Here, Have a Cookie a Pokemon Fanfiction

I bit my lip as I shifted my view between Eve and May. Neither of them had moved from their spot.

“That depends. Are you going to scream at your sister again?” May asked bitingly, her eyes narrowed.

Eve slowly walked into the room. “No,” Eve murmured. “I’m sorry. I... Wasn’t in the best head space yesterday. That’s not an excuse, though.” Eve looked down at me and winced as she noticed my hand.

“I forgive you, so quit being so fidgety. It’s not like you.” I said, giving my sister the best smile I could. “I know how you get when you’re super stressed, it’s fine.” I looked away.

“It wasn’t fine yesterday. I shouldn’t have...” Eve trailed off as she took in my hand. “Should... that be unwrapped?” Eve asked.

May growled and I squeezed her hand to get her to back off.

“Not a pretty sight, are they?” I shifted my hand under the sheet. “The nurse said that the scar tissue should fade after a few weeks.” I glanced away from my sister. “The nails are going to take a few months to come back, though. Good thing I like wearing gloves.” My words sounded far away to my own ears.

“What on earth...” Eve asked in horror.

“A Solrock and Lunatone mind controlled me to dig into a ruin for them. The walls were weird, and they couldn’t move them, so they needed a more... hands on approach.” I waved my hand around and May smacked my arm.

“Do NOT joke about that.” May shivered. “Especially not around Joern when he gets back.”

My eyes widened a bit at the implications of that sentence. Right. He was a captive audience for that horror show.

“He-”

“Yup,” May interrupted.

I couldn’t tell if she knew what I was going to ask or if she just wanted the subject dropped. I swallowed down a lump in my throat before reaching out for the drink on my tray. Good to know I wouldn’t be the only one needing therapy after this, I guess. Eve looked a bit green, and I patted a spot on my bed for her to sit down.

“Just don’t throw up on me,” I said. Not even a smile, damn. I need to work on my material.

“Do I need to be mindful of anything or...” she trailed off.

“Nah, the doctors here did a good job. Wonders of modern medicine, I guess. I’m pretty sure the only active injury I really have right now is the broken arm, if the way my legs feel is any indication. I’m going to need another surgery for that, though," I explained.

“Another?” Eve asked, her voice shaking slightly as she did so.

I sighed. “Yeah, another,” I confirmed.

Eve’s eyes narrowed, and I knew I wasn’t getting away with not explaining. Wait.

“Come to think of it, what did I need the first surgery for?” I asked my favorite nerd.

“Regenerators are good for surface level wounds and speeding up general recovery, but they’re not instant. The rocks that fell on you nicked your femoral artery. You lost so much blood...” May looked away.

I hesitated for a second, before reaching out and grabbing May’s hand with mine. I squeezed and she looked up before smiling at me and squeezing back.

“You two would give the glazed donuts back home a run for their money with how cavity inducing you’re being right now,” Eve commented.

May turned and glared at Eve.

“Suck it up, buttercup. I’m your girlfriend’s sister, I’m contractually bound to screw with the both of you. It was in the bylaws of the forms they gave me when the brat was born,” Eve said, smiling at May. “Think you’re up to explaining more, or do you want me to grab one of the attendings?”

“Didn’t they give you the run down when you came in the first time?” I asked.

Eve winced. “I, uh... didn’t give them the chance.” She chuckled nervously before moving to stand up.

“Wait,” May said. “I’m sorry, I... I don’t want to, but I feel like I need to talk about it. Give me a second, alright?”

Eve nodded.

May took a deep breath, exhaled, and stared down at our conjoined hands for a while.

"They put your leg in a tourniquet, and they cut your leg open to seal the artery closed,” May said. “Doctor’s have been in and out for the last day and a half with the portable regeneratives. I’m honestly kind of amazed. You were right, earlier. Most of your wounds are fixed outside of your arm. They can’t do anything with that until they get the bones set.” May glared at my cast before sighing. “You’re going to give me grey hairs. I’m fifteen years old, and I’m going to be the youngest person on record to have grey hair, and it is exclusively your fault,” May grumbled.

“Yeah, well, it would have been a hell of a lot worse for you.” I argued. “I’ll take a few grey hairs, if it means I'm not riding the rest of this circuit solo,” May slowly nodded.

“I, you’re continuing?” Eve asked.

I turned to look at her, a frown on my face.

“You have a broken arm, and your hands look like they got run through a meat grinder.” Eve’s voice went up a few octaves as she talked.

