soooo, they decided to man the store with Ghost Pokemon at night. They stay out of sight and make sure to be as inconspicuous as possible, so no staring at people to unnerve them unless they're sure it's a shoplifter."

"And you've had them before? Shoplifters?"

“A few, yeah." She moved her free hand to start twirling some of her face-framing bangs. "All tourists, of course."

Arven found himself smirking with amusement. "Ah, is that the real reason you wanted to help me? Thought I was gonna steal something?"

He was surprised when Carmen's eyes widened, her hand gripping the short amount of hair as she insisted, "No! You looked ready to pass out, and I didn't want you hitting your head and bleeding out! That's all!"

Arven was at a bit of a loss, before he found himself laughing. It felt like it echoed across the valley as they neared the CabInns.

Carmine pouted and grumbled something under her breath. He couldn't catch it past his laugh, even as it died down.

Carmine was quickly puffing out her chest with bravado as the CabInns entered their view. "Which one are you in?"

“I'm in the—" Wait, was she blushing? Or, had he made her angry?

“What? What's with that look? Wait, hang on, I know what it is." A mischievous grin crept onto her face. "You got distracted by how pretty and wonderful I am, right?"

Taken aback, his eyes darted away, back to Houndstone. What the hell did he say to that?! He felt his own cheeks flush back with tired, flustered embarrassment as he floundered for a reply. Finally, he blurted out, "I'm in the Ogre one!"

It was her turn to laugh.

It almost carried them the rest of the way to the cabin in question. He was surprised when Carmine was quick to scurry up to Houndstone as he sat and waited by the door. She pulled up her bag to rest in the crook of her arm before she was readily giving him face rubs.

"Who's a good little protector, huh? You make sure Arven gives you a big treat, okay? And a good brushing tomorrow!"

“Ruf!"

Arven frowned. No goosebumps on her arm in the slightest. Why did it only happen to him?

"Now what's with that look?“ Carmine was quickly back to standing, pointing a finger at him in an instant. "Don't tell me you didn't pack treats!"

Arven shook his head. "I packed treats. I'm just…"

His shoulders sagged. There was no point in delving into all of that, especially not with someone he'd just met. He let out a heavy breath, his gaze falling to the ground as he mumbled, "…tired."

The accusing finger was immediately dropped. Carmine's voice came out softer, "Right. Yeah. Can your Service Pokemon make the tea? You should just get yourself ready to sleep."

What was she, his mother?

"Good idea…" He tried to put on a smile before fishing out his keys. He awkwardly thumbed to the needed key with one hand as he moved to the door, Carmine stepping out of the way.

He paused as he set the key into the lock, looking at the woman over his shoulder. "…Thanks again for all the help, Carmine."

She smiled. "Of course. I hope you feel better before the festival, Arven."

He was about to say something more, but she was already ending the conversation and walking away. He turned back as he unlocked the door and let the Pokemon inside before him. He paused as he was about to enter for himself, looking back at the woman as she walked away.

She released a Pokemon of her own. A dog breed he couldn't gauge in the low light.

…

She was walking back to town. Hadn't she said she was headed in the same direction as him? So why was she going back? Had she lied? What for?

She thinks you're weak.

And she's right.

After hearing a whine and concerned chirp, Arven finally stepped foot into the cabin and locked the door behind him. He hoped the tea helped him sleep without having dreams.

He was tired of listening to himself. To his dreams. To his thoughts.

…

He was going to ruin the trip in some capacity, he just knew it.

…

There. That's what he wanted to get away from.

"Gigi, can you start the tea? C'mon, bud, let's get you a treat…"

Please, Arceus, just let him sleep with empty dreams for once.