~~~ Chapter 48 - Relationship and Drive ~~~

"All right, bucko," Lyra said, finally putting away her phone. "Dawn and Looker are gonna meet us to the west, back in Pinwheel proper tonight," she said, putting her backpack over one of her shoulders.

Meg stood not too far away, and had used her vines to self-saddle. It was a fleeting thought, but he was impresses. Meg's quadrupedal body did not show how strong she was. Neither Meg, nor her trainer had fat that implied a lack of fitness, but there was still something distinct about the two that one wouldn't expect from a typical trainer bond.

It left a weird taste in the mouth, if Art was being honest with himself.

Still. He shook his head as Meg used a vine to casually pick up another bag that seemed fairly heavy and casually dropped it onto her side, hooks keeping it from falling off. Leah was only about forty pounds, she could maybe hold a couple packs of dried food? But that kind of weight was not really the problem. Leah as silly as she was, could still forage and find berries. She could maybe be trusted to keep a pack on, but Fidget?

Scratch that thought right out, actually.

If Leah set the pack down?

She'd lose it in less than an hour.

"Ready when you are," he said. Art was ready to go, that much, he knew. The giddiness was impossible, and caused him to launch into a full-on grin.

~~~

The five of us (with Leaf on that toddler-Leash-thing) set off from Lyra's townhome. Meg ate a lot of food. It was hard not to get competitive but Lanky muttered words about how pokemon change while around others. Whatever, that wasn't the point of eating anyway.

There was a bit of sun out when we started our journey anew.

This time, we went… back west. The exact way we had come. Travel through the town was fine, I guess? There weren't any cars, and not as much industry or smells. Nothing to overload my senses this time. Even in the afternoon sun, when most people from my home-earth would be at work, as we roamed the streets together, humans, kids, and adults were still out and about! The city, for how much open space it had, was filled with people going about but not really, socializing or talking to each other.

Here, in the good weather and softer streets than the real earth I was used to, many neighbors had left their front doors open and kids rolled through the streets like they belonged in packs. Shouting at each other as they and their pokemon ran around like headless chickens.

On our way out of the city, at the edge, was an apartment complex, nestled into a small forest-like area. The buildings and humans on this earth lived a lot closer together. Even the professor's admittedly nice house was smaller than ones I was used to. We passed a moving van, parked in front of the apartment complex. A man in a green collared shirt was directing a pair of machamp as they lifted furniture into an apartment.

I stopped to watch, mesmerized at their coordination and training as they lifted a couch through, turning it with supernatural proprioception as they stepped through the front doorway. Lanky spotted me staring, and pushed me along before the pokemon had noticed I was staring. Probably for the best, anyway. I was just distracted from the goal.

