Sonia Rewrites

The draft for the battle with Lune! I'm sorry; there are no doubt typos, and there are a ridiculous amount of italics here and I've probably missed something. The working title is 'Cheats Never Prosper'.

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Felix was triple- and quadruple-checking Zorua, looking for literally any excuse to keep her from battling. The hyperactive little Pokémon, however, refused to be labelled fragile, and even threatened to claw Felix’s face off if he even tried to use her rest period diminishing her physical capabilities as an excuse. Felix finally relented, but he was radiating worry.
“Lune is tough, Zorua. Very, very tough,” he warned. “No one expects you to win, okay?”
I do, Zoru! Zorua responded with a grin.
Felix sighed. “Look, you’re expected to lose. If so, no harm done! You lose, it’s all fine, no one’s disappointed or hurt or upset or embarrassed. You draw, then that’s already better than what was expected, and if you win, then great!”
Ehhh, Zoru, you telling me to expect nothing so I won’t be disappointed! Zoru, that’s what Sonia’s for!
“No, I’m not,” he said, looking exasperated. “I’m trying to get you to see every result as positive—“
Sonia shook her head at Felix. “Felix, stop trying. This is a waste of time.”
Zorua leapt energetically onto Sonia’s shoulder, her balance already back, her grin in full force. I feel all better, Zoru, so that Eevee’s never gonna get close to winning, Zoru!
Felix sighed, then turned to Mal. “You’re refereeing this; I’ll just keep trying to get Zorua out of the battle.” He shook his head. “I’m just being an overprotective idiot, I know…”
Mal gave him a reassuring look. “You're not being an idiot, Felix. You're just worrying. There's no need; if there is nothing wrong with her, then there is nothing wrong with her.”
Felix still looked worried, but nonetheless drew away to sit beside Kai, Cascade, Sola, Teddi and Su Lin on the bench at the sides of the field.
Sonia took a deep breath in, trying to calm herself down. They were outside in the Pokémon Centre’s battle arena, the sky nice and grey. Aside from the seemingly faraway sounds of the street and city life, it felt as though they were utterly alone; no one else was outside, the way to the Pokémon Centre was defended by trees and vegetation, and all the windows were either closed, shades drawn, or seemed faraway and empty of light or life. Raphael stood across the battlefield, arms crossed, Lune beside him. And Sonia was going to have her first real battle.
Giving Doris and Darcy practice as League trainers did not count. They wiped the floor with her each and every time. 
Zorua must have guessed what her friend was thinking. Ehh, Zoru, it’ll be nice to be able to win for once, eh?
Sonia gave her a tiny smile. Felix does have a point, though. Don’t be crushed if Lune wins, you have—
An excuse, Zoru! Zorua pumped her fist in the air. I’m sick! Zoru, I mean, unwell! Ehh, Zoru, I mean, injured!
Sonia’s automatic reaction was to slam her palm into her face. “Zorua, that… No… Let’s just battle, okay?”
An impossibly wide grin spread across her face. “Zorruuuuu!” She screeched, leaping high into the air with a flip.
Raphael arched an eyebrow at her. “I never knew Zorua was such an enthusiastic battler.”
“She’s not,” Sonia sighed. “She just likes winning.”
Zorua backflipped a few times. Felix looked incredibly tense, literally on the edge of his seat, like he was about to sprint over, arms flailing with Super Potions and bandages.
Raphael shrugged. “So, are we gonna start or what?”
Mal and Felix glanced at each other, nodding. Mal raised his voice. “This will be a one-on-one battle between Zorua and Lune, with no substitutions. The match will be over as soon as either Pokémon is unable to battle.” He glanced at Sonia. “Furthermore, Sonia will only use telepathy to direct Zorua as per Felix’s instructions.”
Sonia shrugged. She’d taken painkillers to stop any headaches; hopefully they wouldn’t mess around with her powers as well. Some did, but she’d taken these before with no adverse effects.
Raphael nodded. Sonia could now get things from his emanation; her power registered them and her brain informed her he was feeling both excited and a mixture of negative emotions. Excited for a challenge, but afraid he would lose, and irritated for having to try this out in the first place.
Zorua leapt forward into the battlefield in a ready position. She shifted from side to side, her bones and muscles operating as they should. Sonia readied her mind and sent out her power, reaching out to Zorua in preparation.
Mal gestured sharply. “Battle begin!”
Raphael leapt on the initiative. “Tackle!”
Jump, then Leer. You can’t meet him head on.
Lune barrelled forward, charging at Zorua. Zorua, with her high jumping ability, waited until the last moment before powering off high into the air. With a wicked grin, her aura flashed at Lune’s as she used Leer. Lune saw the visual signs and skidded to a stop, trying to shake off the status move’s effects.
Now, Pursuit!
As Zorua fell, her claws extended, gleaming. Dark type energy supplied the move with its power as she headed straight for Lune, her wicked smile only growing wider.
“She used Leer!” Raphael called. “I think she’s using Pursuit! Dodge it, now! Her typing is powering up the move and your defence is already low!”
Lune slid to the side efficiently, allowing Zorua to land heavily on the ground. Sonia’s mind raced to supply her with an idea.
Push off from the ground. Keep your momentum and the Pursuit going.
As Zorua landed, she pushed off, shooting past Lune. The Eevee jerked back, barely managing to contain surprise. Raphael floundered, unable to react. “Use—”
Keep up the attack! Don’t let up.
Zorua sped past, pivoted around and crashed through Lune. She pivoted once more and tackled him again as he stood back up. She repeated it over and over, before the Eevee ever had a chance to get up. Lune gritted his teeth, but with his lowered defence the hits became hard. Zorua’s manic laughter echoed, her confidence growing.
Raphael’s eyes narrowed in concentration. He had gotten no clue at all that any attacks were coming, and it seemed to be getting to him. Raphael cracked his knuckles, exuding determination. “Sand Attack in her face the next time she comes, then get out of the way!”
Sonia’s mind instantly recalled Cascade’s troubles, and she couldn’t stop the stab of panic. Zorua, dodge it!
Zorua sprang away from the dirt, the Pursuit falling away.
“Quick Attack!”
Lune sprang after Zorua, pouncing on the black Pokémon before she could fully escape. Zorua screeched as she was hit, caught now under Lune’s claws.
“Sand Attack, now!”
Lune dragged his forepaw through the ground, his claws shredding dirt and sending it flying at Zorua’s face. Zorua yowled and kicked Lune off of her with her powerful hind legs, the same legs that could send her leaping higher than Mal was tall. Zorua sprang away. The dirt landed in her pelt and Lune landed in the dust. Sonia could feel her heart rate getting faster and emotion rising up and pushing at her barriers. Sonia swallowed nervously. She had to just keep focused and concentrate.
Fake Tears. Act as though you got the Sand Attack in your eyes.
Zorua shook her head a few times, building it up. Then she yowled, pawing at her eyes, tears glinting at the corners. Lune shuddered as the move’s effects took hold, but he didn’t seem to quite register what it was. Raphael, not realising it was Fake Tears, directed Lune to attack. “Tackle!”
Trip him up then use Pursuit.
Zorua continued to paw at her eyes, looking flustered. Raphael and Lune were oblivious to any orders and Lune headed straight in. In a flash, Zorua’s hind leg stuck out. Lune’s paws caught and he fell, crashing to the ground. With a flare of Dark-type energy, Zorua pounded her paws into the Eevee’s face, all the fake tears gone, replaced by a triumphant grin.
Raphael flinched, surprised. Sonia was reassured; her telepathy was knocking him completely out of sync.
Zorua pounded at Lune again, but he rolled out of the way and Zorua’s paw collided with the dirt.
“Quick Attack!” Raphael grabbed his chance.
Lune jumped at Zorua, claws extended, too fast for fox or Psychic to react. He collided with Zorua, shoving her to the ground. Raphael grinned. “Sand Attack!”
Once more, Lune dragged his claws though the ground, but Zorua didn’t react in time. Dirt showered in her eyes, and now she was pawing at them for real.
“Swift!” Raphael called. Lune, keeping Zorua pinned, began to summon the stars.
Pursuit! Headbutt his face!
Zorua smashed her head into Lune’s face. Lune stumbled back, thrown off, the stars of Swift disappearing, but he landed on his feet, battle ready. Zorua jumped up, blinking and pawing and trying to get the dirt out of her eyes.
Raphael gestured sharply. “Tackle, Lune! You’ve got her!” There was a wide smile on his face, as though he was sure he’d won.
Lune threw himself at Zorua, his face grim with determination.
Sonia was not a battler. She didn’t have the reflexes to react beyond her eyes widening ever-so-slightly in horror.
Zorua only just got the dirt out in time to see Lune about to strike.
