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

[[Desolate Divine]]

Episode 12: Safety (Part 2)

Spoiler:

As Jon listened to Abbee describing the conversations she had with Dylan, and her theory about the bruise on his collarbone, and the can of drink, it all suddenly began to make sense. Why he didn’t want Jon to meet his family, and why he showed up at the Academy that morning before Jon could go and pick him up. Even the fact he had decided to come to what really is a battling summer school, when he doesn’t seem to care as much about battling as the others there, more preferring to learn about raising Pokemon. He just didn’t want to be at home.

“You’ve done the right thing by telling me,” Jon said. “I will make sure that he is safe here, and that the right people are told, and the right measures are taken.”

Abbee nodded, though still seemed uncertain.

“What will happen to him now?” Abbee asked.

“Well he is an adult now, so it’s not like he will get taken away from his home by force, or put into foster care. For the next week or so, he is here, but anything after that really is his decision,” Jon explained. “If you had told me this a week ago, it would be a very different story. I will still report it to the police, as chances are this has been going on for a while, so it would be considered child abuse. If he wants, I will help him get an intervention order so whoever did this to him can’t contact him without the police being involved, which should hopefully make a bit of a difference, but what happens next is his choice.”

Abbee was silent. Jon had basically confirmed what she was worried about. That this probably wasn’t an isolated incident. If anyone understood this, it would be Jon.

“Are you going to talk to him?” Abbee asked.

“Tonight,” Jon said. “I have one thing I want to look into before I speak to him, and once I have had a talk to him, I will report it. It will all be before dinner tonight, so don’t worry about me taking too long.”

Abbee nodded.

“Maybe just give him some space. If he didn’t want to talk to you about it before, then he probably doesn’t now. If he comes out of his room, act the same way you would normally,” Jon explained. “He probably needs a friend right about now to take his mind off of whatever happened for the time being.”

“Do you mind if we don’t train today?” Jon asked. “I will schedule you in for 3pm tomorrow, after Chris.”

“Yeah, that’s fair enough,” Abbee replied. “I’m not really feeling up to it right now either.”

Jon nodded, as he made his way to the house.

“You and Victini are welcome to wait in the house until I get back, otherwise, maybe just fill time at the lodge. I’m sure Alyssa would love the company.”

“Thanks, but I think I will head back to the lodge,” Abbee replied. “Maybe have a lie down before dinner.”

She said goodbye to Jon, before making her way back towards the lodge.

“You did the right thing,” Victini said to her telepathically. She nodded, but still wasn’t sure how well this situation could have turned out.

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

“Thank God for free healthcare…” Charlotte muttered to herself as she looked at the itemized receipt.

Before her practise battle with Jon, she realized how low on medical supplies for Luxray she was. Painkillers, bandages, as well as medicated food to help Luxray recover from his injury weeks earlier. Given the events of the week earlier, she hadn’t noticed how low she had gotten, and needed to get to the Pokemon Centre to stock up.

When she mentioned it to Jon, she begged him to let her go on her own. The rule was that they could only leave the property in pairs, however Chris and Justin had gone out to get lunch and check out some shops in the city, she didn’t know where Dylan was, and Abbee had training. Short of dragging Alyssa and Amelia away from home, all she could do was go by herself.

Jon was apprehensive about it to begin with, however gave his blessing, as long as she went straight there and came straight home. The rule was in place both to prevent them getting into trouble, as well as for their own safety. Charlotte was the least likely to cause trouble, and also the one who could handle herself best if anything went pear-shaped, so Jon was willing to make an exception, as long as she didn’t go out of her way to tell the others he had let her go alone.

The receipt she held in one hand, listed the items in the bag she held in the other. The total was well over three hundred dollars, but reduced to a small fraction thanks to the healthcare trainers received. If not for that, her blunder with Luxray would have cost her thousands between the surgery, hospital observation and now the supplies needed for recovery.

