My eyes open slowly, eyelashes fluttering against the slightly moist sleeping bag that my arms are still wrapped around from last night. It's all crumpled up like old paper, as if I was wadding it up to throw it away. I feel like throwing something away, getting rid of something, and my eyes flicker to the Pokedex.

There's something I should be avoiding as I open up Pikapad. The familiar cutesy logo and the old empty account that hasn't updated in months greet me like old friends.

Of course, 'old friend' is probably the nicest way of putting 'deceased teammate'. 'Deceased teammate' is the nicest way of putting 'living, breathing, thinking, writing being that you indirectly killed for your own purposes'.

"We don't think of it that way," Rune says from outside the tent.

"Wh-what?" I say, unzipping the tent a little to see him bending down to my level.
"I can hear your thoughts. Telepathetic? Starter? Goldeneye weirdness? Any of this ringing a bell?" Rune says, tapping the stick against his head.

"You could at least be a little polite about it. Not everyone wants someone probing the deepest recesses of their mind at all times." Chrona says, striding over. "Especially when that someone is a furry pyromaniac with no manners whatsoever."
"Someone's crabby."
"I have every right to be. A teammate died last night."
"Alright, alright, break it up." Pich flaps down to their level, lands in the dirt, and slaps them both across the face with a wing. "The other teams are watching. No one feels good about this but we're going to keep it together."
"Well said." Nico says, leaning against a tree.
"You know what? If we don't feel good about it, why don't we just prevent it in the future by not getting any more teammates? We all know that everyone besides us three kicks the bucket!" He snarls, sparks flaring from his fur.
Nico looks over at Rune with profound indignation, even bothering to place a single heart right above his chest spike near where his heart is.

"Hey Lilly, hope I'm not interrupting anything. Shauna and I didn't want to wake you up last night, but if you need us, we're here for you." He comes in closer, ignoring the large host of squabbling Pokemon. The other teams have joined the fray now and everyone is complaining in beautifully terrible harmony. Bronze leans over my Pokedex and furrows his brow. "What are you doing on Pikapad? I didn't know you were a writer."

"I'm not. One of my Pokemon was."

"Nico?"
"No, Juliet. She's... she's gone, actually. I was just thinking about all of the Pokemon I'd lost so far and I got this out." I say, looking away from him. "She wrote a fanfiction about us, actually. Kind of funny."
Bronze smiles. "Well, what does she have to say about me?"
I feel warmth come to my cheeks as I eagerly search the pages. "'Her eyes brighten just seeing him, as if by some ethereal magic.' 'Though he seems like a typical bad boy, it quickly becomes obvious he just doesn't understand fashion and finds a hoodie and ripped up jeans comfortable.'" I pause for a second before reading the last one, "'Sometimes, it feels like love is something beyond the reach of Pokemon. However, seeing the two of them resting in each other's arms, bound by something that stretches regions and lifetimes, it's a little bit easier to believe that somewhere, there may be a happy ending for Shin and I... in this world or the next one.'"

Bronze puts a hand on my shoulder. I put my head on his. We sit side by side until the tears break loose and I'm sobbing again, ragged breaths coming in and out like if I don't gasp them quickly enough I'll never draw another. This gets Rune's attention and I feel his warmth surround me, though for a second, it almost feels like the heat is coming from Bronze, and I'm in the warm but powerful embrace of a Typhlosion.

We all disband slowly, and I return to the campfire which Shauna is currently working on along with Ginger while all the other Pokemon carry on hushed conversations. Pacifica is talking to Chrona from on top of her flower, while Escargot listens in with interest. Shruikan is in some sort of arm wrestling contest with Nico while most of the remaining Pokemon watch with keen interest in their eyes. Pich is sitting by Nephthys, messing with her Mega Stone.

Shauna's gaze is kind when she sees me. "You feeling better?"
"No." I say honestly.

"Two deaths in two days." she whispers. "Oh- sorry, sorry. That was rude, I mean, it's not-"

"It was my fault." I say. "If not from poor management, at least from me catching them in the first place. Trainers rarely consider that just catching Pokemon condemns them to death."

"Or a life of adventure and fulfillment, complete with a stunning Ampharos and a cunning leader?"

"I think you mean the literal end of the world, a psychopath, thirteen deaths and a girlfriends who actually died before evolving." I snap back.

"Yeah, my life is a pretty poor example." Bronze sighs. "I still manage to find insane ways to glorify it, trust me."

"Me too." I admit. "Look at us, so riled up over these mistakes when we're trying to get back to a person who managed to make the same ones just as often as we have."

