Barry thought he had witnessed the peak of Niss' overthinking before, but that clearly wasn't the case. Though it was plenty justified now, considering.

Even after leaving the library and spending the rest of the day exploring Canalave with Lucas, she never once seemed focused enough on what was happening around her. Always pacing, always with her brow furrowed. Always thinking. Probably about a hundred different things at once, if he had to guess. How she could do that, he had no idea… then again there were plenty of things he didn't understand about her. That was part of the reason he loved her so much.

He glanced at her as they made their way back to the Pokemon Center, and smiled at the way she paced and tapped her fingers against her legs. It was rare to see someone stimming more than him.

"Your face will get stuck if you keep frowning like that," he said.

"Hasn't it already?" she asked, sounding tired. "I don't remember the last time I wasn't frowning."

"We'll have to fix that, then."

The sounds of their steps echoed through the empty streets, barely lit now that the sun was setting. Niss fidgeted for a few seconds. Then, unsure, her arm shaking, she reached toward him and interlaced her fingers with his.

"Already working on it." It was hard to determine if the red on her cheeks was due to the cold or something else. "Thanks…"

He smiled back and squeezed her hand a bit. "No problem," he said. "How's your… thinking going? Figured out anything yet?"

"Not really." She sighed. "My head kinda hurts and nothing is making sense."

"We can tackle that book tomorrow when you're not as…" He paused, trying to find the right word.

"Overwhelmed?"

"Yeah, that," he nodded. "We'll get some nice food and rest and tomorrow we can… do something. You can tackle all the investigating stuff and I'll work on being funny and cute."

She snorted, though it sounded more like she spat a bit of air. "Well, one out of two isn't bad."

"Come on, don't be rude."

"I can be as rude as I want, I just saw my sister ripping off the pages of a book we desperately need to read and also what I'm pretty sure was a tiny Cynthia." She shook her head. "Day's been both weird and stressful."

"Yeah, that… memory thing was pretty freaky." His expression turned sour. "You just… stood still there for like twenty seconds staring at nothing, and then screamed outta nowhere and threw that book at the ground."

Niss hid her face with her free hand and groaned. "Ugh, how embarrassing…"

"I don't think anyone would blame you; that was… pretty weird."

"Understatement of the fucking century." She sighed into her palm. "Uxie told me I could draw power from memories, but I never thought it'd be so… literal?"

"Sounds like a pretty useful power, though."

"I guess. I should probably ask Uxie how to do it again." Niss shook her head and looked down at the book she held under her arm. "Maybe I can see the pages that have been ripped away if I… read the book's memories?" She paused, squinting. "God, this is so weird."

They kept walking for a while, not caring much about the path they were traveling. Night slowly started to roll over. The sea at their left became a vast pool of black only broken by the multitude of tiny flickers of the boats sprinkled all around, as well as the pillar of white the moon cast on it. At any other time, Barry would have found the image pretty. Now, however, the sight of the moon only helped to make him nervous.

He remembered the dark figure that hovered above Shadi. That body made of shadows, that bright white hair and those cold, blue eyes…

"Hey… about what you saw." As soon as he said that he felt the atmosphere turn tenser. Niss' expression stiffened. "Do you still think that she's being controlled by Darkrai and not the other w–"

"Yes. I do."

Her response was immediate, and the tone of her voice made it clear she wouldn't entertain the thought any further. Barry, despite his nature, decided to not press the issue. No need to end the day in a fight.

They arrived at the Pokemon Center a few minutes later, which was brimming with activity as dinner time approached. Most of the trainers around the lobby kept to themselves. Some, however, tried not so subtly to look at them over their shoulder with curious looks on their faces. Barry hoped Niss wouldn't notice.

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"Great. Just what I needed for my headache; a lot of noise." Niss let go of his hand and rubbed her eyelids, her shoulders dropping.

"We could get some food but eat in our rooms," he offered.

"Yeah… yeah, that sounds good." She formed a tiny, tired smile. "Your room this time. Go tidy up and get your Poketch while I order something." She looked at him. "Does shepherd's pie sound good?"

Barry smiled back. That was his favorite dish. He lowered himself a bit and gave her a small kiss on the lips.

"Of course it does."

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

Inyssa grunted as she headed for Barry's room, her cheeks red with effort. As usual, she had vastly overestimated the strength of her noodle arms, which held the weight of a platter containing two dishes, two cups and some cutlery and condiments. She felt her arms grow numb, but didn't allow herself to show any discomfort.

It's just a platter with food, she rationalized. Anyone could carry it, so why couldn't I?

Luckily Barry's room wasn't too far. She used her elbow to open the door and let the platter fall on the table inside, sighing with relief.

"Here it is." She wiped the drop of sweat off her forehead with the back of her palm. "Everything good over h…?"

She froze as soon as she saw the expression on his face. Barry stood on the other side of the room, stiff as a plank and incessantly tapping the floor with one foot. His attention was wholly focused on the Poketch on his free hand.