“I-” Eve’s intense stare stopped the words on my tongue, and I looked away. “I know you’re scared, but-”

“How the fuck aren’t you!?” Eve shouted. “You were abducted, tortured, and almost died.”

Different images flashed in my mind as she listed off each item and the blood in my veins froze.

“Every other human being I know would be curled up in the fetal position holding a Tediursa doll. This isn’t something people just walk away from. It might not be hitting you now, but you haven’t dealt with it. I KNOW you haven’t dealt with it.” Eve looked away. “Please, just... I can’t lose you, too.”

Those words hit me like a sledgehammer.

“I...” I swallowed as I attempted to steady my breathing a bit. “I’m not going to lie and say I’m okay. I know I’m not.”

“Then come home!” Eve shouted.

“I can’t let them win!” I shouted back.

May’s grip was probably the only thing keeping my hand from shaking. I took a deep breath before looking back up at my sister.

“I can’t. If I gave up now... I know I’m in horrible shape, but I can heal. I can be better. Giving up now would be giving those monsters way more fucking power over me than they deserve.” I glared down at the sheets. “They’re fucking dead and gone. I’m not going to let them control me again.” I felt myself start to shake. “Never-”

May pulled me into a sideways hug, cutting me off as I felt something trail down my cheek. Eve looked at me for a while, before sighing and leaning forward. She grabbed my hand and smiled at me.

“I don’t know how to argue against that,” Eve said before looking away. “I want to. I want to really fucking bad, but... I don’t think that would help you.” Eve squeezed my hand before letting go.

My shoulders sagged a bit and I looked away from her. “I know this isn’t what you want for me right now, but I need to do this,” I said.

“You’re going to call me every fucking night when you’re on the road now,” Eve ordered firmly. “Dealing with this is going to be hard, Lea. I know you feel you’re coping decently, but... it gets worse before it gets better.”

“I won’t be alone,” I replied, smiling up at May, who kept glancing between the two of us and looking incredibly uncomfortable. “May will be there to help me through it. My team will be there. I have people I can lean on, Eve.”

“That’s a curse as much as it is a blessing,” Eve said dryly before turning and looking at May. “The people you care about most see the worst of you.” She looked at me now. “You hurt them, even though them being there means the world to you.”

I leaned forward and winced as my cast held me in place. Dammit all, let me hug my fucking sister.

“You chase them away,” she muttered.

I reached my arm out as far as I could and grabbed her arm. She turned to look at me. “You didn’t chase me away.” I said kindly, smiling at her as best I could in this weird forward lean that I had going on right now.

“I’m... just gonna step outside.” May hastily grabbed Sergei and moved toward the door. “This feels like a private talk, now.”

The click of the door threw me off for a second as I watched her leave.

“Are you okay?” Eve asked, her eye’s knitting in worry.

“You didn’t chase me away,” I repeated, ignoring her question as I leaned back in my bed. “You’re my sister. You raised me. You... I wouldn’t be half as amazing as I am right now without you.”

“Lord knows I didn’t teach you humility,” Eve joked.

“It’s a shitty virtue that people like to quote so they can humble brag for blind praise, now shut up and hug me,” I ordered, glaring at my sister.

She laughed before taking May’s spot and pulling me into a sideways hug. I wrapped my arm around her and returned it as well as I could.

“I’m so happy you’re going to be alright,” Eve said. “I know May made the joke, but you’re actually giving me grey hair. I’ve started coloring it, by the way. This whole Pokémon adventure thing is going to have me looking like I'm sixty by the end of the year. I’m only thirty-two, dammit, I should not have grey hair,” Eve cried.

“Meh, I think you’re exaggerating my impact in that. You are kind of getting up there,” I said.

Eve’s hug tightened and she glared venomously at me.

“Shutting up now,” I muttered quickly.

“Smart girl,” Eve said. “And by the way, you forgot someone when you listed off people you could lean on. You’ve got me too. I meant what I said earlier. Call me. I'll listen to whatever. Scream, cry, complain that May snores in your ear-”

“She does,” I interrupted.

“I might complain that I didn’t need to know that, but I'll listen,” Eve finished, shooting me a glare. “Lord knows you’ve listened to me enough over the last seventeen years.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling wide at her. “So how long are you sticking around in Rustboro?”

“However long you’re in the hospital for,” Eve replied.

“You’re leaving Caroline alone for that long?” I asked, my eyes wide. “I say that having no clue how long I'm going to be here for.”

Eve laughed and shook her head. “I’ve actually hired one more person. Wally’s dad actually has a talent for baking, if you would believe it, and oddly enough, so do some of Norman’s Pokémon. Despite Slaking being famous for slacking, they’re surprisingly good workers.” Eve smiled. “I think I'm due for a bit of vacation time, don’t you?”

