-8-

Vera's name was called into the skies, but there was no reply.

Vincent shrugged.  "Maybe she knows we don't have six and is waiting at the motel with take-out again."

Phil whistled and squirted Vincent in the face.

"Yes, you're right; she would've left a note or something to let us know that she was there a few moments before I speculated that.  But then, perhaps she just wanted me to make a fool of myself first, and then--"

A downward gust of wind heralded the green bird's arrival, landing behind him and wrapping him tightly.  "And then I would save you from rambling like a fool by showing up just in time."  Vera proceeded to usher her team inside.

The registration attendant asked if Vincent's team was complete, and upon hearing that it was not, warned that he had twelve minutes to find a sixth member for his team.

With four minutes remaining, Jacqueline appeared, and spoke with a disappointed tone.  "Hey, Vincent.  I'm just here to cheer you on.  Because Daddy works with the company, they won't let me play tonight.  So lame; he didn't tell me anything about the event.  I didn't even raid his e-mail to see what the all fuss was about."

Vincent looked at the clock.  "That's what you get for being a good girl, I guess.  Well, I won't be playing unless I have a sixth pokemon to register, and since Vera seems to expect me to have a sixth within the next three minutes--" 

Jackie cut his statement off not-unexpectedly, snapping a ball from her loaded belt having withdrawn a team from her family's collection before being notified that she would not be allowed to participate.  "Here, take this guy.  He needs a little action."  She handed over a pokeball, and Vincent rushed it to the registration desk.

Kimberly was waiting for him.  "You are cutting it a little closer than I hoped, Sir."

Vincent nodded in agreement.  "Same here.  Look, I don't even know what's in this so if you could just scan it and register it with whatever moves it used last time it saw play, that will be fine."

Kimberly took the ball and placed it into her terminal's ball dock.  "That's about all you have time for.  Good luck, tonight."  She pressed a few buttons to automate the registration.  A small printer spat out a pre-certified card, which she added to the forms that she set aside for Vincent hours before.



Vincent and his team proceeded down a ramp leading to the competitors' area near the ring.

Opening announcements came five minutes after registrations closed.  The league's most beloved celebrity, Calvin Grovewell, a decorated trainer who chose his true passion, culinary arts, over accepting an invitation to become a member of the international Elite Four, approached the microphone.

"Attention all participating trainers.  Due to the special nature of tonight's event, we require that all registered pokemon be recalled at this time, and turned over to a constable.  Select from them three that you wish to command during your first round of play.  The other three you will command during your second round, if you are not eliminated.  Each trainer will be scored according to the results of three face-offs during his or her round, and the highest-ranked trainer at the end of the two rounds will battle to earn a badge from tonight's gym leader."

The trainers obeyed their orders, and soon a parade of attendants carrying racks of pokeballs retired to the gym's rear chambers.  Each pokemon was released, given a short explanation that they would be wearing an experimental piece of electronic equipment, fitted with a device, and recalled again.  A more complete explanation was delivered by Mr. Grovewell to the trainers.

"Tonight's battles will be fought with your pokemon under the influence of a new training device that recently passed Devon R&D testing.  It alters the perception of your pokemon such that they cannot determine the species of pokemon that they are fighting.  Be it a gyarados or a buneary, your pokemon will not know the identity of their foes without deducing it from successful and unsuccessful attacks, delivered or received.  The system also allows us to present video of the battle as the pokemon see it, so trainers will be equally challenged while communicating via microphone with their fighters.  Tonight's contest is to determine which trainer best trains pokemon to adapt to an unknown threat.  Battles will begin as soon as all combatants are properly equipped."

Shortly thereafter, the arena lighting came on, revealing not a normal battlefield, but a grand array of large screens, angled to give a view to everyone inside the auditorium.  The first trainer was summoned to the ring's edge, where a pedestal and microphone were stationed.  He was asked to choose his lead pokemon, and selected his jolteon.



The jolteon, named A.C., was released inside one of the gym's private training rooms.  A first-person camera view appeared on the screens, including a graphic indicating A.C.'s trainer's name, and his vital stats.  Across the ring stood a man in black, wearing a cloth mask, looking much like a cinematic ninja.  He pressed the button on a solid-black pokeball and released something no one in the audience had ever before seen.  It seemed to be a living shadow, vaguely humanoid in stance, not unlike a hitmonlee, but bulkier and with a single, glowing, eye-like form where its neck and head should have been.

