Act 2: Chapter 25

Act 2: Chapter 25

The following morning, after a pleasant evening spent in the Birch home, Lee gathers up his team, mounts up on Corvi, and begins the multi-hour flight back to the Draconid village.

Lee takes a breath through the scarf protecting his face from the biting wind, looking down at the landscape below. To the east, Verdanturf passes by as Corvi lazily yaws to the left, following a waterway into the western mountain range.

'It all seems greener, somehow,' he thinks to himself and smiles. 'Hoenn. What a beautiful place to call home.'Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

Home.

Just thinking the word before yesterday made his chest tight and put thoughts of happier times in his head. Home used to be the place where his animals lived and where his zoo stood, and the reminder that it was all gone never lost its harshness.

Until today, that is. It's all been put to rest now.

'It's been six months since I died, six months since the whole world came to an end' Lee watches a formation of Swablu pass below. 'Half a year. It feels like a lifetime ago. I guess, if you really think about it, it was a lifetime ago.'

'Do you regret how things have turned out?'

So lost in his thoughts is he that it takes Lee a moment to realize Ninetales reached out to him. He blinks and thinks over his answer. 'Regret? No. I could never regret where I am today. I can't regret meeting you, or the rest of the team, or Brendan and Zinnia. I think I'll always miss Earth deep down, but sitting and lamenting doesn't bring anything back. Besides, how can I remain unhappy when I have you?'

Ninetales is silent, but he can practically feel her smile. Lee definitely feels the warm tide of pride that wells up within her and spills over into him, banishing the high-altitude cold and coating his skin in the sensation of silky fur. 'You've grown,' she says quietly, each word practically glowing.

'Aasir once said that if you're not growing, you're dying. I think I've had enough of the latter for one lifetime,' Lee jokes.

The fox shudders within her capsule. 'Please, Beloved. Perhaps not joke in such a manner? It's grim.'

Lee pats the ball on his belt, and in doing so, is just in time to feel his phone vibrate in his pocket. 'Jeez, of course I get messaged as I'm thousands of feet in the air.'

Taking his phone from his pocket with a tight grip so as to not lose it to the whipping winds, Lee squints past the sunny glare on the screen to see who could be reaching out to him.

Zinnia: final elder debate happening rn. need you here so fly fast.

Lee's eyes widen. 'I'll be damned. It's about time.' Apprehension gnaws at the zoologist, but he ignores it. Putting his phone away, he reaches up and taps the transmit button on his radio headset. "Corvi? Can you hear me?"

The great raven turns his head slightly, peering back at Lee with a crimson eye.

"Zinnia is wanting us to return ASAP. Let's put the pedal to the floor!" As an afterthought, he adds, "Not so fast that I fly off, please."

Corvi smirks and pulls his wings back, forming a delta shape with his body. He straightens out, and then!

Lee isn't given time to gasp before Corvi rockets forward, easily tripling his speed and sending Lee's stomach to his toes. The man has to lean his head down and hold his arm in front of his face as a windbreak just to breathe. Hazarding a look forward, Lee sees the beginnings of a sonic cone tickling the tip of Corvi's beak.

'Maybe I should've been more specific and said 'not one notch below supersonic''

The man and raven reach the Draconid village in record time, and circle around Zinnia's house for a landing. Coming in low and slow, they're just in time to see Brendan's Breloom perk up from his backyard sunbathing and leisurely head inside the house, probably to inform everyone else of their arrival.

Corviknight spreads his wings and finally touches down, allowing Lee to free his legs from the saddle straps and stumble to the ground. The man hisses and shakes away the pins and needles that run all the way from his toes to his thighs. After the pain subsides, he takes his phone from his pocket and checks the clock. "I'll be damned if that wasn't terrifying, but no one can ever call you slow, Corvi."

The raven smiles smugly, or at least he tries. The way he tries to hide his panting diminishes his smirk, however. The halfhearted smirk transforms into gratitude when Lee reaches into his bag and withdraws an Oran berry, one that Corviknight takes in his beak and swallows whole.

"Enjoy the rest, pal," Lee tells him. He smiles, turning to Zinnia's house. "I think I'm going to need you again soon."

