CHAPTER 293

I'd known the next day would be a boring one, though hopefully there would be no incidents. I woke up early in the morning, having gotten awful sleep and feeling weird about having stayed in Charon's old bed. The room itself hadn't had anything particularly weird about it other than being strangely sterile and clean. It was the kind of room that felt unlived in, because it was. I'd be willing to bet Mira hadn't stepped foot in there once since returning to Jubilife, or even longer than that still. Nevertheless, the sounds of slowly getting ready also woke Mira up, and she decided over breakfast (that we'd gotten delivered again) together that she'd go out with me today, mostly to stretch her legs and to see what the 'pricks' at Poketch were all about. Those had been her words, not mine. I didn't think Ramon and Bobby were pricks, especially when they could have been a lot worse about what they did instead of working together with me. Ramon did get a little annoying sometimes, though, with how sarcastic he was. It didn't cross on the sardonic like Maxwell, thankfully. A pang of guilt struck my chest, and I took a deep breath as we left Mira's apartment complex. I hadn't spoken to my ACE Trainers since the incident, and honestly, I figured they wanted it that way.

"Woah. Sick ride," Mira joked.

Dad honked the car, already waiting for us on the sidewalk. He'd always been punctual with stuff, and since he had taken some days off work, he didn't really have anything else to do.

"It's functional," I said. "Comfy, too. The seats are softer than they look."

"That sounds good, actually, I didn't get much sleep."

"Me neither. Worried about Alakazam and Gardevoir?" I asked.

"Partly. I'm not worried about the reveal itself, more about what Emi's going to do. She's tough… mentally. It's like I'm flipping a coin, here. Either it makes her more likely to get involved, or she stands down. Those are better odds than always getting involved, though, and at least if they do they'll know the full picture."

"What about Pauline?"

Mira snorted, recalling Gengar through the pavement. "Pauline will fold. First, she'll deny for a while, probably text us for confirmation, then she'll get angry until she burns out and collapses like a dying star. She'll be terrified. Her tough girl persona's a front."

"It's not a front."

"No, sorry, not a front. It's mostly all a joke, though. I mean, she almost had a breakdown over romance— ah, sorry, I'm being mean."

"Yeah. You are."

"Yeah. My bad, I was thinking about other stuff, and I tend to ramble without thinking about… the ramifications when my attention is divided. I like Pauline, it's just… you know, she grates. Sometimes it's better to just stay put if you don't have the guts to handle this kind of stuff."

I wanted to protest, but Dad honked again, and this time we got in the car. I slipped into the front seat while Mira got behind my Dad, instantly putting her seatbelt on before she even settled on the chair with white-knuckled hands. I kissed Dad on the cheek, did the same, and we all greeted each other after he started driving.

"Mira Compton, right? It's nice to meet you," Dad said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"You too, Mr. Pastel. Uh, your daughter's been a great friend."

He smiled. "Arthur is fine, and I'm glad to hear it. Last night was fun, I hope?"

"We watched that show I told you about," I said. "She was really into it."

"I kept having to stop you from spoiling me. You're horrible to watch a show you already know with."

Dad chuckled. "She probably gets that from me, so I apologize."

"Apology refused!" Mira grinned. "Hey, can I have some embarrassing stories about Grace's childhood?"

"I wouldn't call them embarrassing, more like funny and endearing…"

I would have pinched his side, had he not been driving. Instead, I spoke obnoxiously loud until I masked all attempts of him trying to reveal anything about me, which sent Mira into a laughing fit. The rest of the ride was calmer, with Dad and I talking about whatever and Mira sometimes chiming in, but mostly keeping her eyes to the window. There was a rhythmic thing about her breath that had me think she was sleeping with them open and sometimes talking at the same time, and that would be seriously scary. There was something about how Wailord and Wailmer slept with half of their brains turned on so they could go back for air during the night, and I was wondering if she hadn't been the same. Able to rest parts of her while the rest stayed awake. Sure, we'd told each other good night, but it wasn't like I'd actually seen her sleep since I'd visited her.

When we reached Poketch Headquarters, pristine and both towers rising high into the sky, Dad spoke up. "I'll come pick you up again if you need it, alright? I'll be at that tournament place on our street, they're running a water type only thing and I want to see how quickly it derails."