The audience quickly realized that the creature masked by this apparition was in the same situation, as both A.C. and the shadow circled each other reluctantly, unwilling to discover its opponent's strengths first-hand.  A.C. became impatient and attacked with a charge-beam.  The shadow was unaffected.  It realized that it was probably facing a dedicated electric type, and reacted by leaping into the air and slamming into the ground next to its foe using the earthquake technique.  The jolteon lost his footing and was punted out of the ring with a weak but sufficient low-kick from the shadow.  The trainer lost one point for the result of loss due to stepping out of bounds.

The next five pokemon entered into combat met similar fates, most facing foes that resisted the attacks they received, and knew highly-effective attacks to respond with.  Only one pokemon of the five that followed A.C. managed to defeat its opponent, and in a breathtakingly-close match.



Once summoned, Vincent approached the pedestal and selected Theodore to fight the first round.

The shadow began by casting a light-screen while Tio was wasting his time casting sunny-day.  A piercing psychic attack bowled him over, and as much as he would have liked to have used poison-fang legitimately for the first time, he merely tripped over his own body and tapped out after the shadow induced confusion and forced Tio's surrender with a second psychic assault.



Hal was brought out next, and he soon realized that he had eaten too much before the fight.  His moves were slowed by a cramped gut.  Not by much, but enough to let a speedy shadow evade easily.  The dragonite began to notice a familiar, and disheartening, scent in the air.  This shadow was preparing an ice attack; Hal knew that he had only one chance to win this fight.

He feigned a direct charge, but spun about when he expected the shadow would evade, and attacked where he knew the shadow would go with a brick-breaking karate chop backed by all the strength that he could muster, himself falling to the mat, using his great stature to extend his attack to where the monster was fleeing.

The shadow was faster, still, but the illusion was broken somewhat.  While his clawed hand had smashed a dent into the mat completely behind the shadow, the creature that the shadow was masking was caught, apparently by the tail.  Hal did not have much time to investigate because as he looked up, he saw a fist encrusted with ice crystals flying towards his face.  The shadow was credited with a one-hit knockout, and Vincent's score dropped from minus-two to minus-six.



Phil swaggered into the ring conveying his usual attitude.  Often his confident-yet-cute approach brought a bit of intimidation, but this shadow did not respond to the vaporeon at all.  It stood still, evading by using the double-team technique and casting bulk-up between attacks.  The vaporeon became impatient with its double-team dodging and moved in closer; too close.  The shadow deftly knelt, sized the cyan creature by the throat with his right hand, and gripped Phil's head with his left.

Tartaroyal Gym's microphones failed to pick up the scrambled crackling of Phil's vertebrae being twisted apart, and audience members watching the monitors made no sound to compete with the feed coming from the true battlefield, where a dull, soggy flop against the mat was the only noise echoing off of the chamber's walls.  Everyone watching the screens sat motionless, except for Jacqueline, who immediately bolted for the restrooms, realizing that she was going to vomit.

The tilted first-person camera view never blinked as a ninja timidly approached, reached toward the body that the camera was attached to, shook it gently, and faintly spoke to someone else near the circle, "he's deader than shit.  What got into that g--"

The video feed was interrupted and Mr. Grovewell returned to the pedestal.  "If I may have your attention everyone, tonight's event is now canceled.  Participating trainers, all your pokemon will be returned to you shortly."

As Calvin stepped down he heard Vincent ask, "all?"  A compassionate glance was all he had to offer.



Kimberly the friendly attendant was tearing up as she delivered six pokeballs to Vincent, one now deactivated with a black ribbon tied around it.  She was unable to recite any of her scripted courtesy comments, and merely gasped a faint "I'm so sorry."  Similar sentiment was expressed by each of the trainers that Vincent passed as he exited the facility.

Vincent almost dropped the tray when a skinhead with an eye-patch, who had clearly been touched and was ready to pound anyone who would dare to comment on that fact, grabbed Vincent in a one-armed-hug around his neck and poked him in the chest repeatedly to emphasize his words.

"He was a good dog, dog.  You stay strong and do him proud."  The biker bid Vincent adieu with a relatively gentle head-butt before mounting his cycle and riding away.

In a daze, Vincent wandered near some benches in the small garden that accented the gym's front entrance and began releasing his team; first Theodore, then Hal, Vera, and finally Fiona, who felt like the center of attention, as the three previous stared at her, before looking around, then at Vincent, then around again, not seeing the blue spigot that should have been standing amongst them.

