The good news was, they could visit the Sky Pillar now.

The (unfortunate) news was that since it was surrounded by the ocean, someone was attempting not to perceive its location by staying airborne for as long as humanly possible.

He knew that this place was entirely sacred ground, and so he’d brought along a certain someone else to see what would happen if they scaled the tower… if they were allowed to go that far, that is.

“Sorry if I kept you waiting!” he exclaimed as he came down for the landing, quickly recalling his shiny Braviary so he could give the poor, exhausted avian a rest.

The loud cawing noise coming from the rest of the armada assembled just beyond the perimeter fence would alert him that they were no longer alone.

He’d already fed Sam and all the other Pikipek, Trumbeak and fellow Toucannon so there was that part of the day done, and so he was now busy trying to get everyone else fed—this included his particularly large army of avianid and not-quite-avianid Pokémon that were either hanging around the outside of the reception building, or perched on the perimeter fence proper, or just. There.

His Archeops in particular would let out a caw of delight the moment he scented the little Archen that Alex’s visitor was carrying in her arms and make clumsy headway towards where the gate was—well, that perimeter gate was only ever opened for deliveries, so for Alex to open it for guests?

“Hey!” he looked up in greeting, waving a gloved hand as the other held a bucket of just-emptied birdseed where most of the silly Flying-type Pokémon were now fighting over the sunflower seeds and whatever else was mixed into said birdseed to peck over.

He has the feeling that there’s disappointment in the air, mostly coming from Miss Freya—however, as someone who also worked in the field of Pokémon conservation, he had to draw the line somewhere.

And that was the line he’d drawn in the sand a long time ago.

Moment that Noah mentioned that not everyone was a frontliner, he was definitely more than inclined to agree to that particular statement.

“That’s true,” he began in Noah’s direction. “There are some who are better suited for taking the vanguard, while others are better working from the rearguard and offering support—and healing, too.”

Maybe that answer of his would help Miss Freya understand why his stance was such.

“I prefer working on the rearguard, for… well, for reasons I actually haven’t disclosed yet because it’s rather personal as well as medical in nature, but…” he trailed off.

Okay, one secret at a time, Alex. One secret at a time!

He… he would lose all the words though, the moment Hideo suddenly brought a Pokémon out that he thought… wait. Wait a second.

He’d have to talk with Hideo later about this.

His eyebrows were still in the perpetually ‘surprised’ gesture before he thought of lowering them back down to hide his surprise.

“In my case, some of the staff who work with me over at the Sanctuary also double up as Gym Trainers—they’re well-known by the rest of the people who live and work at Fortree because asides from helping run the Gym, they also help around when people need it when they’re not on duty.”

Ethan. Claire. The other Jack, and…

“…well, does including the Fortree Ranger captain among the number of people who help keep an eye on the city count towards my number? Because, well, he’s always ready to help me out at the drop of a hat.”

If you know, you know. (Hi Guillermo Marceliño.)

Due to the surprise Uxie reveal, his original train of thought had gotten severely derailed as he tried to process this information.

“Well… I guess now might be the best time to let the rest of you know about his existence as well.”

He pulled out a particular Cherish Ball, popped it to full size, and out from the burst of red light…


“I thought it best to keep him a secret for as long as possible. Because who knows if Team Rocket has eyes, ears, and bugs everywhere trying to sniff out what else we’ve got hidden on our side? If anyone’s going to ask—he’s been with me since the time the meteor almost dunked all of us.”

---

• Alex wholeheartedly agrees that everyone has their own strengths when it comes to handling situations
• and you all thought Uxie was the only surprise?
• enter the Wandering Stormbringer himself. Tornadus, the cranky cloudman djinni

No words were needed; he quickly moved as fast as he could, wind permitting, as he leaned into the howling storm that had decided to pick up right where they were for seemingly no apparent reason at all as he helped the other keep the food that they would have to continue eating elsewhere…

That was originally the plan.

