<i>Be at the Ilex Shrine in one hour,</i> the letter states, and who is she to ignore it?  She doesn't -- quite -- recognize the handwriting, neat and elaborate as a clock face, but the signature is a finger-painted clam and it's been decades since she last saw it.

Reborn wants a favour.  And, given the letter's mysterious appearance on her desk, he's likely willing to use some of his -- resources.  (She hasn't needed extra time in a long while, but he's helped her in subtler ways when it suits him.)  There's no reason not to go, at least; no one should know of their agreements and in the unlikely circumstance that it's faked, the only people it'll inconvenience are the culprits.  He is not known for his patience for those who would damage his reputation and he is <i>never</i> late.

She goes.


"You're late," the small child says as he adjusts his fedora.  It'd be amusing if she hadn't seen him defeat an irritated salamence with his left hand.

"I am exactly on time, you will find," she states calmly and waits.  He looks at her levelly, then smiles.

"I would like you to pass off an -- anonymous tip, shall we say."  He hops up onto her shoulder and explains.  It's not glamorous, but she's sure he has his reasons and -- it's easy enough.  Why not?

She hasn't heard anything notable about this 'Gokudera Hayato' anyway; Reborn tends to pick unknowns as the targets for his machinations and turn them into assets.  Her current employer likely wouldn't mind, assuming he found out (and she has no intention of letting him find out; while Reborn's request is probably harmless, her -- agreement with him <i>isn't</i>).



According to legend, the wish pokémon jirachi awakens for about a week every thousand years.  This is not entirely accurate; they typically average three wishes granted over a millenium, but if they were only awake for a week in a thousand years, there likely wouldn't be any legends about them.

People need to learn the legends somewhere.

Now, if one person wished for immortality, then they might tell others of the small metallic star pokémon and its ability to grant wishes, but that would be silly; if it grants wishes so rarely, why would one tell everyone of this chance for wishes?  Three wishes can be written on its tags and it grants them when it awakens.

Three wishes.

One thousand years.

The odds of any one wish being fulfilled within the wisher's lifetime are astronomical.  While the xatu may know when and where jirachi will awaken, they are not known for their outgoing natures.  They are pokémon, after all, and one of the most important facets of the pokémon psyche is this: do no harm, which then means information is shared on a need-to-know basis, and usually no one needs to know.  Certainly not most humans, and even the most trustworthy humans have difficulty with the idea of 'do no harm'.  (Which is not to say that pokémon are rather better about it; they tend to underestimate the fragility of those who do not live by tooth and claw, and the pokémon of legend often fail to grasp the realities of truly living.  Suicune's ability to purify water sources sounds wonderful if the fact that the food chain rests predominately on filter feeders is ignored.  There are reasons the pokémon of legend rarely show themselves to others; their abilities can destroy entire ecosystems by accident.)

This assumes there is only one jirachi, which is very nearly true, but the difference between 'is very nearly' and 'is' can be like night and day.



Tsuna wakes up fifteen minutes after his alarm goes off and ten minutes after the mareep sits on his face.  As far as mornings go, this is very nearly a good day for him!  -- though the mareep is nuzzling his hair and still sitting on his face.

The mareep is also sticky and smells like artificial grape.  "Lambo, get off," he says, or tries to say: it comes out more as "rrmbb gff" and so the mareep is entirely justified in ignoring him.

"Puriririri!"



It takes Hayato at least an hour after he's arrived in Azalea (<i>thank you, Shamal, for not being a complete deadbeat</i>, he would say if he had less pride, or perhaps if the alakazam cared) before he realizes something important: while Saki-san had said that a jirachi would awaken somewhere near Azalea in the next week, she had not actually told him to do anything about it.  He hasn't dealt with her before -- he usually avoids working with Team Rocket, though he must admit that their gadgets are <i>awesome</i> and he wants them <i>all</i> -- but he's heard that she makes her expectations very clear.

She did <i>not</i> say anything along the lines of catching it, or even what to wish for, assuming the legends about it being able to grant only three wishes were accurate and that it even had wishes left.

Now, he's fairly good at ignoring loopholes -- he doesn't really want to risk being blacklisted and there aren't that many people with both a pokémon that's <i>good</i> at controlled detonations and a pokémon that can ensure he can, you know, check to make sure it exploded while keeping him safe, particularly not in Kanto -- but ... it's a jirachi.  It might not actually exist, but it's a jirachi and he has options and <i>if she didn't want him to consider abusing loopholes, she shouldn't have left them in.</i>

Decisions made, he checks that Shamal and Enban are out and about and settles in for the evening outside the Ilex Forest gatehouse.


He realises after a while that it might be a good idea to have his magnezone out, too.


The <i>problem</i>, when you get down to it, is that Azalea is a fundamentally boring town.  Nothing interesting happens in Azalea.  The pokéball maker -- Hayato can't be bothered to learn his name; apricorn balls are usually inefficient, Hayato does <i>demolitions</i> not pokémon captures, and the old geezer isn't known for his love of the ethically questionable -- lives there, to be sure, but he's the only person of note in the whole damn town.  The local religion and mythos focus on <i>slowpoke</i>, and if that isn't an indicator that he's in bumfuck nowhere, Hayato can make like his name and fly.

