[Serena POV]

This was bad. Like, really bad. Calem sent me out to follow up on the Veteran trainers that were supposed to find Marco. I thought he was being paranoid. He's been out of it ever since we took down Team Flare. But never in my life did I hope he was actually just paranoid.

I arrived at a bloodbath. The entire team and their Pokémon were slaughtered like Spoink. And the thing responsible for their deaths was a monster we could barely manage to kill. It took Meowstic, Delphox, and Altaria working together to kill it. Once they did, they dropped from exhaustion. It was the most intense fight we've been in.

I had found Marco in critical condition. His Pokémon weren't dead, so I assumed they were in their Pokéballs. Even in this situation, he was able to make sure they lived. In exchange for their safety, he had a deep, burnt gash in his chest. It looked infected with… something, and spreading out.

I wasn't sure if Clefable could keep him alive until we teleported into a PokéCenter, but she somehow did. Nurse Joy took him and rushed him towards the back, three Blissey sending Heal Pulse after Heal Pulse. This was not something any of us were expecting.

I had to report everything to the League. No one was going to like this. To top it all off, the Paldea region just declared a State of Emergency. Something was happening and their Pokémon League was having trouble.

It's times like this where I'm glad Calem became Champion.

—

[Juliana POV]

*knock* *knock*

"Come in," I sighed out. It's been a week since I last had a proper night of sleep. A week since I've become the Violet Champion. And a week since we found out Professor Turo and Professor Sada were killed.

"Juli, it's getting worse," a tired and strained voice softly said. I closed my eyes, putting my elbows on the desk and my head in my hands.

"Ay dios. Who did we lose?" I said, feeling the tremble in my voice. I don't know who else I could lose without going insane.

"Director Clavell."

"¡Maldito Profesor!" I yelled, sweeping everything off my desk. I slumped into my chair, crying. First Arven, then Iono and Geeta, and now the Director. We were quickly losing our new war against what Professor Sada dubbed Paradox Pokémon. We needed help.

"Juli, we can't continue this on our own," the Scarlet Champion advised me.

"Fine, Florian. Necesitamos alguien confiable… Call Gloria. We need the Galar Champion."

[Marco POV]

I was floating in the middle of a swirling mass of energy. My eyes weren't open, but I could feel it. The way a warm sensation was slowly crossing my arms from the left of my palms towards the right of my forearm, the way my body felt like it was being spun counter-clockwise. I couldn't open my eyes, but I could feel the information.

When I finally could open my eyes, I was back home. I could see the familiar furniture I had not seen in six years and the same living room I slept in until I left for college. The house felt strangely alien. I hadn't been here in so long and it looked exactly the same as when I last saw it. Not being able to withstand the melancholic nostalgia, I stepped outside.

I could smell the pollution in the air, radically different from the fresh air I had become accustomed to in Connecticut and in Kalos. Another deep breath and I could taste the cigarettes and dirtiness that was present everywhere. I was back in Fresno, California. Though, this wasn't the same area I grew up in.

Instead of a small yard and several broken down houses along the street, I saw an empty open dirt field with a rusting playground. There was a teen on a nearly broken swing, staring away from me. He had long black hair tied up in a ponytail, a solid black shirt and baggy jeans. My brother.

"You left us," he said. His voice felt empty, devoid of emotion and personality. I couldn't help but feel ashamed because it was his voice, of that I was certain. Even if it wasn't actually him, the voice and face brought back many memories I didn't know I had forgotten. Images of us playing with wooden sticks as fake swords, me helping him with his homework, him cup-checking a kid trying to corner me, us fighting against a group of five teens trying to take his shoes, and finally, me leaving for the airport before leaving for the other side of the country.

"I did. I'm sorry," I barely managed to break out, my voice but a creak.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"You left me. You left me to die," he said, finally turning to me with blackened eyes and purple veins throughout his face. I couldn't look at him, but not because of the supernatural changes to his face.

"I know…" I cried out, tears falling down as I couldn't stop the guilt-laced memories of his funeral from invading my mind. I left my younger brother in order to pursue a better life for myself. We had always kept each other safe, covering for each other everywhere I went. And when I wasn't there to watch his back…

"I want you to suffer. Only then will you be able to embrace me. Only in pain could you ever hope to connect with me. And with you, I will rise from my prison."

This wasn't him anymore. Even trapped in my own emotions, I could tell this wasn't my brother. The voice was still his, but the words he said and the venom in them was unnatural. I looked at him again, only to see a grotesque mass of eyes and mouths. The bloodshot eyes all had their black irises glued to me in seething rage. The mouths were of many different sizes and shapes, with rows of sharp teeth similar to sharks being a common theme. Each had a burning tongue that oozed disgustingly bright saliva.

"Yes, you shall set me free!" it said before rushing towards me, slamming into my soul. I jumped out of bed at the very moment it made contact, sweat soaking my clothes and leaving a damp body where I was sleeping

"It was just a dream. Thank god," I said to myself. This realization made me aware of my surroundings. I wasn't in the forest or in a coffin. I had on hospital robes, my ass feeling a cold breeze as it blew by and opened the back of the robe. The room was empty, save for the basic medical equipment, the bed, and a chair that had my original clothes and backpack. Two Pokéballs were on the chair.

I walked over to the chair, my face scrunched up in guilt. I had decided to trap them in their Pokéballs, leaving them to a confined life while I was dying. It was a selfless decision in my head, though selfish in my heart. As I approached, one ball began to shake vigorously.

