It was a stormy, windy kind of day in Twinleaf, and Inyssa was grateful for that. It was the perfect weather to eavesdrop.

She sat curled into a ball on the last step of the stairs, eyes closed and attention focused on the conversation happening in the living room, at the other side of the wall.

"This is… this is absurd. You do realize this is absurd, don't you?"

"It sounds perfectly logical to me."

Inyssa had never heard her sister's voice so heated, so flustered. It sounded wrong, so unlike the usual strength she imbued it with. But here, facing against Sarah, she sounded… well, like a normal nineteen year old girl.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Earlier today, Inyssa had been nothing short of ecstatic at Shadi's sudden appearance. She hadn't expected her to come back home until after she challenged the Elite Four a second time, yet here she was, mere weeks after she'd started her training. However, the gravity of the situation hadn't dawned on her until Shadi had met her enthusiastic smile with a scowl cold enough to freeze the entirety of Lake Verity.

She hadn't come back willingly.

"She's sick, Sarah! Do you see me wearing a white apron and a stupid little hat? Do I have a stethoscope hanging around my neck? Do I get paid half as much as doctors for twice the amount of work!?"

"That's not…"

"That's right, I'm not a nurse! She should be in the hospital getting the treatment and medication she needs. And you shouldn't have called me back for something like this."

"How… how could you say that? She's your mother."

A dry laugh left her sister's lips, yet there wasn't an ounce of joy in it. "Yeah, for all the good that's done me."

Unconsciously, Inyssa hugged her knees and pulled them closer to her chest, feeling a sudden unease rise from her stomach, like she'd eaten something past its expiration date.

"Johanna doesn't need that. She… she doesn't need medicine, she needs her family to be there for her. To support her!"

"Like she's supporting my dream of becoming the Champion by shitting on it, right?"

"…Dear Mew, Shadi, listen to yourself. I would've thought you'd been raised better than this."

"Yeah, funny story, that. Want to know who raised me? The shadow of a dead man hanging over this house and his stupid bitch of a wife who can't even win a battle against a bottle of all th–"

Inyssa heard the sound of a step being taken, followed by what could have been a yelp of surprise. The atmosphere turned tense and cold.

"…Listen here."

There was no more patience in Sarah's tone. Her voice was a command.

"If I could take care of Johanna myself, I would. But I can't. Between work and Barry, I've got our hands full enough." She breathed in deep, and Inyssa could imagine her closing her eyes in exhaustion. "So this is what's going to happen." Sarah breathed in deep. "You're going to take that indomitable determination of yours and use it for something worthwhile for once. Believe me. The more work you put into looking over them, the earlier you'll be able to leave. This doesn't have to be as difficult as you're making it sound like."

It was incredible, Inyssa thought, just how much force and conviction a woman as constantly tired as Sarah could imbue into her voice without even trying. Shadi seemed to agree, if unconsciously. No further protest came from her. The silence that followed was a long, awkward one.

"... I have at least three, if not four Keter-class Pokemon at my disposal," Shadi finally said, her tone that of someone trying to negotiate up from a loss. "So even if I agree…"

"Which you will."

"…Which I will." Shadi masticated the words as though she wanted to spit them at Sarah. "This little home visit has a time limit. A non-negotiable one. The League clearly states that trainers can't hold on to such powerful Pokemon if they're not doing something with them that can be easily regulated. After two months…"

"I'll take care of that. You don't have to worry about anything except taking care of your family. Got it?"

Another short silence. Inyssa struggled not to start tapping her foot against the wood of the step.

"… They'll get restless, too. I need to train them for a certain amount of time a day or–"

"Perfect. Why not use that time to start training Inyssa, then?"

"I…"

"It'll be a good way to burn some energy off your Pokemon as well as look over her. And I'm sure she'd be delighted to be taught by you."

The more seconds that passed, the more Inyssa felt like the nervous energy running through her body would explode and she would end up revealing herself. Being trained by Shadi? After all the times she'd asked her, after all the times she'd been rejected because her sister was too busy…

Gods, say yes. Please say yes.

"…I guess it's as good of an idea as any."

Not letting out a squeal of joy was the hardest thing in the world just then. She was already formulating various ways to rub this new development in Barry's face when she heard Sarah reply, an air of finality to her voice.

"Well. We're in agreement, then." She let out a long sigh. "Do tell me if you need help, alright? You can do this. Just put your back into it and you'll be back in Victory Road before you know it."

"…Right."