Whilst she had caught a bus from near the Eon Academy to the Pokemon Center, she would have been waiting twenty minutes for the next to arrive to take her back, so decided to walk. As she walked down the main street of Mossdeep, she noticed three young men, probably Dylan’s age, maybe a year older, gathered around the side of a beaten up car, talking loudly, and being generally obnoxious. She continued to walk, hoping not to be noticed by them. She was not that fortunate.

“Hey!” one called out. “Blondie! Where’re you going?”

“Goddamn it…” she muttered to herself as she kept walking...

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

It was nearly 3pm when Jon was in the car driving down the same road he had driven yesterday, looking out the window for his destination. After a few minutes, he spotted it, pulling into the carpark. This was the PokeFood store that he realized yesterday, Dylan had worked the last few years at. Whilst Jon believed everything Abbee said, and had the same theory about what was going on, he knew that he needed to talk to Dylan about it before he reported it, and if he wanted Dylan to be honest about it, Dylan needed to know Jon understood what had been going on, beyond mere speculation. He had a few loose ends he wanted to try and understand first.

The store itself wasn’t part of a chain, but was independently owned. A family business. As Jon walked in the store, one he had entered a couple of times over the last year of living in Mossdeep, he was quickly greeted by the clerk working the checkout, a young woman in her early twenties. The store itself had a few customers but didn’t seem overly busy.

“I was wondering if I could speak to the store manager?” Jon asked politely.

“I will see if he is free…” the clerk replied, slightly confused. Jon didn’t sound like the typical angry customer that usually would ask to speak to the manager, but still, she found it odd.

After a few minutes she returned with a man in his early fifties.

“You’re Jon Drake, aren’t you?” he asked. “I heard about you buying that property and turning it into a school. Glad to see some development on the island.”

“Yeah I’m Jon,” he said, shaking the man’s hand. “And you are?”

“Charlie, I own the store,” the man replied. “What did you want to speak about?”

“If we could speak somewhere a little more private, I wanted to talk to you about one of your workers,” Jon said, quietening his voice. “Dylan Squier. He is currently attending my summer program.”

Slightly confused, Charlie nodded, before gesturing for Jon to follow him behind the counter, into the offices in the back of the building. Charlie sat behind a desk, as Jon sat opposite him. As Charlie sat, he spoke up.

“Forgive me for being so blunt, but what brings the person running the summer program Dylan is attending here to me?” Charlie asked.

“Dylan turned eighteen yesterday and was asked by his family to come home and have a night with them for his birthday,” Jon explained. “I was supposed to pick him up from there this morning, but he arrived at the Eon Academy on his own before I could. Then one of the students noticed a pretty bad bruise on him, that looked like he had been pounded with something like a drink can, and reported it to me…”

Charlie’s face went white hearing this.

“You’d know Dylan is pretty quiet at the best of times,” Jon explained. “I will be reporting my concern to the police tonight, however wanted to speak to Dylan before I did, and before I speak to him, I guess I wanted to have a bit of a better idea about Dylan outside of the context I know him. See if I can wrap my head around his life before I met him before I start asking the pretty hard questions…”

Charlie’s reaction to this shocked Jon a little. Whilst he understood being shocked by the revelation, Charlie seemed to have the breath knocked out of him hearing this.

“I’d occasionally see him with a mark or a bruise here and there, but thought nothing of it…” Charlie explained. “I’d get the same sorts of marks working at home, or in the warehouse here, and think nothing of it. But hearing you put it that way, makes everything make a bit more sense…”

“How long has Dylan worked for you?” Jon asked, somewhat glad there had been at least one adult in Dylan’s life who seemed to care before he came to the Eon Academy.