The five of us kept walking, Leaf following along as Lanky and Lyra continued talking. When we had finally left the city, the two trainers pulled out their bikes. Lanky pointed at the basket, saying a word, as if to ask "basket?" Then, in his other hand, he held out my pokeball, repeating the exercise. "... or pokeball?" from earlier. I made my choice. Sorry Leaf, shit sucks. But being stuck in a pokeball was a risk I wasn't willing to take. Lanky took Leaf out of his leash, recalling my nest-mate, before clipping him onto his belt, picking me up, and putting me in the basket.

~~~

The detective had known exactly what they were looking for. Darkrai was going to come, but waiting for everyone to arrive. At least, that's what Dawn felt. Even as she was about to meet the god of nightmares, deep in Pinwheel forest, Dawn shivered. Whether she was nervous or excited, this part of her did not know.

She fidgeted in her pocket, checking her phone. It was just after midnight, and they were in a clearing. A dead bird was on the ground, covered in roots of an opportunistic grass type she couldn't make out. The moon's light shone from above. She stepped out into the otherwise pleasant grove, ignoring the cottonee and lilligant shuffling out of her way.

"Don't lose them, please," Dawn said to alakazam and Pip, who set the four bugs down in the middle of the field as she sat down, crossing her legs to meditate. Pulling in her thought streams, it was goopy, sticky, like pulling on a bug pokemon's silk. Noodles that had been sitting in water too long. It was delicate, as she didn't want to separate the two too much. There were buds, she could feel them. Like the first time her thoughts had split.

She had been understood—and by a pokemon no less, tears of joy, that things would get better for her, that they could get better for her, that really—just really—things would be okay. That she wasn't alone. Not really. But Dawn had already "known" this. She wasn't alone. Plans of hope, of life as a lurantis, the feeling of eating meat One was filled, condensed inside. Would the thought bubble into a deliberately new thoughtstream? One she could direct?

Would it be useful to her?

No.

Hope for the future? It was important, of course it was! She would not disagree, but unbridled hope, unfortunately, was not just enough. Using the two thought-streams, they pulled the thoughts, feelings and emotions apart. It had reminded her of the first time her psychic powers had begun to manifest. When her abra had evolved, and she could trust it not to teleport at the first sign of danger.

It was a rather uneventful day, considering. She'd just beaten Roark, and had acquired her first gym badge. The man had complimented her for her sturdy disposition, whatever that had meant. She had felt a second presence in her mind. One that was more "free", one that she could guide, and she had latched on to the opportunity to sense the world around her. She'd lost track of time, her then-kadabra had to wake her, guide her back to her own body.

There was another bud, festering, she could feel its raw despair. She was going to have to leave that one alone, not ready to let the boil pop. Her body moved, she pulled her hands inside the sleeves of her jacket. She would have to deal with it soon, before it could manifest, but she didn't have the time for this divergence from her focus. Processing the memories and the feelings, even with three lines of thought running, it would get in the way of her goal.

Riley had short, dark blue hair, wearing an outfit of blue and black, with a fancy, wide-brim hat on top. He was a decent looking guy, one with solid abilities. He was too old. Maybe if he had a younger sibling, she'd thought. Another part of her had smiled, somewhat perplexed at the time—she had never considered relationships so clinically, before.

Her thoughts about Pip were not but love. But being a psychic was about learning to direct the mind and control it. She had no time for relationships, back then. She wanted strong partners. Ones who wouldn't abandon her. They had gone through the island's underground, and Riley had pointed out there were some trespassers on Iron Island, stalking Dawn.

