Old Friends, New Friends

Early mornings in Lumiose City have a refreshing feel to them. Despite the city itself being enormous, there's greenery in every street and everything is decently well spaced out. It almost makes me sad to leave.

My whole team walks in silence, taking it in, knowing we won't be here for a long time. We're almost about to leave when I see two boys, one clearly an older teenager and a young child around seven, standing just a ways off.

It wouldn't be anything spectacular on normal circumstances, but the second I see them something within me, something close to what I draw upon when I flash, triggers immediately. It's as if a chorus of voices has started in my head: go there go there go there go there

The older teenager has tan, sandy hair and dark blue eyes. He's wearing clothing the same color as his hair and boots. Despite his age, he looks fluffy and adorable in the way baby animals look cute. The other child, holding his hand, has an Espeon on his shoulders, curled around him and lying down comfortably. The child has ruffled hair so pale it almost looks white, even bigger eyes, and a white shirt covered by a fluffy white coat.

"I'll meet up with you guys in a second here. Can you just... run along and tell Bronze I'm coming?"
"Riiiiight." Rune says. "Guys, let's go."
Chrona gives me a backwards glance, and mouths something. I can guess almost immediately she wants to flash, as we're the most compatible. I shake my head. This will be hard enough with just me, much less her and I trying to share my body. She scowls back but continues on anyways.

I approach the other people slowly, as if they could bite, but they look terribly tame. The sandy-haired one notices me first and waves. "Hello, stranger! Lovely morning, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It really is." I say. "Fancy meeting you here, uh... what's your name?"

"My name's Dusty!" He tells me, smiling from ear to ear. I feel terribly awkward but something in me keeps pushing me further and further into this hole of terrible social interaction. "This is Sammy. He's my... little brother." Dusty says.

"Nice to meet you." I say, bending down. Sammy begins to withdraw behind his brother but shakes three of my fingers with his hand.

"He doesn't talk." Dusty explains. "He seems to like you though, usually he won't even touch strangers. Nice to meet you anyways... uh..."

"Oh. I'm Lilly. Pardon my interruption, you just seemed familiar." I say, trying to make it sound casual. It's ridiculously embarrassing that I came up to some random people thinking they were Ashley's Pokemon, but then again... Dusty. I definitely remember a Dusty from Bronze.
As if on cue to my thoughts, Sammy's eyes glow gold and the Espeon on his shoulder looks up at me. I hear its voice in my head. "Nice to meet you. We are Synthesis, and that's not Sammy, it's Shell. Just out of curiosity... are you from Johto?"
I smile. "Yes, I happen to be from Johto." I say out loud. Immediately Synthesis nods to Dusty and both of them are a bit more stern. I continue, "I'm guessing I should call you Sammy, for the sake of this discussion. A lot of us have changed our names. Toxis is Tom, Hershey is Shika, who knows what everyone else is..."
"Who's Hershey?" asks Dusty.

"She must've gotten caught after you..." I don't finish it.

Dusty looks down at his feet. "Are you looking for a way back?" He asks.

"Yes." I say. "I've actually seen Ashley. I've also gotten into a ton of conspiracies and possibly witnessed the end of our world."
Dusty's eyes widen. "Journeys always do end up taking you places, don't they? I just... well, have you ever stopped to consider... maybe it's better here?"
His answer sends me reeling. "N-not even once!"
"Oh no! I didn't mean to offend you! I want to see everyone else so much but I just don't want to fail She- Sammy again... I don't want him to die. I want him to be happy, safe, and secure and we finally have that." He trails off.

Synthesis the Espeon's voice rings in my mind again. "We are happy. We've grown a lot. At the same time, we can see with Future Sight that this happiness will not last. Our very existence here is dangerous. We wish you the best of luck. Oh yes... write this down." He repeats a phone number and nods. "Contact us."
Sammy's eyes stop glowing and he clutches Dusty even tighter while an unfazed Synthesis licks his paw. Sammy can't be older than eight yet he's already mastered telepathy, future sight, and he can flash.
I'm really impressed. When I was eight, I lived by a lake and hadn't evolved yet. At the same time, I feel guilty a kid his age has gotten involved in any of this.

"We'll call you." Dusty promises.

Sammy nods.

"Alright then." I say, and turn away. I feel something thread its way around my mind- and it's not just guilt, it's hope. I've met almost half of the team now.

It's only fifteen minutes later when I see Bronze and Shauna. Bronze looks the same, although he does have dark circles bordering his eyes and his hair is even more disheveled then before (and I stand by him never once brushing it, so the bar wasn't high to begin with). Shauna, however, looks radically different. Her hairstyle is the same, but the pigtails seem to sag a bit. Her clothing has changed from a tiny shirt and miniskirt to a longer, more flowing skirt that reminds me of flower petals and a hoodie in a dark hue that looks just slightly off black. She looks solemn, something I never would have associated her with before.

"Trevor and Tierno couldn't make it." She says apologetically on my approach.

I drown out my Pokemon's chastising comments on my lateness and reply shortly. "Oh... that's too bad." I feign sadness for her sake. She probably has hundreds of memories of the five of us as the best of friends, yet I've only met them twice.
Bronze looks at me and agrees heartily. "Send them my regards anyways."
Shauna nods. "Well, uh... how have you two been?"
"Awful. Two deaths since the last time I met up with you guys. I've been lying awake at night for the last week."
"I've been... decent." I say, not wanting to talk about my own losses. "Got some gym battles. Talked to Korrina herself about some matters regarding my... situation." I eye Bronze, who nods.

Shauna sighs. "I have to agree with Bronze. This stretch has been terrible for me. I can't sleep at all. I've been having violent nightmares and- well, you guys don't want to hear me ramble. We should camp out in the swamp! Trek through the forest to the next town together, like in Santalune Woods. How does that sound?"
Bronze and I give an unenthusiastic "Yeah!" but at least I'm trying.

She rolls her eyes. "Come on, at least try to be a bit more positive. We can bond and stuff. I feel like... I feel like I'm losing all my friends nowadays."
Bronze and I look each other's ways. We communicate for a whole minute by facial expressions:
We have to tell her.

Bronze, no.

Yes.

No.

Lilly.

No.

Lilly come on.

No.

I will bust out the puppy eyes.

Especially no.

"Sorry to interrupt your romantic staring contest, but I kind of want to get some training done." Rune says, walking in between us. "Fine, you furry asshole." I groan sarcastically, elbowing him. I turn to Shauna. "Pokemon are getting impatient. Let's go."

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