Candela clawed at the darkness in search of oxygen. She couldn't tell which way was up, couldn't even see her own hands, but she could feel the unrelenting pressure building up in her head, squeezing tighter with every passing moment.

Bright amber eyes darted around, looking for light, looking for Blanche, looking for anything that wasn't pitch black water. Helplessness had never suited her very well.

She could tell she didn't have long. Almost all of the air had rushed out of her lungs the instant that Gyarados' boosted Hyper Beam struck them. The blast had completely stunned her, then a great current had dragged her down, and now she was disoriented and alone somewhere in the deep, silent, impenetrable darkness.

She tried to remember how to swim, tried to will herself to pull out Poliwhirl's pokeball, but her body was moving on its own—her arms and legs thrashed about at random.

It hasn't even been thirty seconds and I'm already drowning, she thought, as the last bit of air she had left escaped through her nose. She was well beyond the point of being able to save herself, but that didn't change the fact that she had to do something.

Giving up was out of the question.

Candela closed her eyes and tried to focus on regaining control of her limbs. She knew how to swim, she just had to make her body do the correct motions. She just had to make it listen to her, just had to choke down and ignore the panic response. As seconds continued to pass she imagined the black behind her eyelids shifting into a blaring emergency red until finally, a single desperate instinct consumed her.

Don't inhale. Don't inhale. Don't inhale.

Unable to hold out any longer, she swallowed.

Then she lost the ability to form coherent thoughts.

Frigid water rushed into her nose and mouth, burning its way into her chest and forcing her to cough. It was like breathing in liquid fire that froze once it was inside her. She hacked and choked and inhaled more and more water.

Once her lungs filled with fluid, Candela opened her eyes again. Somehow, she no longer registered the searing pain, or frantic desperation, or all-consuming regret, or anything at all. Her body went still, and as her consciousness slipped away she saw the sharp blackness surrounding her shift into a crystal clear blue.

It felt like falling asleep.

Then, fingertips brushed against the collar of her nylon turtleneck and her body flooded with adrenaline once more.

Confusion. Pain. Fear.

A whirlwind of emotions spilled out of the human she was holding by the throat, assaulting her senses like the stench of a corpse left to rot in the sun. She looked up to meet the shocked eyes of another human standing on a raised platform suspended in the air, and smiled when it took a step back. It put a hand to its ear and spoke.

"Opera 2 reporting. I retrieved the Key Stone without issue, but unforseen complications have arisen. Further testing is impossible. I'm pulling out for now."

The one she'd saved sputtered and gasped, kneeling with both hands clamped around her wrist, desperate to expel the fluid from its lungs. She'd created a massive disk of ice upon which they could rest, but it continued to struggle in her grip as if it wanted to escape the snapping jaws of a predator. It had awoken on their way to the surface, and as feeble as the creature was it had not stopped flailing ever since.

"Let me go," it managed to choke out, voice a strained whisper. She released the ungrateful wretch and it fell forward, violently coughing until it could breathe again. Above them, the creature whose violence had awoken her was recovering its energy in preparation for another attack. Something had made it manic with rage, unable to be reasoned with.

Articuno rolled her left shoulder and felt a sharp stab of pain. It would take time to relearn how to use a new body, time that her current vessel did not have. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and allowed a chill to spread through her until the discomfort vanished.

She looked down at the human, unharmed but shaking. Although she'd fulfilled her new bondmate's desperate wish when she rescued it from certain death, allowing the object of said wish to die in the immediate minutes to follow might violate the spirit with which this body was offered up.

That wouldn't do.

"I have a lot of questions, so let's just start with something simple." Regaining its strength, it hauled itself to its feet and took an aggressive stance despite its trembling. A large creature of the flame landed behind it, carrying an unconscious human, while a creature of prey—the angry, territorial sort—shrieked overhead. "Whose side are you on?"

"Yours, Candela." The words fell out of her mouth without prompting, and Articuno blinked as she endured a sudden swell of memories and emotions, an involuntary clenching of her chest. The human inside her wasn't sleeping as deeply as she'd assumed, but that could be of use. "We are friends, are we not?"

"I think I would have noticed by now if my dearest, darling Blanche had glowing blue eyes and magic powers."

"You'll forgive me for hiding my true nature until now, won't you?"