“Nearly five years?” Charlie explained. “I legally can’t hire any official staff until they are fourteen and nine months, but l can hire on an occasional basis, kids over the age of twelve to do things like dropping catalogues off in mailboxes, or handing out fliers in front of the store. He was nearly thirteen when he first approached me to ask for work, and I liked the initiative he was showing, so I gave him the odd day or weekend job that I could. He told me he wanted to go to summer camp, so I figured money was a bit tight at home, and I recommended him to a few colleagues after someone like him to deliver papers and stuff.”

“Then when he was old enough, he asked for a job in the store, and I gave it to him. He is one of the best workers I ever had,” Charlie explained. “He wanted nothing more than to work, even trying to convince me to give him more shifts than I can legally give a minor. And there were times when I even did that because someone called in sick at the last second, and I knew I could depend on him. He was never available during the summer, but the other nine months of the year, he worked that well, I was happy with the arrangement.”

Jon had a hunch this was the case. Looking back at his own childhood, if he could have done what Dylan did to get out of the house, he would have…

“But now you tell me about him coming back from home with a bruise that didn’t look like it was an accident…” Charlie said. “He probably just didn’t want to be at home, and worked all year so he could go to whatever summer camp would get him away from there for three months…”

“I think you’re right…” Jon explained. “He mentioned going to lots of different camps every summer, but I didn’t think anything of it…”

Thinking over what he heard, Jon had another question come to mind.

“Who does he live with?” Jon asked, realizing that he hadn’t heard Dylan mention any of his family other than his stepdad who drove him back this morning.

“Honestly, I’m not too sure,” Charlie explained. “His stepdad signed the permission form for him to work, but Dylan never mentioned his birth-father or his mum. I don’t know if either of them are in the picture, or if it’s just him and his stepdad…”

Jon was quiet, as Charlie spoke up.

“He’s a good kid, really. I even had him over for dinner a few times, and my wife and kids loved him,” Charlie said. “What’s going to happen to him?”

“It’s hard to say,” Jon explained. “The summer program runs for another week or so, and even if he is eighteen, he is still technically under my care there. After that, I don’t know to be honest. I had to learn all the child protection laws, but it is a grey area with historic family violence. If he were a few years younger, he wouldn’t have a say with what happens to him. He’d just be taken by the state and put into foster care if they can’t find a relative to put him with. But now he is an adult, and it’s all his decision what happens to him next.”

“Whoever has been abusing him will probably be charged for what happened while he was a minor, as well as the assault that happened last night, but whether or not Dylan wants to go back to that house after summer, or get some sort of intervention order is on him,” Jon said. “I’d happily have him stay with me and my wife until he knows what he wants to do, and help him figure that out, but if he does for some reason want to go home, I can’t stop him… I really won’t know for sure until I talk to him. I don’t know if Dylan has younger siblings who live in that house, or whether it was just him. Who knows...”

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

Charlotte continued walking, as the trio went silent, thankful they seemed to have given up on her. However she heard the car start, causing her heart to skip a beat, as she increased her pace.

“Hey, we’re talking to you!” called out one of the guys. “Are you deaf?”

“I’m busy,” Charlotte called out. “I’m meeting up with a friend and am running late.”

Charlotte had hoped that would be enough for these idiots to get the hint, however they continued.

“Do you want a lift?”

“I’m good, thanks,” Charlotte said, just wishing they would leave.

The car sped up, before pulling into a parking bay twenty meters ahead, as the passenger climbed out.

“If you’re running late, you shouldn’t leave your friend waiting?” he called out to her, as she stopped walking. “Just let us take you there.”

“For f**k’s sake, I said I’m good, can you creeps just leave me alone?” Charlotte snapped, causing her harasser to raise his eyebrows. The other two got out of the drivers and back seats.

“Excuse me?” he said as he walked towards her. “I go out of my way to be nice and offer you a ride, and you think it’s okay to call me a creep…”

Charlotte’s free hand moved to her belt, grabbing a Pokeball, however before she could let it out, a familiar voice called out from the sidelines.

“She said she’s cool, so why don’t you drive away and stop wasting both your time?”

