Here, Have a Cookie a Pokemon Fanfiction

Walter’s POV

Walter smiled as he sat the transceiver back down on the hook and leaned back in his office chair, swiveling to the side as he slowly let loose the breath he’d been holding. Tabitha might tease him for still having this relic, but the damn thing still patched calls through just fine, and quite frankly, he missed the force of hanging up on someone, where appropriate.

Ah, truly, Wally had found some wonderful friends. Blunt, but wonderful. Honestly, Walter could appreciate that approach at this age. Looking back, it felt like he wasted so much time playing games with his late wife that could have been spent more productively. More candlelit dinners atop the Astral Plaza in Mauville, another raft ride through Pacifidlog’s Shipping Canal, a moonlit walk through the piers in Lilycove...

Yes, the direct approach truly was the best. Win or lose, at least you didn’t waste time.

Honestly, considering it took her almost dying to push through the fog of early teen romance, Walter was a bit surprised. She was the genius if she figured out that lesson in a few months. It took him a couple years to find his balls.

His research and plans almost killed and traumatized one of his nephew’s closest friends.

He pushed himself up from his mahogany desk, littered with random research papers from the last few days' test results and walked over to his safe. Let’s see, what passcode was this one? Why was he suddenly craving dessert? Oh, right. Three one four one five nine and...

Eureka.

Walter reached inside the safe and dragged out his scrapbook. He opened it to the last page and placed his hand over the image. A family photo. His wife. His son.

So many empty pages...

Just because this hit close to home didn’t mean the course could change. Far too much had been set in motion, and so many things still needed to be done. The world needed to change. The current state of affairs was untenable, especially considering the oncoming crisis the world would face.

And should this path also grant him the revenge he had been craving, well, who was he to stand in the way of fate?

They could be a bit more careful with collateral, though. Those two honestly shouldn’t have cleared the screening phase; even if they did respond rather well with the compound, they were warped before they were ever even exposed to the orb.

Walter flicked back through the years. Expanded birthday parties with Wesly and his side of the family, his nephew attempting to blow out his candles only to fall face first into the cake, Tabitha’s first day as his assistant in their old shack of a private lab...

His son bringing a cold, lonely girl in from the cold and offering her a cup of hot cocoa and a blanket after a far too harsh life.

Ah. That’s why he thought the girl was named Shizuka.

Walter gingerly snapped the book closed and put it back in his safe before reaching further in and pulling out one of the burner phones. His eyes lingered on the photo album for a short bit, until finally, he reached up and gently closed the safe. A soft click sounded as he turned and walked over towards his shelves, his eyes trained on a small black box as he pounded in a familiar number.

The line rang twice before an audible click sounded through the speaker. “Please tell me you remembered to use the burner this time?”

That was decidedly rude. “Hm, why would I need a burner for a phone call? I’m not making tea.”

“Wal-”

“I did however grab the phone from the safe like you told me too.” Walter grinned at the audible groan that sounded through the line.

“Right, good. That’s good. Are things alright in the lab? I know you’ve been having a few issues with some of the more recent test subjects.” Zinnia’s voice progressively got faster the longer she talked.

“Remember to breathe, dear. I’m fine. Don’t let my assist-”

“Code names!” Zinnia shouted.

Walter leaned away from the speaker. “We’re on a private line on burner phones, why do I... ugh, fine. Agent Caldera was referring to this pair’s penchant for finding and controlling humans, not any sort of physical threat they might have posed. I assure you, Greavard would’ve been able to handle it if anything went wrong.” He gulped down a fresh set of bile as the video the observation drones took played out through his head again. “We’re fine.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Good.” The word was spoken softly into the receiver. “I’m glad.”

“You know, you can just swing by and visit. I still have that blend of cocoa you like.” Walter smiled. “Tab-”

“Ah ah ah ah,” Zinnia said.

Walter sighed into the phone. “Agent Caldera would love to have you.” Every word felt like an assault to his higher brain function. “You do know I’m doing good to remember everyone’s regular name, right? Now you expect me to remember all the fake ones?”

“Heaphaestus-”

“And the fact that you picked that for my name doesn’t help matters!” Walter growled into the phone to the sound of giggling.

“We both know your mind is impeccable, so quit trying to downplay it.” Zinnia paused. “Agent Caldera is living proof of that, after all.”

She would mention that. “Yes, well I need to have a bit of fun here and there, and you’re avoiding the question.”