"Thanks! Oh, and also, it's Mira's birthday on the 30th, can she hang out with me then at the apartment?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll see what I can do about a cake."

"Legendaries, you're the best," I smiled. "See you later!"

He drove off, and it was just Mira and I in the employee-only parking lot, free from the press of groups of fans. The shutter clicking of the cameras could still be heard, even if the journalists kept their distance and were only allowed to stand at the edge of the parking lot. Some yelled at me and asked for an interview about Claydol, which I'd revealed yesterday at the park.

"Sheesh. Sounds annoying to have to deal with," Mira said as we entered through the side doors. Her hands were shoved in the pocket of a baggy hoodie she was wearing. Neither of us had really dressed to impress, and the morning, tired feel still clung to both of us. "So what's the plan? Is Melody meeting us down here?"

"There's a room. I think it's the same room we were in yesterday, but it's mostly formality stuff before we present everything to the board. Well, when I say 'we', I'll just have to stand there and look confident."

"I guess I'll wait for you in that room, then."

"There are a bunch of sofas if you wanna lie down. They might kick you out while we talk pitching strategy, though."

We made our way up at a brisk pace, or as fast as we could with my broken ankle. This time, I was fifteen minutes early. I was glad to see I wasn't the last one there this time. Twice in a row might have been seen as disrespectful. Ramon was missing, but Amandine was already here. By the end of this morning, this entire Poketch thing will be over, I thought with a relieved sigh. Business politics were not for me. They weren't something I was passionate about like Pokemon rights, and so every minute spent here was a slog. It was like time passed twice as slowly and just listening to the ramblings of all the business people trying to squeeze profit out of us.

"Mornin'. Is it okay to bring a friend here?" I asked.

There was Melody, Bobby and his liaison Dennis, and the lawyers all looming over the long table. This was a lot more low-key than I thought it'd be. Craig was here as well, chatting with Amandine. They all greeted us politely.

"She'll have to leave when Ramon gets here in a few minutes. He had to deal with family problems, so he'll be right back," Mel answered.

"Yeah, I'll get out of your hair, or whatever," Mira shrugged.

Bobby must have noticed my eyes narrowing, because he added onto Mel's sentence. "They don't want him leaving."

"I thought he was leaving next year," I said, meaning one year after me.

"He is, and they still disagree. They've been screaming his ear off the entire morning about it, so you can relax. It's a done deal, Grace."

I sighed, settling in on the couch next to Mira and thankful that Bobby wasn't asking about Claydol for now, even though he was so clearly interested in it.

"Oh, Grace, check on your emails and get back to me, yeah?" Melody said, keeping her attention on some papers.

I did just that and contained an excited squeal when designs of my merch popped up on my screen. "Mira, Mira, check this out! Holy shit, these look so cool!"

They were mostly t-shirts, but there were also water bottles, stickers, hats, a Poketch Watch, and best of all, the knife. All of them had variations of me and my team on them, and just like Craig, I did notice they focused a whole lot on Sweetheart. There was, of course, no merch with Claydol on it quite yet. The colors were all different, but they were all pastel-themed as a play on my last name. They'd made my Pokemon look quite nice, too. Not fierce or scary like I was scared they'd do, but soft-looking, or at least as soft-looking as you could make a Turtonator or a Tyranitar. One of the shirts had Angel carrying a cartoonish version of me, another had Honey and I cooking, me flying on Princess with a bright smile and pointing forwards, Sunshine and I sleeping next to each other, Buddy serving as a pillow while I read him a book… Arceus, I was getting emotional. So many memories had been put on these.

"Wait, wait! What's this one?"

I stopped scrolling through the designs and noticed the same picture I'd posted online with the flower crowns near Floaroma and beamed. "My new favorite, I think. Do you think it's obnoxious if I only wear my own merch from now on? Craig doesn't do it."

"It would be super obnoxious. You could do it during Gym or tournament battles, though," my friend mused. "Hey, I get a shirt for free, right?"

"I'm charging you extra," I said, my face straight. "Just kidding. You get whatever you want for free when they start mass-producing these. I wonder if I could get them early…"

"I mean, you're literally the girl on the shirts. It'd be weird if you couldn't."

I hummed, turning toward my liaison. "Mel, these are all great. The team did a fantastic job, I— thank you."

