Shame turned solid inside Metchi's throat as she pointed the barrel of the gun at the Galactic grunt in front of her.

She was young. Too young, surely not even eighteen yet. In that face of hers she saw Inyssa, she saw all those she'd cut down for the sake of a future, she saw... herself, back at that age. When she still lived in Hoenn, long before her stupidity had cost her the world and her right to live among her peers. Oh, how things change, Metchi thought with what felt like a mouthful of poison sliding down her throat.

Curly, frizzy locks covered half of the girl's face, the other half reflecting a cold, deep terror. A bit of defiance and anger too, though not enough to make her move or talk or do anything besides stare at the deadly weapon pointed directly at her forehead.

Smart. At least that was a clear difference between them.

"This is a perfect chance, Metchi."

Azelf's voice boomed in her mind, making her shake her head in frustration as if that'd get rid of it. If only it were that easy.

I just need to take her uniform, she thought back, nothing more.

She heard a sigh.

"You need to practice sooner or later. My power is too useful for you to choose not to use it."

Metchi didn't bother with a response. Couldn't. Azelf was absolutely right and she'd known since the moment it had presented the possibility to her. That didn't mean she'd be happy about it. Au fucking contraire, it just meant her ego and what remained of her moral compass refused to even acknowledge the legendary Pokemon's words until she had no choice but to listen.

And it seemed like the No Choice moment had come. Knocked at her door all polite-like and punched her in the stomach as soon as she opened it.

Fine, I'll do it. But I still hate you.

"It makes no difference to me."

She lowered the gun and tucked it safely inside one of the pockets of her hoodie. It didn't have any bullets, anyway. And even if it did, firing wouldn't be an option, not in the middle of the streets of Solaceon right after everyone had gone to sleep.

The girl's eyes narrowed. "W-what are you doing? I thought…"

"Quiet."

She summoned that familiar fire behind her eyes and spoke the word with a strength which didn't belong to her. Her and Azelf's voice fell on top of the girl, shaking her to her core and freezing her entire body as a wave of energy passed through her. She tried to open her mouth, tried to say something back but she was not able to.

Metchi dared not to blink, afraid it would break the spell she'd just cast on the poor girl. She was also mindful of the possibility of not being able to summon the power again if she had to try a second time. She felt it not only behind her eyes but cursing through her veins, filling the entirety of her body like weightless clothes made of flames.

So this is…

She curled her fingers into fists and breathed deep, savoring the light brimming inside her. Azelf had been right, as usual; her previous uses of its power were nothing compared to this. Blasts of energy, telekinesis, teleportation… all of that could be accomplished by any regular psychic Pokemon.

But this was different. This was something only a legend could do.

Metchi looked down to the poor girl, and saw it. The embers of her willpower burned weakly inside her chest, as though they were trying to fight back against a hurricane.

Perhaps they were.

She only needed to weaken that fire. Not snuff it out. No, that was something only the real Azelf in possession of its body would be capable of. To completely erase someone's will, forever…

The possibility was terrifying, and yet here she was tampering with it. At least with her it would only be temporary. Or so she'd been told.

Her lips parted as she issued another command. "You will do what I say, and in return I won't kill you. Nod if you understand."

The grunt's will shook and faltered against her words. For a few moments she seemed to resist, and anger flared behind those honeyed eyes of hers. But such rebellion was short lived as Metchi's newfound power took hold of her, forcing her to drop her shoulders and nod weakly.

Metchi bit her lip strongly enough to draw blood, tears forming on her eyes. She'd never hated herself more.

"You will fall asleep when I flick my fingers," she continued, raising one hand, "and once you wake up you won't tell anyone what happened. If you do I will come for you and everyone you love. Do you understand?"

Another nod, this time as slow and methodical as that of a machine. The girl's eyes were dull and colorless.

Metchi tried to flick her fingers twice, and both times she failed. Her hands were shaking. Something started to beat painfully in her rib cage and turned her insides sour. Third time was the charm though, and when she finally produced the desired sound the Galactic grunt's eyes closed, and she fell unconscious against the cold cement wall behind her.

That feeling of clarity and power evaporated, leaving disgust and shame to fill her instead. She stood still for almost a minute, until Azelf spoke again.

"That was a good attempt. If you continue practicing you'll master that power in no time."

She didn't bother saying anything back. Didn't bother throwing its way the pile of insults and horrible things she wanted to say. She simply shrugged and knelt to grab the girl by her shoulders.

"Let's just get her fucking uniform," she said, voice devoid of strength. "The faster we get this over with the better."