It wasn't just panic on his face, Inyssa realized. It was fear.

"What happened?" she asked, tone turning serious.

He didn't answer. Instead, he gulped and raised his hand toward her, showing her the lit screen of the Poketch. Inyssa squinted to read what was on it.

Mom – 21 missed calls.

Her stomach dropped, the simple hunger she'd been feeling turned into something a lot sharper. She glanced up at Barry, whose expression mirrored her own.

"Did you call her?" she asked, almost whispering.

"No… I was kinda, waiting for you to be here." He tried to smile, not very successfully. "But… I guess I'll do it now."

"It might be nothing serious," she said. "And hey… maybe we can tell her the good news while we're at it."

She was lying, though it didn't seem like Barry picked up on it. She had an idea of what Sarah wanted to discuss with Barry and, while being there to hear the woman's anger frightened her like few things did, she wasn't about to abandon her boyfriend when he needed her.

"Yeah… yeah, you're probably right." Barry swallowed and stood up a bit straighter. "Well, here it goes."

The loud ring of the call was the only sound in the room, echoing off the walls for what felt like a long time. Finally, the beep ended. The distant sound of breathing was heard from the speakers.

"Barry?" asked Sarah. Her voice was toneless.

"H-hey mom," he replied. "Sorry I didn't pick up earlier, I left the Poketch charging while we were–"

"What were you two thinking?"

And just like that, Inyssa felt Barry's panic crash against her own like a tidal wave, filling the entirety of the room. Sarah's voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be. Those five words terrified them more than any shouting could have.

Inyssa broke the silence after a few seconds. "Sarah, it was my f–"

"Don't." Her response was swift, shutting her up instantly. "I don't want to hear it Inyssa. Not this time."

There was a pause, and a sigh. She sounded so tired…

"Do you have any idea the amount of paperwork I had to fill?" she asked, the heat in her voice slowly rising. "The amount of time I had to waste to get you two out of trouble? Forget taking away your trainer cards; you're lucky the city of Canalave didn't file charges against you for messing up that park!"

"I'm sorry!" Inyssa was quick to reply, her voice high pitched and full of desperation. "We didn't mean to…"

"The Gym leader said he'd take care of it!" argued Barry.

They heard Sarah scoff on the other side of the call. "You mean that… imbecile with the shovel? Yes, how noble of him to take responsibility for what you two did. Unfortunately, that is not how it works." It felt as though she were spitting out every word instead of speaking it. "If it weren't for some favors I pulled and the hours me and my team had to spend on this paperwork, the Association would have rejected Byron's claim and you two would never hold the title of trainers again."

The weight of what Sarah was saying slowly sank into Inyssa, making her feel as though her bones had suddenly turned into lead. Shame crept through her insides like smoke, making it hard to breathe. How had they been so blind? Maybe the emotion of what had happened last night had made them forget about what they'd done? No… that was just another excuse. They had discussed the topic with Rowan and while he didn't seem too bothered about it, it was clear Sarah thought differently.

"I'm… I'm really sorry mom." Inyssa had rarely heard such guilt in Barry's voice. "We didn't mean to… If we knew it'd cause you trouble then…."

"I'm willing to take full responsibility," Inyssa hurried to say, trying to keep her tone firm. "I mean it, Sarah. This was my fault."

For once Barry didn't object to her declaration, though whether due to agreeing with her or being too scared to say anything else, she didn't know.

Sarah didn't speak for a few seconds. When she did, her voice had lost all semblance of anger, now only filled with exhaustion. "It… doesn't matter. What's done is done, and it would be pointless to punish you after I worked so hard to exonerate you." Another sigh, even weaker than before. "Besides, I don't expect you two to change. I've been married to a trainer for over twenty years. I know very well how selfish they can be sometimes."

The look on Barry's face as he heard that was indescribable, though Inyssa figured her own expression couldn't look much different. She felt a pang in her chest. Cold and sharp, like an icicle.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"We... didn't mean to," Barry added.

They didn't hear anything on the other side of the call for a few seconds, though Inyssa could perfectly imagine the look on Sarah's face. The image was almost as painful as what she had said.

"…I'll just say this." Sarah cleared her throat, weakly. "Every time you do this… Every time you give in to your selfish desires and do whatever you want without considering the consequences… you're proving Team Galactic right."

They didn't reply. Couldn't. The room felt like it froze over, covered in a cold mantle of silence and guilt.

"Anyway, I'll keep doing my best to get you two out of trouble," said Sarah. "So feel free to keep… doing whatever the hell you want. You won't listen to me, so I won't waste my energy trying to convince you to stay safe. Just keep what I said in mind." They heard a rustle, as though she were standing up. "I have to go. I'm behind a lot on my work."

There was a short pause, where Inyssa thought Sarah would simply hang up. Instead, she was silent for a few seconds before delivering her final blow.

"I'm… very disappointed in the both of you."

A beep was heard, and then silence.