The line went quiet again. “I don’t think it’d be right of me to visit.”

Walter sighed. “Just remember the invitation is there. Regardless. I suppose I should move on to the actual reasons that I called you.” Walter let his words hang for a moment as he stood up straighter. “Are you currently on assignment?”

“I’m idle.” Zinnia spat the final word like it insulted her. “Kahuna hasn’t had anything for me to do since the runaway. You’d think he’d send his strongest agent on something other than babysitting and catching strays.”

“It’s not like much is going on. We need Archie to sow a bit more chaos if we want to sell Magma as an option for the league.” Walter sighed into the receiver. “Here’s hoping he knows where the lines are.”

“I know that, but it’s so boring,” Zinnia groaned; the sound reminiscent to a five-year-old being denied her favorite toy. “You’d think this base would have more cool shit to do, considering where it is.”

“Well, what I’m about to ask you isn’t quite that interesting, but it’ll get you out of the base. Would you be more interested in babysitting my nephew and his friends than the new recruits?” Walter asked.

“Is Wally okay?” The earlier playfulness that had highlighted Zinnia’s earlier speech disappeared.

“He’s fine, dear. Don’t worry.” Walter sighed. “His friends however, got caught up in the most recent failed run of Project Primal.” Walter let the information hang for a moment.

“Ah,” Zinnia replied. “Was-”

“Yes, it was bad.” Walter paced in front of his desk. “I don’t feel like going into specifics. Just know that the girl was recently released from the hospital.”

“Got it.” The two words came out clipped. “You know... we do have other projects if you feel the need to take a break from this one. I know-”

“This is easily the most important on the docket!” Walter felt his voice get louder as he went. “We need to understand how the orb affects those it infects, and how to counteract it if we hope to use them in the future. Our ability to manipulate those capricious entities is paramount to our survival.” Walter again felt a bit of bile rise in his throat as he remembered back to the first time someone took hold of that shining red orb. The madness, the mutations, the pain...

These foul baubles had ruined his life. They would be mastered and subjugated, no matter what.

“Of course,” Zinnia whispered into the phone. “Sorry.”

Walter winced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.” The line remained silent. “I’ll say it as many times as needed, my dear. I don’t blame you.”

“You should,” Zinnia said. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d have a family.”

“Poppycock.” Walter felt his lips pull downward. “The gods saw fit to rob me of my family, not you. They’ll pay quite dearly for that, believe me, but you share none of the blame.” Walter chuckled. “Besides, your Salamence is living proof that the Orb’s aura of influence can be fought off and controlled. I’ll crack these things, don’t worry.”

“Right,” Zinnia said quietly. “I’ll be babysitting some new trainers from afar, then?”

“Correct, there’s no one I trust more to watch over them. Hell, you might even consider this a vacation, considering where it’s at.” Walter smiled.

“Vacation?” Zinnia asked.

Walter leaned up against his desk and looked towards his globe. “My nephew’s still in Dewford. Make sure you pack a bathing suit, my dear.”

Normal POV

I glanced down at Wally’s phone and sighed. Still no call back from Eve. She didn’t know how to set up a call filter. I know she didn’t, so she should be getting these. I sighed again before typing out to call me back at this number when she had a moment, hoping she might actually check her messages at some point, and pushed myself up out of bed.

Dark skies greeted me from beyond my windows. Fuck, guess I was on the phone a lot longer than I thought. So much for getting more training knocked out today.

I stretched before leaving the room, swiping over to Wally’s saved photos. Let’s see here, do you have any...

I should stop, shouldn’t I?

I sighed before closing the folder, my eyes tracing a tall woman with long dark hair in a white lab coat before the main screen popped up. The contact book was just me being an idiot, but this felt a bit too intrusive.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket. I wasn’t about to apologize for pushing the envelope a bit with Tabitha, Wally needed to get out of his shell a bit, but I needed to not go full crazy.

Even if Wally sent us on the couple’s cruise from hell.

“Oh, good, I was about to come and get you,” Nurse Joy called out, pulling me from my musings as I entered the lobby.

I quickly walked over to the counter. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine, you were just gone for quite a while. You usually pick up your team as soon as they’re ready, so... I got a bit concerned.” Nurse Joy nodded down at the tray.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I got lost in a conversation on the phone and time got away from me.” I reached down and started placing the balls on my belt, before stopping. “Eh?”

