Night 510

"Light, get up! I found something!" My eyes blink open and I find myself staring up at a canopy of trees. That's not really surprising; it's my home forest, I've seen it a thousand times. But wait, wasn't I just— "Seriously, get up already! I need you with me on this!"

I turn to see an Aipom with a huge, huge grin on his face. "Geez, Ace, you seem even more excited than usual!" My response comes from me, certainly, and yet at the same time I almost feel as if I'm watching myself say this.

"Well yeah, cause I found a whole entire meteorite! C'mon, you've gotta see this! I haven't even touched it yet or anything!"

I spin myself upright and floating, noticing as I do so the distinct white of my body as a Litwick. I mean, of course that would be what I'd see. I find myself wondering why that detail in particular caught my attention; after all, I've been a Litwick my whole life. In a second the thought passes, I shake my head and follow you. It's not far at all until we find what we're looking for— it's a meteorite alright, one about as big as the hand on your tail. "Woah!" I yell as I excitedly float around it. "This has got to be the raddest thing we've found yet!"

"Yeah, you're telling me!" You're just as excited. "Who knows, this might've come from another world entirely! It might've come from where I'm from!" Oh yeah, that's right. You're not actually from here, are you? No, when I found you in that tree you couldn't remember anything about where you were from, only that it was somewhere else. Just one in a huge number of the world's mysteries. Our big plan has always been to figure out where you came from and go explore there ourselves. Now how did I go and forget that? We talk about it every day, why would I—

"Light, Ace! We're back with breakfast, where are you?" Wait, who was that? It was a feminine voice, for sure. Somebody we know? It had to have been, but who?

"Light, we'd better hurry back. We can check this out later, don't wanna keep your mom waiting."

Wait, my— everything cracks. In an instant the entire scene around us falls to pieces and fades away like it was never there in the first place, leaving nothing but me and you. I understand now, and I wait for you to fade away too. That's what always happens in these things, I'm eventually left alone by myself in the dark. But time passes, and you don't disappear. The both of us are just stuck in this endless, black abyss.

And then I wake up.

Light

Day 511

Last night has been part of a trend. I've been thinking of you more lately, remembering you more. It's only natural, I suppose, now that I've finally found you again. Speaking of which. I guess you're the final boss, huh? That's what it feels like anyway. I've gotta admit, it's weird. Usually at this point in the story I'd know the boss's motivation, what they're trying to do and why. But after all this time, I think I still don't know you at all. Who exactly are you now, Ace? How much of what I saw came from you? And how much of the you that I knew is left?

Hi again! It's me, Light. Your friend. The one you abandoned. The one you and your sword attacked. The one who's still going to save you.

Maybe it seems a little silly to keep writing these, given recent events. Well, I disagree for three reasons:

My unrelenting belief that I will save you, that that action is etched in stone. Therefore, you'll be able to read all of this once I do.

I'm also still holding on to the idea that someone else might read this someday. It wouldn't be fair to them to leave the story unfinished just before the climax, now would it?

These letters have helped me more than I can possibly say. Without this channel for my thoughts… I don't want to think about what would have happened.

I'm not thinking about that anymore. Or, at least, I'm trying not to. Why? Because I have them now. I have a family who cares about me, who would miss me if I left.

No, that's not right. I've always had them, ever since the day Violet asked me what my story was. What I mean to say is that I understand that now. I understand these people care about me, that I'm not alone. It makes me care about them, too. It makes me want to care about everyone. And, for the first time in a long time, it gives me hope. I can fix this. I will fix this.

It took a long time but I finally believe my life is worth something. Now that I do, just watch what I do next.

Light

Day 512

"Light!" Philly peeped out my name in excitement as he jumped into a hug.

"Philly!" I returned the greeting just as excitedly. Awkwardness with Violet aside, I've felt like I've been dying of happiness these past few days. He's here. Everyone's together, everyone's here. The one who never gave up on me. The one who convinced me I could still be a light. And the ones I never thought I'd get back.

Ari's next. I'll find him somehow, apologize into infinity. After that, well. I'll only be missing one, you know.

Philly didn't come over just for a fun hug though. "Light. I really want to talk to you about Arthur."

"Oh. Yeah. We do need to have that conversation." I wasn't surprised. After our reunion, Philly and I talked about a lot. My evolution was a big topic, of course, as was what they'd been doing while they were gone. One thing that didn't come up was Arthur, neither our fight with him nor his reappearance (beyond the most bare-bones explanation that it had happened in the first place). I think we were too happy at first. We'd just gotten each other back; we didn't want to talk about what had driven us apart.

Honestly, I was proud of Philly for bringing it up first.

"I spent that whole time being angry," he started. "I think that was how I needed to feel for a while? I thought I was just angry at Arthur, but it turns out I was angry at some other stuff too." I must have had a confused look on my face, because he quickly appended his statement: "I-I got that stuff worked out now though, no need to worry about that!"

And now Philly was keeping secrets from me. Huh. That felt weird. Actually, this whole conversation was weird. Philly faces his problems head-on, always has, but this was the first time I'd heard him talk them so… well, maturely. "Yeah," I allowed, "you might have gotten a little carried away there. Actually—"

"I was thinking maybe that's what you needed to feel, too." Woah. I was getting there, was really just going to dance around it for a while, but there went Philly just up and saying it. Like I said: always head-on.

I took a bit to respond. Not because I thought he was wrong, but because he was right. "You really figured me out, Philly, you know that?" He just gave a quick and determined nod, and then I was off. "I think you're right about that. What happened to me, that wasn't just. It wasn't fair. What I did, what my body made me do, I hate it. I think I hate it more than I can feel anything about anything else."

"Right, yeah, and then you wanted to make it go away no matter what." We were starting something. A back and forth.

"Exactly. And to do that I gave it to Arthur. He was a tangible goal I could fixate on, something I could actually effect."

"Even if he wasn't the problem at all, we made him the problem!"

"We tried to fix all of our problems by pretending they boiled down to a single Pokémon."

"And now that we know we were wrong to do that…"

"We have to apologize to him!" It was incredible. We were exactly, exactly on the same page.

We were, unfortunately, on the same page for this next part too: how exactly do we do that? As far as we knew, Arthur was gone. Disappeared, ran away after helping Philly and Vi rescue us. Maybe he left with that Mincinno, Tommy (never figured out where he went either). Maybe he just ran away altogether, taking it as a great opportunity to remove himself from all of this. Wouldn't blame him at all if he did.

I wonder what he thinks of me, really? A terror. A blight. A parasite, preying on the souls of others. Any of those could reflect his image of me, just as all of those threaten to reflect the image I have of myself. I have to shake myself out of those thoughts sometimes, even now. Remind myself that I've grown so much since then, especially since the start of all this, and that I'm more than my curse.

Then there's the other question: why do I care so much about the opinion of an enemy? He is still an enemy, right? Well, that one's got an easier answer. You're an enemy, aren't you? And don't I still care about you? Exactly. If I think I'm going to bring you back— and I do, I really do— then I owe it to everyone to extend that chance to everyone I can. No more writing Pokémon off as enemies, you know? Or at least not unless there's absolutely no other option.

Philly and I never did figure out how to find him, but at least I know what to do when we do. All cards on the table, sincere apology. Then we can see what comes next.

Hopefully that'll happen pretty soon.

Light

Night 513

So, apologizing. As it turns out, easier said than done.

Arthur showed up. I felt him, his soul, just a little ways away from us. When I did I knew him in an instant— I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the way his soul feels— and I immediately floated off by myself to talk to him. I know, I know, I should've brought Philly. Especially in case that was our only chance to see him, right? Well, thing is, I felt like this was a conversation we needed to have alone, at least at first. After what I did to him— he shouldn't have to confront that in the presence of anyone but the two of us.

Night. Clouds blocking the moon and the stars, complete darkness. And then a red flame, and next a blue flame, cutting through the black. Their shadows meet at what becomes a battleground, writhing around for dominance while those responsible for the flames are all too aware of the line between them their battle creates.

I found him sitting on a rock, eyes trained on me from the moment I became visible. He was trying to play it cool, but his fidgets gave him away— I made him nervous, of course. He made no move to talk, so I figured he was waiting for me. I tried to make myself as non-threatening as possible, but that's a little tough to do when you're a floating lamp known to be able to steal souls without so much as blinking. Especially when your audience has experienced that firsthand.

"Umm… thank you." That was my start. Maybe I could start with that and build to an apology. "Thanks for helping us with Ace."

He rolled his eyes. I could barely believe it, but he rolled his eyes. "Me and Liz disagree on a lot of things, Light, but I didn't want to see her dead. I don't want to see anyone dead."

I remember a very, very specific thought: 'Oh, it's going to be this type of conversation.' I mean, that comment was pointed. You can pick up on the subtext right away, right? I know I could. After a prolonged pause I responded: "I don't want to see anyone dead either, Arthur."

And then he laughed, certainly at my expense, and just simply said this: "Oh yes, I'm sure you don't."

Boy, here comes my shining moment. You'd better be proud of me, Ace, proud of how far I've come: I didn't respond. I could have made another joke. I could have reinforced the fear he was trying to hide with a vague comment about my power. And the easiest option, certainly, would have been to get defensive. Jump right in to some shallow lie about how I wasn't in control of my actions, something to get him to trust me and get him on my side. I chose to do none of these things because I'm currently attempting to not be a terrible person. Instead, I simply waited for that comment to die off before asking the obvious: "Why are you here?"

"Oh, I could give you lots of reasons." He'd sensed that I wasn't going to fight him, and he thought that meant he had the upper hand. "Maybe I don't know where else to go, maybe my captain's planted me as a double agent. Why don't you come in and find out?"

I was wary, immediately wary. This wasn't how I understood him to be, and I thought I understood Arthur very well. His sense of self-preservation is high, and he wouldn't goad a potential threat like this unless he was sure we was safe— ah. "You already talked to Violet, didn't you?" I figured it out pretty quick. Violet had told him it was safe to be around me now, that I wouldn't use my power on him again. That I wasn't a threat.

"She flew around for hours to track me down, Light, just so you know. She said she heard you and Mushhead talking about me and decided to come find me so we could talk about it face to face." Those ears! Even if they're a quarter the size of what they once were, they can still hear just about everything.

"I guess we'll have to thank her later." My plan to be receptive and open wasn't going so well (this reply being admittedly a little chillier than necessary), but I had a reason: "And

his name's Philly. Call him Philly."

Arthur scowled at my retort— that's more like it, that's the Arthur I know. But then he calmed down. Again. And said with a level voice "Yeah, I know. I guess I should— he seems like a good kid."

"You know you burned down his home, right?"

Silence, and then a sigh. "Yeah, I know I did. Looks like we've both got some regrets about hurting people, huh?"

It almost sounded gracious, like an olive branch. It almost sounded like he was trying to connect with me. And, in some way, he might have been. I'm not sure I'll ever know, really, because I saw his tiny little sneer and I got mad again: "Don't pretend like you know me, Arthur." No, no, no. I'm supposed to be repairing this bridge, not burning it!

"What, you mean like how you know me?" His voice rose, and with it I knew I had really screwed up. "I'd come in and grab your memories too if I could. Heck, why not just take your whole soul while it's apparently an all you can eat buffet?"

"I… that's not…" I wasn't nearly quick enough.

"I wasn't going to kill you guys. I wasn't even going to hurt you more than I needed to to get away! Heck, you guys were coming after me! You hunted me down for the better part of a year!"

We did do that. He wasn't wrong. But I just seemed really determined to dig myself a hole: "Yeah, because you burned Philly's home down! Plus what you did to Liz!"

"I made mistakes, Light! I was already trying to fix them, but I couldn't do much when all of you guys were constantly on my tail!"

I then did the first sensible thing I'd done that whole conversation and slowed things down. Getting heated was just making things worse. "Okay, hold on. You… were trying to fix things?"

"Light, I didn't even know where Ace was. He'd just up and abandoned me after..." That thought did not get completed. A noted dodge. "What matters is that they took off without me, and I was on my own. I didn't have anyone and I needed food. I lived in a house; I'm no good at surviving on my own. Yeah, I exploited people. Yeah, people got hurt because of me. It sucks, but at the time I thought it was my only option."

Remember when I thought Arthur was an evil traitor who delighted in causing others harm?

It was time to shut up and apologize. Well, sort of. First, an attempt at connecting: "I… understand." Second, a risk: "I know how it feels to be abandoned by him."

I didn't have to see the shocked expression on his face to know that Arthur couldn't have seen that one coming. "What? Abandoned by him? By Ace? You…" It took him another second or two, but he'd figured it out. "You knew him?"

I closed my eyes, almost wistfully. "Childhood friends. Funny how that turned out, huh?"

Arthur started and stopped his next sentence at least five times. It's a good thing he did, though, because otherwise I would have been even less prepared for it: "He talked about you."

Now let me tell you something. I have steeled myself, stopped myself from being quite overcome with emotion, an uncountable number of times now. When everything becomes too much, I shut off that part of me that instantly reacts so that I can look at the situation more objectively. And I have to say, I'm pretty good at it!

Not that it looked like I was particularly good at that when I practically yelled out a whole entire "what?!"

Arthur responded to my shout by scrambling around on his rock for just a second before collecting himself. I scared him, scared him with just a slight outburst. In that split-second he remembered I could be a threat and he looked terrified. I have been thinking about that single moment so much. Now, of course, he recovered after a few seconds, but the damage was done. He scowled quickly and then he was back, like nothing even happened, and he cooly responded: "Guess that was a surprise, huh?" I hesitated, had to hesitate. Things were all too clearly tense between us— was I really going to ask him to talk about this, purely for my benefit?

"Surprise? You don't even know." I suppose I may just be selfish to the core. That's fine. I needed to know more. "What on Earth did he say about me?"

I could feel Arthur hesitate, too, probably for the same reason as me. Honestly I expected him to shoot me down, but he didn't. His tense shoulders fell to a more relaxed state and then he told me things, Ace. He told me when you two first met you used to bring me up all the time, always as "the friend I had to leave behind" but never by name. Looks like I wasn't tossed to the side immediately! Now he told me straight-up that he wasn't going to tell me everything, and I don't feel like I got that much, but I think I got the gist. You talked about me a lot at first, and then over time it became less and less. Now as far as any potential ghost sword influence, that one I can't say for sure, but it sure seems to be a classic case of you missing me until you found something better.

When Arthur was done talking about you, there were only two things left to say. First, earnestly: "Thank you, Arthur. Thank you for telling me that." The unspoken second half of that sentence was, of course, 'despite me being so awful to you.'

The second was the apology and honestly, really, truly, I was getting there. I was sure I'd be able to tell him— "You're welcome, Light." That was it. No snarky comment or dig at the end, no catch whatsoever. 'You're welcome.' For reasons I'm sort of still trying to process that really caught me off-guard. By all rights this guy should be my enemy. He even knew that I wouldn't use my trump card— he should have attacked me the second he saw me, really dragged me through the dirt. But he didn't do that. Minus some well-earned venom, he didn't even act particularly negatively towards me. I can't say I would have reacted the same in his situation. Again, this isn't how I knew Arthur to be. He's reactive, he's angry. What was a guy like that doing acting civilly towards someone who hurt him so badly?

In the end, I was so off-balance I couldn't make it there. Call me a coward if you'd like, I know I've called myself one. But it is what it is, and now Arthur is just here. Like, 'he's sleeping a few hundred feet away from me as I write this' here. And everything feels even weirder than usual.

He talked to Liz after he talked to me, and boy do I wish I knew how that conversation went. I remember how desperate Arthur seemed for Liz especially not to find him. Maybe they'll tell me tomorrow, I don't know. We're supposed to be having a big group meeting about what we're doing next by which, of course, I mean what we're going to do about you. And, trust me, I already have a plan in mind.

If all goes well, I'll be seeing you soon enough.

Light

Day 514

"No, absolutely not."

I'd like you to think back for a moment to the letter I wrote after first meeting Philly. If you'll recall, Liz and I both pushed for him to join our adventure while Violet resisted. You might expect that to be the case here, and yet. And yet it was me who said no this time. Why? Why did I do that?

That was rhetorical. I know why.

I'm getting ahead of myself again, sorry. It was finally the day, the day we'd decide on our plan. Liz shouted for all of us to get up (which of course I already was because I have, once again, not been sleeping much) and so up we got. Hypatia, Philly, and Violet were also in the boat with me, and they all sleepily shuffled out and onto the shore, where Liz was standing with Arthur.

Ah, yes, Arthur. Far too late, I realized I hadn't told Philly he was here. Evidently neither had anyone else, as he just shouted "A-Arthur!" and didn't seem much inclined to say anything else just then. Guess that makes two of us who couldn't say sorry, huh? What he did do was nervously glance back at me, and I tried to reassure him as much as I could with just a facial expression, but I'm not sure I helped much.

Liz was looking impatient (not a rare occurrence by any means), so we arranged ourselves in a circle of sorts pretty quick and waited for her. "Crew!" She started in her loud, showboaty voice, the one that she uses when she wants to remind people that she's the captain. "We all know why we're here. We're here because we have an enemy! An enemy and a former friend, too."

Hey, Ace, is it weird to read about yourself?

"Said enemy has arguably tried to kill several of us, and now he's out in parts unknown doing who knows what. Well, I for one am not gonna stand for that! What we need to do now, guys, is think up a plan. A plan on how to find Ace and take him down, once and for all. Hence this meeting. Gimme suggestions, guys, c'mon." Well, she mostly nailed it. Trailed off a little bit at the end, but you can't win 'em all.

Hypatia raised her paw first, which was actually really interesting to me. She's our friend, sure, and a darn good one at that, but she's certainly the one with the smallest personal stake in what happens here. "Just gonna go over all the facts here and then I'll tell you my thing," she started. "So, this Ace guy. You three that know him, you pretty much all agree he changed at some point, right?"

I didn't realize Arthur had acknowledged that too. She must have been part of that conversation Liz had with him last night. He even assented: "Yeah, even I have to admit he's gone a little far on the aggression front. That's why I'm here, because—"

"Hold up speedy, I ain't done. You can do your thing next." Wait, Hypatia! I get that you didn't want to be interrupted but I really needed to hear the end of that thought! I'd just have to wait a little while, though, as she continued unabated: "Right, so he's clearly not himself. Or at the very least he's not who he used to be." That's about where I understood it to be, yeah. "And I'm sure we're all familiar with the sentient sword— or swords, I guess— that knocked most of us on our butts, right?" Yeah, she was going where I thought she was going. This was all stuff I'd already thought of, even stuff I've already talked about in my earlier letters. "Obviously there's a connection there. More than likely whatever that is has been manipulating him, making him fight against us. So here's plan A: take the swords out. Exploit their weaknesses and get them away from Ace."

We still don't know much about the swords, but we could guess at a few things. They pretty clearly evolved, so calling them a Pokémon (and a single Pokémon, at that) seems like a safe bet. If that's the case we just need to worry about types, which seem pretty obvious: Ghost and Steel. Almost like we planned it, Arthur and I looked at each other. We were both thinking the same thing: with our shared Fire type, and my Ghost type to boot, the two of us were in the best position to battle the swords. Heck, last time we fought I got some good hits in even though they had the drop on me. The two of us fighting together, if we could make it work, should definitely be strong enough to take those swords down. That was a huge 'if' though, and besides that something else was bothering me. Maybe it was the straightforwardness of just fighting them. That plan seemed too easy. Or maybe it was just that— yes, that was the one. "Hey, guys. I think we could definitely take the swords if it came to that, but what I'm wondering is exactly who those swords are. Where they came from and what the limits of their manipulation is, if that's really what this is."

Liz, with a slightly puzzled face: "Uh, does it really matter if all we're going to do is beat them up?"

"Yeah, well, that's not my only objective." And then I said it. My resolution. "I want to save him, too." And it seemed even more naive out loud than it did when I first wrote it.

I waited to see who would say something first, and it took a good few seconds for anyone to step up. Then: "You're serious, aren't you? Of course you're serious." I turned to look at the source and found Violet, hanging from her tree with a frown. I also wondered if this was just going to be how it is between us from now on, her constantly doubting me and tearing me down. I guess I deserve it, but that didn't mean I was going to back down from my conviction here. I promised you, after all.

"Yeah, Vi," I responded, "I am. He's still my friend and if I have any chance at all to save him I have to take it."

"Pfft. You go on about your 'friend' an awful lot for someone ostensibly surrounded by your actual friends right now." Seems she was not especially impressed.

This was about to be a fight, I could feel it. So I was extremely thankful for Philly, local tension-cutter, for doing his thing: "I get what you're saying, Light! You're saying everybody's worth saving!" Yes, yes! He got it in a second. The idea I'd been building up in my head ever since this thing started.

Liz tried to cast doubt: "Philly… it might not be as simple as—"

But Philly wasn't having any of it: "Captain, c'mon! He was your crewmate, wasn't he? Do you want me to say it for you or are you gonna bring this one home?"

Now I don't exactly have a mouth in this form. All the same, I'm pretty sure everyone could feel me smiling. Philly was certainly smiling. And Liz, despite wavering, had a tiny grin too. "If you're crew you're crew," she finally said. "And, well. If I can forgive this guy over here, I guess given his ghost sword circumstances I can forgive Ace too."

'This guy over here' was, obviously, Arthur, and I was growing more and more curious about what exactly had been said between them, but now was not the time to ask. Instead, I said this: "In that case, I have an idea. A way to learn more about the swords."

"Uh. I do too." That didn't come from Liz, or Hypatia, or Philly, or anyone I'd have expected it to come from. No, it came from Arthur.

"Oh, uh, awesome!" I scrambled to accommodate him in yet another substitute for just saying sorry like a normal person. "You go first, then, I want to hear yours."

He actually did seem at least a little grateful that he was being allowed the floor this time, which like absolutely everything he's done since yesterday caught me off-guard. Seriously, where was the enmity? I have a reason for being nice, I have things to make up for. He's holding all the cards and he's not taking advantage of any of them. At this point he's clearly not the guy I thought he was. Based purely on what I've seen here, under different circumstances I'd want to be his friend. And boy, I really do need to apologize to him.

Getting distracted again. That's okay though, I'm almost done. Right, back to what Arthur said. "Liz, the ruin. If you go back there and investigate, you might learn more about where they came from and what they are."

Okay, I know I'm complaining about it a lot this letter but do I have to get left in the dark every time? I had no idea what ruin he was talking about! Luckily, though, that mystery at least was cleared up almost right away. "Oh dang, Arthur, that's a good point. It's where he got the sword, and we didn't get to look into it in much detail back then, so there's a good chance we missed something." And there it was, there was the piece I needed. Evidently you'd been on an expedition of some kind with them to a ruin, and you found that Pokémon there. Creepy sword in a creepy ruin makes enough sense.

It was time for my idea. Now before I tell you what this idea actually was, I do need to specify a few things. First, it's not an idea I wanted to entertain in the slightest. It is, in fact, an idea I had been fighting against ever since our battle. That said, in the end I thought it had a really good chance of bearing fruit. I couldn't let that go, so I said it: "My idea is that the ghosts at the tower probably know something— they're experts with this kind of stuff. I should ask them." And there it was, it was out there. That dark place, that hated place. I had to go back there.

"Light. Are you absolutely sure you want to go back?" Slow, steady. She almost sounded a bit concerned. I never did tell Violet the full truth about what happened at the end of that tower visit, but she'd gotten enough from my reaction to know it was something bad.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I opened them I was even more determined. "Yes, I'm sure." And it was said with conviction, too. "If I could avoid it I would, but I can't ignore how valuable their expertise would be here."

A deep, deep sigh. Then, startlingly: "Fine. I'm going with you, then." What? She's been at my throat all week and now she wants to go with me? "I don't trust you to not do something stupid while nobody's watching you." Ah, okay. That made more sense.

The rest of the group graciously paused for a moment to reflect on that burn (thanks guys) before continuing like it never happened. "So, we've got two things to do now," Violet observed. "Is that it?"

"Nah," Liz replied, "we've still got Arthur's other thing."

It! Was! Still! Weird!

"Thanks for the introduction, Captain," he said with a laugh. "Here's the thing. Ace's leadership in practice isn't what any of us signed up for when we split. Plus, nobody in this little meeting knows where he is now, and that includes me. What I do know is that we've got a hideout near here, and if I had to guess I'd say that's probably where he and the rest of the crew are. If I went there, I think I could convince everyone else to join up with us."

Okay so alarm bells should have been ringing in everyone's head, right? The subordinate of the main villain shows up, announces he's switched sides, and tells us he's going to lead us straight to both the villain and a major advantage? From their reactions, though, Liz and Hypatia already knew what he was going to say. Philly was just hopping excitedly, so he was no help. And Violet, who I thought I'd be able to rely on to back me up despite personal tensions, didn't seem the least bit concerned. "Is everyone seriously okay with that?" I said incredulously. I'd really been trying to give Arthur space, but this was just a bridge too far. "I mean that plan is basically the definition of the word 'trap,' isn't it?"

"Light," Violet said steadily, "your bias is showing." Okay, so I still didn't trust him! How could I? How could I not think he wants revenge on me?

"I trust him, Light," said the infinitely more helpful Liz. "Is that enough for you?"

After just a moment of reflection I nodded my— well, my whole body really, since I'm basically a head with arms at this point. "Yeah, Captain, it is." And it was. Liz has proven herself to me as a true friend and a strong captain. I don't particularly think of myself as a subordinate, really, but the fact of the matter is I've relied on and trusted her time and time again and she's never let me down. No reason to believe she would do so now.

"That's that, then!" she said with a smile. I'm sure she was feeling pretty proud of herself for calling me off so quickly. "Light's got his tower mission, Arthur's got his mission to turn the rest of those turncoats." This she said with a grin, like she was happy for the potential of getting back these traitors. "While you're doing that, I'll check into the ruins. Hypatia, I'm gonna need you with me on this one." To which the Dewott in question responded with a quick thumbs-up. "With the ship we'll be able to make it there in good time. Let's call it a month for us to do all of this, and then we'll meet up at Light's tower." We were gearing up for a good old-fashioned split-up, and it was bittersweet. On the one hand, this meeting really made it feel like we were a team. Pettiness and in-fighting aside, we were discussing the plan and deciding as a group. As a crew. I can't speak for the others, but that alone meant a lot to me.