Charlotte and the pain in her side, both turned to see Justin, standing out the front of the cafe next to them.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll mind your own business…” said the man in front of her, sneering at Justin.

“Dude, I’m suggesting that for your sake,” Justin said. “She’s holding a Pokeball, and when she has a Pokemon out, she is a bit of a nightmare…”

Justin walked over, unlatching one of his own Pokeballs.

“And I like to think I’m not too bad myself…”

The three men grinned slightly before unlatching their own.

“You want this to get ugly kid?” the apparent leader asked. “There are three of us and two of you…”

“It wouldn’t matter if there were five of you,” Justin laughed. “You would end up in a Pokemon Center waiting room.”

“Besides, there are three of us!” called out another voice.

Charlotte and Justin looked over, as Charlotte noticed Justin breathe a sigh of relief, as Chris briskly walked out of the cafe.

“I tell you I’m going to the bathroom, and to wait for me, and this is what you do?” Chris said quietly to Justin, who smiled weakly, before turning to Charlotte. “These jokers annoying you Charlotte?”

“We just offered her a lift,” the head joker interjected. “None of your business.”

Chris rolled his eyes, before turning to face the head joker, looking him dead in the eye. There was at least three years between the three young trainers and the three men who decided to spend their afternoon harassing a teenager, but Charlotte was surprised at how little fear Chris was showing.

“Look, since you a**holes are too dense to get the message, let me dumb this down for you…” Chris said intensely. “Walk away, jump back into your mum's car, rethink the life choices that wound up with three of you harassing a teenage girl, and f**k off… Because I can guarantee you, that once Pokemon come out, things will get ugly, and not for us…”

Chris plucked a Pokeball off his belt, tossing it up and down in his hand, whilst he waited for a response. Silence cut the air, as the man in front of him spat in Chris’ face...

“Listen you little-” he began...

He was cut off by the Pokeball Chris had just pelted, smacking him in the nose, as it opened up, releasing Chris’ Charizard.

“Motherf**ker!” he shouted as he gripped his now broken nose, using his other hand to send out a Pokemon. The two behind him also let out their Pokemon. Between the two groups of people stood six Pokemon, a Cacturne, Lairon and Dusklops on one side, and Chris’ Charizard, Justin’s Lucario and Charlotte’s Roserade on the other.

“Bring it on, s**tstains!” Chris roared, as Charizard darted forward towards Cacturne...

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

The digital clock on Dylan’s bedside table read 4:15 when there was a knock on the door. He had been lying in his bed, scrolling through twitter, trying to take his mind off of what happened. Whilst normally spending time with the others would distract him enough, the fact that Abbee had seen the bruise meant it was doing the opposite. Until he found some way of convincing her it was an accident, she would be suspicious of it, and he wouldn’t be able to move on.

The knock caught his attention. It was too heavy to Abbee, and she only had two schools of thought with this. If she didn’t try and talk to him straight away, she’d wait until he came out and talked to her. The timing fit neither of those schools of thought.

“Dylan, can we talk?”

Dylan’s heart sank as he recognized Jon’s voice and realized what was going on. Abbee had said something to him…

“Yeah…” he said weakly. “It’s open.”

Dylan sat up, as Jon entered the room, carrying two cans of lemonade, passing Dylan one, before grabbing the chair by the desk and making his way over.

“I spoke with Abbee this afternoon. She’s worried about the bruise that she saw, and really, I am as well…” Jon explained. “Worried enough that I will be making a report to the police tonight about it, but I wanted to talk to you first…”

“Why do the police need to be involved?” Dylan asked. “I told Abbee, I tripped…”

“Can I see this bruise?” Jon asked, as Dylan sighed, pulling his collar away revealing the dark purple mark on his chest, with the discoloured crescent on it. Jon held up his can, which he hadn’t opened yet, placing it near Dylan’s chest, lining up the bottom ring of it with the discoloured mark in the bruise.