Nurse Joy tilted her head down before wincing. “Oh, right. Your Lombre went back to the training ground we have here once he was done with treatment.”

I sighed. “Yeah, that sounds like him. Everyone’s good, then?”

Nurse Joy nodded. “The Absol was quite a bit nicer this time. Good work. Chansey only had to glare at her for a couple of seconds to get her to mind.”

A low powered, evil aura radiated from the Joy as she closed her eyes and smiled at me. The ball currently in my hand shook a few times, and I quickly snatched it back and retreated from the desk.

“Thank you again for all your help.” The words spilled from my mouth so fast I was surprised they were still coherent. The last image I had of the nurse was of her opening her eyes and tilting her head at me as I booked it.

A light exploded from my belt, and I adjusted myself to account for the weight on my shoulder.

“Took you long enough.” Emilie tapped her foot against my shoulder. “You were making fun of me over the phone, weren’t you?”

I sighed. “Emilie, I’m not going to make fun of you behind your back, that’s rude. I’d do it to your face, so I can enjoy the scandalized expressions you make.”

Emilie smiled, then frowned, then sighed. “Thank you? I think?”

“Besides, every Shonen weeb on the planet’s done that at least once. You just get bonus points for actually firing a giant fuck you beam when you do it.” I poked her in the forehead and grinned as her white skin became red, before aiming a finger gun at her. “Will you be trying the Psygun next?”

“Shut up.” Emilie pouted before turning away from me.

I smiled up at her before wincing at the cold night air. The sand between my toes felt frigid and coarse as I made my way through the beach that the center called a training ground. “If I shut up, I can’t tell you about the fun new gossip I found out while you guys were getting looked over.”

Emilie shivered before glaring at me. “You complain about me peeking in on random strangers' emotions but love to talk about other people’s business. You do see the double standard here, right?”

I winced. “Yeah, I kind of went a bit overboard too, and snooped around in Wally’s photo album. I’ll apologize when he gets out.” I sighed as a loud thunking sound met my ears. “Do you not want the gossip?”

“I didn’t say that. I was just giving you shit. I’m an unrepentant snoop, so spill.” Emilie leaned in closer to my face as the final words left her mouth.

I leaned away from the little gremlin. “Wally’s got a crush on someone at his uncle’s job. Legends above would you calm down?”

Emilie froze, before shivering slightly.

I frowned, wondering if I needed to ask May for some money to get my starter a coat. “Is the cold really-”

“Eeeeeeeee!” A horrifying screech left my starter’s lips as she started jumping up and down. Stars formed in her eyes as she gazed up at me with a smile so wide I was worried her face would split in two. “I get to play matchmaker again!”

A crack filled the night air. The two of us stopped and instantly turned our heads towards the source of the sound and I leaned back at the sight.

A training post had been snapped in half, its top section shattered and broken. Joern glared at the offending piece of wood as he took in deep, haggard breaths, his arm glowing black in the dimly lit clearing under the pale night sky.

“Well done. I’m happy to see-”

‘I didn’t do it right,’ Joern growled out as he shifted his glare from the post to me. ‘I just got mad and put more oomph into that swing than I should have.’

I winced. “Right, sorry.”

Emilie tilted her head. “Are you sure you didn’t do it right? That looks a lot like how the video described Knock Off.”

Joern lifted himself up as the black aura faded from his outstretched fist. ‘I already know Nuzleaf would take one look at that and laugh, the prick.’

I leaned back with widened eyes. Honestly, this whole scene felt weird. Out of all of us, Joern was the most levelheaded. “Are you alright?”

Joern sighed. ‘I’m fine, promise. It’s just,’ Joern looked down, glaring at the splintered remains of the training post. ‘The head space this move puts me in isn’t the best.’

“Do you want to stop? We can switch to something else if you want. Honestly, we almost took it down the first time, we’ll probably crush the gym on our next-”

‘I want to master this.’ Joern cut me off with a steeled gaze, his face blank and shadowed as he lifted his arm up and clenched his fist. ‘Having a trump card against a Psychic opponent... I need something like that.’

“Not planning on taking me out at some point, are you?” Emilie joked.

Joern sighed, before grinning malevolently at my starter.

“Are you?” Emilie’s tone was no longer joking.

I walked forward and bumped Joern in the forehead. “Don’t pretend to plot Emilie’s demise. She gets paranoid and then I’m up half the night telling her to calm down.”

