I wake up in the morning with the blankets curled around me so tightly I can hardly move. I shake them off and roll off the bed, groaning, my eyes still filled with sleep and my throat sore. Reginae makes the entire sofa creak as he gets off it and the new Eevee is sitting in the sink in the back room, a large towel beneath him.

"Why are you in the sink?" I ask, still drowsy.

His voice echoes from the bathroom. "This is the best place in the room for me to be alone with my feelings. I considered the closet, but it's just a biiiit too cliche, so..."

"Are you kidding me?"
"Well, no. The towel is pretty nice too. Hotel towels are the best." He adds, "Not like I would know. I have never stolen a hotel towel in my life."

"I didn't ask-" I throw my hands out in frustration.

"Okay, well I stole one once, but that's part of my dramatic backstory. A lot of really bad things happened to me when I was little-"

Reginae looks up, suddenly far more interested. I feel a stirring at the back of his mind. The empathy built on repressed memories and sleepless nights as a Chikorita is so strong that even with the amount he's closed off his mind to me, I can still feel it tugging at my own heart. "I... I'm very sorry. I know how that feels, and if you want to tell us what happened, we're here."

"If you really must know..." Fang sighs deeply, "I was really cold this one night and-"

"I think we're done here." I say, praying he'll stop there. "So... the agenda for today. We're probably going to have to have a talk with the team about the circumstances."

Reginae refocuses his gaze. He looks extremely aggravated but I decide not to press any further. It's not like the poor kid knows what we've been through anyways.

"I can't believe she's dead." Reginae says.

"I know." One of my hands curls itself into a fist. "Me neither."

"We still don't know-"

"-but it had to be. She isn't stupid."

"Accidents could've happened. It could have been a Gyarados."

"There was a note."

"Is he allowed to interfere with your progress?"

"Are you kidding me? There are no rules. The only reason he hasn't killed me yet is because he's mildly curious to see what I'll do next. I'm not bound to some greater fate programmed into the machine so I'm interesting enough as a pawn. Besides that there's the deal with Ethan so if he lets me live a little longer and I beat Clair, we might both find Ethan and a way out of the system."

"Oh. My. Darkrai." yells Fang, jumping out of the sink and racing into the room.

"What is it?!" I ask.

"That's SO COOL! Are you really looking for a way out of the system? I knew we were trapped in some game. Wait, wait, wait. Have you heard of... the Kitsumenati?!"

"Yes, kitsune are real. What's that suffix even supposed to mean?" I explain. "This isn't a joke. If you're going to be on the team, you're going to find out really fast that what we're doing is completely serious."

His eyes widen. "I know. That's another great line too! Here, give me a minute..."

He jumps onto the sofa and closes the blinds, save for the middle ones. "Better."

"What's better? I can't see anything like this." I ask.

"It's better lighting, obviously. Continue!"

"I'm not dealing with this. Clay, Rose, D'spinas, Ten!" I send out my Pokeballs. "Reginae, can you get the lights?"

Reginae reopens the blinds by pulling on the string next to them with his mouth. He casually knocks Fang out of the way, causing the small Eevee to fall off the couch.

Clay has his arms folded. "Ya better have a good explanation for this one."
"That's why all of you are out. I don't have an explanation."

"We still don't know what happened

"Where's Luna?" asks Rose. "She said she was gonna carry me today and she's not here!"

"She's not coming back. Remember what happened to Sunny?"

"Sunny left to go on vacation, silly!"

I want to be so incredibly angry at Luna for telling Rose that death was a vacation of all things but I can barely muster up the effort to be upset. All I can feel is a quiet sense of hollowness. Where would Luna have gone on vacation? There are so many things I'll never know about the dead and it's all my fault.

Rose didn't see the body. I silently thank Clay for keeping her away from the corpse but at the same time I wish so badly that I didn't have to explain the cruel reality of death to Rose. She's too young to have to know, and yet the lifestyle we lead guarantees it.

When I was little, I never thought of the consequences either.

"Can you withdraw Rose?" asks Clay.

"What? Why?" I ask.

"Just do it."

Rose looks upset but I do so anyways and she disappears in a blast of blue. I tuck the Pokeball away. "You didn't want her to hear, did you?"

Clay gives me a gravelly stare. "It doesn't matter much what I want. It just matters what she needs and she needs to not be a part of this. Not yet."