“Fell onto a can?” Jon asked. “You’d have to fall pretty hard to leave that sort of mark…”

Dylan went silent, knowing the truth was out.

“You don’t need to defend whoever did this. What they’ve done to you isn’t right...” Jon said firmly. “Dylan, you do know that, don’t you?”

“How do you know that?” Dylan asked. “Even if I didn’t just trip, and somebody did that, how do you know it wasn’t an accident, or a spur of the moment mistake that wouldn’t happen again.”

“Was it?” Jon asked, as Dylan went silent.

Jon took off his beanie, something he didn’t do very often when he wasn’t in the privacy of his own home, and lifted away part of his fringe, revealing a white scar just under his hairline.

“I got this when my dad had too much to drink, like he did every night, and smashed a plate over my head because I talked back to him," Jon explained before pointing at a scar on his wrist that was partially covered by a tattoo. "This one was from his belt buckle, because he tripped over my shoes by the front door when he stumbled home drunk one night."

Dylan looked at Jon in shock. The thought had never crossed his mind that Jon had a childhood like his.

“I can tell you from experience, when someone goes to the effort of hurting you, the way someone did to give you that bruise, it is almost never a once off thing…” Jon explained. “I know what it’s like to have the person who is supposed to look out for you not do that, and instead hurt you more than anyone else. And I know from experience that if people aren’t held accountable for their actions, they will have no reason to change…”

Dylan thought over what Jon said, before speaking quietly.

“It was my stepdad…” Dylan said quietly. “We got into an argument last night, and he threw the can he was about to drink at me…”

“Has this happened before?” Jon asked.

“The bruises, or the arguments?” Dylan asked, before answering himself. “The last few years he would get violent. He was fine when Mum was around. Maybe even nice, I don’t really remember. But when she left both of us, and he realized he was stuck looking after his runaway wife’s kid on his own, he started to snap. He’d drink and then start taking it out on me…”

Jon was silent, letting Dylan speak.

“Normally when he would get angry, I’d just avoid him, or let him say what he wanted and try to ignore him. But last night, I couldn’t and I ended up calling him out…” Dylan said, as his hands curled into fists at the thought. “He started going on about how much of a burden I was, and how much of a piece of s**t mum was leaving me with him. I asked him why he even invited me to come home for the night if he hated me so much. If it was just because I was old enough to drink with him now, or whether he just wanted someone to listen to him talk s**t about my mum, because nobody else would listen.”

“Goddamn, you’re brave…” Jon replied. “I wouldn’t have had the nerve to say that to my Dad back then…”

“Or stupid…” Dylan said. “Something snapped last night, and I guess I finally thought I didn’t deserve this. I realized that he was the pathetic one, not me. And even if he did throw me out, I might be able to survive without him…”

“Dylan, I’m going to report this to the police, because he needs to be held accountable,” Jon explained. “I don’t know him personally, but even if you’d rather try and forget about this and move on, we can’t risk him hurting someone else. He might meet another woman, someone who had kids, and this whole thing starts again…”

Dylan nodded slowly as Jon continued.

“The police will want your statement. But other than that, what happens next is your choice,” Jon said. “If you want to get an intervention order in place so he can’t contact you, I will help you do it. If you decide you want to try and work out your differences, that is also an option. If you even wanted to go back there, there isn’t anything I can do to stop you once summer is over.”

Dylan considered what Jon had just said. It was on his mind a lot since, knowing he probably couldn’t go back there. But now, figuring out what he was going to do, not by himself, it seemed a bit easier.

“I can’t go back there,” Dylan said. “I’ve done everything I can to get away from there, so I won’t go back. I just don’t know where I will go once summer is over.”

“You can stay here?”

Dylan looked up, shocked at the offer.

“I’d offer anyway, but you’d actually be helping me out,” Jon said. “Since the livestream, we have already had twenty expressions of interest for next summer, and they just keep coming in. I need to hire staff here for it to work. So you could stay here. Live on-site, work here.”