Joern rubbed his head. ‘Killjoy.’

“Now then, walk me through the process on how the hell you use a dark type move. I’m... not really that knowledgeable on the subject.” I glanced down at the pocket that held my ‘pokedex’ with a glare.

Joern shuffled awkwardly in place, looking everywhere but my face. ‘In order to call on the void, I need to think of negative thoughts while channeling an intent to harm. I push the attack out by overcoming those negative thoughts.’

“Uhhhhh-huh.” I dragged the word out as I inched closer towards the retreating grass type, his face pulled into a wince as I brought my arm up and pulled him into a noogie.

“Just so we’re clear, when exactly were you going to tell me you were torturing yourself to channel your new mojo!” I all but shouted into his ear.

‘Not the leaf, not the leaf! You have no idea how much that chafes!’ Joern cried out, his words muffled against my arm.

A new light exploded from my belt, and Joern hopped away instantly as I reached down and grabbed for the poke ball the second the white light faded to white fur. Joern instantly jumped in front of me.

A grin pulled at Sol’s lips, but her eyes looked bored as she took in our appearance. ‘Huh, chilly reception. Not as down to sing kumbayah around the campfire with me as you were the halfwit sword?’

‘You didn’t lock her ball again!’ Emilie hissed in my mind.

‘I didn’t feel the need,’ I replied, before swallowing and focusing my gaze on the Sol. “Well, running down the list, you did storm off, call me a fraud, attack one of my Pokémon-”

‘And that’s just today,’ Joern hissed. ‘You’ll forgive us if we don’t think you’re on the up and up.’

Sol sighed, her lips pulling down as she glanced towards another of my poke balls. She waited for a second, only for nothing to happen. ‘Yeah, that’s fair.’

I couldn’t tell if she was talking to me. “Did you want something?”

Sol glanced up towards me before glaring at Joern. ‘Who taught you how to channel the void?’

Joern remained tight lipped, his gaze stony as he dug his foot into the sand.

Sol sighed. ‘Meh, doesn’t really matter too much. He was a shit instructor.’

‘Feh, I could have told you that. Idiot’s got a few screws loose.’ Joern chuckled before throwing both hands over his mouth, his eyes wide as he resumed his stance and sent a glare back towards Sol.

‘Oh no, the demon child made me laugh, whatever will I do?’ Sol grinned as she took a couple steps forward.

Joern lifted both his hands up and charged a single ball of water between his palms. ‘Back off.’

Sol looked up towards the moon and groaned. ‘My ball’s been unlocked for forever, if I wanted to do something, I would have done it by now.’

“That’s just what you want us to think.” Emilie narrowed her eyes.

I groaned as my world view well and truly shattered. The title ‘trainer’ may as well just be read as fucking babysitter. “For fuck’s sake, Emilie, Joern calm down. Sol, quit being a smart ass and spit it out already!”

Sol leaned back with wide eyes, before looking towards the ground with a frown. Joern shot me a look of abject betrayal as Emilie face palmed before lifting her hands up. A sand wall formed around me, stopping just around my neck. I glared at my starter who just smiled sweetly at me.

“I’m just making sure you’re safe. Not my fault you’re way too trusting,” Emilie said.

Joern nodded along, his arms crossed.

‘Anyway,’ Sol shouted over the lot of us and looked up at me with a grin.

She had something to say about this. I know she did, Eve gets the same look when she’s pretending to be nice!

‘The idiot that taught you threw you off the deep end without teaching you how to swim. You don’t even attempt to channel the void till you have a firm grasp on your own purpose. You need a buoy, or you’ll drown.’ Sol’s horn glowed, shining a black light on her face that highlighted her sneer. She sighed as Joern once again got between me and her. She whipped her head towards the far side of the training ground.

Nothing happened.

Sol’s eyes widened as her pupils traced upwards towards her horn. A small click sounded through the area as the Absol snapped her mouth shut and glared up into the sky, the light from her horn fading.

“Performance anxiety?” Emilie grinned down at the dark type.

‘Shut up!’ Sol snarled. ‘Ugh, I don’t know why I’m bothering.’

Another light exploded from my belt, arching up and over Emilie’s makeshift sand barrier. Storm clouds briefly formed overhead before dispersing back into a clear night sky as Apollo flew up into a palm tree and glanced down at Sol.

Apollo’s stern gaze met Sol’s withering glare with confidence, and they held each other’s focus for a while under the crescent moon. Sol looked away first.