She smiled. "Glad you like them."

If there was something to be said about Poketch, it was that they could make merch. Mira and I spent the next five minutes or so looking at my clothes, deciding which one we'd take. I wanted to deck out my computer in stickers of my team, a ton of shirts, the knife with a Princess motif on the handle… I wanted too much stuff to fit in my bag, actually. I'd have to leave some at home with Dad.

"The good thing about you having merch is that it kind of makes people associate you with certain Pokemon," Mira said. "Like, when we think of Craig, we think of Salamence, Snorlax— though I guess Bertha and Cynthia have him beat in the Hippowdon and Eelektross front, but do you get what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"People are gonna think Turtonator and bam, you're gonna pop into their heads. Or Tyranitar."

"Maybe in Sinnoh," I said. "Grimsley has a Tyranitar in Unova."

"Ah, that dark type guy, right? Bummer, but at least you get the Togekiss rep since Cynthia won't be there. But what I'm saying is, it's good for publicity."

"Uhuh, I get you."

"It's funny how—"

Ramon burst into the room, his shoulders full of tension and his expression dreary and tired, nothing like the usually excited teen I was used to. I guess his phone call didn't go very well. There were some hushed greetings that he hastily returned as he dragged a chair back, rasping it against the ground for an annoyingly long time until he sat down with a defeated sigh and Bobby started whispering at him.

"I guess your thing is starting soon. I'll see you later?" Mira said.

"When we're done here you'll get the entire place to yourself," I grinned. "I have a few things to ask you about the way you sleep."

She feigned offense with a gasp and shot up. "Grace, you were spying on me while I slept?"

Rolling my eyes, I just waved her away, and she left the meeting room with a spring in her step.

—

Mira stepped out of that living room these people called a 'business space', and her mind shattered once more. It was not a painful process, not anymore. Just uncomfortable, like a certain cold pressure spreading through her brain and seeping into every inch of her head. For a moment, her ears rang, her vision blurred and spun, and the chill spread from her head to her extremities.

Then, she was fine again. Still split, but fine. There were ten of 'her', which was the limit Uxie had told her she would be able to reach with a mortal mind. Each had been assigned a different task, their voices mere whispers in the background, but each word was absorbed like water to a sponge. They were words she would not forget, ever. Plans for Team Galactic, plans to confront Emilia and Pauline, arguing with herself about whether she should tell Grace about her plan to fix her uncle or not when the time came, an endless cacophony of voices she could somehow parse through at all times. She could turn it off at any moment, but life felt so slow without it already in a way that made Mira realize she wasn't sure if she could function without at least two lines of thought going on in her head at all times. She would have been terrified of that, once. To let herself become too dependent on these powers. Part of her had been assigned to keeping her Porygon2 company by typing her messages on her phone and her good, non-broken hand had been moving without her realizing it. It felt better, these days, because she'd assigned the pain of it to another part of her.

She could do that, now. Lock it away and hand it over to a part of her head she wasn't paying attention to. Mira hadn't needed painkillers since. It was so easy, to get lost in the thoughts. Endless murmurs that she didn't know had been going on for thirty seconds or three hours. Her head felt foggy, a mishmash of multiple people who were her, yet weren't.

Minds around her sparkled like crystalized gems. Older people generally, but did not always shine brighter than younger people. She could delve into the shards, sometimes. Peek beyond the curtain into a torrent of memories that had her forget she was even alive if she was close enough. She'd done it a few time, to test the waters. Lived through around five different people for what had felt like hours of memories on a single bus ride. Time within the shards was longer than it actually was out of them by approximately 3.3 times. Uxie hadn't really said anything about the significance of the number, but she could delve without affecting others without robbing them of memories. Doing it always tired her out, but it was doable without collapsing, unlike stealing information to store for herself too quickly.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

She didn't do it anymore. There was a line she couldn't cross, and that was to make that a regular occurrence.

So many minds in one place always gave her a headache, when she didn't compartmentalize and shove off the pain to another Mira. It was pretty nifty, what someone could do when they experimented enough with this power. She'd talked a little to Grace about it yesterday nice, and her friend saw emotion through a tapestry of colors she could mix and match, but couldn't make herself change— or at least that's what she believed. She hadn't lost herself to this new sight or experimented anywhere as much as Mira had. There were some terrifying applications to her power, though Mira would have trusted Grace with it even if she hadn't been protected from it. Uxie had warned her. Said that Mesprit always picked 'the ones with the potential to snap with a single bad day'. How ironic was it, then, that Grace put more limitations for herself than Mira ever had?