Dylan couldn't speak, as his mind rushed to what life may look like, living at the Eon Academy after summer finished.

“The summers would be intense, especially given how much happened with five of you, let alone the fifty or so I estimate to see next year…” Jon continued. “But there will probably be downtime during the rest of the year if we don’t get heaps of schools coming in for week long camps and stuff like that, so you could travel if you wanted to, but-”

“I’ll do it,” Dylan replied quickly. “If you’ll have me, I’ll stay and work here…”

Jon grinned.

“Well, that’s a start with getting ready for next summer,” Jon said. “As much as I’d love to daydream with you about what that looks like though, we should probably go talk to the police, and get that bruise looked at. Make sure there isn’t a fracture or something underneath…”

Dylan sighed, before nodding, and following Jon to the door. Whilst he didn’t look forward to reliving all of the parts of his teenage years he had tried so hard to forget, he couldn’t believe what Jon had offered.

“Victini was right…” Dylan thought to himself. “That wish I made is coming true…”

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

The clock in the police station read 5pm as Justin, Charlotte and Chris sat in the foyer, waiting to hear their fate. The police had shown up when the trio’s Pokemon had wiped the pavement with the Pokemon of the guys harassing Charlotte, and Chris was trying to fight all three of them with his fists. Hearing what had happened from witnesses nearby, the police took all six of them in, the three men harassing Charlotte put into lockup, whilst the teenagers were allowed to wait in the foyer under supervision until someone claimed them.

“How’s this gonna look for your family if it hits the media?” Charlotte asked Chris, who was holding an ice pack against his bruised face. “Lance’s cousin beating up three guys?”

“Wait, you’re Lance’s cousin?” Justin asked, shocked.

“You didn’t know?” Chris asked. “I could have sworn I told you at some point…”

“You didn’t…”

“Well then yeah, Lance is unfortunately my cousin,” Chris said. “But hey, maybe this is good publicity. Lance went to jail for trying to kill two girls. Maybe me being arrested for defending someone would look good for the family.”

Justin snorted, as Charlotte turned to him.

“So you had no clue if Chris was going to make it back out in time…” Charlotte said to Justin. “What would you have done if he spent half an hour on the toilet, scrolling through memes?”

“You don’t think we could have taken them without him?” Justin asked.

“Of course we could have…” Charlotte snorted. “I’ve seen kids in trainer school with a better handle on their Pokemon than those three idiots…”

“I figured even if I couldn’t take them all by myself, you’re definitely strong enough that we could have taken them together,” Justin said. “But I’m glad that Chris came out, because I’m useless when punches are thrown…”

Charlotte laughed at the sentiment.

“Well thanks for having my back…” Charlotte said. “You’ve really grown up in the last week, you know?”

Before Justin could reply, their attention was pulled to the front entrance.

“What the f**k?!” Jon said loudly, seeing three of his students sitting in the corner of the foyer with a police officer guarding them.

“Jon, I can explain…” Chris said, as Jon walked into the room, followed by Dylan, which surprised them a little.

“Did you three get arrested?” he asked angrily.

“Wait, you don’t know?” Charlotte asked. “I thought they called you to come pick us up?”

“No, nobody called-” Jon began as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. As he unlocked it, he saw six missed calls from a number he presumed to be the Mossdeep Police Station.

“I’ve had a bit going on…” Jon explained. “I will deal with you three later…”

The officer supervising them looked between the odd group with confusion, as Jon and Dylan left, making their way to reception, before being escorted into one of the consultation rooms in the back of the building.

“Wait, if he didn’t know we had been arrested, why is he here?” Justin asked, Charlotte shrugging her shoulders in response, as Chris leant his head back, staring at the ceiling…

It was half an hour later when Jon returned to the foyer, without Dylan, before speaking to the receptionist about what had happened with Chris, Charlotte and Justin. The officer supervising them was soon dismissed, and Jon made his way over.