‘Who are you, and why do you fight?’ Sol asked, glancing up at Joern.

Joern paused, tilting his head to the side. ‘If you’re speaking of a guiding purpose, then my teacher explained that as well, I just don’t understand how one-’

‘Answer the damn question,’ Sol shouted.

Joern tilted his head the other way before glancing up at me, then shifting his gaze up towards Apollo. He sighed. ‘My name is Joern, and I fight for my trainer.’

I glanced toward my water type with a smile, before sighing. I really needed to get my team some more hobbies besides battles and anime, or I was going to get a lot more corny lines like that, huh?

Sol sneered. ‘Liar.’

Joern’s confused look shifted towards a glare. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Is that really all you are? Honestly? Kind of pathetic, really, if that’s the case. I asked you who you are, and you give me that lame ass answer.’ Sol sneered down at Joern.

Joern frowned, before narrowing his eyes.

Sol sighed. ‘So, to clarify, you’d be okay if I bull rushed the chibi and made her a chew toy? She’s not part of your purpose, right?’

“I’d like to see you try, dog breath!” Emilie lifted her hands up again and sand started to swirl around her.

Joern chuckled before stealing his gaze. ‘As much as I think Emilie can take care of herself, I wouldn’t let you get close.’

‘Yet not but a few minutes ago, you said with such conviction that your purpose was your trainer.’ Sol tilted her head.

‘Fine, my name is Joern, and I fight for my friends.’ Joern shot me a mischievous grin at the line.

Damn it, May. Quit telling my Pokémon about your nerdy tactical jrpgs.

‘Gag. Take this seriously, leaf,’ Sol snarled. ‘If you’re about to feed me that line, it’s no wonder you can’t use the void right. Is that ALL you are? A shield? Surely, you’re not so pathetically one note? So passive and weak?’

Joern instantly narrowed his eyes at the barb. ‘Say again, Ass Hat?’

I facepalmed. ‘Please don’t tell me I sound like that when I say that?’

Emilie just smiled at me before turning back to glare at the dark type.

Sol grinned. ‘That’s it, isn’t it. You can’t give me a good answer because you hate the answer. You’re weak. A small little tadpole far from home.’

‘Cram it,’ Joern snarled, his arms glowing black as he glared murderously at the dark type in front of us. ‘You-’

‘Would you stop barking? Hell, it’s all you do, that and brood. Can’t even break out of a tiny little ball to protect your ‘purpose.’ Are you actually going to do something for once?’ Sol smiled. ‘Then fucking do it. Quit cowering like a baby, come over here, and make me, little tadpole.’ Sol capped her rant off with a giggle.

A fucking giggle.

That’s it. “Alright, break it up, I-”

A loud, guttural yell sounded out through the clearing, and Joern moved. His body blurred through the clearing, the faint black light emanating from his arm leaving a trail as he glided across the beach.

Sol leaped back as Joern slammed his fist into the ground, the sand exploding outwards as black light carved through the clearing, the essence of the void dancing through the rising dune as it chaotically pushed outwards.

‘I said shut, the fuck, UP!’ Joern screamed. ‘My name is Joern, and I don’t need a damn reason to punt your white furred ass into oblivion. I’m the strongest damn mon in this clearing. I took a Gallade to the mat with no way to deal with his Tauros shit psychic powers and almost fought him to a draw. So go ahead. Call me weak, you pathetic waste of space. See what happens, because I. Am. Strong!’

My jaw refused to work as I stared down at my grass type with slack jawed awe. Where the fuck did that come from? Joern had two moods. Chill and mother hen. THAT didn’t happen. Ever.

The faint sound of sand slamming down into the ground brought me out of my daze and I glanced up at Emilie, who bore a very similar expression to my own, before looking back out across the beach towards Sol.

The damn thing was grinning from ear to ear.

‘Now that’s more like it. Don’t ever forget it, either.’ Sol turned around and started walking out of the clearing. ‘Your purpose is more than what you tell yourself. You’re more than just your desires and wants. You’re strong. Own that, and don’t ever forget it.’

Joern glared after the dark type, still panting heavily as she walked past the trees.

Sol casually flipped her head around and grinned at me. ‘I’m going for a midnight stroll. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to enjoy a night like this, and I intend to take advantage of it.’

I nodded dumbly as she jumped out of the clearing, barely paying attention to the sound of cracking air as my flying type disappeared from his perch after the white furred Pokémon.