Corviknight answers with an agreeing croak, readjusting his wings and sitting with a relaxed sigh.

Not bothering to put away his flying gear, Lee lowers his scarf and radio headset before letting himself into Zinnia's home. As soon as the screen door slams shut, Zinnia's voice can be heard further within. "Is that you, Dolittle? Come in here!" she calls.

Lee's boots and heavy footfalls make the old floorboards of the house creak as he follows the voice. Rounding the corner to the small kitchen, he finds both Brendan and Zinnia, along with the trio of guests.

The first is the most recognizable, that being Elder Juniper. The elderly woman is sat at the kitchen table sipping at a steaming mug along with the two unknowns and Zinnia, leaving Brendan to lean against the wall.

To Juniper's right is a tall Draconid man with a severe face. His tanned head is bald, and a salt-and-pepper beard covers his square jaw. Much of his body, barring his muscular arms, is covered by tribal hide clothes decorated with marks of red. His narrow, suspicious eyes are locked upon Lee.

Sitting across from the tall man and on Juniper's left is another man, who seems to be the polar opposite of the stern-faced Draconid. His short, side-parted hair is graying at the edges, but the only other signs of age on his smiling face are laugh lines. Like his counterpart, he too wears traditional hide.

"This is the third one, then?" the square-jawed Draconid asks with a rumbly, smoky voice fit for a Dragon. He crosses his thick arms. "Ma hr druknam. I'm not impressed."

"Come now, Taxus." The other man clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "You are aware of what they say. What are the words in Galarian? To judge with eyes alone is folly?"

Juniper sets her mug down. "I believe it's 'do not judge a book by its cover', Elder Danae."

The now-named Danae snaps his fingers with a smile. "Yes, precisely. Worthwhile wisdom regardless of tongue."

The man whom Lee assumes is Elder Taxus rolls his eyes. "They also say that seeing is believing. I see, but I do not believe."

"Elders, please," Zinnia cuts in with poorly-hidden frustration, "you've been arguing for hours. I swear I'm not spitting on tradition for nothing. Lee and Brendan are the real deal, and I need them."

Taxus snorts, not dignifying Zinnia with a reply.

"Indeed, Thelban, indeed." Juniper nods, turning from Zinnia and leveling Lee with a smile. "Naraikvejor Henson, we were not expecting you for some time. Your haste is appreciated."

Lee smiles back and inclines his head, wondering what the strange title means. "Think nothing of it. We did our best not to dawdle considering how important today is."

Juniper nods, raking her eyes across Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia. "For many hours of many days, Elders Danae and Taxus and I have debated. I believe the conclusion is upon us, but something from you is required."

"From me?" Lee blinks, wondering what in the world he could possibly have to offer.

"Yes," Taxus asserts, his already narrow eyes thinning into squints. "Disturbing things we have heard, that the unworthy have achieved Zenvokur: achieved Mega Evolution. You carry with you a telepath, yes?" he asks, staring at Lee.

Lee nods back grimly, already seeing where this is going. "You want to see it for yourself?"

"Should you allow it," Elder Danae chimes in. He takes a pokeball from beneath his hide poncho and holds it out in his palm. "Testimony so personal is not a request usual, but What is the word? Deadlocked, we are. 'Tis one thing to hear danger, but another to know."

Frustration flashes across Zinnia's face as Danae finishes speaking, and Lee doesn't miss it. 'Is she upset that they aren't taking her word for it?' he wonders. 'Or is it something else?' Lee puts the thought aside for now. Despite Danae's unusual wording, Lee gets the gist of what the elder is saying. 'He wants to see memories of the fight with Maxie to validate everything that Zinnia has said. Love?'

'Of course.'

Lee nods his consent, and Danae smiles before hitting the button on his pokeball. In a flash, the small kitchen is a bit more cramped.

'I seem to be running into a lot of rare pokemon recently,' Lee thinks, his eyebrows rising at the sight before him.