Jacqueline found herself trapped inside the gym, twisting a length of her long dark hair around her finger nervously while reading her father's mail, as the traffic flow kept the automatic doors in a chaotic state of flux.

No longer under the influence of experimental equipment, Vera's powers returned, and within seconds, she began to mutter an prayer in her species' ancient tongue while withdrawing a bizarre pipe and lighting its bowl with a tiny summoned flame.

Vincent addressed his team with an unsteady voice.  "You're all looking for Phil.  Phil is dead.  Whatever monster they put him up against tonight, it killed him; practically twisted his head off."

Theodore stood nonplussed, looking at his trainer who was looking at him with a look on his face that Tio had seen once before; back then, the visage was blurred through the matted eyes of a diseased cyndaquil.

Hal had just met the first thing that he truly could not swallow.  "No, no, they don't put homicidal maniacs in the ring in gym battles!  That weird ghost thing had a huge advantage, but he wasn't out to kill me."

Jacqueline finally got the doors to herself and darted through.

Tio concurred with Hal.  "Same here.  If anyone in my ring was going to become lethal, it would've been me."

Jackie approached with a mixed demeanor, half sorrow and half rage, and wholly undirected.

Fiona chose to contribute.  Death had visited many in her pack during hunts; the survivors' method of grieving was to explain why they survived.  "Mine wasn't too bad.  He was kinda slow.  I ran around a lot and when he grabbed my tail I socked him like we did to garchomps back on the mountain.  No problem."  She crossed her arms to enhance her pose while smiling proudly.

Vincent had not put the pieces together quite yet.  "Wait, Fiona, I didn't use you first-round, so you wouldn't have fought.  Unless--"

Jacqueline interjected.  "Unless you were fighting one half of your team against the other half, and the experimental device was designed to prevent anyone, even the psychics, from knowing who and what they were up against."

Theodore stared at the tray that Vincent had set on a covered rubbish bin, which now held two plain pokeballs, one with and one without a black ribbon.  "Vera knows how to light-screen and I've been hit like that by her psychic attacks before, so if I had Vera and Hal had Fiona, then Phil had?"

Jacqueline squinted her eyes and balled her fists as she spat out her admission of guilt.  "Fucking Jean.  I swear, Vinny, I had no idea they would be having us fight each other like this!  I knew he would fight after the bell sometimes but I never thought he would ever kill anyone.  I mean, he only used to get carried away when Caz did, too.  Except then, normally, I mean, any time he's been around me he wouldn't hurt a fly, I mean, I just can't... no."  She threw herself downward onto a nearby bench and cradled her head in her palms, propped up with her elbows on her knees.

Vera completed her prayer, snuffed her pipe, and began to walk from the group, saving Vincent the trouble of asking her for a moment aside.

"Vera, I'm not blaming you and I know you have your opinions on what can and can't be discussed when it comes to seeing and affecting the future, but dammit, how did you miss this?"

Vera wrapped her right wing around Vincent's head and lent him a vision.  "I knew that we would fight each other tonight, I knew that this team would be eliminated, and I knew that Phil and Jean would share the ring.  What I see in the future is opportunities for decisions and the consequences thereof.  I did not see Phil's death because Jean would never choose to kill Phil, but that assumes Jean knew that he was battling against Phil."  She stood before Vincent with her right eye closed, with both wings touching his cheeks, preparing to show him what she was about to tell him.

"The devices they made us wear made us see only a monster in the arena; a being that could not be rationalized as any particular thing except a pure monster.  I was mortally terrified by what that device made me see and not-feel, but I resisted my instincts and controlled myself, because my visions held that if I chose to fight tonight, Theodore would be my challenger, strange as that pairing seemed at the time.  Jean was apparently unprepared."

Vincent asked if Jean was any further danger.

Vera paused for a moment before replying.  "No.  As Jacqueline said, Jean wouldn't hurt a fly."  She began to walk towards the group again.  "That is, in absence of an outside force compelling him otherwise, such as Carl's emotional state has in the past."

Vincent too returned to his team, where Theodore and Fiona were trying to console Jacqueline.  Hal had taken over the duty of staring at the tray and the two balls that it cradled.  Vincent cleared his throat and waited patiently for his friends' attention.

