There had, allegedly, been moments in Inyssa's life when she knew what she was doing. This was decidedly not one of them.

The Pastoria dock was an old, colorless square of cracked concrete and rusted hangars about as big as a football stadium, hidden in the southeast corner of the city. It was markedly unlike the beautiful nature that surrounded it. The only greenery that could be seen was on the distance and even the narrow river that eventually opened up into the sea was murky and smelled of chemicals and decomposition. According to Simone, the culprit was a pretty ugly spill from a damaged cargo ship some ten or so years ago. The place had only seen marginal business ever since.

So not a particularly scenic spot. She'd realized that, and had started having second thoughts not long after leaving Simone's house, but it was too late to turn back and go somewhere else now. 'Sorry, Pyxis! It just dawned on me that taking you to the ugliest, most dreary spot in the city might not be the best way to show you my condolences. How silly of me'.

Inyssa subtly looked over her shoulder again, lips pursing nervously. At least Pyxis hadn't decided to stab her yet. Or shoot her. Or–

Let's not go down this train of thought, she told herself. Things are going… well?

Pyxis didn't look happy in the slightest, but she didn't look furious either. She seemed more… confused? She followed behind Inyssa, putting one foot in front of the other automatically, shoulders slumped with a weight Inyssa knew well; it was the weight of having no idea what you were doing. She'd take that for now.

"Here, I… yeah, here, look."

Inyssa stuttered as she pointed toward one of the nearby hangars, whose wide doors had been left open. She headed inside and Pyxis followed, still dazed. Unlike the last shitty hangar she'd hung out on there weren't any convenient sofas for them to sit on, so instead Inyssa headed toward a nearby cabinet that reached up to her belt and hopped up to sit on it. Pyxis stopped a few feet from her. It didn't look as though she wanted to make herself comfortable.

"Right, so…"

She looked up at Pyxis, and there was a spark of sorts between them. Anger, shock, confusion, fear… they both stared at each other like someone squinting up at the sun, clearly wanting to look away.

"Pyxis, look, I…"

"If you try to sermon me or patronize me I'm going to start punching you," said Pyxis, her first words since they'd met again. Inyssa was surprised at how thin and weak she sounded. "And I'm not going to stop."

Inyssa's mouth fell shut. She spent the next few seconds thinking over her words very carefully. And then she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Uxie's not with me anymore. It's back with Cyrus." She shrugged. "So he's got all three now."

Pyxis' eyes widened and her nostrils flared. She looked like someone had slapped her across the face.

"Thought I'd let you know, in case that was the only reason you wanted to kill me," said Inyssa. "Though I doubt I'm that lucky."

"Wh…" Pyxis swallowed, a desperate look on her face. "Then why are your eyes–"

"Lingering effect from our bond," Inyssa explained. "There's some of Uxie left in me but… not much. Uxie itself is gone."

"…Why? How'd it happen?"

She smiled at Pyxis. "I've got no problem telling you the whole story, if that's okay with you."

Pyxis shook her head too fast, like she was trying to shoo away the suggestion. She opened her mouth to speak, closed it then raised a hand to her head, running her fingers through her hair anxiously.

"Why are you telling me this? Do you want me to–"

"I don't want you to do anything," Inyssa cut her off before she could rally herself into a rage. "I thought we could talk, and I figured that was a good place to start."

Pyxis scoffed. "I've got nothing to say to you."

"I do," said Inyssa. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

There was a sharp inhalation. Pyxis' hands balled into fists and her eyes shot open in that way that denoted danger.

"…What?"

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "For some of the things that happened between us."

A short, incredulous laugh left Pyxis' lips. She looked up at Inyssa with her shoulders slumped, her face a mess of emotions.

"Some?"

"Some," she nodded. "I'm sorry for what I said those first times we met. For mocking you. And I'm sorry we had to fight. And for… what I saw. When my skin brushed yours, and my powers activated. I'm sorry for what happened to you. It was… unfair." At that, she met Pyxis' eyes and did not back down, even when Pyxis' glare turned cold as ice. "But… I'm not sorry for defending myself. When Cyrus dragged me to your base, or when you kidnapped me."

