"Let's just do it." I say. It's no less than a week later and few of our 'training sessions' with Ethan have yielded useful results. The team's grown restless and though we needed to slow down after hitting the wall that was Pisces's death, now we're sitting and letting the lingering scent of death choke us all.

It shows in morale. Fang slumps off the edge of the bed, a glum expression (his new default) plastered across his face, Minerva is idling and grooming her tails, Reginae is trying to synthesize using light from outside the huge sliding-door windows, Ten is perched on the dresser, head cloaked by his wings, and Hycanith is practicing handling her bone weapon near the closet.

A week ago, we would've been up and going by now, but every day is suddenly a struggle. I can feel the weariness tug at me in all directions, ordering me back to bed, but beneath that is the vicious energy Pisces imparted in all of us on the way out. If I could awaken it in the team again, perhaps things would be better.

Some progress with Ethan wouldn't be amiss either, but I'm happy to have the hulking shadow of what was once a friend close to me again. I can sense something in him, inches away from my grasp. There has to be something I can do to get him back, something I can say, some string I could pull...

It's killing me.

"Do what?" replies Minerva, finally, killing the silence.

"Gym." I reply.

"Can't. Ethan hasn't fought trainers yet."

Okay, that's not true, but we don't mention the Lance incident anymore. "We don't need him, though. It's a water gym. We have a grass type right here." I point to Reginae, who lifts his head, looking around for some indication as to why he's being picked on.

"Sounds good enough to me. We'll have to do it eventually."

"How long do we have, anyways?" asks Minerva.

"Five months, give or take a few weeks." I shrug. "Probably take. Four and a half. I think."

"Still not keeping a record, are we?" Minerva asks. "I feel like we should be counting down the days until our impending erasure from existence, in my humble opinion."

"Alright. Congratulations, Minerva, you're counting."
Minerva groans, looking up from her tails and falling off her hotel bed.

"It's not even five months, anyways. Red won't do it." Reginae says from his area, petals flared to life as the sunlight grows more intense. We should really be going if we want to get anything done with the day.

"He has." I reply, though I've been through this enough to hold back the slew of approaching traumatic memories.

Reginae corrects himself, "This Red. He wants something from you, Ashley. Our situation is more of... an ambiguous countdown until one of us wrecks up and the very time-space continuum is torn to shreds."

"So I don't have to keep track? Sounds good to me." Minerva says, and for once, everyone laughs.

Minerva can be surprisingly funny when she's not just being an asshole.

The team gets up, in part to humor her, but also because the apathy eventually gives way to guilt and because talking about the end of all life tends to be as far as idle chatter could go.

It gets lonely when you're left to your thoughts in total silence. In the middle of the day, while training, it's fine, but late at night or in the early morning, your mind drifts places you don't want it to go and you're back to the same failures, the same mistakes, and the same bitter aftertaste you get before and after sleeping in your mouth.

To sum it up: sitting around doing nothing sucks. I think sometimes we're doing it to punish ourselves.

The hotel reminds me of the Blackthorn and Lake of Rage accommodations, both of which are bittersweet in the worst way. Stay away from homey, comfortable looking places, I tell myself for future reference. That's where everyone keeps getting hurt.

We walk out into the street and because no one's paying attention, I veer the group towards the gym. No one says a word about it so I continue on and swing the doors open to a flood of hot, humid air and the smell of chlorine. Before us lies a pool, supplemented with platforms for battling and a veritable convention of bikini-clad girls. While the set up is... certainly something, it's missing one of the most important elements of any gym- a gym leader.
"She's... not here." I say, slamming my head against my hand. "Wow, that's unexpected. Gym leaders not doing their job."

"You're dating a gym leader," points out Reginae. I figure he should know better than now to try to categorize my relationship with Morty as anything because for the life of me, I don't know what we're doing either, but I digress.

"Oh," giggles a girl wearing nothing but a dicey bikini, which would be ridiculous in any weather, but given that it's the middle of the winter, it's downright stupid. I guess a lot of these girls come here to show off their outfits, seeing as they look like a candy store right now. "Misty's like, out on a date. With Neil! Neil from Aerobics!"

Several of the assembled girls squeal with delight."Neil from Aerobics is such a dreamboat." cheers one.

"I'd  swim in those waters." suggests one girl.

"Okay we're leaving now." Minerva says, padding out the door.

"Where would I find Misty?" I ask them.

Everyone gasps at once, in that perfect harmony they seem to have acquired through unknown, alien means.

"Ooooh, the challenger's going to mess with Mist-ay's date!" says one.

"They're at the outpo-o-ost at Route 25!" cheers another, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You go get it, girl."

"Send pics!" calls another as I'm leaving, and I couldn't be less likely to oblige. I wave and shut the door, the cold air like a blessing as it settles on my skin.

"Who even gave an entire gym to a bunch of valley girls?" asks Minerva, waiting outside, upset by the frivolity of it.

"From what I can tell from the tourist map, Cerulean's a popular swimming destination in the summer, so this is what they do in the winter." I say, showing off the map, which displays many dormant gold dots that signify popular destinations- from six months ago. "Time to go screw up someone's date. I don't feel like getting up this early tomorrow to be turned away again because the gym leader's mooching some unlucky man."