It'd be a great place to send someone you don't particularly care for on a snipe hunt.  And while he'd like to follow that train of thought, there are a few main problems with that.  One, Saki-san had no real incentive to get him out of the way.  While it didn't take a genius to figure out that he'd be with Team Rocket for exactly as long as it took to find someplace better (or until he had to actually face what it is most of them actually <i>did</i>, but he'd been with Silph for long enough to know that Team Rocket had enough legit branches to last indefinitely) he's good at what he does.  Two, no one with half of a brain would try anything shady near Azalea.  The pokéball maker is <i>nasty</i>.

Most importantly, it's the Ilex Forest.  He doesn't expect most people to understand the significance of it -- kids these days have no respect for legends (and if there is any irony in this statement, Hayato wouldn't see it) -- but the home of the shrine to the fairy of time is <i>important</i>.  Jirachi is not Celebi, of course, but the granter of wishes awakes for a week every thousand years.  The guardian of the forest travels through -- and manipulates? -- time.  He wouldn't be surprised if there was a connection.  It would be <i>logical</i>.

Heh, logical.  As if pokémon had any truck with human logic.  Anyone who expected a pokémon to act like a person would be sorely disappointed, and the pokémon of legend were odd even by pokémon standards.


He doesn't notice the boy slinking out of the forest until the kid pauses at the checkpoint door.

"You're out late," Hayato says easily as he drops off the tree branch.  He's taller than the boy by at least a head, though he thinks they might be close to the same age.  There's something about the kid's physically implausible poofy light brown hair and his large vapid eyes that makes him look younger, though.

The kid looks up at him like a startled sentret, ready to run as soon as the coast is clear.  Belated, Hayato realises he might look a bit intimidating: he's wearing incredibly awesome leather and jewelery and he thinks he looks fucking badass.  He briefly feels bad about worrying the kid, but then decides he doesn't care.

"A-ah," the kid manages.  "I wanted to talk to a -- friend.  I'm going home."  If he was any more obvious, he'd be wearing safety orange.  Stupid kid probably thought Hayato'd want to waste his time beating up ... well, someone who'd probably fought their lunch and lost.

"Huh," is all Hayato says as he waits for the kid to leave so he can get back to waiting for the alakazam or magnezone to find something.  (Where is Shamal, anyway? he wonders, knowing even as he thinks it that he's probably off getting drunk somewhere while hitting on everything female that moves.)

The kid starts to open the door, then pauses.  Starts again.  Turns to look at the magnezone in confusion.  Sighs.


Hayato feels <i>incredibly</i> stupid when he realises that wait: some legendary pokémon



Tsuna would like to be surprised when someone <i>rises out of the seas on a giant flying shark.</i>

He would like to.

It would be <i>great</i> if he was surprised.

Unfortunately, he is not.  He is even less surprised when Yamamoto takes one look at the <i>crazy man riding a sharpedo (WOULDN'T THAT HURT?!)</i> and yells, "Haha, hi, Squalo!"

"SWORD BRAT!!" the man <i>screeches</i>, with the sharpedo throwing in an enthusiastic "<b>HADAAAAAAAA!</b>" which he interpreted to mean: 'GOOD MORNING, LUNCH!!'

(Tsuna thought it was very nearly possible that SAME was <i>even more obnoxious than her trainer</i>.  At least Squalo didn't usually consider biting to be an acceptable greeting.  He also didn't usually keep yelling <i>in his sleep.</i>  Tsuna didn't care if Yamamoto bribed him with the world's greatest poffin; he was <i>never going to a sleepover party with Squalo again.</i>)

Tsuna looks at Squalo.  Tsuna looks at SAME.  Tsuna looks at Yamamoto.  ... Tsuna takes a strategic step backwards.

Yamamoto, of course, does not take the hint.  "Haha, Squalo, want to battle~?" he says easily, drawing his sword and a pokéball in one easy motion.  Squalo, unsurprisingly, does the same (he's pretty sure SAME just swore profusely about being passed over in favour of the scyther <i>again</i>, but Tsuna's never claimed to be fluent in pissed off shark.)

He's 99% sure that usually, when people say they want to battle, they <i>just</i> mean pokémon.  Unfortunately, he's also pretty sure neither of them got the memo, so he carefully sidles out of the blast area to watch as the two idiots duel while TORA and Kojiro eye each other warily.  The scyther has a significant -- everything advantage, but the wingull wants to <i>win.</i>  It's not going to be even by any means, but -- it could be interesting.

The mantis doesn't even bother lifting off the ground; he waits for a moment to see if the gull plans on attacking first before surreptitiously turning his head to watch their sparring match with one eye and the wingull with the other.

"STOP STARING AT THE DAMN THING AND KILL IT," Squalo finds time to yell in between parrying Yamamoto's blows and trying to hit him over the head with his hilt.