Floating at Danae's side is a Sigilyph, a Psychic-type pokemon. The unusual pokemon resembles the top of a totem pole. From its sides sprout a pair of multicolored wings that do not flap despite how the pokemon hovers, and just below those wings is a stubby, acorn-like body bearing two round, blue eyes. From either side of the body sprouts a three-pronged protrusion without an obvious use, and hanging below it is another protrusion the same color as the wings, almost like tail feathers. On the top of the body sits an antenna-like shape, which bears a third, unblinking eye.

Taking that as her cue, Ninetales emerges from her ball in her own flash and is forced to lean into Lee's side, lest she be pushed into the wall.

Danae murmurs something in Spoken Draconid to his Sigilyph, and the pokemon makes a bell-like chime in reply, its eyes glowing.

Ninetales' own eyes glow, and Lee can practically see the memory transferring from her, to Sigilyph, then to Danae. She also takes snippets of Lee's own memory, filling in the blanks after she was struck down.

Maxie's coldhearted declaration of murder.

Camerupt's agonized transformation, and the horrible monster that follows.

The very volcano quaking under Camerupt's rage.

The desperate fight for survival.

Claydol losing control, and Camerupt turning on Maxie with the last of his strength.

It all plays out in an instant, and in that instant, Danae's face transforms into unbridled anguish. The man leaps to his feet and clutches his heart with a curse, sending his chair into the wall and making everybody jump.

"Danae!" Taxus stands, planting his hands on the table. "What did you see?!"

Danae's face is ashen, and he does not answer right away. Hand still clutching his heart, he uses his other shaking hand to pull his chair back to the table, where he sits heavily. His Sigilyph hovers close, and despite how alien the pokemon is, its worry is plain.

"No" The stricken Elder finally speaks, quiet and breathless. "No. H-how could one pervert the beauty of the zelak? The bond? To stomp so carelessly upon" He shudders, as if wracked with cold, and can speak no further.

Taxus watches with disbelief as Juniper's face remains forcefully neutral.

After a minute to compose himself, Danae swallows thickly and speaks once more. "It It is as Thelban Zinnia says. He forced Ascension upon his pokemon." He shivers as he says 'forced'. "Corruption without equal, it is. These visions shall haunt me for weeks to come."

Brendan tries to lighten the atmosphere with a weak chuckle. "Yeah. It was uh" Then he thinks better of speaking and goes quiet once more, staring at the floor. He steals a look at Lee, who gives the boy a reassuring smile.

Danae shakes his head and swallows the lump in his throat, color slowly returning to his face. "A travesty, this is. I withdraw all reservations with Thelban Zinnia's requests. To face such an abomination and live is a far greater test than anything we can offer."

'Requests, plural? And what is this talk of a test?' Ninetales takes notice of the wording and relays it to Lee. 'It was my understanding that going to the Meteor Falls stronghold was the only request she had.'

'Maybe there's some special resources in the stronghold that she had to ask for as well?' Lee answers with the mental equivalent of a shrug. Even so, he cannot deny his own curiosity.

His face morphing into disbelief at Danae's words, Taxus sits once more. Steepling his hands, he looks between Juniper's expecting eyes and Danae's slumped form. Gritting his teeth, he finally speaks. "Entrance into Metron'fall krate I can allow, but I will require further meditation for Thelban Zinnia's other demands."

Juniper nods, Zinnia frowns, and Danae's face morphs into a snarl.

"Did you not hear me, Taxus?!" Danae suddenly starts, a Dragon-like growl emanating from his throat. "I have seen it! Thelban and Naraikvejor all speak truth!"

Taxus' eyes harden, and any sympathy held for Danae dies. "Fool! In what world does adding more poison to a poisoned well solve any issues? To allow outsiders within the sacred Metron'fall krate is already generous, and you are well aware of what happened last time they were afforded such honor!"

"Enough!" Juniper silences the argument before it can spiral out of control. She looks between both of her fellow elders, who have their jaws set and lips pulled into thin lines. "We can debate further if we must, but for now, let us see our guests to their new home for the coming weeks."

Neither Taxus nor Danae say anything, but both rise to their feet and make their way toward the back door. Danae lags behind for just a moment in order to return his Sigilyph to its ball.

Juniper rises to her feet with a sigh. She meets Zinnia's eyes briefly, then shuffles past towards the door.