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Cold hit them like a train as soon as they reached Route 215. A sharp cold, the kind which easily penetrated cloth and skin, leaving Inyssa a shaking mess with a sore throat and a complete lack of faith in cheap overcoats. She figured it was partly due to Mt Coronet standing high enough at their left to block the sun, and partly because the universe hated her and couldn't give her two sunny, pleasant days in a row.

That annoying and affection-starved part of her which she hated with a passion suggested she should stay close to Barry as they walked, as to share body warmth. She kindly took the suggestion and saved it in the Go Fuck Yourself folder inside her head.

She glanced at the boy through the thin slit between her raised scarf and hat where her eyes were, and considered herself fortunate the white cloth currently covered her cheeks. She couldn't help but notice her friend had taken off his jacket and was using it as a makeshift blanket for the egg he was holding.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Sure you don't want me to hold it for a bit?" she offered, voice shaking from the cold. "It's clearly sapping all your body warmth."

Barry's teeth chattered as he tried to form a smile with his dry lips. "I-it's fine, I can take care of it! If old timey people could get through the cold without coats and heaters then so can I!"

"Old timey people also had a lower life expectancy. Probably because they all died of hypothermia."

He shook his head disapprovingly. "Always so negative. Where's your sense of adventure, Niss?"

She rolled her eyes and dug her hands deep into her pockets.

Fear crept up on her as she walked, flying around her ears like a bothersome bug. She knew very well how sturdy Barry was. Hell, she'd seen him survive more falls than she could count, but that didn't change the fact that he was still human. He could easily catch a bad cold if the route happened to be just a bit too long.

She clenched her teeth and pushed her shyness down, letting it bubble just below surface where it wouldn't bother her.

"Here, catch."

Barry looked surprised as a long, white scarf flew towards him and landed on top of his head.

"Agh! Wh-what…"

Inyssa lowered her head. "Just use it, okay? At least protect your neck from the cold so you don't catch something ugly."

She felt his eyes on her. Staring. Probably judging too.

"Thanks! I promise I'll take care of it," Barry nodded as he tied the thing around him. "Wow, it's so cozy! And soft..."

"Only quality stuff for me," she smiled through the pain of her dry lips. "Made of Mareep's wool. Try not to get it dirty."

"...And that's that really nice flowery smell I was picking up before." Barry exclaimed, completely ignoring her words. "It's like, a mix between your natural scent and your scarf's perfume, I love it."

Death pierced her just then. Sudden and hot and not unlike a heart attack, freezing her in place with the kind of all-encompassing embarrassment normally only reserved to high-school kids making a fool of themselves in front of their peers. But this was so much worse.

Inyssa was pretty sure she'd never gone this red this fast before. How the fuck could Barry say something like that completely out of the blue? Did he actually want to kill her? Any more blood rushing to her face and she might've passed out.

"D-don't say it like that!" She finally managed to stutter.

"Huh? Why not?" Barry asked, oblivious. "I like how-"

Before he could finish and embarrass her any further, Barry flinched and he threw his head back as a drop of water fell on his nose.

Oh no.

They looked up simultaneously to a grey sky, which slowly got darker in the direction they were headed to. Through the thick mist surrounding them they noticed a heavy sheet of rain approaching, the sound of the endless drops dancing at the edge of their hearing.

Both kids stood frozen, panic filling them as the exact same thought appeared in their heads.

"So…" she said after a few seconds. "I'm guessing you didn't put an umbrella in your bag."

A weak shake of his head was answer enough.

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Pretty big fucking oversight from the both of us, huh."

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They barely managed to find a shelter before the rain caught up to them. A few minutes right from the old stone rod stood an abandoned bridge which one served as part of Sinnoh's rail network, discontinued and allowed to fall to memory before Inyssa was even born. It wasn't the best spot to wait out a storm, but there weren't many better options at hand.

Inyssa let herself fall against one of the concrete pillars, making sure the cement beneath her was as clean as possible. Next to her Barry leaned into the egg his arms were wrapped around. His mouth and neck were covered by her scarf, having only his nose visible through its folds.

"We can't stay here until the rain stops," she argued, fingers curled into fists. "That could take hours."

"Most sensible trainers have umbrellas for this kinda stuff," Barry replied, shoulders shaking.

"I think by now it's clear that we're anything but that."

He raised his head lightly to protest, but stopped himself. "Y-yeah. Fair enough."

They curled up even more as the sound of rain and thunder roared louder with every minute that went by.

"You could tell Enma to make a fire," he offered. "I have some old marshmallows in my bag. We could pretend we're camping and roast them."

She let out a bitter laugh before shaking her head. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to help me. Will do a twirl and dance to entertain us, too."

Barry scowled at his friend, barely hiding his irritation below surface. Maybe that had come out a bit more mean spirited than she wanted to.

"You can't both be angry at each other forever. Eventually you'll have to make up."