The scyther considers this.  On one -- scythe, TORA liked feeling appreciated and Squalo always bought him plenty of steak whenever he won.  On the other, his opponent is a stupid bird.  A tiny stupid bird.  It shouldn't even count properly as a snack.  "<i>Fuck this,</i>" he says eloquently as he turns to watch his trainer and his trainer's pet idiot monkey (if Yamamoto knew the scyther thought he was a pet monkey, he would -- actually, he wouldn't care.  But Tsuna would feel bad knowing that TORA thought he was an idiot monkey.  Monkeys have more common sense than that).

Unfortunately, he had not considered his opponent.  The small gull waits patiently for TORA to acknowledge his existence, then less patiently.  After about thirty seconds of being <i>completely ignored</i>, Kojiro squawks a short 'kyeh' before screeching as loudly and as high pitched as he could manage.  The faint ringing tone echoes over the beach (particularly at Tsuna's head, not that he notices; he's accustomed to a faint safeguard at all times) and while the two humans don't notice it, the scyther definitely does.

"What the fuck," he states more than yells, words slightly slurred (not that it matters; SUTORRAI means the same as SUTRRAI to those who listen, and those who don't wouldn't understand TORA anyway) as he tries vibrating his wings to at least distort the sound to stop <i>hurting</i> it rings it rings it rings and it won't shut up.

This works wonderfully, except that Kojiro -- not being satisfied for a mild headache in exchange for being <i>completely shunned</i> -- changes pitch slightly and, more importantly, vibrating wings means flapping wings and flapping wings mean <i>moving</i>.  And he is too distracted to notice that his feet aren't -- quite -- touching the ground and as he moves to <i>stab the damn bird</i> he realises -- oh

-- Kojiro did not wait for him to try eviscerating gulls.

Kojiro moved.

TORA still stabbed something.

The bird pauses in his screeching for long enough for what TORA just did to reach his brain: that's his scythe, and that's the bird, and his scythe is in something, but it is not in the bird.  His head would hurt less if it was the bird.  His <i>pride</i> would hurt less if it was the bird; he thinks he hears it cackling at him.

What is he stabbing?


Tsuna feels rather proud of himself for not completely fleeing as soon as it looked like the battle was not going in the scyther's favour, even if TORA was a complete <i>jerk</i> who would probably have no qualms about bullying a skittish little -- boy.  (He's pretty sure the scyther hasn't realised his status as a fellow pokémon, and if he hadn't, Tsuna wasn't going to be the one to tell him.)  Still, he considers bolting as soon as he sees the scyther <i>stab SAME.</i>

"<i>WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR</i>," she roars, and even if Squalo and Yamamoto are a bit busy trying to fight each other (possibly to the death) there is only so much one can do to ignore an incredibly loud and pissed off shark.  Particularly a shark with a mouthful of confused scyther arm (it was the scyther who was confused, not the arm) when a wingull is laughing hysterically.  That fell firmly in the realms of <i>completely fucking obvious,</i> along with Squalo (and his pokémon's) multiple psychoses and Yamamoto's raging hero-worship/crush on a psychopath.

(Tsuna prides himself on his ability to recognize psychopaths.  He's been making a list of people he's met since his life started sucking more than usual who aren't possibly going to cause the end of the world whether by accident or on purpose.  So far, he had one person on it: himself.  And even that was questionable on bad days.)

Squalo, likely because he hadn't actually understood a word the sharpedo was saying, seems to feel obligated to top it: "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, YOU DUMBASS!?!  KILL THE FUCKING <i>BIRD</i>, NOT THE FUCKING <i>SHARK</I>, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

After a moment, TORA recognizes what he did wrong (attacking the wrong water type; they were probably all fish anyway so it's not like there was that much of a difference, right?!  And it was loud!  Loud like BAKU on a bad day, not loud like his trainer or like SAME, who were the good kind of loud: even if they burst your eardrums, it's just from sheer force of volume.  Besides, he was the <i>favourite</i> so even if he accidentally stabbed the jerk shark <i>Squalo would love him best.</i>  It would mean he was an EVEN BETTER fighter than SAME, and Squalo loved SAME like he loved meat.  Even better than he loved meat; Squalo only fought meat on Thursdays.)

Unfortunately, while he would <i>really like to stop stabbing the shark</i> (while he likes the idea of stabbing SAME, he has something against leaving his arm in her mouth), the world keeps moving a little and -- SAME won't shut up.  Which means she is biting.  Which means --

-- Kojiro lands on the scyther's head and chirps a victory theme.  Yamamoto looks on for a moment -- probably thinking that was slightly uncalled for -- then says, "Haah, Squalo, why not just call it back?"

Because then Squalo couldn't try to beat his idiot sharpedo and idiot scyther over the head with a sword and a tuna (where did he get the tuna?), that's why.