“Considering you’ve never taken one, yeah,” I deadpanned. “Only took me almost dying to do it.”

Eve’s eyes narrowed into a glare.

“You and May need to coordinate, you’re both kill joys. Humor is how I deal with crap, let me make morbid jokes,” I complained.

“Find a coping mechanism that doesn’t remind the people that care about you that you almost died,” Eve chastised.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “So, I don’t want to tell you how to spend your vacation, but I got to tell you, spending it ALL around me is going to be incredibly boring, and Rustburo has a ton of fun stuff to do.”

“You’re trying to get rid of me so you can have some alone time with your girlfriend, aren’t you?” Eve asked accusingly.

“Yes,” I admitted shamelessly. “Yes, I am. Please don’t make it difficult.”

“Fine,” Eve sighed. “I suppose I can leave my baby sister alone if that’s what she really wants. Besides, there’s something I want to check up on while I'm here.”

I craned my neck forward a bit as she stood up.

“Care to share with the class?” I asked.

Eve thought for a second before smirking.

“Rental rates,” she replied.

I tilted my head, slightly confused.

“I’m thinking of opening a second store, here, in the city,” Eve hesitantly admitted.

My eyes widened.

“Don’t call it a vacation if you’re still working while you’re here,” I chastised. “Are you sure we can afford that?” I asked nervously.

“I’ve been getting a lot of bulk orders from here since you passed through. The Gym, Devon, the school, I think I underestimated how much a gym leader liking our food would do. It just... makes sense to open another store here.” Eve’s eye’s crinkled as she smiled. “We’re doing really well.”

“I’m happy for you.” I said earnestly. “Are you going to keep the name?”

“What do you mean? Of course I'm keeping the name! The Sakai Bakery is perfect. I’m keeping it just the way it is.” She glared at me.

“Fine, don’t bite my head off. I’m just saying something with a bit more wow factor might draw in customers,” I said coyly.

“Yeaaaaaah, no. You’re the last person I’m going to for naming advice. You’d pick the name of a maid café from one of your weeb shows just to fuck with me,” Eve said with a glare that could traumatize small children.

Rude. Fair, but rude. “Fiiiine. Be boring, see if I care.”

Eve shook her head. “Want me to send May back in?” she asked as she made for the door.

“Please,” I responded. I don’t think she even needed to ask, because the second Eve left, May came back.

She even brought friends.

‘We brought stuff.’ Emilie smiled as she levitated a very familiar backpack and three poke balls to my side.

‘They threw away what you had on,’ Joern explained sadly.

I frowned. So much for the Haori. I could... dammit I don’t have the funds for a replacement. Joern looked away as I continued to not say anything.

“Joern, I don’t think any of what I had on was salvageable,” I explained consolingly. “You don’t have to worry about something like that.”

Joern smiled and nodded as I reached through my bag.

“Thanks, for...” I trailed off as I realized something. I was short quite a few bags of gingersnap cookies. “You got my backpack to get cookies, didn’t you?” I asked accusingly.

Emilie shook her head. “We go through the trouble of getting her stuff for her, and all we get back is baseless accusations,” Emilie... commented. I stared down at her in wonder. She did that last night too. How did I not notice?

“How does it feel to be bilingual, Emilie. That was fast.” I grabbed my bag and started ruffling through my pouches to see if anything else was missing.

‘She was doing great beforehand, but she also decided to practice a LOT in the cafeteria,’ Joern commented. ‘Kept striking up conversations with other trainers. I think she had one of the younger ones convinced that SHE was our trainer.’

‘Shameful behavior, posing as the captain while she’s laid up like this,’ Apollo chastised.

“Wait, where’s my lunch?” May asked. All three of my Pokémon froze and stared up at May nervously.

“PINCH?” Samie asked.

“Well... ya see...” Emilie shuffled in place. “The sandwich looked really good.”

‘Aye, lass, I uh... well it is in my nature and those chips looked delicious,’ Apollo said.

I pushed the thoughts out to May with a grin.

‘I... have nothing to feel guilty about.’ Joern admitted as he distanced himself from Apollo and Emilie. ‘Good luck you two.’

“Samie,” May said in a cold tone. “Chomp.”

“PINCH!” Samie complied as Emilie and Apollo quickly moved away from the angry mandibles.

I chuckled a bit at the show before grabbing a bag of cookies.