"I understand completely. So," I say, "Before we get back out there... I want to make a few things clear. First of all, no wandering off."

D'spinas narrows her eyes. "Wandering? What do you define as wandering?"

"Straying from the group. I know we all have moments where we want to get away but if we wander off Red is going to decimate our numbers one by one."

Reginae teases, "Ashley, you've run off more times than any of us have. Are there any rules on you wandering?"

"No, that's valid. It's just as dangerous for me to leave all of you alone," When all of them look extremely peeved at this, I add, "Or for me to be outside of your protection. Unless I have all of you withdrawn, I'm not allowed out on my own either."
"What if you keep one of us out anyways?" asks Fang. "I could be the best bodyguard ever!"

"I don't need to be babysit." I tell him. Unsurprisingly the concept of being watched over by the world's most criminally aggravating Eevee is not all that exciting.

"Well, neither do we." Reginae snaps.

"Second, we're going to have to do a lot more grinding to ensure accidents don't happen again. If that wasn't Red, it was probably just a high level Pokemon. I know they don't sound as scary, but they're just as bad. Death is death."

Surprisingly, no one objects to this.

"Okay." echoes Ten.

"I thought you guys hated grinding." I say, incredulous.
"I never said that." D'spinas crosses her drills.

"You know what's worse than grinding? It's dying." adds Reginae. "I don't plan on dying, so we're definitely going to have to grind some."

"You look really shocked by this." Clay remarks.

"I don't know, usually you guys are always fighting me..." I shrug. "It's just nice to be respected."

"Of course we respect you! We're going to argue if you say something ridiculous, but I, for one, trust your judgement. You're the real team leader." Ten cooes. "So, what do we do next?"

"How inspiring!" calls Fang from the back. "This team... it's so beautiful! I just wanted a ride, but this is something so much bigger than that, isn't it?"

"Yes." I say.

"Awesome! I'm part of all that! What would I be? The sidekick? Nah, too lame. Maybe I'd be the cool and mysterious one?"
"Fang, I swear..."
"Alright. Just tell me what to do and I'll look away but agree anyways for the good of the team! Throw it at me."
I take out a trinket from my bag and proceed to throw it at him.

"Wait, what? You're kidding me."

"Want me to help you get it on?" I ask.

He starts to say something but I cut him off by putting the bell around his neck.

"This is utter nonsense." he huffs. "I fail to see how this bell in any way makes me a better fighter. Is it a magical bell?"

"It'll help you evolve into Umbreon faster."

"Oh. I guess it's fine then."

"Time to check out?" I ask the team.

Everyone nods and we set off again. This time, we hunt the wildlife not in pairs but as a squad of six, diving, whirling, and racing across the land. Even Fang, with his tiny bell tinkling away, turns out to be a valuable contributor, in part due to how scrappy he is. Still, his continuous yelling is driving the prey away. Reginae races in front and falls back, using Photosynthesis to heal himself before joining the fray again. D'spinas and Ten strike up conversations and strategy and for once I see her soar just off the ground, Ten swiftly accompanying her. Clay is gruff and silent but Rose keeps asking for Luna.

It's almost night time when we round the corner and enter Olivine, the ocean waves calling out in the distance. The poppies are brighter this time, despite the angry gray sky overhead. Everything is quiet and soft, as if the world has finally found a melancholy peace.

D'spinas turns to me at day's end. "Ashley?"

The others are just in eyesight. They'll be safe. I turn to her slowly, smiling brightly. "You need something?"

"I have a confession."
I nod. "Go on."

"I was very lucky to find you. Even if I have not fought dragons... I have become strong. Stronger than I ever dreamed of being."

"You will fight dragons. We're still going to Blackthorn to kick Clair's ass, aren't we?"

"Ashley Hart." she laughs. I think it may be the first time I've ever heard her so much as chuckle before. It's a strange buzzing noise but in its own way, it is oddly beautiful. "You are a fool if you think that I am going to make it to Blackthorn. No bug type is going to survive eight gyms."

"Two did last time."

"And you lost."

She turns to snipe another Flaafy (making me cringe silently) and it's clear the conversation is well past over. Still, it never ceases to hurt.

Do all of you feel that way?

(Lots of work on the actual game and the plot today! Let me just say that really great things are coming your way in a few chapters and especially over the month of July. I might end up double updating today (Extraordinary) but in the advent that I don't quite make it (finals and father's day) I'll definitely update soon, I promise!)