He doesn't mind living with Hayato, usually; the boy required little incentive to keep his true desires <i>quiet</i> and he was certainly devoted to Tsuna, but every once in a while he <i>slipped</i> and Tsuna was left with the pieces.


Takeshi would be a good trainer, probably, but for all his devotion and simplicity, his non-existent grasp of <i>restraint</i> is contagious.



Hayato has <i>no idea</i> how the stupid baseball idiot (he also doesn't see any problems calling someone a stupid idiot; he's not exactly the most observant person ever) talked him into travelling with him.  No idea at all.  All he remembers is that the baseball dumbass asked him if he'd want to hang out with the Tenth (of course he did!  what kind of moron did the dumbass take him for?!) and --

Somehow he's back near Celadon with the baseball idiot and while Tsuna is probably around somewhere, he hasn't seen him for at least an hour and he's starting to get worried but Reborn <i>said</i> it was okay and --

Breathe.

"Haha, hi, sempai, Kyoko-chan!" the idiot yells as he looks over the hill and waves.  Hayato considers finding a way to blow up the baseball idiot <i>and</i> the boxing idiot, but dismisses it as probably upsetting the girl that the Tenth sort of likes and there's no way he could easily hide it from <i>her</i>.  (He carefully does not think of the fact that she's almost certainly a lot better at self-defence than he is; he probably wouldn't be able to get her out of the way when Ringo exploded and she wouldn't exactly move out of the way herself.)

From the sound of the baseball idiot's grunt, Lawnhead just tackle-hugged him and possibly nearly broke a rib or three, but Hayato <i>does not care at all</i>.  You could ask him and he'd say it's true.  And then you would know.

"WE SHOULD HAVE AN EXTREME BATTLE!" Lawnhead yells, sounding slightly like he wants to get into a screaming contest with an exploud.  (Hayato has see this once, to his misfortune; he is never going to let the baseball idiot drag him along for his weekly spar with Squalo.)

"That sounds fun, haha!"  "Good idea, onii-san!"

And then all three of them are looking at <i>Hayato.</i>  Like he clearly wants to participate in their stupid double battle.  It's a stupid idea and they're stupid for thinking he's going to and now the stupid baseball idiot is looking like a sad poochyena in the rain and -- goddammit.  "No," he states.

The baseball idiot scratches his head.  "It's not a proper double battle if it's just me against sempai and Kyoko-chan, Gokudera.  Please?"

Hayato is <i>unphased</i> like a lunatone.  "<i>No,</i>" he states, rather more emphatically.

"It's okay, Hayato-kun.  We'll just do a -- what were they called again, Takeshi?" the Sasagawa girl says.

"Rotation battles!  I saw them in Isshu.  They're pretty interesting, haha!"

"<b>No,</b>" Hayato <i>growls.</i>

From his pokéball, Shamal contributes a terse, <i>You're an idiot, Hayato.</i>

From Hayato's expression as he realises as he just sort of agreed to participating?  He really, really is.


In retrospect, entering into a pokémon battle with the Sasagawa siblings was an <i>incredibly bad idea</i>, and not just because he's on the same side as the baseball idiot.  Actually, the baseball idiot demonstrated a rather surprising level of competence given his typical stupidity.  His crobat had no difficulties distracting the siblings' cheerleading rats, and Musashi was remarkably skilled at tanking, even if he <i>did</i> shell blade the girl's poliwhirl and <i>Hayato was never going to assume the idiot had any skill in battling whatsoever again.</i>  (That Hayato's magnezone and electrode scarcely did better is <i>never going to be mentioned ever</i> on pain of dynamite in uncomfortable places.)

No, the real problem was that the Sasagawa siblings battled with each other frequently.  They had <i>teamwork</i>.  They had <i>synergy</i>.  They even had what could probably pass for strategy in the boxing idiot's empty head (did the girl work out that thing with the lopunny?  She'd've had to, wouldn't she?).

Hayato and the baseball idiot did not.

Hayato and the baseball idiot were both entirely competent trainers in their own rights (yes, he could admit the idiot had some skill even if he was <i>dumber than the vast majority of rocks what the hell is wrong with him</i>) but ... Hayato does not play well with others.

Hayato definitely does not believe in training in teamwork.

Hayato thinks everyone should be perfectly competent and self-sufficient.

And that is how a girl who'd only started battling within the past year and only because her brother wanted her to travel along with him used Hayato as a mop.

And none of this will be spoken of again.



Tsuna has a bone-deep feeling that quite possibly it is not the greatest plan he has ever had to visit Goldenrod.  On one hand, it's right near Reborn's home town so it can't be <i>that</i> dangerous, right?  Reborn wouldn't approve of visiting anywhere with enough of a criminal presence to make it downright dangerous, right?

Damn right he would, and Tsuna knows it.  Still, Gokudera thought it was a good idea!  And so did Yamamoto!  And they wouldn't intentionally bring him to someplace he really shouldn't be!  -- but they <i>also</i> trust Reborn, and they don't seem to understand that Reborn is a sterling example of moral depravity in the form of a <i>tiny green time fairy</i> and he is <i>NOT TO BE TRUSTED EVER.</i>  Bianchi likes him!  That is not a good sign!

