A forest expanded before my eyes, one just like I’d remembered only a day before. Real, swaying trees were inside the building. Bushes, sand pits and small hills lay scattered across the view from where I sat. A waterfall collapsed on the far side of the greenhouse like a symphony to my ears, flowing straight through the middle of the enclosure into a narrow but gentle stream. All put together with a neat little bow by the rays of sunlight that came streaming through the reflective glass on the ceiling like a heaven falling onto the earth.

Not to mention the pokemon; Wingull were splashing their way through the water, Furret and Sentret alike running between the trees in some kind of game of tag, a Zigzagoon lay quietly as it simply absorbed the rays from the sun above.

This was a sanctuary.

“I knew you’d like it.” Sycamore said with a triumphant smirk. “I think this is the only place where I’ve seen you light up like that.”

What is he talking about?

“It’s true.” Sophie agreed with the professor. “You actually smiled this time; I was worried you didn’t like it here.”

That’s probably because I don’t really want to stay here, I’d rather go back to the forest with Lucario and Gardevoir. I don’t have all that many options right now though. I had a feeling that trekking several miles wouldn’t do wonders for my body. I could stand well enough, even walk, just I’d need one too many breaks.

“I do like this area, it’s peaceful.” I affirmed their suspicions finally and continued to watch the pokemon.

Sycamore turned my wheelchair, and we approached a small table with an injured Pidgey laying across. Standing beside it was a person and a very large dark blue and red pokemon. It took me a moment to recognize the dragon type for what it is. Truth is, I’d never seen one in the forest before, only seen pictures from what I’d read about in books.

“This is someone I’d like you to meet Silvia, meet Garchomp.” Sycamore started, getting the attention of the large fanged pokemon. Despite its size and appearance, I could tell the pokemon was gentle from the way it cared for the injured Pidgey… and the way it was looking at me too. “He’s one of our permanent residents and takes care of all the pokemon in the enclosure every day.”

“Gar.” The dragon type greeted me, extending one of his fanged wings to me like a handshake, one which I politely accepted and shook in return.

“Gardevoir.”

“Lucario.”

Both my friends greeted Garchomp in turn as if they were friends already. Something they said caught my attention though.

“You two, had been helping here last night?” I question my friends, perplexed. I thought they only stayed over to sleep.

“And this morning too!” Sophie confirmed for me. “We get a lot of sick pokemon that come in from the nearby forests. New trainers often come here instead of going to a pokemon center if they need help as well. We’re very thorough in our care, so it’s no surprise that they’d want to come back. As you could imagine, things get a little hectic sometimes. So, it was really nice when your pokemon offered to help Garchomp with the recent influx of pokemon and trainers.”

Sounds like they were fitting in well here. That was quick. Inwardly, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

Was I the only one who wanted to go back to the forest?

It’s been a single day. Then again, they were the ones who wanted me to leave in the first place. Looks like their wish came true in some sort of twisted joke of a way.

“I’m glad they like it here.” I responded with a lack of sincerity.

I could feel the worried stare drilling the back of my head from my blue, aura feeling friend, but I ignored him. Sometimes, I really wish he couldn’t sense my feelings like that.

“I’m sure you’ll come to like it here just as much as they do, Silvia.” Sycamore jumps in with a smile, finding myself unable to tell if he saw through me or not. Regardless, I know he means what he said, that he means well.

I just don’t agree. There’s too much change all at once.

“Grrrrg.”

‘What was that?’ I think to myself.

All eyes, including Garchomps, are on me as the new center of attention. It was at that moment that I felt my face flush red. Of course, it would be Gardevoir to be the first one to start laughing. Leave it to a best friend to laugh at my stomach.

Thankfully, Sycamore saves me from my endless embarrassment while managing to hide his laughter. “I think we can take that as a cue to eat. Why don’t you come join me for lunch while Lucario and Gardevoir stay here? I still haven’t got a chance to show you to your room where you’ll be staying. We have plenty of options.” He explains.

“That works for me, now Garde–Oh come on, it’s not THAT funny!” I whine at the laughing pokemon, whom for some reason, found my tummy noises to be absolutely hilarious.

“Gardevoir.”

I sigh and nod my head. “Yea, I know. I’ll make sure to fatten up, try not to mess anything up around here.”

She nods her head and goes over to help Garchomp while the second musketeer addresses me. “Lucar-Lucario.”