We turn towards Route 25 and are aggressed as a man rushes past in full Team Rocket Grunt attire, in broad daylight, clutching a package against his side. A man runs behind him, losing ground at an astounding rate, and all the while not bothering to send out a single Pokemon to track down this hoodlum.

"You can't catch me! I'm faster than the law." The Team Rocket member cackles, picking up the pace, and the other man, a dumpy fellow in a labcoat, slows to an uneasy stop, resting a hand on my shoulder.

"Ma'am. I'm sorry, but..." he puffs, "I need your help."

"I can see that," I say, taking his hand off my shoulder. "What's going on here, exactly?"

"That man stole an important part for the local power plant. I was chasing him down but I'm afraid- ah, my legs- I'm not in the best shape."

That much was obvious from the get-go, but I give him a friendly nod. "Right. I think I can help you with that, you know, as a trainer. I have a lil' bit of a vendetta with these guys, anyhow- they're sick bastards. So, team?"

Ten takes off first, but Hycanith, who has twice his motivation and likely twice his confidence, dashes out underneath him and slides towards the bridge. Twirling her bone on high, she throws it like a javelin and Ten swoops out of the way in time for it to miss his talons.

Thwack.

Hycanith's bone embeds itself in the opposite wall, right in front of the Team Rocket grunt. The man stops short, turning to face us like a caged, panicked animal.

"End of the line." I say, tossing my final Pokeball in the air and sending out Ethan not more than a foot from the grunt on the other side. Ethan springs to life, massive and furious, the hyperdontia of his jaws glinting as the light touches human and Lugia teeth both.

The grunt stares into Ethan's eyes and his heart almost stops in terror. He scrambles against the wall, preparing to throw himself over the bridge and into the water.

"Team Rocket, huh?" I ask. "Wouldn't happen to have been involved in experiments, would you?"

"We- what- what is that?"

"I don't know, what do you know about this? What do you know about the people who did this to him, you fucking punk?" I lift him up by the shirt. The coward weighs as much as a Raticate, fittingly.

The man holds up one twitching hand and grabs for his bag like a viper sends out a few Pokemon but we're faster and twice as determined. Hycanith slams aside an Arbok with seamless effort and Ten handles the Golbat, throwing it off the bridge and into the river with a psychic blow before hitting it against the side of the bridge. Both are defeated before the man can make a run for it and even then, Ethan has him cornered.

As if to seal the deal, Hycanith glows gold and emerges in a flash, retrieving her bone and waving away the light like fireflies or embers sparking off her skin. Her skull is now more molded to her face, and the grooves in it form a new, elegant pattern. She's a good foot taller, for good measure, but for the most part it's still her, only a little taller.

"That was quick," I say.

Hycanith nods. She's still not up to par with the rest of the team's levels- how could she be? The training is catching her up fast, though, and she might be able to fight a gym or two from now. Jumping in the way before a battle begins and sliding out has dubious effects on one's actual physical form but hey, this world is crazy enough. If it goes, I'm not going to complain.

"I- I don't know anything. I swear. I was, uh, supporting... uh..."

Fang growls, "Oh, good Arceus, just spit something out already."

The labcoat man must've contacted the police while we were taking care of him, because Officer Jenny rides up on her motorcycle, eyebrows furrowed and furious. "Where's the crook?"

"Here." I yell from the bridge.

"Right-o. Thank you, miss- dear Arceus, what the hell is that?!" she says, pointing at Ethan.

Hello. Ethan says, unhelpfully, and I hope for the love of every legendary that we're the only ones who can hear him.

With the poise of a woman who knows what she's doing, I declare, "That's my Lugia, ma'am. I have a trainer's permit, I own the lord of the oceans, and before you say anything rude he's beautiful on the inside. Will that be all?"

"I suppose so," she says, dazed. She cuffs the Team Rocket Grunt, hands the man back his package, and begins to walk off towards the local jail with motorcycle safely parked not far away.

"I know, right? Terrifyin' thing, that is." the Grunt says.

"You have the right to remain silent," she warns him. "Don't think we're above interrogating you about Team Rocket either, because we aren't."

The procession parts, and I find myself back with the team again. They're energized by the commotion, Ethan included, but bringing him up to Misty isn't going to do me any favors. I press my hand against Ethan's face, and he nuzzles into it. "Okay, buddy. We'll do some training tomorrow, work on your memory, the works, but right now we need to do a gym battle. Can you sit this one out?"

Ashley. Can we see Lyra soon? He asks.

"Who's Lyra?" asks Ten.

No clue, I think to him.

Please, Ethan continues, She's worried about me.

My heart skips a beat. Lyra... there was no Lyra in New Bark, but he's making it sound like some old friend of his. "We'll talk tomorrow." I assure him before returning him to the Pokeball.

"That's one way to kick off a morning," Reginae says.

Oh, we're not done yet.

The lucky couple is where the gym trainers told us they'd be, making out like the world's coming to an end- and they don't look at all happy to see us.

"Break it up, sweethearts. We're not here for excuses, we're here to kick your ass." Minerva crows, bounding in with teeth bared into a grin and tails flailing.

"Um, here to challenge, saw you weren't at the gym... thought I'd come find you. You wouldn't mind a challenge, would you...?"

"Wow. Can't a gym leader have a little fun?" Misty says, pushing away from the 'dreamboat' Neil and turning to stare at us with a glare that could turn even the bravest man to stone.

"Not during work hours." Minerva says.

I translate that one directly.