The Eon Academy [S.S. Wishmaker Side-Story]

[[Desolate Divine]]

Finally caught up, whew!

And…

Spoiler:

Season 2 Epilogue 1 was amazing, that whole incident with the poachers felt like an intense Jason Statham action/thriller movie only with Pokémon, which once again reminded me of how cool and awesome that kind of environment would be for a potential movie or game (but like heck Nintendo/Game Freak would ever go along with that, but one can dream). I was also not quite expecting that to end the way it did (wasn’t expecting Jon to blow the captain away), but heck, that element of surprise is definitely one of the charms of this story. I could see so many situations where a reader may think they’ll know how things end using tropes and past movie trends as a basis, but then there’s a big “nuh uh” and you deliver with that great element of surprise.

I like the way you handled how training is going for Deoxys and the young Lugia (and many of the other Pokémon as well, but Deoxys and Lugia especially). SOOO many stories easily neglect this level of care and attention to detail and realism and assume hey, once captured, training Pokémon of that caliber should be a breeze, right? You definitely dash in the much-needed logic and realism into these situations (Deoxys has a stressful past and Lugia is very young and inexperienced) and it genuinely makes it a much better read, because it has the potential to work or the potential to fail with consequences, but there’s plenty of in-between scenarios that could arise as well. You make it clear that anything can happen with these situations.

The pacing for the battles is perfect, you can tell Jon and these teens are training their butts (and their Pokémon’s butts) off HARD for their future careers and to be good role models for the students they’re teaching. These battles are a great length and really capture the well-thought out and unique strategies they have, but without going either too slow or too fast. The pacing on these is definitely in a nice Goldilocks zone where you show how they’re developing, but you also keep the story going and it doesn’t make the whole thing come to a screeching halt. Plus, the insertion of the battles is nicely placed in with the other subplots that are going on. The reader gets a nice serving of battles, then a good serving of subplot development (both the peaceful and intense situations), and so on in a nice, alternating style that doesn’t dwell in one area too often or for too long. KEEP THAT, that’s one of the main features that I like about this story in a world where so many Pokémon fan fictions I’ve read in the past fumble on this kind of pacing and story development.

Moreover on the subplots, I like how you have several of these interesting, suspenseful, and intriguing subplots going on at the same time and you know exactly when and how to leave them with satisfying cliffhangers that make it easy for the reader to get pulled in and say “ok, I gotta keep going to find out how this turns out.” I’m genuinely wondering how things are going to go for Latios’s mental health considering everything the poor dude has had to deal with and how all these stressful incidents are taking a toll on this usually happy-go-lucky (and sometimes comically reckless!) Pokémon. What’s also good is each subplot adds value and substance to the overall direction of the story (unlike say Walking Dead where it feels like entire seasons come and go and feel totally irrelevant later on). Nothing in this story feels like filler or extra baggage. As I’ve seen in the past chapters, EVERY subplot occurrence and incident has some bearing on the characters and how it affects them and the academy as a whole. This is definitely brilliant writing with this regard and feels like everything that’s going on brings value and significance to the story.

Great work overall and I’m looking forward to the retelling of the Spiritwater RP when you get to that part (please, take whatever creative liberty you’d like with that, I know this is in good hands for all the reasons I mentioned above). Still can’t believe it’s only been about a year since the initial Wishmaker RP began and look how far and how deeply it has developed, many thanks to this story, all the well-built characters you’ve created, and the writing expertise you’ve implemented here. As Jon would say, you definitely didn’t take any half measures on this!

Double thumbs up on this great story, many thanks for making this a satisfying read!

Haha glad that you have liked it! I think what you're noticing is just the amount of planning I have started to put in compared to when this began. Season 1 had a few pages largely covering basic traits for character and plot points for each episode capping at 3.5 pages. Season 2 had this as well as some more details and towards the end (particularly the epilogues) a very in depth summary, capping out at 6.5 pages.

Season 3 is at nearly fifteen pages, as I've started doing a scene by scene plan, knowing exactly which scenes I want in an episode and what happens in them. Only started in Episode 2 however as I am writing Episode 3 now (which is one of my favourites I have written in a while) it is making it much easier to tie in bits and pieces from other episodes. Also been doing s lot of thinking about Season 4 and 5. Mostly around the Diamond Ladies and how they go interacting with each of the interns and such.

Lots coming now I am back in the swing of things. I will say this much; there won't be many well planned battles until the end of Season 3, just because they wear me out to plan and write haha Season 2 had so many, which is why it took me so long to start Season 3. So season 3 is taking more of a personal development (or regression) route with some huge battles planned for the end which I am already planning in great depth so they should be mad by the time we actually get there.

For now I am keen to finish episode 3. Lots going on that will be expanded on in Season 3.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 3: Subtlety

Spoiler:

“So your group is with Jon this afternoon?”

It was the designated lunch hour on Tuesday, two days after Jon and Charlotte had returned from their trip to Southern island, when Abbee and Chris found themselves by some miracle alone at their table in the dining hall, which was considerably fuller than the year before. By themselves with the exception of Victini who sat on the end of the table with a bread roll, Chris having fully accepted the third wheel in he and Abbee’s relationship at this point, though thankful he had been in his Pokeball for their argument on Saturday. Whilst he had no doubt Victini knew, he was thankful Victini had said nothing so far.

“Justin’s first, then mine,” Chris answered between gargantuan bites of his lunch. “I’m kind of glad Jon hasn’t changed the curriculum much since we started…”

“Why’s that?”

“I mean, I missed a bit during the start of our first summer,” Chris explained. “I do a decent job of hiding it, since I work largely with one type of Pokemon, but there are a few type match-ups I still haven’t got memorised…”

“I think only Charlotte and Dylan have them all memorised,” Abbee remarked. “Charlotte, because she is terrifying with how good she is and how quickly she adapts, and Dylan, because I honestly don’t think there is a thing about Pokemon he doesn’t already know. I kind of wonder whether he does anything but research the other nine months of the year…”

“Which is exactly why I am glad Jon is running largely the same curriculum,” Chris continued. “Charlotte and I haven’t battled since last summer. The junior tournaments after last summer, she missed with her broken shoulder, after the Deoxys incident. Then by the time tournaments started again after winter, we were all too focused on the trial, and by the time that was over, she had turned eighteen and was here training Deoxys…”

Chris took a break from eating the excessive sandwich that he had made, thinking over his words, noticing Victini had stopped eating his bread roll, and looked over at Chris, actually seeming invested in what he was saying.

“Back then, we were even in practically every respect,” Chris said. “Now, I have a Legendary Pokemon, but based on her battle with Justin the other week, I think she’s actually pulling ahead. And assuming this summer doesn’t end in a similar way to the last, she’ll be able to catch the end of the current season, while I’ll have to wait until the start of the next one…”

In all northern hemisphere regions, the competitive battling season was the same. Starting in April, when the weather was starting to warm up, with most of the smaller events occurring until summer started. Larger competitions occurred during the summer, where the requirements to enter were much higher, allowing only the best, such as the High Seas Tournament, though there were far fewer, with these events being much more publicised. After summer ended, the pace returned to the spring rate until November. From December until the start of the next season in April, the only competitions were those either that were separate from the competitive battling season, usually for an occasion such as Christmas Day or New Years Eve, and were there more to be a spectacle than anything else.

Abbee’s mood soured hearing the discussion of Chris’ competing. Whilst he was extremely willing to discuss hypotheticals about his future, travelling and competing, every time she had tried to talk to him about finding some way for their futures to actually align, he had put it off, telling them they would work it out, but not progressing the conversation any further from there.

“It sounds like Charlotte will be seeing you more next year than I will…”

It was a low comment, and Abbee wasn’t proud of being so passive aggressive, however felt that at this point, there was little to nothing she could do to get Chris to actually start thinking about how they could make things work.

Like clockwork, Chris seemed to not hear the comment, before looking at his phone.

“S**t, I’m late…” he said, before taking a huge bite of his sandwich.

“For?” Abbee asked, not believing him for a second, but tired of the discussion after days of no results.

“I said I’d help one of my students with a few practice battles…”

“That’s nice of you,” Abbee answered, not even bothering with a sarcastic tone at this point. “Which one?”

This question seemed to catch Chris off guard, though he bought time by rushing a bite, and making a point of swallowing it before he spoke, something he normally wouldn’t bother with.

“Can’t remember his name. There are that many of them…” Chris answered. “Average height, with brown hair. From Hoenn. Has a Lairon…”

Abbee had to admire how quickly Chris described the most average trainer at the Academy, it being possible to throw a rock and hit two trainers that fit the bill.

“Anyway, I gotta go,” Chris said, as he scoffed the rest of his sandwich, and got up to leave quickly. Abbee sighed before hearing a voice in her head.

”You know he was lying, right?” Victini asked, having made good use of his telepathy, intentionally holding off any sarcastic remarks so Chris wouldn’t know for sure he was in his head.

“Really?” Abbee asked sarcastically. “Could have fooled me…”

Victini shrugged, and continued eating, not taking the comment personally, though making a mental note of sending Latios to find Cassandra to ask exactly how to turn someone into a Dunsparce. For personal reasons…

“Sorry, this whole situation just grinds my gears…” Abbee remarked. “I wish he’d stop putting off this conversation…”

”Want me to have a chat with him?”

“Don’t,” Abbee said quickly. Whilst she didn’t know details, she knew that Victini had made it his mission to pester Chris, and at times had taken it a little far. Whilst he did back off after Chris saved Abbee in Meteor Falls, and after he and Abbee started dating, it was a habit he wasn’t going to drop overnight. “If I can’t get him to talk about it, you won’t be able to.”

”I can be very persuasive…” Victini retorted, a menacing grin starting to form.

“That’s what worries me…” Abbee said, smiling for the first time since her conversation with Chris moved towards his plans for after summer.

At the other end of the room, Abbee noticed Dylan enter, as he noticed her and Victini sitting alone, and made his way to join them, grabbing one of the premade sandwiches from the counter on his way there.

“No Chris?” Dylan asked, having barely seen them apart since summer began.

“He’s got some stuff to do,” Abbee remarked, earning a look from Victini. “How has your morning been?”

“Taught a class in the first session, then spent a bit of time working on the website for the Academy,” Dylan remarked. “Jon designed it himself, and while he isn’t that old, it shows a little…”

Abbee grinned, as Dylan, now having finished his sentence, started eating his lunch. Between bites, he spoke.

“How has your morning been?” Dylan asked. “I’ve barely seen you since all the s**t with Justin on Saturday…”

What Dylan hadn’t mentioned was that he intentionally gave her space, knowing that she probably felt awkward about him hearing her argument with Chris as it happened, only revealing himself when Rachael arrived at the lodge looking for him.

“Pretty standard,” Abbee replied. “I’ve got a pretty easy to manage group. So classes as normal this morning…”

As they spoke, Jon sat at another table, sharing lunch with a few students, after one had approached him with some questions that elaborated on the content he had just taught in Tactics and Strategy.

“The thing you have to be careful of is relying too heavily on a single strategy,” Jon explained to the table, most of whom were new students that year, and seemed in awe at Jon sharing knowledge with them over lunch. “Ninety percent of strategies rely on the opponent acting in a certain way, or by extension, not acting a certain way. Sometimes all it takes is an opponent to do something out of left field to throw your plan into ruins. I’ve seen some incredible trainers beaten effortlessly because their opponent did something brilliant yet unpredictable. You always need to have options…”

“Jon, can we talk for a second?”

Jon turned to see Charlotte behind him, apologising to the other students for interrupting.

“We’ll continue this later,” Jon said to those at the table, before sliding his seat back and standing. At Charlotte’s beckoning, the pair moved a few feet from the table, where the ambient noise of the full dining hall would cover their conversation.

“Everything alright?” Jon asked, unsure why Charlotte was pulling him aside.

“For now,” Charlotte answered. “I just went to the pantry to get some more bread rolls, since the bowl was practically empty. We’re getting really low on a few things. Mostly breakfast food, but coffee, fruit, and meat for dinners as well…”

Jon’s eyes widened, as he realised what had happened.

“S**t…” Jon muttered. “I was supposed to ask Dylan to head into town after the lecture on Saturday and get the groceries…”

“Don’t stress too much,” Charlotte interrupted. “We have enough to get through dinner tonight, and we could wrangle something for breakfast tomorrow. We have plenty of eggs, so maybe do an omelette bar to cover for the fact we are running out of cereal?”

Jon looked around the room. Charlotte had her drivers licence, however he and Alyssa’s insurance on their cars didn’t allow anyone under twenty-one to be covered, having renewed their policy after Dylan got his new car, and wasn’t needing theirs. Dylan’s car had no such restrictions, however if his car was here, chances are he was as well, and Charlotte wouldn’t need to drive. Alyssa was working that afternoon, with deadlines on stories looming, and he had training until 3pm.

Finally, he spotted Abbee, Dylan and Victini sitting at a table, talking amongst themselves.

“Shelve that omelette idea,” Jon remarked. “It’s brilliant, and if I can’t convince Dylan and Abbee to head out, we may just use it…”

Charlotte nodded, before leaving Jon to figure out the food situation. He made his way towards the table, where Abbee noticed him, and was first to greet him, Dylan turning and nodding a hello.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Jon stated. “But I need a favour…”

“Does it involve time, effort or money?” Dylan asked, knowing that response was one that Jon used when Dylan asked him for favours. Abbee laughed.

“Your time and effort, but my money…” Jon retorted with a grin. “Dylan, I was supposed to ask you to organise groceries over the weekend when I was away last weekend, but it slipped my mind. Charlotte has just informed me we are running scarily low, and there are now enough people here to riot if we don’t have enough food..."

Abbee’s grin widened at the exaggeration, knowing that there wouldn’t be a riot, and they’d figure something out before then, however Dylan knew where this was going.

“I’ll head into town as soon as I’ve finished lunch,” Dylan said, as Jon breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’re a legend. I owe you one…” Jon commended.

“I’ll come along too,” Abbee interjected, as both men looked at her. “As long as you don’t mind the company?”

“Of course I don’t,” Dylan answered, before grinning. “We'll easily fill two trolleys shopping for this place anyway…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

As Jon waited for Justin’s group to arrive in the arena, five minutes before their training was supposed to start, he was thankful to see Justin arriving early, without any of his students in tow. Jon and Charlotte had arrived back at the Academy late Sunday night. With Deoxys and Latios both panicking and lashing out during their last battle, Jon and Charlotte allowed a few hours for both Pokemon to relax, and when they were sure that another episode wasn’t likely, Jon sent out Scizor, figuring it be a good opportunity for Deoxys, who still seemed to want to battle, to practise against a different Pokemon. Thankfully, largely due to Latios’ communicating to Scizor exactly how hard to hit, there were no more incidents like the one earlier that day. Granted it still scared them to see how fatal the situation had nearly become in such a short amount of time.

They had arrived back at the Academy late, with all the interns having gone to sleep, bar Justin who was in his room, talking to Candice on the phone. Jon had arrived at the cottage, where Alyssa, barely awake, had mentioned the slander article that Silver Wing News had published. Whilst she assured Jon that Justin had handled it exceptionally, he was furious that it had been published in the first place.

Since then, he hadn’t had a chance to speak to Justin about it, outside of a passing comment the afternoon before, where Justin mentioned it had already been pulled, though there was no sign of the demanded apology. This was the first real opportunity he had to speak to Justin about the whole situation.

“How’re things going?” Jon asked meaningfully as Justin approached. “Anything come out of it?”

“Story has been pulled, and I’m yet to see the apology I demanded,” Justin answered, sighing slightly. “In all honesty, I’d just leave it at this normally, but Candice has been getting some pretty s**tty comments put on her social media accounts that are definitely because of that article, so I think I’ll be pushing hard for them to apologise publicly…”

Jon groaned hearing that Candice was being targeted. He had only met her once, but really liked her. And whilst he couldn’t attribute all of Justin’s growth in the last few years to her, it was clear that she was good for him and his own maturity.

“Maybe we should post some stuff in support of the pair of you…” Jon answered. “Myself and the others. Encourage people to call out a**holes who are buying this bulls**t…”

“It may come to that, but I want to try and wrangle this apology out of them first. I doubt it will do much, but it’s a start.”

“Any plan on how to do that now?” Jon asked. “I don’t mean to be a downer, but if after a first cease and desist letter they aren’t doing it, I think it will take more than another letter.”

“From me maybe,” Justin answered with a grin. “One of my professors from Jubilife saw the article, and reached out to me yesterday. I told him I had already contacted them, and forwarded him a copy of the cease and desist. He said that it should work to get it removed, but if I want, he is happy to contact them as my legal representation if it needs to go further.”

“Where was this offer of free legal representation when I had to represent the Eon Academy myself back in Rustboro?” Jon asked, feigning indignation. “Does your girlfriend need to come under fire for you to take the offer up?”

“Well, the first I heard you had no representation was less than eighteen hours before you were taken hostage and we were all trying not to get killed,” Justin retorted. “And between then and when I left Goldenrod, how many times did you even think about the trial?”

“Touché…” Jon said, as students started to walk in, and Justin went to make his way towards them. However, Jon stopped him quickly.

“Also,” Jon began. “I just wanted to say thanks for helping pick up some of the slack with Charlotte and I disappearing every second weekend to train Deoxys. Steven said you were a massive help.”

Justin shrugged off the compliment.

“It’s fine. What we’re here for, right?”

“I don’t think you realise how little camp interns actually do compared to you guys,” Jon answered. “Between us, I’m in the process of getting extra help Saturday night so I can give all of you the night off. So keep it free. It’ll be good for the five of you to be able to hang out without poachers and s**t…”

Justin chuckled at the sentiment, before moving towards his group who had entered, and began greeting them. For not the first time, Jon couldn’t help but wonder how this was the same kid who he threatened to send home, for taking Abbee’s phone, and lying about it, before realising that those present were now waiting on him to stop daydreaming, and made his way forward to begin the session…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“How many bottles of milk?” Abbee asked, as Dylan looked over the spreadsheet that had the Academy’s food inventory on his phone. Victini sat on her shoulder, enjoying the glances he got from people walking past, that Abbee and Dylan didn’t seem to notice.

“Make it six…” Dylan answered, looking at something else. “I’ve noticed more people tend to be having cereal for breakfast than toast, so we’re going through it quickly…”

Abbee nodded, before opening the fridge, and grabbing a bottle of milk with each hand, passing them to Dylan, who placed them in one of the trolleys, before grabbing two more. Once all were in the trolley, the pair continued, Dylan’s full with items that didn’t need to be chilled, and Abbee’s being filled with the cold items to prevent them from thawing out before they could be chilled again at the Academy. The pair were nearly done, now getting the last of the chilled goods, before they’d make their way through the registers and back to Dylan’s car.

It was mid afternoon, with the shopping having taken an hour and a half at this point, buying food for over a hundred people. They were in the meat section of the supermarket, when Dylan changed the topic of conversation.

“Got much left to do before you move?” Dylan asked casually, as he started loading packets of mince meat into the trolley.

“It’s mostly sorted,” Abbee replied. “Lease is signed for the apartment, which will start about two weeks after I arrive there. I already know where everything nearby is that I need. Shopping, transport and all that. So the biggest challenge will be moving everything when I do actually move there, and choosing what stays in Goldenrod.”

“Is Tyler staying there?”

Abbee laughed slightly, surprising Dylan.

“I guarantee you he will be gone within twenty-four hours of me leaving,” Abbee remarked. “He’d never make it out to be a chore, but the reason he has been living at home since Dad died is because he had to look after me. But now I’ve got a job, and am moving out, he can go back to travelling and competing again…”

“So the house will sit empty?” Dylan asked. “You can keep any other stuff there?”