Uh oh, Zoru.
Zorua shrieked as Lune’s hit sent her flying. She smashed hard into the ground, tumbling over, crying out in pain.
Zorua! Sonia’s reasoning and judgements failed her. She was a deep thinker, not a fast thinker. She had no solution as Raphael ordered Lune to attack again. Zorua struggled to pull herself up, and Lune smashed into her once more.
Mal looked as though he was prepared to call the match. Sonia sharply threw out a hand, her mind racing. Mal acknowledged the gesture with a nod. Sonia’s mind was drawing blank after blank; she had to think of something!
Zorua, use Fake Tears!
Lune’s Tackle hit once more. Zorua let out a wail, tears shining in her eyes as her aura twisted Lune's. Raphael recoiled, Zorua’s acting impressive enough to fool him. Lune hesitated, seemingly tricked once more, but registering the move’s effects, he growled with anger. He barrelled into Zorua again. He cried at his trainer, gesturing to his eyes and miming crying.
Raphael’s face burst with epiphany. “Damn, Fake Tears! Never mind; we got the initiative, just hold on! Lune, use Swift, now!”
Zorua had just managed to pull herself up when she saw the Swift heading towards her. “Uwaaaagh!” Zorua’s eyes popped and she ran, panicked. Fatigue was creeping into her movements. The only thing keeping her in the battle was her ridiculous stamina. Sonia! Do something, Zoru!
Sonia scanned the battlefield, a plan coming to mind. It was a gamble, but based purely on physical power, Lune was stronger. Zorua couldn’t meet his attacks head on, and Sonia had to keep her trump card up until the last minute as her finishing move. Raphael was supposedly a tactical genius, and would no doubt be able to prepare if he knew Zorua’s final move. Sonia had one advantage, and she was holding on to it; the element of surprise. Keep up the run. Stumble, let it hit you, then Fake Tears with illusion to an Eevee. That should make him hesitate just enough for us to finish this.
“Quick Attack!” Raphael called.
By the time Sonia had finished her directions, Zorua had stumbled for real. Zorua screeched as she fell to the ground, the stars flashing into her. Lune was right behind them, closing in for the finishing attack.
Zorua turned around to face Lune, and suddenly, she was the spitting image of Sola, but scrawnier and weaker-looking. Impossibly bright tears shone in her illusioned eyes and streamed down her face, the vulpine slyness beneath perfectly disguised.
Lune barely registered as his aura was attacked by the move. He scrambled to a halt, his eyes wide with shock. His emanation burst so powerfully with horror that Sonia almost recoiled. Had she tapped into some powerful trauma by accident…?
Raphael’s eyes widened with shock. “How—”
Sonia wasn’t one to let this go to waste. Extrasensory, now!
The illusion fell instantaneously, a burst of Psychic type energy radiating out from Zorua. It moved so fast that it struck before Lune could react. The Pokémon flew back with a screech, his body blown straight through the leaves and branches of a tree and out of sight. Zorua picked herself up, shaking slightly.
After a moment, Lune suddenly dropped from the tree. He landed hard on the ground, unmoving.
There was a lasting silence. Lune failed to stir, the spectators sat on the edge of their seats, and Mal grimly raised a hand.
Zorua grinned.
“Lune is unable to battle,” Mal called. “Zorua and Sonia win the match.”
Raphael was already running to his Pokémon, his eyes wide with shock. Zorua ran at Sonia and jumped into her arms, jubilant.
We won, we won, we won, we won! Eeeeeeheeeheehee, Zoru! The little Pokémon laughed, curling into Sonia’s arms.
Sonia couldn’t resist squeezing her friend in a tight hug. “Are you alright?!”
Zorua laughed maniacally. Ehh, you worry too much, Zoru!
Felix seemed torn between checking up on Zorua and helping Lune. The more immediate problem won and he rushed to Lune. Mal approached Sonia, his face serious.
“Sonia, how much were you communicating with Zorua there?”
Sonia frowned. She could feel the unease coming from Mal. “Quite a lot. Why?”
“It looked as though you weren’t reacting at all,” he said quietly. “It looked as though… You didn’t care if Zorua got hit. You barely moved.”
A spark of rage ignited. “And what’s your problem?! So what if it didn’t look like I was! Of course I care! I was reacting telepathically!”
Mal held out a hand. “Don’t worry, I know you care. I saw you running to save Zorua after Team OJ’s attack.”
Sonia frowned, placated, but confused. “OJ?”
Mal smiled slightly. He adopted a grand voice, a posh accent and majestic posture, as though he were an ancient master orator. “Odette proclaimed she was the supervisor, and that Janet was the team leader. Therefore, t’was decreed the team of four that attacked us shall forever be known as Team OJ.” He outright grinned, relaxing suddenly. “Or Team Orange Juice, if you’re Raph.”
Sonia couldn’t help but laugh. Zorua guffawed, shaking with laughter. “I'm definitely using that name! I didn’t know you could do voices!”
Mal shook his head, smiling. “The ‘old fuddy-duddy’ voice, as Raph puts it, is the only one I can do. I just mimic my tutor.”
Sonia let Mal have a smile. “Well, you’re quite good at it.”
Mal smiled back. “Raph likes hearing it, so I get a lot of practice.”
Speak of the devil. Raphael strode up, Lune in his arms, his emanation furious. Felix and the Pokémon ran up behind him, Kai coming to stand beside Sonia, giving Zorua a hi-five.
“You read Lune’s mind!” He snapped.
Sonia glared at him. “And what gave you your newest ridiculous idea?”
Raphael scowled. He jabbed a finger at Zorua. “How’d she know to do that illusion, huh?!”
Sonia arched an eyebrow. “Because I directed her.”
“Exactly!” Raphael cried. “And where else would you get that except from Lune’s head?!”
Sonia took a step closer to Raphael, looking up at the taller boy, her face twisting into a snarl. “I didn’t read his mind, you idiot,” she snapped. “I got Zorua to use Fake Tears in conjunction with creating an illusion that made her look like a member of Lune’s species. Looking like a member of the foe's species is a common illusion trick widely used by wild Zorua to deter attackers!”
Raphael persisted. “But she looked just like Sola!”
Sonia felt like punching Raphael. “The only Eevee she has to work with are Sola and Lune! Who else would she look like?!”
Mal put a hand to Raphael’s shoulder. “Raph, are you okay? This isn’t about your losing, is it?”
“Of course it’s not,” Raphael growled. “I just don’t want her poking around my mind or anyone else's!” With that, he turned and walked away. “Come on, Felix! Come on, Mal!” He called. “I got some battle training to do!”
Felix jumped, running after him. “But we need to take Lune to Nurse Joy!”
Mal watched Felix Raphael, walking away. After a moment, he turned back to Sonia and sighed. “He is a bit reactive when it come to Psychics.”
Sonia hugged Zorua tightly. “Maybe I should just leave,” she growled. “He obviously hates me, and I hate him too.”
Sonia could feel the emotion rising in her throat. She was choking on it, like bile. Screw going on a journey because it was good for her. Screw what her mother wanted, whether or not Sabrina agreed. She couldn’t stand Raphael, and the feeling was mutual. "He doesn't want me here, and I agree."
Mal shook his head. “Sonia. I want you here.”
That made all the emotion disappear, drowned out by shock like a bucket of icy cold water. “What?”
Mal smiled slightly. “Felix does too, even though he may be a bit over-enthusiastic at times. First of all, I’m only here because Raphael needs some familial support. He needs someone to give another opinion on what’s best for him. I think having you around, learning about Psychics and being exposed to reality is what’s best for him.”
Sonia opened her mouth to rebuke Mal for his poor argument, but he held up a hand. “I haven’t finished. Second of all, I myself want to learn more and broaden my horizons. You, Sonia, can help me do that, and help Raphael.”
Sonia was about to rebuke him again for his even poorer argument, but once more, he stopped her with a smile. “I still haven’t finished. Most of all, I want to be your friend.”
Sonia felt her rebukes die on her tongue.
Kai gently put his hand over Sonia’s, his thoughts smoothly streaming into Sonia’s. A memory flashed through her mind, smooth and perfectly recollected, like watching slightly a fuzzy movie. There was a room, Sonia’s room, the number thirteen emblazoned on the door. Sonia in bed, asleep, almost completely covered in blankets. A voice, Mal’s, coming from outside the door, telling Sonia how he felt and what he thought, his heart pouring out into his words.
“I hope you don’t think I hate you. The truth is, I truly don’t. I think… I actually think we can be good friends.”
Sonia glanced at Kai, then at Mal. She looked back and forth between the two, like there was an invisible tennis match only she could see. Bursting forth, her emotions broiled and tumbled, each pushing to the front of the queue to tell her what she ought to do.
“I…” Sonia swallowed. “I suppose I could stay a bit longer…”
Mal smiled. A big, genuine smile, free of anything else. “Excellent.”