"As most of us here remember, dining out after gym matches was Phil's idea, to ensure that we all came together, even if some of us did not compete that night.  Since this is my last league summer, and his, I think it is only fitting that we conclude this tradition tonight in his honor.  Jackie says she knows a good place for sushi, so let's follow her lead."



The restaurant advertised a pokemon-free dining experience, but upon seeing Jacqueline's I.D. and a particular badge of Vincent's together, an unadvertised room, always "reserved," was opened to them and their friends.  Vincent placed a ball with a black ribbon at one end of the table before beginning to release the other diners.  Jacqueline almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Vincent's thumb nearing the trigger on Jean's ball, pulling his hand away from it.

"No!  Leave him in there to rot forever.  No, have them run that ball through the trash compactor out back.  That's what he deserves."

Vincent pulled out a chair for her after socketing the ball back onto his belt.  "I'll leave him inside for now, but I know you don't really feel that way."

Jackie defiantly seated herself opposite the chair he selected.  "Do you, now?  I don't think you have the slightest clue how I really feel."

Vincent sat in the chair that he drew for her, and his pokemon took their seats next, shortly before the waiter arrived.  Theodore sat at the end opposite of Phil's ball, placing himself between Vincent and Jacqueline.  Vera and Hal filled the chairs between Vincent and Phil's ends of the table.  Fiona sat opposite Hal, leaving Jean's empty chair at Jackie's right.

Their food was as exquisite as advertised, if not more-so, and they were only on the appetizers.  However, no one was in the right mood to enjoy the flavors fully.

Theodore was first to find words.  "It would be inappropriate to get into what we were talking about earlier today, but I think it's safe to say that Phil felt that sort of way about you, too, Boss.  I'm sure Hal has told you what it was like at the game house, and it didn't matter that anyone could have won him; you were the one that did, and you gave Phil a home, and you treated him right.  You even respected his wish to stay a mute.  It's kinda funny, since that prevented him from telling you how much that meant to him, himself."



Mister Grovewell's entrance caused the maitre d' to break a sweat.  "Good evening, Sir, I'm very sorry, but I cannot offer you your private table tonight; I already lent it to another party."

Calvin laughed.  "That's okay, anything near the kitchen is fine; I might want to pop in and make sure there are one-too-many cooks in there.  If you don't mind, will you tell me who took the good table?"

The maitre d' honored his request immediately.  "Yes, Sir, league third-tier Jacqueline Valley, ID #EX-21160, and league fifth-tier Vincent--"

Calvin had heard enough and hushed the greeter with a raised palm.  "The room is rightfully theirs.  Let the chef-de-cuisine know I'd like a word when he has a minute to spare."



Vincent buttered some bread and took a bite.  "I think we need a funny story before the main course shows up.  Hal won't mind if I tell his story to the girls, right?"  Hal nodded affirmatively without realizing it.  His mind was off somewhere, and the condescending tone of Vincent's question only pushed him farther away.

"Okay, Fiona, you were waiting for this.  I spend all my afternoons in the Indan Falls' game room trying to get enough coins to trade for the dratini in the window with the wag-gl-y tail.  I knew I had to have him from the moment I saw him.  Carl was already a thorn in my side, and he was much better at the games so he was hovering around waiting for me to win enough tickets so he could step into the line ahead of me and buy up all the dratinis, meaning I couldn't get one."

"Sure enough, I finally get enough tokens and tickets, Carl cuts in ahead of me and takes two of them.  I go up and they say I can't have that dratini," Vincent pointed at Hal, "because it's their display dratini, 'people are allowed to touch him; got germs and stuff', and they don't have any more in the back.  They go on and on about policy and I'm about ready to throw the tickets at them, jump the counter, grab my dratini, and run for it, when this old guy shows up.  He asks what's wrong and I tell them they won't give me my dratini and suddenly the guys at the counter are all too happy to hand him over."

"Later, I found out that old guy was the commissioner overseeing all the bars and entertainment joints in Indan Falls; corrupt as hell, but if you complain to him, he says jump and they ask how high.  So, I bring Hal home and I want to make a big welcome for him.  Dratinis live in water so I run a warm bath, I release him over the tub, and I expect to see a chubby dragon happy to have a home.  He falls into the water and goes freaking ape-shit.  In four seconds, I'm soaked.  Eight seconds, he's hopped out of the tub and he's in the toilet.  Twelve seconds, he breaks the mirror.  I try to get a hold of him and off goes the top layer of skin.  Now he's leaving a trail of slime, heading down the hall, and I hear bleating."