Once her grandmother is out of sight, Zinnia sighs and slumps in her chair. "Ugh! All of this political nonsense is killing me. It feels like they're trying to fight me every step of the way."

"That rough?" Lee asks with an awkward smile.

Zinnia rises to her feet and gives him a flat look. "You don't know the half of it. They showed up here at 7 am just to bicker at my kitchen table and drink all my tea," she says, walking around the table and taking the empty mug Elder Juniper was sipping from. After giving it a brief rinse in the sink, she stuffs it away in a cupboard and turns towards Lee and Brendan. "And he didn't even have the decency to stick around as moral support!" she exclaims, pointing an accusing finger at Brendan.

The boy gives Zinnia an offended look. "I didn't want to get in the way! It's not like I was going to be any help with some kind of tribal political debate, anyway!"

"Feh." Zinnia plants her hands on her hips and looks down at Brendan from over her nose. "You just wanted to go play kissy face with your girlfriend, didn't you?"

Brendan's face lights up a bright pink as he scowls. "Kissy face? What are you, five? I was training with my team while she watched! And girlfriend? No way! I've met Astis, like, twice!"

'I feel like I'm missing some context here,' Ninetales complains, and Lee can't help but mirror the sentiment.

At Lee's confused face, Zinnia smirks. "While you have been a busy Beedrill buzzing all over Hoenn, little Mister Hero here " she once again points to the blushing Brendan " has been schmoozing with the tribal girls. He's got one in particular, Miss Astis Talon, hooked. By the way, kid." She looks at Brendan again. "You're in luck. Astis and her sister Isis are the Draconid Oracle's assistants, so you'll get to see them a few times a week in the falls."

Brendan groans and covers his face with his hands. "She was the one who came to me while we were training over at the outskirts of town! What was I supposed to do? Just be a jerk and tell her to get lost?"

Hiding his amused smile behind his fist, Lee throws the poor boy a bone. "Leave him be, Zinnia. You can pester him later. We've got stuff to do right now."

Zinnia sobers abruptly, reminding Lee about the discussion and eminent revelations on the horizon. "Yeah, we do. Let's get going."

Once Brendan and Zinnia grab their respective traveling bags, they follow Lee and Ninetales outside, where the trio of elders all stand along with their own flying mounts.

With Taxus is a Dragapult who leisurely floats midair, while Danae stands beside a Garchomp with an X-shaped scar on his chest. Behind them, Juniper is settling down upon the shoulders of her droopy-eyed Dragonite.

"Longest day?" Lee mutters, suppressing the shiver that wants to run down his spine. "The summer solstice? That's about eight months away."

"What exactly is that supposed to happen?" Brendan asks, leaning forward anxiously.

"A meteor." Zinnia points a finger to the ceiling. "The tribe scholars pored over the prophecy, and concluded that it must be a meteor, one being controlled by something and large enough to destroy all of Hoenn at least. The prophecy also clearly states that Rayquaza and his champion of this era are the ones destined to deal with all of this. If they don't" The unspoken words hang like a guillotine.

Lee can't help it: it feels as if a void has opened up below him. Magma and Aqua were already known elements, and despite the danger they pose, they're a danger presented by humans. Humans that can be stopped. This, though? Less than a single day after he has made peace with all that has passed and declared Hoenn his home? He lets his eyes roam his pokemon.

Ninetales, he doesn't even need to look at. He can feel her dread and see the half-formed plans in her head, plans to whisk him and the others away, trying to find refuge on the other side of the planet.

Corvi's eyes are narrow and his steely feathers are ruffled in agitation. He meets Lee's eyes for a second, and it's plain to see that he is of a similar mind to Ninetales. Lee only needs to say the word, and Corvi will carry him to the end of the earth.

Octillery and Sylveon are both flummoxed, as if they can't believe just what they have heard. One of Sylveon's ribbons snakes its way around Lee's arm to wrap around his wrist, and when Lee's own belief smashes into her like a hammer blow, she shudders, practically going limp. Meanwhile, Octillery stares at Zinnia with open astonishment.