But no, Tsuna's vote to stay in the magical happy land of ... of ... of <i>Oldale Town</i> (never mind that he's not sure he's ever even <i>been</i> to Oldale, but he's heard it is nice and quiet with hardly any mafia at <i>all</i>) was overruled by Reborn, and Gokudera and Yamamoto were the worst assistants ever and followed Reborn's lead.

Thankfully, Gokudera doesn't drag him off to the Radio Tower: Tsuna claims the radio waves give him a bit of a headache, and that might even be true.  It's definitely true that they echo off his head and if he could stay well away from radio towers then he definitely would.

Unfortunately, Gokudera then <i>absolutely had to see the Game Corner.</i>

It's a Game Corner!  If Gokudera wanted to play slots, he could go back to Celadon!  (And hopefully go without him; he is definitely sure that <i>Celadon</i> is a wretched hive of scum and villainy and also mafia.  Mafia is bad.  Tsuna does not like mafia.  There's mafia in mafia.)

With his mind filled with <i>all of the horrible ways this could end that he can think of</i> (and that doesn't even include the ways he <i>doesn't</i> know about, like, say, the radio tower suddenly broadcasting Pokémon March on every channel, or Apollo deciding it would be a good idea to introduce Goldrenrod to that one concept known as 'martial law'), he steps into the Game Corner, looking for Gokudera.

The Game Corner is <i>not</i> a brightly lit building filled with slot machines and noise and people and all sorts of related things that Tsuna does not like in one place.

The Game Corner is a small room with a creepy man sitting at a table with Gokudera and that alakazam that Gokudera travels with.

Card games are involved.

"What the --" Tsuna says intelligently.

<i>IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK,</i> Shamal says urgently.

"I'm only going to play two more rounds!" Gokudera says defensively.

"...," the creepy old man says conclusively.


Team Rocket's most insidious plan ever created was not making the most powerful pokémon in existence.  It was not mining Mount Moon.  (In fact, their exploits in Mount Moon may have been the closest thing they have ever done to a public service; it set back the impending invasion of the Clefairy Empire by at least seven years.  But that is a story for another time.)  It <i>certainly</i> wasn't chopping off delicious slowpoke tails and selling them on the black market.

No.

Their most insidious plan ever created and enacted was replacing the Game Corner's slot machines with Voltorb Flip.

Apollo and Athena will burn forever in the fires of a thousand houndoom for their sins.  They will also be knighted.  Both of these fates are good and proper.


Tsuna doesn't know what Shamal thought he thought was going on, but he decided he didn't want to and supposedly promptly forgot that there was something Shamal was concerned about.  This is for the best.


It is a lesser known fact that the alakazam Shamal and his Gokudera Hayato are banned from entering most towns and cities in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and West Isshu.  While evidence has a tendency to disappear in short notice, rumour has it that the boy functions as a distraction while the alakazam finds all female pokémon who might possibly fall prey to a red string and an Attract and, shall we say, is later found with eggs and wallets.  This is not entirely true.  Gokudera would do his best to eliminate anyone who believes that he would <i>ever</i> serve as an accomplice to his -- questionable companion, and the idea that <i>Shamal</i> would ever deign to steal on <i>Gokudera's</i> behalf is simply laughable.

Trident Shamal works for no man.

He does, however, have a tendency to fall for everything that moves, and Gokudera is as always a convenient scapegoat.


Nagi does not trust the spirits possessing the rock she found left behind by her classmates.  They were all friends, she thinks.

The spirits are <i>not</i> friends and she does not think they ever will be, but -- there is one louder than the rest.  The others bicker at the edge of her hearing, not quite hearing, but the loud one waits and says one soft word and they fall silent.  It introduces itself as Mukuro.

Good girls don't talk to ghosts, good girls don't listen to spirits, good girls don't give their names to corpses.  She is in some ways a very good girl, even if she thinks her parents wouldn't agree.  She can wait.

It will wait for her.

He will wait for her.

Mukuro will wait for her.

And when it is time, he will give her a name, if she will not give him hers.


She keeps his stone in her bag always.  She doesn't know if he approves, exactly; he speaks in sighs and whispers and never quite lies but he does not tell the truth.  And that is how it should be, from what she understands; she is not experienced with the medium's arts but she looked for books, once he spoke, and she thinks she may know what he is.  She does not think he would harm her, but the one hundred and eight spirits bound within his rock are not known for their love for humans.  There are reasons they are bound, after all.

Still.  Still.

The monster is hers, in some ways, and she thinks she could rely on him, if she were to leave on a journey.  Her mother would <i>not</i> approve, of her journey or her choice in pokémon, but she does not expect her to.  She is not the daughter her parents wanted.

And that may be fine.

But Nagi will stay at home.


She keeps up her life as Nagi for a remarkable length of time in her eyes: it is nearly a month with the rock before she decides it is best to leave.