I apologise for the shoddy and rushed quality of the writing. I took some liberties with Zorua's shipping and I'm pretty sure TR is inter-regional... Just bear with me and help me edit it. It's called Know Thine Enemy.

-


Sonia sat down in front of the Pokémon Centre computer screen with a sigh. Cautiously she pushed the on button, relief flooding through her barriers as the machine whirred to life.
Zorua pawed at Sonia’s shoulder. Something bothering you, Zoru?
Sonia gave Zorua a thin smile. “Aren’t you bothered by the four mysterious Rocket members that attacked us?”

Zorua shrugged. Ehhh, I guess, Zoru.
Sonia set her fingers on the keyboard and opened up a web browser. Without even looking down her fingers flashed across the keys, typing out ‘Janette Tudor’. Without a pause, her smallest finger flashed out to press the enter button, and Sonia leant back to wait for the page to load.
Nothing.
Sonia growled in frustration, scrolling through the page. Using the find function, she looked through the keywords ‘Rocket’, ‘Team’, ‘Fred’, ‘Grant’, ‘Odette’ and ‘Fairchild’, but found more nothing. She searched for those keywords beside Janette’s name, but found yet more nothing. Next she tried visual descriptions of Janette with and without her name, but still nothing. 
Going back to just ‘Janette Tudor’ name, Sonia clicked over to the images, scrolling through. She grew more and more frustrated until she found something, very far down the page; a man in military garb with a wide smile and a buzz cut, holding a smiling toddler in his arms. Beside them stood a brunette woman, all in uniform, leaning on then man’s shoulder with a mock salute and a wry grin. Sonia squinted at the picture. The toddler almost looked like Janette…
Sonia clicked on the link.
It was an article on PTSD. Sonia scrolled down until she found the image, in a section on former soldiers. It was buried deep, and quite old; Team Rocket must have missed it when they were clearing the web on information about their agents. The only link to the page was through Tudor, anyway, and not Janette, so it was understandable The caption beneath the picture read ‘Lieutenant Catherine Tudor and husband Captain Anders Tudor with their child, a family heavily affected by PTSD.’
Sonia narrowed her eyes. Catherine and Anders Tudor. Tudor. That could not be a coincidence. Sonia reached into her notebook and penned down the link, to the letter, in her neatest penmanship. Next to it, she put a star, and noted ‘Janette’.
Happy with her new lead, Sonia searched up both Catherine and Anders separately. Both Kantoan soldiers, both having achieved the rank of Major General.
Sonia looked through known relatives. In neither was there any sign of a child. Frowning, Sonia looked back at the PTSD article. A smile curled at her lips.
It was of an earlier date than the military reports. That means the reports could not be out of date; Janette would have definitely been born by then, and she’d seen these types of reports; they included even disowned family members as footnotes.
It was indeed Janette in that picture. By wiping her from the military reports but missing the PTSD report, Team Rocket had added one more clue. It was now obvious that they’d been trying to cover her up. Sonia smirked, noting down as much as she could find about Catherine and Anders. Anything that could be used against Janette, by Sonia, or by the police.
After exhausting the thread of Janette’s parents, Sonia turned her attention to Fred and Grant. She didn’t have their last names, and after exhausting her list of keywords from earlier (replacing ‘Fred’ and ‘Grant’ with ‘Janette’ and ‘Tudor), still found nothing. She tried physical descriptions, but Sonia got nothing. And what was there to say about their physique other than ‘average’? Giving up on them, Sonia moved on to Odette.
She went through the motions of the keyword search, the physical description search and the image searches, but found absolutely nothing. Sonia, with a slight nausea in her gut, went to the International Psychic Registry, and searched Odette’s name. Again, nothing.
Well, of course, Zoru! Zorua laughed. You think a Rocket Psychic gonna be registered, Zoru?
“No,” Sonia sighed. “But I had to try.”
A thought struck her. Perhaps Odette technically was registered, but was operating under a pseudonym? The IPR was an inter-regional database under a lot of technological protection and supervision; Sonia doubted that even Team Rocket could mess around with it. Sonia went back to searching, but this time typed in only Odette’s physical description. Sonia scrolled down the page, but found nothing other than a very blurry photo of a woman in a white overcoat with a smilier style of hair and the fuzzy outline of glasses which may or may not have been Odette.
Sonia gave up on ‘Team OJ’, leaning back with a sigh. Zorua leapt onto her lap and snuggled there in a fluffy black ball, almost purring.
Sonia didn’t really want to get out of the computer room and face Raphael, Felix and Mal, but she’d run out of stuff about Team OJ to search.
“What should I do now, Zorua?” Sonia asked her friend with a yawn.
Zorua caught the yawn and responded with one of her own. Ehh, Zoru, why don’t you look up Fennel and those experiments she be in? Maybe it won’t be so bad, Zoru.
Sonia highly doubted it, but her interest was piqued. Leaning back to the keyboard, Sonia closed all the OJ tabs and wiped the history and cookies, just in case Team Rocket actually had those webpages and keyword searches on watch to locate people searching about them. Sonia winced; if so, she’d already blown it.
With a sigh, Sonia keyed ‘Vivian Fennel’ into the search bar and waited for the page to load. Unlike Team Rocket’s agents, Fennel actually had some readily available information on her. Sonia opened a few tabs which looked promising, then scanned through them to see if she could find anything which lead her to the experiment in Johto. Fennel was a busy person; she’d managed to get herself three degrees, in biology, aurology (the study of aura) and neuroscience. She was a Kantoan-Unovan dual citizen and was based mostly in Striaton City, but had lived in Johto for a short while; Sonia noted down the dates so she’d know when Fennel was in Johto, in case she couldn’t find a link to the experiments and had to look those up separately. She didn't have to; Sonia found what seemed like some online articles on the findings, and some sort of database from the Johtoan government. She closed all the Fennel tabs, but before she could close the first one, something caught her eye.
Fennel only had one family member; a younger sister, Amanita Fennel. No one else was recorded. Sonia noted the name down in her notebook on her new ‘Fennel’ page. Had Fennel disowned or been disowned by her family? It was the only conclusion Sonia could draw. She noted that down as well as something to use against Fennel, then closed the tab.
Ehhh, Zoru, why you recording all this small stuff? Zorua pawed behind her ear with her hind paw. When you ever gonna use it?
Sonia shrugged. “I like knowing things.”
Zorua was sated with that answer, leaping up onto the table to watch the computer screen. Sonia finally found what she was looking for; recording the links for the articles on the findings then closing the tabs, Sonia settled on a webpage which recorded everyone involved in a certain experiment. It was Johtoan and took place in a psychiatric hospital. Sonia scrolled down the alphabetical list of scientists involved to the letter ‘F’. Momentarily disheartened when the only name she could find was ‘Alice E. Firth-Todd’, Sonia then found another list for a slightly separate project. Sonia spied Fennel’s name in the list of scientists. Sonia leaned in, both interested and disgusted. It seemed what she’d had seen inside Fennel’s head had been correct. She and two others had been involved in a project of actually extracting Psychic aura, the thing that Fennel had said would do good for the world, the same thing she’d said to the boy in the memory. Sonia frowned. Her mother had written a whole book on aura, Type Theory; Yannoa had never found anything suggesting that aura could be outright extracted from a living being. The only technology which had some far managed to do anything to aura was the Poké Ball, turning Pokémon into pure aura and storing them inside the ball.
Sonia tried to see if she could find the list of Psychics who had been experimented on, but that seemed to be buried deep. The webpage wasn’t the most forthcoming, either; it was a dry collection of information by the government, simply used as a record.
Sonia looked through again, trying to find the list of subjects. They had to be there, or at least their Grades or registration numbers. She used the find function to locate the word ‘grade’, and finally got something; a list of names, with a Psychic grade beside them.
Hey, Zoru, is that…?
Sonia frowned at the computer. “Veritus Granger?”
Isn’t that the New Bark kid, Zoru?
Sonia’s mind flashed back to black-haired boy. In the back of her mind, Sonia remembered having looked up Veritus Granger for a social science class; he was the Grade Alpha boy from the New Bark Incident, an infamous Psychic accident in New Bark Town which resulted in twenty-two deaths. The memory Sonia had seen flitted back into her mind, fitting into her brain like it was her own memory. Details of the scene filed in, as though she was back in Fennel’s mind; that boy was indeed Veritus Granger.
I didn’t know they’d experimented on him, Zoru. Zorua’s mental voice was unusually subdued. I thought they’d just… Locked him up, Zoru.
“He’s an Alpha, Zorua,” Sonia said quietly. “What do you think they’d do? Let it go to waste?”
Zorua looked troubled. But he was a kid back then, Zoru! He would’ve been six or seven, Zoru!
Sonia shrugged, but inside, she felt sick. “He’s Psychic, and that’s all the world sees.”
What exactly was Fennel involved in? This had answered no questions. It just made her feel worse about the memory she’d seen. Veritus Granger had been crying, in that memory. Sure, he may have killed twenty-two people, but it was obviously a Psychic accident. But this was in Johto; the fact that it was an accident wouldn’t have helped him. They’d still have detained him, and he’d still have been stripped of all rights.
The computer screen began to flicker. What had Fennel done?
“Sonia?”
Sonia jumped, startled. Mal stood in the doorway, Teddi sitting comfortably on his shoulder. Once more, Mal was unreadable, but his emanation betrayed worry. “You look stressed,” he said, almost looking concerned. “Why don’t you take a break?”
“I’m done anyway,” Sonia sighed, lifting Zorua into her arms. “They covered up ‘Team OJ’s’ tracks very well.”
Mal smiled at the nickname. “Just what I’d expect of an international criminal organisation that shadow-governs my home region.”
They left the computer room, Sonia wiping the history out of habit and closing the door behind them. As Sonia walked beside Mal, a thought struck her— she was honestly comfortable beside Mal. He didn’t put her on edge, like Felix or most other people, nor did he make her want to blow something up, like Raphael. He actually didn’t feel like a burden to be around. He was almost pleasant.
“Did you find anything?” Mal asked.
Sonia held her notebook tightly. “A few things.”
“I was wondering,” Mal said slowly. “You talked to their Psychic, correct?”
Sonia nodded.
“Did she tell you anything?”
“A bit,” Sonia said. “Should I tell everyone?”
Mal nodded. “Might as well. I have a feeling Raphael’s already gone and told the League you’re being targeted so he can label you an obstruction to his journey and get you barred from travelling with us.”
“I wouldn’t mind that,” Sonia said quietly.
Mal turned to her, his expression hurt.
Sonia was about to call him out on his manipulation, reminding him of her empathy. But then her empathy did its job. Mal really was hurt. He really did want to travel with her.
Sonia managed a sour laugh. “You really want to travel with me? You really don’t have much experience with Psychics, do you.”
Mal bowed his head. “Something which will soon be remedied.”
“Don’t think I’m normal,” Sonia countered. “Most Psychics are much more human than me.”
Mal gave a sad smile, his emanation tinged with something that Sonia’s mind told her was pity. “Who said you weren’t human?”
Sonia clenched her jaw. Even with empathy, if it wasn’t for her powers explicitly telling her what people felt she’d have no clue what was going on. She felt isolated, like someone who could perfectly understand a language but never be able to speak it.
Mal, Sonia, Zorua and Teddi walked back into the main reception area of the Pokémon Centre. Cascade, Su Lin and Sola played as Lune watched from above, rested on the top of Raphael’s seat. Felix sat across from Raphael, smiling and talking animatedly. Felix somehow managed to light up even more when he saw Mal, waving to the two trainers.
“Come on!” Felix called. “There’s still room over here!”
Sonia’s steps slowed as she came nearer to the two boys. She hadn’t talked to Raphael since the battle with Lune. Every part of her screamed to turn and walk the other way. Then Sonia spotted Kai coming over to them, having been training outside. He gave Sonia a reassuring smile, making his way over. Knowing Kai would give her hell if she didn’t try her best, Sonia sat down beside Mal, across from Raphael and Felix.
For a moment, they sat in silence, and Sonia almost cringed. Was her presence really this awkward?
Thankfully, Mal spoke up. “Sonia learnt a few things from the Team Rocket Psychic about why we were targeted.”
Raphael crossed his arms. “Why didn’t she tell us earlier?”
Mal gave him a look best described as ‘please shut up before you embarrass yourself’. “Raphael, please don’t.”
“What?” Raphael leant back. “I’m not allowed to be genuinely curious?”
“Your body language says otherwise,” Mal stated calmly. “Now let’s stop with the hostilities before this gets out of hand. We had to deal with Zorua’s injuries, and then there was the battle and your slightly polarising reaction afterward. Sonia has barely had the time and certainly not the inclination to discuss anything with you since you two met. The two of you need to give each other a chance, or else I will drive myself mad trying to sort you out.”
Sonia and Raphael both stared at him.
Unruffled, Mal leant back. “Now, Sonia, go ahead.”
Sonia felt six pairs of eyes focus on her. Clearing her throat slightly, Sonia recounted what Odette had told her.
“They wanted me for my power, obviously, but they wanted you three as well.” Sonia glanced at Felix. “They wanted you for your skills with breeding and talking to Pokémon.” She glanced at Mal. “They wanted to ransom you to your parents.” Finally, she glanced at Raphael. “And apparently the League is so desperate to hold on to you that they’d pay ransom money for you as well.”
Emotions all flooded her at once. Felix was absolutely mortified. Mal seemed calm and unsurprised, but discomfort oozed from his emanation. Raphael was shocked, but then his mouth opened and sound had to start coming out.
“Well, I wish ‘em good luck!” Raphael growled, clenching his fist. “The next time they come I’m gonna be a hell of a lot stronger and they’re gonna wish they’d never messed with me!”
Sonia felt like facepalming. “This is a powerful criminal organisation, not a wayward trainer.”
Felix laughed awkwardly, trying to diffuse the situation. “Great! Great! I love being told I’m going to get kidnapped for my talents! Haha! Makes my day…” Felix trailed off, his face flushing. “Trying to…” He coughed. “Trying to break the ice, hehe…” He coughed again.
Sonia sighed, standing. She’d told them everything and the proxemics of the booth were not conducive to a Psychic’s comfort. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
“Wait!” Felix called. Sonia turned to see him reaching to pick up a notebook off the floor.
“No!” Sonia cried.
Felix’s hand shot away like a stretched elastic band.
Sonia practically ran back, scooping the book of the floor. “If anyone touches it…” Sonia struggled to think of something she could do which wouldn’t get her a charge of aggravated assault. “I’ve trapped it to give you a telepathic shock which will leave you with a terrible headache for days! So you can’t say I didn’t warn you!”
There was a pause.
“Psychics can do that?” Felix said. For a moment, Sonia panicked, terrified he would point out the truth, but Felix’s emanation pulsed with wonderment, not doubt. “Wow.”
Sonia turned tail and practically ran to room number thirteen, Zorua right on her heels. Shaking as she closed the door, Sonia checked to see all the letters were still secured nice and tight inside the notebook’s little pocket.
There was a sharp knock on the door, and Sonia cursed herself for not registering a mental presence. She identified it as Mal and opened the door.
“I really didn’t know Psychics could do that,” he said with a wry smile. He gave her a knowing look. “I won’t tell Raphael, but please don’t make him panic about having a Psychic around any more than necessary.”
Sonia shrugged, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. It’s my notebook, and it’s quite precious to me.”
Sonia suddenly realised what she was doing and almost kicked herself. Why the hell was she apologising?! Why wasn’t she acting defensive and hostile like she usually did?!
Was she actually trying to play nice with Mal?
The second the door closed, Zorua gave Sonia the most wicked grin she’d had seen in a while, which was saying something. The little Pokémon leapt up to the bed, her eyes flashing with mischief.
Ooh, Sonia. Her voice was far too teasing. Does someone have a crush, Zoru?
Sonia glared at her. “What is wrong with you?! Of course I don’t…” Sonia silenced herself. Of course I don’t have a crush on Mal!
Zorua fell over laughing, writhing as though the laughter was attacking her. Mal and Sonia! Eheeheehee, I ship it! Hahahah! Ehh, Zoru, wait ’til Felix notices this, Zoru!
Sonia gave Zorua an equally wicked smile. “I’m going to make you regret that, you cheeky little fox.”
Sonia grabbed Zorua and tickled her until she was screaming with laughter and begging for mercy.

Haha, Zorua's hilarious~

I don't see anything particularly troubling in here, or anything in need of immediate editing. TR is international; like I've said, they have a foothold in every region and agents infiltrating every Team.

The only other thing I'd mentioned is Janette's (two t's) parents -I was going to have them both still alive, so I'm not sure how this will work out. If you could mention what you had planned for them, maybe I can change my headcanon a bit...

Sorry with the spelling-- originally it was Janet and I didn't know it had changed ^^;

Okay, good on the international front. Yay~

When it came to the parents, for some reason I assumed they were dead. I changed that; I have no clue. The only thing I did was the names-- Henrique for Henry, Anders for Anne, and Janette for Jane. I might change Henrique to Catherine, actually... Ehh.

Haunted computer? XD LOL.

Yep, international!

Okay, that's fine. And yeah, Catherine sounds better to me? I don't know, I wasn't digging the Henrique XD

Burn The Midnight Oil 2.0

Excuse typos and the likely missing of italics.