Inyssa sat perfectly still, not even breathing, as Sarah walked past her on her way to the door. The barest hint of moonlight entered the house, and then it was slammed shut. Silence fell over the house once again.

Okay, thought Inyssa, gulping. Now to make my way to my room without aler–

"Niss."

Every muscle in her body tensed up. Shadi's dark silhouette appeared from the other side of the wall, facing her way. Her expression was unreadable in that darkness.

"It's impolite to eavesdrop, you know."

She sat still in perfect silence, as though that would cause the ground to swallow her. In this darkness, there was no way to know if Shadi was joking or…

"I'm guessing you're pretty happy," she said. "I finally have enough free time to train you, sis."

Inyssa swallowed. Part of her wanted to nod and move on, but something about the bitterness in her voice…

"A-actually…" she said, trying not to make her voice shake. "You can… you can go, if you want."

Shadi raised an eyebrow.

"I know how hard you've been working to become the Champion. And now, when you were so close…" She pressed her hands together nervously, looking down. "I can look after mom. I know how to clean and cook and… I can do everything else too! So if you wanna…"

Something flashed across Shadi's eyes. For a second, it almost looked as though she were considering it.

Then she closed her eyes, and sighed. Inyssa had never seen her sister so tired.

"Just… go back to bed, please. I need some time alone."

----------------------------------------

A sound like a cannonball against rubber rang through the outskirts of Twinleaf, startling a nearby group of Starly into flying off.

"That's another loss."

The gargantuan Snorlax fell on his stomach, all strength gone from him. The impact reverberated under Inyssa's feet, making her knees wobble and the ground around the beast crack violently. An even more fearsome creature stood before them, his eyes calm and cold like sapphires, his armor gleaming under what little sunlight filtered through the leaves above. The massive Aggron folded his arms with a smug look on his face, and his trainer Shadi did the same a second after.

"Dammit!" Inyssa threw her hands down, biting her lip.

There was a flash of light as both Pokemon were returned to their balls.

"No one likes a sore loser. If that's the attitude you're going to take during these practice matches…"

"N-no, I'm sorry!" Inyssa was quick to shrink into herself, panic clear in her eyes. "It's just…"

"Is this not what you expected?" Again with that phrase. Inyssa couldn't count how many times she'd been teased with it. "After a month and a half of studying and theory, I would've thought you'd be ecstatic at the opportunity to be in an actual Pokemon fight. And using one of my own, no less! So tell me, Niss, what part of all this is not meeting your apparently very high standards?"

Choose your words carefully, Shadi's expression seemed to say. She'd been rather testy ever since their mom's slow recovery had taken a hard relapse a week ago, but this was more than that. Usually, she'd wait a little more before chewing her out.

"T-that's… not what I meant," whispered Inyssa, raising her hands in front of her. "I'm just a little frustrated, that's all. Sorry."

"Why would you be frustrated because of something that's your own fault?" snapped Shadi, shaking her head. "That doesn't make sense."

Inyssa raised an eyebrow, but knew better than to answer that question. She figured that for someone who was so used to succeeding in everything she attempted, self-frustration at one's own failure was not something she was very used to.

"It's not gonna happen again," she reassured her. "I… I know that I gotta learn how to deal with type disadvantage sooner or later. I'll beat Velstadt next time, for sure!"

An odd look crossed Shadi's face. For the first time since Inyssa could remember, her sister looked away from her, something almost like shame or pity showing in the way she pursed her lips. What was up w–?

A gasp left her lips.

"Did… did I actually have a chance to win with Aldrich?" she asked. "In any of those fights?"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"…No. Velstadt is too good at countering him. But you could've put up a lot more of a fight than that." Shadi shot her a side-glance, eyes narrowed. "Are you going to let that stop you?"

Inyssa's fingers curled into fists. She stifled a laugh, her lips forming an almost hungry smile. Of course. She should've guessed her sister would pull something like this.

"Like hell," she spat out with a hungry smile. "I'll keep at it and I'll win, even if it's impossible."

She didn't know what she expected. An amused look, a pat on the shoulder, maybe for Shadi to shake her head with a smile and tell her 'Good luck, kiddo'. She definitely didn't expect the cold, exhausted expression she was met with.

"… It's getting pretty old, you know," she said. "You shouldn't make promises you have no chance to keep."

Something hard and cold formed in Inyssa's stomach. "Wha–?"

Shadi's Poketch began to ring. Her sister looked down at the device with a bored look on her face, noticeable bags under her eyes.

"Siffa," she whispered to herself, then turned to Inyssa. "I have to take this. Use this time to go over the battle and all the mistakes you made."