However… fate had other ideas.

Before he could so much as summon his Salamence and clear out of the area, lightning began to crash down—maybe it was a good thing he didn’t summon his Braviary because those bolts of electricity looked extremely deadly when zapped. Yikes.

“Wha—whoa, what the fuck!” he yelped as he threw up an arm to block the painful, painful wind howling all around them while his Salamence roared out of displeasure, squinting his eyes up towards the clouds because what in the ever-loving flying fuck was coming to get them?!

Funny how these things worked.

Knowing that his husband partner would literally fuck off when anything Galarian was mentioned (strange it wasn’t the same for him when Unova was mentioned… maybe it was just a change of perspective) he would make the trip one evening, on the premise that he had to drop off some papers that the higher-ups needed.

(Yeah, remember that time you helped him finish that mountain of paperwork?)

To his surprise, he was not expecting to see… wait. Wait. Hold up one second—wait.

See, this was the curse he carried—unlike most (he guessed) who chose to forget everything about what happened in the alternate Galar, he had a physical, existing paper trail ‘record’ of most things that went down, so…

Should I bow? Or just walk up straight to them? How does this work? he thought as he then approached before deciding on a half-bow instead. There. Nothing too offensive, right?

“G-good evening. I know you don’t remember any of us… well, anyone who was in that warped version of Hammerlocke, so…”

His brow furrowed. What to do?

He would then eventually sit down as close as he could to the bulbous-headed Pokémon, before clearing his throat.

“Well, see… allow me to preface this by the fact that the person in this story was extremely idealistic. However, the moment the real world gives him a serving of the cold, harsh truth, well… that’s when things start to differ.”

He began—

“Once, there was a young boy—the only son of a well-known family. While he did have two sisters, let’s just say… the parents of the family in question had a different set of ideals when it came to their kids. Normally, boys would be considered as the blessing to any family, right? Well, this one had it all reversed. The only son was initially cherished, at first.

However, over time, as the siblings three grew older, the boy began to notice something—how their parents favored his sisters more, and how he, as the middle child, was always left out of most everything. Not until the time the young boy, who by this time was already a teenager, realize the ugly truth about what their parents were up to—

That he, their only son had been written off, out of existence, and basically left alone to fend for himself.”

He stopped for a while; hopefully the Calyrex (not that he knew the proper name) wasn’t bored to tears on the story he was sharing.

“One night, he decided he’d had enough, that he’d been too idealistic to think that his own family would love him. Seeing as he’d been written off, and written out of the entire family’s existence, he would then make the single best decision: he left the family.

Despite knowing that his sisters at the very least were worried for him, the fact that he’d already been brushed off as an expendable even from a young age really dug too deep, and hurt him more than anything. Maybe he would have better luck elsewhere—which is what he did.”

He wondered if anyone would realize what the story really meant, at least for him.

“Sometimes, being too idealistic can and will damage a person’s outlook on life. It would be better to face the truth head-on instead… so in a way, the scorned son took his ideals and gave it life.”

He had to compose himself because his voice almost cracked at that last line.

“Thank you for your time.”

---

let’s see who can pick out where this story about being too idealistic and the hard truth was based on.

While the Braviary looked over at the Banette (who had a mighty uncomfortable look on her face and that was saying something) out of sympathy, well, their idiot humans were getting their hands all over themselves again…

A loud squawking noise from the blue-plumed avian would remind the two humans that they were not inside the flat, and could potentially be seen on the security cameras the more they dawdled out here and looked like, well, idiots!

“C-c’mon,” he stammered, the blush blooming on his face the moment he realized just where they were.

“Let’s get outta here and draw those… suit designs.”

---

it’s like shopping for wedding rings, only with sygna suits

While he was around for the awarding ceremonies, his thoughts were clearly elsewhere—because there were so many things weighing down on his mind.

He didn’t have any idea on how to tackle them all (considering what they’d discussed in the Gym Leaders-only meeting) but fact of the matter was that—

Wait a second, what was going on?