“So much better than hospital food. Thanks guys,” I supplied. “Samie, Emilie likes teleporting to blind spots. Anticipate her moves and counter.”

“TRAITOR!” Emilie shouted as Samie almost got her.

Joern stood off to the side and watched the chaos unfold with a grin. He looked a lot better than May had hinted at, honestly. We could probably wait on talking about what happened in the cave. I didn’t want to ruin his mood. I motioned for May to join me on the bed and offered her the bag.

“Thanks.” May smiled as she reached into the bag.

I shifted my backpack a bit to give her more room when I noticed something a bit odd. A few of my extra poke balls were in a different pouch from the rest of them. I riffled through them, and I leaned back, my eyes wide as I realized something.

“Guys, stop goofing around for a second,” I called out.

May clicked her tongue and Samie stopped.

“Goofing off?! Is that what you call getting almost eaten?” Emilie shouted angrily.

Apollo laughed from his perch of... my heart monitor. That probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Get down from there. Last thing the ‘Captain’ needs is you screwing up one of her monitors,” Emilie said.

Apollo carefully flew down to my shoulder.

‘Sorry, lass. I’m not quite used to all the fancy equipment.’ Apollo said to Emilie before staring down into my bag. ‘Did we lose something, cap?’ Apollo asked.

I held up the ball.

“No. We gained something. This poke ball has something in it,” I explained.

May yoinked the ball out of my hand before I even finished talking.

“I just wanted to get ahead of the idiocy before it started. Knowing you, you were going to do something stupid like open the damn thing, and my heart can’t take another brush with death,” May explained, giving me a glare.

I frowned.

“Am I really that bad? This one wasn’t my fault.”

May’s glare got worse.

“Shutting up now.” I ruffled around in my bag for my pokedex. “Look, just let me scan the damn thing. A Zubat probably just hitched or something, it’s fine.”

‘Stowaways are serious business, captain,’ Apollo commented.

Joern snorted. I held my dex up to the ball, scanned it, and...

“No data found?” I looked at my dex in confusion. “Did I error code the fucking pokedex when I got hurt?”

May pulled the ball away from me and shoved it in her pocket.

“NOPE!” May shouted. “Not dealing with that today. No way. We will open it on a route, with both our teams out.”

I pouted.

“May, I'm su-”

“VETO! A million times veto, and for once you’re going to listen to me, or so help me I will-”

“Alright, alright. Calm down, geeze,” I interrupted. “We’ll wait to see what it is.”

May nodded once.

“Good,” she said. The doors to my room opened as she finished, and an Alakazam walked in with a wheelchair in tow.

‘Good, you’ve finished your food. I was a bit worried you wouldn’t, the nurse said you were a bit fussy.’

What was I, three?

‘Would now be a good time to take you for your X Ray? We need to get a look before surgery,’ he said, before looking down at the chart. ‘Ah, and we can probably get the EMG knocked out while we’re out and about.’

“Now’s as good a time as any, I suppose, though is the wheel chair really necessary?” I asked, feeling a bit odd. The bottom half of my body felt fine, and I missed walking.

‘You might be feeling fantastic, but the technology we used to treat you is still very new. We’d rather be safe than sorry. We’ve already had one case where the patient strained themselves before their healing could finish, and he ended up back in the ICU,’ Alakazam said.

Why did I have a sinking feeling I knew who he was talking about.

‘Ah, he’s a friend of yours. That makes a lot of sense, actually.’

Dammit all.

“We would be more than happy to use the chair,” May said, giving me a stern look.

I wisely decided to comply and let them help me into the wheelchair. I made note of every mental whipcrack, and decided a smiling May was worth a bit of swallowed pride.

I sat on my bed across from Emilie with my eye’s closed, doing everything I could to visualize my home away from home. This was the easiest thing in the world. By all rights, I shouldn’t even need Emilie here for this.

“Why am I having trouble with this?” I asked Emilie. “This is basic bitch psychic training. Literally the first thing you taught me.”

‘Huh, you mean you’re having trouble finding your zen after everything that’s happened over the last few days?’ Emilie asked sarcastically.

I glared down at my little gremlin.

‘Shocker.’ Emilie said.

“Can you go back to being that sweet, innocent Ralts I caught on Route 102?” I asked, trying and failing to channel Eve’s mom stare.

Emilie just tilted her head at me and sighed. “That Ralts got cookies more,” Emilie countered.

“I wonder why?” I threw back at her before grabbing the bag I had been eating from earlier. “Enjoy.”

Emilie looked at my offering suspiciously.

“This feels like a trap,” she said. She poked the bag of cookies a couple of times before hesitantly grabbing one.