Then she pulled a thin, long earphone from the side of the device and placed it in her ear, turning away from her. Inyssa just stood there, mouth slightly agape.

W-why… why does she never have faith in me?

Inyssa shook her head violently. No, this wasn't her sister's fault, she just wanted that to be the case. This was all on her. She just wasn't good enough. Bravado wouldn't buy her skill that she didn't possess.

"And you're sure about this?" she heard Shadi's voice from afar. "Was the Pokemon physically incapable of leaving the chateau or did it just choose not to?"

I gotta try harder, thought Inyssa, looking down at the palm of her hand. I'm not a prodigy like her. If I wanna be the Champion someday then I gotta work a lot harder than everyone else!

"…I'll take your word for it, though I'd really like to check for myself." Shadi clicked her tongue in irritation. "Keep watching over it. And tell Ciro to stop whining; it's not like he has anything better to do, and I need an extra pair of hands right now if I wanna get to the bottom of this." She paused, then sighed. "Make sure no one runs into the plate or that Pokemon."

Even if I gotta break myself… I'll do it over and over until I'm good enough! Until she…

Shadi pulled the earphone out absentmindedly, her gaze lost ahead, her eyebrows meeting over the bridge of her nose.

"…What the hell are you planning?"

I'll keep at it until she… until she's finally proud of m–

"Niss."

Her voice reeled Inyssa back to reality. She yelped and looked up in surprise, coming face to face with an even more irritated Shadi. Those shadows over her eyes couldn't mean anything good for her.

"One more practice fight," she said, a dangerous edge to her voice. "I have to get this out of my system somehow."

----------------------------------------

"What are you doing still awake?"

Inyssa yelped, foot hovering over the last step leading downstairs. In her sudden panic, it took her a couple seconds to locate Shadi in the darkness of the living room. She sat on the big sofa near the fireplace, wearing nothing but a pair of slippers and an oversized red t-shirt that reached down to her knees. Something small and rectangular rested on her right hand, but Inyssa couldn't make out what it was.

"I…" She swallowed, considering lying only for a moment. "I came down to study. Like… I do every night."

Part of her, the naïve part probably, expected Shadi to chew her out or reprimand her that she needed sleep no matter what. However, her sister simply nodded, still looking at the object in her hand.

"You realized that your performance during training hasn't been up to standard, so you want to do something about it," she said to herself. "At least you've got some common sense."

For a few moments, all that could be heard was the soft cooing of Murkrow outside. Inyssa looked down. Her fingers closed against the fabric of her pajamas.

"…I've been running you ragged, haven't I?"

A confused sound left her mouth. She looked up toward Shadi, eyes wide.

"I'm pushing you so hard that you need to lose sleep to keep up. Any other kid would've quit already." Shadi looked over her shoulder, a tiny smile forming in her lips. "I've fished out some complaints from you, but never willingly. You're taking it all in stride."

Inyssa gulped, then nodded.

"… Heh. You're diligent as hell, if nothing else," she said, turning her head toward the fireplace again. "That's good enough, sometimes. Honestly, for every prodigy like the Champion or me there's a thousand diligent idiots like you that together can accomplish more than we ever could. Dedication's nothing to scoff at."

"But… I want to be both," said Inyssa, weakly. "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't want to become the Champion someday, right?"

Shadi didn't reply for a few seconds. Inyssa couldn't see her expression from where she stood, but judging from the tilt of her head, she wasn't looking at the object in her hand anymore.

"You're a strong kid, enduring all this," she said. "But you'll have to work a lot harder and sacrifice a lot more than sleep if you want to reach our level. You might end up regretting it."

Inyssa stomped the ground, hands curling into fists. "Never."

"…Alright." Inyssa couldn't see the smile, but she heard it in her voice. "But don't come crying to me later if you don't make it."

Taking that as implicit permission to approach, Inyssa huddled over toward the sofa and let herself fall at her sister's side. From there, she got a better look at the object. It was some sort of plate made of a rock very similar to obsidian, only not as shiny. There seemed to be engravings on one of the sides.

"What's that?"

Shadi opened her mouth, surely to protest, but it must have seemed to her like too much effort, so she closed it again. The bags under her eyes had exacerbated. She looked as though she'd fall asleep on the spot at any moment.

"It's a puzzle," she said. "One I can't seem to make much sense of, unfortunately."