---

The next day, Sonia was initially in a much better mood; namely because Fennel had left and Sonia’s mother had decided to just try to forget the whole incident and left her daughter alone, burying her nose in work. But then Sonia’s mood got dashed; apparently, they still weren’t setting out on their journey; they had to wait for, surprise surprise, yet another person to arrive. They were really stretching it. If they put it off any longer and added any more new companions and rules and evility Sonia would probably just end up going back home. Only the threat of Sabrina’s wrath prevented it.
The new person arrived to be greeted with a prank from Zorua. Fairly creative (spilling water between his legs to make him look like he’d wet himself) but it didn’t score too many points on the good impression meter. The new person’s name was Felix Verity, and he apparently was a Pokémon breeder. He was there to pretty much train Raphael and take care of his Pokémon, because the League’s golden boy totally had to have the best possible everything to make sure he won every possible everything. Felix himself was bearable; he was interesting, with the ability to speak to Pokémon, and an intelligent person. But also a social butterfly, because apparently, there were barely any freaking introverts in this world.
Speaking of introverts, Mal seemed to take to Felix instantly. Mal had actually come to Sonia after the whole Fennel escapade and introduced himself properly, even giving her the gift of a necklace made from gears. Sonia tucked it away and hadn’t given Mal any outward clues of her thoughts, but the kindness of the gesture was not lost on her. After Felix did some battling with Raphael, he seemed to immediately gravitate towards the crimson-haired gentleman.
She had to admit, Felix wouldn’t be too bad; aside from his seemingly insatiable and ridiculous need to befriend her, it didn’t seem like he would be too bad to travel with. He was interesting, he was skilled, and he was clever. He’d managed to calm down Zorua. When she was hyper with sugar. That definitely spoke of mystical Poké-whisperer powers. Sonia was honestly wondering if he was a typed human, but he exhibited no other indicators and didn’t seem to react to her Psychic aura in any particular way.
And he beat Raphael, which was another point to him. And Zorua kind of liked him, which was another point to him. And Sawk thought he was a good-natured person. He was beating Raphael at least, not that it was saying much; the icy-eyed d’Alcott was in the negatives on points with Sonia.
That evening, Sonia came back to their room at Pallet House, completely and utterly drained. Yannoa, thankfully, had decided to get some fresh air and wasn’t in the room; after all that had happened and the amount of time she’d spent shutting herself up inside, she had the demeanour of a Garbodor. Snapping the door shut, Sonia released her mother’s three Pokémon, a Mawile, a Sableye and Sawk.
Mawile and Sableye, respectively known as Liesel and Hans, were both Pokémon Yannoa had personally bred and studied in connection to Mega Evolution. Liesel, very shy, reclusive and quiet, blushed upon seeing company and went and hid under the blankets, peeking out. Hans immediately stretched himself out, grabbed another apple from the bags and then joined Liesel, eating it in one massive bite. In no time at all, their breathing was even and their eyes were closed. That left only Sawk standing.
It seemed that Yannoa, especially after Caius’s death, would always freeze up whenever a stressful situation arose. Most children could run to their parents and hide behind them as bulwarks against the scary monsters that went bump in the night. Yannoa had never been that bulwark. Sawk was always the bulwark, the parent, the one who knew what to do in any situation. Yannoa may have been smart, kind and wise, and all those other coveted qualities, but she had no bravery. It was Sawk now who gave Sonia a reassuring smile, like he knew that everything would be all right. He held out his arms.
“You always know exactly how I feel,” Sonia murmured, going over and embracing him. With a yip, Zorua jumped in between to catch all the heat and affection. Sawk put his hand over Sonia’s shoulder, letting his skin meet hers so his thoughts could flow to her freely.
Don’t worry about it; soon, it’s not going to matter at all. Sleep will make everything better.
Sonia nodded, allowing herself to be comforted by what he said. She stayed there for a moment, then noticed that her mother’s presence was coming closer. It seemed she was coming up the stairs.
Sonia pulled away from Sawk, Zorua unceremoniously dropping to the floor. “Yannoa’s coming.”
Sawk nodded and swiftly went over to pick up the sleeping young Liesel and Hans and carefully shifting them to the large mattress built for ‘Pokémon of all sizes!’ and joined them, sitting against the wall and taking out a book from one of Yannoa’s bags. Sonia, without the energy to argue that the mattress did not accommodate for all Pokémon, took off her boots, quickly exchanged clothing for nightclothes and collapsed onto the second human bed. She shifted her head to the side just in time to dodge the screaming flying Zorua trying to cannonball onto her face, who instead succeeded in bouncing on the pillow.
“So you're a Flying type now too?” Sonia arched an eyebrow. Zorua giggled and batted at Sonia’s nose with her paws until Sonia put her arm around her Pokémon friend and drew her in for a hug. “How’re you still so energetic?” Sonia murmured. Zorua gave an exaggerated shrug and snuggled up next to Sonia’s chest, curling into a puffy ball of black fluff.
Yannoa came in pleasantly surprised to see the room un-destroyed by a disproportionally hungry Sableye, a rambunctious Zorua and a little Mawile who would do anything — literally anything — to hide.
With a sigh, Yannoa sank down onto her bed, by all accounts thoroughly exhausted. She didn’t even glance at Sonia, no doubt unwilling to start a conflict at nine in the evening. Sonia drew the covers up, trying to hide underneath them. Maybe Sawk was right and sleep would make everything better. Maybe when she woke up, Raphael and Mal and Felix would all be figments of her imagination and exist purely in her dreams.

Climb the tower. Climbing the tower. Climbed the tower.
Dragonspiral. Spiral up. Dragons spiralling around. Spiralling, twisting, turning. Druddigon chasing, biting, clawing, roaring, swiping, chasing.
Floor crumbling, rumbling, water pitter-pattering, feet running on the cold stone floor.
The song, humming in her head. The tune they always sang in the city, everywhere, every corner. Arms out wide, balancing. One foot in front of the other, toes pointed. Walking along a fallen pillar to the other side, on tippy-toes freezing with the frost, breath misting in front. A hand reaches out, blue and covered in fractals, pretty and dead-cold.
Again and again and again and again… always dreaming, always climbing… again and again and again and again…

Sonia’s eyes opened. It felt as though she had simply blinked. She was facing the clock, Zorua tucked under her cheek. It read eleven fifty-one. Sonia closed her eyes again, irritated that she'd been awoken.
Sleep gripped her from the inside as her eyelids thudded closed.

Ice. Ice everywhere. Crawling around the ruins, like creeping vines. Reaching out like claws to grab her, drag her down.
The voices of Druddigon, growling and scraping and roaring and screaming.
There was no light at the end of the tunnel. There was only the roar of dragons and falling pillars and crashing stones and all the while the slick of ice and cold on the floor. The ruins of the tower cascaded into the water of the lake below, cold biting at her and slashing at her like knives. It was too cold to breath; the air scratched at her throat and crushed it in its icy grip. A soul-crushing force buried itself within her, attacking her from all sides, making her stumble and fall with the Druddigon closing in. Suddenly, the ice below her expanded, growing around her until she was trapped within, and her as she put her hands in front of her and beat the ice with her fists to let her out, she could see frost growing and spiking on her skin.
Then a change, something different, something foreign. Something from a different nightmare. The ice and the stone crumbled away beneath her and she fell, roars of chasing Druddigon fading and ebbing, the water rushing closer, threatening to swallow her up, reaching with its own claws to grab and drag her down, darkness and mist encircling her and the light of a lonely moon beating down...

“Argh!”
Sonia’s eyes flashed open and she bolted upright, breathing heavily. The dream ebbed away suddenly, leaving only echoes of the cold.
There it was again. That terrible nightmare, haunting her,
Sonia glanced at the clock beside her. It was morning, technically speaking; it was quarter past three. No one else in the room was awake. Her mother slept soundly and Zorua snored on the edge of Sonia’s bed, tongue lolling out of her mouth, ears twitching and paws batting at the air. The other Pokémon all slept soundly, with the exception of Hans who talked in his sleep, muttering an endless stream of ‘Sable’ sounds.
Sonia let out a deep, shuddering breath, trying her best to keep herself calm. She knew that she was dreaming of the Dragonspiral Incident. She remembered nothing of it, except the cold and the Druddigon. Each time she had the dream she tried to hold on to it, keep it there, but Psychic or not it was like trying to hold water in a flat palm.
Sonia sighed and gently pulled herself out of the bed, careful to not disturb Zorua. Sonia pulled on her coat and slipped her feet into her mother’s slippers, knowing she’d freeze in just her night shirt, pants and bare feet.
Sonia slipped from the room as silently as possible. She silently crept down the stairs and outside, pausing to make sure she knew the look of the building at night. Pallet Town was so rural-feeling. One stepped out of a building and saw trees and space. It was similar to Icirrus City, just much more rural. Sonia spied a bench and drifted toward it, head in the clouds.
As she sat down, Sonia felt a peace in her mind. The disquiet caused by other minds dulled and disappeared, as if she were the only person in the world. Sonia closed her eyes for a moment and let the cold wind blow her hair back and drown out her hearing, letting her believe, for a moment, that she could feel.
Her mind flashed back to Icirrus City, years and years before. Being told the story of the tower, told never to go inside. She didn’t remember why she’d gone, or even how. The entire thing was a blank in her head. But she remembered the story.
Not too long ago, anyone and everyone could climb the tower. There was a boy, years and years ago, by the name of Nate, who had gone up but never come out. Since then, the Druddigon had attacked en masse anyone who entered. Anyone who had tried to climb the tower had either died or barely escaped with their lives.
Sonia only knew details of what had happened after. A pilot flying overhead saw her lying at the top of the ice-covered tower and likely hypothermic. She’d rescued her, but Sonia hadn’t been sick, simply unconscious. The town had been in shock for a few days, until an archaeologist decided to brave the tower himself. He succeeded. He was followed by a wave of others, all trying to find something special in the tower, something everyone else had missed. They all made it, the Druddigon no longer aggressive or murderous. None found anything.
Sonia found herself shuddering. Just frost on the windowpane or on leaves would send shivers down her spine and push her into a state of hyper-vigilance. She couldn’t relax around Dragon-types at all. She was forever paranoid of being caught in a blizzard. It had even taken a while for her to start drinking ice water. Walking on surfaces without handrails or thin platforms would set her heart thumping and adrenaline pumping through her veins. Walking underneath tall buildings or under arches or bridges used to make her freak out, but now only paranoid; fearful that they would collapse and bury her beneath them.
And then there was her other self.
She didn’t really have dissociative identity disorder. Doctors had been baffled with Sonia’s two selves; they retained the same memories and identified as the same person. And yet one was Sonia, and the other was… not.
The mystery had been solved when it was confirmed she was Psychic. Similar personality splits were an affliction that historically befell Psychics. As they tried to shut off their emotions, it became too much, and they would split; one half emotionless, in control, and the other the self that it had been at the moment of the split, with emotions in all of their violent glory.
It had happened to Sabrina, her other self the cheerful, blithe child. Sonia, however, had split in a far worse moment. And her other self had been frozen as a terrible, violent monster, full of broiling anger, fear and hatred, Sonia at her absolute worst.
To this day, that Sonia made up her worst fears. If it was possible to have been like that even once, as herself, then why not again? What if she didn't need the other self to turn into that?
And then, after she’d tried to drown herself… It was as if every pool of water would make her paranoid, make her feel unsafe, like every time she came close she had to run or fight. As if one could fight that terrible leaden feeling of being dragged down and having your lungs lit aflame. As if one could run while caught in that dreadful slow-moving fall, completely aware that it was possible to escape, but she just wasn’t able to… 
Sonia caught a glimpse of a street lamp in front of her flickering. A tree beside it tilted to the left, despite the wind blowing the opposite direction.
With a flare of panic, Sonia tightened her grip on her emotions, trying to clear her head of thoughts. Her thoughts went to Fennel, and her inquisition into Psychic power.
Sonia breathed deeply, settling her mind on Sabrina, on Zorua, on Sawk, on reading books by Shauntal Oakwood. But Sabrina’s image brought back its own attached memories, of days spent learning to bury emotion and deaden feeling, days of learning how to protect the world around them from themselves.
Fennel had really hit home. Sonia found herself feeling so jealous of lower-grade Psychics that it surprised her how strong the emotion was. They didn’t have to worry nearly as much about emotion as it was harder to loose control of one’s power when one had less power to control.
Sonia had numerous discussions with Sabrina about taking care of loosing control. Despite Sabrina’s ‘callous’ or ‘cruel’ use — or overuse — of power when dealing with people who angered her, Sabrina was still very careful and very strict about not losing control.
Sonia felt angry, all of a sudden. Angry at her high level of power. Angry at her foolish six-year-old self for trapping this monster inside her. Angry that she couldn’t let herself feel. Angry that she wasn’t… human. Not anymore.
The street lamp burst with a sizzle, short-circuiting.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Sonia methodically blocked out her feelings. She softened the edges and bottled it up, shoving it deep down inside herself. But just this action brought out a fresh wave.
People like Fennel didn’t understand! They couldn’t! Psychics had to keep all this emotion, all this feeling stoppered up. What did they expect would happen when they insulted Psychics? They were asking for it!
Sonia fought another battle in the never-ending war for herself. Sitting there on the bench, fists clenched so tight they were shaking, left leg crossed over the right leg, eyes squeezed shut, one could not fathom just how much turmoil there was inside of this one girl.
“Sawk?”
Sonia opened her eyes. Sawk stood in front of her, his expression taut with worry. He sat beside her on the bench and took one of her hands in his warm ones. “Sawk.”
Immediately, Sonia’s link to him became stronger, and she could hear his thoughts clearly.
It’s okay, Sonia.
Sonia leant her head on the blue Pokémon’s shoulder. “No, it’s not… how can I go on a journey with them? I’ll… I could…”
Sonia. Sawk’s thoughts rang in her head, without her trying. You’ll be fine. Zorua will be right there with you, and you can come back to Saffron City if things ever get too stressful. This will be a good experience for you. Think positive.
“You know I hate that word,” Sonia murmured. Sawk gave a huff of laughter and put his arm around Sonia’s shoulder.
I know you’re not naturally an optimist. But I do know that the real you is a very nice person, Sonia.
Sonia sighed. “Sawk… I've been thinking."
Sawk chuckled. As always.
Sonia shrugged. "Look, I... I haven’t killed anyone yet. But really… it’s only a matter of time until I do.”
There was a loud silence is the street. Everything seemed to pause at that statement, taking in it's true weight.
Sawk shook his head vehemently. Don’t think like that! Zorua and Sabrina and I will always be here to help you—
“But what if I hurt you or Zorua?” Sonia challenged. “What if I go so far Sabrina has to fight me, and loses? What then?”
Sawk sighed. Sonia...
“I know, I know, I’m being negative,” Sonia squeezed Sawk’s hand. “Could you… come with me?”
On your journey? Sawk frowned. I… Yes. I think so. I would like that.
Sonia let herself smile. “Brilliant.”
For a moment, the pair were silent. Then Sawk’s thoughts entered Sonia’s head again. I would like to be called Kai.
Sonia raised her head to look at Sawk. “Kai?”
Sawk nodded. Yes. After Caius.
Sonia paused. After her father.
She nodded.
The two were still for a bit, then Kai motioned to the building. Come on. You need to get some more sleep.
The pair slipped back inside, the rest of the building sleeping through it all.