That just left one of us who hadn't been spoken for, and I was sure he'd go with me and Violet. I mean, obviously.

"I'm going with Arthur!" And now we circle back to the start of this letter. 'No, absolutely not.' I could accept, a little begrudgingly, that Arthur might really be on our side. I could accept including him in our plans. But I couldn't accept the danger that going alone with Arthur would put Philly in. He could get hurt, seriously hurt! Without any of us there to help him! After I'd just gotten him back!

After I voiced my disagreement, I waited. I waited for Violet to dig into me again, for Liz to call me off, for Philly to jump up and down and defend himself. But, keeping with the theme of the day, what happened next wasn't anything I expected. No, instead: "I'll keep him safe, Light. That's a promise."

Why? Why does he care how I'm feeling? It was sincere, from the heart. I could tell without even looking into him that he meant it. And so, after a short time, I consented. I said "I hope you will," and I let Philly go with Arthur.

What I really hope is that I don't regret it.

Light

Day 515

My last few letters have been very long, so I'm gonna make this quick.

Everyone else is gone now. It's Violet and it's me. Just the two of us again, just like the beginning. A flame and a bat, going to a tower.

Let's see how we turn out this time around.

Light

It's Been 2 Years and 5 Days

That night, we all asked each other if we could ever find another family. If leaving the one we'd made was even okay. You were the only one to say yes. In fact, if I remember correctly, your exact words were 'if you guys won't be my family anymore, I'll just have to go make my own.' That hit me hard, really it did. I was still reeling from everything— we all were, obviously— and in retrospect I don't think any of us gave that sentiment the attention it deserved— but that's when what our decision meant finally sunk in. The first half of our lives was over, severed. What would happen in the next half was totally unknown, not even a concern, but what was known was that we would not be actors in each other's stories any longer. Even now there's a part of me that lashes out, fights back at the very notion of you with a new family. How could you have a new family? We're your family.

Except we're not, are we? Finally, concretely, I can say it: we're not family anymore.

This is the part where I say how bittersweet this is. Except it's not. It's just plain bitter.

Hyp

28 Days Until I See Them Again

Hi! It's Philly!

So we all decided to split up to get done all the stuff we wanted to get done. Well, what I wanted to do was to get close to Arthur (he's part of the crew now by the way), which meant I picked myself to go with him. Good plan, right? Well, the only problem with that is that now I really am going with him. Arthur and I are just. Alone. Together.

I was not prepared for this!

For the longest time he felt like you? What I mean by that is that he felt like someone I needed to make, someone to fill a role in my life. He was my rival, the boss. The guy I had to overcome to win and finish my journey.

Now he's just a guy. He keeps his tail up a little bit so he doesn't burn anything on the ground. He scowls when we run into a roadblock. He exercises in the mornings. He's normal. And that's scaring me a whole lot. What am I supposed to think about him? What am I supposed to say to him? When we try small talking, it crashes and burns almost instantly. When I try to go a little deeper, it's met with resistance. This situation is just. So. Weird.

Oh, I guess I should talk about why I'm still writing to you, even after I broke the illusion. Well, it's pretty simple really: I wanna write to someone, and I've got no one else. There's always the rest of the crew, but as you can see up at the top of this letter I'll see them soon enough! So for now I might as well keep going, right? Besides, it's not like much has changed for me. Some other people might know the secret now, but I've been writing to someone who doesn't exist the whole time! Why should now be any different?

Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna keep writing to you. I'm gonna figure out how to deal with Arthur and it's gonna be great. Then we're gonna accomplish our mission, make it back, and then I'm gonna help Light beat up Ace and we'll all live as one big family forever!

That sounds like a really good plan.

Philly!

It's Been 2 Years and 6 Days

It hadn't been long at all since we started, me and Zeke. I was out of my ball, exploring a cave, and just like that I saw him. This cute, tiny Drilbur was sitting in the corner, staring at us, waiting for us to notice him. All three of us stood there and blinked at each other, just for a second. And then we didn't need words. We didn't need introductions. We all knew how this was gonna go.

Without even waiting for a command I ran forward and fired out a Water Gun. Super effective, right? That should deal some damage no problem, right?

I watched in amazement as his blade-like claws slashed right through my water like it was nothing. I lost the advantage there, and the next thing I knew I was in close-quarters and on the defensive, dodging slash after slash of those dangerous claws. I couldn't dodge forever, he and I both knew that, so I went on the offensive instead. More water came shooting out of me right into his face, and this time he wasn't prepared to block. Well, I wasn't prepared to block his counterattack either— he swiped at me even as he was falling backwards, hitting me square in the face.

We both took a few seconds to collect ourselves. Then, as if even in our first meeting we'd synchronized, we grinned at each other.

Long story short, your girl won. Obviously. That Drilbur became the first to join our team, and his name became Archimedes. From that moment, from the very second Zeke let him out of his Pokeball and I met him as my teammate, we were family. And sure, our family would grow in due time, but for a while it was just us. We trained together, fought together. We became who we are together.

I've been thinking about you guys a lot. I've got a new family now— or, at least, that's what they call it. I wish I didn't have to admit it, but I'm scared. Scared to go through what we went through again. I've already lost everyone…

Liz. Liz is this huge presence. Bombastic, always. She's got this thing where she presents herself as a pirate? It's a weird thing to say, let alone be. At first I thought she was just really goofy— I mean seriously, this girl practically ran over to me and yelled in my face about having a pirate ship, wanting me to join her crew. I didn't buy into it at all.

Then I fought her crewmate, Light. At first he seemed like this meek, unassuming little Litwick. I figured I'd take him down pretty easily, what with the type advantage and all. And then I looked a little bit closer, and when I did I saw burning determination. It wasn't an 'I want to win,' it was an 'I have to win.' And though he'd tell me the reason for that drive later, at that moment he was a stranger who reminded me of, well, us. That need to win no matter what… well, we all had it, Zeke most of all. I knew that feeling— it was familiar. It made me trust him. Well, that and our fight which, by the way, he thoroughly trounced me in. Now that was a wake-up call. He fought like he had something to fight for, a reason. Like how we used to fight. I'd just been going through the motions in that place, that underground arena Archimedes showed us. I was competent but I can't say I ever really turned in anything stellar. You could call it any number of things, but I'm going to call it apathy. I had no motivation to do well, really no reason to fight at all other than supporting myself.

And that's what I'm trying to get at, I guess. I really had been just kind of been existing and that's it. When I say wake-up call, I mean they woke me up from that life. Now's different. Oh boy, you should see me now. I'll go run into a trap and fight some guy I've never met just because Liz wants me to. I'll steer an actual, honest to goodness pirate ship. I can't believe how different my life is, and I can't believe how much I've welcomed it.

I'm saying you were right. The split hurt me more than I can describe, and I'm sure it hurt you even worse. But now I'm okay. It was okay to leave the family we'd made to find another one.

I only hope you've been as lucky as I am.

Hyp

27 Days Until I See Them Again

Who am I, exactly? Can you tell me?

It's an awfully weird question to think about, now that I write it down, but it's been on my mind for a while. See, just about everyone I've met has some sort of thing. Liz is the captain. Light is the friend who's trying really hard to convince us he's worth being around (not that he's ever had to convince me). Violet's the sensible one, the one who stops us when we're about to go be dumb. Even Arthur has something, I bet, but I'll get to him in just a second. See, I just keep coming back to the thought that I'm really not sure how to define myself. Am I the kid? I certainly don't want to be! Am I the guy out for revenge? I thought that should be me for a long time, I really did. But I'm older now, and I'm smarter too. Plus, uh, the guy I was trying to get revenge on is my new traveling companion. Safe to say that one pretty much went out the window. So what does that make me now? I really, really couldn't tell you. Which sucks, right? 'Hi, I'm Philly and I'm… uhhhhhhhhh…' Not great!

I don't know if thinking this is going to lead to anything or even if it needs to lead to anything, really. I've just been thinking about it, that's all.

Oh right, Arthur. My update on him is as follows: this is still really weird! But weird in a different way? What I mean to say by all of this is that we've been getting along. Yesterday I thought he just hated me outright. Today I told him a joke and he laughed and we were off to the races! Now, granted, this was after several hours of silence. He may have just been talking for the sake of having something to do. But I'm gonna take it! I'm gonna hold onto it!

I chose this path because I needed to apologize to Arthur. If I end up becoming friends with him… isn't that just a bonus?

Philly!

Day 519

"Did you say everything to Arthur that you needed to?" Needley. That's the only way I can describe that sentence. Like she already knew the answer and was trying to make a point of her disapproval by highlighting it.

"No, I didn't." But I tried. I didn't get there, but I really did try. So I added something: "Can you say you've told everyone everything you need to?"

She blinked at me, but then she just scoffed. "I'm not the one with regrets, Light." And here I really do have to drive home that this was just about as venomous as possible. I've earned it, we've established that I've earned the venom, but it still hurts all the same. I guess she's a Poison type for a reason, huh?

"Look, is it going to be like this the whole time?" It was a serious question. Because it certainly had been like this for the several days we'd been traveling.

"It's gonna be like this for as long as I want it to be, Light. Tough luck." I hate this. Didn't I say I was going to hate this?

"We can just not talk then, if that would work better for you." It was a desperate attempt. Maybe get her to cool off for a few days and then try again.

It didn't work. "Oh no Light, oh no," she said with an incredibly condescending tone. "I'm enjoying this. I'm having the time of my life."

The worst part was I knew she wasn't lying. Oh, I hadn't looked inside her or anything, I can just tell how my best friend is feeling.

We'll be at the tower soon. Let's hope whatever's waiting there for me is better than this.

Light

26 Days Until I See Them Again

"Do you really trust that spirit, kid?" He said it like he didn't want to, but felt like he had to. Like if your dad forces you to apologize for something you're not actually sorry about.

Despite it coming out of nowhere, I knew exactly what he was getting at right away. Well, I took no less than two exceptions to that sentence: "My name's Philly, call me Philly! And his name's Light, call him Light!"

"Hah. Light said the same thing." He was kinda grinning, just a little bit, as he talked. "I'll take that as a yes, then."

"Of course it's a yes!" I yelled. "He's one of my best friends, and maybe even more importantly he's part of my crew!" He chuckled at that, and of course you know I hate it when adults chuckle at me when I'm not trying to be funny. "What?" I challenged him, "you think that's dumb? You think I should be scared of him?"

"No, no, none of that," was his response. "I just thought it was funny. I mean, technically I'm part of your crew too, aren't I?"

"Uh, yeah?"

He stopped laughing, changing to a look like he was concentrating. Wrinkly forehead and everything. "And do you trust me?"

I must have had a weird look on my face— my 'isn't the answer to that obvious?' face. "Of course I do, Arthur. Do you think I would have gone with you if I didn't?"

This time he stopped walking entirely, blinked, and then looked right at me. He had a question, but when it came out it was just a single word: "Why?"

Don't you worry, though, I was ready for him. "Because Captain Liz told me I could. Duh." Simple as that. If my captain tells me to trust him then I'm gonna trust him!

Arthur didn't respond for a bit, really pondered it. When he finally came back, it was with this: "Boy. Trusting your captain to an absolute degree. It must be nice to see things so black and white."

"Mmm, you're wrong Arthur." I had to correct him there. "If I were thinking black and white I'd still wanna beat you up like I did when we fought. And honestly I'd trust you even if she hadn't said that."

I thought he was gonna be condescending again, but this time he seemed genuinely interested. "Oh, yeah?" he asked, sitting down and basically abandoning the idea of getting any more walking in. "What changed there? What did I do that was so deserving of your trust?"

"Oh, it isn't what you did," I retorted. Boy, I just kept having to correct him. "No, it's what I did! I thought about it and I realized that you and Light both did bad things and took advantage of people. But I knew I was gonna forgive Light for it, and so if I forgave him I'd have to forgive you too!"

He tilted his head and seemed… hmm. We'll call it bemused. "Is it really that easy for you to forgive me, Philly?"

He said my name. "Yeah! It is now! It wasn't before, but now that I've learned more about everything it feels really good to give people more chances!"

Another pause as he thought on what to say to that. Finally: "I see. That's a pretty rare quality, you know." And that's when I felt it. Maybe just a little piece of who I am slipped into place just now: I'm someone who likes to give people chances. Oh, but Arthur had one other thing to say: "You know what? I think I might like that. Maybe some time I should give giving people another chance a try, too."

We kept talking after that but that was the most important part. He's gonna try! That might mean he'll forgive Light eventually! I think maybe after that happens and after Violet stops being so mean to Light we'll all be able to come together as a great big crew and make some real waves. That's what I'm aiming for, anyway!

Oh by the way, I still haven't apologized. Oops!

Philly!

Day 522

I floated there and stared at it, willing myself to go in. The first time I saw this place up close, I was almost unconscious and a threat to everyone. While I stayed here, someone almost convinced me to die. And the last time I was here, I was leaving on a grand adventure that would just about leave me shattered. I'm still picking those pieces up.

The tower, of course. Celestial Tower. Bad memories and good all swirl together in this place, but I still think of it mostly as the place that turned its back on me. Who wouldn't have me, wouldn't take me in as its responsibility until far too late.

Violet gave me a minute, which was appreciated. This place can't mean as much to her as it does to me, but she was here too. It means something to her too. It only makes sense that she be here now.

But I couldn't keep stalling forever. Sooner or later I'd have to go in, so without a word I made my choice. Finally I started floating towards it and— a small Litwick grabbed me and dragged me off to the side. "Ari?" I asked, not being able to see the Litwick's face but not thinking of anyone else it could possibly be.

"...No? What? No! I'm Sky!" And sure enough, it was a decidedly unfamiliar Litwick that turned around to face me.

"Okay?" I was confused. "What's, uh… what's up?"

Her laugh is very bright. I looked around for Violet and she'd taken to a nearby tree, eyeing Sky with suspicion.

"I'm saving your flame, obviously!" Sure, Sky, obvious. "I mean c'mon, weren't you about to go in there and face off against an elder who wants you dead?"

Well, when you put it that way. "Yeah, but… I have to! I have this friend—"

She cut me off, and her expression turned more serious. "Listen, dude. If you go in there right now, you're gonna die. Well, double-die I guess. Ari's not here to protect you this time."

I was afraid of that. Much as I was dreading Ari confronting me about Arthur, I was still hoping he'd be at the tower when I got there. He was my one light in this place. "Okay, so I can't rely on Ari. Why exactly are you helping me?"

Her small, curved smile turned into a grin. "Because I need you, and I need Ari too! You're just gonna have to rely on me this time!"

I'm not sure how I feel about her.

Light

It's Been 2 Years and 10 Days

I was a lab kid. You know, basically raised from birth to be a lifelong companion for some young and inspired trainer. I didn't resent that— I don't resent that. That's the life I was born to live and that's the life I wanted to live. Thing is, nobody told me what to do after. What does one do after their life's purpose reaches its natural conclusion? Can they find a new purpose, or should they be content with just the one?

I'm writing this from the crow's nest of a tiny, tiny ship. It's really too small for what it's been tasked to do, but if it were any bigger it'd be too much for its crew to handle. Around me is the sea, of course. It's calm today, lapping gently at the edge of the ship as the wind carries us along. The sky is blue, no clouds at all. The soft breeze carries the smell of salt through the air, and the whole thing makes me feel alive. And the best part? At the wheel below me is maybe the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. She's a huge goofball, and you really need to buy what she's selling for her to make sense to you, but gosh. The huge smile on her face and her earnest, honest lust for life draws me into her like I never thought possible.

We played music together today! She had some sort of string instrument I guess, but she just gave me two drumsticks. I asked her where she got an instrument small enough for her and she just said "oh, same place I got the boat." Which invites an obvious follow-up question, but I decided to let it pass me by so we could do this music thing. For the record I'm pretty sure I was terrible at it, but she complimented me anyway. And somewhere along the line today, I realized I want this. For the first time in the longest time, I want something from my life again. Now I don't want Liz taking all the credit; Light's the one who really convinced me to come aboard and I owe a lot of this to him. But wow, if the days keep being like this and Liz keeps smiling like that?

I can't answer my own question. I don't know what my purpose is now, if I even have one or if I even want one.

But I know I want to be where I am, and I'm not letting that go.

Hyp

21 Days Until I See Them Again

I've come to a firm realization: I thought Arthur was like you, but he's not. Not even close. In fact, he's never been like you.

"Hey Arthur, tell me more about Ace." I was determined, but I tried my best to sound casual.

"Ace? Why do you want to know more about him?"

I did it again, my obvious face. "Cause we might be headed right towards him, duh. And even if we're not, we're gonna meet him eventually." I paused, just for a second. "But what I really wanna know is why you guys abandoned Captain Liz to follow him instead." Now look, she'd told me the story. And I trust her, I trust her a bunch! I just, in this particular instance, didn't quite trust her all the way.

He looked a little uncomfortable at first, which I've come to expect by this point. It happens with just about everyone— they all hesitate to tell me about something serious. It's cause they still think I'm a kid, of course, even with the recent strides I've made. I continue to think it's unfair, but what are you gonna do?

Anyway, the good thing is that he did decide to tell me. "You'd probably understand if you knew him," he started. "Or at least knew him back then. He was charming, charismatic. He had fire inside him. Liz gets close, but dial up everything she has by a couple notches and that's what Ace had. That's why we all wanted to follow him."

Things I already knew about Ace: he was some jerk who betrayed Liz, Light used to be friends with him, and he tried to beat us all up. Thing I didn't know: apparently people liked him. "Wait, then the mutiny happened just because you guys wanted to follow him more than you wanted to follow Liz?"

"Exactly. See, even before he got the sword he was compelling— but he wasn't a leader. He followed Liz and that made me happy to follow Liz too." And here I've gotta jump in and emphasize for a second that it still feels a little weird to have a normal conversation with this guy. It's not like we're suddenly best friends or anything, and it's tough because to get anywhere we almost have to pretend that all the stuff between us isn't there. I'm trying, though. Trying to get somewhere, I mean. Sorry, back to it: "After was different. After, he started to talk about things like getting stronger, better. He convinced us that Liz was holding us back and we'd be better off in our own crew."

"Hold on, really?" I had to call him out just a little there: that's not how I remember that going! "I thought you guys left because you wanted to do a bunch of bad stuff and not get told off for it."

He chuckled just a little bit. "You're half-right. Ace's immediate plan was for us to use our strength to get what we needed— hence my going around burning places." Gotta admit, hearing him bring it up so casually still made me a little mad. I mean I'm trying, and I'm getting there, but the fact that he did that is just always gonna be there. "What we thought we were doing was just building up our resources until we could live comfortably. We figured we'd do that for a couple months, get the food and supplies we needed to survive, and then we'd move on to adventures like what we were doing before."

I thought I saw where he was going. "And that didn't happen?"

"Nope! Not in the slightest." Does he sound happy to you? I'm trying to get across in writing form that he really, honestly sounded like he was happy to be having this conversation. It was weird. I mean that's weird, right? Shouldn't he at least have some reservations about telling me all this? "That's why I'm here with you instead of the rest of the crew: he kept going. Every tiny little petty crime we did, he wanted to do two more. Every inch of power he got made him want a mile. And then, a few weeks before your place, I confronted him about it. It got to the point in that conversation where it was obvious to me that he was doing it for fun and not to survive, so I split." He stopped long enough to give a drawn-out sigh. "That left me with nothing, though. I can't hunt; I'm barely even wild in the first place. I can hardly even survive out here on my own. When I burned your place down it was for food, so I could try to scam someone into keeping me alive in exchange for helping with the fire. Which, in retrospect? Was a pretty dumb idea. Made sure not to get anyone hurt though, at least I have that."

I! Was! Confused! "Arthur, uh. Why are you telling me this?"

There was a pause here, a tiny but very noticeable pause. Then: "Because I'm your friend, obviously!" He shot me a smile— and it seemed like a genuine smile! And then I was even more confused.

"Um. Like a day ago you were still super-moody and barely wanted to talk to me at all. What the heck happened?"

"I told you I was going to try giving people another chance, right? Well, here's your chance."

You see what I mean? The Arthur I made for myself would have lorded his superiority over me, if he even talked to me in general. He certainly wouldn't be extending an olive branch, forgiving me for everything before I even had a chance to apologize. He's doing things now that are so outside my wildest expectations. I feel so bad about thinking the worst of him at first. Honestly, it's getting to the point where apologizing is becoming less of a want and more of a need. For my own sake, I need to apologize to him soon.

As for what I did in the moment, I did what I always do: I hugged him. Gave him a big tight hug and said "thank you for taking a chance on me."

I'm really, really glad we're friends.

Philly!

Day 523

Plain white walls. Graves as far as you can see. Spiral staircase. It really hasn't changed much, but as a monument to the dead would you expect it to?

We're back in the tower, of course, and clearly I'm not double-dead. I guess I'll just give you the play-by-play.

Our faces must have given away the fact that we didn't trust Sky as far as we could throw her because she suddenly looked extremely skeptical. "What," she asked, "don't believe me?"

Violet spoke for me, but we were both going to say the same thing. "Oh no, we believe you. We're just a little suspicious about exactly what you need Light for."

She laughed again. Standoffish as this first encounter was becoming, her laugh was still warm. "Don't even worry about that, guys! See, I've got a plan." And then she didn't continue. Nothing but a loud silence. Now, see, when someone says 'I've got a plan' and no one interrupts them, they're supposed to say what the plan is. That's just how this works.

Violet and I both tried to outlast it, but the silence was deafening. "Okay," I asked after a minute, finally giving in, "what's your plan?"

"Well I'm glad you asked!" she jumped right back into it as if nothing had happened, as if I'd asked her that immediately after her last comment. "My plan is nothing less than a complete overhaul of the government of this here tower." Silence again, but this time it was the shocked kind of silence. "Sound interesting?"

Now's the time when I have to pause my narrative to give you a bit of background. While Ari told me all of this, I think I neglected to mention most of the details. This is both because I didn't especially want to talk about it and because it didn't end up being relevant to the story I was telling. Well, don't I look silly now?

Of the various Chandelure that roam around the tower, six of them hold unique leadership roles. They're called elders, though age isn't necessarily a prerequisite— reaching the final stage of evolution, however, is. Each member of this council specializes in a single facet of the tower's livelihood or the lives of its denizens, and each resident of the tower (in our line, at least) chooses one of these categories to specialize in themselves. In this way, the elders serve as both community leaders and the heads of government. Each elder controls tower policy in their particular facet, and they're able to have influence on other facets through a rigid meeting structure. It was the decisions of these six (along with, yes, a wider vote by the community at large) that caused the tower to ignore my plight. It was also one of these six that attempted to coerce me into placing myself in a coffin. All in all? Not a big fan!

After a pause, I gave a simple reply: "What did you have in mind?" Despite my misgivings, it did sound interesting.

"In a sentence? We're going to take over." She was smiling. She looked proud. "Now don't get me twisted, it's not any sort of revolution. This'll all be legit, following standard succession procedure. The key though is for us to work together as a team. If the three of us— me, you, Ari— if we can all get positions on the council, then we'll be able to work together to make the changes we wanna make."

Those six categories are as follows: bell-keeping, storytelling, tower-keeping, battling, ambassadors, and soul-touching. Ari's on the storytelling side and he likes his master, but I've never met him. Actually the only one I've met is the one in charge of bell-keeping, and you know how that went. Sky was suggesting that the three of us each take one of those three spots, leaving three prior members where they were. She was also, worryingly, suggesting that I'd be able to slot myself into one of these despite a lack of previous tower experience. I had a lot of questions, but here's the first one: "Does Ari know about this? Is he already onboard?" I tried to think of Ari as the type to lead a revolution and almost giggled to myself.

"Haven't told him yet, but he's been by far the most outspoken critic of the way things are run. A vote to decide whether we'd help a certain wayward Litwick comes to mind."

Okay, I don't think that last part was entirely necessary. She had a point though. Ari's never shied away from letting everyone know he's not content with some of the council's decisions. "So," I said slowly, "you want me to join your weird quest for power. Why me?"

"Oh, easy answer! It's cause I know you're not satisfied with the way things are run here either." Oh no, she figured me out! ...I'm kidding. It should be obvious to just about everyone that I'm not satisfied with this place. "I thought if anyone would want a change in the way things are done here it'd be the guy who's been completely screwed over by it."

One of these days I'm just going to write the whole situation out for you and wait until the end before I give my commentary on it. For now I ask that you forgive my many interruptions— talking about what happened as I write it helps me process. See, my first thought was 'she gets it.' It seemed like Sky understood my perspective and Ari's perspective on the tower's decision not to help me, and she was trying to draft me into a fight that would right that wrong. And she was right, I did want a change. It's not something I've been actively fighting for (a certain Ambipom has been on my mind too much for that), but the prospect of that unfairness being addressed and even reversed was nothing short of tantalizing. Wasn't I talking about showing these letters to others so they didn't make the same mistakes? Wouldn't stopping the tower from repeating its mistakes be a natural extension of that? It made me wonder if it really could be done, and it really made me wish Ari was here. He'd know what to do.

But despite that, despite all that temptation, I still resisted. Things still weren't sitting well with me. And, thank goodness, Violet was with me on this. "Hey, where were you last time?" she asked in an extremely pointed fashion.

"What, last time you guys were here?" Sky was smiling. "Ari had you guys on lock. No need for me to get involved! 'Sides, my plan wasn't ready back then." I squinted. Never have I ever wanted to know whether someone was telling the truth more than that moment. Because I want to believe her! I want to believe that I've had another ally here the whole time, that I stumbled into another friend just like that. And then there's the thing she said after, when she realized we were both trying to calculate the situation before speaking: "Hah. I can tell you guys don't trust easy." That in particular is really bothering me, and I think that's because it's true.

We're trusting her, tentatively. Or trying to, at least. I'm going to stop writing for now. Before I go, just one question.

Would you have trusted her?

Light

It's Been 2 Years and 11 Days

Even now I miss you guys terribly. Not just Archimedes, though I'll admit he's probably still the biggest hole. I really miss you, kid! We got to see you grow up, all the way up. I'll never forget seeing you for the first time in Castelia that day, rummaging through the trash for food. Even though I was a lot stronger than you, the thing that stood out most was that you weren't scared to fight me! Now here's something I've never told you: Zeke didn't pick the team on his own. When I had a preference I let him know— turned my head around and gave him a knowing look right in the middle of the battle. Cause I knew, you know? I knew who we needed, who would fit in our team the best. From the very start of our battle I knew we needed you, Socrates, and honestly? Looking back, that decision may have been the best decision I've ever made.