"Hal had squirmed into Zap--he was a flaaffy at the time--and Zap discharged static on reflex.  Hal gets angry, Zap thinks he's a water-type and keeps trying to shock him and it isn't doing much of anything.  I get in there, Hal darts beneath my bed.  For the next three days I'm trying to coax him out of there any way I can think of without resorting to squeezing under there myself or poking him with a broom stick because then he might get really scared and attack us.  I figured out fast that food got his attention, but every time I tried to catch him, he'd just shed."

"I didn't get him until finally we teamed up: I grabbed his first layer, Zap and Tio pounced on him to take the second, and then I reached over them and grabbed him again and that ran him out of layers.  I held him like I did when they let me hold him at the game house and said, 'I promise I will give you a good home,' and I think that's the first time that he realized who I was, because after that, he was coiled around some part of me almost all of the time until he evolved.  The carpet beneath my bed at home is still blue and crusty from all that dragon slime, since my parents made me pay into replacing the carpet and I couldn't afford much more than the hallway."



The main course arrived during Vincent's story, and was enjoyed more than the appetizers were.  Hal finished first, with Fiona closely behind.  Vincent recalled an omission underlined earlier that night and looked toward Hal.

"Huh.  A little bit ago, Tio said that he thought you had told me about your stay at the game house before I got you out of there, but you never have.  Would you mind sharing that with us, since in a way it's Phil's story too, and one he never could tell us?"

Hal responded to Vincent's inquiry without looking away from his bare plate.  "I will tell you what happened before your story began.  The reason I was scared of the water is because I had never been in it or even seen water other than a little dispenser bottle in my cage.  Every day they would jam me in the display case from open until close, then stick me back in my cage.  I was lucky because I was a large male, so I looked good on display, even if I didn't really fit inside the box.  The other dratini were just left in their cages all the time.  Usually they would get sick after a while and... go away.  I was fed well enough to maintain my weight because I needed to look good.  The others weren't.  Ours is a growing-or-dying species, and they certainly weren't given enough food to grow, since I was just holding a steady weight."

He began talking to Fiona and Jacqueline instead of Vincent, although he did not provide any gesture to indicate the shift.  "One day they were letting people handle the display pokemon to drive up business, and that's when I met Vincent, and when he promised to give me a good home.  After that, when all the other people passing by would look in the window and walk away, he would always stop and I'd see something different in his eyes.  That day when he held me, I knew I could trust him, and I knew he could never have me because I was a living advertisement."

Hal leaned forward, looked up from his plate, and addressed his master directly.  "I felt so bad and so happy when I saw you running up to the counter; I knew that one of those dying dratini would have a chance since I knew you wouldn't let down the one you got, but also I knew it couldn't be me.  But, a little bit later, the lid lifted up and I was in a ball.  You had to have gotten enough tickets to get all three of us, and until I found myself falling into a tub of warm water, I was really excited."

"When you finally calmed me down and I realized that you only got me, I still knew that the other two found homes that day, and I just hoped that they were as good as the one you promised me, especially after I trashed your bathroom and half of your bedroom and you never punished me for it."



Jacqueline cursed at her plate and threw her silverware against it.  "God, I hate that asshole."

Everyone looked at her, including the waiter who had returned to see if there would be any second servings or desert orders.

"I'm sorry, Hal, but they didn't.  I remember when he came home that day, because the next day, Vinny wouldn't stop telling me about how he got the best dratini in the world, and just needed to get it to come out from under his bed.  Caz came in with two pokeballs, I asked him what he got, and he says 'some extra junk balls' and threw them into a shoe-box in his closet to be forgotten.  I thought they were just duds or unused balls, but now I know.  Those dratini have been trapped in stasis there for three years."

Hal pushed his plate away.  "I think I hate that asshole, too."

Their waiter capitalized on the pause.  "Chotto sumimasen, our manager has heard news of the terrible incident tonight, and we wish to extend our sincerest condolences.  Your dinner is our treat, in honor of the guest that could not share it with you."  Vincent thanked the waiter, who exited briskly.

Vincent planted his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his palm.  "I would have rather have kept the vaporeon and paid the tab," he mused before flicking his glass.  Its chime resonated clearly for many seconds.



Standing in front of the restaurant, Jacqueline and Vincent knew their respective rooms were in different directions.

"Vinny, are you really going to keep him, after what he did?"