Sometimes, she wondered how Chase or Cecilia would see the world, had their potential not been split. Theirs was a dull one without any differences because they were two, but there would always be this feeling nagging at her. Like an itch she would never be able to scratch.

Oh well. It wasn't meant to be, ten different voices rang out at once, echoing within the depths of her mind.

"Huh. Odd."

Usually the fragments of her mind didn't unite into one desire like this, but the feeling passed like a gust of wind and things returned to normal. The sudden noise snapped her attention back to reality, and the Mira assigned to walking had brought her back downstairs to some kind of waiting room for people who didn't work here, so good job to her. Hell, she'd even sat down and put on the earphones Mira had bought after Lauren's recommendation.

Friends. Mira blinked, remembering she was human. With her friends, she never split her attention more than two or three times, and she, her true self, would always be the one paying attention to them. She owed them that, at least, with the way they kept taking her back after her fuck ups.

She crushed fragments of her mind, reuniting them with herself and gathering everything they'd done in better detail than crystal clear. Instead of hearing or seeing it, it was now like she'd lived through it. She went down to five and decided to relax for the time being. Even the chairs in the damn waiting room were comfortable here somehow, and she would have let almost all of herself doze off had a particularly bright mind not caught her attention. Even through closed eyes, Aubri Schneider's mind burned bright enough to sear itself past her eyelids. She'd seen a few people like her. Craig Goodwill was one, for example, and her ACE Trainers too. She suspected Grace would have been the same, had her head not looked like a shell encased in impenetrable material. Uxie had warned her not to even try to look at it if she didn't want to hear Mesprit gloating, not that she would have done it anyway.

Why is she there? Didn't she lose?

Was Ramon's excuse about talking to his parents a trick?

Was everything just a trick?

Ramon's a little rat that'll fuck people over to get a leg up over them over and over.

Maybe she was just here to work or to be closer to the board meeting.

Five thoughts simultaneously rang out in her mind just before they split further, and Mira stood up from her chair, her steps carrying her before she could realize what had happened. There was a slight tug, and she took over walking duties, speeding up her step to make it to the elevators at the same time Aubri would. This fucking building is so huge for no reason, she internally whined. The people here knew who she was. Mira might not have had seven badges like the rest of her friends, but she worked with the League, still. She was let through after showing them her Trainer ID, and she slipped through the doors just as they were about to close. Aubri was… well, it was uncomfortable to look at her from up close. Her body had taken so much abuse it was a wonder she was still alive—

"That's none of your business," she said.

Huh? Had one of her been talking already— Mira regathered her minds, collecting them into two. One for background processing and the other for talking. It took around two seconds and a headache, but she was back on her feet quickly enough.

Mira ran a hand through her pink hair, the smile never leaving her face. "You bullied my friend pretty hard in the bathroom yesterday," she said in an accusatory tone. She knew now that she'd started the conversation with 'What are you doing here?' "It was very High School mean girl of you, I do have to say. I just wanted to see if you were going in for a second round or trying to fuck her over again."

Aubri kept looking on straight. "I want nothing to do with the deal. I got what I wanted yesterday." Her voice was low, raspy and unpleasant to listen to, though maybe Mira was just biased. "I just have business here."

"That's the floor Grace is on, isn't it?" Mira said, eyeing the 23rd button lit up on the elevator. "What's your deal?"

The scarred girl shifted in the elevator. "It's not about the deal."

"Then what?"

She paused. "I wanted to apologize, before heading to work on the upper floors, that's all."

Oh.

Oh, that made so much more sense. Mira would have kicked herself over, had she not run out of shame long ago. Arceus, her head felt so slow. It was like crawling at a Slugma's pace to go somewhere instead of walking normally.

"Want to wait until her board stuff is done? I'm not going to lie, just seeing your face is going to ruin her morning."

"...it was that bad, huh?"

"Pretty bad. She's been having a horrible time, lately, more so than our usual dose," Mira shrugged. "I know you're no stranger to those yourself."