Pyxis' nose scrunched up in anger; she probably knew what was coming. "You–"

"I'm sure you hate me for a lot of reasons, and I admit I'm at fault for some of them," said Inyssa. "But your friend's death is not one of them."

A couple of things happened in the blink of an eye. Pyxis lurched forward unconsciously, a mask of hurt and rage forming over her face, but she stopped herself only a moment after. Inyssa only realized this after opening her eyes again; she'd yelped and shrunk herself and closed her eyes tight, waiting for the pain, but it didn't come. Had she stopped because of her reaction? Because of her frightened expression?

The two of them stood there frozen, mere feet from each other. There was conflict on Pyxis' face. Like two ropes tugging at opposite sides of her.

"I hate you," Pyxis finally said, voice cracking with effort. "I hate you so fucking much."

Inyssa waited until her heart rate decided to stop emulating a set of drums before replying. She felt her throat dry.

"I know. There's a part of me that hates you too."

The frown that Pyxis formed would have looked almost adorable were it not for the seriousness of the situation. She shook her head and was about to question that claim when Inyssa interrupted her.

"That ghost that you used to lure us in near Snowpoint, that Froslass, she had nothing to do with me or you. And you tortured her just to lure us to you."

To her credit, however much that amounted to, Pyxis did look away at that, face scrunching up in shame. She was left without words for a few seconds. When she finally replied, it was not what Inyssa expected.

"I thought you'd hate me because I hurt you," she said.

Inyssa shrugged. "No offense, but you're not great at hurting people. It's clear your heart isn't really in it." Then her expression grew a bit darker. "Except when you did that to Vi. I'm guessing it was easier because you didn't see her as human, right?"

Now that pressed a nerve. Pyxis' eyes went wide like those of a Hoothoot and her cheeks grew red, from anger or shame Inyssa didn't know, but it lit up her whole face. She looked like she wanted to yell at her. To tell her that she was wrong, that it was different. But she couldn't quite make the words come out.

"I'm not trying to shame you. No one's perfect." Inyssa smiled and looked to the side, a hint of shame on her own face. "I did it plenty too, remember? First few times we met. You weren't a person to me, you were just a 'bad guy'. So of course I mocked and made fun of you. That's what cocky heroes like me did to bad guys when they beat them, right? No wonder you hated me so much."

Pyxis scoffed, though it didn't sound as genuine as before. "I did the same to you."

"True. Though in your case it felt more like punching up, not down," said Inyssa. "Metaphorical punches, I mean. Not like those real punches that you threw at me later."

It was only there for a second, Pyxis was quick to erase it, but the corner of her lips quirked up a bit at her comment. She'd had to swallow down a breath of laughter.

"I also pointed a gun at you."

Inyssa chuckled. "You did, didn't you? I'd forgotten."

"H-how do you just forget someone pointing a fucking gun at you?"

"You have no idea how wild these past few months have been," Inyssa said, exhausted. "Besides, compared to how Mars beat the shit out of me that day… or hell, compared to what Cyrus did to me in Celestic…"

Inyssa raised her arm and pulled the sleeve of her coat down. Pyxis' mouth fell open at the sight of her scars.

"How…?"

"Big metallic murder-bug," Inyssa replied. "Cyrus had it shoot a lightning bolt at me and… well, that was the result. Happened right before he brought me to your HQ, actually."

She didn't know if the look on Pyxis' face and her ensuing silence was due to the memories of what happened after or the realization that Inyssa had struggled so much and escaped even with a fresh wound like that. A mix of sadness and incredulity painted her expression.

"Anyway, yeah. Compared to that, a couple punches aren't that big of a deal."

It was a long, tense while until Pyxis dragged herself to reply. She looked shaken. Drained. A resigned exhaustion that Inyssa knew very well shone through her as she parted her lips and said.

"So?" She threw her shoulders up, almost shrugging. "Great. You don't hate me for what I did to you because you… grew up or matured or whatever. You want me to give you a medal? Want me to kneel at your feet and thank you oh so much for being a good person and forgiving me?"