“At this point, that’s the plan,” Abbee explained. “It will come in handy if Tyler and I decide to catch up back at home. But I don’t know that I’ll be back too often outside of that. I have school friends in Goldenrod, sure, but if Tyler is off travelling somewhere, I don’t think I’ll have much reason to visit Johto after I move to Nimbasa…”

Something struck Dylan as odd about the remark.

“Isn’t Chris from Blackthorn City?” Dylan asked. “It might come in handy if you visit him?”

It wasn’t until the words left Dylan’s mouth that he remembered the argument he overheard the other night, and internally began kicking himself. Abbee seemed to freeze up for a second, before continuing.

“He’s gonna be travelling, so I doubt he’ll be home long enough for me to make the trip to visit him,” Abbee said, trying to cover the fact that she hadn’t even considered the fact that Chris was from Johto in her thoughts about the future of the house.

Dylan accepted the remark, continuing through the meat section in silence, as Abbee realised why she hadn’t factored in Chris being from Johto in the thoughts of her returning home. For the first time since they started dating last summer, she had been realistically thinking about her future, and naturally not seen him as part of it.

“Wait,” Dylan said, remembering something else Abbee said. “Why does your lease start two weeks after you arrive in Nimbasa?”

This topic being a sore spot for Abbee still, made worse by the sudden realisation that she didn’t see Chris being in her life past the summer, she began trying to think of ways to get out of it.

“They asked me to start two weeks early at the gym, to cover for someone who got fired,” Abbee said quickly, before continuing before Dylan could ask any more follow-up questions. “Actually, while we are here, Victini wants me to grab some ice-cream. I was gonna grab it before, but figured I’d wait until we were about to leave…”

Victini looked at Abbee, a little confused, which Dylan seemed to notice.

“Sure. We’ll head by the ice-cream section on our way out,” Dylan began, however Abbee shook her head.

“I’ll go there now, and meet you by the registers,” Abbee interrupted. “If we leave too much later we will get stuck in peak hour traffic and the frozen stuff will thaw…”

Dylan realised she was right, before nodding in agreement as she left, taking the full trolley and leaving Dylan with the one that still needed to be filled. He couldn’t help but notice that she seemed off, like she was avoiding something. Whilst his first thought was the argument she had with Chris, that was days ago, and they had seemed fine since. Lunch that day was the first time Dylan had seen her without Chris right next to her, and Abbee had never been one to bottle up what was bothering her around Dylan, even when Chris was getting on her nerves a little.

Dylan grabbed the last of the chilled meat the Academy needed, before checking his spreadsheet again to make sure they had everything. Once he was sure they had all they needed, he turned the trolley, and made his way to the end of the aisle they were in, wondering what had Abbee so on edge, as he rounded the corner.

His attention was pulled by a cry of alarm, as he looked up to see a young woman, similar in age to himself, with hair dark enough red that it had to be dyed, crouching down to pick up scattered groceries from the plastic shopping basket she just dropped. It took him a second to realise what had happened.

“I’m so sorry,” Dylan said, with a little too much conviction, as he realised he had bumped into her, and caused her to drop her basket. He quickly crouched down next to her, and helped pick up the scattered items.

She wore a pair of black slacks, and a white and green checked button up shirt, with a name tag on the left pocket, Dylan figuring she worked in hospitality or something similar.

“Don’t worry,” the woman said casually, as picked up a few more items, placing them in the basket. “It’s my fault, I should have been paying attention.”

As they placed the last two items in the basket, she stood, and looked at Dylan for the first time. Dylan noticed her dark brown eyes, that seemed friendly, regardless of the fact he had just accidentally walked his overfilled trolley into her.

“It looks like you’re feeding an army with all that,” she remarked with a grin, nodding towards Dylan’s trolley.

“You could say that…”

Abbee walked around the corner from the frozen food section, with a tub of ice cream for Victini, which, whilst he objected to being an accessory to her deception, didn’t mind the extra tub, when she noticed Dylan talking to a girl a similar age to himself. Curious, she made her way towards the pair, speaking up.

“Everything okay Dylan?” she asked, as Dylan noticed her, and his new friend turned around to see the source of Dylan’s interest.

“I hope so,” Dylan replied, before returning his focus to the person in front of him. “I didn’t hurt you did I?”

“No, I’m fine,” the stranger replied with a grin, Abbee noticing her attention was barely able to be pulled away from Dylan. “It wasn’t that bad. I’m just a bit of a clutz…”

Before she continued, she looked towards Abbee, with a sense of familiarity, before seeing Victini on her shoulder, watching the whole exchange curiously. Suddenly her eyes widened.

“Wait, you’re Abbee Strauss, aren’t you?” the girl asked, as Abbee grinned, slightly embarrassed.

“Yeah, I’m her,” Abbee remarked, never getting used to this. It happened occasionally, due to her father’s own fame, however it had increased slightly since the Eon Academy made the news over last summer. “And you are?”

“Isabelle,” she replied, before looking between Abbee and Dylan.

“If I’m seeing you here during the summer, Abbee, does that mean you’re from the Academy as well Dylan?” Isabelle asked, putting two and two together. Abbee however was shocked by the question.

“He pretty much runs the place,” Abbee remarked before Dylan answered. “He is Jon’s second-in-command. Have you seriously not heard of him?”

“I tend to keep to myself…” Dylan remarked, knowing he was the least active on any sort of social media, and avoided the media attention much more than his friends. Abbee however wasn’t satisfied.

“When the meteor was about to strike Mossdeep last summer, Dylan was the one who coordinated the attack to destroy it before it landed with Justin,” Abbee explained, as Isabelle’s eyes widened a little. “And when Doexys attacked, Jon was off shore, and Dylan managed to evacuate the entire Academy to the beach, arrange for someone to get power back up for long enough to send out an SOS, and then come back to the Academy and put up a hell of a fight until Deoxys was captured. Heck, he even beat Jon on our first day back this summer…”

Dylan went red with Abbee overselling him to Isabelle, as Isabelle realised just who she was talking to.

“Well, as someone who lives on Mossdeep, and was terrified when Deoxys appeared, you have my thanks,” Isabelle remarked, flashing Dylan a smile. “I almost feel honoured that you bumped into me.”

“It was a team effort,” Dylan said, trying to take the attention off him. “Abbee and Victini held Deoxys off with Charlotte and her Luxray by themselves until the rest of us could come back and help.”

“Which was your idea to begin with…” Abbee interjected, as Dylan found himself going even more red.

Before Isabelle could respond, there was a beep from her watch, which took her attention. She glanced at it briefly, before sighing.

“Work. They want me to come in early…” Isabelle sighed, smiling one last time at Dylan. “It was nice meeting you Dylan. Hopefully I’ll see you around...”

She made her way past the pair, as Dylan looked in shock between her, and Abbee who seemed far too pleased with herself. When Isabelle was out of earshot, Abbee spoke.

“You gotta admit, she’s cute,” Abbee remarked. “I could definitely see the pair of you hitting it off…”

“Abbee…” Dylan began, however Abbee cut him off, knowing he was only going to object.

“Dude, she was so into you…” Abbee said. “I was the one doing all the talking, yet she only said goodbye to you…”

“You’re overthinking the whole thing-” Dylan started, however Abbee interrupted him again.

“You’re underthinking it!” Abbee pleaded. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not at all interested…”

Abbee began staring him down, which Dylan struggled to take seriously due to the near foot difference in height. He had to admit, Isabelle seemed nice, and he figured if given more time to talk to her than accidentally crashing a shopping trolley into her, they may get along well. However…

“Look, even if I was,” Dylan began, before noting Abbee’s eyes widening. “I said if! Even if I was, I don’t have time for a relationship right now. Things are hectic, and hell, I’m still figuring out what life after the Academy looks like for just me. Let alone throwing another person into that mix…”

Realising that Dylan had basically summed up her whole dilemma with Chris, Abbee went quiet, deciding not to say if Jon knew Dylan was using how hectic things at the Academy were for not pursuing a relationship, that Jon would force Dylan to do less work.

“Look, I’m just saying, she’s cute, and you’d have to be blind to not see she was into you…” Abbee said calmly. “I’ll leave it at that…”

“Duly noted…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was close to midnight when Charlotte, the last of the interns to be able to head to the lodge, finally made her way through the front door, turning towards the lounge where her four friends sat, each person's attention occupied by something different, and collapsed onto one of the couches.

“I don’t know what it is about fourteen year old girls…” Charlotte muttered, having spent the last half hour to get them to, at the very least, keep their chatter quiet enough that those in the bunk room next to theirs weren’t kept awake. “Considering how much they talk during the day, you’d think they’d be too tired to talk all night, or at least run out of stuff to talk about…”

Justin couldn’t help but laugh at Charlotte’s logic.

“I think your answer was in your opening sentence…” Justin answered. “They’re fourteen year old girls. The universe could end with a big freeze, and they would still find stuff to talk about…”

“After the hour I just had, trying to get them to give their neighbours the opportunity to sleep, I have no doubt that is the case…”

“I’ll be teaching them first thing tomorrow morning…” Dylan said menacingly. “If you give me names, I’ll make sure to forward all my questions to them…”

Chris grinned hearing this, as he looked up from his laptop, while Charlotte considered it, before sighing.

“I better not…” Charlotte remarked, before yawning. “They’re good kids. Even if this time of night has them driving me up the wall…”

“It could be worse…” Abbee consoled. “Tyler volunteered at a summer camp a few years back. One of the campers decided it would be hilarious to find some Miltank s**t on a nearby paddock, and put it on his roommate's bed…”

Charlotte cringed hearing this, as Chris groaned.

“The thing that annoyed him most was that these kids weren’t even in Tyler’s group,” Abbee continued. “His group was really easy to manage, but one of the other volunteers had to leave for a day or two, and Tyler offered to keep an eye on his group. And the kids in this group went wild the moment their leader left…”

“You guys telling camp horror stories?”

All the trainers turned to see Jon standing in the doorway to the lounge, grinning to himself.

“How the hell do you sneak in here so silently?” Chris asked, this far from being the first time Jon had surprised them.

Jon shrugged, not wanting to dampen the mood of the room by mentioning that he learnt at a very young age how to enter and exit rooms silently, to avoid being spotted by his dad when he was in one of his moods.

“Aren’t you usually asleep by now?” Dylan asked.

“Normally, but I like to keep things interesting,” Jon remarked. “Actually, I saw the lights were on, and wanted to talk to the five of you before you went to sleep, so I quickly snuck out.”

“Alyssa not wanting you out past curfew?” Chris joked, as Jon chuckled.

“I’ll keep it brief,” Jon said. “Saturday night, you all can take a night off. I’ll run activities for the students with Steven and Alyssa. Get off site for a few hours and enjoy yourselves.”

Chris grinned at the thought of a night out, before speaking up.

“What brought this on?”

“You’ve all really stepped up to the plate this summer,” Jon answered. “We have nearly three times as many students as last year, and now Charlotte and I are disappearing every second weekend to try and train Deoxys. And considering we had less than a month to pull this together, you’ve all earnt a break.”

“After the night I’ve had, I’m so down…” Charlotte exhaled. “So what, we eat out, then do something else?”

Hearing this Abbee’s face lit up.

“Can we go to the Firehouse?” Abbee asked. “I noticed it on the pier a few weeks back, and have been meaning to check it out…”

Looking around, there was a general nod of agreement, with nobody having any objections, leaving Abbee pleased with that outcome.

“What about after?” Chris asked. “Any ideas? Seeing as we don’t get to do this too often…”

“If I may…” Jon suggested, getting everyone’s attention. “Take it or leave it, but Justin has covered everyone here at some point or another this summer. I think he should choose…”

“I really don’t mind-” Justin began as Chris interrupted.

“He’s right,” Chris interjected. “Stop trying to be a gentleman, and pick something. What would you like to do?”

The others chorused in agreement, as Justin began thinking it over. After a minute, he had an idea, turning to Jon.

“Could you get us another permit to have a bonfire on the beach?” Justin asked, causing the others to grin. “Our last one kind of got interrupted…”

Liking Justin’s thinking, Jon joined his students with their grins.

“Consider it done…”

“So we get dinner at the Firehouse, then walk down to the beach and spend a few hours there?” Charlotte clarified. “I like the sound of this.”

“Let’s dress up a bit,” Abbee chimed in. “Make a bit of an occasion of it…”

Chris groaned at the suggestion.

“We’re only gonna get covered in sand anyway…”

“The Firehouse seems like a nice restaurant,” Abbee lectured. “I’m not saying we dress up in formal wear. Just maybe choose a pair of shorts that don’t have holes in them, and something a little more than a singlet…”

The attire Abbee had described was what Chris had been wearing during most days of the summer, as he rolled his eyes. However, that was the only objection to Abbee’s suggestion of dressing up.

Knowing his presence wasn’t needed anymore, Jon said goodnight to the interns, before leaving, struggling not to yawn as he left the lodge, whilst those remaining discussed how to make best use of their Saturday night out.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“I swear to God, if we’re overdressed compared to everyone else there…” Chris remarked from the rear driver's side seat, as he pulled loose one of the top buttons on the shirt he wore. The shorts he wore weren’t his own, but a pair of shorts Justin had bought the summer before, the day he was punched and his nose was broken, with Abbee asking Justin on his behalf if he could borrow a pair when she realised that every pair of shorts Chris had that could work for the dress-code they were going for had holes in them. The insult to injury for Chris however, was the pair of white socks and low-cut Converse sneakers he wore, having argued to wear a pair of flip-flops, and giving in, knowing just how many brownie points he had lost with his girlfriend in the last week.

“You’re barely wearing anything that screams more than casual right now,” Charlotte remarked from the passenger side, rear seat. “I don’t look homeless, the world is coming to an end!”

Justin choked back a laugh at Charlotte’s exaggerated imitation of Chris from the front passenger seat, as Abbee, who sat between the soon to be bickering pair, took the more tactful route.

“You look nice,” Abbee remarked with a grin. “All of you do…”

Really, Abbee couldn’t care less if Chris had looked homeless during the dinner. As long as Dylan looked presentable…

“So why the Firehouse again?” Dylan asked, as he struggled to find a carpark. “The pier is nice, but on a Saturday night, everyone and their mum is here…”

“My mum’s here?” Chris asked jokingly, causing all present to groan.

“I’ve been meaning to come here for a little while…” Abbee remarked. “I saw it and thought it looked cool.”

“When have you been at the pier?” Chris asked, the pair barely being apart since they arrived, until last week.

“I saw it online…”

After another lap of the car park by the large pier, Dylan managed to find a parking spot, before they all climbed out of the car, stretched their tired and cramped muscles, and made their way down the large pier, that seemed like it shouldn’t physically be able to handle the weight of the restaurants and people that covered it.

“Over by the end,” Abbee said to the others, noticing the neon sign in the distance, and walking forward a little faster.

“What’s got her so eager?” Charlotte asked Chris, who shrugged, before stepping up his own pace as well to catch up with his girlfriend.

As they got closer to the restaurant, they could see partitions sectioning off part of the pier with tables and chairs, for patrons who wanted to sit outside, which on a summer night like this, was much more preferable. Whilst there were a couple of empty tables, it was fairly busy, with wait staff making their way in and out of the building. There was something familiar about the scene to Dylan, leaving him slightly confused, until the realisation of where he had seen this before hit him like a tonne of bricks. He stopped walking, as he realised exactly why Abbee wanted to get dinner at this exact restaurant…

“You alright?” Justin asked Dylan, noticing he had stopped. Hearing Justin speak up, Abbee turned to face Justin and Dylan, her face struggling to hide a guilty expression…

“Abbee…” Dylan said, his tone sounding dangerous. “You didn’t…”

His tone was enough to catch everyone off guard, causing Chris and Charlotte to turn as well, looking confusedly between Dylan, whose face was a mixture of horror and anger, and Abbee, who was trying her very best to appear like she had no idea what Dylan was talking about…

“What’s wrong?” Abbee asked, feigning innocence, though Dylan knew her too well at this point to fall for it.

“Tell me the truth, or I turn around right now, and come pick you all up later…” Dylan warned, “Why the Firehouse…”

“Abbee, what’s going on?” Chris asked, before Charlotte took the more direct option.

“What have you done Abbee?”

Abbee looked between her friends, trying her hardest to keep a straight face, before giving in, and sighing.

“When Dylan and I were getting groceries for Jon on Tuesday, Dylan and I ended up chatting to a girl there who was really nice and was really interested in Dylan,” Abbee explained. “She was wearing a waitress uniform…”

“Identical to those ones…” Dylan finished, nodding towards the waitresses, before sighing and shaking his head. “And great… now everybody knows…”

Justin remained silent, not wanting to get involved in what was very quickly turning into an extremely awkward conversation, Charlotte opting to do the same, though her reasons stemming from her knowledge of just how much Dylan liked Abbee the summer before, and how much it hurt him to see her and Chris growing as close as they did. Chris on the other hand, was doing everything he could to hide his massive grin, which in the end, wasn’t much, as it was no secret he found this situation hilarious.

“I’m going to the beach…” Dylan muttered irritably, as he turned to walk away.

“Dylan, wait!” Abbee called out, as she ran a few steps, before slowing down to a brisk walk to catch up to him. She reached out and grabbed him by the forearm, stopping him.

“I was fine with how things were!” Dylan snapped at Abbee as he turned to face her, who recoiled, letting go of his arm. “Yeah, she was nice, but I was fine leaving it at that!”

“Dylan, I’m sorry…” Abbee said. “I thought you’d like the chance to see her again, even if you didn’t realise it at the time…”

“When has that ever been the case?”

“I mean, you said it yourself, if I didn’t pester you so much, you probably wouldn’t have left your room during our first summer here…” Abbee began, though realising her mistake, as Dylan began to fume even more.

“Yeah, I spent a lot of time in my room!” Dylan shouted, drawing attention to them. “You know why? Because at home, that was the easiest way to not get hit by my stepdad, and guess what? That didn’t even work that well! I’m not your f**king pity-project Abbee!”

Tears began to form in Abbee’s eyes, as Chris felt his amusement shift in an instant to rage, as he moved towards Dylan, however before either of them could speak, an unfamiliar voice chimed in.

“Is this guy bothering you, miss?”

Dylan and Abbee turned to see a man in his mid forties looking between them with a look of concern.

“It’s fine…” Abbee said to him quietly. “Thank you…”

“Are you sure?” he asked, before Charlotte intervened.

“She said she’s fine,” Charlotte said shortly, nodding down the pier, impolitely telling him to move along. Once he left, Charlotte spoke, albeit in a quieter voice. “Dylan…”

Dylan looked at her, the expression of betrayal and anger still evident.

“You’re making a scene, and we don’t have the luxury of anonymity to be making scenes…” Charlotte warned, quietly and slowly, making sure Dylan understood. “All it takes is one person to film this, and the Academy and Jon have a PR nightmare. No matter what way you explain it, everyone is seeing a big guy, tearing into a young, innocent looking girl in the middle of a busy pier. Get it together, and act like an adult…”

“She’s right,” Justin added. “Take it from me…”

Dylan knew both were right, as he forced himself to calm down. However, there was one thought that stuck out to him.

“I’ll have dinner at this place, and stick around for the campfire,” Dylan said, his voice dangerously calm. “The firewood is in my car, so if I leave now like I really want to, your night is ruined, and I don’t want to do that to the rest of you. That and Jon has done something nice for us by giving us the night off, and I don’t want him to feel like that was a waste…”

“Thanks,” Abbee said quietly, drying the tears from her face, as Chris placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry about this…”

Chris however, wasn’t appeased by Dylan’s answer, and insisted on getting the last word.

“For someone who barely speaks, you can be a real a**hole at times…”

“Chris!” Abbee said, turning to face him. However, he looked past her, eyes locked with Dylan. Dylan was silent for a moment before he responded.