Last and not least, Grovyle He bites down upon his twig and tries his best to contain himself, but his eyes. They shine with defiance, boldly rejecting the idea that something like a meteor is an insurmountable danger. No. He will not allow such a future to be born! He hisses a low, almost jeering hiss to his teammates, who all turn and stare at him.

"So you all give up so easily?" Lee doesn't need Ninetales' help to understand just what he said.

'Grovyle' Lee thinks with a smile, 'you really are something else.'

Ninetales herself firms up, turning to Grovyle with a narrow-eyed glare, but she does not retort or let herself fall back into her panic. Beside her, Sylveon, with her ribbon still wrapped around Lee's wrist, perks up enough to lift her head.

"Kwaa ha," Corviknight grumbles at Grovyle, smoothing his feathers. "Gwak." "You can stop pretending to be cool anytime," he seems to say.

"" Octillery says nothing, obviously turning inward to think to himself with how he stares at the floor, tentacles crossed.

"Haven't you told anybody about this? Like the Pokemon League?" Lee asks, petting the heart on Ninetales' ear. The silky fur beneath his thumb soothes his nerves as it always does.

Zinnia snorts, giving Lee an incredulous face. "That was literally the first thing I tried. I told the League, the civil government, the Mossdeep Space Center, every rich loony with the money to do something, and everyone else. The Mossdeep Space Center took it seriously at first and looked around for anything that might hit Hoenn around the expected date, but they came up empty-handed." She blows out a sigh. "My best guess? If there is something actually controlling the meteor, then it's purposely avoiding being caught."

'Well, that's wonderful,' Ninetales snarks with only Lee to hear it. 'A doomsday meteor intelligent enough to avoid telescopes, how fun.'

"And that's precisely why I need you guys," Zinnia continues on, looking between Lee and the wide-eyed Brendan. "If this comes down to the wire, then I need talented, goodhearted trainers with me in case Rayquaza doesn't find me worthy of being his partner."

"Stop! Timeout!" Brendan waves his arms, cutting Zinnia off before she can speak further. "You think we could be worthy of all of this? Are you crazy?"

Offense flashes across Zinnia's face. "No, I'm not crazy. You and Lee are two of the best trainers I've ever met, and you both have the pure heart needed for Mega Evolution. I" She trails off, screwing her face up into a scowl. "I don't think I have what it takes," she grounds out, shame staining each word.

Her words are met with instant disagreement from her pokemon. Shelgon growls and smacks his shell against her knee none too gently, while Altaria trills her disbelief with her musical voice. Tyrunt openly bares his teeth towards Zinnia, and Goomy practically melts into a depressed puddle.

Zinnia scoffs, but can't quite hide the smile that tugs at her face. "Thank you, guys, but I'm serious. I nearly decided to let Magma and Aqua kill Arceus-knows how many people and pokemon just to make my job easier. It doesn't matter how you cut it, that's not pure-hearted."

"But you decided not to, didn't you?" Brendan suddenly speaks up, his face set into a stern expression. "You made the choice to abandon that plan even if it makes things harder for yourself. You did the right thing and I think that makes you pure-hearted!"

"Yeah." Zinnia lets out a mirthless laugh, her face morphing into a grimace. "I ditched that plan because Lee reminded me of my dead best friend, and I thought I could be more like her and be a better Lorekeeper if I learned how he did his thing. Then I went and got pissed off back in Slateport because he wasn't a carbon copy of the person I lost! Does that seem like something good? Something that a legendary pokemon would respect?"

'Where in the world is this all coming from?' Lee looks to one of the covered windows in shock. 'Is the Dragon TE in the air doing this?'

"If Aster saw any of the shit I got up to, she'd be sick," Zinnia growls, pounding her fist on the arm of her chair. "Sick! To this day, I still don't know why she made me the Lorekeeper! I even kept all of this from my two best friends who would walk into the gates of hell like brain-dead idiots if I asked!"

Without warning, Brendan shoots to his feet, making Electrike yelp. "Shut up! Don't talk about yourself like that!" he yells at the top of his lungs, drawing startled looks all around. "You changed your mind and did the right thing! So what if you followed us because Lee reminded you of your friend?! It's okay to be hurt, to be upset! You didn't have to get Lee that Battletent ticket as an apology for yelling at him, yet you did! You didn't have to train with us, or trade stories, or show us through the Valley of Steel, or anything! Yet you did! All that matters is that you did the right thing in the end, so don't talk about yourself like you're a bad person or bad friend, because you're not!" Brendan screams. It's the most vitriol that Lee has ever seen from the boy.