Inyssa bit her lip. Great. That was the exact opposite of what she wanted it to come across as. She looked away for a moment, pursing her lips and gathering her words.

"Of course not," she breathed out. "Who cares about forgiveness anyway? I've got a whole lot of people that haven't forgiven me for how shitty I was before, does that mean I can't try and be better? You don't have to care whether I forgive you or not, I'm just…" She swallowed. How to say this? "I just… wanted to talk with you."

"Talking things out isn't going to make anything better."

"No," she admitted, "but it'll stop us from hurting each other."

Pyxis frowned. "Is that what you're after?"

"I figure people who don't deserve it have gotten hurt enough already."

"Yes, how hard it must be to look at it from the outs–"

But Pyxis stopped herself before she finished that sentence, some sort of realization crossing her face. She pursed her lips and looked down, ashamed.

"None of us got away unscathed from what happened," said Inyssa. "I lost someone. And someone very close to me lost someone too."

It looked as though Pyxis were about to say 'I'm sorry' but something in her prevented those words from coming out. Inyssa imagined what she must've been thinking. That familiar, awful voice whispering inside her head.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You think I deserve it. That it was partly my fault?"

"You're not the Champion," said Pyxis, a sour look on her face. "And you're not the Association, even if you benefited off of it for so long."

Inyssa made a 'so-so' gesture with her head. That was a bit more complicated than she was willing to admit.

"And yet you came here looking for me," said Inyssa, not an ounce of bitterness in her voice. "To try and kill me."

"I didn't–!" But Pyxis cut herself off, biting her lip, looking down at the floor. "I… it wasn't supposed to succeed. I was going to try, but…"

"But you wanted to fail. For me to kill you instead."

"…"

Pyxis didn't say anything, nor did she look very capable of it at the moment. All strength, all anger seemed gone from her. She stared down at the floor, then raised her hands slightly and looked at her palms instead, her gaze a thousand miles away. It was with no joy that Inyssa spoke her next words.

"I've had my fair share of stupid, melodramatic plans, so you can believe me when I say that I get it."

That brought back some of Pyxis' bite. She glared up sharply at Inyssa. "You don't get it. You could never–"

"You just wanted your death to mean something, right?"

Pyxis stopped in her tracks.

"It's easier if you disguise it as something else," Inyssa sighed, a sad smile forming on her lips. "I tried to kill myself the straightforward way once, and after that whole mess I convinced myself that I'd gotten past it. But it was the same thing, just wrapped up in a different foil. Suddenly, it wasn't about giving up, it was about proving myself. So I threw myself at the mouth of the Pyroar again and again under the pretense of 'toughening up' and 'showing what I was really made of'. If I succeeded then… great. If I didn't, then that just meant I wasn't good enough, right? And at that point, why not let it kill me? Better to die with your head held high than to keep on living as a failure." She looked at Pyxis and rolled her eyes at herself. "It took me a long time to realize how stupid I was being. And you're right, it only happened because I'm lucky, because I had so many people, and sometimes even deities, at my side. I never could've done it alone."

Unconsciously, Pyxis leaned forward ever so slightly, swallowing, lips pursed into a thin line. She looked completely disarmed. She wanted to say something, a lot of things maybe, but she'd clearly not expected Inyssa to say something like that.

"Our circumstances are different. That's obvious. There's a lot you're angry about that I'm only now starting to understand," Inyssa added. "But this, that desire for your life, or failing that your death, to mean something… I do get it. More than I'm comfortable admitting, honestly."

It was impossible to describe the noise that pushed past Pyxis' pursed lips, almost a mix of a whine and a dry, sardonic chuckle. A broken smiled formed on her lips in the one moment before she took a step back and buried her face in the palm that wasn't bandaged, breathing deep as her arms started to shake ever so slightly.

"I hate you," she whispered through her fingers.

"I know."

She didn't quite fell sitting to the floor as much as she just lowered herself with little caution or regard for gravity, crossing her legs and leaning forward until her head was down low, her thick locks now hiding her face and the hand pressed against it. She didn't cry. She just breathed in and out for a while, each inhalation passing through her body like a rumble, or maybe that was just her body shaking in general.