Aubri shrugged. "I maintain the majority of what I said, but it's obvious I stepped on a landmine and I've had that happen to me before. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone."

Mira exhaled. "Yeah."

The elevator dinged on the 23rd floor, then Aubri kept it going up. "I'd better wait like you said, then."

"Yup, I think that'd be wise. I'll come and get you, if you want, I don't really care. Just don't go saying 'I maintain the majority of what I said' during the apology, that'll make you look like an ass."

She was an ass, really. Constantly grumpy and annoying to talk to, self-serving, and a refusal to admit that she'd been wrong because she didn't have the full context of what all these favors the League gave Grace, Mira and the others implied. They were weapons. Living weapons kept happy because of how useful they were, and the fact that she would be considered that for the rest of her life made Mira sick to her stomach if she thought about it for too long. She was willing to bet they had files on them about their habits, their powers and how to take them down should they go rogue. Hell, it'd probably be the ACEs that did it. It wouldn't take much thinking to figure out that there was something at play other than 'League favoritism', but she clearly didn't want to do that, because that meant she'd be in the wrong, and Arceus forbid people ever admit they were wrong.

"I shouldn't," Aubri agreed.

That was that. Aubri Schneider left the elevator, and Mira rode it back down to the lobby, fracturing her mind once again.

She'd done a good deed today! Probably?

—

The board's table was comically large.

The pre-meeting went perfectly well, and everyone knew their lines, but that was the thing that surprised me. The fact that seven people were sitting on a table way too large to ever be convenient. The room itself was a rectangular one, the floor dark like obsidian and a large window pane behind the board facing all of Jubilife. Few buildings were as tall as this one in the city, so I could even see the outskirts from up here. The board was full of men who looked way too old to be working, save for one younger guy who I understood was Remington McMillan's son. Their last names were McMillan, Sandy, Smithson, Hemsworth and Leblanc, something Melody had drilled into my head countless times. It was… odd to see the people who were essentially my bosses for the first time. Next to me, Bobby fidgeted nervously and kept his eyes at his feet and even Ramon's smile looked a little forced. Craig looked right at home, though, and we watched the board flip through the document we'd presented them. They'd known about the proposal brewing for a long time now— it was said nothing in both Poketch towers happened without the board knowing— but it was the first time they were looking at the plan in detail, with the actual step-by-step process, the numbers, and the short and long-term strategy. The liaisons had already presented the entire thing using a projector and a slide presentation that had me think I was back in school, and now the board was just flipping through the pages.

No Pokemon were present. It was a bit of a common theme, the way extremely rich people didn't want for trainers to have their Pokemon around them unless they'd been hired to protect them. Personally, I didn't mind, but I figured it was just a peculiar observation. For a while, there was no sound other than the rustling of papers and murmurs between the members of the board, and the way Landis McMillan kept glancing at me made me somewhat uncomfortable. Even so, I kept standing with my back straight and with my face as neutral and non-threatening as possible. Finally, they finished after fifteen minutes of reading.

"This is rocking the boat," Mr. Sandy said. I did notice his small glance of approval toward Remington McMillan before he started speaking. He was obviously a long-time smoker, with the way his voice sounded like it was one bad cold away from permanently disappearing. "Risky. It's a tough sell, to change the system we've gone with for so long… but the potential is there to make Poketch a household name in multiple regions."

"The upfront cost is something to be worried about," Remington agreed. "But these markets are untapped. With Unova alone, we have more potential customers than all of Sinnoh. It's a no-brainer."

"These stipulations about Sinnohan salaries are a little grating," Landis said. He was the only one not scared to speak up without his father's approval. His eyes settled on Bobby. "I hope you know we'll make your life harder because of it, right?"

My fellow trainer didn't answer, though I could feel the tension leave his shoulders a little. Arceus, he was weird. I understood always waiting for the other shoe to drop, but to be relieved because of it?

Remington gestured at his son, who shut up immediately. "Nonsense. Cooperation between all our branches is what makes Poketch successful," he said with a smile. There was something sinister about it that either meant Bobby or Landon were in trouble. Or both. Rarely had I seen someone with such amounts of power without any Pokemon to back up the talk. "These plans all seem in order. There'll have to be some adjustments, but it is all feasible before next September."