“Trust you to be the one to only get that out of all this…” Dylan remarked, as he walked past Abbee and Chris, bumping Chris with his shoulder as he went past. Every bit of buried resentment he held against Chris, both for ending up with Abbee, and every other little irritable thing that Dylan had looked past for the last two years, that was beginning to bubble over, in his tone. “Let’s get this over with…”

Dylan took the lead, followed by Charlotte and Justin, with Abbee shoving off Chris’ hand, angry that he had just antagonised Dylan when she was the one in the wrong. Chris sighed irritably, pausing for a second, before following the awkwardly silent group, towards the Firehouse.

They arrived, with Charlotte and Justin intentionally being the ones to talk to the hostess about their booking, knowing that they had the best chance of not coming across as angry or upset when they spoke. The next awkward part however, was when they found themselves at their table, with five empty seats. Whilst Abbee’s first thought was to sit between Charlotte and Justin, giving her space from Dylan who was angry with her, and Chris who she was angry with, she soon realised that if she did that, Dylan and Chris would have to sit next to one another, which would be potentially even worse, if Chris decided to antagonise Dylan further. She opted to sit between Charlotte and Dylan, with Chris sitting between Charlotte and Justin.

As the group sat in awkward silence, vaguely looking over menus, Charlotte, Justin and Chris all noticed Dylan and Abbee’s eyes lock onto the same person for a second, as they left the kitchen and started making their way towards the table where the group sat.

“As much as I am not happy about Abbee using tonight as an opportunity to play match-maker, I’d rather she not think the five of us are insane,” Dylan said quietly to the rest of the group. “So can we try and have a normal dinner, and deal with whatever issues are still there when we get home?”

Abbee nodded, before Chris spoke up.

“Sure thing, boss…” he said sarcastically, before looking back at his menu.

“Chris…” Abbee hissed, wondering how she was even more angry at him after what happened the week before.

“Save it…” Dylan muttered, before turning and trying to flash a casual grin at Isabelle, who was approaching the table.

“Must be my lucky day!” Isabelle said with a grin. “Nice to see you Dylan. You as well Abbee.”

“Oh Isabelle!” Abbee said, as Dylan said a quiet hello. “I didn’t realise you worked here! I’ve been wanting to come for ages…”

Internally, Charlotte and Dylan cringed, knowing exactly that Isabelle knew that was a lie. Isabelle smiled, before addressing the rest of the table.

“My name’s Isabelle, and I’ll be your waitress for tonight,” Isabelle said, before pulling a notepad from her shirt pocket. “Can I start you off with some drinks?”

”Do you have anything that will knock me out…” Charlotte thought to herself, as Justin tried to cut through the tension by ordering a drink, before Chris followed suit. Once all of them had ordered, Isabelle left with their order, as there was a collective sigh of relief from the table.

“She seems great…” Charlotte said, trying to console Dylan somewhat, however the attempt fell flat, as the group sat in awkward silence. Growing sick of it, Justin decided to take the lead with conversation.

“Did you hear that Bentley of the Sinnoh Elite Four has just been replaced?” Justin asked Charlotte. She took the bait, hoping to break the tension.

“He has been talking about retiring for the last ten years…” Charlotte remarked. “Who is replacing him?”

“This guy called Flint,” Justin explained. “Any guesses what sort of Pokemon he battles with?”

Charlotte sighed.

“What is it with high profile trainers and their pun names?” Charlotte groaned. “Flint the fire specialist? Hoenn is terrible for it. Tate and Liza, and Wallace are the only Gym Leaders who don’t have comic-book names. Even Norman, the most bland name I have ever heard, is a Normal Type trainer…”

Justin laughed at the remark, knowing sadly how true it was, and hoping that Charlotte didn’t know Candice spelt her name with an i instead of a second a...

“Get this though, he is a graduate from the College of the North Wind…”

This struck Abbee’s attention, having heard the term North Wind before, though unable to remember where.

“College of the North Wind?” Abbee asked, curious about this college.

“The Eon Academy runs week long camps during the year, and then does its summer intensive, where teenagers are trained to the brink of what’s allowed to help them get stronger,” Justin explained, turning to Abbee, and thankful she was getting involved in the conversation. “The College of the North Wind is a battling school in Jubilife City, but instead of being for teenagers, it is for adults, and instead of only running over summer, it runs for the other nine months of the year…”

“So the people there are tough?”

“The toughest…” Charlotte remarked. “It has an acceptance rate of one in three hundred, and was created and is run by Camilla Blakely, who is the former Sinnoh Champion, and mentor to Cynthia herself…”

“If you look at any region's Elite Four, or even their Champions, you could throw a rock and hit a College of the North Wind graduate…” Justin added. “The Eon Academy is hardly talked about in Jubilife, because the College of the North Wind has been around longer, and has a reputation that Jon would be drooling over…”

Charlotte laughed at the remark, as Abbee’s curiosity remained unabated.

“So why the North Wind?”

“The Eon Academy is named after Jon’s Latios,” Dylan answered, speaking for the first time since Isabelle left. “I’m guessing this Camilla Blakely person has a Suicune…”

“That’s it…” Charlotte answered. “And while there is no doubt Jon is tough, I think he’d have a seriously tough time beating Camilla if they ever battled…”

Before too long, Isabelle returned with their drinks, before taking their orders for dinner, eventually returning with their meals as well. As the night went on, Charlotte and Justin drove most of the conversation, with Abbee more than willing to help, shouldering the blame for their night out being a mess, and Dylan contributing himself, mostly to get through the night without an incident. Chris however, remained silent, only speaking when talking to, and doing little to hide his glares when Isabelle wasn’t around. It wasn’t until Isabelle stopped by the table after they had finished their meals, that Chris had an idea, and suddenly became a lot more talkative.

“Were you wanting to order dessert?” Isabelle asked, as she returned, having taken away their empty dishes.

“After tonight, I’ve earned it…” Charlotte whispered near inaudibly, as Abbee addressed Isabelle.

“It’s still early, so I think we might,” Abbee remarked. “Just need a second to double check what’s on the menu.

“Take all the time you need,” Isabelle said, before turning to leave, however Chris spoke up, his tone far different to what it had been during the meal.

“I’ve never been here, so I’m curious,” Chris asked Isabelle, sounding sincere, though his friends knowing that wasn’t the case. “Is it always this busy of a Saturday night?”

Isabelle looked towards him, noting to herself that he had said the least since they had arrived.

“Not this busy,” Isabelle replied. “But we got a lot of bookings during the week for tonight. I technically had tonight off, but got asked to come in and do an extra shift.”

Abbee looked between Chris and Isabelle, smiling outwardly, but worried what Chris was trying to do, and how Dylan was going to react to whatever it was.

“So it’s going to be a late one?” Chris asked casually. Isabelle grinned, before looking around to make sure no wait staff were nearby, before speaking, albeit a little quieter.

“I already had plans to get drinks with some friends tonight before work called, so I told them I could work until nine,” Isabelle explained, before her grin widened. “My friends flaked on me, but as far as this place is concerned, I still have plans…”

Abbee saw Chris’ grin widen, and stared him down, knowing exactly what he was planning. However, the desire to get back at Dylan, and make him uncomfortable overruled his common sense, as well as the concern of how Abbee would react to him antagonising Dylan further.

“How’s that for luck?” Chris asked Charlotte, who sat next to him. Charlotte replied in agreement, more so not wanting to let on to Isabelle that there was beef between the group, or potentially even offend her. “We got a permit to have a bonfire on the beach, so we will be heading down there after this. If your friends have flaked, would you like to join us when your shift ends?”

Abbee glared at Chris, who saw this in his peripheral vision, and fought the urge to glance towards her, and risk causing Isabelle to see what was really going on. Isabelle however, seemed taken aback by the invite. Noticing this, Chris continued.

“We’d love to have you join us, wouldn’t we Dylan?” Chris asked, knowing Dylan would rather have an uncomfortable night, than risk hurting this stranger. Isabelle turned to Dylan, still seeming a little unsure.

Dylan sighed internally, wondering how exactly he would give Chris a piece of his mind when they got back to the Academy, but knowing that Chris was after a reaction. He looked to Isabelle, and did his best to come across as friendly and inviting, when really he wanted nothing more than to humiliate Chris by putting him on the ground in front of everyone.

“If you’re not wanting to go straight home, you’re more than welcome,” Dylan assured. “The more the merrier…”

This seemed to confirm things for Isabelle, who smiled warmly at him, then Chris.

“Thanks!” Isabelle said. “Sounds like a lot of fun…”

After taking their orders, Isabelle left, still beaming, as Charlotte looked quietly towards Justin, her back turned to the direction Isabelle had gone.

“Tell me when she can’t see us…” Charlotte said to Justin, who nodded, keeping an eye on her as she left the dining room and entered the kitchen.

“Now…”

Quick as a whip, Charlotte slapped Chris across the back of the head with an audible crack that would have drawn much more attention if the Firehouse weren’t as busy as it was…

“Oww…” Chris moaned, as Dylan couldn’t help but smirk.

“You’re a f**king idiot, you know that?” Charlotte hissed, as Abbee looked at Chris, disappointment evident in her eyes. “She seems really nice, and you think it’s okay to just lead her on because you have an axe to grind?”

“What, it was a joke…” Chris retorted, looking to Justin for approval, however found none.

“That’s bulls**t and you know it…” Justin said. “If somebody did that to Candice, I’d be pissed, and I know you’d be throwing punches if someone did that to Abbee…”

Chris looked between Charlotte and Justin, before looking towards Abbee, who sat opposite him at the table. He expected to see anger in her eyes, but was surprised, and somewhat remorseful, to see a look of bitter disappointment.

“Look, I’m sorry, that was stupid-” Chris began.

“Don’t be sorry. Be better…”

All eyes on the table turned to Dylan, who was staring down Chris. His ego bruised, Chris’ first instinct was to lash out at Dylan, however knew that he already had a lot to answer for with the others after that night, and especially with Abbee, and didn’t want to push his luck any further. He sighed.

“Legit, I’m sorry…” Chris repeated. “Let’s just make sure to show her a good night…”

“Will you act like an adult?” Charlotte asked. “Stop sulking like you have been all night, and stop doing stupid s**t like that?”

“Yeah,” Chris sighed, though most of the table felt the same uneasiness that he did.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“So do you guys do this often?” Isabelle asked, as Chris attempted to build the firewood in a formation that would burn without his Charizard pouring flames onto it.

“This is only our second time,” Abbee explained. “We did this at the start of last summer, and were here when that meteorite nearly hit…”

“Geez, it almost sounds like you guys just happen to be where things happen…”

“Heroes of our own story I guess,” Justin remarked with a grin, as he and Dylan joined the group, carrying the last of the firewood, and Charlotte unfolded the five chairs.

Chris got the fire burning, and stood, turning to look at the setup they had, and coming to the same realisation as everyone else. They had brought five chairs, not expecting there to be a sixth. Knowing he had ways to go to get Abbee to forgive him for this, he spoke up.

“Isabelle, you can have my chair,” Chris offered, gesturing towards it.

“Oh no, it’s fine!” Isabelle protested, feeling slightly awkward being there, it taking Dylan’s reassurance that she was welcome to convince her initially. Now, she didn’t want to put someone else out.

“You’ve been on your feet all night,” Abbee remarked. “Chris will be fine on the ground…”

Unable to argue with that, Isabelle thanked them, taking a seat, as Dylan took the one next to her, more so knowing that she probably was most comfortable around himself or Abbee, the rest of the group being unknowing pawns in Abbee’s attempts to play match-maker, and feeling just as awkward as she did.

“So what was the occasion for tonight?” Isabelle asked Dylan, which the others were thankful for, before making idle chatter among themselves when they realised that Isabelle was content chatting to Dylan. Granted, they kept a little attention on the pair. She noted Dylan’s own dark blue button up shirt, and pressed jeans. “You all seem dressed up. Was it someone’s birthday?”

Dylan groaned internally as he only just realised why Abbee insisted on the group dressing up, before answering.

“Jon gave us the night off,” Dylan explained, figuring with how much about the Academy Isabelle seemed to know, referring to Jon on a first name basis wouldn’t confuse her. “We have nearly tripled the number of people attending that we did last year, and with the old government trying to take the property, we couldn’t repair damage from Deoxys attack or really make any concrete plans for the summer until a month ago. Between that, and Jon and Charlotte being away from Mossdeep every second weekend to train Deoxys, we’ve all had to step up, and Jon wanted to give us the night off…”

“I saw the Firehouse last summer when I was near the pier, and have wanted to go since,” Abbee interjected, before gesturing to those around her. “Charlotte and Justin were fine, but I figured between Dylan and Chris, if I didn’t put the pressure on them to dress up a bit, they’d be making the rest of us look bad at a place like that…”

“These aren’t even my shorts,” Chris added, causing Isabelle to laugh, before looking between him and Dylan.

“Well, you scrub up alright,” Isabelle laughed. “So was the fire on the beach Jon’s idea?”

“Mine,” Justin remarked. “According to Jon, I’ve picked up the most slack, so he told me to choose. And since last time we did this we were rudely interrupted by a meteorite, I figured I’d give this another go…”

Abbee breathed a sigh of relief when the awkwardness seemed to disappear, and even after the arguments earlier in the night, with the exception of Dylan and Chris, people seemed fine with one another. Granted, she was still angry at Chris for antagonising Dylan, and was hiding that for everyone else's sake until later, and knew it was likely all were in some way or another doing the same thing.

“So who is the best battler out of the five of you?” Isabelle asked later on in the evening when the conversation started to shift towards battling prowess.

The question took most of the group by surprise, not because they felt uncomfortable answering, but because at this point, they genuinely didn’t know. In their first year, and during the start of their second, it was clear that Chris and Charlotte were on equal sort of terms, followed by Abbee and Justin, with Dylan trailing behind them. However now, they honestly couldn’t say.

“I don’t even know any more…” Abbee laughed. “Jon says Charlotte is terrifying to battle against, and during our first year, she was a cut above most of us…”

Charlotte grinned, never tiring of that assessment.

“That being said, when Justin came back last summer after catching Regieleki, and changing his battling style, he nearly wiped out Jon’s team with just his Alakazam, before Jon even knew Regieleki existed,” Abbee explained. “Then there’s Dylan…”

Isabelle looked towards Dylan, after clarification.

“These guys are stronger than me,” Dylan answered modestly. “They all have more experience battling than I do, and now all of them have Legendary Pokemon…”

“It’s not that simple though,” Charlotte answered, defending Dylan against his own self deprecation. “Dylan has no Legendary Pokemon, and hasn’t changed his team enough to take Jon by surprise like Justin did. The four of us might be better at battling offensively, and coming up with tactics, but also have some glaring weaknesses in our styles that Jon had picked up. And he made them obvious by giving our students a session psychoanalysing us, and showing them our match recordings to show them how to beat us. And they all did, except for Dylan’s. While we’re better offensively, Jon couldn’t find a glaring hole in Dylan’s battling. Between that, and Dylan’s own way of analysing a battle, he beat Jon pretty easily at the start of summer…”

Wanting to change the subject, Dylan addressed Isabelle directly.

“Do you have any Pokemon?” Dylan asked, trying to take the topic of conversation off of him.

“Just one,” Isabelle replied. “A Spheal. She’s more of a pet than a battler though.”

“From Shoal Cave?” Dylan asked, as Isabelle nodded. “I have a Walrein that I caught as a Spheal from there.

“What other Pokemon do you have?” Isabelle asked. “I follow the Academy, and all these guys on Instagram, so I know vaguely what they battle with…”

“My main team is a Sceptile, Walrein, Flygon, Dusknoir and a Shiny Metagross,” Dylan explained. “I have a Solrock as well, however I don’t battle with it in anything serious, and have a Lampent I caught last summer that I might try and add into my team when it’s ready. And back at the Academy, I have a pet Vulpix…”

Isabelle’s eyes widened at the mention of Vulpix.

“Which type?” Isabelle asked. “The native one or Alolan one? Doesn’t matter to me, because they’re both adorable…”

Dylan grinned at Isabelle’s enthusiasm.

“A native one,” Dylan answered. “Named Kaen, but he is living with Jon and Alyssa over summer, because Alyssa has an Alolan one called Yuki, and they are inseparable…”

Isabelle’s excitement piqued hearing this.

“Do you have any photos of them?”

As they talked, Charlotte couldn’t help but be surprised at how good Dylan and Isabelle seemed together, and began to understand somewhat, though still not agree with, Abbee’s actions that lead to this point. Even more surprising to her was how much Dylan actually seemed to be enjoying her company, and whilst Charlotte wasn’t sure if Dylan’s feelings about Abbee the summer before had changed or not, the more she saw Dylan genuinely enjoying Isabelle’s company, and the pair, without even realising it, excluding conversation with all others there to talk to each other, the more she thought maybe he had moved past his feelings for Abbee, and was moving on.

It was after midnight when the supplies of firewood had run out, and the fire they had spent the last hour sitting around smouldered down to nothing, as the lights from the pier nearby started to disappear. During that time Abbee was guiltily happy to see Dylan and Isabelle barely speaking to anyone but each other for most of that time, and Dylan shifting from conversing with her for the sake of making sure she had a decent night, and not realise Chris had invited her to mess with him, to conversing with her because he genuinely enjoyed her company. It honestly seemed like the pair could talk all night, before Isabelle checked her watch, and sighed.

“I’d better head off. Buses have stopped for the night, and I live on the other end of the Island. I’ll struggle to find a cab home if I leave it any later…” Isabelle said, before looking to the entire group, knowing she neglected their company for the night in favour of Dylan's. “Thanks for letting me tag along tonight. Makes up for my friends flaking, well and truly…”

“Will it take long to get a cab at this time of night?” Dylan asked. He hadn’t used one in Mossdeep before, and whilst there were plenty of cab drivers in big cities like Lilycove and Rustboro, there weren’t many in Mossdeep.

“Half an hour or so I think,” Isabelle replied. “It’s fine though.”

“We’ll wait with you,” Dylan offered. “I’d offer you a ride, but I’ve only got five seats.

“You don’t have to,” Isabelle began, however Chris interjected.

“I actually think I might walk back to the Academy. So you can give Isabelle a ride if you want,” Chris said, as Abbee shot him a glare. “It’s a pretty nice night for a walk and it’s not that far…”

Abbee knew what he was doing, and at first was angry, however noticed his demeanour and expression were different to when he invited her to join them in the first place. Whilst Abbee couldn’t confirm it herself, Chris had seen the same thing that she and Charlotte had seen between Dylan and Isabelle, and this time was offering to try and do Dylan a favour. Granted, that was more to try and soften the fight he and Abbee were likely going to have about this later.

Unsure of whether this was a good idea, Abbee remained silent, not sure whether to join him.

“It is pretty nice, isn’t it? I might just join you, if you don’t mind the company?”

Abbee, as was Justin, was shocked when Charlotte made the offer, knowing how furious she was at Chris for inviting Isabelle. Justin was the next to speak up, relying on Charlotte’s judgement to inform his own.

“Count me in too,” Justin added. “After the dinner I ate, I’ll need the exercise…”

Chris grinned, before looking towards Abbee.

“Abbee, you gonna join us as well?” Chris asked. Abbee looked from Chris to Dylan, trying to gauge what Dylan wanted. Expecting to see a look of warning in his eyes, she was surprised to see contentment. Her mind was made up.

“I better,” Abbee remarked. “The last time you three were off site together, Jon picked you up from the police station. Someone has to make sure you all behave.”

Chris’ grin widened, as Justin laughed at Abbee’s reasoning.

“Get her home safe Dylan,” Abbee said, before grabbing her chair, whilst the others grabbed their own and made their way up the stairs towards the car park. “It was nice seeing you, Isabelle!”

Dylan and Isabelle stood somewhat shocked as they were left by the others, before Isabelle spoke.