The human tensed, and a large chunk of the cavern's wall was blasted into powder. Articuno had watched monsters of this breed reduce entire countrysides to smouldering cinders. It could get lucky with his next attack, and it would be difficult to fulfill her bargain if this child never stopped struggling while she tried to keep it alive; even worse, her true body could be damaged if the cave collapsed, and it was already recovering from serious injury.

"Why don't you give that bad acting a rest? I've seen a whole parade of Blanche cosplayers today and none of you seem to measure up." A sharp hum cut through the air, growing higher in both volume and pitch with each passing second. Candela crossed her arms, the angry sneer on her face a poor match for the worry she radiated. "So look. I don't care if you're a mutant ditto or some kind of super-powered body snatcher, and I don't have time for these games. Is she okay?"

"You should be thankful for my mercy," Articuno said, her lips curving upward at the edges. She stepped towards the human, who took a step back and patted her growling fire companion on the snout. That one could be a problem. "I was given this vessel in order to save your insignificant life, and in exchange I will also use its last breath to protect my true body's resting place. Its dying desire will be honored, of course."

"I didn't see my friend sign any contract, so why don't you just go back to doing whatever it is you were doing before?"

"Time is short, young one. Do you hear that?" Articuno strode forward until she was looking up into Candela's blazing amber eyes, a thin sheet of frost crawling up the side of her neck and spreading across her face. "That is the sound of your death, swiftly approaching."

"Sounds like what happens to us is none of your business."

"You do not understand. I must fulfill my bargain, I must ensure my own recovery, and I will do so." Using her most powerful attack on the creature of rage would destroy her new body, but more importantly it would eliminate the threat to where she lay below, sleeping. Healing. "I suggest you exercise some wisdom and stand aside."

"Roast her on my signal, Delta. Full power. We're exorcists tonight," Candela said, stepping closer until she loomed over the Titan of Ice, hands balled into fists at her sides. Delta's tail flared a bright bluish-white in reponse. "I suggest you exercise some wisdom and get out of my fucking face."

"You would harm your precious friend, just to be rid of your very savior?" Articuno scrunched her eyebrows together, looking truly like Blanche for the first time. "Why stand within range of your own threat? Are you planning to die with her?"

"I'm standing right where I need to stand. We'll tough it out together, like always. Something about all this ice tells me you won't manage as well, though." Candela stood nose to nose with Articuno, and looked down at her. "Besides, if all she wanted was for you to save me then you've settled that already."

"If you are determined to throw your life away and dishonor your friend, perhaps I should see to it myself." Articuno smiled as the frost crept its way up her left cheek. These humans were more interesting than she'd hoped. "This is your final warning."

"Do you hear that?" Candela jerked a thumb behind her as the mega-gyarados above them released a thunderous roar, and her companion answered in turn. "That's the sound of your death, swiftly approaching."

"So be it."

Candela watched as Blanche glanced up to where she knew that monster was preparing its next devastating move. As whatever was controlling her body raised a hand, Candela turned her head and shouted for Delta to attack.

"Begone."

"Flame Burst!"

A thick lance of fire exploded a short distance away. Blanche pitched forward, eyes rolling back in her head and mouth hanging open, and Candela caught her dead weight in her arms. She guided her to the ground, repositioned the shorter girl so that she'd be easy to carry if need be, and tried to rouse her without using too much force.

Meanwhile, an enormous splash doused them in water and rocked their disk of ice like a sailboat in a storm. It began to break apart from the edges inward, some sections dissolving entirely while others separated into tiny chunks.

"C'mon, wake up. We have to move." She patted Blanche on the cheek, found her skin frozen to the touch and checked for a pulse. Then she lost all semblance of composure. "Oh god, you're... No, no, no. Fuck. Wake up. You have to wake up, please, you can't just die on me."

Seconds passed by with only the sound of Candela's quiet sobs breaking the cavern's relative silence. Then, Blanche groaned, shifted in the other girl's grip.

"Cold," was all Blanche managed to say before Candela pulled her into a tight hug.

"Of course you're cold, you sold your soul to some frost demon because you're an idiot and now they're gonna have to amputate your whole stupid goddamn face."

"You say that now." Blanche smiled, green eyes half-lidded. She was shaking like a dead leaf in the wind, and spoke haltingly between short breaths. "But weren't you just confessing your love for me? Mere moments ago?"

"Don't tempt me," Candela said, grinning back despite the sting in her eyes. She leaned down until their foreheads were touching; Blanche was still colder than a corpse, her heartbeat abnormally slow, but she was conscious and breathing and that was enough. "How many near death experiences do you need to have before you're satisfied for the week?"