Just like that, everyone else agreed. Even Landis. Remington McMillan's word here was as good as law, and so it would be done without a fuss. From what Mel had told me, I knew Unovan expansion was his pet project and something he'd been planning for nearly two decades, shortly after Cynthia ascended to her position and started opening up the country, and he was not about to let a small hiccup get in the way of that. It was funny, in a way, how one man's personal agenda was going to be the cause of such a shift. This was the kind of power Cecilia dreamed of having, and to be honest, me too, just a little bit.

In a more morbid way of thinking, he probably wanted to see it through before he died. He was in his seventies.

"The proposal will be put into place effective immediately, and the transition will take place this summer." Remington said with a satisfied sigh. "Now, we'll have a word with only Grace Pastel and Craig Goodwill."

Everyone else but us and Melody left the room, and a weight lifted off my chest at this Poketch stuff finally being over. Now I'd be able to focus on training my team, especially since I was picking up Princess tomorrow…

"This is the first time we're speaking face to face, is it not?" Mr. McMillan said, looking right at me. I nearly jumped in surprise, but managed to pretend I'd just been needing to scratch my arm.

"Ye—yeah. Nice to meet you all," I said.

Greetings sounded throughout the board, and Remington continued, "Now, seeing as you wrestled a position that still keeps yourself at the top of the pyramid when the year is done, we still need to work out the details of this transition between Mr. Goodwill and you. You're going to be international. That means we'll have expectations of you, even starting in Unova. More communication with medias, both traditional and social, more presence in tournaments, keeping your face in the news…"

"We could send her to visit some trainer schools, Pops," Landis grinned. "He always loved to do that with Craig, and they take those seriously in Unova with Blueberry Academy being a thing."

"Exactly. Now, it is my understanding that you want to get involved in politics as well," Remington said.

"So long as they're not extremists, it's fine, right? You let me get involved in Pastoria."

"Pokemon Rights are a bit of a hot button topic in the country, at the moment," Smithson chimed in. "Would it be wise to let her take a side on the issue?"

"God, you're so inoffensive," Landis groaned. "Pokemon Rights, honestly, who gives a fuck, but polls repeatedly have shown that younger people— our main demographic— are in favor of laws to better protect Pokemon across nearly every region, Unova included. Her taking a side on the issue is fine."

Remington raised a hand, and the room fell silent again. "My son is correct, but there is a line that mustn't be crossed. Plasma."

"You don't have to worry about that. They—"

"Have moderated their platform recently, had Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius vocally support them two weeks ago and are surging in the polls thanks to a coalition backed by young people who usually don't come out to vote," Remington interrupted me. "They have fringe elements, but they are not extremists any longer, Ms. Pastel. The majority of their members and supporters are people like you."

I blinked at that. My image of the Plasma Organization had always been Mallory and the way she'd told me she wanted to abolish all trainers, so this was all new to me.

"I mean, if they're like me, it's not that bad—"

He interrupted me again. "If we have you support Plasma, the people in power, the real people in power—" the members of the board around Remington chuckled. "—will push us out of Unova before we can get a proper foothold in the country."

"Why's that?"

"Because they're the people who can actually change things," Craig shrugged as he fiddled with his nails. "I'd be willing to bet they'd be fine with you backing all the other small orgs, but not an actual political party with real power."

Ah. It was at times like these, that Cecilia raving against the status quo came back at the forefront of my mind. No one wanted to rock the boat, and Plasma was the definition of that.

"I… I get it," I said. "Yeah, okay."

I got it, but that did not mean I agreed. If Plasma was a problem because they could change things, then any organization would be a problem as soon as they grew big enough. They were essentially giving me those fucking fake driving wheels you gave children in a car and had them pretend they were driving. Telling me to have my fun, but not to expect to actually change anything.

Well, fuck that.

I my lips stretched into a forced smile, and the board kept speaking about plans of transition. The only play I had was to make myself too important to dump, and to let Poketch get their foothold before I really got going and tried to connect with like-minded people in public, which might take a few months. That did not mean I wouldn't be able to check things out in secret, though. Maybe see what this Plasma stuff was really about when the crazies weren't speaking.

"Now, we have a press conference set up next Wednesday where we'll announce Craig stepping down and you stepping up for the first time in public…" Remington continued.