When she spoke, however, her voice did sound on the verge of tears.

"I just wanted to be a trainer," she breathed out in between a sob and a broken laugh. "Just w-wanted to travel and be with Pokemon. I followed the rules. I did e-everything that I was told, but still…"

"I… I know." Inyssa's face scrunched up, a pit forming in her stomach. "I'm sorry."

Pyxis laughed, more derisively this time. Her face was still hidden. "Who cares? We can be s-sorry about what happened all we want. It's not gonna make me a trainer. It's not g-gonna change what I've done."

Unsure of what to say, Inyssa hopped down from the counter she was sitting on and walked closer to Pyxis, lowering herself and then sitting in front of her until they were at eye level. The girl didn't complain, but her body tensed up at the closeness.

"Maybe there's something that can be done," she said. "I may know some people who could help."

A grumble rose up Pyxis' throat. "What, like Simone?"

"They'd probably be stoked to help you. Dunno if you noticed, but they're the fucking best."

"…I did catch on to that, yeah." Through her curtain of hair and the fingers hiding her face, Inyssa noticed a tiny smile. "But I don't think–"

"I also know Professor Rowan, and a lot people that work for the League but don't really agree with their methods," said Inyssa. "I'm sure you hold no love for Lucian, for example, but I and a lot more people are risking our necks to save the world up there in Mt. Coronet while he takes care of things down here in the ground. Once it's all done, he'll owe me big time."

Pyxis sat silent for a few seconds, her breathing getting slower, calmer, the tenseness on her shoulders slowly softening up. After a moment, she lowered the hand from her face and looked at Inyssa. Again, there was conflict on her face.

"So you'd be using the League's influence to give me a second chance?" A look of irony crossed her face. "What about my other friends from Team Galactic?"

Inyssa nodded thoughtfully. "Like I said, it's a big favor they'll owe me. We can see to–"

"And what about everyone else after that?" Pyxis interrupted her. "You can't bend the rules for everyone, and I'd actually rather be put behind bars than benefit from the system we've been fighting against all this time, the system that fucked us in the first place, while knowing that other kids in the future won't be as fortunate."

"There's a good chance that things are going to change," argued Inyssa. "The split of League and government feels pretty imminent, and I can't see them not heavily relaxing the requirements for becoming a trainer in the near future."

Pyxis shrugged aggressively. "Great. Then you can offer me your help after that happens."

"That's…" Inyssa sighed, pursing her lips. "If I have the power to help you but I don't, isn't that worse?"

"It's not as simple as that. It's not right if I–"

"I don't care," Inyssa interjected.

Pyxis' eyes narrowed, her tone getting angrier. "So you're just going to butt in even if I don't want you to? Who do you think you are!? You think you'll be my savior just because–!?"

"It has nothing to do with that," argued Inyssa, her own voice raising in pitch. "You've been through enough. I don't care if it's right or whatever, I have the power to help you so I'm going to help you, and that's all there is to it. You can hate me if you want, I don't care. At least you'll be hating me from a place where you'll hopefully be happier."

It was only after finishing speaking that Inyssa realized how condescending that had probably sounded, and suddenly that confidence and righteous anger evaporated into thin air. Pyxis' anger, however, remained firm. With her head still hung low, she glanced up and shot Inyssa a dark sneer that wouldn't have been out of place in a Shiftry's face.

"Remember how I told you I'd punch you if you started being patronizing?"

Inyssa swallowed. "I… yeah. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come across as–"

Pyxis' hand curled into a fist and moved and Inyssa instantly froze in fear, bracing for pain. But it didn't come. The fist was slow, like she could barely bother to move it. When the knuckles touched Inyssa's shoulder, it felt a lot more like a pat than a punch. Pyxis kept it there for a moment, head hung low, gaze on the floor, before retreating it back.

"There. You're seriously the fucking worst," she said, though there was no anger in her voice this time. "And you're impossible to argue with, so fine. Do whatever you want. I don't care."

Then she sighed and buried her face in her hand again, though this time it wasn't due to feeling overwhelmed. Inyssa could see the pale blush past the fingers and could hear the reluctance in her voice as she spoke again.