"I think I've met my mmph—!" the white-haired trainer was interrupted by a sudden flurry of feathers and talons that struck them both like a heavy down pillow. "Daily quota. Hello, Pidgeotto. I'm okay."

After reassuring her exhausted pokemon that she was indeed his true owner, Blanche recalled him and stood, leaning heavily against Candela. Heavy, plodding footsteps behind her were her only warning before Delta nuzzled the back of her head with all the gentleness of an angry Tauros. One scalding hot puff of smoke later and both of them stopped shivering for the moment.

The unconscious gym leader in Delta's arms moaned softly, and both trainers tended to her wound. A potion and a torn piece of cloth wrapped around her stomach were the best they could offer.

"She needs a doctor, and we need to get gone." Candela said, as the fissures in the platform drew too close to ignore. "I dunno what your body snatcher did to Gyarados, but I doubt it'll leave us alone long."

"I suspect it used the move 'Freeze Dry.' Gyarados was frozen solid quite rapidly," Blanche said, frowning as she tried to make sense of what she'd seen her body do under something else's control. She had been watching, listening, a helpless spectator in her own body, and now she felt like there was a block of ice the size of her fist taking up the space in her chest where her heart had been. "I'm not sure that I'm accurately describing what took place. My body feels strange."

"There's a lot for us to talk about once we're safe. Starting with your evil twin, unless I hallucinated that part."

"Indeed."

The blast of energy that came from below vaporized a nearby section of the platform.

"That's our cue!" Candela shouted, helped Blanche mount the crouching charizard, jumped on in front of her and set them to flight, never missing a step. Delta grunted with the effort of taking off without a running start, but the gyarados' enraged scream as it shot out of the water after them was great encouragement. "Listen, three people is too much for her. I'll swim my ass off to that hole the ref left through earlier and draw its attention away, while Delta carries you and the gym leader up the tunnel in the ceiling. Should be just wide enough for her to climb, but too tight for that thing to follow."

"And then you'll get help while we wait for Daisy to bleed to death? Delta can't move the boulder up there, and even if she could whoever cut our ropes could be waiting on the other side." Blanche clung to Candela's back as Delta banked hard, narrowly avoiding a Hydro Pump. "Gyarados' accuracy has been reduced, but on the off chance that you do catch its attention you won't make it far."

"I'm all for it if you can think of something better!"

"Do you mean that?" Blanche smiled in spite of the ongoing chaos surrounding them. "Because I just thought of a plan with a higher probability for success!"

"Let's hear it, then."

"Myself, Blastoise and Poliwhirl will divert its attention and cover your escape."

"That's just my plan with extra steps."

"Yes, and I'm a faster swimmer so I could actually survive. We'll defeat it while you get Daisy to safety. Perhaps her sisters are still somewhere in the cave."

"Defeat it? Did you hit your head on a rock when I wasn't looking?" Candela twisted around to stare at Blanche as Delta dodged another attack. Just one direct hit and they were dead. "What about your injuries? And I'm just supposed to bob my way over there with that lady on my back and hope it doesn't look our way after it kills you guys? That's way too risky."

"I'm not in any pain for now, and believe me, I don't want to put myself at the mercy of a rampaging Gyarados any more than you do." Blanche closed her eyes against the air rushing into her face while the charizard rolled to dodge yet another attack. "We're in the basement. We can't ignore the possibility that it could collapse the entire cave before you even make it to the surface. Articuno weakened it, so let's take this opportunity to neutralize it and ensure our successful escape."

Candela ground her teeth, searched Blanche's face for suicidal delusions and found only grim determination and fear. She sighed and faced forward.

"Alright. Do your best."

Without waiting for a response, Candela handed a pokeball to her and nodded. And then it was time.

Delta shrouded them in a Smokescreen, and groaned as a Hydro Pump struck her in the back. They emerged from the smoke falling in separate directions—Candela recalled the unconscious Charizard before she hit the water, then began pulling Daisy to shore towards the hole that the gym leader's sisters had retreated through.

Blanche, Blastoise and Poliwhirl met the gyarados head-on.

Immediately, the gyarados locked onto Candela. Maybe it noticed its trainer and thought she was in danger, maybe it sensed that they were trying to escape, or maybe it was just carrying on with its random, wanton destruction. Either way, Candela felt the blood drain from her face as a Hyper Beam raced towards her.