“Quit being a drama queen and enjoy,” I ordered.

The bag disappeared, and a familiar feeling of joy passed through the connection.

“You do know you can SAVOR your food, right? No one’s going to take them from you.”

“You don’t know that,” Emilie countered. ‘Back to your meditation troubles, your mind was flayed and almost shattered, and you went through something traumatic. I would have been more surprised if you pushed through that without blinking. I’ll pull you into it and stay with you throughout. This... is probably going to be rough.’

Emilie teleported up to my shoulder and shoved her hand onto forehead. My eyes cross as I try to focus on the blue light emanating from Emilie’s hand.

“Wait, wh-”

The world around me shifted. White hospital walls warped into scorched wallpaper and burnt molding. The bed I was sitting on bowed and broke as it slowly shifted to a charred linoleum. Broken tables and shattered chairs sprung up from the ground as holes were etched into the front desk. The display cases were shattered, the calendar was torn down, fuck even the clock was broken.

Six support beams held the building up, and they were the only things that looked untouched in the whole damn room.

“What the hell...” I muttered.

“Honestly, I was expecting worse,” Emilie said.

I whipped around to look at Emilie. “How the hell can it look worse than this? Legends above, this place is a nightmare.” The fact that I was looking at a burnt destroyed ruin of my mom’s bakery wasn’t doing anything for my mental state either, something the world reflected as I heard glass crack to my left. I turned and saw a picture of my parents cracked.

“Yes. It might look bad, but most of this is superficial. Everything’s still here, and your mind is still standing strong, despite what happened.” Emilie smiled at me reassuringly. “Most of this is from Solrock throwing a temper tantrum when you defied him. You refused to cut May down, and he lit things up in response. Back when you were having your melt down in the cave, those support beams were shattered,” Emilie explained. “We fixed the worst of the damage right there and then.”

“Good to know brain damage is easy to fix...” I muttered, before I remembered what she said half way through her explanation. “Wait, so what happens when the support beams go?”

“Your mind shatters,” Emilie said nonchalantly.

“WHAT!” I shouted. “Wait, can people hear me outside?”

“To the rest of the world you’re out cold right now. This isn’t meditation,” Emilie explained.

“THEN WHAT!?” I shouted again.

Emilie nodded with a giggle.

“It’s part of what makes this place so helpful for psychics. It’s hard to visualize your brain just doing its thing. This place reflects your mind. It’s how you access your memories, emotions, thoughts... it’s you,” Emilie explained. “And we’re going to fix it.”

“How, exactly?” I asked dubiously, glaring down at my starter. “Should I get a couple buckets of mind paint, maybe some mind nails?”

“You’re adorable,” Emilie deadpanned. “Let’s start with something simple. Where are the donuts?”

“Huh?” I asked dumbly.

“This is a bakery, where are the donuts? I’d like a donut please.” She clapped her hands. “Chop chop.”

“Emilie this place is obliterated, there aren’t-”

Emilie shook her head. “Not with that attitude, come on, hurry the hell up. I’m hungry.” She tapped her foot a few times.

Legends above I hated that. So much. That was one of my biggest pet peeves when I dealt with impatient customers.

“I’m WAITING!” Emilie glared at me.

I felt something in me snap. “Would you shut up, they’re right over here, so quit your... bitching.”

A section of the bakery had fixed itself, and a number of memories played out in fast-forward. Eve showing me how to make my first glazed donut. May coming into the shop for the first time and picking out stuff for her family. Norman coming in for his usual before opening the gym. Random thoughts and memories that weren’t important, that I didn’t even realize I had forgotten, all played out as a part of my mind righted itself. Where ash filled ruin once stood, there was now a fully functional donut display, completely out of place with the rest of the room.

“There we go,” Emilie said with a smirk. “Knew pissing you off would be the fastest way to get results.” She walked over to the case and looked at what was on display. “Nicely done.”

“How...?”

“It’s your mind. It listens to you,” Emilie explained, waving her hand out to the new donut display case. “You created this space. It exists as you know it, and bends to your will.” Emilie looked away. “It also bends to anyone else’s will, unfortunately. Now, where the hell am I supposed to sit? Do you have any chairs in this shit hole? Or-”

“IF you EVER call my mom’s bakery a shit hole again, I will send you back to Dewford via air boot. Express check out,” I snarled, and the menu and signage all returned, right as rain. “Damn, that is creepy. What’s even weirder is I don’t notice a change.”

“You won’t. It’s an unconscious action. You won’t see it unless you consciously try too, and that’s really fucking hard,” Emilie explained. “Still, chairs.”