“Are you cool with this?” Isabelle asked. “I know you said you’d give me a lift if you had the space, but it’s late, and I’m sure you wanna get back?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Dylan replied. “The island isn’t that big…”

Grabbing his own chair, then Isabelle’s, they made their way up the stairs, where Dylan put his chair in the tub with the three others that his friends had left there a few moments earlier. They climbed into the car, where Dylan started it, and after buckling up, turned on the radio, which resumed his playlist from the drive to the pier that evening, playing a punk band that Dylan had found himself enjoying over the last six months.

“You’re into April Sunsets?” Isabelle asked, recognizing the track, and sounding slightly surprised.

“Yeah, they were recommended a few months ago, and have been on repeat since,” Dylan replied, equally shocked Isabelle recognized and knew the artist. “You know them?”

“Let’s just say that if Forevermore isn’t the song played for the first dance at my wedding, the wedding isn’t happening,” Isabelle retorted, earning a laugh from Dylan, as he started driving out of the car park.

“So where am I headed?” Dylan asked, knowing only that Isabelle lived on the other side of the island.

“Turn right, and get onto Ridgeway Road,” Isabelle replied, referencing the road that followed the east coast of the island. “I live on Ridgeway, so will point it out when we get closer.”

As they drove in relative silence, Dylan found himself realising how much he actually enjoyed spending the night with Isabelle, which led him to the dilemma of whether he should actually act on that interest or not. However, before he could come to a decision, Isabelle spoke, taking Dylan by surprise.

“So when did you figure out why Abbee wanted to come to the Firehouse?” Isabelle asked, with a hint of amusement in her voice. “I take it before you saw me there, because you seemed too calm to have only found out then…”

Dylan considered denying the implication, but knew by this point, there was little to gain from that, and resigned to the awkward conversation he expected, answered.

“Halfway down the pier, when I saw what the waitresses were wearing…” Dylan answered, causing Isabelle to laugh at the way she imagined the situation playing out. “I ended up making a bit of a scene when I realised what Abbee was doing and why…”

“So the fact she was getting you to dress up wasn’t a tip off that something was up?”

“I was none the wiser…” Dylan said with a grin, as Isabelle began to laugh even more. “But now I’ve answered that, I have a question for you…”

“Go for it.”

“If you knew from the start what they were doing, why go along with it?” Dylan asked, intentionally implicating all of them and not just Abbee, as he didn’t want her to know Chris invited her only to irritate Dylan. “When Chris invited you, you could have easily said no. I imagine most waitresses being asked to hang out after their shift would…”

“You wish I had?” Isabelle asked, before Dylan started stuttering, trying to cover himself, before she spared him. “Relax, I’m just messing around…”

Dylan sighed, before speaking again.

“But that doesn’t answer the question…”

Isabelle was quiet for a moment, thinking over how to say it.

“I thought it’d be cool to hang out with you, without being crashed into with a trolley,” Isabelle said cautiously. “And I was right. I really enjoyed tonight, even if I was letting myself be played a little by the others. They really aren’t as subtle as they think they are…”

Dylan choked back a laugh at the remark about his friends subtlety, or lack thereof.

“I enjoyed tonight as well. Even if we were being played…”

There was relative silence again, only the music from the radio audible over the road noise and sound of the car’s engine, before Isabelle spoke.

“Well, in that case, we could see each other again…” Isabelle said meaningfully. “Maybe without the others trying to play us…”

Already torn on how he felt about Isabelle, and whether he potentially wanted a relationship with her, he said nothing, as he forced himself in that moment to come to a decision.

“I really enjoyed having you around tonight. And it’d be cool to catch up and hang out again sometime…” Dylan began. “But what the others were trying to make happen tonight, I just don’t see that happening. I’m sorry…”

After a moment, Isabelle sighed.

“There’s someone else, isn’t there?”

Her tone wasn’t accusing, or even disappointed. Purely curious.

“I guess you could say that…” Dylan replied, as Isabelle flashed him a grin.

“Abbee?” Isabelle asked, and when Dylan didn’t answer, her smile widened. “Come on, it doesn’t take a genius to see it. Honestly, I thought there was something going on between you two when I met you the other day. You should ask her out…”

Dylan was surprised to hear Isabelle say this, but then figured being an outsider to the group, looking in, means that she would see the little things that the five of them may take for granted and not see themselves.

“Yeah, Abbee…” Dylan admitted. “But she’s with Chris…”

For the first time, Isabelle was stunned into silence.

“Really?” she asked, as she found the words. “I barely saw them talk to each other. Hell, based on what I saw tonight, I’d question whether they even liked each other…”

“They’ve been together for nearly a year, but recently have had some disagreements,” Dylan explained. “It didn’t help that I had a bit of a fight with her when I realised what she was trying to do, and Chris got mad at me for it. He said some things to me, and Abbee wasn’t happy about that…”

“Well, as an unbiased third party, from what I saw tonight, if this is how things are between them, it looks like a lot needs to change for them to have any chance of working out long term…” Isabelle said. “So I wouldn’t treat her being with Chris as a death sentence to you having a chance with her…”

Dylan remained silent at Isabelle’s advice, wondering if he made the right decision, as she spoke up again.

“This is me on the left,” Isabelle said, pointing towards a medium sized house with a small hatchback in the driveway. “The white car…”

Dylan began to slow the car down, pulling over to the left side of the road in front of Isabelle’s house.

“When Abbee and Chris break up, and mark my words, short of divine intervention, it will happen, promise me you’ll do something about it?” Isabelle teased, as she got out of the car, continuing through the opened door. “Striking out is a bit better when you know it’s because there is already someone else in the picture…”

Dylan choked back a laugh.

“I’ll do what I can,” Dylan answered. “And I’ll see you around, Isabelle…”

Isabelle gave one more warm smile, before saying goodnight, and closing the door.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“I know Isabelle worked at the Firehouse, but could you have picked somewhere not so far downhill…” Justin remarked, as his legs ached, the four of them having spent the last forty minutes walking uphill from the beach towards the Eon Academy. By their estimate, they were halfway there.

“You wanted to go to the beach anyway…” Charlotte retorted.

“I’m sorry guys,” Abbee said with a sigh. “They seemed to click so well at the shop the other day, and I figured he could use a little encouragement…”

“Don’t be,” Chris replied. “He overreacted to the whole thing…”

Abbee rolled her eyes at Chris’ reasoning, as Charlotte shoved him.

“What your incredibly dense boyfriend is trying to say is that by the end of it, Dylan actually seemed to really enjoy having her around…” Charlotte explained. “Honestly, that’s the reason why I volunteered to walk back with Chris. After they got talking at the beach, something seemed to change in him, and I figured maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give them some space…”

“I hope you’re right…” Abbee said softly.

Before anybody could reply, the sound of a car engine faded in, as from the road downhill, they saw a pair of headlights driving uphill and getting closer to them. The dark blue dual-cab ute drove past them, before slowing down and pulling over a few metres ahead of them.

“Time to find out how much trouble we’re in…” Charlotte remarked, as Justin grinned. The four trainers made their way to Dylan’s car that was pulled over ahead of them. They climbed into the seats they had driven there in, Justin in the front, Charlotte behind him, with Abbee next to her and Chris behind Dylan.

Everyone present was silent, as they buckled up, and Dylan began driving out again, back towards the Academy. Finally, Justin broke the silence and spoke up.

“So what happened?” Justin asked. “Are you gonna see her again?”

Dylan was silent for a second, before replying simply.

“I asked her out, and struck out…”

Justin’s face went white, realising that had he not asked, Dylan would not have told everyone about his rejection. Charlotte however, was suspicious.

“I’m sorry, I should have minded my own business…” Justin began, before Dylan cut him off.

“It’s fine, really…”

“No, it’s not,” Abbee said. “I’m sorry, I should have just listened to you and not been so pushy…”

Dylan sighed to himself, before answering.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, before turning up the radio. “Let’s just tell Jon we had a nice night, and try and forget about all the bulls**t…”

The music got louder, as those present took the hint that Dylan wasn’t in the mood for conversation. Charlotte however wasn’t convinced. She thought she knew why, and it wasn’t until she caught Dylan using his rear view mirror to look at Abbee, who sat in the middle seat, looking out the window, that she knew for sure. Dylan was lying, and she knew exactly why…

[[Desolate Divine]]

Probably one of my favorite episodes to write so far! And everything from here starts a slow but steady ramp up towards Spiritwater (Season 4) and somewhat into Season 5 as well. Very keen to keep this groove going.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 4: Aftermath

Spoiler:

Abbee and Justin sat awkwardly in the lounge of the lodge, the tension between Chris and Dylan having the pair walking on eggshells. It was Tuesday evening, three days since the night out which Abbee had attempted to covertly use to set Dylan up with Isabelle, the friendly waitress they met whilst grocery shopping. Abbee had requested the group get dinner at a restaurant called the Firehouse, and conveniently left out the fact that the only reason she wanted to go there was that the uniform Isabelle wore when Abbee and Dylan met her indicated she worked there.

Whilst Dylan had taken it badly when he realised what Abbee was doing, he hadn’t held a grudge against her, though the pair had barely spoken since for two reasons. The first was the general awkwardness surrounding the confrontation they had, which at the time had resulted with Abbee in tears, and Dylan accusing her of seeing him as a pity project, a choice of words he had since regretted. The second reason however, was Chris’ anger at Dylan for the way he spoke to Abbee during that dispute, which he proceeded to take out on Dylan by inviting Isabelle to join them after dinner, and since then, making the odd snide remark towards Dylan, despite Abbee’s clear and vocal objections. Fuelling this further however was the fact that Dylan didn’t give any visible reaction to Chris, largely ignoring the comments, though occasionally, if Chris’ remark left a suitable opening, retorting with something worthy of a mic-drop, that most of the time, Chris couldn’t respond to, infuriating him more. Dylan thought Chris was acting like an immature s**t-stirrer, regressing to what he was like when Dylan first met him, whilst Chris thought Dylan was stuck-up, and looked down on the others, particularly himself. What agitated Chris further however, was the fact Dylan had taken to just ignoring the fact Chris was there. Not in the immature way of asking Abbee to ask Chris something, but more so not interacting with him if the situation didn’t explicitly require it.

Abbee hated the tension between her boyfriend, and her best friend, however knew there was little she could do about it. Short of making an ultimatum with Chris to leave Dylan alone, and considering her relationship with him was already rocky without accounting for this recent grudge, she knew that Chris was stubborn, and of the two, definitely the easier one to rattle. Whilst she had made it abundantly clear she didn’t approve, she knew doing any more would be fruitless, and remembering the somewhat bitter rivalry that Chris had with Charlotte during their first summer, that they both eventually grew out of, hoped that time would heal this rift between them. Granted, she also hoped there were less consequences, remembering Chris’ near death experience in Shoal Cave, and Charlotte’s Luxray being injured due to her own obsession with beating Chris.

It had been silent since Chris and Justin arrived. Before then, Abbee and Dylan had been in the lounge, Abbee with Victini, watching TV, whilst Dylan sat on the other couch, his laptop in front of him, the pair making light conversation, though still visibly impaired by the mutual awkwardness of the weekend prior’s events. They had heard the front door open, and Justin mentioning a TV special that was now on Netflix that they should watch, before Justin entered the lounge. He had seen Dylan, and realised it was too late to try and change course, before Chris walked in behind him, seeing Abbee and Victini, and went to sit with the pair of them, Justin awkwardly following and finding a seat.

Abbee’s TV show was still playing, and whilst Abbee looked at the TV, her mind was elsewhere, as was Justin’s, who was looking at his phone. Dylan’s attention hadn’t wavered from his laptop since before the two boys arrived. Sitting in near silence, with the only noise being the sound from the TV, and the clicks of Dylan’s keyboard, Chris finally spoke.

“Goddamn, your silence is contagious…” Chris muttered towards Dylan, as Abbee sighed, before giving him a look. He didn’t pay much attention, instead looking over towards Dylan, who didn’t even look up from his keyboard.

“Might not be a bad thing…” Dylan remarked casually, continuing to type, as Chris realized he had set himself up for that.

“a*shole…” he muttered.

“Cut it out,” Abbee hissed at him, growing more irritated by the day with Chris’ grudge with Dylan, knowing that if Chris gave up on this, and gave Dylan some space, they’d probably be fine in a week or two.

Justin sat awkwardly in silence hearing the exchange. Deep down, he felt ashamed at his silence. He remembered getting his nose broken the year before for intervening when a man was verbally abusing a waitress. He didn’t hesitate then, and if the same thing happened, he knew he’d do it again in a heartbeat. But those were strangers. These were his friends. And what made it more difficult was the one he thought was in the wrong, was the one he was closer to. And whilst he wanted to tell Chris to get his s**t together, he also knew that Chris could be stubborn to a stupid degree, and if Justin pushed too hard, Chris would just be more hell bent on antagonizing Dylan. Really, the only person he knew for sure that had a chance of putting Chris in his place without bringing the Academy down around them was Charlotte, and like the week before, she was dealing with hyperactive, nocturnal students from her group.

The silence was broken by the sound of his phone ringing. Figuring it was probably Candice, he made a mental note to thank her for bailing him out of this nightmare he had found himself in the middle of, before excusing himself from the room, and going upstairs to take the call. However, as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he was slightly surprised to see a number that wasn’t saved in his contacts. He hurried up the stairs before answering the phone.

The awkwardness in the lounge, was temporarily abated by the sound of the door opening, and Charlotte walking through into the lounge, confused by the silence, before seeing the glare Chris was giving Dylan, which Dylan was somehow managing to completely avoid noticing.

“For f**k’s sake…” Charlotte muttered a little loudly, earning a grumble of agreement from Abbee, before addressing both boys in the room. “I ran into Jon out there, and he wants to talk to the two of you about something, so get your s**t together before then. Last thing he wants to deal with is two interns being bigger children than the campers here…”

Whilst ninety percent of that remark was aimed at Chris, she also knew that Dylan, if he wanted to, could have been the bigger person and made peace with Chris by this point. Additionally, she knew if she directed the comment only at Chris, she’d be doing the opposite of what she intended. Chris sighed, before looking over at the TV. As he turned, he saw in his peripheral vision, Victini looking at him intently. Knowing that the psychic type was likely in his mind already, he focused his thoughts into a message for Victini.

”Got something to say?”

”Nope…” Victini replied casually, though his gaze not moving from Chris.

”That’s a surprise…”


”If you think I should have something to say, maybe you actually realise how much of an a*shole you’re being, and just want to be told by someone else…”

Chris' eyes widened at the remark. Whilst Victini was usually cheeky, and did pick on Chris a bit, he was very rarely that pointed, or vicious. Before he could respond, his attention was pulled by the sound of the front door opening, and Jon walking in.

“Did someone die in here?” Jon remarked lightly, as he entered the awkwardly silent room.

“Just tired…” Charlotte answered. “Honestly, these kids can be a handful…”

“Tell me about it,” Jon retorted, before looking around the room. “No Justin?”

“He’s taking a phone call,” Dylan answered simply, irritating Chris at his willingness to talk when Jon was around.

“Well can you guys let him know to keep Saturday free?” Jon asked. “Dylan, Chris, you two as well…”

“Sure,” Chris answered. “But why?”

“With the trial and all the other stuff before this summer there were a few jobs I was supposed to do but didn’t find time to,” Jon explained. “Maintenance stuff. I figure with a few extra pairs of hands it should be a shorter day than if I tackle it solo. That and Alyssa will kill me if she finds me up a ladder with nobody nearby. Says that if I fall, somebody needs to be there to call an ambulance while I bleed out…”

“That’s reasonable,” Abbee remarked, as she heard footsteps from the stairway in the hallway next to them. Justin re-entered the room, Jon turning to greet him.

“I was just telling these guys, keep Saturday free,” Jon explained. “I need a couple of extra pairs of hands…”

“This Saturday?” Justin asked. “Sorry, I just made plans…”

“Plans?” Chris asked abruptly. “With who?”

“It’s fine,” Jon interrupted. “The three of us should be able to handle it without any real difficulty. Just wanted to share the love…”

“Thanks…” Justin said, before turning to Chris. “That was the marketing manager from Coronet Outdoor and Camping. They asked if I could feature in a commercial…”

“Wait what?” Jon asked, shocked at the revelation. “Why you in particular?”

“Because of the Crown Tundra,” Justin explained. “Everyone knows it’s a frozen wasteland, and they probably figure if they get the guy who hiked across it to catch an undiscovered Legendary Pokemon to feature in their commercial, they might sell a few more sleeping bags or something…”

“You don’t sound too excited?” Charlotte asked. “Honestly, I’d kill for something like this. The next step up from appearing on commercials is being sponsored, and most battlers make their money from sponsorship…”

“I guess after the way things have blown up online in the last year, I’m realising how much I dislike being in the spotlight…” Justin answered.

“Then why do it?”

“It pays really well,” Justin explained. “Five figures for the one commercial, shot in one day, with potential for more work if it works out well…”

“Goddamn, are they looking for anyone else?” Chris asked. Jon however seemed concerned.

“I get this is a great opportunity, but is the money really worth it?” Jon asked. “Believe me, I spent nearly all of my battling career avoiding the spotlight, so I get why you’re so hesitant…”

Justin tried to answer, however seemed to struggle to find the words. It became clear he was holding something back. Abbee was the first to speak.

“There’s something you want to spend it on, isn’t there?” Abbee asked, as Chris’ eyes widened.

“Are you buying a ring?”

“No!” Justin said quickly. “God no. Not yet at least. I’ve only been with Candice really for a year, and I’m not gonna go and get engaged at eighteen…”

“Then what?”

“Eventually, I want to buy a house…” Justin explained. “Ideally, a house in Snowpoint, once I get into the Police Force.”

Suddenly Justin’s apprehensive willingness to do the commercial made sense.

“Getting into the Snowpoint Police Department will be easy enough once I get in,” Justin continued. “They’re short staffed and have been for years, so if a new recruit is willing to move and work there, I’d have to really screw up for them to reject me. Candice loves Snowpoint. Even if she occasionally wants to travel, I don’t think she wants to live anywhere else, and if I’m going to move there eventually, I’d rather move straight into my own home than rent somewhere for a year or two while I save up enough for a deposit. And this gig will put in a decent chunk towards that before I even start my second year of uni…”

There was silence as the others started to understand.

“I get that…” Jon answered. “Part of the reason I offered to tank my reputation on the S.S. Wishmaker was for the pay-out I could get for it from the League, because Alyssa and I wanted to move out of our Lilycove apartment we were renting and buy a house here…”

“I thought you offered to tank your reputation for the sake of the competitive battling scene after the reveal of witchcraft?” Dylan asked. “And to give the Diamond Ladies another chance.”

“That was like ninety-five percent of the reason for offering,” Jon retorted with a grin. “Five percent was the money…”

”And they thought you cared about them…” Victini remarked to Jon telepathically.

”I’m exaggerating a little,” Jon replied. ”I don’t want Justin to feel like he is doing the wrong thing here…”

“So what’s the commercial gonna be like?” Chris asked. “Have they sent you a script?”

“They emailed it when they got off the phone,” Justin explained. “I’ve skimmed it over on my way down…”

“How is it?” Charlotte asked, as Justin’s expression became even more solemn.

“That bad?” Abbee asked, stifling a grin.

“I know I’m probably my own worst critic…” Justin answered. “But this is the cringiest s**t I have ever seen…”

“Let us see it!” Chris said, before Jon interjected.

“No, let’s wait, and see the finished product…” Jon answered with a mischievous grin. “If this is as cringey as I think it’s going to be, I don’t want it spoiled…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The week passed, faster than anyone could expect, bringing the weekend, and Jon’s planned day of maintenance with Chris and Dylan, whilst Justin made his way into Mossdeep City to film the commercial he had agreed to feature in. Charlotte and Abbee, had a day off, and in mid morning, the latter of the pair found herself in the dining room of the lodge, which itself had barely been used since their first summer, eating breakfast. Whilst breakfast had been served for the camp overall a few hours earlier, Jon, Dylan and Justin had handled that, and Abbee, wanting a few minutes to herself, opted to have breakfast on her own in the lodge.