"Protect!" Blanche shouted, and Blastoise intercepted the blast with his enormous shell glowing white. The attack fizzled out harmlessly, and Candela resumed kicking like her life depended on it. "Poliwhirl, get in close and use Toxic while it recharges!"

Poliwhirl shot out of the water and splattered thick black sludge right in the Mega-Gyarados' face. It screamed in pain and began to thrash in the water. It wasn't close enough to strike anything with its huge body, but the rough waves it generated would be a problem for any swimmer, let alone someone carrying a person.

"Excellent work. Now help those two get out of here." Poliwhirl gave her former trainer a thumbs up, then dove back into the water like a torpedo. Not quite thinking straight, Blanche swam towards Blastoise as the gyarados turned its wrathful gaze towards them. "It can't have much stamina left. Use Scald!"

Gyarados screamed and launched towards them. The sudden burst of fear-fueled adrenaline sharpened her focus, and Blanche didn't watch to see if her pokemon's attack landed. Instead, she dove underwater to get a faster stroke and swam in the general direction of the exit at top speed.

It's focused on Blastoise. Candela should have made it by now. I have to get out of the water before I'm crushed or sucked down by a rip current.

Blanche surfaced to take a breath and glanced back to see Gyarados repeatedly smashing its body into Blastoise's back. Even with the protection of his hard shell, the bulky Water-type grimaced with each brutal strike. It seemed crazed now, foam bubbling from its open mouth.

Thrash lasts for three turns, inflicts massive damage, and then confuses the user. Could we survive long enough to stall until it faints from the poison?

She found her expression mirroring that of her Pokemon, and looked ahead. Candela was crouched in front of the hole with Daisy draped over her back, staring directly at her. She looked ready to collapse, and they'd still have to go through the rest of the cave to get out.

If I make a mistake, all three of us will die down here.

"Hang in there, Blastoise! Protect!" This time, when the confused Mega-Gyarados threw his body against Blastoise's shell, it cried out in pain, then slid halfway off of it into the water. Barely conscious, it prepared to attack again, and Blanche shouted a command at the same moment that Blastoise carried it out. "Now, Scald!"

Mega-Gyarados went limp and began reverting to its previous form. It was halfway there when it fired off a half-cocked Hyper Beam. It wasn't a direct hit, but it never had to be. Blanche lost consciousness and began to float face down on the water's surface.

"Hurry up and drag her over here so I can smack her." Candela grit her teeth, knees scraping against the hard rock as she slid Daisy off her shoulders and to the ground. Blastoise swam over to retrieve his trainer with surprising speed despite his cumbersome size, and gently deposited her in the arms of the Valor aspirant. She pulled his pokeball off of Blanche's belt and recalled him, knowing he wouldn't fit through the makeshift tunnel. "Why are you always the one pulling stunts like this? Like you've got something to prove."

"Gyarados is unable to battle. The challengers win!"

Candela's head whipped around so fast it looked like her neck might snap. She shifted her glare from the trembling, sweaty referee to the smirking girl standing behind him.

The girl who was identical to Blanche except for the scarlet R emblazoned on her black crop top.

"You have got to be shitting me," Candela said, at a loss for more substantial words. The referee had his hands up and looked like he might try to run for it at any moment.

"I promised I'd let you finish your gym battle," she said, smirk twisting into a grin. "And keeping promises is important. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Who the hell are you?" Candela stood with Blanche in her arms. She wasn't sure she could still fight, but she'd still try. "Why are you doing this?"

"C'mon, who I am is pretty obvious. A better question would be who that person you're cradling so tenderly is." She punched the referee out and tossed an envelope at Candela's feet, then spun the small knife in her off hand; it was bright red even in the darkness. "You get the situation, right? I'm letting you cute little witnesses live, so you owe me a favor. Don't forget that."

"You evil bastards think you can do whatever you want, but you're fucking with the wrong people now." Candela heard voices approaching, and tightened her grip around Blanche. "You're gonna regret it."

"Hey, I took out the bitch that put dozens of you kids in the hospital this week. I'm practically a hero." The girl laughed, and it fully struck Candela how people with the same face could look so utterly different. "All depends on your perspective. I'll be seeing you soon."

Still grinning, she pushed down on something attached to her belt and vanished.

