Unknown CaveEight bullets of light soared through the night sky, traveling all the way from Anistar City to outside the mouth of a distant tunnel, where a young man stood with his Pokémon to watch the moon. They slowed and floated to his hands, bobbing in the air like fruit waiting to be picked.
Eight badges clinked one by one into Moze’s palms. His eyes grew wide. Prou grabbed at the empathic horn on her chest, bracing herself against the powerful wave of feelings that came over her trainer. Shock. Disbelief. Relief. Warmth. Longing. Bitterness. Anger. Coldness.
“Huh.” Moze curled his fingers into a fist around his long lost badges. “This changes things.”
Anistar City – HospitalQuietly, Juliet opened the door to Alanza’s private hospital room. There were bags under her eyes from forcing herself to stay awake under the diminishing stupor of the alcohol. Her face remained dry. She’d shed no tears here. Alanza didn’t need that again.
Her friend was sitting up, clad in a standard issue gown with a bandage over her forehead. She was a mix of swelling and scrapes, all reduced with emergency care. Alanza turned her head, met Juliet’s eyes, then looked away out the window. It was an all too familiar scene.
Juliet pulled up a seat to sit next to the bed. The muffled sounds of nurses, their Pokémon, and the equipment coming from beyond the walls deafened them.
“You were such a crybaby the last time this happened,” Alanza teased quietly after a few minutes.
“Those days are behind me.”
“You say that, but you’re such a softie.”
“I’m sorry,” Juliet whispered.
Alanza still didn’t look at her. “…what for?”
“I don’t know. For not doing enough.”
Alanza swiveled her head back to face Juliet. “Don’t be. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
Juliet leaned forward. Her pained confusion could not be hidden. “Why do you hate her so much? I know it wasn’t just about me. Or Matheson.”
Alanza looked to the ceiling tiles. The fan spun slowly overhead. “…Salieri is nonstop. She shows no restraint, she just takes and takes…but she keeps winning anyway. Even through her mistakes, she plays and she changes the game.” The Taine reached up, sifting her hand through nothing. Juliet could only imagine what kinds of lines she saw. “I don’t hate her. But if there’s a reason she seems to thrive, when so few can, and I’ve been stuck running in place…I had to know why. I wanted that to be me.” Her eyes drifted back to her seated friend. “I know you feel it too. That hunger that never stops. We’ve never been satisfied, have we?”
Juliet found herself putting her hand to her heart, where her void was, remembering what she had told Salieri about ambition. “I get it.”
“Do
you hate her?”
She had to think about that for a few seconds. Finally, Juliet shook her head. “No…this started because of me, I can’t hate her for my mistakes. I’ve owed her a second chance for a long time.”
“I should have listened to you. And Math. I’m sorry.”
“I won’t say I told you so,” Juliet said with a forced smile, “Even though I want to.”
“Do you have paper? And a pen?”
The part-time detective, taking a pad and pen from her pocket, was able to comply with the strange request. Alanza wrote something down, tore off the sheet, and folded it in half. She stuck it behind her pillow. “What does it say?”
“Damn, we’ve all done terrible s**t to each other, haven’t we? Feels like I gotta face my karmic bill now. Just like you. Like her too…my betting days are over, Jules.” Alanza’s hand drifted through the air. “…I can’t see the lines anymore…”
Alanza had been putting up a strong front, until that moment. When she announced that Victini’s gift was gone, it was impossible to hide the devastation. Juliet didn’t know what to say. Gingerly, she reached out, and her fingers found Alanza’s hand. They squeezed tight. “Jules…in the second game, when I declared Truth, she asked me something. ‘Tell me who is using the name Nicolette Nostrad as an alias to handle Starfall.’ Those were her exact words. Coulda won if I said it, but I would never…at least, at the time…” Alanza gulped, looking ashamed. “But I think, if Salieri walked in right now, she’d have a way to find out the answer. I think…no, I have no doubt she could get it out of me, somehow.”
Alanza turned, slowly, to face Juliet entirely. She let go of her hand. “So what do you wanna do about that?”
Juliet’s expression grew dark in the fluorescent light of the hospital room. She stood up from her chair, went to the door, locked it, and drew its shade closed. “Fight through it,” Juliet commanded curtly. “You’re stronger than Salieri-“
“Jul-i-et, come
on,” said Alanza with tired exasperation. “Even if I could, she’d find a way. She’s just like her brother. If she has a lead, you think she wouldn’t grab it with all she could? Her friends wanna know too. You’re supposed to be the detective here.”