He sticks to my side, not trusting me to go off on my own quite yet. I understand where he’s coming from, but I really don’t need a babysitter right now. “I’ll be fine Lucario, I’m just going to eat and rest for a little bit. Then I’ll be back. Besides, you did say you promised to help out Garchomp some more.”

“Lucario.” He hesitated still at my side; but I could see him wavering a bit.

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes at his excessive hampering. “I promise I’ll be back later, now get over there.”

Finally, after giving him my promise and reassurance, Lucario leaned close for a moment to nuzzle my cheek before walking away. I could still tell that he was hesitant, but my words seemed to put him at ease. I said my temporary goodbye to Sophie as well, who needed to get back to working on one of her projects now that the tour was over. She had seemed nice enough as it were, perhaps a little over friendly for my tastes.

I don’t know how she could keep up the never-ending smiles. That would hurt my cheek bones.

Sycamore wheeled me into a lounge area near his office, there weren’t many people that came by this place since it’s his main and more personal lab. The private and quieter setting made me feel more at ease.

He stopped me beside one of the couches before moving to the far side of the room. “You can just sit wherever you want; I’ll get us something to eat.” He told me, using the makeshift kitchen in the corner of the room. I’d imagine he must eat here in his office often if he felt it was important enough to have his own personal kitchen.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Now he just needed a personal chef.

Slowly standing up from the wheelchair, I felt my legs wobble ever so slightly at the motion of having my weight shifted, though it wasn’t intolerable. I walked myself over to the couch which had a long marble table in front of it to put meals and whatever else. On the far wall in front of me a television was mounted on the wall with some news story going on.

Seeing as I had nothing to do but stare at the picture framed of various pokemon, I decided to tune it.

“Thank you, Sally. The fire near Lumiose city were particularly devastating in the southern region of the forest. Thankfully, emergency services along with the help of Lysandre industries and their quick resources, put out the fire long before it spread too far.”

I would be inclined to disagree. My cabin, my lungs and hundreds of pokemon would probably all disagree.

“That’s right James, on the ground resources along with the help of Lysandre himself have personally reached out in support of all the people and pokemon affected. In an effort to ensure that this tragedy does not reoccur, Lysandre reached out to us and informed us that this was indeed, an unfortunate accident.”

An accident?

“It is believed that several fire type pokemon with the possible involvement of trainers had accidentally lit a spark that started the ignition.”

Does nobody really know what happened?

Bile rose in my throat as I glared at the TV, until a pair of fingers snapped in front of my eyes to break my trance-like behavior.

“Everything all right, Silvia?” Sycamore asks with a platter full of sandwiches in his hand. All of them neatly filled with what looked to be meat, cheese, tomato and some kind of dressing.

I shook my head angrily. “Of course not, they’re lying to everyone! How could they do that?” I nearly shout, catching the professor off guard as he sets a platter down in front of me.

“Lying? What are they lying about?” He carefully asks why sitting across from me. He knows I don’t like being questioned all that much, so he was being obviously careful about asking me.

This was different though. “All of it! The fire! It wasn’t an accident, someone started it on purpose and tried to burn the forest!” I shouted at him in turn, feeling my temper rise in my chest like a heat waiting to explode out of me.

“Hey, hey. Silvia, you need to breathe.”

Breathe? BREATHE? How could I breathe when there was smoke in my lungs?

“There’s no more fire, Silvia.” The voice calmed me. “Think of the smoke, like water. It’s dissipated. It’s become cool.”

Just as quickly as the heat exploded, it cooled at Sycamore’s soothing voice. I hadn’t even noticed that he had moved to sit next to me when he calmed me down. It was as if he had poured a glass of cold water down my throat to ease my bursting insides.

“Why don’t you have a few bites? The sandwiches will get cold.” Sycamore advised me, pointing to the untouched platter in front of me.

Gingerly, I picked one off the platter and inwardly marveled at how soft the texture of the bread was. Much softer than I was used to.

I took my first bite.

Then a second.

A fifth.

“Mmm.” I groaned out loud. “I don’t know what you put in this, but these taste delicious.” I complimented him while reaching for a second sandwich already. Gardevoir would be proud if she saw me eating right now. I did tell her I would fatten up.

Sycamore chuckled across from me as he was taking his first few bites, still way behind me. “I’m glad you like it so much; I was worried because I don’t know your tastes. Hopefully, I’ll learn about them so I can make you more things you like in the future.”