What I have so far for the Eve meeting bit. It could probably be phrased much more smoothly and could overall be much better.

---

Sonia still hadn’t quite gotten through that headache yet. What didn’t help was that Zorua insisted on acting up as much as she could now that she was officially ‘healed’ and back in business. Elderberry tea seemed like the perfect solution. Mal had told Sonia about the cafe earlier, so after asking Nurse Joy for directions, she’d left Zorua under the watch of Kai — whom Zorua would no doubt be able to trick — and left for the cafe.
She’d been waiting in line, putting her mind off the unpleasant proximity to people with the knowledge that she would be rewarded with soothing tea, when someone moved up behind her. As that person moved closer, Sonia noticed something was off; the area behind her was quiet.
Not physically quiet, but mentally quiet. There was always a constant disquiet around, of people shouting out their thoughts, and Sonia had gotten used to relegating it to the back of her mind as background noise. But there was a blank behind her, a person of complete silence. 
Sonia ducked her head, so the person behind wouldn’t see her casting her eyes back. There were no Pokémon, only a pair of feet. It was definitely a person.
Sonia’s heart started to beat faster. There was only one possibility she could think of. A Dark-type human.
Humanity had evolved from Pokémon, but they’d mainly evolved from certain types; mostly Normal, but there were Fighting, Dark, Psychic, Fairy, Dragon and Ghost-typed humans. Most humans were Normal type, and those were the major types affected their aura. A Psychic would have a Normal and Psychic type aura. A Medium would have Ghost and Normal-type aura, a Dark-type would have Dark and Normal-type aura and so on. There were three recessive types, Electric, Ice and Fire, which some humans had hints of in their aura from dual-typed Normal, Dark, Psychic, Fighting, Fairy, Dragon and Ghost ancestors. Humans which were already typed, like Psychics, but had dual-types, lost their Normal aura completely. Just another way to be a bit less human.
Psychics were the most powerful human type, with Ghost-types being a step underneath, followed by the rest of the types. There were stories of Aura Guardians, Fighting-type humans so powerful they could form a one-man army, but those same myths also spoke of a war between them and Psychics which led to them being wiped out. If they’d ever existed at all.
Sonia fidgeted as she moved up in the line. The presence of the person behind her was starting to get somewhat terrifying. Dark-type humans, colloquially referred to as ‘Darkies’ were the natural antithesis to Psychics; they could immunise themselves to telepathy, their aura protected them from the full force of telekinesis, they could imbue themselves with greater-than-human strength and especially speed, and they were even able to suppress Psychic powers by forcing their aura at a Psychic human.
The governments really, really, really liked using them. They made the best watchdogs for Psychics, and unlike Psychics, they couldn’t cause wholesale destruction.
Sonia was praying for the line to hurry the hell up so she could make her order and get as far away from the Darkie as possible. Some paranoid part of her was freaking out that she’d done something wrong and the Darkie was going to shut off her powers and drag her away, but the part which still made sense laughed it off. They wouldn’t send just one Darkie for a Grade Alpha. That was too much Psychic power to suppress easily, and by the time the Darkie was working on blocking off the Grade Alpha’s powers they’d be able to fight back or teleport away.
It still sent shivers up her spine, though. After what felt like hours, when she finally got to the front of the line, her tongue tied itself in knots over the order and she rushed away as far as she could get from the Darkie and still remain within earshot.

Yeah, it's an info dump, but I think it'll probably be needed to set up this part of our world. Though, maybe try to see if you can put the explanations a little simpler to understand. I think some parts feel a little complicated.

Also, I thought we agreed that Aura Guardians were hunted down and exterminated by people, not Psychics? That's why they were wiped out.

Eri wrote:

Yeah, it's an info dump, but I think it'll probably be needed to set up this part of our world. Though, maybe try to see if you can put the explanations a little simpler to understand. I think some parts feel a little complicated.

Also, I thought we agreed that Aura Guardians were hunted down and exterminated by people, not Psychics? That's why they were wiped out.

Yeah, we did, but I thought the likely explanation (because people generally try to cover up wrongdoing or what could be perceived as wrongdoing) was that Psychics did it, a) to add another reason why they're bad and b) because it seems plausible and deflects attention off the reality; that people were afraid and hunted down their protectors.

As to it being an info dump, that's exactly what I was saying— I need to find a way to word it better. Half of it I wrote last night and the other half I wrote today, so it's bitsy-piecy and probably wasn't integrated too well. If you or Frost could try rewording it, that'd be great! And if you could write the conversation in so I can summarise it/rewrite it from Sonia's perspective.

Ehhh, still need to edit the info dump and it's all icky and feels off and wrong and I will probably rewrite this. But anyway, here's what I got. I apologise for typos, forgetting italics and general mistake-i-ness in advance.

It's likely to be called Easy Come, Easy Go.

---

Sonia still hadn’t quite gotten through that headache yet. What didn’t help was that Zorua insisted on acting up as much as she could now that she was officially ‘healed’ and back in business. Elderberry tea seemed like the perfect solution. Mal had told Sonia about the cafe earlier, so after asking Nurse Joy for directions, she’d left Zorua under the watch of Kai — whom Zorua would no doubt be able to trick — and left for the cafe.
She’d been waiting in line, putting her mind off the unpleasant proximity to people with the knowledge that she would be rewarded with soothing tea, when someone moved up behind her. As that person moved closer, Sonia noticed something was off; the area behind her was quiet.
Not physically quiet, but mentally quiet. There was always a constant disquiet around, of people shouting out their thoughts, and Sonia had gotten used to relegating it to the back of her mind as background noise. But there was a blank behind her, a person of complete silence. 
Sonia ducked her head, so the person behind wouldn’t see her casting her eyes back. There were no Pokémon, only a pair of feet. It was definitely a person.
Sonia’s heart started to beat faster. There was only one possibility she could think of. A Dark-type human.
Humanity had evolved from Pokémon, but they’d mainly evolved from certain types; mostly Normal, but there were Fighting, Dark, Psychic, Fairy, Dragon and Ghost-typed humans. Most humans were Normal type, and those were the major types affected their aura. A Psychic would have a Normal and Psychic type aura. A Medium would have Ghost and Normal-type aura, a Dark-type would have Dark and Normal-type aura and so on. There were three recessive types, Electric, Ice and Fire, which some humans had hints of in their aura from dual-typed Normal, Dark, Psychic, Fighting, Fairy, Dragon and Ghost ancestors. Humans which were already typed, like Psychics, but had dual-types, lost their Normal aura completely. Just another way to be a bit less human.
Psychics were the most powerful human type, with Ghost-types being a step underneath, followed by the rest of the types. There were stories of Aura Guardians, Fighting-type humans so powerful they could form a one-man army, but those same myths also spoke of a war between them and Psychics which led to them being wiped out. If they’d ever existed at all.
Sonia fidgeted as she moved up in the line. The presence of the person behind her was starting to get somewhat terrifying. Dark-type humans, colloquially referred to as ‘Darkies’ were the natural antithesis to Psychics; they could immunise themselves to telepathy, their aura protected them from the full force of telekinesis, they could imbue themselves with greater-than-human strength and especially speed, and they were even able to suppress Psychic powers by forcing their aura at a Psychic human.
The governments really, really, really liked using them. They made the best watchdogs for Psychics, and unlike Psychics, they couldn’t cause wholesale destruction.
Sonia was praying for the line to hurry the hell up so she could make her order and get as far away from the Darkie as possible. Some paranoid part of her was freaking out that she’d done something wrong and the Darkie was going to shut off her powers and drag her away, but the part which still made sense laughed it off. They wouldn’t send just one Darkie for a Grade Alpha. That was too much Psychic power to suppress easily, and by the time the Darkie was working on blocking off the Grade Alpha’s powers they’d be able to fight back or teleport away.
It still sent shivers up her spine, though. After what felt like hours, when she finally got to the front of the line, her tongue tied itself in knots over the order and she rushed away as far as she could get from the Darkie and still remain within earshot.
Sonia had managed to somewhat calm herself down when the spot of silence came back. Sonia could see them, this time; a young woman of athletic build and dark clothing, leaning on the wall beside her. Sonia made herself look away, but she couldn’t help her shoulders going up and her jaw clenching and her fingers fiddling with her dress.
Sonia focused on waiting for the order, staring at the people behind the counter as they made the tea. It didn’t help, as her mind kept drifting, and time seemed to move incrementally slowly.
“You don’t have to be uncomfortable, you know.”
Sonia jumped, startled. The young woman smiled slightly, and Sonia could see her eyes glinting even though the young woman wasn’t facing her.
“You’re a Darkie.” Sonia couldn’t keep the accusation from her voice.
The young woman was silent for a while, nonreactive. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
Sonia paused. So did that mean she wasn’t with the government?
“Besides, that means you’re Psychic, if you’re so worried about me being a Darkie. Though it was obvious even before that, with how much you were fidgeting around me before.” She raised an eyebrow.
Sonia cringed inwardly. Accusing someone of being a Darkie wasn’t really an accusation; it wasn’t too bad a thing to be. Psychics on the other hand…
Sonia frowned. “If you’re not here for me, then what do you want?”
The Darkie laughed lightly. She still didn’t look at Sonia. “Nothing. Just merely wanted you to know you have nothing to fear. More than likely, you’ll find yourself having even less to fear on the road probably.”
Sonia blinked. “What does that mean?” So the young woman was with the government? Did Sonia have some Darkie stalker? One with odd syntax and bad eye contact habits? Or was Sonia just reading too much into this and the woman was normal for a Darkie and she just meant that Sonia’s powers would protect her on her journey? Wait, how’d this woman know she was on a journey—?
“It means your order is up,” the Darkie answered, pointing at the counter. Sonia jumped; her number was being called over and over, hints of impatience registering in Sonia’s senses. The young woman smirked. “So go get your order.”
As Sonia hesitantly headed to get her order, she turned back, trying to look the woman in the eye. 
“We’re not done here!” Sonia still had questions. She turned away and ran to the counter to grab her tea.
Predictably, when she returned, running back, the young woman was gone.