“We could move you away,” Juliet tried. Now she didn’t sound so authoritative. Panic was seeping into her voice. “Far away. You could run, Aly.”
“Heh, like that’d stop her. Besides, I think my running days are over too.” Alanza let out a short, masochistic chuckle. She bunched up the sheets that covered her lower half. “I can’t feel my legs.”
Something snapped inside Juliet. “Oh,” she said, almost soundlessly, as heat bubbled inside her. Her hand started moving to her hip again, reaching for a sword that still wasn’t there. She was the one who told Salieri about the aftermath of the car crash, and this was the result.
“She didn’t just win. She literally and figuratively broke me.” Alanza shook her head. “Are you that naked without your sword? It didn’t used to be that way.”
Juliet came back to attention and looked to her hip, a reminder that her weapon wasn’t there. “She doesn’t matter. We never have to see her again.”
“It isn’t just her! What about her friends?”
“I won’t let it happen-”
“Jules…the best way to keep Nicolette a secret-“
“No.”
“Jules-“
“I refuse-“
“Is if-“
“Don’t say it-“
“I don’t remember what she wants to know.”
Juliet shook her head vigorously. Alanza watched sadly as her best friend, a bastion of noble tranquility, was sweating and looking around the room like a claustrophobic animal. “I won’t. I won’t do that.”
“Get real, it’s your protocol. If it was another asset you wouldn’t think twice, you’ve been wiping them all.”
“It isn’t someone else, damnit, it’s
you!”
“So you’d let that undo everything?” Alanza challenged. “Everything you’ve worked to change? I’m a liability now.”
“If it means I have to do this then it’s not worth it!” Juliet pleaded, as much with herself as with Alanza. “What you’re asking for is selfish.”
Alanza tilted her head to the side. “I’m not the one being selfish here.”
The Nostrad shook her head, pacing back and forth, trying to stimulate herself for another idea. “I can’t remove that knowledge so easily, Alanza. It’s tied intrinsically to our relationship. The things we’ve been through. I’d have to remove so much more. If I leave you with cognitive dissonance, the stress could undo the whole rewrite.”
“What’s the most I’d be left with?”
“You brain is going to fill in gaps. You won’t…years of friendship, lost. You’d know me as an acquaintance, someone you’ve seen from time to time. Nothing more.”
Alanza looked down at her legs. “…is it temporary?”
“I can put it back, but I don’t know what will happen, Aly. What if something happens to me before I can? What if something happens to you, and you didn’t know you could trust me-“
“If it means I can’t betray you, then I’ll do it,” Alanza said firmly. “I won’t even know what I’m missing, right? I’m going to be ok, Jules.”
“You’re being an idiot!” Juliet barked, her voice cracking. “This isn’t going to work the way you want it to! Arceus, why is everyone so stupid? Naïve! Why would you even say this to me?”
“…Juliet, you said you wouldn’t cry.”
Juliet was too beside herself to truly notice the tears rolling down on her face. “You won’t remember but
I will. And I can’t do this without you. Please, Alanza, please don’t ask me to do this, I can’t be alone anymore. I-I’ve been falling apart. You just came home.”
Alanza strained to sit up. She brushed tears from Juliet’s cheek and put a hand on her shoulder to bring her down so they were eye-to-eye. “The crown is gonna be on your head someday. You told me you can carry that weight.”
Juliet nodded, trying to be strong again. “I can.”
“You can carry this weight too. Just for now. You can’t let your dad have his way. It has to be you…merde, you’ve got a hell of a mess to clean up without me. I’m sorry.”
Juliet pulled Alanza into a tight embrace and cried freely onto her shoulder, and Alanza held Juliet’s head and told her it would be ok. They did this for minutes, and Juliet was scared to let go because she knew it could be the last time she’d get to hold Alanza again.
“It’s time. It’s time.”
Now Alanza was crying too, but she kept her determination strong. Juliet pulled herself away and stood up. She released Kallikrates, who observed somberly. “Lie down. Kalli, watch the door.”
The fox hung her head low and walked to the door, facing away. Alanza laid her head back. “What does it feel like?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Makes sense. How could you?” Alanza let out a heavy sigh. “…don’t get cold feet on me now.”
“T-this isn’t enough time. I need more time,” Juliet stammered. “I want more time.”
“Then when? It’ll never be enough time. We knew we'd have to pay a price when we became monsters.”