Moments later, Violet and Lily rushed in with a squad of police officers in tow. Candela sighed, wondering if there would ever be an end to the questions she had.

A full two days had passed before Blanche woke up.

She opened her eyes to find Candela staring at her from one of the chairs beside her hospital bed. Blanche gradually took in her surroundings, disoriented and woozy from whatever medication she'd been given. Thick blankets had been pulled all the way up to her chin, covering a sky blue papier-mâché hospital gown that didn't quite reach her knees. The fresh flowers by the window, a hollow ache in her stomach, and an IV pumping warm saline into her veins filled in some of the blanks for her.

She was too cold to shiver.

Candela stood and left without saying a word, before Blanche could manage to think of what she should say, and she felt a sharp pang in her chest that she couldn't explain. She tried to pull herself upright as the door swung closed, but couldn't muster up enough energy to move. She sighed, settled back, and listened to the quiet, rhythmic pulse of her EKG machine.

"Hey."

Blanche could not tell when she'd fallen asleep, or for how long, but Candela was back in the room carrying a tray, looking down at her expectantly. Blanche said nothing, not quite trusting her ability to speak.

"Have some soup. They say you've been in a constant state of mild hypothermia since the cave. That was two days ago. A nurse will probably check on you soon, and the police will want a statement." Candela pressed a button on the side of the bed, and its top half slowly rose until Blanche was partially upright. A small table flipped out of the handrail, and Candela placed the lunch tray she'd brought on top of it, along with an envelope with Blanche's name on it. "The doctors can't figure out why you're still freezing, but I have an idea. I think you do, too. It's snowing outside, and those injuries you sustained at Mount Moon have miraculously healed."

Blanche stared at the letter, lips pursed tightly. The familiar, sloppy handwriting immediately identified who it was from.

"It's just flurries, but the way all the locals are freaking out you'd think it was a whole fucking blizzard." Candela was staring at her like she was growing a second head, so Blanche pulled the covers down with shaky fingers and picked up the plastic spoon just to have something to do with her hands. "That gym leader will pull through, by the way. Her army of supermodel sisters are keeping her company. Lucky her."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm exhausted, to be honest. Haven't stopped training. Can't stop." She ran a hand through her choppy brown hair. She had fresh bandages covering the acid burns on both arms, and Blanche found herself hoping it wouldn't scar as badly as it must have hurt. "And I have to say, I'm a little unsettled after meeting two asshole versions of you in the same night. I'm half-expecting your eyes to start glowing if I piss you off."

"Have you reported what I..." Blanche paused to lick her lips, the dryness of her mouth impossible to ignore now that she was speaking. She glanced towards the window again, its drawn blinds making her feel isolated. Her mind was foggy, her body heavy, and it felt like she would never be warm again. "Have you reported what she did?"

"I told them what happened." Candela sighed and slumped back down into her chair. She absentmindedly brushed the back of her hand against Blanche's, and frowned at how cold to the touch her skin still was. "'The rampaging Gyarados awoke the legendary pokemon that was down there, and it defended its territory.' You were unconscious almost the entire time, and what little the referee saw happens to corroborate my story. We can move on once you're discharged."

"I apologize," Blanche said, shaking her head. "You should not have had to cover for me like that. I know you hate dishonesty."

"Don't worry about it. I didn't lie, and it wouldn't have come up if anyone in this shithole city was remotely trustworthy. Team Rocket is running amok and the police only pretend to care. It's not normal."

"Something strange is happening in this region. It seems that the authorities are either inept or blatantly corrupt. Perhaps we should talk to Interpol about recent events. Or Global."

"They'd probably want to experiment on you."

"That isn't funny, Candela."

"I wasn't joking. Speaking of corruption and Team Rocket, I have to ask." Candela's expression was blank aside from a certain hardness in her eyes. She tried not to fidget under the sudden scrutiny. "What's your connection with that person? Ran into her on our way out. Thought she was going to stab me."

"She is my twin sister. I haven't heard from her in many years." Blanche stared at the letter on her tray, then took a small spoonful of soup instead of reaching for it. It was salty and thin, but still hot. "Her name is Noire. We do not have much in common."

"Got any other lookalikes out there that I should know about?"

"No, not that are still... no."

"Sorry." Candela looked away, and Blanche swallowed another mouthful of soup so she wouldn't have to respond. They sat together in silence for a few minutes before Candela spoke again. "It's funny. I thought I was pretty tough, but lately I'm always powerless when it matters most. I keep thinking about sinking down there, forever. I knew I was dying, knew you needed my help, and I still couldn't do a thing. Now I'm just babbling at you."