"What is my name?" she says on a whim to the spiritomb.  It sounds deep and mysterious to her ears, and for once she understands why people think she is -- odd.

His face stops spinning for a moment in thought.  <i>Your name, indeed.</i>

"Yes."  She waits.

<i>... ... ... You are Chrome,</i> he announces.  Perhaps she is.  クローム, a reflection built off his identity in replacement to her own, someone who might travel as she pleases.  Someone defined by a person sufficiently disturbed to be bound in a keystone for five hundred years.

"Thank you."

The sages wouldn't approve.  She hasn't met any in years, however, and cannot quite bring herself to care.


It takes weeks from the first sudden appearance of a litterer in the hospital before the lati twins find the one responsible.  Bianca is worried, and so Latias is worried, but Latios seems more concerned about the possibility that the authorities might blame the fight on the lati twins.  Even if their existence is mostly a secret, Latios makes a point of introducing himself to the head of the police department as a sort of warning: <i>protect my city or face me in single combat.</i>  It's never been necessary so far, but he sees no need in ending it.

He need not have worried.  Latias drops the half-eaten remains of a pitaya into a canal as a sort of test and whistles as a boy -- stalks, might be the word -- out of an alleyway, tonfa at the ready.

<i>I found him, found him~!</i> she says to Latios as she focuses on showing him the human boy.  Unfortunately, she's focused enough on alerting Latios to the culprit that the boy barely misses hitting a wing -- he could sense where her wings are?! -- and she's too distracted to bolt.

She does anyway, dropping from Bianca's form to invisible and dashing as fast as she can.  She doesn't know how to battle!  -- and while relying on her brother's ability on his advice had seemed like a good idea, the boy (maybe Bianca's age?  She's not sure; humans are <i>weird</i>) seems to know exactly where she is and possibly where she's going and he definitely doesn't seem inclined to let her go.  Fortunately, her brother manages to land right between her and the boy.

Unfortunately, his disguise flickered just briefly enough for the boy to spot his nose and hit him with a tonfa.  "You are in my way, herd dragon," he states, voice flat as a dunsparce.

<i>You will <b>not</b> touch my sister,</i> Latios states more as a matter of fact than a demand.  His feathers glow with a strange sheen.

The boy does not seem to care.  "The other herd dragon left <i>trash</i> in my canal."

<i><b>Your</b> canal?</i> he says, disbelieving.  <i>Little human, we have cared for our city for longer than you have been alive.</i>

"Altomare is <i>mine</i>," he growls, "and I do not tolerate herbivores fouling it."

The latios <i>looks</i> at him, then releases a light luster purge.  To his dismay, the human does not even flinch, though he does glance at the two dragons speculatively.

"Hn.  <i>Are</i> you herbivores?"

<i>We eat fruit!</i> Latias says quickly, eyes bright.

<i>I do not think that is what the human meant, sister.</i>


In the city of Altomare, there is a superstition: do not litter, lest the protectors of the city bring vengeance upon you and your family.  While good advice, it is not strictly accurate; the lati twins do not particularly enjoy inflicting harm upon their citizenry.  It tends to disturb the peace in some ways and Latias is well aware of Bianca's dislike of fighting.  She doesn't completely understand it -- she doesn't particularly <i>like</i> fighting, but Latias knows her brother and their new friend do, so she doesn't <i>mind</i> it -- but she'll oblige the girl.  Bianca is nice, so Bianca would want Latias to also be nice, yes?

-- but Kyouya thinks Latias should be strong.  Latios also thinks Latias should be strong, but her brother would protect her if necessary, while Kyouya would just pummel her until she could fight back.  Latios does not quite approve of Kyouya, she thinks, but Kyouya likes to fight her brother and her and she thinks he might like to fight him.

So it is known to the citizens of Altomare that one does not litter.  Hibari Kyouya does not allow it, and what Hibari Kyouya does not approve of has a tendency to not happen.  That is the way it is, and that is how it should be.


Haru comes across the slightly-odd girl in the Fallarbor Pokémon Center and immediately decides that she needs a friend.  She seems all lonely in the corner with just a rock for company!  So she walks over and announces, "Hi!  I'm Miura Haru, from Celadon City!"

The girl hurriedly puts the stone back in her backpack, then looks at her quizzically.  "... hello.  I'm -- Chrome," she says, slightly hesitant.  New trainer?

"It's nice to meet you, Chrome-chan!"  She grins, as does Manekkun from his vantage point on her shoulder.  The mime jr is so cute!

Chrome nods, clearly preoccupied.  "Are you ... a pokémon trainer?"

"Yep!  Are you?"

She glances back at her backpack, then smiles half-heartedly.  "I ... am, yes.  Would you like to battle?"


Hayato senses something odd about the girl -- the annoying woman's friend?  They seem friendly, at least -- as soon as he meets her.  He can't put his finger on it, quite, but he attributes that to ghost trainers <i>always</i> being a bit ... off.  Still, there's something distinctly weird about her, even for a ghost trainer.