"I'm… sorry too." She pulled the words out like teeth, tensing up at each one. "For all that stuff."

Inyssa's face brightened like a light bulb and immediately Pyxis lifted her head and glared, her voice getting higher pitched.

"Shove it! If you even think that this makes us friends then I'm actually going to punch you! For real this time."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it!"

"You can't prove anything," Inyssa shrugged, though she failed to keep the smile from her face. "Our friendship is like a skinny Hippowdon."

"What? What are you even–"

"Its existence is entirely Hippothetical."

Pyxis' expression was not unlike that of someone punched in the nose by a clown. Disgust and anger in equal measure.

"Merciful fucking Synn…" She shook her head in disbelief. "Just… ugh."

Offended, or maybe just tired of sitting in that position, Pyxis pushed herself up to her feet and looked away from her, huffing dismissively. Inyssa, for her part, grinned proudly. She stood up as well, dusting herself off.

"Simone told me that one," she said. "So if you want to insult them for their sense of humor, you're more than welcome to come with me back to their house. Might even want to stay for the concert. I hear the music's gonna be pretty good."

"…Of course that was your angle," muttered Pyxis under her breath. "Scheming even when you're telling a joke."

She didn't say anything for a while, though both of them knew that she hadn't yet answered that hypothetical question. After a while of standing there with her back to Inyssa, her foot quickly, anxiously tapping the ground, she finally answered.

"I'd… like to go back and say goodbye. And thank them for bandaging my hand," she said. "But after that I should leave. I've got my own friends I should be getting back to… assuming they even want me back at this point."

Inyssa nodded, smiling softly. "Friends are usually good at looking past our stupidities when it really matters."

"…Yeah," said Pyxis, almost in a whisper. "They are."

Then she turned around and addressed Inyssa with… well it definitely wasn't a smile, but it was the most courteous expression that had crossed Pyxis' face since they'd met. Even if she was frowning.

"You're crazy, you know that? And way too trusting," she reprimanded her. "Bringing me here without your Pokemon. How do you think they would've felt had I done something bad to you?"

It was practically the same question Maylene had asked her once, back in Veilstone's hospital. Yet this time her answer was different.

"They've got as much belief in me as I have in them," she said. "They probably trusted I'd be able to talk you out of it."

"…Right." Pyxis' eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She looked away from Inyssa. "That's how trainers and Pokemon are supposed to be. I imagine you'd make a good team after getting through so much shit together."

There was an unmistakable tinge of sadness in Pyxis' voice. Inyssa chastised herself, she'd probably reminded her of what she'd lost. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak she noticed something odd. Absentmindedly, like she wasn't paying attention to her anymore, Pyxis dug into the pocket of her jacket and took out a small object.

Is that… Inyssa narrowed her eyes. A Pokeball?

Pyxis looked at the ball wistfully for a few seconds before speaking.

"Wanna know what the funniest thing is? Like, about what happened?" she asked. "That rich brat that stole my chance to be a trainer? From what I heard a while after, he had his license taken away less than a month after he started his journey."

Inyssa's mouth gaped. "What? How? Even I still have my license, and I've broken so many rules."

"It was so stupid." Pyxis chuckled under her breath. "Thing is, the Association already had one of their trainers catch a starter for me, for when I started my journey, though in the end he was the one to get it. It wasn't anything special. I might've gotten the opportunity because I aced all the tests but I still came from a second-rate school, so I wouldn't be getting a Chimchar or a Turtwig or anything like that. Still, I didn't care if my starter was rare or not. I would've been happy with anything. That guy, though…"

"Oh…" Inyssa was getting the idea, and she didn't like it in the slightest. "Don't tell me…"

"He was heading from Jubilife to Canalave, I think. Wanted his first gym fight to be against Byron," explained Pyxis. "I don't know this for sure, but I figure that somewhere around Sandgem he realized his starter wouldn't do him any good in that fight, nor in many others, so as soon as he caught something else he just… abandoned the poor thing."