I unlocked both, and in a bright red flash of light, Malamar appeared in front of me. Before I could say anything, I felt a sharp sting on my face. He slapped me with a tentacle. Malamar wore a furious expression, his eyes blazing with hate.

'You abandoned us!' a voice shouted in my head. A voice in my head…

"Malamar, did you just talk to me?"

'You abandoned us! You knew you were going to die and trapped us! How dare you?!'

He moved forward, pushing me towards the wall. He held me up, punching my body. He was holding back, a lot. And so I let him continue hitting me as I lightly held onto his shoulders, allowing him to vent his frustrations. His angry mental shouts eventually giving way to tears as he stopped punching and hugged me tightly, a hug I returned just as tightly.

While we hugged, Ferrothorn also came out of her ball. I turned to look at her while she, with tears in her eyes, kept her distance.

"I'm sorry for what I did, Ferrothorn," I told her quietly. I could handle anger and shouting; there wasn't a day that went by without getting punched or kicked by a kid while at work back home. But that look of betrayal and hurt, that I couldn't handle. It broke me to see the Pokémon I raised for the last few months look at me like I was going to hurt her again.

'I thought you died. I thought that monster killed you and I would never see you again, dad,' a light, shaky voice sounded in my head. I couldn't look her in her eyes, bitter disappointment with myself the only thing I could feel. Ferrothorn slowly approached, leaning into a hug from both Malamar and myself.

We held each other in somber silence, relishing the fact that we were together and, more importantly, all alive. I pulled away from them, thinking about what I wanted to say and what I wanted going forward.

"I convinced myself I was doing what was right by keeping you in your Pokéballs. I now see that I would've broken up our family and I'm sorry for that. I don't know what the League would have done with both of you, but I'm glad we don't have to find out," I slowly said, choosing my words carefully. "I thought I was going to die and at that time, I remembered my family. It made me realize a couple of things. One, you two are my family and I have not been treating you both as such. Two, I will do anything to protect my family, but I am not strong enough."

I paused for a moment, taking more time to think about how I wanted to go forward. Ferrothorn and Malamar were staring at me, expecting more from my speech.

"While I don't know how I will get stronger, well, I guess we since I doubt either of you are happy with how weak we were against that demon."

This got me nods, so I continued. "I don't know how we'll get to that level of strength, but we'll keep up our training until I find better ways for us to go about it. As to my treatment of both of you, I am going to treat you like my family. And that starts with names. Do either of you want a name, other than your species names?"

Malamar and Ferroseed looked at each other before looking at me with confusion.

'What do you mean by names, dad?'

"I mean that I can start calling you by a specific name, one that you feel is a good representation of who you are. I've a few ideas for both of you, but it is ultimately your choice. What do you think?" I answered Ferrothorn.

'Let's hear the names' Malamar said.

"Ok, for you, Malamar, I was thinking something like Cthulu, Takoyaki, or Nautilus. Or you can come up with your own name if you prefer."

'Nautilus is fine' he replied. I noticed he was being very blunt with me. I guess that should be expected since he's most likely still upset about everything that has happened.

'Oh, what about for me? Did you come up with any good names, dad?' Ferrothorn giddily asked. She seems to be taking this all in stride. I should definitely come up with a good name for her.

"Well, I was originally thinking something like Nokia or Barbie. But now I'm wondering if Tania or Tetsu would be more fitting," I thought aloud.

'Oh, Tetsu! I like that one, dad.' Ferrothorn bounced happily.

"Alright," I smiled, "Nautilus and Tetsu it is. Now that that is taken care of, Mal- sorry, Nautilus. How am I suddenly able to hear both of you in my head?"

'Eh? How am I supposed to know? I've always been able to feel you around with my Psychic abilities. It wasn't until I was really scare- angry, that let yourself die and trapped us in the balls that I could actually connect with you. I guess now I'm able to do it just fine.' Nautilus/Malamar said with a shrug. Huh, maybe this is part of what Psychic Pokémon can do.

"Well, I'm very proud that you are able to freely control. This can actually be really helpful next time we're out fighting," I commented before I remembered something. :Nautilus/Malamar, how long have I been in the hospital?"

'Five days.'

"Five days? That's a long time. No wonder my body feels weak. I hope we c-"

My eyes widened in realization.

"Five days?! The tournament started two days ago! Shit," I yelled out in frustration. This got the attention of someone because a few moments later a Nurse Joy ran in, followed by Professor Sycamore.

"Why are you standing up? Get back in bed!" Nurse Joy admonished me. I looked at her blankly, not understanding why she was so strict. She pushed me onto the bed and then pointed at my side before going out to grab something from a nearby cart I hadn't noticed. I looked down to see red starting to spread out on the robe. That's why.

I let Nurse Joy scold me while patching me up, saying nothing because I knew it would only anger her further. I knew that look on her face; it was the same one the school nurse had whenever a kid went to her office after getting hurt because they did something stupid. I wonder if I had the same sheepish expression on my face as the kids often did. I probably did, seeing the way Nautilus/Malamar was snickering.

"There. Now, stay in bed until you have permission to get up," Nurse Joy finished before leaving the room. I looked at Professor Sycamore, whose expression I couldn't quite decipher.

"For a while, we weren't sure you would make it," the Professor began. "You had quite a strong and corrosive poison coursing through your body. Multiple Blissey couldn't cure you."

"How was I healed?" I asked.

"Well, Celebi appeared and did… something. And then you were fine. We're not entirely sure why Celebi decided to intervene, but Celebi has been quite friendly in the League's interactions with it."

"Well, shit," I responded dazedly.