Charlotte had been up late the night before, with the prospect of no early morning classes or seminars causing the cabin of girls that had been keeping her awake, trying to get them to sleep, to kick it up a gear. It was well after midnight when Charlotte returned to her private room in the lodge, and Abbee didn’t expect to see her for another hour at least.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and knowing Justin had already left, and Dylan was an early riser, left it only being one of two people. The heaviness of the footsteps however, narrowed that down even further.

“Morning,” she said to Chris, as he entered the dining room, passing by her on his way to the kitchen, and kissing her on the cheek. “Sleep well?”

“Like a log,” Chris retorted, before entering the kitchen. Given the fact he was helping Jon for most of the day with maintenance, Jon had offered for him to take the morning off from being there for breakfast. Dylan had been given the same offer, however had attended anyway.

A few minutes later, Chris returned with a bowl of cereal, sitting down opposite Abbee and tucking in. Abbee considered keeping quiet, however figured this was the best opportunity she had to try and curb Chris’ grudge against Dylan for what happened the weekend before.

“Chris, you really gotta stop harassing Dylan…”

Chris looked up from his bowl, bewildered by Abbee’s statement. Visibly, his mood began to sour, before he spoke.

“After how he treated you last week, it could be a whole lot worse…” Chris muttered, before poking at the floating pieces of cereal in his bowl. “Seriously, how are you okay with how he acted?”

“I’m okay with it because I screwed up…” Abbee replied. “He had told me to drop it, and I ignored him. I went behind his back, and hijacked the whole night out to do the opposite of what he asked. He had every right to be p**sed. You would be too…”


Chris scowled, before poking at his breakfast again. He dropped the spoon, it initially landing on the rim of the bowl, before sliding into it, being submerged by the milk, causing him to curse in irritation.


“Yeah, I’d be p**sed,” Chris remarked. “But I wouldn’t go and make a scene like he did over it…”

“You’ve been making a scene at least once a day since…” Abbee pointed out. “You really expect me to believe that?”

“It’s just that…” Chris began, before changing his angle. “Honestly, he looks down his nose at me. At all of us…”

Abbee looked at Chris, her disbelief obvious in her expression.

“Dylan is my best friend, and I’ve never known him to look down on anyone…” Abbee remarked. “Honestly, if you really think he is looking down on you, it’s probably because you’ve been making an idiot of yourself around him all week. Honestly, when you act out like you have been, it’s hard not to…”

Chris was shocked at how abrasive Abbee was being about this. What shocked him more however was the lack of anger in her eyes, but instead, disappointment, something he was becoming unfortunately used to in the weeks that had passed.

“Look, if you don’t want to be friends with him, that sucks, but I won’t force you to…” Abbee continued. “But seriously, the snide comments and digs you make towards him, were stupid to begin with. He doesn’t care if you don’t like him, and really, it just means everyone else is walking on eggshells when the two of you are together, and it’s not because of something he is going to say…”

Abbee’s plate was now empty, as she stood up to make her way towards the kitchen.

“For everyone’s sake, stop antagonising him,” Abbee said as she approached the door. “It’s not worth it…”

Knowing Abbee didn’t want to talk anymore, Chris scowled, as he fished his spoon out of the bowl, finishing his breakfast, as Abbee cleaned her dishes, and left, making her way towards the lounge. He quickly finished his own meal, before leaving, knowing he didn’t have much time until he was due to meet with Jon and Dylan to start work for the day.

As he walked out of the room, he didn’t notice Charlotte walking down the stairs, who remained silent, as he made his way to the front door, leaving, and closing the door behind him with little apparent care.

Charlotte scoffed to herself as she made her way down the stairs, entering the lounge to see Abbee sitting by herself. This was unusual for her. Even when none of her friends were around, most of the time, she had Victini out, though she had a hunch she knew why the Mythical Pokemon was in its Pokeball. Charlotte knew that Victini and Chris had a love-hate relationship, largely due to Victini’s own somewhat twisted enjoyment of messing with Chris. However, Victini was extremely loyal to Abbee, and Charlotte knew Abbee probably didn’t want Victini to know too much about the issues between her and Chris for a little while.

Charlotte entered the room, getting Abbee’s attention with the sound of her footsteps, who smiled weakly at her.

“Late one?” Abbee asked, causing Charlotte to roll her eyes.

“If it wouldn’t be considered assault, I’d be having my Gengar use Hypnosis on every girl in that damned cabin…” Charlotte said exasperatedly, causing Abbee to chuckle, before the pair went silent. “I heard what you said to Chris…”

Abbee sighed in response, as Charlotte continued, knowing that she was potentially going to kick herself later if she helped salvage their relationship.

“All four of his brain cells think he is doing the right thing,” Charlotte consoled. “In his eyes, Dylan was out of line for getting p**sed, and unless Chris sees him grovelling on his knees for forgiveness, he thinks by not going staunchly against him, he is okaying it or something…”

Abbee remained silent, as Charlotte shrugged.

“Still stupid. But you did the right thing, sticking by Dylan, and putting Chris in his place…” Charlotte concluded.

“It’s stupid…” Abbee muttered. “I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m taking sides. Honestly, I screwed up last week, and Chris just refuses to see that. Dylan was mad, and he had every right to be. But things are fine between him and I. Awkward, yes, but neither of us have held a grudge or anything…”

“The awkwardness probably wasn’t helped by Chris’ grudge…” Charlotte added, to which Abbee nodded in agreement.

“Honestly, I feel like I’m having to pick a side. Keep one bridge and let the other burn. And-”

Before Abbee could finish her sentence they were interrupted by a frantic knock at the door.

“You expecting anyone?” Abbee asked, puzzled by the visitor. “A student wanting one-on-one training or something?”

“No, nobody…” Charlotte replied. “Today was meant to be a bit of a slack day, since I am awake half the night with those girls…”

Still puzzled, Abbee got up, and made her way to the door, where the visitor on the other side was knocking again, Charlotte getting up a moment later to follow her. Abbee opened the door, and was surprised to see Rose Drake standing on the other side.

“Rose,” Abbee said, noticing a look of worry on her students face. “What’s going on?”

“I need help…” Rose answered. “And Uncle Jon can’t find out…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“No Chris?” Jon asked, as he walked into the lounge of he and Alyssa’s cottage, and found Dylan sitting on a couch, supervising as Amelia played with Kaen and Yuki, he and Alyssa’s respective Vulpix. The toddler seemed to enjoy petting Yuki furiously, cooling down her hands, though Yuki being intentional about not chilling herself anywhere near as much as she could, before moving to pet Kaen, who emanated a comfortable warmth, and then repeating the process. Whilst both Pokemon were exceptionally trained and posed no risk to Amelia, it was in Dylan’s nature to keep an eye on them all, just in case.

“He’ll probably be here,” Dylan replied bluntly. “He probably slept in or something…”

Jon noticed a hint of impatience in Dylan’s voice. Very subtle, Jon only picking it up after Dylan had lived with him, and been effectively a foster son for the last two years, but still there.

“He been getting on your nerves?” Jon asked, intentionally keeping the question simple and vague, knowing that if he were to be more direct, he risked Dylan closing off.

“We both know he tends to talk first, think later,” Dylan replied casually, not seeming too passionate about the subject. “If he gets around to the thinking part. You know, the usual…”

Jon nodded, before scooping Amelia up off the floor, much to her dismay.

“No!” Amelia cried out irritably, not wanting to be taken from her playtime with the two Pokemon.

“Lili, Mummy asked me to bring you to her,” Jon explained patiently. “She needs to work in the study, and Dylan and I need to work outside, and can’t watch you…”

The toddler continued to protest, as Jon flashed Dylan a tired grin, adjusting his grip on her so she was sitting against his shoulder. Dylan was hardly surprised. Amelia wasn’t a spoilt or rude child. Just very spirited, knowing exactly what she wants, and taking much convincing to change her mind. Just like her father. And just like her father, she enjoyed being around Pokemon more than nearly anything else. Granted, as well trained with her as Jon, Alyssa and even Dylan’s Pokemon were, they needed a break from the determined toddler.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Jon said, as he carried Amelia, who was calming down now, out of the room and down the hall towards the small study on the other side of the house. Dylan remained where he had been sitting, flicking through a website on his phone as he heard Jon and Alyssa talking briefly from down the hall.

His attention was pulled by the sound of a knock at the door. He knew exactly who it was, and while the last thing he particularly wanted to do was talk to Chris, let alone answer the door for him, he knew Jon would start asking questions if Dylan, much closer to the door than Jon and Alyssa in the study, didn’t get up and let one of them go and answer it. He sighed quietly, before sitting up.

Making his way towards the front door, he looked through the side window, and had his suspicions confirmed when he saw Chris through it. He opened the door, and noticed Chris’ expression instantly shift initially to a look of slight shock, then to irritation. Dylan stepped aside, letting Chris pass silently, before shutting the door behind him. The pair made their way towards the kitchen, where Jon entered from the hallway on the other side, seeing Chris had joined them.

“Thanks again for helping me out,” Jon explained, as he quickly grabbed a few bottles of water from the fridge. “It would have been a pain by myself…”

“I’m happy to help out,” Chris began. “But wouldn’t Latios be more helpful with this than the pair of us?”

“Somewhat,” Jon answered with a grin, though it didn’t last, as he explained himself. “Latios is struggling a bit at the moment. Everything that’s happened in the last year is starting to weigh him down a bit. I’ve actually got him seeing a psychiatrist to try and work through some stuff…”

Chris’ eyes widened hearing this.

“The psychiatrist has never worked with Pokemon, however Latios is able to communicate extremely well. Really, it’s harder to get him to stop talking than it is to start, and she thinks that this will be good for him…” Jon explained. “One thing that I am making a point of doing is giving him a lot of time outside of the Pokeball to just do his own thing. Deoxys is at a crucial point with training, and we can’t make more progress without Latios, so I still need him when Charlotte and I go to Southern Island. But between those sessions, he is spending nearly all the time out of his Pokeball, and has free reign of the island, as long as he isn’t getting into trouble…”

“You don’t worry that someone will try and take him, like on the Whirl Islands?” Chris asked.

“They’re welcome to try…” Jon answered. “If Latios isn’t intimidating enough when he wants to be, the fact that the last person who tried to steal him had his head blown off tends to send messages…”

There was an awkward silence at the reference to the poacher Jon had killed. Jon realised, and groaned.

“Sorry,” Jon said. “I guess I tend to use dark humour as a coping mechanism for traumatic stuff myself. Come on, let’s get going. I’ll explain more on the way…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Abbee, Charlotte, and Victini, whom Abbee had just let out of his Pokeball now that she had something other than her issues with Chris to think about, followed Rose out of the staff lodge, and towards one of the newer lodges on the western edge of the property, which housed the younger half of the girls attending. As they made their way towards the southern end of the lodge, Charlotte was the first to speak.

“These rooms are all empty aren’t they?” Charlotte asked, noticing a lack of shoes left out the front, windows open, and other indicators of people living there. “You guys only use three quarters of the rooms…”

“They are…” Rose explained, struggling to find a way to explain her predicament.

“What’s wrong?” Abbee asked again, Rose having not answered back at the lodge, instead asking them to come with her.

“The first few times I went into town, I bought myself some snacks, but every time I left them in my room, one of my roommates had taken them. They’ve just gone missing and everyone denies doing it,” Rose explained. “Then a few weeks ago, Jon came into the room at the bottom to make sure the window was sealing properly, and didn’t close the door properly behind him, so it was still unlocked…”

“Okay…” Abbee replied, not understanding where Rose was going.

“I started keeping my snacks hidden in this empty room, and using a bit of cardboard in the gap in the door to stop it from locking. I’ve been doing it for weeks…” Rose explained, before asking a question. “You know how the air conditioner for our lodge stopped working the other day?”

“Yeah, Jon got it fixed yesterday?” Charlotte replied, equally confused.

“Well I had chocolate in there, and didn’t want it to melt, so I left a window open…” Rose said quietly, as they arrived at the room she was talking about. Abbee’s eyes widened, though Charlotte took a moment longer to understand. She was too late however to recognize the sounds coming from inside of the room, before Rose opened the door, revealing more bug type Pokemon than Charlotte had ever seen at one place.

Charlotte screamed for a moment, stepping back, as Abbee, whilst slightly surprised at the bug Pokemon, was more surprised at Charlotte, even though she had known for years that Charlotte was terrified of bug types.

“I still can’t believe that you, the strongest battler out of all us interns, and the one Jon describes as terrifying, is so scared of bug types…” Abbee muttered, shocking Rose a little, who never would have guessed Charlotte was so scared of them.

“One of my brothers has a Pinsir, and when I was four, if he got bored, he’d leave it in my room…” Charlotte answered, before stepping forward extremely cautiously to peer into the room. “It was bigger than average as well. Only an inch or two shorter than you…”

Abbee shuddered at the thought of four year old Charlotte walking into her room, turning on the light and seeing a Pinsir twice her height waiting for her.

“Goddamn, I’d almost think every bug on the island is in here…” Charlotte muttered, as she counted the Pokemon she saw in the room. It was a larger room, with four sets of bunks, able to sleep eight people. Each bed contained four bug Pokemon on the mattress alone, with a few Silcoon and Cascoon hanging from underneath the top bunks, and that wasn’t even counting the sheer amount scurrying along the floor. Charlotte didn’t even want to imagine how many were under the beds…

”I can handle this…” Victini said telepathically, linking in all three trainers, as a light flame began to discharge from his body. Having spent a bit more time than normal in his Pokeball, the mythical Pokemon was feeling a little restless. Abbee however saw the obvious flaw in this.

“How exactly?” Abbee asked. “Your Fire Typing is great against these guys, and even better against the lodge and furniture…”

”I’ll just use my psychic attacks then…” Victini answered.

“Which will be ineffective against bugs…” Charlotte continued. “You’d scare off a fair few, but probably not even a quarter of them…”

Hearing this exchange, Rose’s face lit up.

“So you’ll help me fix this?”

“We’ll try…” Abbee answered. “They may have eaten through the sheets, but honestly, there are that many spares that I don’t think Jon would notice if there were a few missing…”

“Dylan on the other hand…” Charlotte remarked, knowing after spending the month between the trial and summer living at the Academy that whilst Jon was in charge of the Academy, and tended to come up with ideas and make decisions, Dylan was the one who was on top of all the details.

“I’ll handle Dylan,” Abbee remarked. “Let’s just focus on getting these bugs out before Jon realises…”

”Well, let me start…” Victini remarked with a menacing grin. His eyes began to glow, as inside the room, a small telekinetic blast from the back corner pierced the air with a small bang, though not powerful enough to do any real damage. The bugs closest to it however, began to panic, and scurried out the door.

Not expecting this, Charlotte darted back in fright, however jumped out of her skin when her back collided with something unseen in the air behind her. Something unseen and large…

Abbee and Victini had both seen what happened, but struggled to understand what it was they saw. Victini was the first to realise.

”It’s Latios!” Victini shouted, before having a massive dose of deja vu to the S.S. Wishmaker. ”He’ll tell Jon!”

The three trainers and Victini felt a slight breath of wind, as the invisible Pokemon spun around to attempt to fly away, however Victini wasn’t letting the Eon Pokemon escape.

”No you don’t!” Victini shouted telepathically, including Latios in the message, partially to distract him, but also to get an idea on where the Pokemon was. Once Victini had a rough idea, he created a telekinetic barrier, which Latios crashed into, before being grabbed by Victini’s telekinetic grip.

Abbee watched in shock, as Latios turned visible, and struggled against Victini’s surprisingly strong telekinetic grip, before being pulled towards the group by the front door…

”It’s time we had a chat, Latios…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“So how are you feeling?”

The question was asked by Lydia Palmer, the director that Coronet Outdoor and Camping had hired to create their commercial. Justin sat in the green room that had been provided for him, having just had make-up applied, apparently to prevent the lights from reflecting too heavily off his face. Lydia had just arrived to let him know they would be ready for him in the studio in ten minutes, before asking the question.

“A little nervous, if I’m being honest,” Justin replied, trying to hide the aforementioned nervousness as much as possible. “The only time I’ve been the centre of attention in front of a camera like this was a live-stream a few years ago…”

“The Eon Academy one, that got your name out there?” Lydia asked, as Justin nodded. She was an attractive woman in her early forties, with straight auburn hair, dressed in semi-casual business attire. Justin noted a quiet confidence, that he figured was a necessity in her line of work, and noted he wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.

“Even then, I wasn’t a great battler, but I was confident enough to not worry too much about it,” Justin answered, noticing he had been digging his fingers into his palms. “This is different though…”

Lydia nodded, before gesturing to the script on the coffee table opposite the couch that Justin sat on.

“How are you finding the script?” Lydia asked, changing the subject, hoping to alleviate Justin’s nerves a little. Justin frowned slightly.

“It’s good in that I’m not lying to people,” Justin answered. “I’d hate for this whole thing to be about how I wouldn’t have made it across the Crown Tundra without Coronet gear, when that’s just not true…”

“It sounds like there is a but...”

“But…” Justin continued. “Do you think it might be a little cheesy?”

Lydia grinned at the remark.

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t,” Lydia answered. “Fact is that day to day life is boring, and whilst people will happily say they want realism in the content they consume, if the content were truly realistic, it would bore them. There would be no sense of escapism…”

“So a little cheesiness is good?”

“The right amount,” Lydia replied. “Enough that it is different enough from peoples boring day to day lives, but not too much that it is jarring, and distracting.”

Justin nodded in understanding as Lydia continued.

“It’s a fine line, but the tricky part is that you never really know whether you have crossed it for sure until the public sees it,” Lydia continued. “We could get focus groups, but because they know their opinion will shape the future of an advertisement, or any sort of media really, they will view it through much more critical eyes than the intended audience. Heck, even I think it’s a bit cheesy…”

“So why run it?” Justin asked, curious to hear the reasoning of someone who was an expert in this field.

“Because just like you, I have a stake in this, so I will naturally be more critical of it than our audience,” Lydia answered. “I just need to remember that. Because chances are if I toned it back a little, it wouldn’t stand out enough to actually do what it is meant to.”

“Sell camping gear?”

“Exactly,” Lydia said with a grin. “Sure, I agree with Coronet’s business practises, and the philanthropy they do. But at the end of the day, they’re advertising to make money, and we’re making the commercial to make money. And I’m sure you’re not here because you’re particularly passionate about outdoor adventure and camping?”

“Not particularly…”

“So in that case, I wouldn’t worry,” Lydia concluded. “Even if it is a little cheesy, it’s not as cheesy as we think it is. And if it is cheesy, it means its going to be memorable, and hopefully fulfil its purpose…”

Before Justin could reply, his phone that sat on the table next to the script began to ring. He looked over at it, seeing it was Candice, before turning to Lydia.

“If I keep it quick, do I have time to take this?” Justin asked. Lydia nodded.

“If it’s just a quick call, don’t worry about being a few minutes late,” Lydia answered. “You’re due in five minutes but really, it will be another ten to fifteen before you’re able to do anything productive, so you should be fine.”

Justin nodded, thanking Lydia. He was glad she was the one running this shoot, and not one of the nightmare directors he had heard about on social media.

“I’ll keep it brief,” Justin answered, as Lydia stood to leave. “Thanks.”

Once Lydia was out of the room, Justin answered the phone.

“Hey. Between battles?”

”Of course. This summer has been flat out…” Candice replied. She had mentioned before how many trainers had beaten Volkner in Sunyshore City, and by extension how many trainers she was expecting to see, given Snowpoint being slightly less cold and miserable during the summer. ”What about you? I’m not interrupting am I?”

“Cutting it close,” Justin laughed. “I gotta be out in ten minutes or so. Was just talking to the director before you called.”