I was talking about you guys with Liz earlier and I called you my family. It hurts to even say it, in a way, but that doesn't make it any less true. She pressed for more information and, well. I already gave Light most of it, but I gave her all of it. Our trainer died, and our dreams with him. Our family dying, now that was our fault.

I don't think I'll ever stop missing you.

Hyp

Day 524

Listen Ace. Just listen for a second. This life has been awful so far. Turn after turn it's been blow after blow, and between what life's dealt to me and what I've dealt to myself it's almost hilarious that I'm even able to come out of this with anything positive to say. But that doesn't have to mean I hate my life. That doesn't have to mean I don't want it. I want things to get better, I think they will get better, and I think I'm gonna be the one to make them better. I haven't always had these feelings; I've grown into them during this journey. I'm already better than I was, and I'm going to become better yet.

So when we tried to get into the tower and our path was blocked by the Chandelure who tried to snuff me out, I was ready for a fight. I'm so much stronger than I was back then, physically and emotionally, and there was no way I was going to let them push me around this time.

I can't even tell you how much of a shock it was to hear them say "I am glad to see you are well." and then disappear in an instant. It took me a moment to realize they'd said that in my head, as they've said everything I've heard them say, so my companions wouldn't have heard him. Violet… we'll get to Violet. As an immediate reaction, she was on guard but calmed down when they left. Sky, meanwhile, was interesting. Her eyes seemed to flash in surprise as they disappeared, but then I could have sworn I saw a bit of a smirk. "Wow Light," she said, "I had a whole thing planned, like a whole speech and everything, but you just went ahead and did it without me. I don't know what you said to them, but whatever it was I think it worked."

I looked at her. I blinked. "I didn't say anything," I responded.

"Well, you don't always have to actually say it," she said with a nod. "Talking with your mind is like that sometimes." They heard me, I think that's what she meant. They heard my resolve and backed off. Since then I've been thinking about what that means almost constantly, but I haven't come up with any firm answers. Were the Chandelure's words true, then? 'I am glad to see you are well,' said so formally but so matter-of-factly. I don't think I'm going to get any further than speculation until and unless I ask them about it.

I realized a few seconds into Violet pestering me that I'd become unresponsive, too busy thinking. Finally I managed a simple "uh, yeah, yeah I'm here. What?"

To which she said this: "Are you going to tell me what that was about, or are we just keeping secrets again?" I can't believe I never told her. About what happened that day, why we left. I didn't tell anyone but you, and even that came a year late. Well, actually, yeah I can believe it— how was I supposed to tell her? We were happy, our lives were happy. Mostly happy, at least. I didn't want to burden her then, and I still don't want to burden her now. She doesn't deserve to be burdened by me any more than she already has been. In the end there was only one way I could possibly respond to that question.

I turned, looked Violet in the eyes, and said it: "Yeah. I'll tell you." Because I'm not repeating my mistakes. I'm not going down that road again. Violet may not deserve my burdens, but she chose to stay with me and she deserves the truth for that. "Last time we were here that Chandelure tried to kill me and at the time I came very close to welcoming it."

She didn't answer, not in a way that mattered. What she did was gasp a little, stammer my name for a bit. I guess I really threw her; admittedly it was said very suddenly for something that had had such a massive effect on me. Instead it was Sky who broke apart the awkward silence, thankfully: "Well! I'm sure you guys are gonna wanna talk about that particular chestnut later, but as for your immediate future the door is open. Care to come in?"

And, for lack of a better option, we did. Soon enough we'd gotten back to my old room, which had apparently remained unfilled in my absence, and Sky had disappeared elsewhere with only "think about it" said as parting words. And then, just like that, we were alone again. Alone in this tower, against the world, with a single Litwick as our only lifeline. Brings back memories, huh?

Violet still hasn't talked to me about the Chandelure.

Light

It's Been 2 Years and 12 Days

Sorry I got so down in my last letter. I'm sure it happens to you too, right? Liz noticed. She was afraid she'd pushed too far, asking about it. She didn't, though— I wanted to tell her. I'm glad she asked. If telling her makes me sad for a while, well, that's on me. Anyway, she says we're almost there. I guess I'll have more to say when we get there and we find whatever we're looking for.

This would be a pretty pitiful letter if I left it at just that, though, so let me tell you a few more things about what the two of us have been up to.

Yeah actually let me just come right out and say it: we've made out a few times. I know, big shock. But boy, can you imagine the look of sheer jealousy on Archimedes's face if he ever read that? Anyway, we just vibe well is all. As it turns out, that's sometimes all you need. (As an aside: I'm being fairly flippant about this because I don't want it to be a big deal right now. I'm trying to make it feel like it isn't as big of a deal to me as it is. I mean Archie was it, for a long time he was it. I never thought I'd find someone else, never thought I'd want to find someone else. But things change, people change. Guys break your heart. Life goes on with or without you so you might as well go along for the ride, right?) Anyway, my point is it's casual. At least for right now.

Liz is also trying not to make a big deal out of it. It's actually adorable because she doesn't know what to do. She's mostly trying to pretend we're not involved, which means she should be acting fully as my superior, my captain. But the thing is she's not comfortable bossing me around either! She's caught between both options and she's basically choosing not to do anything right now. If she needs help with something she'll ask, which is where I want us to be anyway.

I do wish I had something to update you on other than her, though, if only because I feel like her and our past is the only thing I've been talking about. It sure would help if I could bounce off a response, but with me writing these on a ship in the middle of the ocean the chances of finding a mailbox are pretty laughable. That's not to mention that I have no idea where in the world you're living right now. Oh well. Maybe someday we'll meet again. I'll have my crew with me, you'll have some kids and a mate. Maybe everyone else will be there too. I know we said our last meeting was the last time we'd ever meet and that was that, but. Hm. I almost don't want to say it, don't want to put the words on the page because if they're there I might want to act on them.

Fine: does it really have to have been our last meeting? Can't I find you guys again? Maybe not Archie— I don't know if I'll ever forgive him— but the rest of you I'd love to see. I know, I know, we're not family anymore. You're big and grown and you've got your own family now, I'm sure you do. But seriously? I still care about you, I care about the whole team. Much as we might want to pretend we can start all over, that's only half-true. We can start new lives, yes. All new people and places, even forge ourselves new personalities if we have the mind to. Even so, we can't change what's already happened. We had those experiences. We met each other, loved each other. We trained together, fought together under the same banner. And together, we all saw our dreams slowly dwindle before our eyes by a fate that would presume to tell us our trainer deserved to die before he could see his one dream come to fruition. It's not fair, it's never been fair, and it will always be a part of us. Just like we will always be a part of each other.

With that in mind, shouldn't we at least try to be part of each other's lives?

Hyp

Day 525

Since it took me a few days to get down all my thoughts on the day I arrived here, I guess I should play catch-up and talk about what happened in the next few days after. Short answer: not much.

My plan had been to march in here, find the nearest Chandelure, and ask them about the swords. I figured I'd fight them if they tried to attack me, but that was about the extent of my plan. I wasn't expecting Sky and I wasn't expecting that encounter at the entrance, and those curveballs knocked me off-balance enough to stall me out. Now, don't you worry too much: I've still got plenty of time before the date of our rendezvous. But I do need to get a move on soon, if only so I don't go insane sitting in this white room and thinking all day.

Violet has been of no help, surprise surprise! For a while it seemed like she might bring up the Chandelure again, but now she's just back to challenging me on everything I say. I get what she's doing, it's unbelievably frustrating all the same— I've said this all before, nothing new there. All I can think is that we're so far away from how we used to be. We're barely talking, barely sharing. When we do talk it's another battle in a pointless, miserable war. Surely this can't last. Surely. Right?

Oh— speaking of the Chandelure, and specifically why I keep calling them that instead of, you know, a name. Sky tells me that while they do have names, the council only tell their names to those they've deemed worthy on an individual basis. So, basically, if they like you they'll tell you. Guess who's got zero names so far? Well, me of course, but Sky too. According to her she's never gotten much of a connection with any of them, never especially seen eye-to-eye, and that's another reason she wants a change. Now I haven't met the other five yet (nor am I especially eager to, given my experience with the one I have met), but I will have to meet them soon and I'm unfortunately suspicious that gaining their trust will require learning a name or two. I mean that's fine, if they want to send me on a quest to find the five ancient whatevers and turn them in for acknowledgment and experience points I'm all for that— except for the fact that, you know, we do have a deadline. Hence my inaction, counter-intuitive as that may seem. Certainly total upheaval is an ambitious plan, but even if I decide to do it it's not something we can do without Ari and it's not something we can do quickly. Instead I've been spending my time coming up with a plan of my own, a plan that'll give me the best possible chances of winning them over to my side in as little time as possible. And certainly it's a very sophisticated plan. If you'd like to hear it, it goes like this: 'give a big speech that's gonna really win them over.'

Well? What, is this the part where I'm supposed to pull out my trump card, some flawless logic that will force them to give me what I want? If so I think I missed that sidequest. No, my friend, this ship is running on pure hope and determination.

And that brings us to Sky. She's been talking to us every day, sharing more details of her plan. The idea would basically be for me to be here— to stay here— for as long as it takes for me to master one of the specialties, just as she's (she says) mastered tower-keeping and Ari has (she hopes) mastered storytelling. Then, one after another, we'd challenge our respective Chandelure for their position and, if all goes well, take over half the council in one fell swoop. And you know what? It's a good plan. I like that it plays by the rules, that our claims would be entirely legitimate. I also like that even if something were to go wrong and one of us were to fail (me, I still don't think I'm cut out for this), the two remaining would still be a legitimate force on the council. And I'm starting to trust her too (though not fully, not yet). I keep thinking that maybe after I finish my business with you, I can come back and we can have a real go at it? Like. It actually sounds possible. I think I might want to do it.

But if I did I'd have to stay here. Certainly my days of being a self-proclaimed pirate would be over, stuck in the same geographic location and all. And sure, everyone could visit, I guess that's something. But my soul would be tied to this tower, maybe forever. If I go with Sky's plan I'll have to make my peace with that idea first. Oh, but think of how much good we could do! Especially with Ari leading me, I truly do think we could make a real difference here. This is excruciating and terrifying to think about all at once. Since when have I had options for my future?

Right, I should be thinking of my present before I think of my future. I still need to save you, and that starts here.

I'm going to talk to them tomorrow.

Light

16 Days Until I See Them Again

You wanna know something crazy? Arthur is fun. Yeah, that's right, he's fun to be around! I've been having just as much fun with him as I usually do with Light. I guess I'd say not in the traditional sense— like, I mean, I'm not about to go and play games with him or anything— but he's just fun to talk to. I've been learning a lot about what life used to be like for him and what he wants now.

Arthur did not want to be where he ended up. I think that's the biggest thing I've taken from my talks with him. He was always supposed to be a trainer's Pokémon, and while he was for a while he's not anymore. He tried to make it on his own, but he wasn't very good at it, so he ended up with Captain Liz instead. She does that— grabs whoever needs a home and gives them one. That's probably what I like most about her, honestly, even more than how cool she is!

So I asked him something along those lines. "Hey, Arthur. I don't get it. It sounds like the captain helped you out a ton, just like she helped us out! Now I know you said he was 'compelling' or whatever, but you must've known how much it'd hurt her to leave like you did. So what gives? Why'd you do it?"

He gave a great big sigh. "Lemme tell ya somethin', kid."

"Kid again? I'm pretty sure we're like almost the same age, you know!" (The sound of me incessantly grumbling in my head).

"Fine. Still: lemme tell ya somethin'. Liz was great, yeah, but I didn't sign a contract. We all had our reasons for picking Ace over her, and it wasn't because I didn't think she was good enough. And looking back, you know, maybe we made the wrong choice. But hey, at least I followed my heart, you know?"

I blinked. Then I blinked again. And I blinked some more. And then I said it: "Oh, you were in love with him weren't you?"

And now I've gone from wanting more than anything to beat this guy in a fight to laughing as I watch him start blushing as he tries to stammer out: "N-no, that's not it at all!" And yeah, I'm really happy I'm here, but just so you know the whiplash continues to be crazy.

"Gosh Arthur, you're a super-bad liar too? Now it really does feel like I'm learning a lot about you!"

His claws covered his face at this point, but I could hear him trying not to laugh and I started laughing even harder. "You're way too perceptive, Philly. Do you grill the rest of the crew like this too?"

"Haha, yep! Usually they try a little harder to lie to me, though."

We took a few seconds to collect ourselves. I could tell Arthur wanted to talk about that in a more serious context, so I hung back and let him take his time. "I meant what I said when I said Ace had a fire in him," he finally said with a bit of a sigh. "Thing is, though, he lit a fire in me too. Gosh, Philly, you should've seen him. He had this way of always looking for adventure even when there didn't seem to be any. He wouldn't assume the best or worst situation, he'd assume the most exciting one. Honestly, just one look and he had me. It's hard not to fall in love with a guy like that."

It kinda feels like everyone's in love with each other, doesn't it? Maybe that's just something that happens when you're on a boat with each other for months and months, I don't know. Do I want it to happen to me? Now that's a big question. I think a little earlier in my life I would have said no, absolutely not, but now I'm having second thoughts. I mean it sounds good on paper, doesn't it? Like really good. Having someone you can share everything with, every thought and every triumph. And I mean I have that, sort of, with my family. My crew. Certainly they're all I've ever wanted, and I wouldn't ever want to imply that they're not good enough, but I could see wanting someone else eventually. Just like Violet has Light, just like Liz is starting to have Hypatia. Oh yeah, that. She thought she was being sneaky, but she forgot I pay attention to literally everything. I saw them looking at each other and that was enough for me to be convinced.

Of course, we flip over to the other side of the coin: the problems. Just look at what happened with Light and Violet. Now I've gone on record as saying they're totally gonna work it out— how can they not? But even if they do, there's always gonna be that huge gap in between them. I feel it too, but I'm sure I don't feel it nearly as bad as they do. They hurt each other, and they can't take that back. If that sort of thing happened to me, would I even be able to live with feeling like that all the time?

This is why they shouldn't leave me unsupervised: I'm thinking too much. Bad habit I picked up from Light.

And that's to say nothing of the main subject of this letter, Arthur. Oh, sure, he could laugh about it, but I felt that pain in his voice clear as day. And in the next thing he said I felt it even more: "Oh, I really thought we had something together, but I was just kidding myself. He never liked me like that. He just wanted my strength so he'd have a better chance of winning." Which is, like, totally bogus right? We've been assuming that him getting that sword friend is what caused him to want to mutiny in the first place. If that's the case, that means anything Ace did before he got that sword was sincere. And that feeling that Arthur got obviously came from then, before Ace started to go all crazy. Ergo, that feeling's based in reality! Obviously, my next step was to tell Arthur all about what I'd figured out with my amazing deductive reasoning skills.

"I'm really sorry he ended up not being what you thought he was, Arthur. It sounds like you really cared about him. That sucks." Nope, I wasn't telling Arthur anything. Instead it was my turn to lie. Cause Ace wasn't like that now. Maybe the person Arthur fell in love with was someone who deserved it, but that's not who Ace is anymore. He met Light after years away from him and he attacked him. After Light told him about his own feelings. That's not someone you want to be in love with, I don't think. That's not someone I want Arthur to get hung up on. So I'm letting him think Ace is an enemy, at least for now. Later, when we win, when we get Ace away from those swords and we find out who he really is, maybe it'll be different. Maybe I can tell him then. But for now?

Arthur needs Ace to be who Arthur was to me. A tangible enemy we can blame, who we can fight against. He needs to know I'm on his side, that we're all on his side. That's how I make his place on this crew permanent. That's how I do my part to make sure we stay together.

This is how I win.

Philly.

It's Been 2 Years and 17 Days

Do you remember when we picked up Aristotle? He was so fast and so strong that he took down that whole gym single-handedly. I remember Archie being so mad because he'd just learned Rock Slide and was very proud of it, only to have an actual Rock type join the team and completely upstage him. He got over it pretty quickly, of course, and we welcomed this weird Archen into our midst with open arms. Wasn't that great? That we could just come together as a family and pick someone up, take them with us?

It's a lot like what Liz says she tries to do with her crew, which is why I brought it up. She looks for Pokémon who might be lost in one way or another, who don't know what they're doing or don't have anyone to do it with. 'Pokémon I know I'm gonna like,' she says, though she won't tell me why. I noted of course that this admission means I counted as one of those lost souls. I could make a case for being offended by that, but honestly it's completely true. I explained this just a couple letters ago, but I really need to tell you again: back before I met Liz I was just battling. I was good at it, might as well keep doing it, but there wasn't anything else. I didn't have ambition or drive, I just wanted to do my work and sleep, to pass along the days staying as busy as I could so I didn't have to think. It was unhealthy, but what other options did I have? To fall back on friends or family, when they've scattered themselves across the world?

I'm sorry. I don't blame you for your decision. It was what you needed and it was what you wanted, and I so, so I really do hope you're happy. I love you, you little scamp.

Well, getting back to what I was saying, Liz offered me a way out of that miasma with this ship. It was Light who showed me that way out, though, by caring enough to talk to me. I'm not sure he gives himself enough credit for that. He convinced me I wanted this, and I think next time I see him I'm going to thank him properly. I hope he's doing okay, too. There's a whole lot of history between him and Violet (this Golbat that was and now is again also on the crew), and things seem heavy for him. I actually wish I'd gone with him, now that I really think about it, because at some point I'd like to be there for him the way he was there for me. But oh well. I did actually need to go with Liz, considering the job I'll have when I get there. Maybe I'll get that chance to help him in the future. For now, I'll just have to leave it to Violet and hope for the best. I don't actually know her that well, so she might surprise me.

Oh, come to think of it I don't think I actually wrote down why we're split up and what we're doing, did I? Long story short, we're looking for information on this guy we have to fight. It's Ace, Violet's former first mate, and the pair of swords that accompany him. We're heading to the place where he got said swords (at that time one sword) so we can figure out what exactly they are and how to beat them. They think the swords could be manipulating Ace too, so there's that to figure out. When we're done we'll head back, meet up with Light and everyone else, and win. Now, here's where my issue lies: I don't really have a stake in this. Oh sure, they're my crew and I want to help them do what they want to do, but as far as a personal reason for the fight? Nonexistent. Meanwhile it seems like everyone else has a personal vendetta against the guy. They're acting like it's the most significant encounter in their entire lives and me? It's just another day and another fight for me.

I guess I probably don't need a personal reason? I just feel a little distant from everyone else is all.

Hyp

Day 532

Sorry it's been a week. I talked to them.

Phasing through the trap door like it was nothing, I floated up to meet all six members of the council on the roof. Five of them I was seeing for the first time, but unsurprisingly they all looked just like the one I knew. That seems to be the way of things for this line.

I guess Sky arranged the meeting, explained my circumstances and all. Which I wasn't aware she could just do. I found them all just waiting there for me, bodies positioned to curve along with the side of the tower. It felt really dramatic at first, but then I realized they must have literally moved into that curve on purpose to seem either cooler or more intimidating and suddenly I was a lot less nervous. Not that I wasn't nervous, mind you— I've been terrified since I got here— but at least the fear was a bit more manageable.

Said fear stopped being quite as manageable when I realized no one was talking. Was I supposed to talk first? And what about the fact that the one Chandelure I've talked to has always done so through telepathy? I don't even know how that works, especially not with a group. Is there a ghost conference call option? Was I just supposed to start talking normally and hope for the best?

Finally one of them gestured behind me and I remembered where I was. The roof of Celestial Tower, famous for the bell that can reveal the contents of a person's soul. Things didn't exactly go very well last time I tested that out. Not sure if you recall, unexplained rumblings and threats on my life. Even after all this time, not a day I like to remember.

But I had to do it. I kept saying that to myself: "You have to do it." Violet wasn't there. Sky wasn't there. Ari certainly wasn't there. No one could help me if it went south this time. I thought a lot about the crew, my family. I can't die without seeing them again. I thought a lot about Violet, how we're still at odds despite everything. I can't die without straightening things out. And oh, I'm sure you're tired of hearing about it by now: I thought about you. I can't die without saving you.

The bell was rung. And its sound was crystal clear.

Five of six Chandelure melted into the tower immediately, for reasons I didn't understand at the time. Later it was explained to me that they were mostly there for show, a little for curiosity. Only one had any real designs of helping me. On guard, I tried to figure out which member this was. I mean they all look identical, how was I supposed to know? Maybe it was the soul touching master? He certainly seemed to be the one who would know the most about how a ghost's soul can interact with a living persons. Or maybe the battler? Sky and I had both agreed he'd be the one to target if I went with her plan, so maybe she set us up to meet?

They spoke two sentences aloud, voice sounding almost distant and metallic, and when they did it chilled me to the bone. First: "My name is Esk." And then: "I want to help you help your friend."

It was chilling, of course, because I recognized that voice. In my head telling me to get in my grave or in the air telling me their name, it was the same.

And they're the one I'm going to have to rely on.

Light

Day 533

So that was kind of a load of crap, right? This Chandelure, Esk, they've been a near-constant fear for me for months. Now they suddenly want to help me? No, not only do they want to help, they think I'm worthy of their help— they let me know their name. Well, don't worry. This isn't some book where I can just cut to a different scene without detailing what happens next. Well, okay, in these letters I can do that, but in my actual life I can't.

What I'm saying is the conversation kept going. "You." I started slowly, trying not to shift directly into anger. "You want to help me?"

For a few seconds I thought a cold, impassive stare was all I was going to get, but finally they replied: "Yes." The tension remained. Something hung in the air between us that was so massive I couldn't possibly ignore it. I had two options: I could either dance around the subject, hoping to get something done while pretending it didn't exist, or I could just come out and say it.

"I take it this means you no longer want me to die." I decided to be blunt about it.

"No, I do not." An equally blunt answer.

"Do I get to know why?"

"Perhaps I will tell you in time." So that was it. Esk was just going to threaten my life, absolutely get away with it, and then expect me to trust them when they say they want to help me. I was steaming. I was absolutely raving mad at the sheer tenacity of the Pokémon in front of me. It occurs to me now that they may well have known that, that they could hear my thoughts then just as they could before. To that I say good, I'm glad. I want them to know that I'm angry, that I hate everything about who they are and what they tried to do to me. Now, mind you, I still said yes. I need their help, end of story, and you can thank yourself for putting me in this position. And, for the record, I do believe them. I can't possibly understand their reasons, but I can't see a reason why they'd lie about this either.

Violet wasn't quite as convinced. "Light, you took their help just like that?" She asked, incredulous. "After what they did to you?"

"They didn't technically do anything, just threatened to." That was the feeble sentence that I thought passed for a comeback. "Anyway, what could they possibly do to me at this point?"

"Are you kidding? They could kill you!"

"There'd be no reason for them to prolong this if that was their plan." Okay, thinking back on it, maybe I've become just a bit too frank.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" She sounded so exasperated, so concerned. Like she really was just worried for my safety.

"What, you're going to pick now to start worrying about me again?" It was the perfect wind-up for me to screw everything up yet again.

She. Just. Stopped. For a good minute she stared at me, and I stared back. I didn't budge, and for that minute she didn't either. Then, she turned. Before she flew away, she just said one thing: "I never stopped worrying about you, Light. Even though I clearly should have."

Why am I so awful?

Light

It's Been 2 Years and 21 Days

I'd forgotten how good it feels to be underwater. Surrounded on all sides by an enveloping force and yet finding a way to exist in that, to thrive in that. Everything's quiet down there, everything's peaceful. I don't have to worry about what I'm going to do next or what somebody else is going to do next. I don't have to worry about anything because I'm in control. Down there I'm the captain.

Liz was clinging to my back the whole time as we dove down into the ruins. The two of us found ourselves caught together in a tiny little air bubble, the smallest star in a vast sky. Liz's presence didn't bother me either— far from it. Even though in the grand scheme of things you could say I haven't known her for very long, she's quickly becoming a comforting presence in my life. Certainly always a welcome one. As she pulled her arms tight around mine and kissed the back of my forehead (which, yes, made me blush), I couldn't think of a time when I'd felt more at peace. Yes, that's the end of the sentence. There is no 'except before we split up,' not this time. So, here's a question for you: is this what moving on feels like? To start feeling once again like your life is improving, like aspects of it are becoming the best they've ever been. Weird as it might be to admit outright, I feel like I'm healing.

Masses of stacked stones awaited us at the bottom. They were surely human structures at some point, grandiose monuments, but now they were ruins swallowed by the sea. She gave me a little bit of context before we dove. Unlike the ruins on the other side of the region, these were a little too far off the coast to be explored by humans exhaustively. It was only thanks to a tip from a Water type who'd swam past it that Liz was able to find the place at all. As we approached we saw various fish Pokémon who'd been using this place as a home scatter, disturbed by our approach. Finneon and Basculin darted this way and that. While it may have been the humans' at some point, it's clearly theirs now. We were just visitors.

There was a fairly obvious entrance, which I swam into without challenge. From there, Liz pointed me towards where to go. It must have left something of a big impression on her, seeing as she was able to thoroughly guide me through a place she'd only been to once. Soon enough we'd found it: a big pile of rubble. Said pile was stacked inside what appeared to be the entrance to a small room, and there were some openings within the pile through which one could look inside. It was through one of these openings that Ace had managed to stick his tail in and grab the sword that's given us all such trouble. They'd gone no further than this last time, though, not really having the maneuverability to move such an obstacle. The one they were diving with was a Mantine, after all, and while I don't mean any offense they're not exactly known for their impressive feats of physical strength.

Luckily for Liz, she brought me along this time. Through a combination of moving rocks and attacking rocks, slowly but surely I chipped away at the rubble until I'd cleared enough space for us to move into the chamber proper. Which, a little contrary to my expectations, wasn't much of an impressive thing. I'd sort of had the idea of a large, decorated room with a sword pedestal in the center. No, apparently Ace had just found his sword lying there on the ground, waiting for him to take it. Positioned just close enough to the rubble that he was able to reach in and grab it. Suspicious, hm?