The wind had suddenly picked up and began to howl. Loudly. Thankfully he didn’t have his Braviary out; however the surprise appearance of what legitimately looked like a Thundurus that came crashing down from the skies made his eyebrows go so high, they almost disappeared into his hairline.

“What the fuck—” he breathed out, quickly pulling out one of the two Cherish Balls he had with him, and then popping it open to summon his own Tornadus.

(Normally, he’d rather not keep the dedushka in his Pokéball, but necessities had to be arranged between the two of them.)

“Do you—is that—” he began to stammer, before an epically-powerful blast of wind very nearly knocked him on his ass and—

And—

“H-hey… HEY!” he yelled over the howling wind and crackling lightning, instantly recognizing the other Pokémon on sight. It. It couldn’t be.

“HEY! I have—I want to talk with you!” he continued to holler over the roaring wind, barely standing as he leaned against the powerful wind and tried to pull out one of the feathers he wore around his neck.

He then looked towards his own djinni companion—

“Was that—who were those—were they—?!” he exclaimed; on most days he wouldn’t get an answer, however today was the one day that the cloudman had deigned him with a shake of his head.



“So… so they’re not…?”

Another shake of the head.

You know, if you could talk this would make things infinitely easier for the both of us! he internally screamed to himself; and much as he wanted to make a chase for where the other two had blown themselves off to…

…mounting a chase wouldn’t be possible. At least, not for the moment.

“…time to ask for help tracking these two down,” he muttered to himself, clenching his fists as he quickly recalled his own Tornadus, before squinting in the direction of the fleeing storm clouds that almost threatened to unleash a torrential downpour across Lilycove.

---

he wants WORDS with those two djinni!!!

There was just the littlest noise of surprise when his center of gravity shifted forward before he caught himself; careful not to send them both toppling to the ground.

“You know how me and my drag queen self are two entirely different people. She’s sassy and stylish while I dress like a plain Jane. Help,” he conceded to the other.

“Also, I think ‘furry’ covers most everyone that has a fur suit or something similar.”

---

it’s like shopping for wedding rings, only with sygna suits

He still couldn’t help but snicker sympathetically for the poor little Joltik whose snot-bubble Swinub mount had gone in the completely opposite direction… awwe! The smile was still on his face as he watched it run after the mount, deeper into the forest, away from him…

But alas they had to keep moving.

‘Come on, we have to go. I don’t feel safe here.’

“No need to tell me twice.”

---

It wouldn’t take long for them to eventually cross a bridge, but what the hell was up with that fog?

‘Oh boy.’

“What?”

‘Look over there.’

He squinted into the pervading gloom—and though he was hoping it was going to be someone human, instead he would pick out the familiar silhouette of…

“Oh, my god. You have got to be joking me.”

For it was the Wandering Stormbringer himself…

Tornadus.

The pain threatened to split his head apart the longer it lingered, the more the—the ugly voice had taken control of him and was literally trying to break out of him, to push the other away; however—

A warm, soft, pink light caught his bewildered eye as a very familiar horn had appeared from out of nowhere (see how out of touch his spatial awareness was) and a very familiar Galarian Rapidash had appeared from out of the blue; the very light weight of her horn glowing underneath Memo’s hand as he felt—something being forced shut in the back of his head.

For one thing, the migraine that was threatening to split his head apart into a million pieces was lessening in intensity, and all he could do was stare down at the light, trying to find his breath and trying not to upset the other man even more than he already had (without him realizing it).

“Th—thank you, Zuza,” he breathed out quietly, still feeling the warm radiance of the pink glow washing over him.

“It… it doesn’t hurt as bad now.”

Much as he wanted to just outright collapse, he couldn’t—not while they were both in a potentially awkward position; so he stood for as long as he could—at least until his legs would give out from under him some time afterward, once the pain had disappeared.

For now.