"Not at all. When I left the hospital, that Instinct trainer warned me not to challenge the gym in my condition. I brushed him off, but it seems his concerns were more than valid." Blanche closed her eyes and sighed. "I saw you. Drowning. I don't necessarily believe in any higher power, but at that time I could only pray. It must have heard me."

"Do you have any insight on all that stuff with, uh, what was its name again?"

"The Freeze pokemon, Articuno." A new person swung the door open, glanced at the girls and took the empty seat beside Candela's. "Kanto doesn't have as many legendaries as other regions, but we lowly mortals still get caught up in their flights of fancy every so often. Pardon the intrusion. Please continue."

"'Pardon' my ass. Who do you think you are, barging in someone's hospital room like you own the place?"

"I'm Misty, of the Elite Four, formerly the Cerulean City gym leader. My big sis was nearly killed by someone who perfectly matches this description." The intruder gestured towards Blanche, smiling amicably. She was a young woman in her mid-twenties, wearing only a white one-piece bathing suit and a sky blue overcoat. Her rust colored hair hung off to the side in a long ponytail. "I thought I'd have a little chat with her while I'm visiting Daisy, and just happened to overhear some interesting things before I had the chance to knock. Your witness statement makes much more sense in context."

Candela watched Blanche stiffen, and crossed her own arms.

"Let me rephrase: I don't care who you are. My friend needs to rest, so we'd appreciate it if you left."

"I get it. I'm a stranger, and the adults in my city have been letting you down left and right. This 'challenge' has gotten way out of hand, so our gym will be ending its participation here." Misty smiled at Candela, and then settled her gaze on Blanche. "Even so, I mean it when I say that if my understanding of your conversation just now is correct, this might be a bit more complicated than you two are prepared to handle by yourselves. So, let's talk."

"Do you know what's happening to me?" Blanche said abruptly, biting her lip hard. She put down her plastic spoon before it snapped between her fingers. "My wounds healed inexplicably, but I feel something else. It's as if there's ice, slowly spreading inside my chest. It's so cold I can barely breathe."

"So it's true, then. Articuno bonded to you, and even used some of its abilities in your body right away." Misty's kind smile faded, replaced by a grave expression. "I'm surprised you're still alive. The last time... well, you're pretty lucky."

"Can you help her?" Candela asked, suddenly sitting up straight. "Why's she still having side-effects if it was a temporary thing? What exactly happened, anyway? Will the doctor be able to fix it?"

"The best they can do is hook her up to a dialysis machine for the rest of her life, which would be, well, short," Misty said, shaking her head. She leaned in to get a closer look at Blanche, and frowned when she saw something she apparently didn't like. "It's a lifetime deal. Her body will have to learn to adjust to Articuno's continued presence on its own, or it'll kill her sooner rather than later. I can offer some heartfelt advice, though."

"Hold on, hold on. 'Continued presence?' Kill her? Lifetime?" Candela raised her voice when the woman nodded, unaware of how loud she was speaking. "What the hell are you saying? It got what it wanted, so can't she just tell it to fuck off or something?"

"You mentioned in your statement that Articuno had been injured by something and was resting inside the cave, right? I'm assuming you said that with confidence because it told you." Misty poked Blanche in the cheek and sighed. So young. "Well, that thing sometimes rescues doomed humans for fun, but not always for free. It'll be difficult, but if you could try to stay on good terms with it you'll probably have a longer lifespan."

"What kind of payment does it require?"

"It's probably using your body and life force to heal itself. In other words, it's roosting inside of you."

"How do you know all this? What can she do about it?"

"Something similar happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. He didn't last very long." The woman shoved her hands into her coat and stood, scowling to herself before she turned for the door. "I'll look into it and see if I can find more information for you, but for now my advice is pretty simple: go home to your family as soon as possible. Try to stay warm."

Misty left after handing Candela a business card with her contact information. The room was silent for awhile, except for the EKG. Blanche's heart was racing, her breathing shallow.

"I'm sorry," Candela said. She hesitated for a moment, then reached out and held the other girl's hand. This wouldn't have happened to you if I had been stronger. "Can I get you anything? Do you need help getting back to Kalos?"

"I'm not going back."

"Don't be stubborn. What about your family?"