The fight was surprisingly bitter. They had come prepared with electric and dark types, specifically to counter both her and Riley. Pip was beaten to a pulp, but had managed to pull through with an extra heaping of food and Riley who'd brought a hyper potion along. The man wasn't just skilled. He was thoughtful. The interlopers had been dealt with, and Riley had healed Pip, enough that with a day of rest, he would be fighting fit on his own. After her extrajudicial "interviews"—the grunts had known nothing. Only that they were being paid an obscene amount of money to give her trouble.

Riley had taken her into a secluded part of his private island, the man and his lucario expertly avoiding the restless and strong wild pokemon on the island. She had been taken to a lucario den. A group of riolu pups were running around, playing.

"These are riolu, Dawn," Riley had said to her, back then on Iron Island. She'd had some measure of psychic awareness by that point, and was already tuning her focuses. "Roark had said you had a strong soul," Riley had smiled, "If you take one, and take care of it, it will grow into a lucario like mine, and I'm sure by then, that you'll be an even better Aura user than me."

She had stuttered, her mind failing to process the opportunity in front of her. Lucario were world-class fighters. They were small, but their steel density meant they held more mass than they seemed. Their ability to project themselves meant that even if you outmassed them, they could deal surprising amounts of damage that you might not even see. And they had excellent awareness of the world around them. Dawn, though? She didn't have any desire to specialize in Aura. She wanted mental control. What good was a mind if you couldn't reign it in?

She had pulled out a pokeball, accepting Riley's gift. Unfortunately, the riolu was still the weakest member of her team. Training them up was yet another diversion. She needed to focus all her time on training up her psychic ability. She had been able to connect her mind to the greater world. Sure, the range wasn't as good, and she was missing out on some of the greater physical benefits, but all Riley could do with his aura was make his hand shine.

Didn't feel particularly useful for her at the time. She'd already chosen a different path, and was beginning to specialize. Even the strongest and most specialized of humans, the abilities they could exhibit— amounted to parlor tricks.

Riley had given her some spiel about learning to connect with the world and therefore others, but what was the point in that? Bonding with a Lucario just didn't have the utility she needed or wanted. If Dawn wanted to bond more with others she could do that. She could find some trainer and settle down and get married.

Riley had noticed her dismissive attitude toward aura but had just shrugged. Just like everyone else that had tried to give her advice. It just hadn't been worth it. At the time, it had been her and Kadabra, soon-to-be Alakazam. Working with Looker and seeing how few people understood the threats that Cyrus posed? It was way too late in the game to try and cultivate Aura, because results were what mattered.

When it was all over, she would train the Riolu and give it a shot. But then, as now, Dawn knew that Aura wasn't where she wanted to be. She had wanted— nay— needed every edge she could have gotten. They were at the end of the trail, thwarting everything Cyrus was trying to do.

Dawn could feel her heartbeat picking up. Soon, it would all be over, and she was so excited for that. And she was willing to do what it took to get them. Lucas seemed a lot more excited about learning to use aura. Ranted and raved about it, even. That was the last she'd seen of her hometown friend. Let him learn to use Aura, she thought to herself in that particular thought-stream.

Dawn pulled her mind out of that thought-bubble, a taste of what-could have been layering over her mouth. She'd been letting that one sit for long enough. She could never actually learn aura. At least, not meaningfully. Humans just weren't built for that.