More suspicious still was the spiral staircase in the back, the sole other defining feature of the room. Well, there was really only one choice. As we swam and spiraled our way up, I started feeling a little uneasy. It seemed like it was going on for a long while, is the thing. What's more, when we were approaching these ruins I didn't remember seeing anything that extended upwards as far as this staircase was seeming to. After a few moments of uncertainty, I felt Liz's hand on my back and knew I had to press on. This was important to her, after all. I probably just didn't look close enough at the outside, right?

Then the water stopped and we were met with air. The water behaved as it should, just a mostly flat surface displaced by ripples and waves, but we were all too clearly going to leave it behind if we went up any further. This worried me because. Well, to put it simply? This shouldn't have happened. There was just no feasible way for this huge area of breathable air to exist in the middle of the water, especially not within the confines of those ruins as I knew them. With a silent and unsure nod towards Liz I started walking up the stairs, her following close behind.

We didn't have to travel far until we reached the top. At which point we were met with a huge, cylindrical room with a pointed roof— the classic setup for the top of a tower. There were tapestries all over the walls, too, but I'll be talking about soon. For now, I have to tell you about the most important thing by far. Spaced at even intervals on the walls of the tower were windows. Windows that were open to the air and had a view of a number of trees just outside. All while we were still ostensibly underwater.

I turned to Liz and asked the obvious question: "Just where did we end up?"

Liz looked back, eyes wide, and gave the obvious answer: "I have no idea."

Hyp

Day 534

"Woah! She didn't look too happy!" There was a Litwick at my door. The same door Violet had just flown out of.

"Definitely not in the mood, Sky." I tried to deflect her, but she persisted. That girl has a way of insisting.

"I get where you're coming from. Yesterday's problems are today's solutions, y'know?"

Oh sure, common wisdom. Wait, what? "'Yesterday's problems are today's solutions?' Who told you that?"

She grinned. "That's something I made up on my own. See, when you've lived as long as I have you start to realize how transient everything is. You change your mind over time, shift your perspective. People you could only see as enemies in years past become your allies in the present."

I'd almost forgotten. Our bodies don't age. We need energy from souls to keep ourselves burning, but that's it. If you don't kill us, we don't die— we are ghosts, after all. "Sky," I started, suddenly immensely curious. "How old are you, exactly?"

"Five hundred." And that's all she said. Where was Sky's signature flare? Where was the continuation, the next attempt to take control of the conversation?

"Five hundred?" In the moment that was all I could say. I was still preoccupied thinking about Violet, but I had time to feel a little incredulous. I mean, I'm only a few years old. Five hundred feels unfathomable.

"Yeah, and that's just in this form. I'm sure I had a few years of being alive first." And there's the other thing. Every Litwick used to be alive— or so it's said. We used to be someone else, be that human or Pokémon, and at some point we died and became what we are now. I think I've talked a little bit about this, but I haven't gone too in-depth yet because so far nobody's given me any evidence to back it up. Okay, sure, we lose our memories of our past lives when we hatch as Litwick. That's real convenient. If you take our typing literally then it's the easy conclusion to draw, at least as far as folklore goes. But really, you're telling me I used to be someone entirely different? I just don't know if I can believe that. I mean, who would that be? Who could I possibly have been?

Okay, that was a whole lot of tangent. Back to talking with Sky: "So what? You agree that I should trust them? What happened to your little revolution?"

"Second half of the phrase, my friend!" Ah, there it was: excessive, performative Sky back in action. "Yesterday's problems are today's solutions, today's solutions are tomorrow's problems."

I took a good bit to mull that one over. Finally, I landed on this: "So what you're saying is I have a lot of problems."

She laughed that same bright, cheery, hopefully genuine laugh. "Yes, Light, you have a lot of problems. But what I'm really saying is that you can use them to your advantage if you know how. Take advantage of Esk's offer, learn from them. Let them teach you what they know and help you grow. Then you can save your friend and come back stronger than ever, ready to face them when the time comes."

"That sounds a little manipulative, Sky." I guess I didn't particularly take to that string of logic. I don't like Esk, that was never up for debate, but to learn from them now with the intention of using said knowledge to defeat them in the future? That might be a little much. Right?

"Admittedly, yeah, it is." Well, at least we were on the same page. "It's also the best way forward and the shortest path to the goal."

"Your goal."

"Our goal. Or at least I hope it'll be our goal."

I still don't understand her. She's lived for five hundred years, most of that being in this tower I'm sure. She could have been talking someone into this for a century, but she picked me as the lynchpin of her plan. Me, a variable with huge risk who she wasn't even sure would show up again. Why? Why is she so set on me? Sure, they wronged me, but was that single act really catalyst enough for a plan of this magnitude? There's something she isn't telling me.

I'll tell you what happened with Violet tomorrow. Right now I have to think about this.

Light

11 Days Until I See Them Again

"We're not doin' it, Arthur." No sooner had Arthur told me 'We're almost there, maybe an hour away' than a small, white face poked out of the bushes to say that first sentence. Even though I'd never met him, I immediately recognized him from my talks with Arthur as Tommy, a Minccino and Arthur's crewmate. Exactly who we were looking for.

"Tommy!" Arthur's immediate tone made it clear he was going to ignore that sentence for as long as he could. "Good to see you're doing well. How are the others?"

"The others are fine, obviously!" Tommy spoke with a quick, almost annoyed tone. "Everybody's fine except you: we're out. Everyone left here days ago, running away from you know who, and you should do the same."

Well there goes that plan, am I right? We came all the way out here just to find them and get them on our side, and all but one was already gone by the time we got here. I looked over to Arthur, expecting to see disappointment— but actually, what I saw was determination. "I'm not running, Tommy. Not from this one."

Tommy frowned. "You haven't seen him this past year, Arthur. He's worse. He's worse and there's no saving him anymore." Saving him— Light's plan. We'd sort of adopted it as our plan too, but Arthur never really talked about that part. How much did he believe in that plan? Was he even interested in that at all?

"You don't know that." As it turns out, he was very interested. "That's what we're working towards. I'm gonna get him back to how he used to be, Tommy. I'm gonna bring him back and then we can all be a family again."

"Yeah, and I bet he'll give you a big ol' kiss for your efforts." The look on Tommy's face just screamed 'unimpressed.' "I know exactly what you're thinking. You think it's the sword, that it just flipped his 'be a bad person' switch and now it's your solemn duty as boyfriend of the year to flip it off. I've thought that too, we all have." At this point, Tommy put his paws up to his head, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples before continuing. "But did you ever consider that you might be wrong about that? That this is actually who Ace is, and we just got so caught up in who we thought he was we never noticed?"

"I…" Oh no. He was hesitating. "I know him better than that."

"Right, sure. Always the captain's favorite, huh? Sticking close to him constantly, making sure everyone knew you two had the closest bond— but oh, what's this? You got too close and he threw you out without a second thought."

"That's so unfair!" I yelled, and now I was angry. "Arthur left because he didn't like what Ace was doing, not because Ace kicked him out! At least he had the nerve to stand up to him, unlike you who'd rather just run away!"

And then Arthur looked nervous. And then Tommy looked nervous too. And I realized I was missing something. "Arthur, you didn't…" Tommy started, but didn't finish.

"Arthur didn't what?" I had to ask. I had to know.

"I—" And so started the sentence that broke my heart. "I didn't tell you the truth about what happened." We were there. We were right there. Friends, me and Arthur, finally. We'd forgiven each other, we'd worked so hard on us— and he lied to me.

Tommy wanted to finish. "Listen, I'm not getting in between whatever this is. Arthur, the reason I'm here is because we all knew you'd try to face him now that you're back with Liz. I came here specifically to warn you against doing what you're doing, and now that I have? Not much I can do but rejoin the others and hope you'll follow me eventually. Twist Mountain, at least for a while. Offer's open." He turned to go, then hesitated, then said one more thing: "Oh, and Arthur? Take care of yourself. Please." And then, without any of us saying anything more, Tommy was off into the bushes.

And then I turned around, looked at Arthur, and said "if you still want to be my friend you'd better tell me the truth right now."

Arthur looked distraught. He made half of an attempt to call out for Tommy, but then he just ended up trailing off weakly when he realized he wasn't going to get a response. And then he looked me in the eyes and said this: "Philly, I'm. I'm sorry."

Blink. Blink blink. And several more blinks besides! Arthur was sorry? He was apologizing to me? In what world did he get to apologize to me before I apologized to him?

"It's okay, Arthur!" I scrambled, anger rushing out of me as quick as it had come in. "Just tell me what really happened and we can move past this!" Because, like, here's the thing: I don't think forgiveness is a one time decision. I could not in good conscience continue to be mad for something as little as this when he's never so much as asked me to say sorry for what I did. Uh, pending exactly how big the lie was. If it was something crazy I might have some justification, but it felt in the moment like it wasn't that bad so I went benefit of the doubt on this one. And, I mean, the me writing this now obviously knows what it ended up being.

"Are you sure, Philly?" Of course I'm sure, Arthur! Didn't you read that last paragraph?

"I think maybe you should just tell me the truth already and we'll figure that one out after."

"Yeah. Yeah okay." He sighed before continuing. "What you— what you gotta understand going into this is what Ace was to me. I met him— it can't have been more than a day after I left home. I was trying and failing to catch some fish when suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere, a monkey pops up out of the water with this crazy grin. And then he says this, his first words to me: 'Hey, dude! You look like you really don't belong here. Wanna come with me on an adventure instead?' And from that opening line I was hooked. In a second he'd invited me into his world, this wild world of constant adventure where we lived for our own sakes and no one else's. In a second I'd gone from a life I'd grown to hate to something new, and exciting, and safe most of all. Safe because they took care of me. Pretty hard for a whole group to let one friend go hungry, right? And it was safe too because I knew my place: next to him. I was a shadow, a reflection that followed him around. For every single thing I learned about him my heart wanted to learn two more, and soon enough—"

"You fell in love with him. Yeah." That time I cut him off only because I knew it'd be hard for him to say it himself.

He took the opportunity to take a breather, sigh to himself and look up at the sky. "Yeah," he finally continued, "yeah I guess I did. I mean, how could I not? He just had this way about him. The way he acted, the palpable energy he brought to a conversation. It was intoxicating, really."

Everybody's always falling in love, it seems like. I still don't know if I want that for me. Like, I looked into Arthur's eyes in that moment. I looked and what I saw there felt like almost endless hurt. It's the same look I saw from Violet back when we were on our own, when she didn't want to talk about Light. Is that just what that kind of love does to you? Shreds you to bits and just leaves you hurting and hurting as a tax for feeling as good as you did? I don't know. It hasn't happened to me yet and I don't know if it ever will but right now? Right now I'm feeling pretty glad that I've never had to go through what they have. I'm not sure if I could handle getting hurt that badly.

I didn't tell Arthur any of that or ask him any of that— those thoughts stay between us for now. Besides, I didn't want him to linger on this for any longer than he had to. Instead, all I said was this: "I'm honestly, honestly sorry things didn't work out, Arthur. But how's that relate to the lie you told?"

He sighed once again. "I guess I really do have to tell you, huh?" Yep! If you think you can just get out of answering a question from me that easily, you can go ahead and ask Violet how trying to do that went for her. "Alright," he started, "here goes. It was a while after the mutiny, and I was getting more and more concerned with our trajectory, not to mention how he was acting. The things he did, and the things he talked about doing, were getting worse and worse. But I didn't leave because of that like I told you I did. I'm not proud of it but no, bad or not I was still attached to him. I still had my place by his side, like I said. Oh, and the others were the same way too. No matter what he did, he was still our captain. He was still the man we'd chosen to follow." I think I understand that. Ace was Arthur's entire world, it seems like. Of course it would be hard to run away from that.

"So what did happen, then?"

"I confronted him. I figured he was just overzealous, enjoying the power he had too much. He'd come around if I asked him— me, the guy who'd unwaveringly stood by his side for as long as I'd known him."

"Ah. I can kinda guess that that didn't go so well." I said that one with a little smile, trying to bring just a bit of levity to the whole thing.

"'Didn't go well' is an understatement, I'd say. The first thing he did when I'd finished expressing my concern was to ask me if I was defying my captain. Me, defying him! As if I even had the capability." And that sentence right there had a particularly sharp bite of bitterness to it. It was around then that I started thinking about it. It's the age-old question, one I've been thinking of non-stop ever since I got thrust into this story: how can I make this better for him? I've thought it for Light, and for Violet, and now for Arthur. It's what I ask myself about all my friends.

In the moment I didn't have anything especially good to offer him. Instead I just asked: "Did he kick you out right then and there? For questioning him?"

"No, I wish. Instead I kept pushing. I told him I was coming to him specifically because we were so close, because I thought he'd be willing to hear me out. And when that didn't work, I said something I shouldn't have." And here it comes. Can you guess what came next? I did, and it was awful. "I told him he should listen to me because I liked him, that I had liked him for a long time and because of that I deserved to at least be heard out." Yeah, it was worst-case scenario. "Well, needless to say he didn't take all too kindly to that. And yeah, I recognize that even on a good day that was a really manipulative thing to say. It was just the only thing I could think of, you know? Every day, Philly, every day I felt him slipping further away from me. I was losing him and I just wanted to reach out and grab him and pull him back."

"But you reached too hard, huh?"

"You know what? I'm not even sure there was anything I could have done. It's like Tommy said, he's too far gone."

Well, that brought a frown to both our faces. "But we can still save him, right? We still have the plan."

For what seemed like the hundredth time in a day, Arthur sighed. "Yeah, for whatever that's worth. Tommy's gone, everybody's gone, I don't know where Ace is and I have no idea if we can beat them. I don't know, what do you think we should do? Do you really think we can do it?" I blinked twice before fully comprehending: he asked me. Maybe, probably, it was because no one else was there to ask. But still, he asked me— tiny, inexperienced, doesn't-know-enough Philly what we should do. I didn't have to shout my opinion, didn't have to persuade anyone to let me have a little autonomy. Nope, he gave me that platform himself. You know, like he cared about my opinion. Was this a first? This feels like a first!

"Yeah, I do." Now, you may very well be asking: 'But Philly! This was your chance to give your own input instead of just doing what the others tell you to! Why are you still rolling over for them?' Well, the simple answer to that lies in what I said next. "I think there's a way, Arthur, I think there's gotta be a way. A way to bring him back like you said, to save him."

He looked uncertain. "It feels like the odds are so against us, though. That's not even mentioning how, you know, the person we're ostensibly going to save doesn't even want to be saved."

He needed me to say something. Something more than just a platitude, something that would really make him believe in us. Here's what I decided on: "We've got you, though."

"Philly, weren't you listening? I spilled my deepest secret and it did nothing!"

Not what I meant. "No, no. We're gonna do it because you want it bad enough."

"Uh, what?" Yeah, in retrospect I should have realized that sort of grand, one sentence statement was going to require some explanation.

"Listen. You love him, right? Or loved, at the very least."

"Uh. Uh. Uh. Yeah." He blushed again, just like last time I put it that bluntly, but something was different. Last time I was weirded out, almost incredulous that my former enemy could even act like that at all. This time I was all smiles.

"Well, there's your answer! If you love someone, you do whatever you have to to help them. Even if it's far beyond normal limits, even if it seems impossible, this has to work because you're going to make it work!"

Embarrassment made way for confusion, then contemplation, and then a soft smile. "I like that you can think that simply about things, Philly. Everything's so complicated for me."

I chose to take that as a compliment. "Well, it's a simple problem with a simple solution! The problem is he needs saved, and the solution is you're gonna save him. Now, you think you can do that?"

"Hah. Honestly? Yeah, Philly. Thanks to you I think I can." And then, and then, and then. And then Arthur brought me in for a hug. Which I returned, of course! And if there were any doubts left of the two of us being friends from now on, I think that moment pretty much swept those away.

We held ourselves there for a long, long while. Finally, I mumbled into him: "Hey, Arthur?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm really sorry. Light is too. We made ourselves think you were the enemy and we jumped straight into fighting you without even trying to see your side of things."

He had the nerve to laugh, the jerk! "Ha, thanks. Honestly, I think I deserved at least some of that ire. Hunting me down may have been a bit much, but I don't blame you."

I finally did it. He's finally here beside me, where he should be. And now we're going back, we're going to do this, we're going to win. And we're going to do it together.

Philly!

Day 535

I was the one who had to talk first, of course. "I wasn't sure if you'd still be here," I said to the Golbat hanging from a branch of the tree I'd found her in, her back turned to me.

"Yeah, well, neither was I." That was fair.

"Let's talk, Vi. Tell me what you're thinking."

"If you want to know what I'm thinking so much, Light, why don't you just jump in and find out?" That wasn't.

I got a little defensive. "I haven't… I haven't looked at you like that since before it all happened. I didn't think it was fair to do it without your asking anymore."

She scoffed. "You picked a good time to start caring about that, didn't you? Didn't seem to concern you much before."

"Okay, we're talking about this." That was enough. No, actually, that was too far. I'd snapped and it was time for her to hear me out. "So I made a mistake. A terrible, heartless mistake, one that I knew the ramifications of and yet followed-through with anyway. I hurt Arthur, I hurt you, I hurt everyone. Here's the thing, Violet: I'm learning. I've just barely scratched the surface of what it means to be me, what it means to be alive and here and in this space. Do you know what I thought every single night while we were together? It was the same two questions every time: 'Is this okay?' and 'Do I really deserve this?' I was so full of self-doubt, so decided in the idea that I couldn't be a good person that I had to question even my right to life. No one should have to do that to themselves, no one." I took a beat. She didn't respond. I kept going.

"This thing inside me, this curse. There are days when I can control it, can stop it from hurting me. But there are even more days when the weight of what this is pulls me down below the waves and doesn't let up. Because the thing you're not getting from your perch, Violet, is that this power doesn't just consume others. It consumes me. Threatens to eat me from the inside-out until there's nothing left and you know what the worst part is, Violet? Some days I welcome it. Because some days the answers to those questions are 'no, it's not okay' and 'no, you don't deserve this.' Some days I wish I were just swallowed up whole into that dark abyss where no one could ever hear me again just so I can make the pain stop. And so yes, I jumped on the first chance I had to use that power for my own benefit. I absolutely reveled in that role reversal, a chance to take advantage of what had taken advantage of me for so long. No, it wasn't the right choice. Yes, it cost me everything I had. And yes, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. But God, Violet, I had everything I wanted in life and I still wanted to kill myself so I had to do something before I—"

It was, as you might expect, too much at this point for me to continue. And that was the one thing I couldn't tell you. Well, not couldn't— didn't know how to.

Hurt as I was, I was ready to keep going. If she pushed I'd push back. I need to do that, to fight for my right to life when something else calls it into question, or else I run the risk of slipping right back into that same headspace. I thought about what I was going to say next, the terrible things I might have to say next— and she turned around and pulled me into a hug. Of course she did. She hugged me so tight and didn't let me go for what felt like a lifetime. There was just one thing she said to me for the rest of the night. It was said in a whisper, as if being any louder would have chased it away. "You're right. You shouldn't have had to feel like that. For that, I'm sorry."

I'm so, so glad she's here.

Light

Day 536

So Violet and I have been better. Not perfect, but better. It's just going to take one more thing, I think. We're so close to breaking through, to not being in this giant hole anymore. I think we'll get there, I really do. Anyway. I'm a few days behind again, so I'm gonna try to catch up with this letter. First, Esk. Okay, wow, there's a lot to talk about here.

We've talked. We've talked several times. Worst of all? They've been good talks, nice talks. The tension that was so palpable in the beginning has settled down a bit by now, though it's still very much a constant presence. Oh, but Esk hasn't just been talking to me— they've been teaching me as well. I asked them for help and they've given it, and now I'm learning things about ghosts that Ari only touched on. They haven't quite gotten to your Doublade specifically yet— apart from telling me their name, obviously— but from the sounds of things that lesson will be soon.

You know, sometimes I'm a little torn between just telling you what happened and outright writing it down word for word. Usually I'll choose the latter if I think the wording or the context of the conversation is especially important, and I'd say this situation definitely applies, so I'm going to do that here, too. Here goes.

"How much do you know about ghosts already, Light?"

This was our first proper conversation after his offer of help. I couldn't help but glare, but I simply said this: "The basics, I suppose. Pretty much everything I know came from Ari."

"Ah yes, Ari. That child's commitment to honoring our rules and traditions even as he challenges them is truly commendable."

"Okay, wait, hang on." We were three sentences in and already I needed to stop the whole entire conversation because what they'd just said did not match up with what I knew in the slightest. "You're praising Ari for that now? He gave me the impression that most of the older spirits around here disliked him for being such an upstart." In response— was that a twinkle in their eye? It almost could have been, and it was at that point I first said to myself 'oh come on, you have to be joking.'

"Things aren't always as they seem, Light," they said, "and we aren't as set in stone as you might think. Ari serves as our direct opposition more than most, this is true. But here at the tower, and especially on the council, we welcome dissent. In our own way, at least, and not necessarily in ways so obvious to others."

I think what's been bothering me so much is that they're pleasant. Now that they're talking aloud rather than just into my head, now that I've actually had back and forths with them, they sound like a nice person! They sound like they could be my friend were it not for, well, you know. I asked Violet what she thought about all this, of course. Here's how she responded: "Light, I think you should take a step back and think about what you're saying. The Pokémon you're talking about right now is the Chandelure who tried to kill you. It's fine that you want to put water under the bridge— really, it's good to see— but you have to remember that they're not your friend." She's probably right. They hurt me, they're not my friend. Sure, I hurt Violet and I'm friends with her— I'm stopping myself right there. That's nowhere near the same situation. I don't even know why they did what they did, and I'm not exactly expecting an apology any time soon. Maybe if they did explain. I mean there has to be an explanation, right? Something beyond 'I decided your existence was wrong and I wanted to fix it.' There must be some motivation, otherwise why would they have done such a complete about-face?

Oh right, I wasn't actually done writing that conversation. Sorry, I've just been thinking about them a lot lately. "You should probably tell Ari that, if it's true," is what I finally said in response to their assertion that the council actually appreciates being called into question. "Your approval, or lack thereof, seems like a pretty big deal to him."

"Ah, but if I told him that he may not be as willing to go against us in the future, and we'd rather not have that. No voice of rebellion leads to total social stagnation."

I sighed. "I take it that means you don't want me to tell him either."

"If you could refrain from doing so, that would be ideal." Their voice— their external voice, at least— is always smooth, always calm, and sometimes has the smallest hint of a lilt at the end. Despite that it still always sounds just a little distant, like it's coming from the other end of a metal hallway. Side note: my voice has much the same effect now that I've evolved, but it's not nearly as pronounced. "That child will come to understand his position in our tower now," he continued, "as well as the position we intend to have for him in the future in due time. For now I will allow him his adventures abroad."

I could, conceivably, tell Ari all of this the second I see him next. I didn't make any promises, and I certainly don't owe anything to Esk. And you know, I'm not decided. Maybe I will, we'll see. But, see, the thing holding me back from that is the way they told me. Simply, matter-of-factly, but seemingly with the trust that I would not go against their wishes. It felt like they were divulging this to a friend, not to whatever you would call me. That bit makes me want to keep their secret. That bit makes me want to trust them more. Violet's right though, that line of thinking is dangerous. They tried to kill me. Whatever they do now, I have to remember that they tried to kill me. I suppose in the future I should try to keep my distance and only ask what I need to know.

Speaking of which: following that bit of the conversation, Esk taught me some fundamentals. Nothing Earth-shattering, just some clarification about ghosts and how they work. My biggest takeaway was that every single Ghost type did, in fact, have a former life. That means Ari was someone, Sky was someone, I was someone. Sky had just told me the same thing, but she's still in a weird position of quasi-trust for me and I couldn't really just take her at her word at the time. To hear it confirmed by an expert was something else entirely. It feels more real now. Strengthened my faith in Sky a bit, too. Amidst a myriad of other thoughts, I'm now back to wondering things like who I was, if anyone important to me missed me. I wonder too if I'll ever know the answers to those questions, but I'll just have to settle for a 'no' on that one for the time being.

Our next few conversations have unfolded in much the same way as this first one, though I wouldn't consider any of them to be as important. We'll open with Esk teaching me about something related to our culture, but the topic will quickly move to things like how we feel about this and that, what we like and dislike. The talks have felt mature and, like I said before, pleasant. It's really throwing me off.

And now we move away from Esk and get to Sky. Yesterday I went and sought her out for once, and I eventually found her outside the tower. "Sky, what exactly do you have against the council?" I'd had a question on my mind and nothing to stop me from asking it, so I did. And before you ask, yes this was partially motivated by wanting more information on Esk. I thought that maybe if she told me what she didn't like about them, I could have an easier time focusing my thoughts.

"What, why do I wanna usurp them? I think they make bad decisions and I think we could make better ones, simple as that."

"Right, that's the selfless reason you keep telling me because you want me on your side. What's the selfish reason?" And, lo and behold, I misstepped two sentences in. Have you ever made an entire conversation turn to ice in a moment? Suddenly everything freezes to a stop and all that's left is those words, radiating cold. I was practically begging her to fight back. I mean I'd basically implied that I thought all of her efforts to connect with me had been artificial, manipulative attempts at gaining another pawn. It was what I'd feared was true from the start, but it was never something I fully believed.

"Freedom, Light." She said that single word while she looked me dead in the eyes with a frown. "It's always about freedom. The rules of this tower shackle our species. We can't reach our full potential while they float here and plot out what we are and aren't able to do."

Thankfully she didn't seem to take my veiled accusation too personally, and what's more it got her talking. Now we were getting somewhere. "What, you don't like that you have to abide by a few rules? Couldn't you just leave?"

"It's not about just me, Light, it's everyone. And it's not that I have to follow rules, it's that the ones I have to follow aren't effective enough. Think about it: if the council hadn't stopped him Ari would have helped you day one. Without them Esk never would have threatened you." She glared at me, as if she was challenging me to rebuff that sentiment. I didn't. "This society does not work, that's the long and short of it. We hardly even have the freedom to help each other, let alone everyone else. Seriously, the council didn't help you because it was someone else's problem? What kind of a reason is that? We could've helped you and we didn't because we were too far up our own—"

I tried to be delicate in my interruption: "Sky. What exactly are you hoping to do that you can't do with the current council?"