Emilie teleported down next to Joern and tapped him on the leg. “You, uh... feeling better now that she’s gone.”

Joern jerked away from the new voice before glancing down. His cheeks flushed bright red. ‘I’m... I don’t know what came over me. I just snapped.’

“I think that was the goal, Joern.” I hadn’t taken my eyes off of the break in the trees Sol had gone through. “She wanted you to go off the handle to help you figure out exactly who you are.” I glanced at the crater in front of Joern and grinned. “I think it’s safe to say it worked.”

Joern flinched before turning and looking down, a small smile playing across his lips. ‘I suppose it did. She kind of just... kept saying the things that played out in my head. It was a lot easier to attack an external force than an internal one.’

Emilie huffed and glanced away. “Kind of a barbaric teaching method. Just picking away at insecurities until something snaps. I’ll never understand dark types. How the hell did she come up with something like that?”

Goosebumps ran up and down my arms as the chill in the air dipped even colder. I crossed my arms and rubbed my sides as a white wisp slowly congealed into something coherent. The white furred specter was glancing down, glaring at the small divot in front of Joern before looking away.

“I think it’s something that you learn, Emilie,” I muttered quietly.

My starter shook her head. “Yeah, well it’s stupid. Teachers are supposed to help you, not make you feel like ass.”

‘I think, in this instance, it was the correct course of action.’ Joern clenched his fist and a faint dark aura glowed in the night sky. ‘I’ll have to practice, though. I’d rather not go off the handle every time I use that move.’

I glanced back out towards the trees and grinned. Apollo was circling an area a decent distance away, and I could hear a faint call across the treetops.

“It alright if we wait on that till tomorrow morning? I think I need to have a bit of a talk with someone, and it’s already getting late.” A loud growl punctuated the end of my sentence, and I glanced down at my stomach with a blush. “And I'm a little hungry. I might have accidentally skipped dinner.”

Joern chuckled before nodding. I lifted up his ball and recalled him, before glancing up at Emilie.

“What?” she asked.

I sighed before rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Don’t what me. I’m going to have a conversation with a grumpy dark type. I need you to... not poke the bear. For once in your life.”

“I thought she was a cat?” Emilie tilted her head with a grin.

“Emilie!” I shouted. “Please? I know you don’t like her, but I think she’s trying.”

Emilie narrowed her eyes.

“I know it doesn’t look like it, but she is. It just takes a while to lose that prickliness once it settles in.” I frowned and looked away as bad memories played out in my head. “She wants to be better, so I want to help. It’s not going to happen if we call her an evil psychopath twenty four seven.”

Emilie winced, though rather than nod, she instead looked away with a pinched brow. “I don’t know if I can bring myself to be nice honestly. I don’t think she’s earned that, yet. I can, however, promise to keep my mouth shut. Will that be good enough?”

I nodded. “I’ll take what I can get.” I smiled softly at my starter. “Thanks.”

Emilie groaned. “Yeah, well. Ugh. I swear, the fairy half of my brain is fucking bipolar. I can’t tell if I owe her a debt, or if she owes us one.”

“Probably doesn’t help that she doesn’t make it easy.” I looked away and glanced at the ground as I started walking across the beach. “I guess it’s just... easier for me. I know what I’m looking at.”

Emilie glanced up at me with sad eyes. “I love your sister. At least as she is now. But it wasn’t fair to you if you had to deal with something like this when you were a kid.”

I winced. “It wasn’t fair that she lost both her parents in the span of a day.” I swallowed down a lump that formed in my throat as shouting matches started playing in my head.

“Still sucks though.” Emilie teleported back up to my shoulder.

I opened my mouth to argue more, to defend my sister before wincing at my starter’s glare. I sighed before nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, it did.”

The white furred ghost fell in step beside me, his movements not leaving tracks in the sand as he walked. He brushed up against my leg a bit and shot me a smile as I pushed past the tree line, his single good eye glowing with an ethereal haze.

Words appeared in my head of their own accord, in a voice not my own. They were barely audible and at first, I couldn’t understand the repeated whispers.

They became slightly more audible the more I focused on my visitor.

I’m sorry. You’re strong. Thank you.

I grinned before reaching down and running my hand through Absol’s transparent mane, my fingers pushing through his fur. Despite the fact that the air around me felt frigid and bare, my hands felt warm as we pushed deeper into the island.