“So you guys saw Charlotte being harassed and intervened?” Jon asked.

“I asked them nicely to go away, and then Chris came out and told them to f**k off…” Justin said, as Charlotte snorted with laughter. “They didn’t want to f**k off, and it wound up with a big Pokemon battle, like some s**ty anime…”

“What happened to their Pokemon?” Jon asked.

“They were knocked out in under a minute, and then Chris decided to take on all three of them…” Charlotte said gesturing towards Chris’ eye that was covered by the icepack.

“What about the other guys?” Jon asked. “Did they overrun you?”

“F**k that…” Chris said. “Each of them got it twice as bad as I did…”

The teenagers were surprised when Jon chuckled a bit.

“It’s not ideal, but I’m glad you’re looking out for each other,” Jon said. “People are s**t, and if you want to survive in this world, you gotta have each others back. That being said, Chris, there will be times you can just use your words, and I’m not talking about the f**ks and s**ts…”

Chris grinned, relieved that Jon wasn’t tearing into them over getting arrested.

“So if you didn’t get the call to come pick us up, why are you here?” Charlotte asked. “And why’s Dylan here?”

Jon’s mood shifted as he heard the question.

“Dylan’s got some stuff he needs to deal with, and first step of that is here,” Jon said. “Don’t ask him why. He will talk about it when he is ready. Until then, we just need to wait…”

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

“Hydro Pump!” Justin called out as Greninja, still affected by the Trick Room that Justin’s Kadabra had set up a minute or so earlier, let out a powerful water blast, knocking Blaziken off its feet, as Jon raised a hand, to signal he had conceded.

“Well done,” Jon said, as he called Blaziken back to his Pokeball, and walked forward. “You definitely couldn’t have done that on Day Zero…”

Chris cheered from the side, as he waited for his session with Jon to start. It was nearing two, and Justin’s session had just finished.

It was a little after dinner time when Jon returned with all but Abbee in his car, leaving Abbee confused as to what had gone on that afternoon. Chris, Charlotte and Justin had all been given a warning, whilst Dylan made a statement to the police about what Bill had been doing over the years, as well as applied for an intervention order. Whilst it would take a week or two for the court date that would make the order official, Dylan didn’t seem too worried, as he knew he was safe at the Eon Academy.

Before Chris could get started with his session, Jon noticed a car drive through the open gates of the Eon Academy, up the long driveway, stopping where it ended. Chris noticed it too, as Jon spoke up.

“Is that the car those guys were in yesterday?” Jon asked.

“No, it looks just as s**t, but different,” Chris replied, as Jon walked towards it briskly. When Jon was a few meters away the door opened, and a middle aged man got out of the car. Chris and Justin followed, keeping their distance, wondering what was going on.

“Can I help you?” Jon asked. “This is private property, and we don’t usually get visitors…”

“Where the f**k is he?!” the man shouted. “Where is that Torchic-s**t little son of a b***h?!”

He looked towards the lodge as he heard the sound of the door opening, as Dylan stood out, Abbee close behind him.

“You f**king little p***k!” the man, who Jon had guessed to be Bill, shouted, as he started walking towards Dylan. “I keep a roof over your head and food on your plate for the last f**king eleven years, and this is how you repay me?”

Jon walked over, stepping in front of Bill, before grabbing him by the shoulder.

“You need to leave. This is private property, and you’re trespassing,” Jon said sternly to bill who ignored him and kept shouting.

“You come to my house, assault me, and then send the police to my f**king door?!” Bill shouted. “Grow a set of f**king balls and come face me!”

“Chris, call the police!” Jon called out, as Charlotte emerged from the lodge as well, waiting by the building with Dylan and Abbee, wondering what the commotion was about.

“You!” Bill said, only seeming to notice Jon now. “You’re the one who got him to talk to the police, aren’t you?”