I stared down at her and at the room around me before a thought occurred to me. I closed my eyes and just... visualized the bakery as it should be. To recreate the world in my mind from within my own mind.

“I... wow, you picked that up faster than I thought you would!” Emilie exclaimed.

I opened my eyes to see the world around me had shifted to match my mental image.

“I’m the god of my own world, right?” I asked.

Emilie nodded.

“Right...” I frowned as I thought about this place. “Emilie, did that really do anything?” I asked. “I don’t... feel any different. I still have this... disgusting feeling in my chest. Like I'm trying to crawl out of my own skin.”

“Unfortunately, that’s because that was the easy part,” Emilie explained with a frown. “The world you see is the world you remember. It’s not who you are right now. You fixed the windows, put the tables back up, slapped a nice coat of paint on the walls, but if we left... your subconscious would suck the life back out of this place.” Emilie frowned and looked away. “To truly begin healing... you have to process what happened.”

I froze.

“Make the subconscious conscious, remember,” Emilie said, shuffling in place and looking anywhere but my eyes.

“I... I don’t...”

“I know,” Emilie said with a reassuring smile. “We don’t, if you don’t want to. We could walk out and revisit this when it’s less fresh. It’s your choice.”

Emilie put a lot of emphasis on those last three words.

“That would be... no.” I shook my head. “Emilie, I can’t meditate.”

“At the moment, no. You can’t bring your mind to a state of calm on your own.” She nodded along, as though this wasn’t a massive problem.

“That was the most basic thing you showed me, and I can’t do that right now.”

Emilie nodded again.

“What else can’t I do? How long until this just bleeds into me trying to live my life? Till the rot starts affecting the ‘central pillars’?” I asked.

“I would never let it get that far,” Emilie said resolutely. “I keep the lights on, remember? That’s my job.”

I shook my head. “It should be my job too,” I answered. “I won’t be able to learn how to protect my mind, either, will I?”

Emilie shook her head.

“We’re fixing this. Tonight.”

“I’m glad.” Emilie smiled. “But it won’t just be tonight. What you went through... that’s going to take a few sessions to work through.” Emilie levitated and brought herself down on a table before pulling a chair out for me. “Have a seat.”

All of the confidence I had been feeling died as the words left her mouth. I felt my heart pick up as I realized just what we would be doing.

I swallowed down a lump in my throat as I hesitantly grabbed the chair. My hands were shaking as I stared down in front of me, and a pair of white hands grabbed me, bringing my eyes upwards. I leaned back in shock.

Gone was my helpful starter. In her place stood a tall, imposing figure. Her bangs shifted to one side as she stared into my eyes with a cold, black, dead stare. I jerked away with a shout, tripping backwards as I scrambled away from her. My heart pounded in my chest so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else. It loomed over me, getting closer-

“Lea!” Emilie shouted, the word echoing through the bakery as my own version of reality reasserted itself.

She teleported to my shoulder and stared at me with wide eyes as my breathing slowed, and my beating heart calmed down.

“I’m sorry. I-I don’t know what came over me,” I explained. “I was fine until-” How the fuck did I even explain what my brain just threw at me? What even was that? It wasn’t a Gardevoir that took Emilie’s spot. It resembled one, but it looked... wrong. Distorted and warped, into something not of this world. “Until I wasn’t.”

Emilie patted my hair a few times and my shoulders slowly started to relax. Her skin was paler than usual.

“Like I said. This isn’t going to be easy,” Emilie explained shakily.

I nodded before looking away. How the hell was I supposed to push through that? I didn’t even know what that was!? I couldn’t even breathe I was so scared-

“Emilie, are you still suppressing my fear?” I asked, suddenly aware of a new problem with all of this.

“I should be?” she asked.

I didn’t like that this was framed like a question.

“Lea, it’s technically a fear sponge, remember? If the feelings are strong enough-”

“I’ll still feel them,” I finished. “This felt so sudden though. I was so confident, and then” I stopped for a second, before gripping the chair to steady myself. “That!”

Emilie frowned before raising her hands up. A green orb slowly levitated down from the light fixtures above. Emilie froze as my breathing quickened slightly and a single black wisp pulsed out from the bottom of the orb. Emilie rotated it so we could get a better look and-

“It’s cracked.,” I deadpanned.

“Correct.” Emilie said, not elaborating beyond that. Her face remained passive as she stared at my damaged mental aid.

“What does that mean?” I asked, panic both mandating I asked this and making me dread the response at the same time.