Brendan pants to catch his breath and sits heavily amid shocked eyes. Once his breathing begins to settle, he seems to realize what he did and looks away.

Blinking away her stupefied expression, Zinnia reaches up and rubs her head with a sardonic smile. "Kinda proving my point, but Thanks, Brendan," she says, her smile growing. She looks over to Lee. "You've been awfully quiet. Anything to add?"

"Nothing that Brendan hasn't already said," Lee mirrors her content smile with one of his own. "Intent and actions are two different things, and you know what they say about actions speaking louder than words," he says, gesturing to the house around them.

Zinnia snorts, then lets out a short laugh, her face utterly delighted. "You guys are the real deal. For even coming this far, I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough." She schools her expression, even if her lips still twitch upward somewhat. "So to conclude what I was saying, I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket so if, if," she sends a pointed look towards Brendan, who blushes and looks away again, "I'm not worthy enough, then one of you guys definitely will be. When the time comes, one of us will have to be a big damn hero and help Rayquaza ascend, stopping Hoenn from becoming a smear on the map. Down here in the crater, our pokemon can train up and get the boost we need to not only put a stop to Magma and Aqua, but to fulfill the Draconid prophecy. Sound like a plan?"

"Easy!" Brendan agrees with a smile. Beside him, Marshtomp lets out a croak and jumps to his feet, pumping a fist in the air.

"If you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket" Lee begins, feeling his wallet in his jacket pocket. In that wallet is where all the important business cards he's collected are, along with their even more important phone numbers. "Then I think the Pokemon League will take the meteor threat much more seriously if I'm the one to tell them."

Zinnia gives Lee a sidelong glance. "What makes you say that?"

Lee licks his lips. 'Here we go. Finally going to let it drop.' He thinks over what he wishes to say as Ninetales leans into his legs, offering him her reassuring warmth. "It all ties into my share of secrets, the ones I've been wanting to tell you all for a long time," he begins, tilting his head back and looking at the candles above.

One of them flickers, nearly going out.

"You know, it's rather ironic," he mutters. "Yesterday, during my day trip to Littleroot, I stopped by the Pokemon Lab to make a memorial," Lee says, returning his eyes to the group before him. "I wanted to put my past life and all the people that aren't around anymore to rest. On the flight back to the Draconid village, I looked down and thought about how great a home Hoenn is. Then Zinnia drops news of the meteor on us." Lee shakes his head. "I'm not about to lose my new home or die for a second time."

Where it takes everyone else a moment to process his words, Sylveon, courtesy of the ribbon she has wrapped around his wrist, snaps her head up to look at him, aghast. Octillery is the next one to recover, and he focuses intently upon Lee's face.

"Die for a second time?" Zinnia narrows her eyes. "What do you mean by that? Are you being poetic or something?"

"No, I'm not." Lee focuses on Zinnia, making her tense up. "Zinnia, I know that you more than anyone else have been wondering how I know all the things I know. About your tribe when we first met, about Mega Evolution, about legendary and mythical pokemon. I've got an explanation for it, but first I need everyone, human and pokemon here, to promise never to repeat anything you're about to hear. You have to take it to your grave."

"That's That's really severe, Lee," Brendan gulps. "Are you sure?"

Lee gives him a flat look. "I'm dead serious."

"Well, you already know that me and my team can keep a secret, so what's one more?" Zinnia jokes, getting nods from her pokemon.

"If you think it's that serious, then we won't say a thing, either!" Brendan jabs his chest with a thumb.

Lee tries to smile, but it's difficult with the subject he's about to speak of. "There's not a whole lot of explaining to do with what I have to say, but before you say it's unbelievable or anything, know that Ninetales, Grovyle, and Corviknight have all heard everything, and Ninetales can validate it all with telepathy if you need it." He takes a deep breath. "The simplest answer is the best I guess. I'm not from this world."