”How do you feel about it all?” Candice asked. ”You seemed a little on the fence the other day…”

“Better, if I’m being honest,” Justin answered. “I mentioned to the director that it felt a little cheesy, and she explained some of the logic behind it, so I’m not too stressed. Granted, she has a stake in this, so I’m taking it all with a slight grain of salt…”

Candice laughed.

”That’s some wisdom for you,” Candice retorted. ”A lot of people learn the hard way to always ask ‘who stands to benefit from this…’”

“Blame it on the amount of crap I’ve dealt with in the last few years,” Justin laughed. “The Deoxys incident, Whirl Islands and the hearing. It almost seems like every s**ty thing that has happened, is because somebody stood to benefit from it…”

”Well, I’m glad to hear you’re doing well,” Candice said. [i]”I just wanted to check in, but I’ll leave you to it. I’m sure you’ll kill it!”

“In a good way?” Justin asked, struggling to hide the grin, even though Candice couldn’t see it.

”The best. Love you…”

The call ended, as Justin sighed, trying to compose himself that little bit more, before turning off his phone, pocketing it, and making his way out of the greenroom into the studio where they would film the commercial. Whilst he still felt nervous about what was to come, talking to Candice had helped him feel a little more certain. Certain of what he wanted, and what he was willing to do to reach that.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
”It’s time we had a chat, Latios…” Victini said menacingly, not loosening his grip for an instant as Latios was pulled towards the group.

“Victini, be careful…” Charlotte said, remembering how Latios’ last battle with Deoxys had turned near fatal. Abbee looked between Charlotte and Victini, before focus on Latios.

“Were you about to tell Jon?” Abbee asked, slightly irritably. “Even though we were going to fix this, and he wouldn’t have had any reason to worry?”

Latios cried angrily, though there was no telepathic message accompanying it.

“If you want us to understand, you’re going to have to use telepathy,” Charlotte said bluntly. “No use crying for the sake of crying. You’re just wasting our time…”

Abbee nodded before turning to Latios again.

“Were you going to tell Jon?”

”Yes,” Latios replied telepathically. ”Jon is in charge here, and should know about this…”

“Why?” Charlotte asked. “He’s busy right now, and has enough other stuff to do. Abbee and I can handle this situation. Heck, it’d be even easier if you helped us…”

Latios cried out angrily again, and like before, there was no telepathic counterpart to his vocal communication.

“Don’t be like that…” Abbee said. “You know that Jon doesn’t have to find out about this…”

Latios began staring her down, a fire in his eyes, and Abbee fought her own more timid nature to match his gaze, both in direction and intensity. The silence was broken by Victini.

”You’re going to help us fix this Latios,” Victini ordered. ”And you won’t tell Jon…”

Latios’ eyes darted to Victini, partially because he couldn’t turn his head, and finally he spoke telepathically again.

”And why would I do that, small-fry?”

Charlotte and Abbee both took a step back, knowing both Legendary Pokemon had their pride on the line, and neither was willing to back down. Rose watched in curiosity, and shock at the display these two Legendary Pokemon were putting on.

”Because if you don't, I will tell Jon about that keg you stole from the bar on the pier…” Victini retorted, as Latios’ face went slightly pale. ”The one you’ve got hidden on the roof of the stadium, that you think nobody else knows about…”

”You wouldn’t…” Latios said, before Abbee interrupted.

“Why would you steal a keg?” Abbee asked. “Jon buys you beer when you want it? He just doesn’t let you drink enough for it to have an effect on you…”

”I heard it tastes better from a keg…” Latios explained. “But none of the bars Jon went to would let him buy me a beer…”

Rose struggled severely not to laugh at the exchange she was hearing. There were rumours going around the students that Jon’s Latios liked to drink beer, but it sounded too ridiculous to be true.

”Not only will I tell Jon if you don’t help us…” Victini said, continuing his threat from before. ”If Jon finds out at all, I am going to assume you told him, because I trust everyone else here to stay silent…”

”Jon’s my trainer, and my best friend!” Latios shouted telepathically, causing those hearing it to recoil a little. ”I don’t want to lie to him!”

”So he knows about the keg already then, and if I were to go have a laugh about it with him, it would all be fine?”

Latios was silent, which Victini knew to be a bluff. Victini let the Eon Pokemon free from his telekinetic grip, before continuing.

”Your call, Wrecking-Ball,” Victini concluded, not intending to rhyme, but liking the way it flowed. ”I might see you later tonight when I pay Jon a visit…”

”Fine…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Dylan stood awkwardly on a tall ladder inside the main hall, as Chris stood at the bottom holding it steady, so the ladder didn’t topple over. Whilst the high ceilings of the main hall made the room seem larger and more spacious than it was, it also meant that things such as changing light bulbs, as well as batteries in smoke alarms, were a lot higher risk than the standard height ceilings in the lodges and Jon and Alyssa’s house. The room was empty of students, Jon having barred them from entering until Chris and Dylan were done, to avoid a distraction that could cause an accident whilst Dylan was up the ladder.

The globes and batteries that were currently installed still had some life left in them, however based on the estimate given by the manufacturers, Jon figured before summer was over, all of them would die, granted at different times, and likely at inconvenient times. Whilst it wasn’t the most frugal attitude, he figured it best to replace them all in one sitting, and not have to worry about them dying for another two years or so, while they had an hour without students running around in the main building getting in their way.

The hour or so before that had been spent on the roof of the hall, replacing roof tiles. The hall itself was a monastery built over a century earlier, and while Jon had renovated the interior, as well as dealt with some structural issues in the walls, the roof had been in a state where it needed work, but could function without for a while. However, in the last few weeks, water had begun to seep through, and Jon knew there were tiles needing to be replaced, with Lugia flying above the building, and telekinetically, gently holding the three trainers in the event that one slipped. Chris and Dylan had made idle chatter during this task, however this was forced, and only due to Jon’s presence, and not wanting him to know there were issues between the pair of them, and by extension, feel the need to involve himself. When they had arrived inside the hall to work on the lights and smoke alarms, Jon’s phone had rang. Alyssa had called, stating she needed to make a sudden trip to the BattleNET offices in Lilycove, and couldn’t take Amelia, asking Jon if he could keep an eye on her. Jon had left a few minutes earlier, leaving the feuding pair on their own.

It had been silent since Jon left, Dylan content with that. Chris however, wasn’t, having something he wanted to say when Jon wasn’t around, and knowing this would be the best time to say it. After thinking it over, he finally spoke.

“I get you prefer to not talk, so don’t,” Chris said coldly to Dylan who was still up the ladder, fiddling with a battery. “Just listen...”

Dylan remained silent, indulging Chris, though also irritating him, as Dylan’s silence was one of the things that had annoyed Chris since their dispute began at Firehouse. The silence, and Chris’ belief that it was an indicator of Dylan not thinking Chris was worth his effort or words.

“You know we aren’t cool. I won’t waste time telling you that…”

“You just did…” Dylan retorted, without seeming to care one way or another, as Chris’ anger bubbled up.

“I said listen, a**hole…” Chris said angrily, earning a chuckle from Dylan, which infuriated him even more. “I think the way you talked to Abbee last week was f**ked up. She only ever wants the best for everyone else, and you blew up in her face, and made her feel like s**t. And for that, I think you’re an a**hole, plain and simple…”

Dylan remained silent, not proud of how he spoke to Abbee the week before, but not giving Chris any indication that he may have the moral high ground.

“But, because it’s the sort of person she is, she has forgiven you for that, and even taken the blame herself for that whole s**t-show outside of Firehouse…” Chris continued. “But don’t think for a second that I have…”

“Wouldn’t dream of it…”

“Can you shut the f**k up and just listen?” Chris hissed irritably. “Goddamn, the one time I want you to keep being the selectively mute shut-in you are, and you can’t shut up…”

Dylan chuckled to himself, knowing just how much this was driving Chris up the wall, before letting him continue.

“Abbee has forgiven you, and considers you a friend. So for that, I’ll stop talking s**t to you for the sake of talking s**t…” Chris explained. “We can go about our business, talk to each other when we have to, like we have been today, and outside of that, just stay out of each others way. But that doesn’t mean we are cool…”

Dylan began climbing down the ladder, having finished the light he had been working on, and passing the old globe to Chris as he reached the lower rungs. As Dylan stood down onto equal ground with Dylan, he looked at the shorter boy, his expression blank.

“For someone who wants me to think he doesn’t give a s**t about my opinion of him, you sure are trying hard to convince me…” Dylan said, earning a scowl from Chris. “Help me move this ladder. We’ve got six more of these to change…”

Chris muttered an insult under his breath, before he grabbed the ladder to help Dylan move it to the next light, refusing to make eye contact with him.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

”Fine…”

The three girls breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they now had Latios in their corner. Especially Charlotte who had an idea.

“There are too many for us to flush them out one by one. We need something big to get the bulk of them out at once, and then we can deal with the stragglers…” Charlotte explained before turning to Latios. “This is where you come in…”

Latios turned to Charlotte, his expression seeming much more cooperative, though still somewhat annoyed by the blackmail.

“You’re going to turn invisible, and creep into the room without being noticed…” Charlotte explained. “You can’t touch any of them, or do anything that will give away you are there…”

Latios nodded, following so far.

“Then you make your way to the back corner, as far from the door as you can, and when you’re in position, you turn visible, and roar like all hell…” Charlotte explained. “Scare these bugs out of their minds. The furthest place away from you they can get is out the door, and hopefully that should flush them all out…”

”After that?” Victini asked.

“I’ll have Gengar get rid of the stragglers…” Charlotte said with a grin. “Let’s clear the door…”

The three trainers moved away from the open doorway, as Charlotte nodded at Latios, who began to fly away, and when out of sight, turned invisible.

“He better be coming back…” Abbee muttered.

”He will…” Victini answered. ”He has a few things hidden on the roof of the stadium, and if I tell Jon about the keg, he will find out about the other stuff…”

Charlotte looked at Victini, somewhat concerned.

“What other stuff?”

Before Victini could respond, the harsh sound of an ear-splitting draconic roar, that Charlotte very nearly mistook for Rayquaza, erupted from the cabin next to them, causing all but Victini, who using telepathy had followed Latios’ progress, to jump out of their skin in fright.

“Goddamn…” Charlotte muttered, before a horde of bug Pokemon rushed through the door, causing her to step back in disgust. She readied Gengar’s Pokeball, as the wave of bugs began to shrink. When no more were exiting the room, she poked her head around the corner, and looked in the room to see how many bugs were still there that Gengar had to dispose of.

To her surprise however, there were none. Even the immobile Silcoon and Cascoon, had dropped from the bunks where they dangled, instead opting to stick to the larger Pokemon that were planning their escape from the danger of the crazed Eon Pokemon that appeared out of nowhere in the corner of the room.

“I’m glad Victini blackmailed you…” Charlotte said in disbelief, as she cautiously entered the room, trying to check for damage. “Rose, safe to say all your food has been eaten…”

Rose didn’t seem phased, before entering herself and inspecting the top sheets that had been eaten through.

“They didn’t seem to get past the sheets…” Rose muttered. “Thank God…”

“We’ll replace them now,” Abbee explained. “There is a linen cupboard in the dining room of the lodge we stay in. That’s where the sheets are kept.”

Rose nodded, before turning towards the lodge.

“You two stay here. I’ll go get the sheets,” Rose said. “If other people come past and I tell them to keep out of the room, they’ll get suspicious. If you two tell them, they’ll take you at your word and move along…”

Charlotte nodded, liking the way Rose thought, as she made her way towards the lodge, leaving the two interns and the two Legendary Pokemon by the recently cleared room.

“I wonder how Justin’s going?” Charlotte asked, noting the time. Justin had arrived much earlier in the day, and from what she saw of him the night before, seemed to be on edge.

“Same,” Abbee replied. “Dylan and Chris too…”

Abbee went to continue, before remembering that Latios was there and quieting herself.

”You mean their argument?” Latios asked, taking Charlotte by surprise.

“You know?” Charlotte asked. “How? Did you tell Jon?”

”Yes, I told Jon…” Latios said, though before he could explain how, Abbee realized something…

“You were using your telepathy?” Abbee asked indignantly. “You had no right!”

Latios growled angrily, accompanying the vocal communication with telepathy.

“The two of them were angry every time they were around one another!” Latios shouted, before Abbee and Charlotte’s vision was replaced with Latios’ own perspective. They saw themselves from Latios’ position, however both with auras. Abbee’s a pale red, and Charlotte’s a yellow-orange. ”Asking me not to notice that is like asking you to not notice that I am blue!”

Abbee realised how unfair she was being on Latios, before shaking off the sight-sharing.

“Sorry, you’re right…” Abbee said, before giving Latios a scratch on the back of his neck. “You can’t help seeing that. This issue between them just has me on edge…”

Latios nodded, not holding a grudge to Abbee, for a reason that she wasn’t aware of yet, though would soon be aware of…

”It’s silly because you and Dylan don’t have a grudge…” Latios continued. ”Why should Chris hold one?”

Abbee went to agree, before realising something.

“If you only knew there was beef because of your ability to see emotions…” Abbee began as Latios realised his mistake. “How do you know what the beef is about?”

Charlotte sighed as she realised Latios had managed to trick them into thinking he wasn’t eavesdropping on them telepathically, only by talking too much a few seconds later and revealing he had.

”In all fairness, I know Victini uses his telepathy like this even more than I do…” Latios defended, as Victini looked up at Latios in shock.

”Thanks!” the little Pokemon said sarcastically, before looking up at Abbee who looked disapprovingly at him. Abbee sighed.

“I guess I don’t know what else I expected from the pair of you…” Abbee said, resigned to the fact that there was little privacy to be had at the Eon Academy. Charlotte however was more interested in an earlier point Latios had made.

“So if Jon knows they have issues, why not say anything?” Charlotte asked Latios. “And why have them work together with him today?”

”Because Chris might be stubborn, but Dylan can be just as stubborn. And if either of them knew that he knows, and he did anything to try and get them to make amends, they’d both be too stubborn to listen to him…” Latios explained. ”This way, he can force them to work together, and they have to, if they don’t want Jon to realise they have issues…”

“Kinda smart, actually…” Abbee admitted, admiring the ingenuity of Jon’s action. Charlotte nodded in agreement.

“Well, we can’t let them find out he knows…” Charlotte explained. “So far he is the only one who can make them work together, and if they know he is doing it intentionally, they will refuse. We can’t tell Justin either. He is a bit smarter than the pair of them, but he is Chris’ best friend, and I worry he’d say something accidentally…”

Abbee agreed.

“We’ll keep this between us…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was nearly ten in the evening when Justin finally returned to the Academy. Whilst the filming had finished in the mid afternoon, Justin had been asked to stay as the commercial was edited together in the afternoon and early evening, on the off chance some of the footage was needing to be reshot. Given the small scale of the commercial, Lydia wanted as close to the final product as possible completed that day. As such, Justin remained, watching the editing process and seeing the footage come together. However, with each repeated watch during the editing process, the slight confidence he found after talking with Lydia and Candice before the shoot, dwindled, as he began to see just how cheesy the commercial was.

When production was done for the day, and they had what was effectively the final draft ready, Justin considered whether he wanted to ask for a copy to take back with him. Whilst he knew that his classmates, in particular Chris, but likely Charlotte as well, would laugh, he wondered whether it was better that they see it in a controlled environment, and get past the initial amusement before the commercial actually aired. In the end, he asked, and was given a DVD, having been forced to sign agreements that he wouldn’t publish it anywhere, and retain it only for personal use.

He entered the lodge, where he was surprised to find all four of the other interns sitting in the lounge, talking as a group. He listened for a few minutes, surprised to hear both Chris and Dylan’s voices as well as Charlotte and Abbee’s, however was disappointed when he soon realised neither were talking directly to each other, instead only speaking to Charlotte and Abbee, barely acknowledging they were there. Still, it sounded like the tension that had been in the room when they were together was slightly less, and he was thankful for that. He entered the room, being greeted by those there, before slumping onto a couch next to Chris, yawning a greeting to those there. Before he could say anything else however, Chris noticed something.

“What’s that?”

He gestured to the case containing the disc that Justin held in his right hand, as Justin groaned, hoping he’d have at least five minutes, before having to show his friends.

“You know exactly what it is…” Justin replied, before sighing. “Call Jon. He’ll want to see this…”

Ten minutes later, Jon entered the lounge with a grin on his face wider than Justin had ever seen, which caused Charlotte and Abbee both to burst out with laughter. He carried a six pack of beers, offering one to all who were over eighteen, though Dylan was the only one who accepted, as the pair opened their drinks.

“Come on, don’t leave us hanging!” Jon said excitedly, as he crashed onto the couch next to Dylan. Justin sighed, before making his way to the TV, and opening the case.

“I mentioned to the director that it was a bit cheesy, but she said I’d find it more cheesy than the intended audience because I have more of a stake in it…” Justin explained, as he placed the disk in the tray of the DVD player. “She also said that if it weren’t a little cheesy, it would be too close to real life, and bore people into not remembering it.”

“Do you still believe in the tooth fairy as well?” Charlotte asked with a grin. “She has more of a stake in it than you do, and would probably say anything to make you do a decent job…”

“I know…” Justin said with a sigh, hoping he wouldn’t regret this, though knowing the five figure bank transfer he was expecting would soothe his soon to be bruised ego. “Let’s get this over with then…”

Jon hit play, as the commercial began. On the screen was a dark room that looked to be a warehouse, where on an industrial looking platform, stood the silhouette of a person. Chris began over-enthusiastically pointing between Justin and the figure on screen, pretending to only just realise.

“I already regret this…” Justin muttered. In the commercial, large industrial screens began to light up, showing scenes of harsh wilderness, reminiscent of the Crown Tundra, as soft lights illuminated Justin on screen.

“I see they’ve got you wearing a Coronet puffer jacket,” Charlotte noted. “I’ve never seen you wearing one of them before…”

“Yeah, I’m a sell-out…” Justin muttered causing Charlotte to laugh.

“Sshh…” Jon said, watching the screen intently. “He’s about to talk…”

”I’m Justin Collins, and the winter I turned seventeen, I spent a week as part of a team, hiking across the treacherous Crown Tundra, in search of an ancient and undiscovered Legendary Pokemon…” Justin on screen said, causing Chris to burst into laughter, and Abbee and Dylan to both grin. The image changed to consecutive drone shots of the Crown Tundra, showing the sheer amount of ice, snow and wind, as well as some quick shots of the temples that contained the Legendary Pokemon.

”The journey was dangerous, pushing us all to our limits. And it was only possible, because we had the right gear…” Justin on screen said, as the video continued to cut to more shots of wilderness, now varying from the tundra's they had been showing, and showing clips of forest, mountains and deserts.

“Now the pitch…” Jon said with a grin, with Justin feeling more embarrassed that it was that predictable.

”Coronet Outdoor and Camping have all the gear you could need to go on your own Legendary journey. From tents, to bedding, to cooking equipment, and off-the-grid power, at the best prices,” Justin on screen said, a little too enthusiastically. ”And with stores in all major cities, it’s never been easier to get the right gear, that will make your journey one for the history books…”

“I mean, I’d want to buy from them after seeing this…” Abbee offered, trying to not bruise Justin’s ego any further…

”Visit in store, or online at C-O-C dot com…” Justin on screen said, as the screen turned black. Dylan looked at the screen in shock.

“They can’t be serious…” Dylan said, as the others looked between him and the screen wondering what had shocked him, as Jon took a drink of his beer.

The screen faded to black as the logo for Coronet Outdoor and Camping faded onto the screen, with their website and phone number. However, the logo wasn’t just the simple mountain illustration they were expecting from Coronet Outdoor and Camping.

Instead, it was the mountain device, slightly smaller, with large letters spelling out COC underneath it. Jon realised what Dylan was so shocked about, and couldn’t help but spray his drink out of his mouth and nose when the uncontrollable laughter hit him out of nowhere.