~~~

"Uh, Lyra," Art had asked as they stepped into the field, looking around, guided by the moonlight.

"Yeah?"

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"This is the same field where we met Virizion, just the other day."

"Oh?" she said, her tone dismissive.

"Yeah, that's where Leah, uh. She, uh, she learned Sunny Day back there, and blasted him with a solar beam."

"Wait. Really? Why the hell would she do that? Not even Meg did that" she said, dropping her voice to a whisper, as they spotted Dawn in the center of the field.

"Meg's fought a god?"

"More like sparring, really." She said, "now shut up. Looker said she's convinced Darkrai is going to meet her here."

"Yeah, she is," a man said, approaching from behind them. "Don't mind me, I'm just here to take the bugs," the man said, pulling out four wooden pokeballs, zapping the three swadloon and the leavanny.

He looked at Lyra, who nodded.

"Let him," she said, before standing up. "I'm going to see if I can stop Dawn from committing suicide chasing a shiny wailord."

~~~

"Dawn. Hello? Dawn?" Lyra said, snapping her fingers in front of the trainer's face, as Leah's nest-mates were sprayed by small blasts of water, getting gently poked awake by Dawn's empoleon. It took a moment but eventually the swadloon all saw Art, and rushed to his side. Which wasn't very fast, one of them tripping over themselves and their leaf cape and rolling before being back on their tiny little legs and hobbling forward again. They huddled behind their nest-leader, away from the venerable water-bird.

Why did she have them? His face had turned sour. The professor had said they were going to take care of them!

"What? What?" Dawn said, her eyes refocusing while he turned, then stepped to the side. Waving a hand to egg Leah and the bugs to follow him. They needed to get some extra distance—Meg would win any fight, if she "sparred" with virizion, he was sure. But even if it came out even, anyone and anything caught in the middle would, inarguably, be the indisputable losers.

That was part of what made a powerful champion or gym leader of a region need so much power. Because they needed to be able to stand their ground against beings with enough natural power to shape reality and the earth itself without flinching. Even if they knew they would lose, with enough smarts and a well-trained team, you should be able to redirect the wrath of an angry local deity.

"Are you sure you really have to do this?" Lyra asked, her eyes masking the fire within. The ex-champion glanced at the man dressed in the Looker's clothes. Who, prudently, stood back, stepping further away.

He'd taken Leah's nest-mates in a new set of pokeballs. Pokeballs weren't supposed to work on any but the pokeball they were registered with initially. Those were hand-crafted. No safeguards. The man was young— easily five years junior to the real Looker. Burgh's gut sunk. He knelt down to Leah, pointing at the retreating detective as Lyra was handling Dawn.

"String shot," he whispered to Leah, holding a finger over his mouth, to suggest quiet. In retrospect, he'd realize that Leah doesn't exactly understand all physical human cues. In that exact moment, however, she seemed to intuit it. Though she did stare at him for a half-second too long, before nodding, her headdress and antennae waving independently of the nod.

Not enough time for a human to react, but enough time for him and her to try and practice a bit more later.

"Yes! I have to bring Cyrus back! He's—"

"Cyrus is already dead, Dawn," Lyra said, her voice unamused.

"No. No he's not! Looker wouldn't have sent me here if he was!" Dawn said, incredulous at the suggestion that the detective had lied to her.

Lyra rubbed her eyes. She knew how it went, chasing down the thing she'd had her eyes set on for years. For a moment, she was back, traveling through the smashed remains of Team Rocket, back in Johto. She had joined Looker back then, and Lance, pushing the crushing the mafia-team back, back to the underground. She and Meg had spent a couple years, smashing through Team Rocket's attempts to reform, broadcasting like idiots over the radio waves to Giovanni, who was nowhere to be found, as if they thought the man was listening, instead of hiding away back in the mountains.

"Dawn, please" Lyra had said. "It's okay, don't do this to yourself. You can let the world save itself, you know. It's pretty good at doing that."

She'd climbed the Tin Tower with that rainbow, seven-colored feather, one she'd since turned into a necklace. Her and Meg had both been covered in burns, enduring its cataclysmic, yet rejuvenating fire. At the same time her body was falling apart, she'd felt a new breath. Holding the ball in hand, not knowing if it even had the powers ascribed—powers to quell any, and all pokemon, to align them to the holder.

Imbued with pieces of the lake trio, Team Rocket members had claimed—Meg even while burning alive, holding every ability she could— and failing to hold back the burning waves of fire atop the tower, managed to pin the bird down for a few seconds, but it was all Lyra had needed. Long enough to catch the phoenix. She had almost expected the ball itself to bounce off, or to melt, or to break. But no, it had held—and caught—a god.

"Dawn," Lyra said, taking a deep breath. "Pause for a moment. Breathe. It's okay. Come here." Lyra said, waving at the girl to approach her. Dawn's two pokemon maintained semi-aggressive postures, yet unmoving, unsure of what to make of Meg, who, by comparison, held her own, indifferent one.

Even though it had not escalated yet, both parties were simply waiting for their trainer's commands. Lyra would win if they needed to fight, of that, Lyra knew. Dawn's pokemon probably knew that. But they would fight anyway, and Lyra, while not really knowing Dawn, had an idea that the girl who'd similarly been deprived of her teen years, would not back down.

Such was their life. Such was their bond.

"I… I can't," Dawn said, her expression wavering for only a half-second, before steeling herself. "It's not over yet." Her hand twitched over the empty ball with the M on her belt, taunting her. Calling for it to be used. "I need— I need to stop that man," she said, though her own face for once managed to betray itself. Despite specializing in psychic, it didn't exactly help with performance. She looked around momentarily, her eyes and senses trying to pierce the midnight forest for comfort of the bug.

Unfortunately for her, Leah and Burgh were gone. As before, she would just have to go it all alone.