She paused. "I want to make a culture that accepts wayward souls, nurtures them without question. Not just Litwick, but everyone who needs help. And I want to help the ghosts who find us grow. To understand who they are and what they can do, and how they can use those powers in healthy ways. To feel alive again."

Powerful words. My uneasiness went away somewhat as I heard the conviction in her voice, relieved that our sentiments on this lined up so much. I had a follow-up question, of course: "Why?"

Usually she has that big 'C' on her face like all Litwick, smiling like crazy. On a couple different occasions, like earlier, I've seen it turn into a frown. This is the first time I've seen it turn into a smaller smile, a more vulnerable smile. "Because no one did that for me," she said softly. "I had to wander through the first steps of my afterlife alone. Oh sure, the tower taught me the big details about this species, taught me how to function and their idea of morality. But it didn't teach me that I mean something, even now. That I'm not just some refuse stubbornly clinging on to life's ankle as it tries to kick me off. That particular lesson I had to learn on my own, and it was bitter work. But I did it, and now even though I'm dead I feel as though I'm alive. I wouldn't wish the alternative on anyone."

She didn't even have to draw the parallel. I saw myself in her every word. And seeing that made me trust her.

Light

Day 539

"So, Doublade. You did want to ask about them, yes?"

Here we go. Esk had that thoughtful tone of voice, the kind that meant he's willing to teach.

"Right. Our theory was that they had grabbed ahold of Ace's heart, that they were manipulating him into doing these things."

"Hmm," they said, still sounding thoughtful. "Well, you're wrong."

My heart sank totally, utterly. "Wait, what?"

"Or, rather, you're not entirely correct. That species holds no direct power over the one who wields them, but they do hold influence. Much like I can speak to you through your mind, the spirits sleeping inside those swords have a direct mental link to their wielder. As such, they have all the time in the world to whisper in their wielder's ear. With the right spirit and the right wielder, that can be a powerful force. Two opinions become one, and the sword convinces its wielder that they want the same thing."

This was it. I was finally learning what had happened to you. "Is that sort of thing reversible?"

"Hmm. You could say it is, though that's not really thinking of it in the correct mindset. It's reversible in the same way that it's possible to change one's views on anything with the right words or actions. But what you do need to understand is that your friend likely has the swords' ideas deeply entrenched in his brain at this point. Separating him from the swords will prevent their rhetoric from spreading to him further, but it will be up to you to convince him from there."

I looked away, worried. It wasn't going to be as easy as we thought, and the situation wasn't as simple as we thought. I'd hoped you had no control, you know? That the things you've done were entirely a result of this external force. And I guess that is true to an extent, but I'm having to face now that in the end it's you who did them. It's you who ignored my letters and it's you who betrayed Liz. That's scary to think about.

I'm still going to save you, though. I know you can be better than this.

If we're being honest, I have to tell you that Esk has been very helpful. Through them I've gotten a better understanding for myself, for my species, and for ghosts at large. In the days that have passed since I wrote you last they taught me how to initiate a telepathic conversation on my own because, guess what, I can do that. And actually, it's really easy! It works like a phone, almost, except that ghosts are the only ones who can dial out. So I could start and end a conversation with you, but you wouldn't be able to start one with me. Now it's not like mind reading— you're definitely limited to what the other party decides to tell you— but it's basically as simple as thinking about doing it. I could have gone my entire second life without knowing how to do that, and now I'm tossing bad jokes into Violet's head several times a day (Side note: she has, in fact, laughed at a couple of them. That made me feel really good. I was right, we're doing fine). Point being, in terms of my mission so far? Rousing success. Esk has given me plenty of info, enough at least to know what we need to do moving forward. They still haven't said everything, and I'll be looking forward to the day they do, but for now? Disregarding the obvious baggage, I really ought to thank them for giving me so much actionable information. I feel like I'm really holding up my end of the team, and I feel like I'm one step closer to achieving my goal.

We'll see if I can back up my words soon enough.

Light

It's Been 2 Years and 27 Days

The first tapestry: a boy picking a sword up off the ground. A storm gathers in the clouds above him but a single light shines on boy and sword. They are destined to cut through the darkness.

The second: that same boy, now somewhat grown, riding into battle. His enemies seem fierce and unwavering, but the boy looks fiercer still. His sword is in hand and it feels even more ready than he is.

The third: the boy, joined by two blades now instead of one, stands on top of a pile of bodies. They are the building blocks of this future king's country. It's clear he won every battle.

The fourth: the king, now fully grown, at a table with his council. In the back lurks a would-be assassin, but the king's sword has already stabbed him through the heart while the king's new shield protects his back. Through this sword and shield the king is made invincible. Through this sword and shield the king is made great.

The fifth: the king, now elderly, lies dead on the floor. His sword is in his throat. I can't make sense of what it means, why the sword would so swiftly go against its master after all they've accomplished together.

Not until the next tapestry, at least. The sixth: a spirit floats upwards, towards a crowd of indistinct faces at the top. His feet still touch the sword he has just left. Even as he does so, the king appears in spirit form as well. He, however, is diving down. Down into the sword still lodged in his throat.

The seventh: an unassuming farm boy in the center. He shows no great desire or designs, instead simply working the land beneath him. Here the king is pictured in the same spirit form as before. He's behind the blade, pointing at the farm boy. Pointing to his next king. The one he, through the sword, will choose.

The final: that same boy, recognizable but a wholly different figure, charging into battle. Into the next conquest.

The previous king's spirit inhabits the sword. Said spirit chooses a new champion, meant to wield it towards ever greater dominion. When the natural lifespan of the king is due to run out— when the king is no longer of use to the sword's designs— the sword kills its master so that he may inhabit the sword as well. The previous king then joins his predecessors not as the dominant spirit of the sword but as the will behind it, the driving force that at this point is so persuasive as to lead all who touch it to seek power, as much power as they can possibly get. A vast tank of the souls of past kings fuel the sword. The most recent king controls the sword directly. And the current king is victimized, his thoughts and desires bent towards leadership and power until that is the only thing he could possibly want.

After I scanned these several times, after I was sure of the truth they held, I thought of Archimedes and I scoffed. He'd love this. An object devoted to containing the power of The Greats, to helping the new generation reach the highest heights no matter the cost. It's exactly what he's turned his life into, emulating our trainer's desire to succeed in the League so much that he's just looking for glory without any meaning behind it. You saw a little bit of what he was like after Zeke died, Socrates, but you didn't see all of it. You didn't watch his face as he told you about wanting to die 'a glorious death in battle' just so his life could mean something, just so his experiences wouldn't be for nothing. All for the sake of honoring someone who would never, ever want that for him.

At the time, I thought we'd already given his life meaning. I thought we were a team, that even without our trainer we'd stay together and keep living for each other's sakes. I thought our trainer's goal only counted if we achieved it together, too. But I guess Archimedes didn't feel the same.

Forcing myself out of the past and back into the moment, I finally turned to ask Liz what she thought of this hogwash. And that's when, to my absolute horror I saw pure determination in her eyes. "So the sword acknowledged Ace as its king," she said. "I've always had more ambition than him, more ambition by half. I'll teach it that it should have acknowledged me, and then it'll break its hold on Ace and come to me instead." I said 'his' when I was explaining the king because that's what I thought when I first viewed them. But at that moment, watching her eyes light up with a new plan that could so, so easily destroy her, I realized I obviously should have added a 'her' in there too. "Then, when I have it, I'll just destroy it. Piece of cake." She wanted to be chosen by that thing. She saw as well as I did what it could easily do to her, and she decided she wanted it anyway. At that moment I remembered what I'd written to you, about not having a personal stake. And then I had a single thought: "Oh. There's mine."

Hyp

Day 540

Well, turns out the day I was waiting for came early. Esk sat me down and said this: "I've gone long enough without answering your questions. Ask me what you want to know."

What I want to know? In one question? Maybe I could get there in a hundred, if I was lucky. But they were expecting a question, and I wasn't about to pass up the chance at a straight answer, so I asked the thing that had been bothering me the most since getting here: "Why don't you want to kill me anymore?"

"Ah. Jumping straight to the big one, are we?"

They were not under any circumstances going to get away with yanking this carrot away from me. The carrot had been dangled, and the carrot could not be undangled. "You said 'what I want to know.' That's what I want to know the most."

"Very well: I'll tell you." If I had a heart I'm sure it would have stopped. Were they really going to? Surely this was a trick, a lead-in to some lecture about patience. I tried desperately to temper my expectations when— my expectations were proven correct. They told me. "You and I both agree that what you did before you got here was heinous and unconscionable." That was his opening line. Then: "We also both agree that it wasn't your fault." Okay, where were they going with this? "But, see, where we differ is perspective. You are young. You have not seen what I have seen. Violent souls, malignant souls bent towards using our powers for evil purposes. There's a reason why the humans have superstitions about us, you know— why they tell each other stories about Litwick guiding humans into the woods under the guise of help, only to take their souls wholesale like some highway robbery." As they spoke they became more and more impassioned. There was bitterness in their voice, dreadful bitterness. "They say these things because they've happened. Maybe not in hundreds of years, but they have happened."

I waited. They seemed to expect a response to that, so I reluctantly offered them one: "You're comparing me to these villains. But you said yourself that you didn't believe it was my fault. So why—"

"Caution, dear Light." I almost knew they would cut me off. 'Dear' was certainly a new one, though. "I saw in you not only the capability for destruction, but the anger required to fuel it. When you came here you were almost overtaken with anger, at the world for letting you be born with such a curse and at us for not helping you sooner. For this I will now, as I should have at the time, apologize." Woah. They actually said it. "We thought you were someone else's problem, really we did. Some other Ghost type or some wholly supernatural force. Honestly, we keep such a short leash on our kin— even those born into trainers' hands usually have someone watching over them at first, either a parent or an ambassador— we couldn't fathom we'd let someone slip through our net. But, alas, you arrived and we were proven wrong."

New paragraph, this thought deserves to be separated and highlighted: I'd been prepared to hate them. I did hate them. I do hate them? Or maybe I don't. I don't know. It was a lot to process and even now I don't think I'm doing a particularly good job of that, let alone how I was in the moment. I'm going to need some more time on this one.

They weren't done, though. "When I first met you, Light, you were at a crossroads. Or, at the very least, you were preparing for one. Your violent past melted away when you learned to control your power, yes, but unless I missed the mark I do believe it continued to fester." Well, yeah. I had no rebuttal; they were just right. I'd hated just about everything that had even the slightest hand in putting me into that position by reflex. I'd hated where I ended up and I didn't know who to blame, so I blamed everyone. And that continued even past the tower. Just like Philly did with Arthur, I emphasized the lights in my life as the best things that ever happened to me and the negative parts of our lives as abstract concepts to be hated and attacked. There was no balance there, no real thought beyond 'this is good and this is bad.' I mean I've talked about this a bit before, my feelings towards Arthur especially. I think I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that, well. I never hated him. I never hated you. I just needed something to hate, and I chose the most convenient option.

"You were at a point at which you had for the first time the choice of what to do with your gift," they continued, "and I believed your scale would tip the wrong way. No, let me revise that: I thought there was a chance. Not a certainty, but a chance that you would go the wrong way. I do not like chances. Chances lead to disasters. I know that must seem entirely unfair to you, from your perspective. But please understand that this is not the first time I've met someone like you. This is not the first time I've found someone at their tipping point. And for my own sake, please do not ask me to elaborate further when I say that I've seen the scale tip the wrong way because of a chance I've taken more than once."

Everything they were saying made sense. I had to stop and collect my thoughts for a moment because they were going places, worrying places. I tried to rein them back in and— nope. They were gone, away from me, off to the races, and then it was all I could do for my voice to catch up with my head as I said in a tortured and shuddering voice: "You were right." I thought they would question it, but instead he looked like they wanted me to say more. So I did: "It's true, I was angry. I thought 'this power has taken advantage of me for so long. It's time for me to take advantage of it for once.' And I did! I used it on someone who I thought deserved it— but I was wrong, he didn't. Maybe no one deserves it, I don't know. What I'm saying is if it wasn't for Violet, Arthur would be dead right now and I would have killed him and I don't know what I would have done then, I don't know if I'd have ever come back from that." They'd only been trying to stop me from doing exactly what I'd ended up doing. My biggest regret, the thing I most want to take back. In that single, solitary moment, I thought we would switch right back to where we were before, that they'd try to kill me again because now they knew my scale had already been tipped.

"Ah, but you didn't kill him." Well. "Do you know what Ari said in the basement to convince me? He said 'Light's not acting just on his own. He has a friend, a friend for life who will always have his back. She'll be there for him, I can feel it. If he ever goes the wrong way on this, she'll be there to bring him back."

It was Violet. It's always been Violet. No matter how much credit I give her, she deserves more. I'm not even sure this form can cry, but I swear I started to. Ari knew Violet would save me, even back then. What's more, he convinced Esk of the same thing. And, of course, of course, of course: he was right. She did save me. She always saves me. Not just then but every day. Finally I looked straight at Esk and I said this: "Let's finish this talk later. I need to go find her."

I swear it looked like they were smiling as they said "I expect you do. I'll be waiting for you."

And then I went to find the love of my life.

Light

Day 541

"Violet! I've got something I need to tell you!"

A single eye popped open from her apparent nap in a tree. "Light? Aren't you supposed to be with Esk?"

"I was, but then they told me something and it couldn't wait, I had to talk to you about it."

Both eyes open now, intrigued. "Huh. Lately it's felt like you only tell me things because you think you're obligated to. Guess this oughta be good."

"Oh, it is. You know what Ari told Esk to get them off my back? He told them you'd be the one to stop me from doing anything stupid!" And that was all I needed. As soon as I said it, the ice we were trapped under split in half. And she laughed. Yes, really! Not a scoff or an 'I'm barely entertaining this' laugh, a real and genuine laugh. And you know what? I laughed too. I knew she was going to, and I knew I was going to, and together we started just cracking up. "Isn't that hilariously prescient?" I asked in between laughs. "Guess he really knew us well!"

"The fact that—" Oh, she was really into it now. She could barely keep from laughing long enough to talk. "The fact that he was so sure of it that he'd use it as his big defense! Seriously, what would you do without me?"

"I don't know." We shared those laughs, finally. It was what felt like the first moment of levity between us since it happened. But I needed to steer us back to talking seriously, at least for the moment. There were still things I needed to say. "Violet, from the moment I met you you've constantly worked to improve my life, consciously and unconsciously."

She shifted around a bit on her branch, clearly caught a little off-guard by the tone shift. "Uh, Light? We were kinda having a fun little moment there. Are you sure you want to get serious again so soon?"

"Yes." And I absolutely was. "I'm sure because if I don't say this now I might never say it."

She hesitated. Then: "I'm listening."

"To say I've been an idiot would be an understatement. I think so far I've been fighting back against the world in whatever way I possibly can and at some point that started mattering to me more than anything else. I knew attacking Arthur would upset you and I did it anyway, did it because I had something to prove to myself. I also knew it would hurt him, maybe too deeply to come back from, and at the time I didn't care. I thought I was filling a void, like I could solve all my problems on my own if I just repurposed my curse into something that benefitted me. Honestly, my biggest mistake there wasn't thinking that that would work. No, it was in thinking that it would be worth losing you." Violet knows I can take a long time to come to my point. She let me keep going. "You know what's weird, though? Even after losing you it still felt like you were looking out for me. I could feel those big, judgmental eyes on me when I even so much as thought that the whole situation was anyone's fault but my own. Esk told me stories about Pokémon in our line whose scales tip the wrong way, who really do use this power to subjugate others to their will. To me now that sounds like one of the most despicable things I can think of, but I will fully admit that back then it was alluring." I took a pause, a breath. "But you did what you had to do. You fulfilled The Great Ari Prophecy: by biting me, by making me stop and showing me how wrong I was, you made my scale tip in the right direction. And that's really what I'm getting at here: you make me a better person. That's it, full stop, I am better now because of you."

I stopped for long enough for her to ask: "Is that it? Are you done?"

Was I? "Actually, no!" I wasn't. "When I thought about how you keep doing that for me, how you're always doing that for me, I came to another realization: there's some inequality there, isn't there? There always has been. Why am I not doing that for you just as often as you're doing that for me? Look, I don't care how nasty our fight was, you're still the most important Pokémon to me in the world and—"

"Light? Can I take a turn now?" She finally cut me off. Really it was only a matter of time.

"Yeah, Vi. The floor's all yours."

She laughed. Yes, really. "Light. You're so caught up in yourself all the time, you know that? So concerned with how you feel about whatever's happening that you hardly ever ask how I feel about it."

I stopped to think about that for a second. "Uh. Yeah. That's fair."

"You probably spent all that time apart thinking I hated you, didn't you?" Yes. "You don't even need to answer that, I know it's true. Well, for the sake of setting the record straight: I didn't hate you, I don't hate you, and I don't particularly think that I ever will hate you." Oh. Wow, okay. "Now believe me, I tried. I was so angry, just so angry that you would do that without telling me that I tried to shut you down every time you popped into my head. I must've deflected Philly asking about you a thousand times. I thought if I just kept ignoring you it'd start hurting less. Well, I was wrong about that. It hurt more."

"Violet, I'm—"

"Stop, Light. We're not going to keep doing this for the rest of our lives. You don't need to give me another apology: I forgive you."

Oh. Oh. Oh. "After you said you'd never?"

"Yeah, well, I've been wrong before." I almost rushed over and hugged her, but she stopped me by putting her wing up for a second. "See, I've been thinking too. Thinking about how even though we told each other I had a right, there was no excuse for me to have been so callous these past few weeks." Was this really happening? Was she really admitting this? "I was an idiot too, you know. I thought you could take it, thought you'd brush off my daggers like they were nothing. Maybe that's me. Maybe that's because I have a hard time believing I could mean anything to anyone."

"But that's just it, Violet!" Suddenly it was my turn again. "I thought exactly the same way until I met you. But from the second you flew through that tunnel just to cut me off, just to find me again, I knew you really and truly cared about me. And oh, Violet, it was awful. Of course I wanted to tell you about everything right away, how couldn't I? But at the same time it seemed so impossible to share that with you, to make you party to something so awful. So instead I just say on it, kept everything I could to myself while I—"

"—While you suffered in silence. Because you didn't think it was fair to burden me."

"Yeah."

There we go: the eye roll. "It's what you've always done, Light. Maybe if you'd been more open from the start things would have been different. If you'd told me about what happened with Esk from the start, I could have helped you. Helped you process it at least. Maybe if we'd talked to each other enough Arthur never would have happened and we wouldn't have this big, giant thing in between us."

"I think you're right about that. It's far too late to take it back now, but you're right."

"You don't have to take it back, Light. In fact you can't, it's always going to be there. We just have to move past it, and then we can be us again. That's what you really wanted to say, isn't it?"

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. We can move past it, we will move past it. Except for one thing: "I don't want to be us again."

Her eyes narrowed. "What? What do you mean by that?"

"You were right when we first met back up. You said we could never be us again and you were right."

"Light, I was angry. I wasn't thinking long-term."

"Well, I am. I'm thinking long-term now. I don't want us to be who we were, I want us to be different."

Now, could she guess where I was going with this? Of course she could. "If you're going where I think you're going," she said slowly, "you'd better be clear about it. No metaphors or endless meanderings, just give it to me straight and I'll respond in kind."

And so I did. "I want to be able to tell you what's on my mind no matter what it is, no matter how silly or serious or terrifying, and I want you to be able to do the same. I never, ever want you to feel like I let you down. Maybe most importantly: I don't want you to feel like you don't mean anything. To me, you mean so much. You are the largest, brightest light in my life— okay, sorry, can I have the one metaphor? You know it's just how I talk." She shook her head with a smirk. "Right, okay." I stopped for a second and shook myself a little bit in preparation for the finale, and then it was time to say it. "Violet, you've been the highlight of my life for as long as I've known you. Even when we were apart, even if I didn't realize it at the time, your spirit was there guiding mine to becoming better. You've done so much for me on your own and it's time for me to step up. It's time for me to focus on building you up, on making you better just like you've done for me. It's time for us to build each other up together, as equal partners. It's time for us to face the world together and rise to the challenge every time because when the two of us work together there's nothing we can't do. Violet, I love you. Will you—"

"Yes, Light, yes! Enough already, yes I want to!" She was crying and laughing at the same time as she put her wings around me and we embraced and then I was spinning us around and we were both laughing and I swear it was the happiest moment of my life.

And then she started glowing. Her form got more compact, streamlined. Her eyes shrunk into the size you'd expect them to be, and her ears became even longer than when she was a Zubat. Her wings, still around me, split from two to four. And her whole body turned the color of her name.

She'd evolved. The evolution I'd been so bothered by, the one I could never coax out of her.

And as this new Crobat pulled me even closer, she kissed my casing and the happiest moment of my life got even happier.

Light

Day 542

Yeah so like if you ever had any designs about acting on that crush on you I used to have you can just go ahead and throw those away; I'm taken. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. I think I made that clear enough in my last letter, so I'll get on to everything else.

After that moment, we spent a long time talking about what to do next. As a team. I told her everything Esk told me, asked her if she thought I should forgive him. Her response: "Wow, Light, that's a lot." Yeah, tell me about it. "Still. Maybe I'm caught up in the spirit of what just happened, but I'm leaning a bit towards second chance? He gave you his reasoning, and it was solid."

"It was," I responded, "I'm not arguing that. And sure, it's hard to fault someone at face value for working towards the greater good. But still, aheh, when that greater good means you have to die it gets a little harder to swallow."

"Well, he did change his mind though. He told you he was convinced, and so far he's done nothing to indicate otherwise."

"Yeah, that's true. At the very least we can say pretty definitively that he doesn't wish me any harm right now. Any objections we have would be to who he was in the past, huh?"

"Exactly. Hence: second chances."

I took a good minute to stop and think. Then, I said what I wanted to say: "I'm really glad we're talking like this, Violet. You're always so good at directing my thoughts."

For the record, her eye roll absolutely did not go away when she evolved. "I'm all for getting sappy later, Light, but we're trying to decide on something pretty serious here!"

I laughed, just a tiny laugh. "Yeah, I know. I think you're right. If Philly can forgive Arthur, if you can forgive me, and if Arthur can hopefully someday forgive me as well, then I owe it to Esk to try and forgive them too."

She nodded. "Good decision. Address them with resolve, tell them how much they hurt you, and then tell them you forgive them. That'll work out fine."

"Right, that's perfect. I'm gonna go find them now." And then she kissed me (because we do that now!) and I was off, floating back to Esk.
***

"Ah, Light!" They called out to me cheerily. "I trust you had a good talk with her, then?"

"Good doesn't even begin to describe it," I said with a laugh. "More like the best talk I've had in my life."

"Well, I'm glad you two were able to work things out. What can I do for you? Here to finish that lesson?"

Deep breath. "Well, yes. But I have something to talk to you about too."

"Hmm? Well, go on with it then." Deep breath, again. Here we go.

"The fact that I'm even talking to you, that you're even in front of me, is terrifying to me. What you did. The self you presented. Worse than trying to kill me, you tried to make me kill myself. And the worse still? I almost did it. I think if Ari hadn't saved me like he's saved me so many times I would have. But he did save me, just like every single one of my friends has done at least once since. No, actually? It would be better to say they're my family. And through them I understand now! I understand how much of a mistake that would have been. I can finally see how much life I haven't experienced yet, how much I can see and how much I can help. I'm going absolutely nowhere and there's nothing you, or the spectre of your past self, can do to stop me."

They must have known I wasn't quite done, since they just floated there silently while I prepared for round two. "That said," I finally continued, "I'm trying to start this off on the right foot. It's not the decision I would have made, not by a country mile, but I understand why you did that to me. You were doing what you thought was best for your community, the community you've served for thousands of years. I get to be mad about it, I think, but not so mad that I can't say what I'm about to say: Esk, I forgive you."

I did it. After I couldn't tell Arthur sorry. After I had to fight tooth and nail to break through and say what I needed to say to Violet. This time I said what I needed to say and I said it with pride.

And then. Esk said. "You shouldn't."

And I said, after a deeply conflicted pause: "Why not?"

"I don't deserve it. What I did to you, what I put you through, it's every bit as bad as what you did to Arthur. Actually, it might even be worse. We can talk about my reasons all we want, but those don't and shouldn't excuse the pain I brought to you."

It occurs to me now that life has decided to throw just about everything at me at once these past few weeks. Now this spirit who brought me so much pain is refusing my offer of forgiveness? My reaction to that was fast and from the heart: "Too bad, I forgive you anyway."

They looked at me warily. Finally, after a long period of contemplation, a single question: "Why?"

"Because I'm tired, Esk. I'm tired of hating this world. I'm tired of hating the things I couldn't change and the things I could have. And I'm tired of hating you, too."

After a smaller pause this time: "But Light, all of those things have been awful to you. I myself have been awful to you. I met with you as though nothing had happened between us, as if we could push it aside and forget. Why would you do anything for my sake, much less forgive me?"

And that question, that one right there, felt almost like they had to have been intentionally setting me up for my answer. Because I had an answer to that, had it right away without taking even a moment to think it over. "Because I'm not doing this for your sake, Esk, I'm doing it for mine. Because above everything else, I'm tired of hating myself. I'm ready to love myself again and that starts with letting go of all of this, this whole thunderstorm of hate I've built up within myself. I need to let this go so that I can move on."

They nodded, but still took a good while to answer. But finally: "I see. In that case, for your sake I will accept your forgiveness. Thank you, Light. I will strive to be a better leader for our people from here on, so that at least my portion of your story will not happen again."

There it was. I said what I'd needed to say, and they'd accepted it. They didn't run from it, they didn't deflect it— they took responsibility and said they'd do better in the future. That was, honestly, all I was looking for in that conversation.

And then I had a choice to make. Violet and I decided that I would forgive them, yes, but trusting them was not something that was discussed. Because if I trusted them now, I had to tell them about Sky right away. I couldn't just not tell someone who I trusted about a deep, deep plot against them, even if it meant betraying Sky. Violet wasn't there to help me think through it. I was on my own, and whatever decision was made would be my own.

"Sky wanted us to overthrow three members of the council. We were going to get at least close to a majority and then we were going to brute-force all of our beliefs into how we governed this place."