"Ashley was a way better trainer than I am." Bronze says defensively. "I mean, she is."
"You must love Ashley a lot." Shauna says, watching us.

"Yes." We both say at once.

"That's how your Pokemon feel about you. Anyhow, what's the plan with trying to get back to her? Isn't there some great destiny we all share? Goldeneyes? Destiny? My nightmares?"

I look to Bronze, who narrows his eyes slightly. "We have no idea what we're doing. We're just trying to travel from city to city, get gym badges, challenge the League, go back to Johto. All we know is that one's going to lead to the other."
"Oh. I'll... I'll help you out then. Maybe it will help me find answers." Shauna says. "I- I was planning to anyways, because travelling with you makes me feel better, but... that's a great plan."

We all sit in silence.

Shauna puts her hands on her face and groans. "There really is no way for me to figure out what I'm supposed to do, is there? I barely know the stupid legends behind all this 'chosen one' stuff and I've only recently mastered my powers, I have no leads on what to-"

"Did someone mention mythology and chosen ones?" Pich swoops in from above, Nephthys calmly padding after. One by one, all the Pokemon gather round, seemingly ready for what I can only guess is about to be story time. "You guys know about the war, right?"

A resounding 'no' goes up from the crowd. Pich looks disappointed as a four foot bird of prey possibly could be. "Alright, well, I'm a bit rusty, but here's the basics:

Long ago, when souls of people and Pokemon were free to cross between worlds and the two were not yet divided, there was a man who owned a single Floette, who clung on to a dark black flower. Though to most it would appear ugly, this black flower, the likes of which had never been seen before, appeared beautiful to this man. The Floette and the man were so close to each other that it could be said that their souls were truly one, though the locals told tales of the crooked man and his Floette's ugly flower. Soon enough, a war broke out in the land between many great armies from many regions and the man's Pokemon was called to take part. Several

years passed and the man was given back only a small box and an ugly, shriveled black flower.

The man, unable to accept this, began to build a machine to restore his beloved Pokemon. He began to construct a machine capable of things no one in that age had ever seen, harnessing the power of dangerous Legendaries and using methods from dark and shady businesses.

Though the man was able to return his Pokemon to life, he was still unable to rest. The machine was growing volatile and he was unable to dismantle it. The nearby villagers believed him a demon. The war raged on and threatened to take his dear Pokemon away again. So the man, fueled by his rage, turned the machine into a great weapon and ended the war with one blast, killing a million Pokemon on the spot.

The Floette, in terror, left the violent man, so sad was it that he had taken so many lives for it to live. Though the man searched for her everywhere, it appeared that the Floette had vanished off the face of the planet, and after the war, human and Pokemon were forever separate, divided by the jagged lines wars had left.

Despite this, on the area of the blast, where no vegetation was left, a field of those black flowers, the Fleur de la Mort, grew as a symbol of the inevitable end to life, or perhaps the unimaginable hope left in the void the war had once filled.

Pich finishes in silence.

"You Kalos folk have some really brutal mythology." Bronze says finally.

"That was intense." Rune agrees.

"So, is Shauna the reincarnation of that Floette?" Nephthys asks.

"I think so." Shauna says. "That would explain so many things. I just can't believe that it's me, out of everyone, and that if there's really a destiny I need to fulfill, it might be going on right now and I'd never know, dear Arceus, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be-"
"Team Flare." Nico says. "They're working on something. Could very well have to do with your dilemna."

"Those guys!?" Bronze yells.

"Those guys." Nico confirms. "Korrina's been tracking them. If we really want information, we should probably contact her."

"Right now?"
"She's training right now. The afternoon should be fine though."
"Alright. Listen up! We've had a lot of brutal losses lately. A lot of bad things have happened to us and right now it might feel like we're at the bottom of the world. But you know what? That's just going to have to be a reason for us to fight. For those we've lost. For those still with us. For those out there who have no idea we're defending them. If we have to take down an entire organization, so be it. For now, we'll just have to keep training. Right?"
"Right!" echoes the team, and they're off into the forest.

I find myself walking by Shauna, and after a long period of silence, I finally begin discussion the mythology with her. It still rings in my mind, ominously haunting in its simplicity.

"I can't believe anyone would do something like that." I mutter. "A million lives for one Pokemon?"

"I can." Shauna said quietly. "People hurt by the world do crazy things. Of course the machine was dangerous, but if you could bring back those close to you, wouldn't you do it too?"

((ay i'm back

blame stomach flu and procrastination, blame it on mythology, blame it on dragonclan

or just blame me for being lazy))