~~~

I caught what Lanky was asking me, it just took a moment to process—like a subconscious part of me was saying "Really? Betray him?" It was silly; I had never met the fake detective until earlier that day. But he was making off with my nest-mates, and while I knew Lanky wouldn't have enough food to really provide for them, it would get in the way of my goal… If he wasn't comfortable letting the fake detective take them, then I most definitely wasn't comfortable letting anyone take Bonk and the swadlies.

I crept back, behind the underbrush, where we'd come, leaving Lyra and her meganium to talk to Dawn and her pokemon. I had a mission to complete—stop the guy from running off with my nest-mates! The moment we were out of direct earshot, the guy in the trench-coat had started running. Which, well, when you're pursuing someone and they start running, you really only have one choice—go after them!

Even in the dark, it wasn't even a contest. I caught up to the man, then launched myself at his back, the force of my body way tossed him off his feet. The faker rolled onto the ground with a silent grunt. I didn't want to cover him in silk if I could keep him on the ground.

It was hard to filter through the cigar smoke on the man, but he had a faint trace of Lyra's meganium on him. He had a leather shoulder bag on. I let out a soft "click" as the man spoke in quiet tones and grunts. Lanky came up to us, as I sat on his back.

~~~

"So tell me, who are you, really?" He asked as Leah sat, arms crossed in a kind triumphant pose on the detective's back. As much of a lie as her pose was, it did cause him to smile.

"An ex-detective," the man said, "just put my notice in today."

"Another one…" he muttered. "Huh. Wait! So that really WAS you, huh?" he asked. "You looked a lot different from this morning, and a lot different from the Looker I met the other day," his thought trailing off in a slight effort to avoid gushing a bit too much. The kind of gushing that made him a slight target for bullies, anyway.

The ex-detective just chuckled.

"Save your questions for Anabelle. I'm just fodder in comparison, kid. And care to tell Leah to get off my back? Her dress and limbs are a lot sharper and more painful than they look."

Which was a funny statement, because they were already somewhat-painful looking. That said, he was beginning to learn to assert himself among others, because he had Leah there to help. He smiled.

"Absolutely I will, but before we get too far in, I'm a bit worried, so can you answer these questions?" The detective nodded, but stayed silent, Leah still on his back, not risking her dress cutting into his clothing or skin. Art held up his finger to his chin. "I guess the first question here… these questions are simple, detective."

Artemus only cared about one question, really, but he knew that part of playing hardball was adding multiple queries to the list.

"I just need to know. Why did Dawn have those pokemon?" he asked. They weren't his pokemon, technically, and he couldn't take the pokemon with him, even if he didn't trust the detective not to run off with them. If they were stolen, chances are they would instead, be fed to a bird or left out in the wild. He could only hold three pokemon, two for gyms, one for training, at least until he had his second badge.

In fact, he'd completely forgotten about the silcoon back at the Nacrene City gym. Would it still be there? He hoped so, though those manicured lawns didn't seem like the caretakers of the property would be happy about bugs hanging out so close to the edge.

"Ahem, can you have her hop off? She'll tear a hole in this coat if she hasn't already."

"Leah, hop off him, please" Art said, waving Leah to him, who hopped off the guy's back with nonchalance.

"Kid, you're way in over your head if you're going to go around chasing people like this," the detective started to exclaim, "but if you really have to know, Dawn used the bugs to practice earlier. So I borrowed them from professor Juniper for her. The pokeballs they were in were broken, so I had to bring some custom made ones. There. Happy?" he asked, rolling over, sitting up.

"Homemade pokeballs have been banned for use for a while," he said, but his voice was wavering—the detective was right. He probably was in over his head if he was going to try and chase this mystery down. They had to have safety protections—auto-release mechanisms, maximum-length timers, sensors for stress of the pokemon inside, and prevention of catching other trainer's already-registered pokemon.

Homemade pokeballs had none of those safety features. Art didn't know what to say. He'd heard of pokeballs breaking before… But who was he to really judge? Did he want to become like Dawn? He'd only seen the girl for a few hours. The professor wouldn't have released the pokemon to someone who would hurt or steal them, surely.

He let out a sigh, then shrugged, feeling slightly better. "All right," he said. "Good luck finding a new job," he said.

The detective just laughed. "Thanks. And that was thoughtful of Leah, though next time, just have her spray the target in silk," ex-detective laughed, beginning his own jog off.

~~~

Lyra paused. She'd been down this road before. Blue had tried to talk her down. Tried to tell her it wasn't worth the costs. She hadn't understood at the time. Dawn wouldn't understand now.

"Don't worry Dawn, I won't stop you," Lyra said. "Let me at least give you a gift." She pulled out from her backpack a necklace—on it, was a single large feather, glinting in the moon and starlight with colors of the rainbow.

"T-Thank you," Dawn said, stepping forward, reaching out, accepting Lyra's gift and putting it around her neck. Her face gleamed under the starry night.

"That feather is sacred," Lyra said. "Don't lose it, even if you die. Not until your quest is done."

Dawn smiled, "Don't worry, I won't."

Had Lyra been pure enough that Ho-Oh had truly accepted the battle? Once she caught the legendary bird, now resting on her belt. The symbol and force of nature that she now ascribed her own desire for renewal—No, she'd decided. It wasn't actually about purity. For pokemon, it was never that simple. Never so binary. And when she'd learned Ho-oh's heart and the nature of the ball she'd wielded. It had filled her with a fire to burn the region down and start afresh. But she couldn't. Not without attracting attention. Not without the others getting in the way.

Death was, for her, and for all she burned, just another beginning. Even so, if she tried… Ethan was out there, and the oceans would heed his call. That said, she was getting restless, itching for a truly good fight one of these days. She yearned to let Ho-Oh fly over the scorched earth, her own heart and mind in sync with the phoenix sitting in stasis on her belt as the shadows lengthened and grew around them.

Luckily for her, Unova was on track for burning in its own, unique way.

~~~

"Leah!" He called, distracting her long enough to stop his partner in her tracks before she pounced on the detective again.

When the pair returned to the spot they'd left Lyra and Dawn, it was just Lyra, sitting on a log, poking a stick into the ground. She wasn't crying, though Lyra's eyes were somber, the air lightly rolling as the light refracted in awkward ways.

He looked down at Leah, smiling. He and his bugs would find their own way through.

He didn't care to become like either Dawn or Lyra. There were other trainers who were really strong and had strong teams who managed to keep an actual balance between what they wanted and what they were willing to do to get it.