Now, in that last conversation Esk had paused after basically everything I said before giving a measured, thorough response. That did not happen this time. No, this time they laughed. They laughed and laughed, seemingly with no intention of stopping, and when the ridiculousness of my former spectre of death losing their mind with laughter right in front of me hit me I started laughing too. When they'd finally had their fill, this is what they said: "Oh yes, Light, I already knew that. She told all of us her plan, practically challenged us to oppose her! Not only that, but the six of us welcomed her challenge! She's not breaking any rules, of course, so she's well within her rights. In fact she's been very cordial in her recruitment of you, and I assume she'll be the same to Ari in turn. If you decide to join her, there will be no bad blood between us."

Look back through these letters, assuming you've saved them. You'll likely find the same thing I did when I thought back: at no point did Sky actually say that this was a secret plan. I'd been laboring under the pretense that it was a full-on plot, a sinister attempt to wrest power from those in charge. Nope! It was, after all that, a perfectly reasonable and respectable plan that the council not only already knew about but encouraged. Wow.

Speaking of that plan. It's almost time for us to meet back up, and I need to give her an answer before then. Honestly? I'm still not sure what I'm going to choose.I want to help, really I do. If I could work alongside Sky, Ari, and yes even Esk, imagine what we could get done!

But my life is not in here, is it? It's not dead and buried in this tower, it's out there waiting for me on the sea, and I don't want to give that up. Am I allowed to be that selfish? I think I'm going to ask Violet what she thinks tonight, and Sky tomorrow. This is sort of a big deal for me, this whole concept of 'after,' and I need to make sure every angle is considered before I decide on anything.

Have you noticed, though? Violet, Esk... recently, everything for me has been turning out for the better. I'm sure this will too.

Light

Day 543

"Wait for Ari, that's the only thing for it." That was, in a sentence, what Violet thought I should do about Sky.

"But who knows how long it's going to be before we see Ari again— if we ever see him again at all. There's every chance he read my letter to him and decided that was it, that he didn't want anything to do with me. Heck, I even told him I wouldn't hold it against him!"

Violet just stared at me. "Light. Do you honestly think Ari is the type to hold a grudge?"

Ari. Sweet and lovable Ari, who made it his mission to help me no matter what. Ari who cried in front of me, who was the first to apologize for what this tower did to me. I was in such a bad place when I wrote that letter— I didn't even think I was going to earn forgiveness from myself, much less everyone else. Thinking again now, Violet's got a point. Certainly if she could forgive me Ari can too, right? Even though I broke a pact, went against a deeply-held belief? For the thousandth time, I just find myself wishing he were here. Everything would be so much simpler if he were here. Finally, I responded to Violet: "No, he's really not. I guess we do need to just wait for him then."

"Right. We don't even know if he's interested in any of this in the first place."

That almost seemed like the end of the conversation, but there was something lingering. Something I couldn't help but ask about. "Hey," I started. "For the sake of argument, let's say he was here and willing. What would you say about it then?"

She took a deep breath. Then, in a voice that wasn't snippy, didn't cut me down, but one that honestly just sounded a little concerned, she answered: "I don't know. I want to tell you you need to do this, that working to make this place better is going to help you both to make amends and to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. I know that's what you want to do, and maybe that's what you want to hear too?" And then she looked away. "But, Light. This is a place by ghosts and for ghosts. Even beyond what's happened here, haven't we both always hated this place? The blank walls, the oppressive atmosphere. There's no life here. There's no life and I'm not sure you can make one if you stay anchored to this."

I thought back to what Sky said, about our species being shackled to this tower. "That's what she wants to fix," I replied. "She's trying to give our species the chance to decide our own fate."

"But you can already decide that fate, can't you? We could leave here tomorrow, never look back and never hear from the tower again. You told me she wants to help other young ghosts be who they want to be, and that's admirable, but is that really your problem? Is that really so much your fight that you'd be willing to give up the entire rest of your life?"

Yeesh. I'd been asking myself the same thing. "Honestly, Violet, I'm not sure. I thought I'd made up my mind a long time ago that I wanted to help Pokémon like me, that that would be my new life goal going forward. And that's still the goal, really, I still feel very strongly about that. In that sense, isn't it almost my duty to respond to the call? This is the perfect opportunity, a way to really help. I almost feel like I need to take it, if only to live up to the promise I made to myself."

Silence. Silence. And more silence. Finally she sighed, and as she did she turned back to face me. "I think this is one decision that you'll have to make on your own, Light. Just know that, if you do choose the tower, I'll miss you."

And there it was. That's what she was trying to get at. This tower, the council, all of it is death. Literally, we're all ghosts in a graveyard. But figuratively, too. Crossing that border, that threshold, would mean the end of my adventure. Not only the end of my days with Liz, with the whole crew, and with you, but the end of my time with Violet too. The message was clear: she wants to live. She wants to live, and she wants me to live too, and we can't do that if we stay here. I'd like to echo an earlier thought: am I allowed to be that selfish? No matter how much I'm forgiven, the things I've done will haunt me forever. Can I really forge out a life living for the sake of myself when I know I could be devoting myself to helping better the world, if only I could let go of what I love?

I still don't know the answer to that. I'm about to go talk to Sky, see what she thinks about all of this. After that, I don't know. I might have to push that question to the back of my mind a little bit. It is, after all, just two days before the promised date. Regardless of what happens here, I'll be seeing you soon.

I don't know how someone makes a choice like this.

Light

It's Been 2 Years and 31 Days

Am I cursed? Am I just doomed and destined to fall for the ones with the most ambition and the least regard for self-preservation?

It's been a tense ride back.

I objected, of course. Immediately I objected to her stupid, egotistical idea that she could handle that sort of power without immediately being corrupted by it. I asked her if she really thought she was so much better than Ace that she could succeed where he so easily failed. She got very angry at that. As soon as we got underway, she went into her cabin and locked the door. The same door which had last voyage remained unlocked for the duration, allowing me to slip in to see her any time I wanted. It's on the nose, but she's been shutting me out. I don't know what to do. Further attempts to talk to her have resulted in nothing good— the only time I can get more than a few words out of her is when she's giving me orders— and I've been more or less alone with my worried thoughts.

Honestly, I don't think I can do this on my own. That's scary. I'm taking solace in one thing right now and it's that we'll be back tomorrow. I'll be able to talk to Light about this and he'll know what to do, I know it. He'll snap Liz right out of this.

He has to. I really like her. I don't want to lose her the same way I lost Archie.

Hyp

2 Days Until I See Them Again

"Hey, kid." The whispered voice cut through whatever sleep I'd been getting.

"Arthur," I mumbled out into the darkness, "I told you not to call me that." Geez, I'd thought we were past this. I rolled over to admonish Arthur some more and— Arthur was still where I left him, fast asleep not far away from me. No, the Pokémon staring back at me was Ace.

He put one of his tails up to his lips in a shushing kind of way, and just when I was about to immediately disregard that and shout for Arthur— I noticed he didn't have the swords with him. I figured that was enough to at least hear him out for a minute.

So I narrowed my eyes and whispered: "We're gonna beat you, you know."

The tail that had just left his mouth now flew back up to it. He was snickering. In perfectly good humor, like it was the easiest thing in the world, he was laughing so hard at the very concept of what I'd just said that he was having a hard time keeping his own rule of being quiet. This is our ultimate enemy? The guy who's betrayed the majority of my friends? Anyway, he calmed down after a bit. "Yeah bud," he said condescendingly, "I'm sure you guys are mighty and powerful. Anyway, that's why I'm here. Heard you guys were looking for me, wanted to help you out. Imma be up in the mountains for a bit. The Mistralton Mountains, specifically. It's nice and wild, unexplored, just the way I like it. Pretty close to Light's tower too, you know." He knew Light was at the tower? What else did he know? Did Light see him? "Anyway, you guys will find me there when you're ready. It's gonna be a fun fight!" The whole time he spoke casually, like this was just a normal conversation. The tone was obviously supposed to put me at ease.

It didn't!

"Okay Ace," I said, more than a little skepticism in my voice, "I guess I'll take your weird olive branch-except-it's-an-invitation-to-fight. Sure it'll probably be a trap like last time, but when has that ever stopped us before?"

"Hey, that's the spirit!" Yeah, I don't quite think he got my sarcasm there. "Man, I can't wait to fight all you guys for real. And hey, I'm gonna be watching out for that Sleep Powder of yours!"

"It was Spore," I sort of grumbled quietly.

His face broke out into a huge grin. Yes, really. "It was Spore?!" He exclaimed, apparently forgetting about wanting to be quiet. "Well no wonder I couldn't dodge it! That's a pretty strong attack, dude! I really underestimated you!"

Despite myself, I smiled. "Yeah, most people do!"

I was starting to understand why not one but two of my friends had been in love with this guy. He was friendly in an accessible kind of way, like the type of guy you could instantly talk about anything and everything with. Again, this was him? The guy who orchestrated a mutiny, the guy so ruthless that Tommy ran away rather than help us face him? I mean heck, maybe it really was the swords making him mean the whole time. Maybe without them he's a friend? Maybe without them he's normal?

Those were the thoughts going through my mind as I let my guard down. As I didn't realize that one of his tails had been sneaking its way towards me. "Of course," he continued just as cheerily as before, "some might say that if I really consider you a threat now, I should prove it by taking you out while I have the chance!" I didn't have any time to process. The tail hand darted in from the side, caught me totally unawares, and squeezed hard. He got me. Defeated before the battle even started because I was dumb enough to think my opponent was being nice just for the sake of it. Now he'd probably knock me out, take me back with him, force the whole thing to turn into a rescue mission. All because little naive Philly didn't want to fight the nice monkey.

And then two things cut through the dark of the night almost simultaneously. The first was a voice, a shout: "Hands off my friend!" And the second was a blinding stream of fire that engulfed Ace in an instant, sparing me by inches. He cried out in pain, relaxing his grip on me as he did so, and I managed to wiggle out and back to safety behind my savior. Behind, of course, Arthur.

Ace got up, dusted himself off, and grinned. "Hey now, I was just having a little fun with him! No need to resort to violence!" And at this point? I had no idea how serious he was being, no idea at all.

Arthur did, I guess: he took a fighting stance. "I was gonna wait for everyone else, Ace, but I've got no problem beating you down right now if that's what you want."

Ace gave a good, long laugh, totally mocking him, and I got ready to fight too. Then: "It's cute that you think you could win that fight, Arthur. Nah, when you guys come at me it's gonna have to be with all you've got. Bye!" And then, just like that, he was gone. Not 'gone' like he ran away, 'gone' like 'just not there anymore. At all.' And we went right back to being alone.

Gonna have to pay Arthur back for that save, though.

Philly!

Day 544

Yeah, so. Sky.

"You came to tell me no, didn't you?" She said this as soon as I found her, eyes closed and flame out up in a tree.

"I came to tell you I'm officially undecided," I replied.

"Undecided?" She opened one eye and glared down at me. "That's what you've been the whole time, dude, no big surprise there."

This conversation wasn't working, clearly, so I floated on up and got right in her face. So she'd have no choice but to answer my next question: "Why are you so set on staying here?"

"What? I already told you, I want whoever comes into the tower next to have a better reception than what we got."

"Yeah, okay, I got that. But there's still the fact that you've lived here for 500 years and never once left, right? Despite always hanging around outside, as far away from the tower as possible without actually leaving? It's not like everything will go bad all at once if you take a few days away, right? So why not just go, find the freedom you're looking for?"

"Can't."

The one-word answer really hit me hard. I tried to recover: "Can't? What do you mean, like you can't leave?"

"Nope. Not until I serve out my sentence."

I was thoroughly confused. "The tower's forcing you to stay here? We do that?"

She scoffed. "No, they're not forcing me to stay here. I'm forcing myself to stay here."

I was close. I was so, so close to an answer. I decided to push my luck; I had to know more. And so, of course, I asked just this: "Why?"

"For that, Light, let me step outside my role as tower keeper for a moment and jump into Ari's gig. You need to hear a certain story— a story that's been passed down this tower as both legend and warning for hundreds of years." Not seeming to have much of a choice in the matter, I simply nodded for her to start.

Here's what she told me. "It was in the early days of Pokémon and trainers teaming up when a certain young trainer first arrived here. This was a time of great conflict, you see— her people were set upon, oppressed and besieged by their sworn enemies. If nothing was done, they would soon be wiped out. And so she set about on a search, a search to find a power strong enough to overcome terrible foes and impossible odds. It was during this search that she heard tell of the Litwick of the tower, who feasted on souls. 'With this power, I can win,' she thought. 'With this power I can defeat my enemies and save my people.' So, of course, she stepped foot in this tower and caught herself one. Now, were this to happen today— were someone with such an impure motive to attempt to capture one of our species— the council would surely intervene and prevent such an exchange. But it was early in our history, and the council then is not what it is now. She was allowed to walk in here, steal the first spirit she found, and mold it into a weapon for her purposes."

After saying that she just stopped, and I looked at her expectantly. Obviously she wasn't about to leave a story like this half-told. "Well? What happened next?"

"Next? Next she convinced her Litwick as she had convinced herself that these people, this is what they deserved. That they were causing untold pain to her people, and for that she must respond in kind. That there was no other way. And the Litwick? The Litwick believed her. United in their purpose, they moved together to enact her plan for revenge. And, well, I'll spare you the graphic details and simply say this: it worked. Soon word of her terror had spread throughout the enemy's ranks, and they fled. She'd saved her people, costing her only her humanity in the process. A small price to pay, she thought, for defeating such a colossal evil."

I knew where she was going I mean it was pretty obvious at this point, right? "You were the Litwick, then. You've been trapping yourself here as retribution for the suffering that evil trainer convinced you to inflict."

She gave me a small, sad smile. "They had a few years of peace to really reflect on their achievement. Each day, the trainer looked at her village and smiled knowing that she had done what she had set out to do. That she'd defeated the evil and saved the place she called home.

And then one night. Deep in the night a single out-of-place noise disrupted the trainer enough to wake her from her slumber just in time to dodge out of the way of a knife aimed for her heart. Being no stranger to combat herself it took her mere moments to disarm her assailant, kicking the knife out of his hand and picking it off of the floor. She commanded her Pokémon to light their flame so as to reveal the attacker, and as they did so she saw pure terror on the face of someone who could not have been more than twelve years old. With a tone that demanded an answer, she asked a simple question: 'Why are you here?'

And the boy, though he was trembling on the ground in front of her, responded unflinchingly: 'Revenge! You killed my parents in the war, both of them! I've spent my whole life training so that I could return the favor!'

She almost moved to kill him then and there. He was merely another soldier, a fragment of the enemy forces in need of a quick cleanup. But she hesitated. The last bits of her humanity grabbed her and told her she could not harm this child. 'Your parents were on the wrong side,' she said instead, 'and together they brought great suffering upon my people. I had no choice in the matter.'

'My parents were pacifists, once,' he replied stoutly. 'They were drafted into our army by an evil king, everyone was. You think they wanted to be here? They would have been killed had they not come! No, they did only what they had to to survive. I agree something had to be done, but it didn't have to be your way. You should have directed your fury at our mad king— at the cause of the illness, not the symptom. Instead you slaughtered half of us and left it to people like me to pick up the ashes.'

The girl looked inside her heart, dove deep, and what she found there terrified her as nothing terrified her before: the child was right. For the sake of her own justice she committed unspeakable acts. Worse, she did it by corrupting a friend into a tool of mass destruction. She'd saved one people at the cost of another."

And then she was done. Wait, what? Yeah, from the sound of her silence it seemed that was the end of her story. Weird since she didn't, you know, actually finish the story. After waiting an entire, exasperating minute, I asked: "So? What happened to your trainer?"

She sighed, but she answered all the same. "I didn't have a trainer," she said, "I was the trainer. You asked what happened? This, Light. This is what happened."

Oh.

"I've paid for my hubris, Light, and paid dearly. Through what I can only imagine to be divine karma, I became trapped in the very form I took advantage of all those years ago."

Oh.

"I don't want anyone to be able to do what I did. That's why I'm fighting to be able to make the rules, so I can make sure we can protect our kind from people like me."

Oh.

"And what became of my Litwick, hm? The one I corrupted forever with my vainglorious crusade? Shouldn't they still be around? Well yes, actually, you're entirely correct. They are around, and their name is Esk."

Oh.
***

"She's told you everything, then."

All I could say was "yes."

"I wish I could have been the one to tell you, Light, but I couldn't bring myself to."

"I know."

"This power is a terrible burden, isn't it?"

Yesterday I would have told them I knew more about that than they ever would. Today I just said this: "Yeah. It really, really is." And then we were silent, totally silent. Two floating lights in a sea of darkness. And all I could really hope for in that moment was that my presence would comfort them, at least a little.

Sky lied when she told me she didn't remember her past. Neither of them could bear to tell me that their own story was the reason Esk acted the way they did. Now Sky's chained herself to this tower as some sort of eternal punishment, and Esk feels so guilty that they were willing to murder someone who had even a chance of repeating their mistakes. And I can't do anything to help either of them. I set out on this last leg to make sure I saved everyone didn't I?

I don't know if anyone can save them from this.

Light

Day 545

Philly found us first.

"Light!" He squeaked, bouncing right into a hug like always.

"Philly!" I returned it just like I always do, already pretending I wasn't as worried as I am. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course I'm okay: I had Arthur with me!" And now I had to confront that. Gosh, how did I feel about Arthur? And more importantly, how did he feel about me? I made great strides here at the tower, came a long way in a short time I think, but still there was this. After everything that happened, after I accused him of plotting to hurt Philly— entirely baselessly, as it turns out! After all that, could I really even look Arthur in the eye?

"Kept him safe, Light, like I promised." As Arthur came up behind Philly, I noticed he had a small, soft smile. A smile! Looking at me!

"Thank you, Arthur." It's what I had to say and it's what I said, just like that. Looked him in the eye, too— guess that was one question that was easy enough to answer. And then. I was ready. I was ready to say it, ready to finally apologize to him but I needed to say it now so I went for it, I said "I'm—"

"Light, you know what?" Philly interrupted, certainly without meaning to, and the moment slipped by. "You guys have so much more in common than you think! In fact, Arthur was also—"

"Philly, Philly!" We were chaining interruptions now, apparently as Arthur was literally on top of Philly trying to stop him from talking. "Things I tell you aren't necessarily things I wanna tell everyone else, dude!"

Literally they were all over each other. Philly was giggling, saying "haha, Arthur, c'mon! Okay, okay, I give!" And they were smiling all the while, like big smiles. Yeah, apparently their trip must have gone very well for them. And no, they really didn't tell me what Philly was about to say, but that's fine. I'll leave that between them.

Suddenly I felt something land on the top of my head, my floating form bobbed down a little bit, immediately followed by Philly absolutely freaking out. "Violet! Woah! You evolved!" So, yes, Violet is in fact just landing on my head now, as if that had been at all discussed beforehand. She's so great.

Violet's quick "sure did!" sounded proud, excited, happy. That bitterness that had characterized her voice, well, basically ever since I've known her is fading. It's still there, I can still feel it, but it's lessened. I did that.

Philly hopped first onto Arthur's head, then leapt over to give Violet a hug too (this being, of course, while she was still perched on top of me). In a moment he was babbling on about how cool Violet looked, and that left me and Arthur to talk about the serious stuff. I had to start cautiously: "So, Arthur. I guess you couldn't get anyone, huh?"

"Nah," he replied with remarkable ease, "they've all moved on. Pretty much a complete failure of a mission."

"Well, I'm not sure I'd go that far." I took on a lower tone as I pointed up at Philly, making sure my little mushroom friend didn't hear. Of course, he was off on some tangent or another, or possibly a hundred different ones at the same time, so the precaution may not have been strictly necessary. "Philly seems to think it was a positive experience. Seriously, thanks for looking out for him."

Arthur gave me something that was between a laugh and a scoff, but in a good-natured way. "You really underestimate him, Light. He was the one looking out for me, one hundred percent."

Maybe someday I'll learn a bit more about what exactly went on between those two. For now, I'm more than okay with the results. They've both been inseparable, in high spirits, and Arthur's been much friendlier. I think whatever happened, Philly must have gotten Arthur to trust him, and now he must (at least a little) trust me in turn. I'm sure the ease Violet's shown around me helped, too. And yeah, for my part I've been a lot more open to his presence. Things are still there— I still haven't apologized, and of course what happened still looms large— but we're in a much better place than we were last time we saw each other. Everything's going so well, huh? As we caught each other up on what we'd been up to, I couldn't help but feel optimistic.

And then Liz showed up. More specifically, Liz strode into the group with purpose while Hypatia trailed behind her, and that was the first red flag. I'd never seen Hypatia take a backseat to Liz's grandstanding, never. Captain or no, they always put each other on the same playing field. My eyes flashed over to Hypatia to check on her, see what was up— and I hit the second red flag. Her eyes were filled with nothing but worry as they met mine, nothing but dread. I had no idea what happened, but I knew I should be worried by what Liz said next.

"Crew!" She was shouting, just like always. Nothing out of the ordinary there. "Ace's swords, turns out, are ancient relics that choose their master. Therefore, as Ace's former captain, I plan on taking said swords from him and proving my superiority once and for all!"

Especially considering the information I got on these Pokémon from Esk, I was hardly surprised by the new info. Nor was I particularly surprised that Liz wanted the power that sort of status symbol would give her, even if it did more or less amount to bragging rights. But that didn't really add up to why Hypatia looked the way she did. As Liz kept blathering on about stuff like "I'm so much stronger than Ace, I bet I can beat him without any of you this time" and "Bet you regret picking the wrong side now, huh Arthur?" all I could do was stare at the Dewott behind her, wishing there was a way to talk to her without Liz overhearing.

Oh, wait.

"Hey, don't freak out" I thought over to her. Thought over? Is that the right terminology? Whatever, you know what I mean.

Hypatia blinked. Then, in an extremely unfreaked tone, I got back this thought: "Oh, what? Have you always been able to do this?"

"Nah, tower training stuff. You don't seem particularly surprised?"

"Yeah, one of my teammates was a Psychic— Light! I'm kind of having a crisis here, can we skip the small think?"

"Oh, right, right. What the heck happened to you guys at the ruin?"

"She's not telling you the whole story. That sword has the spirits of every king it's ever had trapped inside it. When it's done with you, it just kills you so you can join the rest of the kings and then it moves on to the next victim."

Our mental link broke in an instant; I needed a second to myself to process. Actually, a second? Honestly I could've used a year. I mean, she'd just told me that that thing was planning to kill you. Not just that, but that Liz was going to stop it by offering herself up instead? I can't let either of those things happen. We needed a plan, a way to neutralize the threat of those swords without allowing Liz anywhere near that fight.

I went back in: "Hey, sorry, I'm back. Why is she so set on getting the sword if she knows what happens to its masters?"

"She thinks she's gonna destroy it right after she wins it. Like it's not even gonna be a big deal."

Oh, of course. It's Liz; of course she thinks she can save him on her own, then save herself on her own too. "Well, we both know how dumb of an idea that is."

"Yeah. It's really bad, Light. She won't talk to me, like, at all."

If it's possible to think a sigh, I did it. "Alright, hold on. Let me talk to her."

One quick mental link severance later and I was saying, without any regard to where the conversation had gotten to while I was focusing, "Liz I don't think trying to get the swords is a good idea."

She stopped whatever it was she was talking about, turned, and stared daggers at me. Then, in a tone that emphasized and punctuated every word: "Why not, Light?"

Calculating, calculating, calculating… ah! Found the angle! "Those swords have the spirits of kings inside them, right? Well, if there's one thing I know about kings it's that they love being in charge. Ergo, they're basically going to tell you what to do." Now, okay, listen. Was that particularly genuine? No. Was it the most effective thing to say? From a logical standpoint no, but Liz doesn't operate from a logical standpoint. Telling her not to do something because it's too dangerous would just want to make her do it more, so I went with plan B on this one.

It didn't work. "Light, like I was just saying, I'm just gonna throw the dang things away as soon as I get it. Well, that or break 'em, whatever's easier."

Okay, time to be a little more direct. "You're sure you'll be able to throw them away that easily? Might be kinda tough— y'know, symbol of your victory and all."

This time it was a full glare, and she stomped towards me and got right in my face. "You better watch it," she growled. "I'm still the captain."

Hypatia was right: this was really bad. The Liz I knew would never, ever do that, no matter how much I questioned her. She must really be set on this thing. And in that case, it's time for plan C. Which is, of course, 'lie to her until we can make sure she doesn't hurt herself.'

Now I'll be the first to admit this is not necessarily the best plan we could have come up with. I mean, lying to Liz? After everything? I know, I've been through the whole debate with myself already. It's just that there's no stopping this. She's too far gone on that path already, and just from that brief interaction I knew there was no way I could just convince her not to do it. No matter how I slice it, if Liz fights you and wins, we lose.

So I'm not letting her fight you. I've got the whole rest of the crew in on it: we're sneaking out in the middle of the night while she's asleep. Then we're gonna fight you, win, and come back sans swords. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?

I'm writing this hours before we leave, and I just came to a realization: this will be the last letter I write before I see you again. Before I save you. All I have to say is you'd better appreciate this.

I'll see you soon.

Light

Day 560

Well, obviously you know what happened next. I suppose I could just be done there. Easy letter! But, you know. These letters started because I was lonely and scared and missing you, but they've turned into so much more. They've become a record of sorts, real physical proof of my experiences. In a lot of ways they're a comfort, and I'm glad they're always here for me. And, like I've said before, there's still a chance someone else will read this someday. Any way you slice it, it simply doesn't feel right to just end things off right before the climax. So I won't do that. This finale deserves to be written.

Let's get right into it, huh?

We snuck out— that plan, at least, went off without a hitch. Thanks to some handy telepathy, I was able to let everyone in on it without Liz knowing a thing. Violet, Philly, Hypatia, and Arthur all agreed with my plan, and we left the captain snoozing in her cabin. Sorry, Liz.

We headed straight into the Mistralton Mountains, right where you told Philly you were going to be. It took us, actually, a couple days just to make it into the interior— that was some tough terrain to climb for sure. Not for me, obviously, but Hypatia and Arthur were sort of tested to their limit. And of course you didn't actually specify an exact location, so we were just sort of walking blindly through the wilderness for a bit. Probably would've been pretty easy to ambush us again, if you had the mind to.

Instead we found you sitting casually on top of a cliff, Doublade nestled neatly in your tails. "Hey!" When you called that down to us, you sounded genuinely happy to see us. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. "I thought I told you guys to bring your full strength! Where's the would-be captain?"