"Hey, you," he says, trying hard to sound non-confrontational and not particularly succeeding.

The eyepatch girl turns and looks at him blankly.  "Yes?"

"What's in the bag?"

Somehow, she manages to look even <i>more</i> blank and slightly vapid.  Creepy.  "Nothing of interest," and if that silky tone didn't mean that was a <i>complete lie</i> then he would spend the weekend with the Sasagawas on a camping trip.

He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow.  "That so?"

"Indeed."

"You're lying."

She tilts her head slightly and smiles, not kindly.  Her smile reminds him a bit of a gengar, actually.  "Is that so, Gokudera Hayato?"

<i>Definitely</i> creepy.  He is 99% sure he never introduced himself to her.  And he's also pretty sure that the annoying girl doesn't know his last name, and the boxing dumbass and his sister might but don't ever use it, so it couldn't have been them, and the tenth is good at not sharing other people's personal information.  "Who the fuck are you?"

"No one of consequence, Gokudera Hayato," and she walks away, backpack bouncing with her step.


He asks the tenth about her later, but he has no idea who he's talking about.


Kurokawa Hana does not believe in pokémon training.  Well, she believes it <i>exists</i> -- she's not stupid! -- but the whole idea of adventuring out in the wilderness for months at a time, with only your pet giant fire breathing monsters to protect you?  <i>Not</i> her cup of tea.  If it was up to her, she'd have nothing to do with pokémon most of the time.

Unfortunately, Kyoko loves her pokémon and her brother, and her weird friends love pokémon (though she's not quite sure about that one girl -- Chrome, was it?) and so Hana feels obligated to tolerate them, if only briefly.

Haru looks at her expectantly.  "What do you think of my Hana-chan, Hana-chan?" she says, holding up the bellossom lovingly.

The pokémon Hana-chan waves in a manner Hana thinks many people would find cute.  Unfortunately, she is well aware that the flower pokémon is capable of, say, leveling small buildings with <i>flower petals</i> for crying out loud, not to mention the rampant destruction all of Haru's pokémon can cause with a little dance.  One teeter dance and no one within range of the telepathically-transmitted music can keep themselves from dropping everything to polka.

She shivers a little, but scratches behind the bellossom's left ear.  "She's very cute, Haru-chan."  Much cuter than that disgusting gloom Haru paraded about before she found a sun stone, at least.

... From the bellossom's baleful glare, she'd almost think it understood what she thought of it.


<i>Shit shit shit,</i> Hayato thinks intelligently as he leaps over the fence.  The tenth is around <i>somewhere</i> but he isn't entirely sure where and if he doesn't know Levi can't follow him to find out but <i>that means he doesn't know</i> and --

Tsuna doesn't have a pokéball and hasn't for weeks, hasn't since that guy from Altomare finally decided to release him, and with that realization Hayato switches from berating himself mentally to swearing incoherently under his breath.  He <i>should have thought of that</i> but if he's lucky, then maybe Xanxus's minions haven't realised that the tenth is technically wild.  He'd've had to be an idiot.  (<i>The loud asshole knows how the baseball idiot thinks,</i> he realises briefly and pushes under; not HELPING.)  If he's <i>really</i> lucky, the tenth is still hidden (can he trust the eyepatch girl?  better yet, can he trust the spiritomb?  Hayato <i>doesn't know</i> and if he doesn't then the tenth almost certainly doesn't) and -- wait.

The tenth had said that he can sense and sometimes grant wishes if it's exactly in line with one's heart's desire (and what a stupid concept that is, Hayato thinks, and he is nearly right) and he can hear it.

Jirachi is a psychic- and steel-type.

Hayato is very loud.

He grabs this chain of thought and runs with it: <i>I wish for the tenth to remain uncaught.</i>

The resulting explosion as the tenth's doom desire blows up in Levi and Squalo's faces is both terrifying and gratifying; the tenth listened to <i>him</i>.


The Valley Windworks are haunted.  It's common knowledge that a drifloon wanders the property on Fridays, but -- ghosts are not known for their wide ranges.  More likely, something about Fridays convinces the drifloon to show themselves.  Perhaps the spirit who attracted the drifloon died on a Friday.  Perhaps the drifloon merely understands five day workweeks.  She's not there to find out what it is about the place that attracts the spirits of departed balloons, though; Mukuro-sama had said that she would need a method of transportation and she agrees.

It's Wednesday, so she walks into the building to go to the front desk, keystone safely in her bag.  "Excuse me," she mumbles.

"Yes?" the woman, likely a scientist, says without looking up from some paperwork.

She pauses to gather her thoughts (and ignore the spiritomb's muttered slights upon bureaucracies, sciences, and likely many other things; he seems to have strong opinions on many subjects that she ignores).  "... Where does the drifloon appear?"

She looks up from a summary of power output to meet Chrome's eye.  "Right outside by the front bench, but it's Wednesday; it won't be there until Friday."