Inyssa opened her mouth to say something, but then she stopped. A sudden thought itched at the back of her mind. Sandgem…

"But of course, being a shit-for-brains, he did it in the stupidest way possible," Pyxis continued, not noticing Inyssa's freezing. "He could've released his starter through the PC system, but instead he broke the Pokeball and left the thing on the side of the Pokemon Center. Didn't even bother to go in and have it healed, just hoped someone else would do it."

Shiver. Something inside her chest sank, like a heavy stone breaking the surface of a pond. Unconsciously, her eyes shot wide open as the realization hit her.

"And that's what ended up biting him in the ass. I guess some trainer did find the poor thing and brought it inside, and the next morning the nurse found the broken Pokeball outside the building and had it scanned for an ID, then contacted the Association and told them what'd happened. And the rest is history." Pyxis shrugged. "The League might be a bunch of bastards, but I'll give them this; at least they have zero tolerance for Pokemon cruelty.

"Still, isn't it the funniest fucking thing in the world? Of course this asshole takes th–"

But then in her ironic eye-roll Pyxis accidentally turned to look at Inyssa and froze, because of course she did. Anyone would've paused at the sight of her ghastly face. She'd gone pale, paler than usual, and that combined with those wide, electric gold eyes shimmering with realization made her look like a Delibird whose feathers had all been plucked off.

"Pyxis…" Her voice was barely a breath. She didn't look at her as she asked. "What… Pokemon was it? That starter."

"Wh-well…" Pyxis blinked, disconcerted. "It was a Kricketot, I think."

Silence. Then, slowly, like steam rising from a kettle, Inyssa's shock broke and she started laughing. It was a deep belly laugh, the kind that started as a couple of short huffs and ended with shaking howls of laughter as she held her stomach with one hand and tried desperately to stay on her feet by leaning against the nearest wall. Pyxis couldn't have looked more lost. And to Inyssa's credit she did try to explain, but every time she tried to speak words she would choke on another fit of violent laughter.

"What the hell…? It's not that funny," Pyxis muttered, face scrunched up. "A-are you okay? Do you need… y-you look like you're suffocating, seriously what the f–?"

"Ff-sorr-sorry, sorry I… Ha… Wow, sorry I'm…" Inyssa pursed her lips shut and clutched tightly at her chest, breathing in deep. After a few seconds, she managed to dull it until it was just a few shakes on the corner of her lips. "I'm… I'm fine, it's just…"

Still short of breath, Inyssa stood up straight and took her hand from her chest, taking a good look at it. An incredulous smile formed on her lips.

"I just… expected to look down at my pinkie and see a red thread tied around it."

Pyxis stared at her. "What… in Synn's name are you talking about? Did you finally go crazy? Is that it?"

Inyssa let out one last chuckle and wiped a couple of tears away, the sharp lines of laughter still etched clearly around her cheeks. She sighed, then looked at Pyxis in a way that made the girl stammer and swallow.

"It's fine. I'm fine," she said, her voice light as a feather. "Thank you."

"W-what for?"

She raised a thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the door of the hangar. "I'll tell you once we're back in Simone's place. I know you said you gotta go but you have to be there when Simone hears it; they're gonna lose their shit."

"What are you even…" Pyxis shook her head for a moment, then just huffed in exaltation and shrugged. "Agh, whatever. Fine, let's go. The sooner we're done with this the sooner I can get back t–"

A shiver broke through Inyssa, the crackling behind her eyes bursting to life. The atmosphere immediately changed. Pyxis didn't need to be looking at her face to feel it; she tensed up and looked around, like a Weedle feeling a Pidgeotto's eyes on it.

"W-what is it?" she asked urgently, only then seeing the expression on Inyssa's face. "Wh–"

"Something… someone's coming." Inyssa turned sharply toward the exit, confused and alarmed. "I think–"

But she had no time to finish that sentence, because then they heard steps coming from outside the hangar. A moment after, someone walked into view. She stopped in the middle of the open door, casually blocking the exit as she folded her arms and stared them both down with a glare as paralyzing as a Braviary's.

"Wh-Sarah!?" muttered Inyssa. "What are you doing here?"