Bill shoved Jon, who stood back briefly, but continued to stand his ground. Dylan went to walk forward, however felt Abbee grab his shoulder.

“Don’t...” Abbee said quietly. “Let Jon handle this...”

“I need to-” Dylan began.

“You’ve done enough…”

“Jon can handle this…” Victini said telepathically to Abbee, Charlotte and Dylan.

“We already have a problem here…” Jon said to Bill. “Leave now before it becomes a bigger problem...”

Everyone watched in shock as Bill spat in Jon’s face.

“He is going to regret that…” Victini said, having flashbacks to Jon’s reaction on the S.S. Wishmaker to Cassandra being spat on by an operative.

Jon sighed as he wiped the spit off his face.

“What are you going to do a**hole?” Bill asked. As an answer, Jon wound back his right arm, before launching it with deadly accuracy into Bill’s face. Chris and Justin heard the sound of his nose crack under the impact. As Bill stumbled back, Jon’s right leg quickly swept behind his feet, causing him to trip and fall on his backside.

“You are a pathetic excuse for a man…” Jon said bitterly as he rubbed his knuckles. “Dylan’s under my care now, which means if you come here trying to cause s**t with him, you’re causing s**t with me…”

Bill glared at Jon through the hand he used to hold his nose in place and try and contain the blood that was seeping from it.

“Take the sliver of dignity you think you have left, and get the f**k out of here,” Jon said. “If you ever show up here like this again, this will be an entree to something much worse. Am I clear?”

Bill said nothing, so Jon raised his voice.

“Am I f**king clear?!” Jon asked again. Bill spat some blood onto the ground, before slowly getting up and walking towards his car. Jon stared him down until the car started and he left, spinning the wheels and kicking up dirt as he did. Once Bill was out of sight, Jon turned, where he saw Chris staring at him in awe…

“Don’t let this take away from what I said yesterday…” Jon warned. “He wasn’t here to talk, and wasn’t going to respond to words. I did what I had to to make him listen…”

Chris nodded enthusiastically, unable to wipe the grin from his face at what he witnessed first hand.

“Let’s postpone training until 3-” Jon said, before realizing Abbee’s got moved to then. “Wait, 4pm. The police will be here soon, and I need to talk to them.”

Chris obliged, making his way over to Justin, talking about what just happened, as Jon walked towards Dylan, Abbee and Charlotte by the lodge.

“I’m sorry it had to come to that,” Jon said to Dylan, who shook his head.

“You did what I dreamt of doing for years,” Dylan said quietly. “I hope this is enough for him to get the message and leave me alone.”

Jon nodded in response before looking to the driveway.

“I had better wait for the police to get here,” Jon said. “Abbee I will see you at 3, if the police don’t take too long with me.”

Abbee nodded, as Jon left, and her and Dylan went back into the lodge, whilst Charlotte went to talk to Chris and Justin.

As they sat inside, Dylan breathed a sigh of relief.

“How are you doing?” Abbee asked, slightly apprehensively. She didn’t want Dylan to feel like he had to talk, but wanted him to know she was there if he wanted to.

“Good, really," Dylan said. “Better than I have in a while…”

“That’s good…”

There was silence before Dylan spoke again.

“Jon said I can stay here after summer…” Dylan explained. “Apparently he needs people to work here before next summer, and has offered for me to live and work at the Academy.”

“That’s great!” Abbee exclaimed. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Yeah…” Dylan said. “Mum left six years ago, and honestly, for the first time since then, I guess I finally feel safe…”

Abbee was shocked to hear this. She had always felt safe. Even when she lost her dad, she still felt safe, knowing who she had around her. It was something she had taken for granted, only realizing now, knowing someone so close to her hasn’t felt that way in so long.

“I’m glad to hear that…” Abbee replied, slightly awkwardly.

“Hey Abbee…”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you…”