Charlotte looked at the screen and began to laugh as well, granted nowhere near as enthusiastically as Jon, whilst Chris struggled to breath, and Abbee’s face went red as she tried her hardest to stifle her own laughter, failing.

“What’s so funny?” Justin asked, growing worried…

“This new logo…” Charlotte began. “The website too…”

“What about them?”

Chris took a deep breath, before giving into laughter again, and trying to explain between wheezes.

“It is one relatively silent letter away from being…”

“C**k…” Justin said in disbelief, partially using it as a curse, but also finishing Chris’ sentence as Chris and Jon burst into laughter.

“You’re literally on screen, practically telling people to go to c**k.com…” Chris wheezed, as Charlotte couldn’t help but giggle at the reaction of those around her.

Justin sighed, realising what he had to look forward to when this aired…

“I should have asked for more money…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

My Episodes are getting longer which means they take longer to write. This one took two weeks. A week to find time to plan it, and another week to actually write it out. However planned Episode 5 when I planned Episode 4, so hoping to get that written quickly. At the same time, the delay is good, because I commissioned 6 artworks, one of each main character and their team, which are due to be delivered on April 14, and based on what I have planned for the rest of Season 3, it will be cool to release them one by one with new episodes. Just need it to line up.
@Neo Emolga
Included a few more S.S. Wishmaker references I think you will appreciate.
@Suicune's Fire
Like the madman that I am, I actually did it. That joke I was on the fence about is there...

[[Desolate Divine]]

@EmeraldSky I went through your prompt thread and used that as the source for a few ideas in my most recent episode. Thanks for the effort you put into the prompt thread!

[EmeraldSky]

@[Desolate Divine]

You're welcome--I'm glad it was able to help in this episode.

[Neo Emolga]

Oh boy.

Spoiler:

I gotta say, I feel bad for Latios. That poor dude just means well but keeps getting caught in crazy situations and tight places. Also, the way Season 3 Episode 4 ends is just flawless. xD

What I like most is this never gets boring. Everything from the drama and tension with Isabelle and now the situation with Latios being somewhat… blackmailed into lying, though don’t tell Victini I said that definitely keeps us interested to see what becomes of all this.

But yeah, poor Justin. He’s never going to live that down. As a guy who majored in marketing, trust me, I know of so many cases where a little bit of oversight can be disastrous in hilarious ways. Most recent one I came across was for a retirement center called “Sycamore Living.” Read that slowly and tell me what that also sounds like. In less than a few months, they changed the name to “Livia.” Gee, I wonder why! xD

[[Desolate Divine]]

@[Desolate Divine]

You're welcome--I'm glad it was able to help in this episode.

It really has come in handy wanting to write a season that is less high stakes (as last season had a lot of life and death stakes) whilst keeping the content fresh. I will definitely be back!

Oh boy.

Spoiler:

I gotta say, I feel bad for Latios. That poor dude just means well but keeps getting caught in crazy situations and tight places. Also, the way Season 3 Episode 4 ends is just flawless. xD

What I like most is this never gets boring. Everything from the drama and tension with Isabelle and now the situation with Latios being somewhat… blackmailed into lying, though don’t tell Victini I said that definitely keeps us interested to see what becomes of all this.

But yeah, poor Justin. He’s never going to live that down. As a guy who majored in marketing, trust me, I know of so many cases where a little bit of oversight can be disastrous in hilarious ways. Most recent one I came across was for a retirement center called “Sycamore Living.” Read that slowly and tell me what that also sounds like. In less than a few months, they changed the name to “Livia.” Gee, I wonder why! xD

Spoiler:

The Latios part was tricky to balance as the keg joke was definitely necessary for that to play out but at the same time I didn't want to make light of the fact that Latios is battling some personal demons, but also risk the keg part coming across as Latios drinking more given his demons. Separating the two has been tricky.

Gotta say, bouncing between Victini and Latios is a lot of fun to write with haha.

Oh of course, bad advertising is always amusing. The worst I have seen legitimately is a picture of a woman and a dog on a rug, that said Shag Rug $99. Granted not sure how Americans interpret the word Shag but still bad. Ran the COC gag by Xanthe when I wrote it and she found it to be priceless so I ran with it haha

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 5: Odds

Spoiler:

It was Wednesday of the fifth week of summer, July having just started, and the summer heat reaching its peak. Whilst the tension between Dylan and Chris visible to those around them had all but disappeared, the grudge between the pair still held strong, with neither willingly speaking to one-another. Justin, Abbee and Charlotte were all aware that the grudge was still there, however Justin and Charlotte ignored it, growing tired of the grudge that had held for nearly two weeks at this point. Abbee however seemed to struggle most with it, finding herself growing distant from both parties involved. Even though Chris had listened to her, and stopped openly antagonising Dylan, and even toned down sharing his opinion of the older boy when they were in private, which she did appreciate, she still felt awkward at how much of a friend she considered Dylan, somebody that Chris despised as much as he did. On the flip side, she had felt awkward being casual around Dylan, and acting as if nothing was wrong, when she knew that he equally disliked her boyfriend, and her boyfriend had been pestering him as much as he had, with her unable to do much to stop it. This led to her feeling less than comfortable around either of them, and spending most of her time with Charlotte and Justin, and very little time alone with either Chris or Dylan.

It had been a little over an hour since lunch had ended, as Dylan waited in the foyer to the stadium for the rest of his group to arrive for team training with Jon. He had the second session for the afternoon, with Justin’s group having the first. As it reached 1:55, the doors opened, as Justin’s team started wandering out from the stadium, filtering through and saying hello to friends in Dylan’s team, waiting for their session to start. Dylan kept an eye out for Justin to come through the doors, though figured he’d be chatting briefly to Jon before he left. As Dylan considered going in to say hello to the pair of them, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He withdrew it, noticing Alyssa’s name on the screen. This was his first hint that something was off. He could count the amount of times Alyssa had actually called him in one hand, knowing she much preferred to text. He quickly swiped across the screen to answer the phone.

“Hey,” Dylan said, slightly puzzled. “Is everything okay?”

“Do you think you could come to the house?” Alyssa said, sounding serious, and somewhat anxious. “You have a visitor…”

Dylan’s mind began to race as he wondered who it could be. At first he thought it could possibly be Isabelle, but quickly dismissed the notion. Alyssa’s tone didn’t align with that possibility, and he didn’t think Isabelle would show up out of nowhere. His next thought was possibly Bill, his abusive stepdad, however, given the intervention order in place, Alyssa would be calling Jon and the police if he had showed up.

“I’m just about to start a session,” Dylan explained. “Who is it?”

Dylan had not even considered the possibility until Alyssa answered him.

“She says she is your mum…”

Justin emerged from the door to the stadium itself, and waved at Dylan, before noticing he was on the phone, and by extension, the look of shock on Dylan’s face.

“Do you think you can come see her?” Alyssa asked cautiously. “If you can’t get out of your session, I’m happy to keep her company until you can, but I think she’d appreciate seeing you…”

Dylan forced himself to stop spiralling from the shock, and spoke back to Alyssa.

“I can’t come now,” he said bluntly. “I’ll come see her in an hour.”

Before she could reply, Dylan hung up the phone, and noticed Justin nearby, looking slightly worried.

“Is everything alright?” Justin asked, nodding towards the phone.

“Fine,” Dylan answered shortly. “Someone unexpected has just shown up wanting to see me…”

“Well if you want, I’m happy to help Jon with your group for training,” Justin offered. “It’s no secret they’re the easiest to manage. If you need to see this person, that way you aren’t keeping them waiting…”

“She’s kept me waiting for ten years. She can wait an hour…”

Justin was taken aback by the venom in Dylan’s tone, and how pointed the remark was.

“Really, are you alright?” Justin asked cautiously, remembering how Dylan blew up at Abbee weeks earlier, which was the catalyst for the dissonance between the interns since. “Because you seem troubled by all of this…”

Dylan considered his options, before sighing to himself.

“It’s my mum…” Dylan explained. “She walked out ten years ago, and left me with my a**hole stepdad. Now she has shown up with no warning and is at Jon and Alyssa’s house…”

“S**t…” Justin muttered, shocked at the sudden revelation. Dylan pocketed his phone, before walking towards the entrance of the stadium.

“But as I said. I waited ten years for her to show up. She can wait an hour…” Dylan muttered.

Hoping he wasn’t overstepping the boundary, Justin grabbed Dylan by the shoulder.

“I think you should go talk to her…” Justin said, as Dylan began to protest, before he cut him off. “Not for her sake…”

Dylan gave Justin a puzzled look, as he continued.

“Even if you won’t admit it, it’s obvious this is messing with you. Anyone can see it,” Justin continued. “If you have all this s**t on your mind, how will you be able to be a decent teacher for your students, with all this distracting you…”

Dylan had to admit that Justin raised a decent point. He would barely be able to focus on assisting Jon with training after what he had just heard, and the questions racing through his mind. Largely the question of why?

“I think you should let me cover you today, and go and figure out what she wants,” Justin concluded. “Give her a piece of your mind if that’s what you really want. Then you can just cover my group for training on Friday afternoon. Deal?”

Dylan thought over what Justin had said. One thing neither had considered was Jon, and whilst Dylan appreciated what Jon had done for him over the years, this was something Dylan wanted to handle alone. If he went in, and Jon could see how much all of this was affecting him, it was almost certain Jon would get involved.

“Thanks…” Dylan said quietly. “You’re a good friend.”

Justin couldn’t help but grin.

“Consider us even for you not making fun of me for the whole COC thing…”

A smile broke onto Dylan’s face at the reminder of the oversight Coronet Outdoor and Camping had made with their logo, as Justin turned to round up Dylan’s group, and usher them into the stadium, where he would then explain Dylan’s absence to Jon. Once he was gone, Dylan left the stadium, making his way towards Jon and Alyssa’s house.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“I thought you weren’t coming for another hour?” Alyssa asked, as she saw Dylan enter the house through the back door.

“Justin forced me to let him cover my class…” Dylan said quietly, as Alyssa smiled weakly.

“He’s a good guy.”

Dylan nodded, before gesturing towards the closed door into the lounge.

“She in there?” Dylan asked quietly.

“Waiting for you…” Alyssa said, as he made his way towards the door, stopping just shy of it. Ten seconds passed, without Dylan making another movement forward, seemingly frozen.

“Would you like me to come with you?” Alyssa offered. “Lili is asleep, and I have all afternoon free from work, if you don’t want to do this alone…”

Dylan was quiet for a second, considering it. Even though she was barely fifteen years older than him, and he had only lived with her and Jon for the last two years, he already considered Alyssa more of a mother-figure to him than his own mother.

“I’d really appreciate that…” Dylan answered after a moment, his voice cracking a little. “Honestly, it’s all just… a lot…”

Alyssa nodded, as Dylan found the will to open the door, stepping into the room, as Alyssa followed him in. He saw sitting on the couch that faced the opposite wall, a woman in her early forties, with brown hair, the same shade as his own, straightened and cut just above her shoulders, with slight streaks of grey starting to become visible from age. He couldn’t see her face, until he walked past the couch she sat on, to the one opposite her, sitting down, and looking at his mother for the first time in a decade. Alyssa followed him, sitting on the armchair between the two couches.

For a moment, Dylan wasn’t able to speak, simply taking in the face of his mother. She had darker freckles than he did, though her eyes were a green similar to Abbee’s. She looked at him nervously, expecting him to speak, however when he didn’t, decided to open the conversation herself.

“Dylan…” Nicole said anxiously. “You look really well…”

“Yeah…” Dylan muttered, taking Nicole by surprise with the contempt in his voice. She tried to shake it off, knowing that she shouldn’t expect any more.

“I’m glad that Jon and Alyssa have been taking good care of you…” Nicole continued awkwardly, before directing her words more towards Alyssa. “I really appreciate the two of you taking him in…”

“It’s been a pleasure,” Alyssa reassured. “Dylan has been a blessing for us and our family…”

Before anything else could be said, Dylan finally addressed Nicole.

“Why are you here?” Dylan asked, intentionally refusing to call her Mum. There was an awkward silence before he continued. “I mean, you walked out ten years ago. Didn’t say goodbye or anything. I found out from Bill and thought it was some sick joke…”

Nicole began to speak, but Dylan, not having begun, didn’t want to stop.

“Ten years on, and I’m happy here. I’ve made a life without you and without Bill. And you think you can just show up out of nowhere like this?” Dylan asked, his voice starting to raise. “I was at the point where I would have happily not seen you again. So why are you here?!”

“Dylan!” Alyssa said in shock. Whilst she could never bring herself to walk out on her child the way Nicole did, she did empathise with Nicole as a mother herself, having her child say these things to her.

“It’s fine Alyssa…” Nicole said quietly, struggling to hold Dylan’s gaze. “He has every right…”

Angrily, Dylan grabbed the collar of his shirt, and tugged it violently aside, revealing the scar on his collarbone from the last time he had been to Bill’s house.

“This is what Bill gave me for my eighteenth birthday! He threw a can at me, because he was talking s**t about you, and for some stupid reason, I defended you! And that’s not the only time something like that happened!” Dylan shouted. “I get why you left him! He is a piece of s**t! But you left me there, and after that, he just got worse! So why show up now?!”

Dylan let go of his collar, letting the elastic pull it back into place, before collapsing into his seat, waiting to hear what Nicole had to say about all this.

“I knew you wouldn’t want to see me. I wouldn’t either…” Nicole explained. “That’s why I never contacted you after I left. Especially after I found out you were here. I knew you wouldn’t want to hear from me. But something has happened…”

With her left hand, Nicole pulled back the hair on the left side of her head, holding it against the back, revealing her ear. Or more so, revealing the red hearing aid that sat on her ear…

“You’re going deaf?” Dylan asked. Whilst it was unfortunate, he wondered how this justified her changing her mind to contact him.

“I have been for the last year,” Nicole explained. “Do you remember much of your grandmother? You were only five when she passed away…”

“Vaguely,” Dylan answered, his curiosity keeping his frustration at bay. “She lived in Mossdeep, near the pier. She’s in the cemetery on the island, and…”

Dylan’s eyes widened as he realised what Nicole was implying, leaving Alyssa confused at the revelation.

“She was deaf…” Dylan answered, remembering how difficult it was to communicate with his grandmother when he was younger. “She had been deaf since before I was born…”

Nicole nodded, as Alyssa pieced together what Dylan had just realised.

“My mother started going deaf when she was around my age,” Nicole explained. “By the time she was forty-five she had lost all her hearing. She had worked in a factory during her younger years, and because the research hadn’t been done, they assumed that her hearing was damaged from that environment…”

“But it wasn’t that?” Dylan said, causing Nicole to nod.

“When I started going deaf, I saw some specialists and they did some tests,” she explained. “I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis 2. NF2 for short. It creates tumours, largely along nerves. They’re benign, but the real effect is when they are on auditory nerves. They cause deafness, and issues with balance…”

“And if you have it…” Dylan asked, though unsure of whether he wanted to hear the answer.

“It doesn’t mean for certain you do…” Nicole answered. “But there is a chance that needs to be considered…”

Dylan sat back in shock at the revelation, as Nicole continued.

“The faulty genes that cause this disorder are recessive, which means that you need to inherit them from both parents in order for it to actually take effect,” Nicole explained. “My mother inherited it from both her parents, however my father only inherited the faulty gene from one, meaning he was just a carrier, but unfortunately, he passed that gene on to me…”

“Does Dylan’s father have the gene?” Alyssa asked. Whilst she did think it wasn’t her place, she could see Dylan struggling with the news, and knew that a shock like that may cause him to not ask the right questions.

“I don’t know…” Nicole answered, turning to Alyssa. “He and I weren’t ever really together, and weren’t in contact when I realised I was pregnant. He doesn’t even know that Dylan is his son…”

Dylan looked up in shock, this being the first time he heard anything substantial about his biological father.

“If he has this disorder, you will have it as well, Dylan,” Nicole explained. “If he doesn’t then depending on his own family tree, your odds of getting this illness are at 50% at most…”

“What do you mean, his family tree?” Dylan asked, trying to take all of this in.

“If there is any history of unexplained deafness in his family, by the time they are in their forties, but he isn’t, then there is a chance he may have inherited this gene from one of his parents, and by extension, a fifty-fifty chance he passed it on to you…” Nicole answered. “If you have his family tree in front of you, and know of any deafness, it isn’t difficult to find out the potential odds of him having the gene, and halving those, the odds of you having NF2…”

“Surely there is testing available for this?” Alyssa asked, trying to be the voice of reason, though shocked and worried by the thought. “If carriers are common enough that you felt the need to find Dylan just to tell him, surely there are tests that can be done? Genetic tests?”

“There are, however, even when there is public health care, the costs are high…” Nicole explained, before turning to Dylan. “If you’d like to get tested, that is one way of finding out whether or not you have it. But at the same time, you might be able to get enough peace of mind for free, if you knew your fathers history…”

Nicole opened her handbag that sat on the floor at her feet, and pulled out an envelope with Dylan’s name on it. She reached out, handing it to him, as he slowly reached forward to take it.

“At the same time, I know some people would rather not find out, figuring if they are certain to have it, they’d rather not spend the years leading up to it taking effect worrying about it…” Nicole explained. “If you would rather not know, you can throw that out, and worry about this when the time comes. But if you want to find out, you might find some answers in there…”

Before either could reply, Nicole rose to her feet.

“I knew it would be hard for you if I showed up here, and because of that, I only came because I thought you needed to know,” Nicole said briefly, quickly turning her back towards Dylan, trying to hide the fact her eyes were starting to tear up. “So I’ll leave you alone. I won’t contact you again. You’re doing better here without me…”

Quietly, Dylan stood, walking her to the front door in silence. As she stood out, she turned to say one last thing.

“I know it’s worth little, but I’m sorry for leaving, Dylan…” she said quietly. “I won’t contact you again, but if you ever want to talk, I left my contact details in that envelope as well.”

Dylan sighed painfully, before speaking.

“Thank you for telling me about this…” he said, though not sure at that moment he believed it himself. “We will just have to see…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The digital clock on the DVD player in the Intern Lodge Lounge read 1:40 while Abbee sat alone in the lounge. She had become used to spending her free time by herself. Charlotte was beginning to round up her group, so they wouldn’t be late for their training at 2pm, whilst Justin was running a game for the other campers outside, and they were the only two she felt like nothing had changed with. Whilst she still spent a lot of her time with Chris, she didn’t enjoy it anymore, and whilst she didn’t think Dylan held a grudge against her, she had barely spoken to him since the incident at the Firehouse. Whilst she wanted things to be normal with both of them, the fact that they held a grudge between them, caused her to feel more isolated from either of them.

It was Thursday, so Chris was currently training his group with Jon, before Charlotte would. She sighed. She hated being alone. Whilst she could go and help Justin run the game for the campers, she was hardly in the mood, and that wasn’t part of her paid time, so was under no obligation to.

However, after forty minutes of browsing on her phone, she finally snapped, deciding to go see if Justin wanted some company. She got off the couch, and made her way to the doorway, as she heard the sound of the front door open. As she reached the doorway, she saw Dylan enter the lodge, and make his way towards the stairs. She knew he had seen her, and was shocked that he didn’t even look in her direction. Even with the awkwardness of the last two weeks, he normally still made the effort to say hello, or even just acknowledge her. This however was different.

Silently, Dylan walked up the stairs, as Abbee stood in shock at the complete disregard for her even being there. The sound of Dylan’s footsteps in the hallway above them echoed, as she heard his door open, and then shut.

“What the hell?” she muttered to herself. She stood silently for a few moments, wondering what had gotten into Dylan. The night before, he hadn’t been at dinner, and outside of what was required of him for his job, didn’t leave his room. At first she thought he was just tired, however when she considered the way he had just acted, she couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong. Her first thought was that Chris had done something, however she knew Dylan didn’t normally let anything Chris said or did upset him like this.