-

It was finally time to leave Viridian. It still hadn’t quite seemed to hit Sonia that she was on a journey, and it probably wouldn’t until she was in Pewter and was battling Brock.
Ehh, Zoru, when’d you decide you’d battle him? I thought you didn’t want to do all the Gym stuff, Zoru!
Sonia shrugged. I guess battling with Raphael was more fun than I thought it’d be. She picked at her skirt slightly. Besides, I’m going to be on this journey… It’s more interesting if I at least have a tangible goal behind it like this. It's also easier than explaining 'I'm chasing after any scrap of information about my father because I'm still in the bargaining stage of grief'.
Zorua was appeased with that answer, settled on Sonia’s shoulder. Sonia and Mal sat, perfectly organised and ready to go, waiting in the foyer of the Pokémon Centre while Raphael and Felix scrambled around like manic Durant.
Sonia glanced at the time. “If they don’t hurry, we’ll need to spend an extra night sleeping outdoors.”
Mal shook his head softly. “Raphael, Raphael…”
Felix finally came downstairs with a bag, packed messily and bursting to the brim. He lugged it over to Sonia and Mal, but dropped it, causing it to burst open and spill out messily stuffed clothing and various Potions and health items.
Cascade laughed slightly, crossing his arms. “Bui, buibuizel zel i-zel!”
Felix grumbled back in the Buizel language, stuffing the clothing back into his bag.
“Here, let me help,” Mal offered, lifting up some of the clothes from the floor. “It will all fit much more cleanly if you fold it.”
Sonia tapped two fingers on her knee rhythmically. It seemed that disorganisation would become a staple of her journey; Raphael wasn’t even downstairs yet. Felix’s thoughts started to ring in Sonia’s head as the boy worried about how much he was holding the others up. Cascade suggested something to him and he facepalmed, realising he hadn’t taken a close enough look and he’d missed a few items. Felix’s thoughts rose in volume until Sonia couldn’t take it stood up and walked away, over to Nurse Joy.
The Nurse leant against the counter, shaking her head with a smile. “Boys.”
Sonia sighed. “I’ll admit, it is kind of irritating being the only girl.”
Nurse Joy laughed at that. “Don’t worry; a journey is a good experience for growing up. They’ll mature soon enough.”
Sonia shuddered. “Maturing or not, I’m really not looking forward to that time of the month…”
The Nurse really laughed at that, a wide smile on her face. “I don’t envy you, that’s for sure!”
Sonia gave a small smile, unable not to be carried along on the infectious wave of positive emotion the Nurse invited. “If it’s not too much of a bother, could I log in again? I know it’s only been a few days, but I want to have as much time as I can, just in case we get held up or something.”
The Nurse nodded. “Sure! I completely understand, don’t worry!”
Now that the Nurse had the details on file, it was simply a matter of sticking in the right dates and scanning Sonia’s cards. There was a crashing sound, and Sonia glanced back; Felix was chasing Zorua in circles while the fox laughed her head off. Mal chuckled, shaking his head. It seemed like the Pokémon had hidden underneath the clothing, waiting for them to fold it perfectly so that she could burst out and ruin all their hard work.
Nurse Joy put her hand over her mouth, hiding a laugh. “Arceus, I think I’ll miss that pesky little Pokémon!”
Felix leapt forward into the air, stretching his arms out with the intention of grabbing Zorua. Zorua neatly dodged, sending the breeder crashing face-first into the floor.
“Ooh,” the Nurse said, wincing dramatically. “Zorua, one; breeder, zero.”
Sonia found herself smiling again and had to remind herself to cut it out. She both loved and hated people like that; people who just had a knack for making you feel better, or making you laugh, or making even the most pessimistic of people see something in a humourous or positive light. On the one hand, it was pleasant to have a wave of natural emotion she could recognise and seeing the world as a good thing for once, but on the other it would upset her control of her powers.
The Nurse noticed Sonia’s rapidly shifting expression and gave her a sad little smile. “Come on, smile a little. A smile won’t hurt, and I want to make sure I remember you smiling! The next time see you might be ages away when you have a big, strong team and that Zorua’s all grown up and evolved!” She stood back a bit, putting her hands up and squinting an eye shut like she was planning out a photo or a painting. “I want to remember you guys exactly like this.”
“Do you try to remember everyone?” Sonia asked.
The Nurse shrugged, her arms falling to her sides. “I try to remember the people who feel like they have something important to give back to the world. Life can change people, and a journey can change people. I can’t know whether or not you’ll be the same people after your journey when you come back to Viridian for the final Gym, or if you make it to the final Gym at all, and I want to preserve this…” She smiled. “I guess you guys are just nice, interesting people, it was a pleasant encounter and I’d like to preserve my memory of it.”
Once more, Sonia couldn’t stop her smile. “Sounds fair.”
But then Sonia felt Raphael’s presence on her brain and sighed. She would be quite happy if he deigned to change his ways.
Raphael came down in a similar situation to Felix, his bag sloppily packed. He sighed, holding it out to Mal, hanging his head.
“I wanted to do it myself,” he grumbled. “Guess I can’t.”
With a resigned smile Mal took the bag. “Just watch me, okay? Maybe you’ll learn something.”
Felix was sitting up, massaging his chin and glaring daggers at Zorua, who pranced around innocently. Sonia drew back over with a farewell to Nurse Joy, heading back to Zorua. She put her hands on her hips, shaking her head. “Zorua, that really wasn’t nice.”
Zorua pouted. But it was fun, Zoru!
Sonia arched an eyebrow. “Zorua, it was annoying, it was a waste of time, and it was a waste of effort. If little miss selfish can’t think of Felix, what about you spending an extra night outdoors?”
Zorua’s ears fell, and the little fox honestly looked guilty.
“Oh, don’t make her feel too bad. It’s okay, really!” Felix rubbed the back of his head, sheepish.
Sonia crossed her arms. “She made you hit your head on the floor, she wasted our time, and she wasted your hard work.”
“Hitting my face was my fault!” Felix protested. “I was trying to tickle her; I shouldn’t have, it was my fault—”
Their conversation was cut off as someone walked in through the door.
The group all turned to look at him. He wore a blue jacket and had a blue hat tilted slightly to cover spiky black hair and a solemn expression, a black bag slung across his shoulders. A Lucario walked beside him, carrying an egg inside a safety casing.
He glanced at them, and a small smile entered his face. A little flower of relief bloomed, and Sonia could feel the relief gently falling around her, like flower petals. His emotions felt so strong, so powerful and detailed, despite how smoothly he seemed to hide them on the surface.
“Hello there,” he said genially. “My name is Riley. This is Lucas. You four are travelling trainers, no?” His eyes scanned them lazily as though he’d seen them all before, his thoughts murmuring and shifting, unusually loud beneath the surface.
“Yeah!” Raphael called, standing up from leaning on the floor sorting his bag. “We are! Just started out. My name’s Raphael!”
Sonia saw Riley's eyes turn to her, and there was an immediate flicker of understanding within them, a darkening of whatever he was feelings. His thoughts seem to leap easily from his head to hers, as if no effort was required. Powerful Psychic.
Sonia managed twitching up the corners of her lips. “Sonia.”
Mal nodded at Riley, bowing slightly. “I am Mal.”
Felix waved. “I’m Felix! Nice to meet you!”
“Very nice to meet you too.” Riley’s expression didn’t budge an inch, but Sonia could feel the flower of Riley’s relief blooming bright and strong. Riley came over to them, his Lucario, Lucas, following. “If it’s quite all right, I have a favour to ask.”
Felix and Mal glanced at each other, and Sonia saw Raphael’s brow furrow and could feel his confusion pricking the air. Indeed, Sonia was intrigued; why had this stranger decided to trust them? How could he tell she was Psychic? He wasn’t a Ghost-type human, a Medium; Sonia would not have been able to read him as easily as she had. But he did seem to be able to physically see or at least read aura, and there was only one other possibility that Sonia could think of.
“What favour?” Mal inquired.
Lucas held out the egg. Riley gestured to it, the bright warmth of hope shining within him like a flickering candle. “This Pokémon egg came into my possession, but I am unable to properly care for it. You four seem like good people, so I would like to ask you to take care of it in my stead.”
Felix’s eyes went round. “You’re asking us to care for a Riolu egg, just like that? B-but you don’t even know us!”
Riley nodded. “I may not know you personally, but I’ve seen you before. You and… Mal, was it? You two cared for the Zorua when she was injured, and I’ve seen your bandana. You are a qualified Sinnohan breeder.” He smiled, a feeling sparking within him and fizzing and crackling, a sense of connection and kinship. “I’m from Sinnoh myself. It’s quite reassuring, to be honest.”
“Oh!” Felix blushed slightly. “I… Uh… Thanks!” He glanced at the others. “So? Wh-what do you think? I think it's an amazing opportunity for all of us.”
Raphael made a fist, brimming with confidence, simmering and spilling over like something left on the boil too long. “I think it’d be awesome, that’s what! I can’t wait for you guys to teach me how to take care of an egg! It’s great that you’re trusting us with this, Riley!”
Mal nodded. “I don’t object; this seems like a beneficial arrangement for everyone.” He glanced at Sonia.
“Three against one, Sonia,” Raphael said warningly, assuming she’d refuse the egg.
Sonia stiffened. “I don’t care.” She glanced at Riley. “Are you a Fighting type?”
Winds of shock blew through Riley’s flowers of relief and candles of hope, blowing away petals and sniffing out flames. It quickly calmed, and the candles began to burn once more. “I am indeed.”
Riley’s emotions were heady, almost intoxicating, easily accessed and cleanly felt. Sonia tried to shut them out, trying to block off her empathy. A Fighting-type who could see aura? That was unnaturally powerful.
“Do you have an opinion, Sonia?” Mal asked carefully, shooting Raphael a warning glance.
Sonia shrugged to the others. “I told you; I don’t care. I don’t mind the egg being around, but I’m not exactly the most attentive caregiver. I’ll catch it if it falls, nothing else.”
Mal smiled slightly. “That’s all in favour.”
Riley’s joy punctured Sonia’s empathy barricade, like a ray of sun bursting through clouds. “Thank you very much, you four.” Gently, Lucas handed the egg casing to Felix, who took it reverently. Riley adjusted his hat. “I hope to see you again in good circumstances. Enjoy your journey!” Tipping his hat to them, Riley gave them one last smile before he and Lucas turned away, striding from the Pokémon Centre.
Sonia felt suddenly ravenous, like someone had snatched food straight from inside her stomach. She caught herself staring hungrily after Riley and shook herself off.
“Zoru?” Zorua cocked her head at Sonia, concerned. You okay, Zoru?
Sonia felt a shiver run down her spine. His emotions were kind of… Intense. That’s all.
And they had felt so, so good. Arceus, she missed feeling.

Oh, I really liked the meeting with Riley! Especially Sonia's descriptions on reading him. That's really interesting. Would that be like that for only for Psychics, or would non-Psychics be able to feel something similar (if probably more muted)? As again, I liked the other stuff before that that you showed before.

I forgot to answer back on the other stuff, but yeah we could go with the Psychic war lie on Aura Guardians. That makes sense, and I was actually thinking that you might be thinking of that before you explained it.

As for all the info dump, I was just mentioning it and saying it's unavoidable and probably needed. We can work on rewording it later though.

This is what I've written so far; some cute Kai character development coming up next. This'd be chapter 12. Working title is The Elephant In The Room.