"Don't even need her to beat you!" This from Hypatia, shouting up at you.

And even from a distance, I could see you roll your eyes. "Oh great, it's the Dewott again. Hey, you know this is a sort of personal score we're trying to settle, right? You don't belong in this fight in the slightest. Would you mind sitting this one out?"

"Oh shut up!" And this one, I'm proud to say, was simultaneous from no less than three different sources: me, Hypatia, and Arthur. "She's on the crew now," I elaborated, "and she's our friend. She deserves to be here as much as any of us."

He laughed at that. "The same crew that's evidently abandoned their captain just before the final battle, huh? I mean yeah, I guess we can count that."

Okay, yes, Liz wasn't there, we got it. Arthur was on the same page: "Can we just skip straight to the part where we beat you?"

You sighed, and then you acrobatically hopped down a few rocks and onto our level. "Fine, fine," you said with a sort of exasperated lilt. And then instantly your tone shifted, you gained an edge and a fire as you raised your swords and said this: "You can try."

And then you came at us, and it was time.

Arthur was to your right, me to your left, Hypatia in between us. This was by design, this was our plan. We shot a double Flamethrower right at you to start, crossing our streams into an X to maximize our range. You dodged it— just jumped right over it— but we figured that's what you would do. The instant you landed Hypatia was on you, using the speed of her Aqua Jet to slam into you and then going blade to blade with her scalchops. This was her plan, the best way to leverage her skill at close-quarters. She'd give you a good old sword fight, and we'd be waiting in the wings to attack if you tried to get any distance. Yeah, sure, her and Liz together lost last time, but she wasn't ready then!

It looked like it was going good for a bit. Her attacks were coming faster than yours, she was knocking you back. We were hurrying to keep up our flanking, ready to assist in a second. Our ranged attacks had the risk of hitting her too, of course, which is why we were hanging back and letting her take center stage. Besides, like we kept saying, you were just two Pokémon against our whole group. Figuring out the particulars after we won would be tough, but the fight itself? Honestly I wasn't too worried.

Yeah, well. Suddenly you were attacking with your arms. No, not your tails, your actual arms. They glowed white with the power of some move, I couldn't make it out, and you started to hit her again and again after catching her off-guard. Time to bring in some help.

Violet was right there, swooping in and slicing across your face with a Poison Fang. You'll notice I didn't list her in the initial lineup— that is, of course, because her part of the plan had been hiding out unnoticed until she was needed. You yelled and let up on your attack and then Philly was right there too, his plan being to hitch a ride on Violet and put you to sleep when you weren't expecting it. It worked last time, right? No reason it shouldn't work again.

And, with Hypatia backing away from the spores, Violet having perched on a nearby branch, and you falling to your knees, it sure did seem like it worked. We weren't about to make the same mistake, though. As soon as you were safely incapacitated, we'd separate you from Doublade and deal with them in whatever way we had to. Easy peasy.

Except then you said "seriously kid? I warned you I'd watch out for it." And then you ate the small, green berry you'd had palmed in one of your tailhands the whole time, recovered from the spores like they were nothing, and sliced Philly right across the face. Now to his credit, he was fast enough at least to bring his hands up and block the cut from doing any permanent damage. But he still flew backwards with a yell, and he didn't seem like much for getting up afterwards. One down.

Well, none of us were going to take that sitting down. Hypatia got right back to swinging, only this time Violet was supporting her with occasional divebombs. Arthur and I couldn't do much but wait for a chance to do our thing, but those two were coming at you as hard as they could. Hard enough that you had to switch to fighting Hypatia full-time with your actual hands while the superior reach of your tails tried to keep Violet's aerial attacks at bay. And, man, I thought they had you right there. I guess that would have been too easy, huh?

No, a quick leg sweep was enough for you to get a solid hit in on Hypatia— or hits, really, since you briefly brought together both hands and swords for a combo attack. That was enough for her to go down, too, making us 0-2. Not doing great so far!

"C'mon guys," you shouted, "is that all you've got? You're never gonna beat us like this!" And you know what? You were right. It was time to get serious.

"Arthur!" I yelled, and he nodded. Then he ran to you, breaking our specialty to get close. He had a plan, and he executed it in a second: a straight punch to the gut before you had a chance to counter, then a throw straight into the ground. It was to stun more than anything else, and as he jumped back and our Flamethrowers both scored direct hits, I would say it worked. And boy, did it feel good.

You got up, of course, but at least it seemed like you took some damage on that one! And, even better, you were finally getting riled up. "Ugh, we're still not at full strength!" You yelled this as you got back up and stared the both of us down. "How am I supposed to conquer all of this if we haven't reached our full potential?" At the time I didn't know what you meant, so I'll save the explanation for just a little bit down the road.

And honestly? I don't need to recap every single second of the battle, turn by turn. The three of us who were still in battling shape would take turns attacking, you would spend most of your time dodging and blocking. We weren't doing too much in the way of lasting damage, but we clearly had the upper hand.

Until you focused on Arthur, that is. You got too close for me to be able to attack safely, and though Violet tried she could only do so much as you overwhelmed him with a series of stabs and then it was three down and suddenly I realized that Violet and I were the only ones left. And then I panicked.

I panicked because you'd figured out the best way to break our teamwork was to focus on one of us at a time, and that meant I was next.

I watched as your swords disappeared from your hands, which I knew was bad. And I watched again as they reappeared in front of my face, way too close for me to counter in time, and they Night Slashed right through me. "Gah!" I yelled out in pain as the force of the strike knocked me back. I realized then, with the benefit of this being the second time I'd fought them, that these things were incredibly strong, much stronger than anything I'd ever fought before.. It clicked for me then, I suddenly understood why everyone had been going down so quickly: these things must be at an extremely high level, maybe even as high as they can go. Hypatia told me they've been around for a long time, been fighting for a long time. They must have been leveraging years of experience into our fight, maybe even hundreds of years.

A new understanding of what I was up against wasn't exactly going to help my immediate situation, though. Trying to regain my bearings, I looked up and blinked. No break, no quarter, you were already running towards me, swords back in your tails. I was still reeling from that last Night Slash, there was no way I'd have time to—

And suddenly, from the side, a huge stream of fire cut me off from my charging enemy and gave me a chance to recover. Was it Arthur, was he back up? No, that didn't make sense, he was on the other side. Who could it be then? I turned, thoughts racing at the sudden intrusion, trying to make out if they were friend or foe— and I was greeted by a small, sleek, grinning, all too confident Vulpix. "'Sup?" She asked. "Name's Flare. You're Light, right?" Wait, what? How did she know— "Oh, right, uh. Sorry, he's always slow. He'll be here in a second." I looked behind her, expecting the answer to all thousand of my questions to appear at the top of that hill any second— and so he did.

"Light!" Ari yelled out cheerily. "We finally found you!"

Light

Day 561

I'd learn later that Esk had clued Ari in— he'd arrived at the tower for his own reasons just a couple days after we left, and Esk took it upon themselves to let Ari know where I was and what I was doing. Note to self, thank Esk. In the moment, though, when I didn't know any of that, it really seemed like Ari had just descended from the heavens to help me out in my hour of need. Just like he always did, my own personal guardian angel. Not only that, but this time he'd brought along someone to help fight, too.

Well, now, she's much more than just that. I discovered as much pretty immediately, as he shouted over this: "Oh, Light! This is Flare, she's my girlfriend!"

She seemed a little embarrassed, but in a way that made me think she was pretty used to that by now. Instead she just gave a sheepish grin and said "well, yeah, that's me. Gonna save the small talk for after the battle though if that's cool with you." At which point she turned back towards Ace, grinning all the while.

"Hey, I like this one!" Violet shouted as she continued her attack on you. "At least one of you can stay focused!" Oh, right! I was so distracted by Ari's sudden appearance I'd stopped paying attention to the fight completely.

"Hey, I like her too!" Ari returned that to Violet with a laugh, apparently still not quite grasping the seriousness of the situation.

As Flare put down some cover fire, Violet flew over to Ari and set him straight: "Hey, I don't know if you can fight now or not but if you didn't notice, we're kinda dropping like flies over here? These guys are really strong; we need all the help we can get and also for you to not be a distraction right now."

He thought about that for a second. "Oh!" He said. "Yeah, I can help fight. I'm good at it now!"

A very frustrated-sounding Flare responded to that one even as she was shooting fire from her mouth: "Then come help, like, now!"

Ari thought for another moment. Then: "Aha, sorry! I was just thinking of something that's really gonna help and making sure it's a good idea first. Check this out: Light, catch!"

Ari had a bag when he first showed up, a small satchel that he had looped around him. He had, without opening it, tossed the entire bag in my direction. Which, sure? I assumed they'd maybe have healing items in there, stuff we could get back to full strength with and stuff we could revive Philly, Hypatia, and Arthur with (even though we had our own plan for that, spoilers). So I caught it, naturally, and I opened it immediately.

Inside were two stones. One was a brilliant shade of red, the other a deep purple. In the distance I heard Flare say "Wait, Ari! Tell me you didn't just give him—" and then I couldn't hear anymore because I was glowing, the purple stone was glowing, and the Doublade that had desperately rushed over to me the second the stones were revealed was glowing too.

I knew what to expect this time, I'll say that much. My body lost most of its solidity, almost turning to jelly. Something— light? Me? Something felt like it flowed out of me, through my arms. It extended them, changed their shape into something more complex and spiraling. Both arms branched into two sections even as I felt my casing get bigger and then— with the feeling that I myself had split, parts of the energy burning inside me split off and lit new wicks at the tips of my arms, four in total. At the same time, what once had been a solid top melted away, and my central flame roared out in triumph as it now burned in a great pillar not only within my casing, but above it as well.

When I was finally able to focus on external stimulus again, I caught the tail end of a conversation that felt a world away: "Oh come on Flare, you're overreacting. I'll find another one!"

I mumbled "he must be talking about the stone" to myself as I looked down at the bag and confirmed that, yep, I was right. The Fire Stone remained, but the Dusk Stone was gone. I'd used it to evolve into a Chandelure, my final evolution.

As I slowly, slowly tried to readjust to the world around me, I finally looked right in front of me. There I found a large, simple metal shield floating in front of me. Now, were I fully cognizant, I like to think the next few seconds would have gone differently. But as it was, it was only when the larger but still recognizable sword revealed itself in a swing that would prove to be a direct and critical hit that I realized Doublade had seized the opportunity, that it had taken advantage of the same Dusk Stone I did and that it had evolved into Aegislash. An even greater threat.

And then I was on the ground, out cold.

Light

Day 562

When I came to, it was to a shout: "Thought you guys could grab all the glory without me, huh? Nah, I'm the one who's gonna take Ace down and that's that!" As I heard the clang of sword against sword, I knew exactly who it was and I groaned. Liz must have tracked us, followed us all the way up there just so she could enact her dumb plan. Just so she could beat you and take your companion.

Speaking of said companion, sword and shield were both nestled in your tails' palms like they belonged there, like they'd always been there. Bravado-filled as she was, Liz clearly wasn't used to fighting enemies with shields— she was struggling. She needed help, but my head was still spinning. I looked around, tried to figure out who was even still upright at this point. As I looked to my right and saw Ari and Flare both sending some fire in your general direction, then saw Violet dropping down for another quick attack, my panic level dropped a bit and I was able to focus. Quickly I downed the berry I'd been holding, getting some of my strength back at least, and then I thought about what to do next. What I wanted at that moment was for you to go down, and your swords too, without Liz being able to sneak in to land the final blow. To that end I reached out to Ari's mind: "Hey. Put some flames between Liz and Ace."

"Huh? Are you sure? Liz won't be able to help fight."

"Yeah, I know, that's intentional. It'll take too long to explain, just do it."

"Okay, right! Count on me!" Ari's usual cheerfulness shone through even in a mental conversation, and soon enough I saw Ari shoot a wall of fire to both sides, effectively separating you from Liz. Also? It was a ton of fire, like so much more than I was expecting. Ari must really have been training hard since I saw him last.

"Woah! Ari, are you crazy? Now I can't even get at him!" The exasperated shouts told me my plan worked, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Aha, sorry Liz!" He replied with that trademark lilt even as he continued to focus on adding fire to the field. With any luck, she might not have even realized he was doing that on purpose.

And with that immediate problem resolved, I decided to check in on the rest of the team. "You good?" I asked Violet mentally.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He's too slow to block most of my attacks— but he's learning to predict where I'm going to come from. We could really use some substantial damage over here; are you ready to get back into it?"

"Ugh, give me a minute. That slash really took me by surprise. I'm going to check and see if anyone else is up."

As it turns out, they weren't— the three who were down were staying down for the time being. I steeled myself, knowing I was going to have to get back in there. And then I did just that.

"Light! So nice of you to join us!"

"Heh, pleasure's all mine!" Oh, what the heck. I could afford some back and forth (if only to give me time to heal up a little). "You know Ace, you really should just give up now. We've got you way outnumbered and way outgunned."

You grinned. "Is that so? Seems we've been pretty successful in taking a lot of you out so far! Shouldn't be too hard to finish off the rest, especially when you won't let your captain fight."

I don't think you knew why Liz wasn't fighting, but you knew that the fact she wasn't was intentional. That was dangerous. Ari's flames could only last so long, and there was every chance that you'd specifically go after her because you knew I didn't want you to. So, I gambled: "Ha! No need to get her involved, or the rest of them for that matter! I can take you both on myself!"

"I have a plan," I whisper-thought over to Violet. "Grab some berries and help the others." Because, yeah, of course we brought what healing berries we could find. We were gonna take every advantage we could get; we cared about winning way more than playing fair.

Somehow, some way, she got the eye rolling across even telepathically. "This better be a good plan, Light."

"It is!" I assured her. Spoiler alert: it was not. No, it was a stupid plan and really I knew better than to try it. But here I was, trying it anyway.

The good news about this whole crazy telepathy thing is that you can have a whole conversation as quick as you can think it. My little aside with Violet was over and done with before you even had time to respond to my challenge. When you did, it was by clanging your sword and shield together and then pointing the sword portion towards me and saying this: "You're gonna regret challenging me alone, Light, but I'm not gonna regret beating you down!"

I remember thinking in that moment that you were wrong, that there's no way I'd regret it. As I sent out a Fire Spin, creating a constantly burning ring of fire around us to ensure that no one could interrupt our fight before one of us ended up the victor, I thought to myself that yeah, this is what's supposed to happen, it's supposed to come down to a one on one. I'd beat you there and then and then I'd save you, beating my villain and accomplishing my goal just like that.

Boy, was I wrong.

Light

Day 563

It felt like every single attack got blocked— every blast of fire, every burst of shadow. I was aiming for Aegislash specifically, and maybe I should have gone for you, but I get the feeling they would have been able to block those attacks too. Far from my fight with Hypatia, where my attacks seemed so determined to hit that they almost moved on their own around her defenses, these just couldn't seem to make it through for a solid hit at all. Compound on that my failed attempts to cripple them with Will-O-Wisp (you either dodged out of the way or they just took it head on, their defenses dispersing it into nothingness), and I was starting to get pretty frustrated. Here I was making a whole thing about fighting you solo and I couldn't even get a decent hit in! At least the Fire Spin was doing some damage off and on, but it was hardly substantial. Some big debut for my new evolution, huh?

Meanwhile, you just wouldn't let up on your attacks. Yeah, every mediocre attempt to inflict damage on my part was met with savage slashes at me on your part, and even though I've gotten much better at dodging there was no way I was getting through all of that unscathed. You even shield bashed me once! I didn't know that was something people actually did!

All in all, I was struggling. My momentary confidence had washed away completely and I was left wishing I'd found a way to block out Liz that didn't involve me fighting you alone.

And then Arthur jumped in. Literally leapt through the flames to join the fight. "What, Light," he said with a grin, "you thought you were the only one who wanted in on this?" Now obviously he's a Fire type too, he's resistant, but it was still gosh darn impressive to see him literally go through fire and flame to get to you.

I don't really grin so much anymore, weird chandelier body and all, but I like to think I got across that I was returning the sentiment. "Glad you're here," I replied. "They don't stand a chance now!"

You laughed, unsurprisingly. "Sorry, didn't I beat you, like, two minutes ago?"

"Ehh, who's counting?" Arthur asked this, of course, as he literally waved your comment off.

You smiled then. "Well, I guess I can just beat you again. No big deal."
***

I'm going to take a break from my recap (which I've been writing, bit by bit, for the last four days now without going into much more than the straight facts) to talk about how I was feeling about you in that moment. And, I hope you don't mind, it's going to get a bit metaphorical.

I felt like I was in a dark forest looking for the sun. Every now and then I'd see a ray of light shoot through the trees, and it would give me hope that its source wouldn't be too far behind, but I'd always end up back in the dark. At the risk of making my explanation more explicit than strictly necessary: the forest is the situation we were in, and the light is how I remember you. There were times during that fight where I looked at you and I had no idea who you were. You were just this guy who wanted to hurt me and my friends, nothing more, and I wondered if the real you even still existed.

Now, at the time I didn't know for sure how much they'd corrupted you. Yes, Esk had told me it was more like influencing thoughts than actually taking you over, but that still didn't really give me a gauge for how deep that influence went. Of course I got some clues— from how Liz talked about you, from our previous encounter. And of course I'd promised to save you several times, save whatever part of you I could find in there. But I really needed to see it for myself to know this one, immutable fact: the version of you that I fell in love with all that time ago was still there. Because, see, sometimes I didn't know who you were but other times were different. Other times, like when you smiled at Arthur, told him you could beat him a second time, I saw flashes to exactly who you used to be. Confident in a way that made people believe in you. Absolutely ready to rise to the occasion of any challenge and have fun in doing so. That part of you was right there, in glimpses, and it was shining as bright as ever. It didn't matter that I wasn't in love with it anymore, could never be in love with it again. Because it was still the part of you that was my best friend, and it was still the part of you that I'd promised to save, and it was right there in front of me. And that was enough to steel my resolve tenfold.

I said at the top of this group of letters that you knew what happened next, but I suppose that wasn't entirely true. You can't have known what Arthur and I talked about in our heads, just seconds before our final confrontation. I started, of course: "Hey. I wanted to tell you something before we go any further here."

Arthur turned and smirked at me, and then he just said it. "You're sorry. I know."

In my head I laughed. "I've been trying to tell you that for the longest time. It's just that what I did to you was so unspeakably awful, honestly, and I had no idea how to even begin apologizing for it."

"It was." A pause. "I get it, though. You did it for Philly, for your family. And really, I might've done the same thing. He's worth protecting."

It was time to tell him everything. "That's part of it, but there's more. I did it just for me, too. For a million reasons, I attacked you like that for my own sake."

"Yeah, I know that too. I think we were both out to prove ourselves, weren't we?"

"Prove ourselves to ourselves, yeah. And my way of doing that almost killed you."

"Yeah, well. Philly's got me trying out the whole 'forgiveness' thing, so you got lucky on this one."

I chuckled, still inside my head. Again, under normal circumstances we wouldn't have had time in the moment to have this conversation, but telepathy is a magical thing. That said, there was still a time limit, and it was clear we needed to wrap it up. "Okay Arthur," I flew one last thought over to him, "what do you say we take that Aegislash out together?"

"I can get behind that," he replied. "Let's show him how wrong he was to cut us out."

You know what's funny? Arthur probably knows what I went through with you more than anyone else. The one guy who I really could have talked to about you, about what you did to both of us, and immediately I tried to push him away. I really need to make up for lost time with him later.

You charged us, and our fire mixed together as it shot towards you. This was it. Final attack. Together, Arthur and I would save you.

Light

Day 564

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I'd been hoping it wasn't really you. Yes, I know what I said in the last letter, but still. I had it so clear in my head: I'd overwhelm Aegislash, slam down on them with overwhelming force enough to knock them out, and the second I did the spell would be broken. You'd get up off the ground looking confused, tail scratching your head, saying "Oogh… where am I?" or some such. I'd come over to you and tell you it's me, it's Light, I saved you from the terrible ghost that took advantage of you.

And as Aegislash fell to the ground, definitively unconscious by way of a constant, overwhelming stream of fire, you did get up. But you weren't confused in the slightest; you were angry. And instead of being excited to see me again, to see your friend, you just sneered. "What," you asked, "you thought I'd be grateful for this? You really thought I would ever do something I didn't want to do?"

And there it was. Exactly as I'd feared, exactly as Esk had told me: the person in front of me wasn't some hypnotized puppet. He's just who you are now. He is you.

Arthur wasn't having it: "Come on, Ace, we beat you. Give up on the power trip already."

"You beat me? Really? From where I'm standing it looks like you've defeated my compatriots, but I'm still ready to go."

I gave it my best shot: "Ace, why are you still fighting us? What are you hoping to gain from this?"

You smiled then, but it wasn't a reassuring smile. In fact, I'd say it was pretty darn sinister. "Honestly? I just think I'm better than you."

You were making it really, really hard to want to save you. "That's really all you have to say to us?" I asked this a little desperately, admittedly, hoping to pull something new out of you. "Where's the guy I knew back home, huh? The guy who always had time to look behind him to make sure I was still following?"

"Oh, the guy you fell in love with huh?" Oh. Great. We're doing this now. "Yeah, I read the letters. He left, Light— heck, you saw him off! You admitted yourself that you were too weak to go with him, and he had no choice but to leave you in the dust. And really, can you blame him? Look at you now! So desperate to save the person you thought you knew you even brought along the guy whose soul you almost swallowed whole just a few months ago. By the way, Arthur, teaming up with the guy who tried to kill you? That's desperate even by your standards."

I could see the flame on Arthur's tail flare up in anger. I could also see the flames of my Fire Spin dying down— Liz was seconds away from being able to get in, and when she did she'd go straight for the Aegislash on the ground. I only had time to fix one problem. So I made the call: "Arthur, he's just trying to rile you up. We're friends now."

"I know, Light, I'm fine—"

You couldn't even let him finish that thought, could you? "Hah, you're friends now? You guys are cute, really. You really think that'll last two seconds after you don't have a common enemy?"

Okay, now I was the one getting mad. "Yeah, and we don't have to prove ourselves to you! Are you gonna shut up and fight or what?"

And then several things happened at once. You went for us, charging in with a grin. Arthur and I readied ourselves, half a second away from blasting fire at you. And, of course, Liz somersaulted over the dying flames and immediately grabbed the sword and shield.

You stopped and turned. "Hey, Liz," you started in a much, much more timid tone. Like concerningly timid. "I don't think you want to do that. If they wake up—"

"That's enough out of you, traitor!" She shouted your way and pointed your own sword at you. It's time I get my revenge! An eye for an eye sounds reasonable, yeah?"

I'm gonna be honest, Ace, I think in the moment she did mean that literally. Not to put too fine a point on it, but you did stab her eye and all. Luckily for you, she didn't get a chance to follow up on that threat. Unluckily for the rest of us, that was because Aegislash woke up.

It's just like mine, it's not physical. You can't see it or really sense it at all, at least not conventionally. Still though, I could feel it. Maybe it's my species, maybe it's my familiarity with the process, but I knew in an instant that they were taking her soul. I shouted over: "Liz, throw it away!" and she was one step ahead of me, tossing both sword and shield down to the ground— except they'd already wrapped their ribbons around her, and they just floated back into her arms. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no.

"There's no way I'm letting anyone take her away from me too!" A streak of blue and I was instantly at ease. Hypatia rocketed in, scalchops a blur as she took Aegislash on one-on one. This wasn't like the last time; there was ferocity here. Enough for Aegislash to be forced to relinquish their hold on Liz, to be pushed back. The enemy at bay, I went to check on Liz as quickly as I could. To my immense relief, she was fine— but as she bent down and started to pant I also knew that they'd already gotten what they wanted. Not enough to hurt her permanently, thank goodness, but enough at least to restore themselves to full strength.

Aegislash, having had enough of that, simply floated back to you. Arthur, Hypatia, and I tensed, just as everyone else joined us from behind. Violet, Philly, Ari, Flare— they all readied themselves to fight right alongside us. Alongside me. And now that everyone was together in one united front, how could we lose?

Suddenly, a voice in my head. Well, I say that, but really it was ten, a hundred, a thousand? An unknowable number of voices spoke to me, all saying the same words simultaneously: "Young flame, you do not yet know the depths of our power. Cease this squabble before we are forced to show you."

Oh, they were insufferable immediately. I decided on, honestly, a little bit of sass: "You sure you don't wanna tell that to your best buddy over there? He could stop this easily if he just backed off."

And then came the sensation that all of those countless voices were simultaneously rolling their eyes at me. The only thing I have to say about that is that Violet's roll was still stronger. "He has taken to our desires of conquest perhaps more eagerly than necessary. We do not wish for a fight with you."

"Oh, yeah? What do you wish for, then?"

"The perfect kingdom."

Light

Day 565

The fight slowed to a stop, and we all came together to at least hear Aegislash out. Not without some convincing, mind you— Liz glowered constantly, despite feeling so harried she had to lean on her sword, and it was Flare actually who suggested we ignore their calls for parlay and keep fighting, just in case it was a trap. I can't say I fully disagreed with her reasoning, especially considering your track record, but after you yourself told me you'd be willing to talk to us I knew I couldn't lose this chance."

I started the conversation: "So. After all this, you don't want to fight us?"

"That's correct," the other ghost replied. While my words were audible, their words were in our heads. "Now that all of you are here and willing to listen, we plan to settle this conflict once and for all. In addition, we wish to get all of you on our side for the challenges to come."

"Hah!" I laughed at that. "So this is, what, a recruitment mission? Ace, you told us to come fight you just so these guys could get us to join their crappy ghost cult?"

"He was not at that point aware of our plans, Light, nor were we of his. Despite what you may have assumed, our connection does not give us full access to each other."

"Yeah," you jumped in, "and if I'd known about this plan I would've vetoed it. We don't need them; they're too weak." Okay, Ace, that narrative was officially getting old.

"Please be silent as we explain our plan." Well hey, apparently the voices thought it was getting old too. "Light, we know of your journey. We know the powers gifted to you from birth turned themselves against you, and that you've spent your time since fighting them. This we understand, and we sympathize." And honestly I have to hand it to them, they were doing better than you at acknowledging my grief. "We are also aware of our reputation in the world at large. Our kind are often said to have the power to foretell kingly figures, marking them as the next leaders in their societies. This is only partially true. We choose those we see potential in, yes, but in our experience it is actually our influence that allows them to become such leaders in the first place."

