"Ashley," asks Reginae, his voice shuddering. "How did she die?"

Dill passes across the ocean in my mind. I remember why he did it. I remember Red on the side of the ocean. There's no way this was some accident.

Dill. You have to find Dill. You have to you have to you have to-

I place her body down and ignore my Pokemon's concerned gazes.

"Ashley-" Ten reaches out with a wing and I bat it away. I turn around with narrowed eyes.

"Don't." I say. "Don't touch me."

Luna's body lies heavy in the sand, turning with the waves as if she was still breathing. As if there was something still tangible and real heaving the carcass of what once was an ally and now has rotted all the way through.

I feel breath on my neck and get to my feet numbly. I hold out a Pokeball. "Everyone back."
"Ashley, what the hell is wrong with you? First Luna dies with no warning and now you want us to leave?" Reginae asks, grimacing. He takes a step back into the sand and I withdraw him. Four flashes of light silence the rest of my team.

Reginae's Pokeball squirms in my hands and in a blaze of blue he exits furiously.

"You don't control me." he tells me. I recognize the aroma in the air- Overgrowth. As he calms down down, the aroma goes from overwhelming to mildly pleasant. In the dusk air it's clear that he's grieving as much as I am. "I don't want to be alone in there right now. I want to help. We can find what killed her. We can-"

"Go on then." I say.

"What?"

"Alone." I reach out a hand. Celebi's power flashes cruelly about my fingers. If I wanted to, I could reach out with the force of every vine in Illex and strangle him alive. I haven't tested the upper boundaries on my powers yet. There are no ceilings on what I am capable of.

"Is this how you treated your other team?"

I scream, pain drenching my body and anger lighting up every last nerve. Celebi's might drains away from me and I can feel breath on my neck again. I know he's there I know it I know it and there's nothing I can do and Reginae is staring at me like I've gone insane.

Eyes brimming over with tears again (weak, weak, weak) I run the other way, a silhouette against the bright lights of Olivine pubs. My feet carry me over the city borders and past the poppies, past memories and the sun goes up over my head again.
Time blurs around me. Multiple universes collide overhead, the streets full of young poppy flowers and Morty, two years younger than I, and still completely alone. At his side walks a handsome Croconaw. He's holding an egg in his arms.

"Can you believe that kitsune hatch from eggs like normal Eevee?" Morty says, clutching it tightly to his chest.

"Can you believe we have one?" replies the Croconaw. "We're going to take Jasmine DOWN."

Morty nods. "Yeah, but we can't do it with her. She's going to be so young."

"Then I guess we'll have to protect her. It's not like we can baby her forever, though."

Morty holds the egg tighter against him. "You just want another fighter on the team. We're a family, Galabros."
"Whatever. Jasmine's still going down."

Snip.

A twelve year old girl wearing a green hoodie and an obnoxious smile races her Pokemon through the trees. They soar over her and by her side, the lot of them just as dizzy with enthusiasm as she is. Among them is a Nidorino and an Eevee, the two of them so close by each other's' side that they are almost touching. Further up, a child who has not yet learned to love is about to find out what it means to hurt.

The girl's Quilava is sneaking up on a Flaafy, awestruck...

The Flaafy turns and smiles back, wide-eyed. She's lost but she doesn't quite know what she's looking for (although she registers in the back of her mind that she may have found it).

Somewhere, a cycle starts again.

Snip.

A boy wearing nothing but red who hasn't talked in ten years roams the streets. He's not competing in the league this time but he's heard rumors.

A silence echoes in the back of his head. All he needs to do is give a single gesture to his Pokemon, his mouth unmoving and his eyes blank, and his Pokemon pounce upon the wildlife like water poured out of a dam. With the rage of the seas and the skies they destroy everything in their path.

A Flareon walks onto the path, her teeth bared. Nine tails fly out in the wind behind her.

The boy merely has to point before his Omastar sends a torrent of water straight through her.

Her body hits the ground with a finality that only comes in death.

Snip.

Two great beasts are fighting in the sky. A phoenix and a dragon clash overhead and a small child dressed in mourning clothes rushes forwards to stand between them.

Snip.

The Tin Tower is burning... the wails from the Pokemon inside fill the air, bright and vibrant as the flames within. The entire world mourns and with a mighty cry of dismay, Lugia lets down a torrent of rain.