-

As Sonia and the others walked through the doors of the police station, the levels of atmospheric pressure seemed to drop. Sonia was as uncomfortable as a Heatmor in the middle of the ocean. Officer Jenny immediately spotted them, recognising the boys, giving them friendly waves. Her eyes travelled to Sonia, and her smile wavered before finally fixing itself up.
“Officer Jenny. Nice to meet you, Miss Darkin.” Officer Jenny held out her gloved hand, pulling it up slightly before.
Sonia tried her best to smile, but knowing her, it was probably frosty. She shook the officer’s gloved hand and tried not to shudder.
The others were told to sit around and wait as Sonia was lead away into an interview room. The Officer kept up a smile all the way through, even as she lead Sonia into the too-plain interview room and closed the door.
The police officer gestured to the chair across from her. “Please, sit.” She sat in the other chair.
Sonia sat. The chair was cold, similar to the whole room, bare and icy.
Officer Jenny brought out a recording device, set it on the table and pressed the button. “Interview for Sonia Darkin on case number 1476547. Miss Darkin has expressed her permission in being interviewed and the recording of interview for analysis and review of the reported crime. Miss Darkin, under oath and in line with the law, do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?”
Sonia took a slow, even breath in. “Yes.”
The officer smiled. “Thank you. Now, I’d like you to tell me what happened to you during this attack.”
Sonia recounted everything from memory, but she couldn’t help but gloss over the details of her loss of control. It still made her itch.
Officer Jenny nodded, but Sonia noticed that the woman’s smile had become noticeably thinner. “Can you elaborate on your specific encounter with Odette Fairchild in more detail?”
Sonia gave her everything she remember, as matter-of-fact as possible and omitting as many details about her powers as she could.
Officer Jenny nodded again. “So Odette revealed their motivation to you after you refused to join Team Rocket?”
Sonia could feel some emotional reaction coming on. She just couldn’t quite identify it. “Yes.”
“Can you repeat to me exactly what she said, or the most you can remember?”
Sonia could remember the whole thing pretty clearly. It seemed to have engraved itself on her memory. “She said ‘the others have uses. Felix would be a great asset for the Team; good breeders are hard to come by.’ And she said she was sure the other two would ‘raise a lot of ransom money’.”
Officer Jenny studied Sonia’s face. “And she then said something along the lines of the others being more important than you?”
“She said that Janette Tudor thought that catching Zorua, Raphael and Mal were the most important things, but Odette said that she though I was more important.” Sonia tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Getting me to join, I mean.”
Officer Jenny tapped a finger on the table, thinking. Sonia prepared to block out stray thoughts, but most people really were too careless. Snippets easily flowed into her head.
If… right, then d’Alcott… wrong… “So she told you this after you refused her offer to join Team Rocket?”
Sonia shook herself free of the thoughts, but she felt that feeling from before coming back, even stronger this time. It felt like it was carrying her upward, but in an effort to escape rather than in a cushy bubble like happiness. “You asked me that before.”
Officer Jenny smiled. “Yes, I know. And your answer was yes. I’m just wondering why she would tell you after you said you weren’t on her side.”
Sonia knew what that feeling was now; apprehension. She was definitely very apprehensive about the way Officer Jenny was talking. “I wouldn’t know. My guess is that she’s insane.”
The officer leant back in her chair slightly. “And what gave you that idea?”
Sonia swallowed, trying to contain any impatience that decided to build up. It was like static electricity on woollen fabric; it built up no matter what you did, and it came into friction with everything. “After she tried to get me to join Team Rocket I told her she was insane. She replied by… Well, giggling and asking me if it took that long to notice.”
Officer Jenny arched an eyebrow. “I… See.”
Sonia closed her eyes. “That sounded really weird, didn’t it… Trust me, that’s what happened. I don’t get her either.”
“Right.” Officer Jenny put a hand to her forehead, took a deep breath in, then sat normally again. “You do realise how, uh, odd this entire story is, right?”
Sonia didn’t twitch. “Odd enough to sound like a stretch, but not odd enough for refuge in audacity.”
Officer Jenny smiled. “I don’t doubt your word, Sonia. I'm just worried about what other people might think." She laughed. "And you and people like you have a habit of not giving any cues at all with facial expression.”
Sonia actually did twitch at that. "All right. So are we done here?"
"Pretty much, yes." Officer Jenny sighed, shifting. "So you clearly remember the motivations they had for attacking each of you?"
Sonia nodded, then remembered the recorder. "Yes."
"And they were ransom money for Raphael d'Alcott and Malcolm Thrones, and recruitment for you and Felix Verity?"
"Conscription, more like," Sonia muttered. When Officer Jenny frowned, she amended. "Yes."
Officer Jenny went silent, a slight frown on her face. Something itched at Sonia, but she stayed silent.
"And you definitely did not take Odette Fairchild up on her offer of joining Team Rocket?"
A sudden rush of emotion completely overwhelmed Sonia, too thick and tarry and powerful to stop. "Of course not," Sonia spat. "Definitely not."
Officer Jenny smiled. "Good."
There was a pause, and then she stood up. "Thank you for your time, Sonia. And please, don't worry about this." Her smile turned sympathetic. "Your loss of control in a situation like that is nothing to be ashamed of."
Sonia felt something prick her eyes. She looked away. “Sure..."
“Hey,” Officer Jenny said. “I believe you.”
Sonia looked back. Officer Jenny’s smile exuded something warm and comforting, like a hug. Sonia’s empathic senses were filled with nothing but reassuring safety and comfort, like being enveloped in warm blankets.
Sonia’s eyes widened.
Officer Jenny really did believe her.
Officer Jenny laughed slightly and pressed a button on the recorder. “You seem surprised.”
Sonia ducked her head. “Sorry. Just… Cynic. I’m not too used to people taking Psychics on their word.”
Officer Jenny tilted her head to one side. “Is that true, or are you just projecting?”
Sonia paused.
The officer laughed and shook her head. “Or maybe I’m just being too optimistic myself. In my opinion, everyone has a person inside them, no matter what they’ve done. It’s what they’ve done that’s good or bad, not the person.” Officer Jenny walked to the door and turned the handle. “The past doesn’t change, Sonia. But people do.”
Sonia stood up and followed the police officer out of the room, some slight smidgen of almost-emotion stirring inside her. The words that Officer Jenny had said would be running in her head for a while.
“I’ll take you to talk to the sketch artist,” Officer Jenny said. “If you were all right with it, could you telepathically send memories of the Team Rocket members who attacked you into his head? That way we could get extremely accurate pictures drawn up without losing any time, and without making you spend too much time relieving any traumatic memories.”
Sonia almost missed a step. She nodded, shoving down her surprise. “Thank you for trusting me with it, officer.”
Officer Jenny laughed. “Of course!”
Again, there was that warm, comforting feeling.
It was really, really nice to be trusted.

I stuffed this chock full of Undertale references because... Why not.

I apologise if there are any spoiler-y lines, but... I had to. I'm tired! It can be excused, right?

Continuation of The Elephant In The Room.

-

As Sonia and the others walked through the doors of the police station, the levels of atmospheric pressure seemed to drop. Sonia was as uncomfortable as a Heatmor in the middle of the ocean. Officer Jenny immediately spotted them, recognising the boys, giving them friendly waves. Her eyes travelled to Sonia, and her smile wavered before finally fixing itself up.
“Officer Jenny. Nice to meet you, Miss Darkin.” Officer Jenny held out her gloved hand, pulling it up slightly before.
Sonia tried her best to smile, but knowing her, it was probably frosty. She shook the officer’s gloved hand and tried not to shudder.
The others were told to sit around and wait as Sonia was lead away into an interview room. The Officer kept up a smile all the way through, even as she lead Sonia into the too-plain interview room and closed the door.
The police officer gestured to the chair across from her. “Please, sit.” She sat in the other chair.
Sonia sat. The chair was cold, similar to the whole room, bare and icy.
Officer Jenny brought out a recording device, set it on the table and pressed the button. “Interview for Sonia Darkin on case number 1476547. Miss Darkin has expressed her permission in being interviewed and the recording of interview for analysis and review of the reported crime. Miss Darkin, under oath and in line with the law, do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?”
Sonia took a slow, even breath in. “Yes.”
The officer smiled. “Thank you. Now, I’d like you to tell me what happened to you during this attack.”
Sonia recounted everything from memory, but she couldn’t help but gloss over the details of her loss of control. It still made her itch.
Officer Jenny nodded, but Sonia noticed that the woman’s smile had become noticeably thinner. “Can you elaborate on your specific encounter with Odette Fairchild in more detail?”
Sonia gave her everything she remember, as matter-of-fact as possible and omitting as many details about her powers as she could.
Officer Jenny nodded again. “So Odette revealed their motivation to you after you refused to join Team Rocket?”
Sonia could feel some emotional reaction coming on. She just couldn’t quite identify it. “Yes.”
“Can you repeat to me exactly what she said, or the most you can remember?”
Sonia could remember the whole thing pretty clearly. It seemed to have engraved itself on her memory. “She said ‘the others have uses. Felix would be a great asset for the Team; good breeders are hard to come by.’ And she said she was sure the other two would ‘raise a lot of ransom money’.”
Officer Jenny studied Sonia’s face. “And she then said something along the lines of the others being more important than you?”
“She said that Janette Tudor thought that catching Zorua, Raphael and Mal were the most important things, but Odette said that she though I was more important.” Sonia tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Getting me to join, I mean.”
Officer Jenny tapped a finger on the table, thinking. Sonia prepared to block out stray thoughts, but most people really were too careless. Snippets easily flowed into her head.
If… right, then d’Alcott… wrong… “So she told you this after you refused her offer to join Team Rocket?”
Sonia shook herself free of the thoughts, but she felt that feeling from before coming back, even stronger this time. It felt like it was carrying her upward, but in an effort to escape rather than in a cushy bubble like happiness. “You asked me that before.”
Officer Jenny smiled. “Yes, I know. And your answer was yes. I’m just wondering why she would tell you after you said you weren’t on her side.”
Sonia knew what that feeling was now; apprehension. She was definitely very apprehensive about the way Officer Jenny was talking. “I wouldn’t know. My guess is that she’s insane.”
The officer leant back in her chair slightly. “And what gave you that idea?”
Sonia swallowed, trying to contain any impatience that decided to build up. It was like static electricity on woollen fabric; it built up no matter what you did, and it came into friction with everything. “After she tried to get me to join Team Rocket I told her she was insane. She replied by… Well, giggling and asking me if it took that long to notice.”
Officer Jenny arched an eyebrow. “I… See.”
Sonia closed her eyes. “That sounded really weird, didn’t it… Trust me, that’s what happened. I don’t get her either.”
“Right.” Officer Jenny put a hand to her forehead, took a deep breath in, then sat normally again. “You do realise how, uh, odd this entire story is, right?”
Sonia didn’t twitch. “Odd enough to sound like a stretch, but not odd enough for refuge in audacity.”
Officer Jenny smiled. “I don’t doubt your word, Sonia. I'm just worried about what other people might think." She laughed. "And you and people like you have a habit of not giving any cues at all with facial expression.”
Sonia actually did twitch at that. "All right. So are we done here?"
"Pretty much, yes." Officer Jenny sighed, shifting. "So you clearly remember the motivations they had for attacking each of you?"
Sonia nodded, then remembered the recorder. "Yes."
"And they were ransom money for Raphael d'Alcott and Malcolm Thrones, and recruitment for you and Felix Verity?"
"Conscription, more like," Sonia muttered. When Officer Jenny frowned, she amended. "Yes."
Officer Jenny went silent, a slight frown on her face. Something itched at Sonia, but she stayed silent.
"And you definitely did not take Odette Fairchild up on her offer of joining Team Rocket?"
A sudden rush of emotion completely overwhelmed Sonia, too thick and tarry and powerful to stop. "Of course not," Sonia spat. "Definitely not."
Officer Jenny smiled. "Good."
There was a pause, and then she stood up. "Thank you for your time, Sonia. And please, don't worry about this." Her smile turned sympathetic. "Your loss of control in a situation like that is nothing to be ashamed of."
Sonia felt something prick her eyes. She looked away. “Sure..."
“Hey,” Officer Jenny said. “I believe you.”
Sonia looked back. Officer Jenny’s smile exuded something warm and comforting, like a hug. Sonia’s empathic senses were filled with nothing but reassuring safety and comfort, like being enveloped in warm blankets.
Sonia’s eyes widened.
Officer Jenny really did believe her.
Officer Jenny laughed slightly and pressed a button on the recorder. “You seem surprised.”
Sonia ducked her head. “Sorry. Just… Cynic. I’m not too used to people taking Psychics on their word.”
Officer Jenny tilted her head to one side. “Is that true, or are you just projecting?”
Sonia paused.
The officer laughed and shook her head. “Or maybe I’m just being too optimistic myself. In my opinion, everyone has a person inside them, no matter what they’ve done. It’s what they’ve done that’s good or bad, not the person.” Officer Jenny walked to the door and turned the handle. “The past doesn’t change, Sonia. But people do.”
Sonia stood up and followed the police officer out of the room, some slight smidgen of almost-emotion stirring inside her. The words that Officer Jenny had said would be running in her head for a while.
“I’ll take you to talk to the sketch artist,” Officer Jenny said. “If you were all right with it, could you telepathically send memories of the Team Rocket members who attacked you into his head? That way we could get extremely accurate pictures drawn up without losing any time, and without making you spend too much time relieving any traumatic memories.”
Sonia almost missed a step. She nodded, shoving down her surprise. “Thank you for trusting me with it, officer.”
Officer Jenny laughed. “Of course!”
Again, there was that warm, comforting feeling.
It was really, really nice to be trusted.