"I don't have anyone like that there." Blanche squeezed Candela's hand and tried to smile. "And I have plenty of business to settle here. I'd hate to leave things unresolved."

"That so? Don't tell me you're neck deep in another research report." Candela chuckled when the other girl pointedly looked away, cheeks tinged red. She was grateful for a less terrifying subject to latch onto. "Seriously? What's your average now, two per week? How are you Mystics supposed to keep up with the other stuff?"

"Battles aren't the only important metric."

"Fair enough. So, what's this one about?"

"Ah, well you see, when I visited the Pewter Museum of Science last week I noticed that the skeletal structure of a certain ancient pokemon bore a strong, uncanny resemblance to that of Charizard. Upon close inspection, it's clear that—" Blanche stopped talking, her expression caught somewhere between a smile and a pout. "Sorry. I must be putting you to sleep."

"Far from it. Give me some credit here. I may be a jock but I'm not a dumb jock," Candela said, grinning. "You mentioned something about the possibility of a distant evolutionary relationship the other day. Same topic?"

"Yes. Actually, would you like to read my paper before I submit it? It's only about twenty pages so far."

"Sure. In the meantime, why don't we ditch this city for somewhere warmer and hopefully normal? Vermillion sounds nice. Also, we should start training our eevees and your Abra, and Poliwhirl and I really need to work on our synergy. No time to mope around in a hospital bed, right?"

"That does sound nice," Blanche said, and somehow smiling came a little easier to her. "That reminds me. Have you named your Eevee yet? I've been trying to decide on an appropriate nickname for mine but have no idea how to go about it. Spark insisted on calling her 'Pockets.'"

"You've just gotta find something that fits her personality and go with it." Candela shrugged, and called out the rambunctious Pokemon in question, who immediately jumped onto Blanche's shoulder, licked her face, and began eating her soup. "I was thinking about using Greek mythology as a theme for my main teammates since it's something I sincerely like, and decided to call him Ares. He's gonna be a top tier fighter, for sure."

[Candidate #2, Kanto Route 5 — GO Challenge Day 28]

"This is sooner than your quote implied. I hope you didn't call me all the way for a runt that just looks a little funny."

"Well, I kind of did. It's my first time hatching a Shiny and all." Spark's smile faltered a bit. This client was nice enough over the phone, but seemed a bit sketchy now that she finally showed up to collect her pokemon. Most of her face was obscured by the shadow of her black newsboy cap, but he could see enough to tell she was sneering. "Aside from being adorable, she's literally perfect in every single way. It's incredible."

"Good. I'll take it, then." The trainer stepped forward to take the squirming eevee from him and he had to force himself to let go of it. Now that she was closer he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen her somewhere before, even though they were definitely meeting in person for the first time. Maybe it was just that the silver hair reminded him of someone. "Cute. How many have you hatched so far?"

"Oh, a little over two dozen now."

"Go ahead and deposit the five with the best stats back to my account, along with the parents." Despite her rigid posture, the newborn eevee immediately nuzzled into her trainer's arms. "Cute. Thanks for the hard work."

"Sure thing. That'll be 54,000¥. Have you thought of a name for her? I think 'Snowball' might be nice, since it started snowing in Cerulean right when

she hatched." Spark pressed a few buttons on the PC in front of him and smiled. Always gotta smile. "Will that be cash or credit?"

"You'll receive compensation within the next two business days."

"Okay. What should we do with the rest of the litter in the meantime?"

"Not my problem. I'm sure you'll figure something out," she said, winking at him before she turned to leave. Spark blinked rapidly. There was no denying it, not when he was staring her right in the face. "Have fun with that."

"Wait. Uh, Blanche? This isn't like you at all." Spark hopped over the counter and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's going on? Did something happen at the gym? Listen, I'm sorry about the other day, but you can't abandon all those Eevee kits here just because you're mad at me."

"What are you, my jealous ex-boyfriend?" she said, shrugging off his hand. "You must be mistaking me for someone else."

One moment, the blonde trainer was saying something, walking forward to follow her out of the daycare, and the next he was flat on his back with a bloody nose. He stared at the wooden ceiling, seeing stars and swirling balls of bright light.

"W-Wait... you have to bottle feed her every three hours, and you can't forget to—"

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her. Isn't that right, Snowball?"

[A/N: This story updates a bit slowly, but please let me know what you think! Thanks to those qho have been following along from the beginning, and for reading this far.]