I spend the rest of the day after training pinning down the one restaurant in Violety City that isn't 'vintage' or ethnic and has some terrible junk food that I can consume (although it is still painted that muted red color). We celebrate that night with breakfast for dinner, although no one is really that hungry. If nothing else, I at least get to eat some pancakes and I don't have to shell

"Do you think it's safe to feed Pokemon human food?" asks Clay, prodding the pancake which squishes and oozes syrup beneath his giant stone thumb.

"It definitely was beforehand. I'm sure there are some things you guys can't eat, but if it makes you feel better, these pancakes share more in common with your Pokemon food than I don't know, fruit or something. They probably make these in factories somewhere." I say, taking another bite.

"Thaaaaat's disgusting. I think I just lost my appetite." Reginae says, pushing the kid's meal away from him.

"You're a plant. You don't have an appetite." states D'spinas.

"I'll take the kid's meal." Chiaroscuro says, scurrying onto the table and grabbing the truly appetizing fries and waffle (the most classic of cheap-as-possible combinations).

I take another bite of the pancake, savoring the flavor of the syrup on my tongue. I'm interrupted by a single tap on the shoulder. "Miss?" One of the workers says, her eyes narrowed in classic you-know-what-you-did style.

I swallow the last of my pancake. "Is there a problem?" I ask.

"We have a policy against rowdy Pokemon here." she says as kindly as possible. I search my team for suspicious activity, but everyone seems relatively innocent (although Sunny looks mortified).

"They're behaving." I say nonchalantly.

"There is a rat on the table." Her tone is unamused. I gently take Chiaroscuro off the table and place him next to me.

When she doesn't leave, I state, "I'd like to talk to your manager about this."

She looks down at her badge and back at me. "I am the manager."

"Oh."

***

"I still can't believe they kicked us out." I fume. "Honestly, they probably have hundreds of Rattatas living in there anyways."

"I can confirm that. My uncle moved in recently and he's had nothing but good things to say." Chiaroscuro announces, tail curling.

"Outside of that, heaven knows how many Pokemon work at fast food kitchens anyways." I continue.

"How would you know?" asks D'spinas.

"How do you think I live off a Pokemon Trainer's budget and afford food for all of you? I burn everything off by walking everywhere, so I basically just eat whatever I want." I shrug. "I come to these places all the time. I've definitely caught glances of Pokemon working back there."

"This is why they're considering bumping the acceptable age to become a trainer up," Clay says.

"Ouch." I mutter.

"Maybe you should be in charge of budgeting." Ten chirps.

"Alright, we eat Pokemon food and you buy legitimate food. That's how it's supposed to work." Clay replies.

"That stuff is despicable!" I say, "Come on, that would be treating you like pets!"

"As opposed to tools?"

I swear silently under my breath. At least we're close to the Pokemon Center now and I don't have to deal with this anymore.

When we reach it, I notice a new patch of upturned dirt. There's a few cut flowers draped across it, the weedy white kind that work their way around recreational centers and the like. Still, it's obvious that it's not just the result of someone's Poochyena digging around.

I wonder whose body lies under it.

I slam onto the couch, take a blanket from those provided, and drape it over myself. The lights are dim but not off, but I need my sleep as fast as possible.

"See you all in the morning!" chirps Sunny, her leaves twitching in the sunlight.

"Good night to you too." Chiaroscuro says, curling up before falling fast asleep.

***

The next morning, I wake up and begin preparing immediately. After changing, I throw the door open and shake all the late risers off of my blanket. "Get up! We're going to destroy the gym today." I announce.

No one groans, surprisingly, but no one says anything remotely encouraging either. Sunny is bouncing up and down like a basketball, although she's a Hoppip so that's not that far off the truth anyways. Everyone else looks dead.

I grab Sunny and swing the door to the Pokemon Center open and barely miss an older trainer. My Pokemon take an embarrassingly long time to follow, which makes sitting there holding it even more awkward, but nothing is going to faze me this morning. It doesn't matter how fake my optimism is, anything that keeps me from considering the alternatives is a-okay by me.

Luckily, the gym is only half a block from the Pokemon Center. It's the normal gym color, a bright orange and brown, which makes it even more identifiable among the muted buildings of the city.
"Alright, everyone back in the Pokeballs. Trust me, you don't want to be out for half of this." I say.

Before anyone can complain, I've withdrawn all of them. I stride past the man who usually gives advice (Oh wow, electric types are super effective on flying types? I had noooo idea!) instead of dispensing some actual strategy or something useful like the gym leader's line up. With a firm sigh, I clutch the ground as gears turn beneath me and the platform from hell launches me a good fifty-something feet in the air.
"Clay, go!" I call.

"You can't seriously expect me to maneuver through all of this while fighting." he says.

"Nope. Take aim and fire."

Several birdkeepers turn around and call out their Pidgeys but before they can get close enough to actually attack us, Clay shoots them down with a rock almost as large as he is. His accuracy isn't perfect, but the Pidgeys aren't exactly flying aces either, so we're even.

"Well, are you going to withdraw me?" he asks.

"I was just going to pick you up and carry you across the maze. 90% of this is glass tiles, anyways. Did you really think they'd let inexperienced trainers fall to their death?"

"Doesn't Clair's gym have lava in it?"
"That's different. She's a bitch who enjoys the suffering of others. Of course her gym is going to be an enormous death trap."