-

You look like the world ended, Sonia. Was someone nice to you? Kai smiled kindly.
Sonia squeezed his hand. “Actually, you’re not far wrong.”
They sat in silence for a moment, watching Zorua squeal and run back and forth across the Pokémon centre lobby as Raphael chased her for yet another prank.
Sonia sighed. “Kai, do you ever get that comforting feeling when people trust you? Like a safety cushion, almost?”
Kai chuckled. I am getting it right now.
Sonia smiled. “It’s really nice, isn’t it.”
Kai nodded.
There was a pause. Zorua jumped on Raphael’s head.
“Kai, what was my father like?”
Kai sighed. Of course you'd ask...
Sonia glanced at him. “Do you not want to talk about it?”
Kai frowned slightly, his eyes unfocused. He took his hand away from Sonia’s for a moment. His expression grim, he looked back at Sonia. His emanation said it all, and Sonia could tell Kai knew it.
“I understand.” Sonia stifled any disappointment and looked back at Zorua; Sola and Lune had joined in the chase.
Suddenly, Sonia felt a spike in emotion beside her. Feeling panic rise up against her barriers, she turned towards Kai. “Kai—?”
Kai flipped up from his seat and landed athletically on the ground. Pushing off, he crossed the room in one bound and landed in the game corner. They have a chess board! His thoughts boomed from across the room, excitement fizzling and sparking like a carbonated drink. He immediately started hunting for all the pieces.
Sonia felt the urge to laugh well up inside her. She popped it like a bubble. “Do you want a game?”
Kai nodded eagerly, grinning broadly. Of course!
Sonia came over and helped Kai set up. Sonia took two pawns and held them in closed fists; Kai picked the one which contained the black pawn and spun the board around so he was playing for black.
A few moves in, he looked up and smiled. Sonia, do you always play the Queen’s Gambit?
Sonia shrugged. “I know it best.”
Kai played into another line. Let’s see if you remember the Sämisch variation.
Sonia groaned. “Kai, you know I never remember that one!”
Kai winked. Here’s a hint; H-pawn hack.
Sonia glared at him. “I know that, I just don’t remember the move order!”
Sonia couldn’t organise an attack quickly enough, and Kai’s own crashed through and ended in swift checkmate. Sonia smiled slightly and began to set the board back up. “You still steamroll me even though you played into a line where white has the technical advantage.”
Kai shook his head. I’m trying to help you learn the Sämisch.
Sonia shrugged. “I’ll learn at some point.” She crossed her arms. “Have you beaten Yannoa yet?”
Kai shuddered. Not yet. Her defeats are brutal…
Sonia smiled mirthlessly. “If anyone can do it, you can.”
Kai looked hopefully up at Sonia, the hope reaching out to Sonia like bright rays of sunlight. Another game?
Sonia rolled her eyes. “Not like I could say no when you ask like that.”
They swivelled the board around to change colours.
A few moves later, Sonia slumped back against her chair. “Just let me go into a regular Stonewall, dammit!”
Kai smiled. How are you going to learn if I don’t make it challenging?
Sonia shrugged, grumbling. “I get it, I get it.”
Sonia moved her knight out of the way of an attack.
Kai shook his head. That was a waste of a move. You needn’t fear fair trades, especially when the material is equal.
Sonia shook her head. “Don’t try to trick me! Your bishop is a bad bishop; it’s a terrible piece. My knight is brilliant in a closed position like this.”
Kai grinned. Correct. He paused. Did you get that from my head?
Sonia made a gesture signifying half-half. “Maybe? I’m not sure. You’re a Fighting-type, so everything you think is going in really easily. I’m actively blocking it out, but some of it might go into my subconscious and give me an idea.”
Kai nodded. All right. He gestured to the board. By the way, your b-pawn is en prise.
Sonia jumped, glancing at the board. “Dammit! I’m not usually this bad! I’m out of practice!” She moved her bishop to defend the pawn, trying to hide any embarrassment.
Kai smiled again. I know, Sonia. That explains why you protected it with the wrong piece. The bishop was doing an important job defending this square here…
Sonia groaned, covering her face with her hands. “You did not just knight fork me. You did not.”
Kai placed his knight on the square. The gentle background thought of check floated into Sonia’s head. But of course. I apologise for the loss of your piece, my dear, but this is warfare after all. He grinned. Kill or be killed and all of that.
Sonia put her head on her hand and poked her king over a square. “Welp. Bye-bye rook…” She allowed herself a smile back at Kai. “Hell yeah, this means war.”
Kai smiled and made his move. Stay determined; the game isn’t over yet, not even if I get your queen.
A few moves later, Sonia spied a brilliant tactic. Heart thumping, she moved her bishop into position. Kai, too busy with an attack, had his brow furrowed and completely missed it. Sonia, triumphantly grinning, moved her knight out of the way of the bishop and placed it with a decisive thump on the board to attack the queen.
Kai turned to look at it. His emanation fluttered. Did you just discovered double attack my queen while discovered pinning it to my king?
“Ha!” Sonia stood up. “HA! Now I’m material up! I am material up against the damn chess master!”
Kai raised a brow. Check.
Sonia’s smile deteriorated. “What?”
Kai grinned. I saw your tactic. It doesn’t matter because I have forced mate in five.
Sonia stared at him, then at the board. Then back up at him, then back down at the bored. Her emotions finally became too much, and the pieces shifted and knocked over, some tumbling off the board. She fell back into the chair. “Oh, you are so going to have a bad time.” Sonia gestured to her knocked over her king, signifying she resigned.
Kai held out his hand to shake. I’m counting on it.

-
Seven years ago...

“Check.”
A young Sonia pouted and poked her king over a square. The Nidoking piece shifted over to a white square, out of the diagonal gaze of the Bisharp, the bishop. Yannoa smiled warmly and moved her rook, an Aegislash, down the board. “Check.”
Sonia put her elbow on the table and rested her cheek on her fist, grumbling. It was another wet and rainy autumn in Icirrus City, and so Sonia and her mother were inside, listening to the wind and rain howl outside and thump down on the houses, Sawk reading a book by the fire and Zorua curled up on the carpet beside him, ears twitching. Yannoa had decided to teach her daughter Chess, and after teaching her the regular pieces, she’d brought out a special set with all the pieces styled as Pokémon.
Sonia scanned the board, trying to make sense of what was going on. She knew that her mother’s black pieces far outnumbered her own white pieces, but didn’t see how everything had gone downhill so quickly despite her having moved first, as white always did. She looked hard at the rook, trying to see if she could take it.
Inspiration struck; it was in front of her pawn piece, styled as a Pawniard.
“Hah!” With a wide grin she picked up her pawn and knocked over the rook on the square in front, placing it there and taking the rook off the board.
Yannoa shook her head, smiling, taking the rook and moving the position back. “No, Sonia; remember, the pawn can only take diagonally.”
Sonia crossed her arms and huffed. “But they move forward!”
“But they can’t take forward,” her mother said, ever patient. “Think of them like Krabby; they bump into things in the front, but they have pincers that can snap and attack diagonally.” Yannoa mimed pincers, making Sonia giggle.
“Then why aren’t they Krabby?” Sonia implored. “Pawniard have blades at the front!”
Yannoa shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Sonia huffed, but dropped the matter. She couldn’t find anything else to do, so she moved her Nidoking piece again.
Yannoa picked up one of her Pawniard pieces and advanced it one more square, it now having reached the end of the board. “And now I’ll show you what happens. When a Pawniard gets to the end, it can turn into another piece.”
“Hm?” Sonia looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“It turns into any other piece you want,” Yannoa explained. “I can turn it into a bishop, a knight, a rook or even another Nidoqueen if I want it to.”
“But… but Pawniard only evolves into Bisharp,” Sonia said, bewildered. “How can it turn into an Escavalier? Would it be like a Pawniard-knight, you mean?”
“Traditionally it could only become a bishop because of Bisharp,” Yannoa said, pulling out another Shiny Nidoqueen from the bag of pieces, setting it on the board instead of the Pawniard. “But pawns were too weak still, so they changed the rules.”
Sonia crossed her arms. “We should go tell them to change the pawn from Pawniard to Krabby!”
Yannoa laughed. “I’m sure you’ll find some different-looking sets out there. This one is stylised; most of the time they have regular pieces, like the plain pawns and knights I showed you before. There are some Pokémon sets which use the Standard-Shiny sets as well, replacing white with Standard and black with Shiny. I don’t think the Pokémon sets are hard and fast; maybe you can make one with Krabby.”
Sonia shrugged, drawing her knees up to her chest. “Let’s stop playing. It’s confusing, ‘specially with the Pokémon pieces.”
Yannoa nodded and stood from her armchair, coming around to sit beside Sonia on the couch. “That’s okay. I don’t expect you to learn it all in one day. You’ve already learnt much faster than I’d expect from a seven year old!”
Yannoa reached her arm out to put around her daughter. As soon as her hand made contact with the skin of Sonia’s shoulder, the little girl pulled away. It had been like Yannoa’s touch had shot nausea through her whole body, from her stomach to her head. 
Yannoa cast her eyes down, silent. Sonia shifted uncomfortably, until Yannoa said something about work and left for her study.
Sawk looked up from his book, knowing eyes alighting on Sonia. “Sawk.”
Sonia sighed. “What’re you reading?”
Sawk held up the book so she could see the title, pointing to it with a blue finger. “Sawk, saw sawk.”
It looked like a boring encyclopaedia, or whatever they were called. Sonia smiled. “Is it nice?”
Sawk nodded vigorously. Zorua’s ear twitched.
Sonia sighed again and relaxed back on the couch. The rain storm seemed to be subsiding, and Sonia could see the outline of other houses and trees outside of the window.
“Sawk?” Sonia murmured.
Sawk looked up.
“Do you think my father’s going to come back?”
Sawk looked unsure for a moment. Sonia sat up, her eyebrows creased. “Will he? Will he finish whatever important things he’s doing in Kanto?”
Sawk shrugged uncomfortably.
Sonia put her chin in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. “Do you think he’ll come visit?”
Sawk paused, then shook his head.
A sudden flash of shock and resentment coursed through Sonia. “Wh-why not?”
Sawk looked embarrassed. He pulled a notepad and pen off from the shelf behind him, and after steadying the pen in his big fingers, he wrote in messy writing. He finished and held up the pad so Sonia could see.
Some of the things he’s doing have been making dangerous people angry. Angry dangerous people = not safe.
Sonia giggled. “Why would he do anything like that?”
Sawk’s expression was too deep for a little girl to read. He scribbled again. Some people don’t like what he does.
Sonia giggled again. “Don’t be silly. He’s an inventor! How could anyone not like people who make interesting things?”
Sawk gave the little girl a sad look, then buried himself back in the book.