—

The meeting took an extra twenty minutes to finish up, and as soon as I was out of it, Bobby and Ramon swarmed me to figure out if I'd screwed them over or not, which I obviously hadn't. I was getting a little tired of these guys expecting me to stab them in the back at the first opportunity just because they had an outdated idea of who I was. I mean, even after bonding together, they still thought I was out to get them? It was a little grating, but at least they apologized by the end of it and we were cool again. Now that everything had been finalized, part of me wanted to return to not bothering to keep up with Poketch stuff again, but I knew that was just the lazy part of me speaking. Connections weren't just made, they were maintained over dinner, meetups, battling, texting… it was kind of exhausting, but it had to be done, and at least they were fun to talk to.

Now I was on my way to find Mira while Melody had gone back to work. I'd hoped she could join us and Dad, mostly because I wanted him to make friends, but duty unfortunately called. She had said she'd ship one of every merch item to my Dad's address, though. Mira hadn't been in the meeting room with all the couches, so I assumed she was waiting in the lobby. My eyes scanned the massive waiting area filled with enough chairs to fit at least a hundred and fifty people and found her instantly, with the way her pink hair popped to my eyes. I made my way toward her, and she winced before waving back at me. She was in her head again.

Mira shot up and clapsed my wrist. "How was it? Did everything go alright?" she instantly asked. "Did you guys do it?"

"Well, I didn't really do anything beyond standing there… but yeah, we did it," I grinned.

My friend pumped a fist. "Hell yes! That's great, I'm happy for you. Now you can finally stop stressing about it."

"Yeah, it's a huge relief," I exhaled. "Wanna get out of here? I texted Dad before the board meeting and he should be here in like five minutes."

"Wait— didn't you see my text? About Aubri?"

I frowned and grabbed my phone. "Ah, crap. I missed it. Did she do something? Do I need to talk to Mel?"

"No, no, relax! She just wanted to apologize to you about yesterday, but for real. It's not a trick."

"To me? I didn't think she was the kind of person to…"

I stopped, realizing that she'd kind of said sorry before leaving the bathroom stall already, so my words didn't really make any sense. I still didn't trust this. Was there a play here? No, it wouldn't work, or she would have struck when Ramon was emotionally vulnerable because of the issues with his parents and before the board meeting. Was an apology really all there was to it?

"I saw her coming in and thought she was planning to screw you over, but it turned out she just felt bad," Mira said. "I can get her down here if you want."

"Huh. I mean, okay?"

Having someone I'd designated as an enemy in my head apologizing had kind of knocked the wind out of my sails. Every time I heard Aubri's name, now, I expected a fight or at least an unpleasant interaction of some kind, which was crazy considering I hadn't even met her that many times. Her words yesterday had… really hurt me. I'd kept hearing them when trying to go to sleep, tossing and turning in Mira's apartment, and had Buddy not been keeping an eye on me all night and forced me to sleep with my hands above the covers, I might have made a mistake. Mira clapped my shoulder and went to get Aubri, so I just stood there with a blank look, not knowing what to think.

Aubri's one-eyed stare was just as hardy as it always was. The way she looked me up and down had my body instinctively grow tense in a way that sickened me, because it meant I was scared of her. Of what she could say to me. For a bit, she silently stood there with her hands in her pockets until I couldn't take it any longer and colors flared to life around the lobby. Aubri was a wispy, dull gray of uncertainty. She didn't know how to begin. Breathing a sigh of relief, I let the colors dim again. I'd slipped, and I had no idea what I would have done had she been planning a trap.

Something to talk to Aliyah about.

"Well?" Mira pressed. "Come on, it's not that hard."

Aubri cleared her throat. "I apologize for what I said yesterday. It was terribly out of line, and I hope our relationship can remain professional and functional. I will refrain from implying anything about your… past experiences in the future, and if the company requires us to see each other like in Sunyshore, I will make sure to treat you like any other colleague."

It was strange, the way she spoke like those lines had been rehearsed when they clearly hadn't. Or maybe they had, and she just hadn't been sure they were the right words after coming face to face with me? I hadn't delved deep enough to tell, only staying at the surface of what she felt.

"I accept your apology," I flatly said.

She dipped her head a fraction. "Thank you."

That was that. I didn't think we would ever be friends, but maybe that was okay.