Snip.

I pass by Morty's house. He's sitting with Miki on the couch watching a movie. He looks either really intently focused or very irritated.

I move around the back of his house (seeing as it's situated in the middle of the city, which is apparently a thing you can do in Ecruteak if you have enough money to throw at people). My hand reaches out towards the door for a second as I pass that, too, disappearing with a slight fogging of breath on glass.

Pressing my head to my face, I venture past Ecruteak through the forest and into National Park, which is still lit up but there's not a single person left there.

I clench my arm with one hand to ensure I'm not dreaming. There's crackling in the bushes and I feel my whole body turn slightly, sore from grief, but there's no one there.

"Red," I yell, sure he's listening, "Please get this over with."

Only the wind answers back.

Goldenrod shines with the force of a thousand stars, glimmering so brightly that I swear I'm going to go blind. After the dimness of National Park and the absolute darkness of traditional Ecruteak at dark, coupled with the dots swimming behind my eyes from the route before that, the overwhelmingness of the dazzling city is more painful than beautiful.

Groaning, I sneak away into the back roads and alleys that lead to the few houses that haven't been destroyed to make room for apartments. Sure enough, situated in between the shifty stores is a single house that has either been extremely lucky or must have some sort of trust laid aside for it (most likely the latter, given its residents).

I check my Pokegear, my eyes fixating hesitantly back on reality.

1:03.

I can live with that.

Just the word 'live' threatens to have me doubled over again in something between laughter and a nervous breakdown. Trembling, I pull on Bill's door. It swings open. There's no one living there. A further notice inside informs me that the house is going to be demolished soon.

Yeah, never mind. Trust fund my ass, this thing is going down.

"Are you friggin kidding me?!" I yell. "You're supposed to be in there! Just be in there for once! Can anything ever go right for once? I swear- Arceus damnit," I kick the door.

"Veh?" A soft mewling comes from around the corner. There's an Eevee sitting in a box labeled "free to a good home- house to be demolished soon" with Bill's name nowhere in sight and some sort of sticky note on the side. Still, it's just around his house, so I assume it's a time difference and not an interdimensional one that sees this new Eevee out here. Maybe I'm a few weeks later than I was last time.

"Hey, little guy." I say, reaching down to ruffle the fur beneath his neck. "You like pickles?"

"Ew, no. Who are you?"

I narrow my eyes. "A friend." I reach for the sticky note. "What's that?"

"You don't want to read it. The weird silent boy put it here." he warns me. "He smells like storm static." He grabs it in his mouth and holds it away.

I pluck it away from him,

A reminder. reads the letter, No one is safe.

Bill didn't write that.

I crumple it up and throw it on the ground, gasping for air as my eyes well over and I manage to drown without touching water.

"What do you want?!" I yell. "What the hell do you want from me? I'll do it. I'll stop. I'll-"

Reginae appears from around the corner. "Who killed her, Ashley?"

My hands curl into fists. "It could have been an accident."

"That's not what you were saying earlier."

"I don't know." I tell him. "I just- there's no way- and at the same time- and this letter..."

"It was Red, wasn't it?"

I nod. "I think he got rid of her on purpose."

Reginae dips his head. "He's playing with us, then."

"I don't know why he's decided to... but yes."

"Wow, this is really messed up!" says the Eevee, tail wagging. "I'm dark too. Just wait until you hear about my backstory!"

I glare resentfully at him. I want to throttle him really badly but his eyes are full of unbridled enthusiasm and it's doubtful that he'd last very long by himself out here. "You're a special snowflake, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I'm a special snowflake who sits in boxes alone at 1 AM in the morning. I'm also a special snowflake looking for financial support. So... can I hitch a ride?" He presses the edges of the box.

"Ashley, no." Reginae warns me.
"I don't see why not." I say, crossing my arms. He's going to be a pain but in Dill's memory, I'm determined to keep him and make him into something manageable.

He perks up. "Yesssss! So, are we going to do night training?"
"Yeah, actually." I yawn. "You and I are going to sniff out the nearest hotel."

"... and fight every trainer in there?"

"And sleep the pain off."
"Oh. Okay." he says. "Ummm... my name's Fang."

This is going to be a long night.

((I know this doesn't make up for five days of silence but there ya go anyways))