“Well... let me see here.”

Emilie focused on the orb in her hands and it glowed blue. Her eyes snapped open wide as a single black pulse slammed into her, throwing her backwards through the tables and chairs. The orb remained unchanged as I quickly rushed over.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

Emilie groggily got back to her feet as she glared at her own creation.

“Lea, we’re psychic constructs in an imagined space. Of course I’m fine,” she snapped. “I... sorry. That was rude.”

“Okay, what's up with you. You’re rude all the time and don’t care, and you’ve been acting weird since we got here,” I said.

Emilie glared at me before sighing and looking down. “My mental state affects yours if we’re both in here. I’m trying to be calm for your benefit.”

I winced. “Ah, understood. Sorry. It wasn’t like you so I just... ignore me, I’m being an idiot,” I rambled. I half wondered if I was getting secondhand awkwardness from Emilie or if this was all me. “What happened?”

Emilie looked away. “I tried to fix the crack.” she explained. “It didn’t go well. I think the orb is overloaded. As I am now, I don’t think I can fix it.”

I swallowed.

“So, back to my earlier question. What does that mean?” I asked, before looking back over at the orb.

“Well...” Emilie trailed off. “It’d be mostly guesswork on my part, but that crack will get worse as we work through what happened. I’d be willing to bet that as we deal with it, fragments of those emotions this orb repressed will bleed through, until eventually.” Emilie made an explosion sound with her mouth as she threw her hands out. “Boom.”

“I don’t like boom. Boom sounds bad,” I said, my voice gradually getting higher in pitch as I talked.

Emilie looked away. “Boom is bad. Very bad, in fact,” Emilie muttered.

I felt guilt and fear through our bond and reached out to take Emilie’s hand.

She gave me a look. “You do realize this only works on May, right?” she asked with a smile.

I chuckled before looking away. “So, at some point, the fear sponge goes boom. I’m going to guess that when that happens-”

“You’ll feel everything, all at once, in a single terrifying moment,” Emilie explained.

“Is there anything we can do to stop that from happening?” I asked.

“Like I said... as I am now, I can’t do it.” Emilie said.

I focused on her. “I don’t want you to evolve for me if you don’t want to.” I ordered instantly.

Emilie looked up at me, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. “You, but, huh? How?”

I chuckled a bit.

“Emilie, you stopped your evolution last night,” I said. “Pretty obvious you don’t want to evolve right now.” I smiled at her. “I’m okay with that. I don’t know why, and I won’t make you tell me if you don’t want, but I respect your choice.” I chuckled a bit. “Besides, I kind of like you hanging out on my shoulder, honestly. I’d miss you if you weren’t there.”

Emilie blushed at my statement.

“Please stop saying such embarrassing things,” she begged. “I... thank you.” Emilie returned the smile I had given her. “That means a lot.”

“You’re welcome, what are our other options?” I asked.

“The other option would be for someone else to fix it for us,” Emilie said.

I winced at the thought as my very own mind rebelled at the idea. One of the display windows cracked as a wisp of black smoke surged out of the crack in the green orb.

“Right, not doing that. Got it. Even if they fixed it, you’d probably be so freaked out that you’d overload it again. That leaves us with option three. Deal with it,” Emilie said, a grim look on her face.

“I hate option three,” I said, doing my best to slow my heart rate down. I cautiously looked back towards the orb. “How long do we have, do you think?” I asked.

Emilie frowned.

“I honestly have no clue,” Emilie said.

I sagged.

“Probably soon, though, we aren’t exactly going to be covering light subject matters in the next few days,” Emilie said.

Dammit all, I can’t catch a break, can I?

“There’s more,” Emilie muttered.

“Of course there is.” I groaned.

Emilie frowned as she looked at the orb. “You were able to throw Solrock out. You’re starting to be able to keep me out of your head passively.” Emilie grinned at me. “You’re getting stronger, Lea.”

“This sounds good, why do I feel like there's a but coming that’d put a Snorlax’s ass to shame?” I asked, shifting in place a bit as Emilie frowned.

“I don’t think I’d be able to put another block in your head,” Emilie explained. “Even as you are now, with how freaked out you would be, you’d probably throw me out before I could finish.”

“So basically, I have to learn how to protect my mind asap while we deal with the trauma of all the shit I just went through.” I sighed. “Guess we really should get to work, huh?”

Emilie looked away from me, and the feeling of guilt I felt earlier surged through the bond. “Emilie?”

“Follow me,” Emilie said as she teleported down and walked towards the front door. “I know we’ve never done this before, but what exists beyond these four walls. Look out the window and tell me what you see.”