"Not from this?" Zinnia double takes. "Hold on, we're going to need more of an explanation than that!"

"I was getting to it!" Lee frowns. "I wasn't born in this world. My old home is a place without any pokemon."

Brendan nods slowly. "Yeah, you said that a few months ago. The United States place you used to live in, it's like Orre, right?"

"No, it's not 'no wild pokemon' like Orre." Lee shakes his head. "It's 'no pokemon at all.' They didn't exist."

Just like it did for Professor Birch all those months ago, his words instantly confuse everyone. Brendan and Zinnia share a puzzled look while several of the pokemon chatter in low voices. The thought of there being no pokemon at all is seemingly unthinkable.

"I lied about the States being an isolationist region," the zoologist soldiers on, trying his best to get the story over with. "It doesn't exist in this world, and I know I'm in a new world because my old one ended."

One could hear a pin drop despite the carpet covering the floor.

"E-Ended?" Brendan questions, looking intensely uncomfortable.

Lee nods, locking eyes with Ninetales for a moment and wondering how to explain. "I told you I didn't have a home to return to after I told you two I was seeing a therapist, and that wasn't a lie. Without pokemon battling as a proxy for conflicts, wars in my world could get bloody, bloodier than anything any region here has ever experienced." He takes in Brendan and Zinnia's faces. "A lot of nations had stockpiles of missiles, missiles designed to fly all the way across the world and burn entire cities to the ground. The missiles used nuclear material as their explosive, meaning a huge blast and toxic radioactivity afterward. If the explosion itself didn't kill you, then the radiation poisoning would, along with everything around the epicenter for years to come," Lee says, trying to gently pry Sylveon's ribbon off his hand.

At his feet, the fairy is shaking, and steadfastly refusing to let go. The harder he yanks, the harder she grips. He eventually reaches for her pokeball, only to find that another one of her ribbons has wrapped around the capsule and mummified it, making it useless.

Sighing, Lee resumes. "The technology for detecting these missiles is far faster and more capable than any kind of counter-missile, and from that came a concept called mutually assured destruction, shortened to M.A.D. If one nation detected an incoming missile, they would loose their entire stockpile on the world and turn it into a zero-sum game. For a long time, that fear stayed everyone's hand."

" You're telling us because that's what happened," Zinnia realizes, her voice little higher than a whisper. Her jaw drops. "Arceus, Lee"

"One day while I was at work in my zoo, for a reason that is a mystery to me, someone fired the first shot. Everyone's phones all blew up with alerts, and the TV in the break room where I stood suddenly cut out and displayed a nationwide emergency message. We only got a few minutes of warning that one of the bombs was going to hit the city nearby, and considering it was the middle of the day, all of the zoo guests panicked and tried to escape at once. The chaos clogged in the parking lot, more or less sealing everyone's fate." Lee reaches up and rubs his scars with a frown.

The trio of lines tingle with a phantom heat.

"One of the bombs landed close, very close, close enough that the light from the blinds was enough to flash burn my face." Lee lowers his hand. "Everything after that is a blur, but" He pauses and pulls at Sylveon's ribbon once more. "Sylvy, please, you need to let go. You aren't going to like what I have to say."

The fairy looks up at him with a defiant glare despite how her eyes prickle with tears, and Lee matches it with a stare that is considerably more gentle.

"I'm serious, Sylveon," Lee says as soothingly as he can. "Please let go."

She bares her teeth, but slowly complies, the ribbon around Lee's wrist unraveling.

"Thank you." He smiles, then returns to what he was saying. "Everything after the blast was a blur, but I remember, in no uncertain terms, that I burned to death."

Sylveon suddenly retches, and then vomits on the floor. She just barely catches herself from falling into her own sick, and can't stop the ugly sobs that suddenly rip through her body and echo off the walls.

Lee's eyes shoot down towards her, and to his frustration, he sees a third ribbon snaking up his pant leg and resting against his shin.

"Damn it," Lee hisses through his teeth before he leans down and plants a hand across the fairy's withers, rubbing circles in her back. She also doesn't resist as he wipes her mouth clean with his jacket sleeve. In her psychometric distress, Sylveon's grip loosens on her ball, allowing Lee to snatch it once he's rubbed the worst of her hiccuping sobs away.