She saved to herself the What the hell do you know? and the Don't tell me how to train my Pokemon. Threw them in a safe inside her mind and locked them shut because the last thing she needed was to make Barry hate her too.

Instead she buried her face between her knees and let out a deep sigh.

She couldn't bring herself to deny it, she had a problem when it came to Enma. After the trial at the Lost Tower their relationship had gone from one of mutual, reluctant respect to one of pure animosity. The Monferno couldn't even look at her for more than a second before shooting her a sour look. She'd been looking for a way to fix that for a while now. But between her travels and everything else going on she just had no time.

Her eyes opened wide as a gasp got caught in her throat.

Time. She raised her head and looked around to the torrential rain. If she had anything now it was time, at least while they uselessly waited for the storm to subside. Something which could easily take a couple hours if not more.

"Barry…"

He opened his eyes lazily and looked in the direction Inyssa was pointing.

"Look, there." Her eyes were set on a group of trees that could barely be considered a forest, a couple of minutes from where they were. "Look how thick those leaves are. Do you think they can stop the rain?"

He furrowed his brow before replying. "I mean… yeah, I guess. But we already have this neat bridge, why would we need to go there?"

A wave of excitement washed over her as she got up, strongly holding Enma's Pokeball with one hand. She had a lot of time to kill. The least she could do was start killing it.

"Hold the fort. I'll be back in less than an hour."

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The scent of wet grass and mud was the only thing she could smell by the time she arrived at an acceptable location. She could hear the loud beating of her heart in her ears, and she needed a full minute for her breathing to return to normal.

I really need to get in better shape. Maybe I should join Barry in his morning jogs.

This thicker part of the forest was lined with tall trees whose roots made up the entirety of the ground beneath her feet, most probably planted there some time ago as a way to combat the rain from flooding the nearby river. Between that and the blanket of leaves above her, it was easier to stand her feet without them sinking into mud.

She rolled Enma's Pokeball between her fingers, studying her surroundings carefully. It was a good patch of dry ground, probably the biggest she'd find.

Good enough.

The flash of light pushed against the darkness hidden beneath the trees as Enma appeared from it. He instantly flinched and leaned forward in caution when he heard the sound of rain, though once he realized no water was reaching them his body relaxed. At least until his eyes set on his trainer.

Inyssa had to stop herself from taking a step back against the venom in his glare.

"Hope you had a good nap." She crossed her arms, chin raised high. "We're going to train now."

Enma let out a sound halfway between a snort and a growl and spat on the ground. Pretending not to acknowledge Inyssa, he turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction.

"Enma…" her nails dug deep into the cloth covering her arms. Her Pokemon did not turn around. "Enma! Look at me!"

He did so, not due to obedience but irritation. Dark shadows covered his eyes. Once again she had to gather all her courage to stand her ground.

"I need to ask you something. Take this seriously for one second, and you'll be free to do what you want after."

A few seconds of consideration, followed by a reluctant nod.

Inyssa braced herself before speaking. "Why are you acting like this? Do you really think you're stronger without me?"

The answer was easy to discern even with a language barrier between them. The shifting of his feet, the way he avoided her gaze as he bared his teeth, it all pointed toward what she knew in her heart would be the truth.

"You're not," she spat back, perhaps a bit too much force behind her words. "Last time you disobeyed me and went on your own you ended up unconscious and half buried in the ground."

The fire coating his tail flared up until it was a very pale blue, and the growl that came out of his throat finally managed to make Inyssa take a step back out of fear. She hated herself as soon as she did it.

Still a touchy subject, huh?

"You think that was just a fluke?" she asked again, trying to hide the trembling in her voice. "You think that if I just let you fight as you please you'd do better?"

This time he didn't beat around the bush. He nodded decisively, tiny fingers curled into fists. Inyssa swallowed down the sharp pain in her chest due to his answer and bit her lip.

"In that case…" She took four of her remaining Pokeballs into her hands. "Let's see if you're right."

Four simultaneous lights tore through the darkness, and from them emerged the rest of Inyssa's team. Steven appeared in the air and veered towards her hat, while Shadi, Kuro and Bret simply turned to look at their trainer, a confused look on their face, which Enma shared as well.

She shone them a warm smile as she tried to ease the tension off her shoulders. "Sorry to call you in this storm, but I need your help."

Another deep breath. Another scowl, this time directed at her starter.

"Choose any of them as your opponent," she told him. "This will be a one on one battle. You will fight alone."

She couldn't help but enjoy the shock that ran across Enma's face as her words reached him. He looked at his teammates and then at his trainer, eyes wide like plates.

"You think you're stronger without me?" she challenged him. "Then prove it."