I frowned but complied, before leaning back in shock. That... wasn’t right.

“I don’t see anything,” I replied.

Emilie nodded.

“We need to change that. Close your eyes,” Emilie ordered. “I want you to visualize your walk to work. To take a snapshot of the dirt path beneath your feet, the clear blue skies overhead, the grassy fields, the houses you pass, the trees, the pond, anything and everything you can think of. Imagine a world beyond you bakery... and open your eyes once more.”

I complied and the windows beyond reflected that mental image.

“Holy... fuck,” I muttered.

Emilie giggled.

“God of your own world, remember?” Emilie threw my earlier words back at me before lifting up a single hand. The doors to the bakery opened, and a cool breeze blew into the otherwise warm bakery. I walked out and gaped at the world I created.

The buildings were nondescript and generic. They all looked the same, mostly because I just assumed that they weren’t important enough to remember, but they were there. This was a far cry from what home really looked like, but it was close enough.

“This is cool, why did we do this?” I asked, looking back to Emilie.

“Close your eyes again,” Emilie ordered, not answering the question.

I groaned but complied.

“Imagine a massive sphere around this city. Encapsulate everything that makes you you and hide it behind that barrier. Make it as dense and sturdy as possible. Don’t let anything in, or out,” Emilie said, her voice choking on the final word. “Now open your eyes.”

“And lo and behold, we have a giant sphere around the city, what-”

“Any intruder will start from the furthest point of access to your mind. They have to travel inward to get to your thoughts, memories, feelings... they start beyond that barrier. They have to tear it down to get in.” Emilie threw her arms out. “Tada, a protected mind. At your current level of strength, that barrier is good enough to tell the average Kadabra to fuck off.”

I leaned back from Emilie with wide eyes.

“I... just like that?” I asked, my voice sounding far away.

Emilie nodded and looked away. “This wouldn’t have been enough to keep the cosmic cosplayers out, but it could have been. If we had worked on strengthening your mind from the start, none of this would have happened. I was so scared about losing our connection that I almost lost you.” Emilie’s voice shook as she finished speaking.

I scooped Emilie up into a hug.

“I think I’ve told you this several times already, but I’m as much to blame for that as you are,” I argued. “I could’ve worked on shit in my own time. Could’ve pushed you for more. Could’ve done a lot of things different really.” I looked down and smiled bitterly. “Even disregarding the mental stuff, I could have taken Absol’s warning more seriously. I could have asked for help. I could have stayed with the group in the forest.” I chuckled. “I got overconfident, I guess. I thought we could take down anything the world threw at us.” I looked away. “I was wrong.”

“If you’re blaming yourself for getting abducted, I’m kicking your ass in the real world when we get done here,” Emilie said, her words getting hung up occasionally due to the intermittent sniffle.

I turned to her and grinned. “Then I don’t want to hear you blaming yourself either,” I ordered.

Emilie glared at me before hesitantly nodding.

“There were a million and one things we could have done differently, but at the end of the day, the only Pokémon to blame for what happened are dead at the bottom of a cave in Dewford,” I said resolutely. “Now, I’m going to take a wild guess, and say that the giant wall around my mind is a hindrance as much as it is a help, right?”

Emilie nodded. “In order for it to work, it has to be a seal from both sides, and be absolute. You can’t push thoughts out, and I can’t send thoughts in.”

I closed my eyes and imagined the world without the wall.

“What-”

“I’m also going to assume there’s more than one way to protect my mind. This will be our last resort, thank you for showing me.” I smiled down at her, before turning and walking back towards the bakery.

Emilie teleported to my shoulder and poked me in the side of the head. “You can’t just... ugh!”

“We’ll be more than ready by the time the orb breaks, so stop freaking out. I have faith in you, Emilie. We’ll get through this, and then you can show me all the cool tricks to protect my noggin without knee checking my abilities.” Ah ha! I finally got a smile out of her. Good. “Where do we start?” I asked.

“We start by grounding the bad memories with the good,” Emilie said, her gaze focused “I want you to remember that May returned your feelings, that everyone came together to help you when you needed it most, that there are people traveling across the region to see you while your hurt, and that we beat Wayne and Jasmine into the ground during our doubles rematch.” Emilie’s eyes blazed with that last one. “I want you to remember that we won, and the space rocks lost. Keep all of that in mind.” Chairs reformed at a table before getting pulled out. “And take a seat.”

I nodded and sat across the table from an empty chair. Emilie hopped down and looked up at me with a smile.

“Let’s begin.”