Chrome nods slowly.  "That's all right."  Visible is not the same as present, and noticed is not the same as visible, and she has no pity for those who confuse the three.  "Thank you," she says belatedly, and she leaves.


The bench is cheap plastic.



She goes to the Lavender Pokémon Tower partly because Mukuro wants her to -- she tries not to wonder why; if she does not know, she cannot reveal anything to him and she can remain a useful pawn -- but mostly because it is useful practice.  A ghost trainer must be able to sense ghosts themselves; those who cannot tend not to last long and while the spiritomb currently values her assistance, Mukuro seems the type to leave her to fend for herself if it is convenient.  Spiritomb are not known for their goodwill.

The building itself is remarkably huge; she has to consciously keep her expression blank as she looks it up and down, judging size, and again as she steps inside.  The upper floors seem to be -- clouded, possibly, shrouded in the little distortions of space that the restless dead are so skilled at creating.  What strikes her most about the first floor is not the sheer number of markers, or even the few people mourning their lost pokémon.

There is no shrine in a discreet corner to the dragon of boundaries.  This is not Sinnoh, with its 'quaint' traditions of remembrance and respect to and for pokémon in general and the pokémon of legend in particular.  This is Kanto, and Kanto's dark side spawned Team Rocket.  Which is not to say that Sinnoh is without its issues, but --

She suddenly feels very alone.

In the back of her mind, she hears a faint <i>Kufufu, terrible, is it not?</i>








#01 - Comfort -- The luxury ball seems to stare at him, even as he raises his head to smash it.
#02 - Kiss -- He didn't care if <i>Hibari-san</i> asked; he was <i>never going to fight a clefairy again.</i>
#03 - Soft
#04 - Pain -- Reborn wants him to battle at least a <i>little</i> (or so he tells himself; Reborn wouldn't actually be satisfied until he could destroy a salamence in a single move), but he feels sick for a week whenever he <i>wins</i>.
#05 - Potatoes
#06 - Rain -- He waits in the rain for Yamamoto once, but he decides not to do it again after feeling some rust on the back of his neck.
#07 - Chocolate -- He is never offering Lambo a wish again; 'I wish for everything to be chocolate!' <i>indeed</i>.
#08 - Happiness
#09 - Telephone -- "Um, Tsuna...  This is really embarrassing, but could you leave the room for a bit?  I think your head's blocking my reception."
#10 - Ears
#11 - Name -- He's pretty sure he used to have a last name, but he can't remember it and his mind feels fuzzy when he tries.
#12 - Sensual
#13 - Death -- He pops out of the pokéball one afternoon to a gut feeling that Reborn is late.
#14 - Sex -- "You know," Yamamoto says one day, "my pokédex isn't sure if you're a boy or a girl."
#15 - Touch
#16 - Weakness -- As much as he likes Hayato, Uri still worries him; he can't help but recall the cat's fiery bite and <i>what kind of electric-type actually used fire as its first choice, anyway!?</i>
#17 - Tears
#18 - Speed
#19 - Wind -- What the wingull lacked in physical strength, he more than made up for the first time he beat his wings and <i>wished</i> for the power to do more.
#20 - Freedom
#21 - Life
#22 - Jealousy -- "Gokudera, I <i>promise</i> I'll be back by Sunday, really!"
#23 - Hands
#24 - Taste -- Pizza used to be his favourite food, he thinks, but all he tastes of it is rust.
#25 - Devotion
#26 - Forever
#27 - Blood
#28 - Sickness
#29 - Melody -- Haru is beautiful, he realises belatedly, but her pokémon all dance to a melody he can't hear and it hurts him to try.
#30 - Star -- "STOP PUTTING ME ON TOP OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!" he yells, but it is and shall remain futile.
#31 - Home
#32 - Confusion
#33 - Fear
#34 - Lightning/Thunder -- "I AM NOT A LIGHTNING ROD," Tsuna blurts out, and of course then Reborn has to prove him wrong.
#35 - Bonds -- He hates pokéballs, really; for all he appreciates the ability to hide in plain sight even from those few who resist illusions, he knows his new form's built for the expanses of space.
#36 - Market
#37 - Technology
#38 - Gift
#39 - Smile
#40 - Innocence
#41 - Completion
#42 - Clouds -- As much as he loved Altomare -- the wind, the canals, the people -- there was nothing he could do about the soul-deep terror at the sight of the twin dragons and their protégé.
#43 - Sky -- Every once in a while, he sees what Reborn sees; he is of sky and will and nothing can bring him down.
#44 - Heaven
#45 - Hell
#46 - Sun
#47 - Moon -- It's a good thing the Clefairy Empire considers jirachi to be a minor deity!
#48 - Waves -- There's no weather in space, but there IS rain dance!
#49 - Hair -- While he'd finally found a form of spraypaint that'd actually stick to his cap enough for him to illusion it into actual <i>hair</i>, there was nothing he could do to make it look less like he used an entire bottle of gel.
#50 - Supernova -- He doesn't like to sleep; he keeps dreaming of what would happen if he let go of Doom Desire.