“You were never a monster, Alanza. Just me.” Juliet’s throat felt like a desert. It was all too surreal. “I’ll make sure that you’re happy-”
“No. I’m not ready to be happy yet. That’s cheating. I need to remember this, or I’ll never move on.” Alanza sucked her lips in, trying to stay steady so her friend could finish the job. “I miss you already.”
“…close your eyes…” Juliet turned off all the lights but the bedside lamp. The Nostrad was half illuminated, her other half cast in shadow. “What does the note say, Alanza?”
“Just something I need to make sure I never forget. You can see it when...you're done...” Alanza awkwardly explained. She shut her eyes, letting herself seep into darkness. “I’m ready.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m not gonna waste this,” a young Alanza said to a young Juliet in the aftermath of the car crash. “I’m gonna get better, and when they find out how good I got at games, we’ll find each other again! This is our thing now! Maybe I’ll even win next time!”
Juliet looked over her shoulder, making sure no one overheard. She looked back to her friend, her heart warm with relief. “Superpowers, huh?”
“You know it!”
It had been a blessing in disguise. Juliet knew she was selfish for thinking that, but she had always been so alone. Now she could share her secret with the one she wanted to tell the most. The young noble went to the door and locked it. She drew the shade closed. “I’m super sure we’re not supposed to lock that.”
“Aly…I have a superpower too.”
Alanza gave Juliet an incredulous raise of her eyebrows. “No way. You’re just saying that cause I have one.”
“I mean it. I do. I’ll show you.”~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Open your eyes.”
Alanza did as she was asked, staring directly into gorgeous blue flashing lights. “I’ll see you again soon. Goodbye, Juliet…or should I say-“
"
Don't."
Alanza stopped speaking when the tip of the Malamar’s tentacle touched her forehead. Fairuza’s tentacle hummed and glowed with a pale blue bioluminescence. The Overturning Pokémon boasted the most compelling hypnotic power of any Pokémon, and Juliet had honed Fairuza to the limit. With one touch, the Malamar compelled Alanza to enter a deep sleep.
“Never call me that name. Ever,” Juliet chillingly proclaimed to the friend who couldn't hear her. She reached out and touched Alanza’s cheek.
Despite how much she disdained her father, even she knew how much they had in common. Still, the tools she had inherited from him had become her own. Even her genes were a twist on his. Jullien’s psychic talent was telepathy, the ability to read minds. Juliet’s was a mutation of that. She had psychometry, the ability to read memories.
Ever since she was little, Juliet could touch an object, person, or location, and know what it had been through as though she were there for it. Handling an opponent’s blade let her see and mimic all of the skills the wielder had ever utilized with it. She could touch the beer pong ball of an expert player and replicate their toss perfectly. A handshake let her see the experiences of another person as though they had been her own. It made her the master of many skills. The best swordsman in Kalos. A fantastic detective. A true historian.
Above all else, it had made her incredibly effective as Nicolette Nostrad.
Fairuza touched one tentacle to Juliet’s forehead, and one to Alanza’s. She acted as the relay between the two girls. Juliet instructed Fairuza mentally on which memories to bury, which ones to shuffle around, which ones to add, which ones to edit. When enough pieces were moved, the mind filled out the rest. And after only a few minutes, Alanza had been rewritten. The Taine’s head rolled to the side in peaceful slumber. Juliet and Fairuza made sure to leave her with a dream about Victini.
The tentacles were lifted up and away, and Juliet dropped to her knees. She covered her faces with her hands and curled up into a ball. “It’s too heavy,” she sobbed. Fairuza clucked with concern, lowering herself to wrap her arms around her trainer for comfort.
“You told her you could lift the crown. This is what it means to bear the weight of the world. Sacrifice is heavy. Atonement is heavier.” Kallikrates trotted over to Juliet, nuzzling her crying trainer. “Whatever comes next, you can’t falter. Who will Kalos look to if you can’t lead them?”
Juliet looked up to her Pokémon, both huddled around her to protect her from her loneliness. “Let this loss push your forward, child.”
One. Two. Three. Juliet counted in her head, and forced herself to her feet. She looked at herself quivering in the mirror, and stared her reflection down, willing herself to become poised again. The time to breakdown could come later. There was too much to do, and she had to see it through for Alanza.
She reached behind Alanza’s pillow and pulled out the note. All it said was ‘Play Nice’.
Juliet folded it up and tucked it into the red bandanna on the nightstand. She gave Alanza a kiss on the forehead, covered her with a blanket, and left with her team as though no one would remember she had ever been there.
End of Day 8
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