Raising her feet to the sofa and hugging her knees, Inyssa scooted over closer and began inspecting the engravings on the plate. Was that…? No, they clearly weren't letters from the Sinnohan alphabet, but they looked so eerily similar.

"Is that ancient Sinnohan?" she asked. "What's it say?"

"Yup, good eye," nodded Shadi. "And, er… no idea. It's a dead language, remember?"

"Oh. Right."

She'd braced herself for a 'What, can't you even realize that?' but none came. Shadi seemed too tired to chew her out.

"I got in touch with Rowan. See if he knows anyone that could interpret this for me," said Shadi, unprompted. "Might take a couple days, though."

Inyssa nodded, then used the opportunity to rest her head on Shadi's shoulder, which she didn't seem to mind. It'd been such a long time since they'd been together like this.

"What do you think it is? A relic or something?"

Shadi shook her head. "It's a type amplifier."

A gasp left her lips. "Oh! You mean like… the items people use on their Pokemon? Like a Mystic Water or a Twisted Spoon?"

"Yeah, it's the same idea. This plate amplifies the powers of dark-type Pokemon, although…" Shadi frowned, turning the plate on her hand. "It's… a bit more dangerous than that."

"Hm? Why, does it do something else?" asked Inyssa. "Isn't it like… you know, a buff from an RPG or something like that?"

"That's a good analogy, actually. Yeah, imagine something like that, only the buff is much stronger and it also inflicts the Berserk status on whatever Pokemon's holding it."

"Oh… damn, that kind of dangerous, huh." Inyssa pouted, furrowing her brow. "Is it like confusion? Or…?"

"No, it's more like they can't control the sudden outburst of power, and it instead starts controlling them," explained Shadi, showing her the blank side of the plate. "Well, unless…"

Inyssa perked up. "Unless?"

Shadi's lips quirked up. She looked down at her sister, seemingly trying to stifle laughter.

"There's a way of using it without risk, but I think that's enough for tonight, young lady." With her free hand she ruffled Inyssa's hair, earning a tickly laugh. "I'll figure this one out on my own."

Inyssa clung harder to her sister's arm, letting out a sigh. "But I wanna help you…"

"You already did that by being my metaphorical rubber Psyduck. Talking to someone about this got my brain working again," she said. "As a reward, you can take tonight off. Go up to your room now, alright?"

As pleasant as Shadi had been for the past few minutes, Inyssa recognized in her sister's voice when she was being serious. She let out a defeated sigh. It'd been nice while it lasted, at least.

She'd placed a foot into the first step of the stairs when she thought of something.

"Shadi?"

"Hm?"

"If that plate boosts dark-type Pokemon… does that mean there's another seventeen out there for the rest?"

Shadi looked over her shoulder at her, brow furrowed. "That's the theory I'm going with at the moment, yeah."

"Huh…" Inyssa placed a hand under her chin and smiled. "That plate isn't really like a puzzle, then. It's more like a small piece of one!"

"Hah. Yeah, I guess it–"

Shadi's smile froze, eyes shooting wide open. Inyssa reeled at the sight. She'd never seen such a look of shock and disbelief cross her sister's expression; she looked as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on her.

"A… piece?" she whispered to herself. "I…"

Suddenly, she shot up from the sofa as though pushed by a spring.

"The keys!" she shouted at no one. "That fresco… the ruins in Celestic… Shit! How did I not see it before!?"

Inyssa took a step back, frightened. "W-what is it?"

"So that's what you were trying to hide, you bastard?" She continued to talk to herself, a hungry, unsettling smile forming on her lips. "But now…"

In a flash, she jumped over the sofa and crossed half the living room toward the table, upon which rested her belt full of Pokeballs. She grabbed what Inyssa recognized as Midir's ball and headed for the door.

"W-wait, Shadi!"

She stopped, hand hovering over the doorknob. Just then it seemed to dawn on her that she wasn't alone in the room.

"…Right. I…" Shadi tried to think for a moment, but then shook her head. "Look, I need to make a quick trip to Canalave. You go back to bed. I'll be back before morning, alright?"

"B-but…"

"You did a great job," she said, flashing her a quick smile. "Thank you."

And with that she was gone, the door slamming shut behind her. Inyssa stood in the darkness of the living room, completely befuddled about what had just happened. On one hand, she was ecstatic about the fact that she'd been useful to Shadi, that she'd congratulated her and thanked her.

But on the other…

"Sis…" she whispered, letting out a sigh. "You forgot to put pants on."

----------------------------------------

Inyssa knocked on Shadi's door, and immediately the sound of a pen scribbling on paper ceased. She heard steps, and then the door slid open a bit. Her sister's exhausted, gaunt face peeked from the other side.