I suppose that distinction was important to them— it wasn't, particularly, to me. They caused you to turn into this, this weird caricature of a villain who's obsessed with the vague ideal of strength even when it serves to benefit absolutely no one. Whether they were the genesis of that quality in you or simply brought it out of you, it didn't make any real difference. "Alright, sure," I said, figuring I'd give them just enough to at least think that I was giving whatever their offer was going to be a fair shot. So you've chosen Ace and he's proven himself to be a leader up to your standards. Are you going to tell me what it's all for?"

"Certainly. We seek the perfect kingdom."

That again. I waited. Surely, pretentiousness aside, they can't have thought of that as a suitable explanation? Especially after having already said the exact same thing? I'd just have to wait a few more seconds before one of you would say something, surely. Yep, just a little bit longer—

I assure you, Violet's eventual sigh was not in any way exaggerated. "Alright," she asked with a tired voice, "what's the perfect kingdom?"

"An astute question!" Said the Aegislash, as if there was any other question we could ask. "King, would you care to explain?"

You smirked, I groaned. It was clear from the start that their attention had gone to your head, but this was something else. "The perfect kingdom means a world without conflict. A world where no one person or Pokémon is able to hurt another. A utopian world, all united under a single king."

Liz glared, then replied: "That would be you, I'm guessing?"

"That's right!" You grinned in a way that did absolutely nothing to put me at ease. "It's what Aegislash has done for generations, build a kingdom dedicated to prosperity. And the best part? I'm the center. I'm who everyone's gonna look up to. We'll fight who we need to to get to the top, then everyone below will follow my lead."

We all paused. Someone was going to have to say it, but who would it be? As it turns out, Philly: "Dude, everyone hates you right now. No one's gonna look up to you."

Something about the way my tiny, tiny friend casually, effortlessly took the wind out of your sails was, honestly, immensely enjoyable to me. So much so, in fact, that I laughed. And then Violet laughed. Then Ari, then Flare, then suddenly everyone was laughing, even Liz. And just like that the tension was all but gone. Oh sure, we knew we might have to fight you again, and there was no guarantee we'd even beat you if we did, but Philly's blunt comment reminded us of something very important, something we'd all completely forgotten. Brace yourself for this one, because it's a bit of a revelation: this was supposed to be fun.

Remember when I said Violet and I were going on an adventure together? Remember how happy I sounded? Remember when I talked about our crew, my new family, and how happy they made me? There's plenty of space for seriousness in this story, don't you worry about that. Doom and gloom for miles, especially with me telling it. But there we were: everyone I cared about, together at last. Circumstances aside, how could I not be happy about that? In that one tiny little snippet of a moment, I realized just how close we were to my goal. To the future I'd longed for since this whole thing started. All I had to do to arrive at my destination was to reach out and grab you.

You were ranting about something, about how you'd prove us all wrong or how our opinion didn't mean anything anyway. I cut you off: "Ace. Come home with us."

You sputtered to a stop and then turned to me, legitimately incredulous. "Come home with— Light, did you really just tell me to come home with you? We've made it this far and you still think that's an option?"

My confidence did not waver for even a second. "I do. You're not so far gone that we can't pull you back."

You started to laugh. It was the laugh of someone met with something so inherently ridiculous to them that they could not possibly process it in any other way. "I'm not so far gone? Light, I'm sorry, did you forget? I tried to kill you a month ago! I pushed every single teammate out of my way to get to where I am now, alienated them because I knew they couldn't handle doing what has to be done."

"Oh, and it has to be done?" This one, actually, from Violet.

"Of course it has to be done! Can't you see what kind of world this is? The violence inherent in this place? A world that allows powers like that—" and here you pointed your tails at myself and Ari— "and sits in wait for them to be inevitably abused? How can you sit idly by in a world like that?"

"Who says we're sitting idly?" Ari. I really, really like Ari when he's angry. "Our clan has made mistakes, I'll be the first to admit that. Like Light, there are times in which I wish I didn't have these powers at all. But we do have these powers, and no amount of wishing is going to change that fact. The best we can do is to make the most of what we have, and that's just what we've done. What, the thought of someone stealing your soul is too scary for you? I'll point you to the fact that prior to Light no member of our line had taken a full soul in the last 500 years. You think Light proves we're dangerous? Universally he's called the tower's worst mistake, and even now we're thinking of ways to prevent such a thing in the future."

You had about three seconds to respond! He gave you that much time to form your rebuttal! But you had nothing, and Ari had everything. "You still think we're dangerous, inherently, just because of something we came into this world with? You still think we could endanger you? Well, the very fact that you're here talking now should put those worries to rest! You know, given how either of us could have ended you in an instant if we'd had half the mind to. Gosh, you talk about wanting to govern this whole world and you can't even see how much we already do to keep ourselves in check. Put your faith in someone other than yourself for once, sheesh."

Silence. Silence. Silence. Then, Flare: "Yeah, yep, that right there is why I'm in love with him."

You were faltering. "I—" you started, trying to come up with something, "I can't trust anyone else. Aegislash told me I was the only one who could do it."

Hypatia, rolling her eyes: "Oh, and what do they know? I saw the tapestries. They came from a time when war was just a fact of life, of course they think they need a king to put a stop to that. But that's just not how the world is now! There's still pain, there's still suffering— but it's not the kind any one Pokémon should have to carry alone." She had a few layers on that one, but I knew what she meant. Her past— the death of her trainer, the breakup of her team— these awful things that had happened to her were not hers to carry on her own anymore. Not since she became our family.

Aegislash finally decided it was their turn to speak. "You mock us?" They asked this with a tone that suggested they couldn't believe they were being challenged. "You question our methods?"

"They're questioning their necessity." And that came from you. Quiet, reserved. Thinking.

I don't know if the others felt it, but in a second the air was tense again. "King," they said slowly. "You're not actually considering their offer, are you?"

I've honestly never seen you so quiet. Finally, tentatively: "Don't they have a point, though? You told me this was the only way to make the world a better place, but are you sure we need to be the ones that do that? All on our own?"

The ghosts scoffed. "Of course we are. This world has been without our guidance for far too long as it is. What would you have us do, wait for someone else to fix this world's problems? Hah! Did you forget we are kings? Did you forget this is our duty to the world?"

"No, I didn't." Was it me, or did it sound like you had stopped wavering quite as much? "I know you think we have to do this, that it's our duty to do this. But is it? What makes us any more qualified to rule than them? You told me I had 'the qualities of a king,' but what does that mean?"

They spoke slowly, purposefully. "It means that we made a mistake. We see now that our faith in you was misplaced." Suddenly pure, unbridled anger washed over us like a heatwave. To say it was unsettling would be an understatement: it was so malevolent that we all readied ourselves to fight.

But you were calm. "So, this is it? I'm so expendable to you that you'd abandon me at the first sign of conflict?"

"Who said anything about expendable?" Certainly this next part must have been as unsettling for you as it was for me: the sound of a thousand voices laughing.

I guessed their intent a second too late to act. You'd think I would have been faster, it being the second time they tried this tactic, but I just wasn't fast enough. They wrapped their ribbons around you, their plan to suck your soul inside of them as they do all their former hosts, and I could do nothing but watch. I could only think that I was too late.

"Hands off my first mate!" A great clang ran out as her sword struck them once, twice, three times, and with the fourth mighty blow Liz forced them off of you. The instant they were a safe distance away Arthur was on them with a great, titanic stream of fire. Just one more instant later, three more sources of fire joined him: myself, Ari, and Flare. Four streams of fire against a Steel type ought to be enough, right? As it turns out, yes! Apologies to our short-ranged combatants, but we cooked them good with that solid, sustained attack. They were down.

'Wait,' I thought to myself. The realization hit me slowly. 'Wait, yeah, they're down. They're actually down. And he's not fighting us.' I turned suddenly, turned to face you. You, stunned by what had just happened, turned towards me with your mouth open and made eye contact.

"You all," you started in a whisper, like saying it louder would stop it from being real. "You saved me. After everything I did to you, you saved me."

"Of course we did, Ace. Didn't I tell you I was going to?"

Light

I See Them Every Day

I didn't even get to strike the final blow or anything! Man, I'm so mad!

Okay, I'm not really that mad. Still, that was it? I guess I really need to get stronger if I wanna keep up.

Oh, right, some context. Well, basically, we had our big fight. The short version is we won. We even got to save Ace! He's just kind of, like, here now. It's weird, and still a little bit scary, but if Light says it's okay then I'm sure it's fine.

Seeing Light there, in that moment, I figured it out. Who I wanna be is the guy who saves and protects his friends, just like Light. Except, in my case, that's not necessarily a physical charge. See, everybody here is more important to me than I could possibly say. They're also all, in a mental sense, unbelievably exhausted. We've all been through so much, and it can be tough under the best of circumstances. That's where I come in! I'm just going to make sure everyone's doing alright. Not, like, a therapist— I don't especially think they let small mushrooms into college— but, y'know. I want to be that shoulder to cry on, the friend you can rely on to help you through a hard time just by being there for you when you need him. It's what they all are for me already, subconsciously or not, so it only makes sense that I pay them back.

I'm starting with Arthur. He tells me he's okay, but I know he has no idea how to approach Ace moving forward. It's gonna take him some time to find the answer to that. Luckily, though, I've got just the thing: we've got a mission. The other members of Ace's mutiny are still out there, and they don't know what happened yet. So, it's up to us to go find them and tell them! From there, they'll be able to decide for themselves if they want to have anything to do with him or not. Decide if they want to apologize to Liz, too. It'll be just like our last mission, except this time there's no chance of failure.

It'll be just the two of us again, too. Everybody else has got their own stuff going on. Honestly? I don't mind. Alone time with Arthur is nice. He makes me feel… older? Stronger? Like I can actually do the things I said I was gonna do just now. He believes in me, I guess is what I want to say. I believe in him, too. We'll meet back up with everyone eventually, but for now?

Arthur and I are going on an adventure together.

Philly!

It's Been Some Time

I'm glad I haven't been able to send any of these letters to you yet because, looking back, you probably would've thrown yourself into a panic attack if you saw the last one without seeing this one. Sorry about that!

In short: we won. It was a hard-fought battle with more than its fair share of close calls, but we did exactly what we set out to do. The sword ghost is taken care of, and Ace has joined the group. Well, 'joined' is a strong word. He's here, and he's talking to us, but we're still learning to trust him.

Liz finally came to her senses, thank goodness. It took Aegislash nearly killing her for her to realize it, but she finally figured out she doesn't need to prove anything to me or to the rest of the crew. I'm still a little mad, so I haven't fully taken her back yet, but it's only a matter of time. I can't stay mad at that face forever.

What else do I need to say? Philly and Arthur are going back out there alone, trying to find Arthur's other crewmates. It's interesting that Arthur could have taken anyone, or even gone alone, but he chose Philly again. They must have gotten really close.

Oh, I met some more of Liz and Light's friends. Well, friend really. His name is Ari, and he brought along a newbie named Flare. Ari's another Lampent, and he was all bright and bouncy movements as he introduced himself with genuine enthusiasm. After mostly knowing Lampent through Light— driven, but always operating at a minimum of 20% melancholy— the difference was pretty jarring. Oh, but then there was Flare. Flare was great. She takes exactly zero crap from anyone, including her boyfriend, but that's not to say she's mean or off-putting. Actually, she's just someone who's plain fun to be around. We had the chance to break in our friendship with a couple of battles, and I'm happy to say she's fun to fight too. I hope I get to see both of them again. They both already went back to the tower, see, with Light too. They said they had some sort of mission there that they needed Light's help on. I didn't really get much in the way of details; I'll have to ask Light when I get back.

Oh. Also. You know, no big deal, but they knew Archimedes. They'd actually left him accidentally in their rush to get down here and help. Which meant I knew where he was, and he wasn't more than a few days away.

I did not try to find him.

What's done is done. I could find him, hope that he'd tell me he was sorry, and then what? We'd be friends again? He'd join the crew and sail with us? Maybe that sort of thing works for Liz, but it doesn't for me. I can't just ignore what he did to me, to all of us. When we were at our lowest point, when the one thing we had was each other, he chose ego over family and split us apart ruthlessly. All so, what, he could 'honor our trainer's legacy?' So he could fight everything that moves in hopes of becoming someone our trainer could be proud of, as if he wasn't already? I'm not allowing myself to give him a second chance, not yet. Oh, I want to. Believe me, I want to.

But I have a new family now, and I don't need him anymore. He made his choice, and I made mine. I only hope that the rest of the team has found what I have, you most of all. I feel like you have by now. In fact, I'm almost sure of it. And in that case, I need to give you one very important piece of advice: hold on to them. Treasure them, protect them, put your all into loving them, because you never know when something will try to tear you apart from them. They love you, and that's not as common a thing as you might think. Whatever you do, wherever you go, make sure you love them back.

Eh, I probably didn't actually need to tell you that. You're a smart kid, I bet you knew that sooner than I did.

I'm moving on; we've got places to be. In fact, we're already on the move: me, Liz, and Ace. What we saw in those ruins, the world or the time or whatever it was we found up those stairs, the thought of it was irresistible. I have to know more. To think that such a wild, crazy thing was just waiting for us to find it… I think I understand Liz a bit more. It's the sort of thing she's been looking for all this time, and now it's the sort of thing I'm looking for. Pure, untapped adventure.

You're gonna do great, kid. And I'm gonna do great too.

Hyp

Day 566

I've almost said everything I need to say. This is my second-to-last letter.

It took awhile for you to come around even to eat with us, let alone talk. But you did, and when you did you asked a lot of questions. You asked Liz why she saved you, after how much she especially wanted to take you down. Her response was uncharacteristically cryptic: "I realized I wasn't thinking about what was really important." But when she turned to Hypatia and gave her a small smile, it was pretty easy to figure out what she meant. You asked me why I never gave up on you, even after everything, and I gave the best answer I had: that was simply never an option. You smiled at that, and this time it was the smile of someone who felt less worried than he had been for a very long time.

Some important news regarding the structure of these letters: Philly and Hypatia both came to me independently, letting me know that they'd written down their parts of the journey when they were separated from me. Hypatia made copies, actually, so that her letters could be sent to their intended recipient, but Philly was fine with me using the originals. Combined with the letters you returned to me and the ones I hadn't sent, that means I have the whole picture here. All of the puzzle pieces. They're in order now, and from now on anyone reading these letters will have the whole story.

Ari approached me not long after the fight was over, said he needed my help. Flare's a bit of a special case soul-wise, apparently. More specifically, she has seven of them at the same time. Yeah. Even if you're not a ghost, I think you can intuit how monumental that is. Their plan from the start had been going to the tower to help her figure things out, and they'd just gotten sidetracked by us at the last minute. He came to help us for my sake, of course, but it was actually for Flare too: Ari was sure there'd be a vote about what to do about her, and he wanted my voice included. Though he tried to put on a brave face, he was obviously worried. In an instant I knew that I had to go with him, and so I went. That suited me just fine: I was going back to the tower anyway.

It less suited the rest of the crew. Hypatia was practically jumping at the prospects of finding the place she and Liz had found again and exploring it properly this time (I'd describe what she told me, but now that these are all together I imagine you could just read about it in her letters instead). Philly and Arthur had already left to find the remnants of Ace's crew, but the whole rest of the crew was set on going to this place as soon as possible, though they did give me the courtesy of asking if they should wait for me. And in the end? I told everyone to go without me. Because now that we're here? Now that everyone's together? Well gosh, we have a whole lifetime for adventure ahead of us. I think I can afford to miss the first of many!

Even Violet went with you, which was tough. At first she didn't want to go, and maybe I didn't want her to go either. But the tower's not as scary now as it was, and I had Ari and Flare with me to watch my back. I thought I'd let her go have fun for a change instead of just worrying after me. She laughed when I told her that, then said this: "You know I'm still gonna worry, right?"

Of course I did. That worry was how I made it through any of this. And here, in the end, she's still found a way to keep caring about me despite my mistakes. Among many, many other things, I adore her for that.

When we approached the tower, Esk was waiting for us. Immediately, I handed them Aegislash.
***

Right, so. That.

At the end of the battle, while we were all more or less stunned and not doing much of anything, I was thinking. I knew Aegislash was down for the count, but how long they would stay that way was anyone's guess. We needed a plan for what we were going to do when they woke up before they, you know, woke up. So I thought some more. I thought about what Esk would do with them, seeing as I'd gone to the tower to get advice on how to handle them in the first place. And as I did, I heard a familiar voice in my head: "You rang?"

Evolution did more than just make me stronger, it seems. I can feel every soul around me now like it's nothing. And when I say 'around me,' I mean 'a few cities over.' Can use my telepathy just as far, too, as I found out by accidentally contacting Esk. Now, do you know what I felt in that moment? Trepidation at the prospect of having that much more power at my disposal? Fear accompanying the revelation that others have always been able to exert this much influence over the world? No, actually. What I felt was excitement. My powers are getting better and better! I'm able to do so much that I wasn't able to before! Imagine what I'll be able to see now. Imagine who I'll be able to help because my powers tipped me off! For the first time in my entire life, these powers feel like a positive. I finally understand why Ari likes being this species so much. Without the existential dread, without the constant fear, I've gotta say: I kinda like that I can do this! I know, I know, who am I and what have I done with Light?

Anyway, after the initial surprise subsided I told Esk what was up. They told me that if I focused on Aegislash, I'd be able not only to feel the spirits inside of them but to tell whether they were dormant, too. Oh, sorry to jump in with more ghost explanations at the 11th hour, but that revelation was actually a pretty big deal. See, ghost souls aren't like the souls of everyone else. They're faint, distant, subtle. The energy of a person's body amplifies that of their soul, giving them the strength I'm used to seeing. That's actually why we need to absorb souls in the first place— without a proper body to supply our souls with the energy we need, we have to find said energy from other sources. It's the same for Aegislash: when ready to change hosts they absorb all that they can of the previous host's energy, including the very essence of their soul, so they can keep themselves going.

Put more plainly, ghost souls naturally have less substance. You simply can't feel the soul of a ghost like you can feel the soul of someone else. Or at least that's what I thought until now. Now, with this body, everything's different. Where I once saw Ari's soul as a blank void, so opposed to his constant brightness, now I can see a beam of yellow, stretching itself so thin to fill up just as much of the world as it can with his energy. I can't see my own, but at least now I know it's here. See, it's a lot better than before, but I'm still trying to fully come to grips with the implications that come with this form. Knowing I have a soul just like everyone else helps. It makes me feel a bit more normal.

Okay, I've officially gotten my Ari out. Back to what I was explaining. Aegislash expected to get more energy than they did— either from you, from Liz, or from someone else. And, unlike me, they need physical contact to take energy from anyone. Between the damage from our attacks and their lack of energy they were exhausted. And so, just like Esk thought, they began to hibernate. This is almost definitely what they were doing down in those ruins when you first found them— sleeping, essentially, until someone they could use came along. They were waiting for the same thing now, and so the choice became what to do with them. We didn't want to completely imprison them, necessarily, but we couldn't in good conscience leave them out in the open for any poor soul to find. Eventually, Esk decided the tower would take responsibility for them. The idea there is that the perspectives of a few ghosts might be able to help Aegislash see things differently. Who knows, maybe someday they could even understand where we were coming from. There's a chance even they could be our friends.

We'll see. For now, they're out of our hands.
***

Ari's big vote was a bit of a non-starter. He was convinced they'd see Flare as a threat just like they'd seen me as a threat, and he was surprisingly intense about it. There was an impassioned speech and everything, going on and on about how we needed to learn from our mistakes (me) and do what was best for the world before doing what was best for ourselves. I think he really thought he was fighting an uphill battle.

And then the results of the vote came in, and the 'help her' option won by a landslide. He'd underestimated us. And the look on Flare's face, wow. I think she needed that. I think she needed that a lot.

Unfortunately, though, voting to help does not equate to actually helping. Not because the council was unwilling, mind you, but because they actually just did not have much information at all on the hows or whys of her existence. Apparently even they have their limits, who knew?

They were disappointed, obviously, and there was nothing much I could do for them. But they'll be okay. Next to me and Violet, I've never met a couple more meant to be together than those two (and yes, there may in fact be some bias in that sentence). They've left the tower now, off to wherever their adventure takes them next, but we'll see each other again soon enough. They're our crew just as much as anyone else.

And with their departure, my time at the tower was almost done. So, too, is this letter almost done. I already know what I'm going to write, and I know I'm not going to put any commentary after the fact, so this section is my farewell. But before I go I have, as usual, a few things to say.

To Ace: don't think you're not one of us. Hurt feelings heal with hard work and good intentions. If you want our forgiveness, all you have to do is come and get it.

To anyone else reading this: I've already said it, but I'll say it again: thank you. At the start of this journey, the thought of anyone at all caring about me was impossible. Then came Violet, then all the rest, each and every one of them a light for me now as I light up for them in turn. If I've made you want that— if I've made you want to light up for others, want to reach out and help the people you love— then I've done all I could ever hope to do.

And, finally, to me: you have a family who loves you with all their soul. Don't ever, ever take that for granted, and be for them everything you know they are for you.

Okay, that's it. That's all I had to say. There's just one more conversation I have to tell you, and then I'm out of here.

Here it goes.

Light

Day 567

"I figured it out, Sky. It wasn't that you didn't talk to me the first time I was here because your plan wasn't ready. It was that you thought from the start that Esk was going to kill me."

She waited a long, long time before responding. But, finally: "Yeah. To stop you from repeating our mistakes. We both thought it was the best way— the only way."

I just gave her the longest sigh in the world. "I hated them, you know. For the longest time I hated them for what they tried to do to me, and apparently I should have hated you too. But honestly? I don't blame either of you. More than most, I know what it must've felt like to be reminded of that mistake, to want to fix it somehow. And believe me, I wish I could fix it."

"That's exactly what the plan's for, Light. Maybe it's too late to fix our mistakes, but it's not too late to prevent new ones. It's what we should have tried to so from the start: fixing the problem at its core instead of pretending you were the problem. Come on. Come with me on this. We can fix everything together."
***

Before that conversation, before I had to make that decision, before we'd even made it to the tower at all, I talked to Ari and Flare about it. Or, rather, Ari decided to talk to me about it and pulled Flare along for the ride. "Light, what the heck happened at the tower? Es— er, the councilperson was the one who told me where you were. They seemed really worried about you which is weird, you know, considering." It was pretty funny that Ari was still clinging to the rule that only the councilperson could give away their name, considering I've used Esk's name in these letters, what, how many times now? Oops.

"Yeah, you missed a lot. I guess what I need to tell you is this: Esk is a good person. They did what they did because they thought they had to."

"Just like Ace," Ari said before trailing off.

"Yeah, just like Ace." I trailed off too. This was before they'd left, too, and you were within eyesight, so I stared at you for a while. Thinking about you."

"So what I'm getting from this," Flare said, basically putting her paw down to snap us both out of our reverie and back on topic, "is that Esk will totally help us in this vote?"

"Mhm, yeah," I replied. "Them and Sky."

Ari looked confused and sounded confused: "Wait, Sky? I didn't even know that you knew Sky; what does she have to do with any of this?"

Well, I told him. I told him that she had a plan to make the tower better. That all three of us would accept the duty of council members in order to lead our species to a brighter future. Finally, after so much time wondering what his answer would be, I finally got to ask the question: "Ari. Do you want to work together with us to make the tower the sort of place we want it to be?" It came, of course, with an implicit second question attached: 'Do you think I should give up what I've found because the work is too important not to?'

"What, me? And you? Heck no!" Ari did always have such a blunt way with words. "Are you crazy? We've both got girlfriends to hug, lives to live, adventures to have! I don't know about you but I wouldn't trade that for anything!"

Flare grinned and nudged him affectionately. I laughed and said this: "Yeah, I thought you might say that."
***

So my answer was pretty obvious. "No, Sky," I said with confidence. "I'm not going to do that, and Ari isn't either."

She paused. "Because you can't trust me."

"No. It's because your plan isn't the only way we can make a difference in the world. It's not the only way we can be happy. It's not the only way you can be happy."

She wasn't sure how to respond. "Well, if you find another way for me to be happy, let me know. This idea's the only thing I've been able to get excited about for a very, very long time." She turned and looked to the side, dejected.

"As a matter of fact, I do have an idea!" She turned right back to look at me. "Esk has found a place here, in this tower, but it's never something you wanted. I know you, Sky. I've seen you look up at the clouds. I've seen how you stay outside the tower for as long as you can, thinking about what else is out there. And you know what we're doing next? We're going there. We're going wherever we want, around the world maybe, seeing as many places as we can! And you know what we're going to do in those places? We're going to help whoever needs it. We're going to work hard and leave every single place we touch better off than how we found it. You told me to come with you on a plan that keeps us all trapped and unhappy forever, just for the sake of the greater good? I'm going to work for the greater good in a way that will make me love life even more than I do now. And you know what? I think you need to come with me on this."

She laughed. She laughed a lot. And then: "Wow. Just like that?"

I nodded, serious. "Yeah, just like that. Whatever you think you're atoning for, I'm here to tell you that you're allowed to do that while you enjoy your own life, too."

She closed her eyes and thought. For a long time, actually, she thought about what I said. I let her take her time. Finally: "Ehh, I'm not sure that's something I can do. I'll think about it."

That was a yes. It might take her awhile to realize it herself, but that was a yes. I closed my eyes and nodded, satisfied, and I turned to go— and she stopped me. "Wait, Light. There's something I need to show you." Her expression was the same as always, impossible to read. I had no choice but to follow her as she floated off and down the hall, no idea what would happen next.

The second we arrived, time stopped. I heard her explanation ("After you left, I went looking…") in the background like it was barely there. I knew what this was. I knew exactly what this was. ("...They appeared together, around the same time as…") It wasn't enough for time, the whole universe paused for me in that moment as I saw. I saw two Litwick. ("I think you knew they weren't really gone, didn't you?") I did, and I would've told Sky that, but nothing mattered to me in that moment except the two beings I saw in front of me. Because I saw them, and they saw me, and their eyes were filled with nothing but love.

And then I went over and hugged my parents.

Light