He sighs. "Have fun."

I grasp for him and attempt to hoist him upwards, only to almost slam him back down again. "Holy shoot you are extremely heavy." I say. Would I be able to lift this if I was still fourteen? I remember pulling off at least some physical feats way back (or forwards) in the day.

The floor creaks beneath us both. "You really hate Clair, don't you?" he says. "I agree, lava is a bit much, but this gym isn't passing safety inspections either."

I nod. "I guess so."

He opens his mouth to say something and then closes it again.

I get the message and withdraw him.

I walk straight across the gym, completely ignoring the puzzle, all the way to Falkner.

"You just don't like to have fun, do you?" he sighs. "Anyhow, I am Falkner! People say you can clip flying-type Pokémon's wings with a jolt of electricity... I won't allow such insults to bird Pokémon! I'll-"
"Yes, yes. Dorky speech. Can we start now?"

He stamps his foot in frustration. "Go, Pidgey!"

"Go, Clay!" Clay looks generally unamused.

"Pidgey, use-"

I cut Falkner off. "Clay, Rock Throw!"

Clay puts his fists together and a stone forms between them. He thrusts it over his head and although the trajectory is way off, it soars in a perfect line and the Pidgey falls against the back of the gym and sinks to the ground. The rock crumbles to dust.

"Y-you haven't seen anything yet! Pidgeotto, go!" calls Falkner.

"Rock Throw again!" I yell. Clay quickly forms the stone and chucks it, but Pidgeotto swoops over his head and it falls against the side of the gym and disintegrates.

The Pidgeotto swells with pride, only for another rock to hit it off the side of its face. It falls down and Clay throws another while its down.

"Pidgeotto?" Falkner calls. "Come on, Zephyr, get up, get up..."

It stays down.

There's fear in his eyes as he withdraws it.

"Well... I really underestimated you." he admits. "Oh well. We're both rookies, aren't we?" He laughs nervously.

"I hope your Pidgeotto is alright." I say quietly.

"Zephyr and I have been through a lot together." he says. "She's gonna be fine."

I nod. "Well, I should-"

He hands me the badge. "Honestly, I prefer battles where both sides fight their hearts out. This wasn't one of those, but you still showed you had skill, so this belongs to you now."

I take it tenderly, pressing it into it's case. "Yeah, well, I don't really fight like that anymore. Clay, let's-"
"Please don't say rollout." Clay begs.
"If you get to make the pun, so do I. We're rolling out. Right now."
Falkner looks shocked. I don't think he expected me to be able to talk to my Pokemon, but I haven't really been keeping it a secret. It's not too rare, definitely less so than being a Goldeneye is, and most trainers with about six or more badges do. I guess people like that usually don't show up around places like this, with levels this low and little to do outside of a gym and potential sightseeing.

Clay rolls back over the glass tiles and we begin the slow descent to the bottom. As we leave, he asks, "Are you going to get the rest of the team out?"
"Nah, not yet. I'm expecting a call." I say.

"From who?"
"See, last time-" I remember I haven't told him anything yet. "You know what? Honestly, I just have some crazy intuition. If I told you that in three minutes and thirty-one seconds exactly, someone would call me asking me to stop by that Pokemart and pick up an egg of a Pokemon that few know to exist and if that egg just so happened to hatch into a Togepi... what would you think?"

"You're expecting me to say time traveller." he says grimly.

"I suppose I am." I sigh.

"You're hiding something."

"It's one of those secrets... like in movies, when the character hides it because she thinks it will protect people. Then she tells everyone in a time of crisis and they feel betrayed for a few scenes before coming back as a family."

"I don't watch movies. I spent most of my life until now in a cave."
My face turns red. "Same scenario."

"It wouldn't matter. You can't come back to a family you're not part of to begin with."

My fist slams into the side of the Pokemon gym. While it doesn't leave a lasting mark, green sparks fire around me in the air. I feel something rise like water in my throat. It threatens to drown me, to swallow me whole, and I feel myself choke on it.

"Ashley...?" He's scared.

You could cloak yourself in this if you wanted to. This is a passion that will never die.

"Why do you hate me?!" my voice is layered with another. "Come on. Just- just tell me!"

The Pokegear starts ringing, snapping me out of it. No one is around and the sun is setting, to my relief. I pick it up and accept the call. "I'll be there in a second. Pokemart. Egg. Coming."

"Are you- what-"

I turn off the Pokegear.

"The party's full." I sigh.

"Put me in the PC." Clay says.

"Uh huh. Yeah, you're scared now." My voice is so acidic it burns my own insides.

"Yes, I'm scared, but that's not the point. You're looking for a team that's going to support you. Whatever you're going through, I have no way of relating to it and not every Pokemon you meet is going to be part of that destiny. Just put me in the PC and come back if you ever need some muscle for a while."

My eyes narrow. I take out the Pokeball. "If you insist."

He clenches his fists. "It's true, by the way. You do loosen up when you battle."
A bright beam erupts from the Pokeball and sucks him back inside.

For the first time since the reset, I wonder if Pokemon are awake when they're in their Pokeballs.

If you left one in there forever, never to come out... would they ever realize they were trapped?

A vivid image of hundreds of souls crying out from stasis, powerless to combat the eternal darkness, screams against the back of my mind.

Celebi remembers.