Determined, she turned towards the stairs, and made her way upstairs to the floor where all the interns slept.

“Dylan,” she called out as she knocked softly on his door. “Are you there?”

After a few moments, the door opened, as Dylan stood in front of her, his face blank. She noticed the room behind him was pitch black, with the lights off and curtains closed. Dylan said nothing, waiting for Abbee to speak.

“I just wanted to know if you were okay…” Abbee said gently. “I know things have been a bit awkward with everything that happened, but you haven’t been yourself the last few days…”

“I’m fine…” Dylan said, a hint of irritation in his voice.

“Really?” Abbee asked. “Because you’ve barely left your room for days…”

Abbee nodded towards the dark room behind Dylan.

“And it’s pitch black in there…” Abbee commented.

“I’ve been struggling to sleep,” Dylan said shortly. “I was trying to have a nap…”

Dylan went to close the door, before Abbee placed her hand against it, stopping it.

“Have I done something to upset you?” Abbee asked, the concern evident in her voice. “Because if I have, say the word, and I’ll make it right. I just want things to be normal again…”

Dylan was quiet, causing Abbee to worry.

“It’s not always about you Abbee… Can you just give me some space?”

The question was filled with a tone of exasperation, hitting Abbee hard.

“Seriously, just leave me alone…”

Dylan closed the door, this time, Abbee not interfering to stop him, and leaving her standing alone in the hallway. Tears began to form in her eyes, as she tried to be silent when they fell on the carpet at her feet. It wasn’t Dylan on his own that had pushed her to breaking point, but everything. Her worries about how her and Chris’ relationship would survive when they seemed to be going on two opposing paths. The tension that she now felt with both Chris and Dylan given their grudge. The thought of moving to a new region, where she knew nobody but her future workmates. And now, Dylan, giving her the cold shoulder.

It took a minute for her to bring herself to move away from the door to Dylan’s room, moving across to her own, next to his, and closing the door. Even after her dad died, she had never felt as alone as she did at that moment, and whilst her first instinct was to let Victini out of his Pokeball, she knew her loyal partner would not take Dylan’s standoffish attitude well, and would likely create a bigger rift between them than already was there if he knew what had just happened.

She leaned back against the door, sliding down to the ground, sobbing as she tried to figure out just how everything turned so badly, considering how great things were at the start of the summer…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Seriously?”

Charlotte looked at Chris, who had posed the question, as he and his Pokemon trained on the flat grassy area by the entrance to the Academy grounds. Whilst normally the stadium would be better suited for training Pokemon, Lugia was growing larger by the day, and it was becoming cramped in there. Additionally, doing it during the afternoon meant that there were less students around, given the amount doing their training with Jon, so there were less distractions. His focus had been pulled by Dylan’s car driving past, with Charlotte in the driver’s seat. He had asked her why she had Dylan’s car, and she had told him she was allowed to borrow it, provided she was careful, which had led to the aforementioned question.

“Why not?” Charlotte asked from the driver’s seat. “I got my license just before the trial. And Jon and Alyssa’s insurance doesn’t cover anyone under thirty driving their cars...”

Chris nodded in understanding.

“So why do you need it?”

“Jon wants to set up some more shelter at Southern Island,” Charlotte explained. “He asked me if I could go into town and buy a tarp and some ropes.”

“And didn’t want coc.com in his search history?” Chris retorted with a grin. Charlotte couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

“I presume not, because I’m going to the Coronet Outdoor store,” Charlotte remarked. As she did, Chris’ expression shifted to one of realization.

“Wait, this might be good,” Chris explained, before calling Lugia back to his Pokeball. “Do you mind if I come with you? I need to get some gear myself…”

“If you’re out here, I take it Jon doesn’t need you keeping an eye on the students?” Charlotte asked. Chris shook his head.

“Abbee is keeping an eye on things in the main hall, and Justin is floating around the property. I saw him before.”

“Justin’s group doesn’t have training?” Charlotte asked, having not heard of anything different happening that week.

“He covered Dylan’s group on Wednesday, so Dylan is doing training with his group, as well as Justin’s today,” Chris answered. “He didn’t really want to talk about Dylan though, so I don’t know why…”

“The way you two have been acting, I don’t blame him,” Charlotte replied, as Chris rolled his eyes at the beginning of a lecture.

“Whatever,” Chris said, brushing Charlotte off before she could start getting stuck into him. “Can I tag along?”

“Don’t see why not,” Charlotte answered. “I don’t think Dylan’s petty enough to have a problem with me using his car to give you a ride…”

Chris jogged to the other side of the car, climbing into the passenger seat, before Charlotte put the car into gear, released the clutch, and took off down the driveway towards Arcadia Drive, the street the Eon Academy was on. There were no buildings relatively near the Academy, with the properties surrounding it being empty paddocks. However it was only a twenty minute drive before entering the city itself, by the island beach.

“So what do you need from Coronet?” Charlotte asked, not expecting Chris to jump at the opportunity when he heard she was going to the camping store.

“A swag,” Chris answered. “We only get a limited amount of free stays in Pokemon Centres with our League Registration, and if all goes to plan, I will be using all of them quite quickly if I rely on them…”

“So you’re going to rough it for nine months until you’re back here?” Charlotte asked. “Why not buy yourself a van or something? Kit it out to live in?”

“I considered that, but I want to travel between regions a fair bit, and shipping a van set up for me to live in it will cost too much,” Chris explained.

“So you’re going to rely on public transport?” Charlotte asked. “Surely that will cost just as much, as well as suck for carrying your camping gear?”

“Nope,” Chris said with a grin. “I’m getting a motorbike. Costs a fraction to transport between regions of a car, is cheaper to run, and I can get one brand new for what I’d pay for a decent second hand car…”

Charlotte couldn’t help but admire the thought Chris had put into this. It did seem like the best solution.

“So do you have a license yet?” Charlotte asked.

“Not yet,” Chris explained. “In Johto, you get your learner license by doing a two day course, and you can ride on that, provided that after a year, you do a proper test, and get a provisional license. I’ve got the course booked for two weeks after summer ends. I’ll be literally going home to prepare to leave and travel. That’s why I’m wanting to organize some of the gear now. While I have a bit of time and am not rushing to leave…”

For a second, Charlotte continued to be impressed, before having a feeling that something didn’t add up. She suddenly realized that the reason she was so impressed by Chris having this much forethought was because it was shocking to her.

She remembered the conversation she had with Abbee, the week before. It had been obvious that Abbee was struggling with the grudge between Chris and Dylan, with Abbee directly saying to Charlotte she felt like she was expected to choose one side or another, though Rose had knocked on the door, asking them for help with the bug infestation, and interrupting her before she could finish the thought. When the situation had been dealt with, Charlotte made a point of sticking by Abbee, who mentioned that half the reason things weren’t ideal between her and Chris at the moment, was his refusal to talk about how they’d make their relationship work long distance when she moved to Nimbasa City, and he travelled. According to Abbee, every time she’d try and figure out something with Chris, he’d simply say ”We’ll figure it out”, and dismiss the conversation.

It was jarring to Charlotte to see these two extremes. To hear from Abbee about Chris’ refusal to consider their future, but now hear him talk about all these plans he had to travel, with so much thought put into it all.

Chris continued the conversation, talking about the sort of motorbike he was planning on buying, and how much it would cost, whilst Charlotte nodded in agreement, though thinking about what she had just noticed. It continued as Charlotte parked the car, and the pair entered the store.

They split up briefly, Charlotte quickly finding the biggest tarp the store had in stock, as well as an abundance of ropes and straps to tie the corners of the tarp to nearby trees, providing her and Jon with shade from the sun as the summer heat ramped up. Once she found them, she made her way to the section of the store with tents and swags on display, finding Chris inspecting one thoroughly.

“Found one you like?” Charlotte asked, as Chris noticed her approaching.

“I think this one…” Chris explained, before grabbing the small bag off the shelf, containing one packed up. “It’s a good enough size, and apparently when it’s packed up, it’s this small, so I can carry it with me easily…”

“Apparently?”

“I have never seen a tent get folded as small as it was when it came out of the bag for the first time,” Chris explained. “This may be tiny as hell, but I don’t want it to only be this tiny until I pull it out, and never fold this small again. Or rip the bag when I’m trying to pack it. I’ve seen that happen before, and on a motorbike, it will be a nightmare…”

Chris spent the next fifteen minutes on his phone, looking at reviews for the swag he was looking at, before then spending the next ten pestering a sales rep who made the mistake of asking if he needed help with questions about the warranty, specifically if the bag breaks because the swag won’t roll up small enough to fit. Finally, he decided to buy the swag, before the pair found themselves back in Dylan’s car, Charlotte driving them back.

“So after you leave Blackthorn, when will you be able to see Abbee next?” Charlotte asked, wanting to hear from Chris himself, what Abbee had mentioned. She was disappointed, though not surprised when Chris sighed.

“At this rate, I won’t be able to get to Unova until her birthday...” Chris explained, as Charlotte’s eyes widened. “I preregistered for all of the tournaments I could once I leave. I’ll be travelling Johto during the second half of September, then Sinnoh during October. November I’ll be competing in Kanto, then Kalos during most of December, and Alola for the end of December and start of January…”

“So Abbee is going to be moving to another region, starting a job in a city she barely knows, and won’t see her boyfriend for three months…” Charlotte said in disbelief.

“Her and I have talked about this,” Chris interjected, slightly irritably. “It’s just these first few months that are like this. Between then and next summer, I’ll be in Unova twice for tournaments, and will visit her then, and will be making a couple of extra trips in that time to come see her specifically. Then it will be summer again, and we’ll both be here for three months…”

“And she’s okay with that?” Charlotte asked. Whilst she knew the responsibility wasn’t all Chris’ she knew that Chris plans between the end of this summer and the start of next were much more flexible than Abbee’s, having heard from Abbee how much overtime she’d be working to get enough paid leave and funds to be here for the next summer.

“She’s okay with that,” Chris agreed, before realizing the mistake he made with his tone.

“Really?” Charlotte asked. “Because it sounds like she isn’t okay with something else when you put it like that…”

Chris sighed, as Charlotte, between looking at the road, looked to him for elaboration.

“Right now, Abbee doesn’t want to be in Nimbasa permanently, and wants to eventually compete herself like we do…” Chris explained. “She wants to spend a few years there, get herself a house, and be able to compete for the enjoyment of it…”

“Understandable…” Charlotte said, having heard this from Abbee herself.

“But she says that she may change her mind, and want to stay in Nimbasa for ten years, maybe even longer…” Chris explained. “And at this point, short of winning big and having a private helicopter to fly me everywhere, I don’t know that I’m ever going to settle down in one place. So far, my only plans for the future are the ones I am working on now. Travel and compete…”

Charlotte nodded, having heard this before from Abbee, though wasn’t going to let Chris know this fact. She knew that he was stubborn, but also that he had a tendency to listen to her. But if Chris thought for a second Abbee had put Charlotte up to this, any chances of her getting him to actually think about all of this was dead in the water.

“Abbee thinks that our plans are pulling us in opposite directions, and as it stands, it looks like both of us are planning on going full steam ahead. And even though she plans to eventually travel, and that would make things easier for us, she knows that her plans could change, and is worried that we’re just setting ourselves up for things to go badly by staying together when right now, things working out long term seems impossible…”

Charlotte was silent, for a moment, letting Chris ponder his own words, knowing that it was likely he hadn’t let himself think about this, for the same reason he was not having the conversation with Abbee about it all.

“So what are you going to do?” Charlotte asked.

“I’ll figure it out when I have to…” Chris remarked. “It’s not worth weighing ourselves down with it now…”

“You idiot…” Charlotte muttered, causing Chris’ temper to flare.

“Hey!” Chris replied indignantly. “It’s not like it’s any of your business!”

“I don’t give a s**t if it isn’t my business,” Charlotte retorted bluntly. “It doesn’t need to be my business for me to tell you to get your s**t together…”

Chris sighed as Charlotte continued.

“Abbee wants to buy a house before she competes, and even then, may decide to stick with the gym and not compete at all, so what, she expects to be in Nimbasa a minimum of five years?” Charlotte asked, more wanting confirmation that her estimate on numbers is correct. Chris nodded cautiously.

“And you expect her to just not worry about all of this the next five years, because you’ll apparently figure it out when you have to?” Charlotte asked angrily. “What, you think it’s okay to string her along for five years on the hope that her plans don’t change, because you refuse to even consider changing yours?”

“It’s not that simple…” Chris muttered.

“Bulls**t it isn’t that simple!” Charlotte interrupted. “This could all be sorted if you were willing to compromise with her. Hell, she wants to buy a house before she competes, so what if you tried to buy one with her, and then live there between competitions?”

“Because I’m barely going to have time between competitions to have a home to go back to-”

“Oh my God, this is exactly what I am talking about!” Charlotte said in exasperation. “You’re not even willing to consider adjusting your plans to make things work with her long term. You just expect her to follow along, and hope it works out, against her better judgement!”

“So what do you think I should do?” Chris asked angrily as they entered the gates to the Academy.

“Give her an actual reason to believe that things can work between you long term. Even if it means compromising on what you want,” Charlotte said, before her tone turned bitter. “And if you can’t do that, then for her sake, end it. If you’re not willing to compromise for her sake, let her find someone that will…”

Charlotte parked the car by the house, turning it off, before speaking again, softening her tone this time.

“She wants this to work out, but wanting it isn’t enough to change the fact that if nothing changes, chances are this is just going to end badly,” Charlotte said. “You can’t keep telling her you’ll figure it out, and then do jack-s**t until the solution magically appears. Because it won’t…”

Charlotte got out of the car and tossed the keys to Chris, who still sat in the passenger seat, too frustrated to be around him until he got out of the car himself and got his swag out of the back, for her to lock it.

************************************************** ************************************************** *********

It was 2:30pm when Abbee found herself in the main hall of the Eon Academy. The hall itself was a large room in a T-shaped building used for multiple purposes. The closest section to the entrance was connected to a small kitchen, and used as the dining room, with the middle section being a recreation room, and the section closest to the classrooms that made up the horizontal line of the T, had lines of chairs facing a lectern and a screen, where half of the classes were ran, now that there were more students that could fit in a given classroom, but not enough teachers, classes, or space, to have smaller groups. Partitions existed between the three sections, allowing them to be closed off at a moment's notice.

In the middle section of the large building, a dozen students sat on couches, watching a movie that had been put on the large TV on the side of the room, whilst a few others sat at tables in the dining room, playing card games. Abbee sat by herself at another dining table, keeping an eye on those in the room, though it was largely unnecessary. Really, Abbee was there so that students knew she was around and if there were any issues they could find her.

She found herself staring into space as she thought about what happened with Dylan the day before. Outside of classes he was teaching, Dylan hadn’t left his room. She wasn’t the only one to notice, with Charlotte and Justin both noticing as well. She had mentioned it to Jon, who listened to her, though didn’t seem too surprised by the fact. She wasn’t sure if Chris knew as she had avoided talking about Dylan in his company.

“Anyone home?”

Abbee was pulled from her thoughts by Justin’s voice, as he pulled out the chair opposite her.

“Sorry?” Abbee asked, slightly confused.

“I called to you about three times,” Justin said, sitting down opposite her. “You seemed pretty intent on staring at that wall…”

Abbee chuckled mildly.

“Sorry, I’ve got a bit on my mind,” Abbee replied. Justin nodded, before pulling out his phone, as Abbee had a thought. “Doesn’t your group have training with Jon right now?”

“They do, but Dylan’s covering for me, so I have the afternoon off,” Justin said casually. Abbee however found herself more confused.

“Why’s he covering for you?” Abbee asked. “Yesterday I couldn’t even get him to talk to me, or leave his room, let alone cover one of my shifts…”

Justin went quiet, realizing he may have said a little much. He looked around and made sure none of the students were in earshot.

“I covered for him on Wednesday,” Justin explained. “I was on my way out of a session, and he was waiting to start, but got a phone call from Alyssa, and was pretty shaken up…”

Abbee’s eyes widened a little, as she started to worry. Between that and Dylan’s demeanour the night before, she figured there was a link.

“What was the call about?”

“Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but his mum showed up here on Wednesday,” Justin said quietly. “He hadn’t seen her in like ten years…”

“And it rattled him?” Abbee asked. Justin nodded.

“He didn’t say much, but was going to wait until after his session. Said ’I’ve waited ten years, so she can wait an hour,” Justin explained. “I told him that if he has this going on, he’s going to be too distracted to teach well, and to let me cover his session, and see what she wants…”

“That might be what’s got him so upset…” Abbee remarked. “Yesterday he came into the lodge, and walked past without even acknowledging I was there. Went straight to his room, with the lights off and blinds closed. When I asked him if everything was alright, he just blew me off. Told me to leave him alone…”

Justin sighed.

“It sucks he is doing that, but I think whatever happened with his mum is why…” Justin agreed.

“I thought it might be because of Chris, but…” Abbee began, before trailing off, as her thoughts moved elsewhere. Justin looked at her a little confused, before she changed direction. “Can I ask you something Justin?”

“Sure,” Justin replied, slightly confused and a little nervous. “What about?”

“You and Candice…” Abbee explained. “I get you two have only really been together for a little longer than Chris and I. But how did you make the distance work? You were both in Sinnoh, but it’s not like either of you could just drop what you’re doing, and go see each other?”

Justin thought it over, not having really considered it too much. The last year with Candice kind of just happened. Even with the distance between Jubilife and Snowpoint City, it hadn’t been a masterpiece of planning for the pair to see each other once every month or two.

“I don’t know honestly, it kind of just worked out,” Justin explained. “If I were still in Kalos it would be different, but I guess if I had to break it down…”

Justin quickly thought over what he was trying to say, choosing the words carefully.

“I guess it worked out so easily because we made the relationship and seeing each other a priority, and were both willing to compromise…” Justin answered. “I mean, I’d have classes three days a week, and work another two. I’d get to the weekend, and have assignments to write, and readings to catch up on. And when I’d finally have a free weekend, hell, I would have loved to have just stayed at home, worn some comfy pants and fallen asleep in front of the TV in my dorm room….”

“But more than anything, I wanted to see her and be with her, so as much as leaving classes Friday to spend all night on a bus to Snowpoint was a pain in the a**, it was worth it when I got to see Candice. And she was doing the same,” Justin continued.” There were a few weekends where she stayed in Jubilife, and missed things with her friends, or family dinners. But seeing me was a priority, and she was willing to give some of those things up to do that…”

Abbee’s first reaction was to think of how sweet it was that Justin and Candice were both that determined to make it work, that compromising like that to be with each other was just the standard. However, after taking it in fully, she began to feel a lump in her throat.

She knew that her relationship with Chris was different to this, not because he refused to compromise, but because he refused to see the need to compromise. And thinking about this in light of Justin’s answer to her question, she couldn’t help but feel that this refusal to see the need to compromise stemmed from one sad fact. Being with her wasn’t a priority…

For the second time in two days, Abbee felt tears forming in her eyes, as she looked down, trying to not let the students in the room see her. Justin jumped in alarm at the sight, and leaned forward towards her.

“Abbee, what’s going on?” he asked quietly, “What’s wrong?”

Abbee wiped the tears away quickly with her sleeve, trying to compose herself, before her students noticed. She remained silent though, staring at the tabletop in front of her.

“Abbee, talk to me,” Justin said. “Please…”

“I asked you how you and Candice make it work when you live far away, because I want things to work out between Chris and I, and I was worried that we wouldn’t last once I moved and he started travelling…” Abbee said quietly, still wiping stray tears from her eyes. “You talked about two things you guys have together. You make each other a priority, and you compromise….”

Justin nodded.

“And honestly, this summer has shown me that Chris isn’t doing either… And if that doesn’t change, I don’t know how things are going to work once summer ends…”