"What'd you bring?" she asked.

"Er… some pizza," Inyssa replied, lifting the plate toward her. "Sorry… between mom and training and our exams coming up soon I didn't have time to cook anything. So I got takeout."

Shadi took the plate from her hands, gaze lost someplace else. As she smiled the hollowness of her cheeks became more noticeable.

"It's fine. No offense but cooking clearly isn't your forte," she said. "Good day for pizza. I think this is gonna be another all-nighter, so…"

A month had passed since they'd talked in front of the fireplace, since Inyssa had given her a clue for whatever it was she was looking for. At first she'd ridden the high of her sister's praise for all it'd been worth. However, as the days passed, the moments of sisterly warmth between them became farther and farther apart as Shadi spent almost all her time locked inside her room. Her scribbling and murmuring could be heard all throughout the night, and during the day she was too busy sleeping or talking to people through her Poketch to properly train Inyssa or take care of their mother anymore. As such, in an attempt to ease her workload, Inyssa took to those tasks herself.

She still wondered about the calls, though. Most of the time she talked to Siffa and Ciro, asking for updates on whatever investigation she'd embarked them on and getting mad at the latter when he complained. A few times, however, she'd heard her address someone different. A grown woman, judging by what little Inyssa could hear of her voice through Shadi's Poketch right before she locked herself into her room for the rest of the call. A woman she talked to with the utmost respect.

True, Inyssa was full to the brim of responsibilities. Worrying about anything but studying, training and taking care of their mom would've been dumb, considering her circumstances.

And yet, her curiosity didn't care one bit about what she needed. It rarely did.

"How's your work doing?"

Inyssa regretted the question as soon as it came out of her mouth. Shadi sneered down at her, and the look on her face immediately told her this was one of her irritable days. You did not bother Shadi during one of her irritable days. In this house, such a rule was law.

"It's going," she said. "Not nearly fast enough, but it's going."

"O-oh… Well, I'm sure you can do it, whatever it is!"

Shadi scoffed. "I don't need your empty sympathy. Go."

She really should have. But, unsure as to why, Inyssa stood still in front of the door, swallowing down the fear that had suddenly risen from her stomach. Unable to stop herself, she took a step forward and looked through the sill of the door, toward her sister's room.

"Y-you know… If you need some help, I could…"

It was a mess inside. Pens, markers, measuring tools and disjointed mountains of paper were littered all about, only a single spot in the bed –one suspiciously shaped like Shadi– clean of any sort of object. The entire room smelled like ink and freshly printed paper.

But something stood out above everything else. Pasted onto the opposite wall, a huge map of Sinnoh formed the centerpiece of everything surrounding it, pins and annotations marking various spots in the region. There were nineteen pins in total. Eighteen red, with a black one placed slightly northeast of Lake Valor. Inyssa squinted. Points of Coalescence? was written above a few of the red pins, and above the black one…

"A-AGH!"

Shadi's fingers closed around her shoulder, sending a sharp, cold pain down her arm. She looked up in shock and protest, but her words died in her mouth.

The look on her sister's face was like a dark cloud before a storm. Inyssa froze, wishing with everything in her for the ground to swallow her, to take her away from this moment and place.

"Are you mocking me?" she seethed.

"N-no! I…!"

"If I want the help of a stupid highschool girl I'll ask for it. And trust me, I'm never going to ask for it!"

"P-please…"

"So I'd appreciate it if you kept your stupid sympathy to yourself and…"

"I-it hurts! Please...!"

Those words snapped Shadi out of whatever state she'd slipped into. She took her hand out of Inyssa's shoulder as though the touch had suddenly burned her and took a step back with wide, fearful eyes.

"N-Niss…"

They stood there for a few seconds that felt eternal, both unable to move. Inyssa tried to keep down the sob trying to claw itself out of her throat, wetness forming in her eyes. Shadi opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of something to say.

Then, her expression changed. It was almost imperceptible. In the pain and panic she was in, Inyssa wouldn't have noticed if she weren't already an expert at picking up the cues of danger in her sister's eyes. If before her face had been a dark cloud, now it was the first flash of lightning before thunder fell. Even without words, she understood perfectly.

No one could know about this.

"I… I'll…" Inyssa swallowed with difficulty, feeling like she'd throw up any second. "I'll g-go back to bed."

"Yeah," said Shadi, the green of her eyes so pale it could have passed for gray. "Goodnight, sis."