"Sylvy, You're taking a rest." Lee does his best to keep his voice gentle, but his words are unmistakably an order. He points the pokeball in his hand at the trembling Sylveon. "We'll have a one-on-one about all of this later. Return."

Before she can protest, Sylveon is sucked back into her ball.

"Jeez," Lee grunts, shrinking the pokeball into its travel form and stuffing it in his pocket. Looking at the mess on the floor, he makes to rise so he can get a towel or something, but before he can, the stain glows purple and lifts out of the carpet of its own accord. Then it floats over to a trashcan in the corner of the room before dropping down inside.

"Thanks, Love." Lee smiles towards Ninetales, then returns his attention to Zinnia, Brendan, and their pokemon.

The entire room is nothing but horrified faces. Even the most unflappable members of the entire party like Breloom and Shelgon stare at Lee with dropped jaws.

"Then" Lee pushes forward before the awkward atmosphere trips him up too much. "Then I inexplicably woke up on the edge of Littleroot with Ninetales, then Vulpix's pokeball in my pocket. I can only chalk it up to divine intervention. For what reason? I have no idea."

"S-So when I met you for the first time, that was right after" Brendan trails off and looks away, unable to finish.

"Right after everything happened? Yeah." Lee looks away from the menagerie of petrified faces. "As for how I know all the things I know? While pokemon weren't real in my old home, they were popular in children's fiction. Comics, TV shows, video games, that kind of thing, and I never quite outgrew pokemon," he says with a wistful smile. He then quickly sobers. "If I ever seemed distant at the start of our journey, I want to say sorry for that. It took time to stop seeing you guys as fictional characters and look at you as real people, and that was shitty of me no matter how you try to frame it."

Zinnia tries to say something, but no sound leaves her mouth.

He shakes his head. "I know a lot of things that normal people don't because I watched it from a fourth-person perspective, or played through it in a game. I don't know every little thing, so that's why my knowledge seems so scattered," Lee concludes, leaning back into the sofa. While a bit tired and somewhat frustrated after Sylveon's shenanigans, he finds that he is not as exhausted as he expected. "That's why I said I should repeat your warning to the League for you. I can get it up to Steven Stone directly, and he'll take it seriously. I've given him enough breadcrumbs to know that I and the info I give is good."

Zinnia rests her head in her hand. "Holy shit" she murmurs. "And here I thought what I had to say was going to be the biggest bomb today. News, I mean! Not bomb! Shit!" she hastily corrects herself, her face mortified. "Ech. Arceus, Lee. That was That was something."

"But you're okay now, right?" Brendan asks out of the blue, turning to look at Lee with melancholy that doesn't belong on such a young face. "You're not Upset with how you can't"

"Go home?" Lee finishes for him, smiling thinly. "I told you, Brendan, I have nothing to go home to. Besides, Hoenn is my home now. I can't, or rather won't leave you all behind. I've put all the ghosts clinging to me to rest, along with Lee the average zookeeper. I'm Lee the pokemon trainer, now." He lets his smile grow into a grin. "I wouldn't mind having another zoo in the future, though."

Without warning, Ninetales partially rears up and drapes herself across Lee's lap, startling him, but he quickly smiles and wraps her in a hug.

The fox smiles in return, nuzzling her head beneath his chin. Wordless adoration flows from her, and Lee matches it, turning the gap between their minds into a churning whirlpool of affection.

"Lee?"

The man cracks open an eye and tilts his head to see past the fox ears in his face. "What's up, Brendan?"

"You said you played pokemon games and saw the TV shows, right?" Brendan asks with a grin. "Was I ever in any of them?"

Lee lets out an exasperated sigh. "Let's not go down that Bunnelby hole."

Just outside the door of the hillside hut, a gnarled hand poised to knock slowly lowers, and the owner thinks over the things they've heard through the wooden barrier.

A tale of horror, death, rebirth, and newfound belonging. Thoughts and feelings scatter every which way within the eavesdropper. Some dots connect, while others make no sense.

The near-interloper turns and walks away, speaking not a single word to anyone else for the rest of the day.