There it is again, talking about the future.

A few minutes passed as he traded words with me back and forth. Mostly remaining in a comfortable silence that I’d been oddly finding myself getting used to. He was being silent on purpose this time again, waiting for me to say the first word.

“She called herself Celosia. She said she was a part of team Flare and that they started the fire.” I suddenly said aloud.

Sycamore regarded me seriously. As far-fetched as it sounded, I couldn’t tell whether he believed me or not. “Did she say anything else?”

“She didn’t want any witnesses. I was going to flee from the fire before it caught me… but I had to defend myself from her.”

So, I told him about my encounter with the mysterious woman named Celosia. She had been off my mind until now. It’s not that I’d forgotten really, not even close. I just don’t think I wanted to think about it yet, and I still don’t.

The truth was that someone tried to kill me.

I didn’t know what to feel about that.

So, I told Sycamore about the fire from when I saw it all the way up until I passed out at some point. He seemed oddly impressed that I fought back against her, asking some various questions about what moves I used and what she did. He didn’t tell me why though, he just seemed curious.

That was it, I finally told someone. The unbelievable and farfetched sounding story. Someone in an orange jumpsuit had attacked me in the middle of nowhere. The girl that got attacked just so happens to be a loner like me. The coincidences just keep adding up.

“That must’ve been scary.”

I looked up at Sycamore in surprise. “Huh?” I asked dumbly.

“Having to experience that by yourself must’ve been scary, even with your pokemon. I’m glad that you made it out alright.”

It must’ve been scary.

I’m glad you’re okay.

Those were words I’d never heard before. My lip trembled as if they were words I’d been wanting to hear though, I just didn’t know it. I was never scared of anything in the forest. Now that I’m out of the forest? Everything is terrifying, like experiencing a new nightmare each time. It was as if I was in an entirely different world, one unbeknownst to me.

My heart pounded in my chest, making me shoot up from where I was sitting.

“Don’t get up too quickly, you’re not healthy ye-.”

“I’m fine, I just need to go somewhere.” I cut Sycamore off before he could finish talking and marched out of the lounge. My legs felt weak under the weight of my body, but the rest and food giving energy to my body had helped enough that I could walk now.

I didn’t dare turn around to address any of his shouts either. The walk to the central staircase felt far longer than the slow push my chair took me. I didn’t take a right turn to the greenhouse first either, my friends were happy there.

That was enough.

“Silvia? Is everything alright?” Sophie calls out while coming from one of the rooms.

She looks shocked to see me walking around and I wave a hand dismissively in her direction. “I’m fine, just going out.”

“You are? I’d be happy to come with you and sho-”

“I said I’m fine!” I raise my voice again without meaning to. I’ve almost never acted this emotionally in my entire life as far as I could remember. I’m behaving like a little kid.

Despite knowing that, I turned away from her too.

I was almost there anyway, and it would all be over. Just a few more steps and I’d be able to go to my own sanctuary. A sanctuary that wasn’t a greenhouse brimming with pokemon and sunlight. My sanctuary wasn’t at a mansion that housed a laboratory and delicious sandwiches that were coated with extra lettuce and dressing. There weren’t flocks of people taking up the hallway asking how your day was nor a Garchomp taking care of the other pokemon.

There was just a cabin.

Just as my fingers grasped around the door handle, I heard a shout just a dozen feet behind me. “Wait!”

The voice was frazzled, panting like it was out of breath, probably needlessly concerned. All things I knew without needing to look. Against my better judgment to open the door and be through with all this, I waited like the voice had asked me to.

I clasped the handle tighter, feeling the door shake lightly in my grip as it awaited being opened. The door was the one shaking, obviously.

“About before…I know that we haven’t…I’m sorry that…” He rambled on, trying hard to find the words.

“Are you…coming back?”

Of all the things to say and questions to ask, it would be that. In the short time I’ve gotten to know him, that question seems very Sycamore-like in my opinion. Not that I’m an expert.

Out of everyone I’d met, he’s probably the only one that I would say I actually liked. He was kind, caring and clearly trying to look out for me, even though I’m a complete stranger to him. There was never a reason for him to go out of this way for an orphaned kid like me.

In honor of that, and perhaps because I found myself actually liking being around him, I decided I couldn’t lie to him. I didn’t want him to have false hope. I didn’t want to give myself any either.

“I…don’t know.”

I opened the door.