Vincent looked up to the stars.  "If I give him back to you, you'll leave him in there forever, like those dratini Carl bought.  I'm going to try to get better assurances from Vera before I let him out, but Jean must face what he did sometime.  I'll see you at the train station."

Upon returning to his motel room, Vincent released Hal and Hal only.  The dragonite was concerned to find himself alone with his trainer.

"Hal, you do know that I meant it, when I told Jackie that I had the best dratini in the world."

Hal sat heavily on the bed.  "But, a dragonite is not a dratini."

Vincent sat alongside his bulky reptile.  "Nope.  And that had me worried.  I was afraid when you evolved you would still be timid and clingy, but you outgrew that and learned to stand on your own.  Tio mentioned that him and I had a talk today; it was about my role in your lives.  I know Tio will never leave me even if I promised to soak him to the bone with a garden hose every day for the rest of his life.  Zap made his decision.  Vera's Vera.  Phil--Phil's story is over.  I understand what Tio was saying, but I have to ask, because I know you don't need me anymore and I have probably stepped foot into a gym for the last time; do you still want me to be your owner?  I'm sure I can find a better trainer for you."

Hal looked Vincent in the eyes, speaking a word that made no sound.  The trainer reached up and scratched his dragon on the side of his head at a spot that was, years ago, in the shadow of a gossamer fin.  Hal's expression became serious as he removed Vincent's hand and clasped it between both of his own.

"You promised me that you would give me a good home, not some stranger.  I'm holding you to that."

"I'm not sure I can, Hal.  I've--"

"You did before.  Before you changed what we were doing together.  Before you decided we needed a vaporeon.  You used to worry about each of us, but something changed and you started worrying about your team.  You got me because you wanted to save my life.  You got Phil because you wanted a fighter with a lot of stamina and who could wash away rock types.  He was a combat statistic to you."

"Yes, Hal, I wanted someone who could protect you and Tio and Vera.  What, is there something wrong with that?  Everyone was exploiting our rock weakness and I didn't like seeing you three getting hurt."

"I was still being hurt, Master.  When you quit talking about me as the best dratini in the world and started talking about me as a rock-and-ice weakness, I got hurt.  And what about Zap?  You said you didn't like seeing him get hurt, but you knew he wanted to fight.  I think you didn't like seeing him as a free knock-out for the other guy, and you didn't care enough to work on a strategy he could use.  As soon as you found out that Phil had some electricity in him, you bought the T.M. to help him harness it and Zap was demoted to night-light and disc jockey."

The humbled trainer attempted to pull away subconsciously, but Hal still gripped his hand and refused to yield.

"You've given each of us a good home, for a while at least.  I want mine back, Vincent.  I honestly do.  But, if you really, truly can't bring back what we had, then I think you should give me my ball, instead."  Hal closed his eyes and let his head hang.

Vincent glanced across the bed at Hal's tail.  It ended with a tiny spot of blue scales, legacy of a wound that time would never heal.  "Do you think I made the wrong choice, getting Phil?"

Hal seemed to nod off for a moment, his grip on Vincent's hand not loosening in the slightest.  "I don't think so.  It was cut short but he had a life outside of the cages and he enjoyed every single minute he got.  He was a good asset and a great friend to us all.  I think you made the right choice for the wrong reason."

Vincent began to lose his composure.  "I wish Phil and Zap were coming home with us."

Hal pulled his master close as he leaned over him to compensate for the difference in their statures while releasing his grip on Vincent's hand to instead hold his body.  "I do, too."

After a minute passed, Hal rose from the bed and settled in on the floor.  Vincent released his other pokemon.  Theodore gave him a warm hug and slunk into bed.  Fiona successfully petitioned approval to sleep with the boys, while Vera let herself out, seeking a place without smoke alarms that would allow her to reflect on the evening's events in peace.



Vincent stared at the shower drain and turned the water on for a minute, before incompletely closing its valve.  The sounds of dripping seemed much louder than in the past, as there was now no living cyan sponge to absorb them, but without the droplets' impacts keeping time, no one in the room could bear to sleep while being suffocated by an eerie silence that screamed Phil's absence.  For one night, a wadded towel served as a hollow substitute.

Come morning, Vincent made one stop before boarding the train that would return him to the road leading home.  An engraving shop was entrusted with a deactivated pokeball and a message to inscribe into it.

"Phil.  He was always proud of himself, and he always had reason to be."