Chapter 35

Dominic glared into the tub, expression unreadable. But despite how much time had passed since last they were together, Lane thought she could feel something familiar from him. He was frustrated with her lackadaisical attitude, but only because of how much he cared.

He broke the stare first, glancing briefly down at Lane's chest. His wings buzzed nervously, and he lifted suddenly into the air, hovering right up into her face.

"That worked with the club, Lane. This was just a hobby for us before.

But our hobby got all of us twisted up in this, and we'll never get untangled.

Elisa can go find some gracidea somewhere and join her clan, they'll be loyal like it's a bone. You and I don't have that. If we can't fend for ourselves, that's it. I've already died once. Let me tell you: I don't recommend it."

He turned, buzzing out of the bathroom before she could reply.

Somehow the door slammed shut behind him, leaving the two of them alone.

For a few seconds Lane just floated in the water, letting the relaxation wash over her. But no matter how good she felt, there was some part of her still in constant tension: the body. She could float in a bubble-bath surrounded with flower petals and candles, and she wouldn't be fully relaxed this way.

Something shifted on her chest, tiny paws clawing at her skin. It didn't hurt—Elisa wasn't much rougher than a flower petal herself. "I know that face, Lane. Spit it out."

She wrinkled her nose, glaring down at the little shaymin. Strange that she didn't feel more embarrassment around her. Despite all common sense, in the end Dominic had been right after all. She was self-conscious around him.

"I don't know how you could read anything from this face," she said evasively.

"I've never had it before today. I couldn't read it myself if I looked into a mirror."

Elisa scoffed, sliding off her to splash momentarily into the water. She recovered after a few seconds, climbing up into one of Lane's offered hands.

She was still shaking slightly with tiny laughter. "I bet if I compared how you look now to your secondary school pictures, I'd think you were…" She trailed off, laughter fading. "You look like the same person to me, Lane. I don't know what it is—can't ask Cedar. Probably some Pokémon intuition or something.

Take it from someone who's been several different things lately: I know when someone belongs."

She had nothing to say to that. She struggled with a few clever quips, or maybe something snide. But for a comeback to really sting, it had to be true.

She just sighed, sinking lower into the water. "I'm supposed to be your boyfriend, Elisa. Or was that… not meant to last?"

Elisa bit her hand. Not hard—she didn't even feel teeth. But it was enough for her to jolt, eyes snapping down to her. The Pokémon glowered at her with beady little eyes. "I didn't think I'd side with Dominic! Think about this, kitten, one second. We're not even the same species anymore, or even the same class of life. We're… little demigods. With the real gods out there hunting you. I don't think human labels really matter right now. What's a boyfriend?"

She lept off Lane's hand, finally crawling up onto her chest again, squirming closer until she was less than a foot from her face. "You were wrong to lie to us for Korina's sake. And we were wrong to judge you for your answer."

Somehow, she leapt up onto the edge of the bathtub, a jump of several body-lengths right off her chest. She turned looking back at Lane. "I can see you're happier this way. It was stupid to try and pry you away from everything you ever wanted."

She left. She couldn't do it as dramatically as Dominic did, but somehow she managed the jump down to the floor on her own. But she couldn't make it past the door. Instead she plopped down in front of it, as sodden as she was sullen. Lane leaned over the edge, grinning weakly at her. "Just gonna sit there?"

She stuck her tongue out. "Some of us need raw materials to fly, thank you. I'd like to see you be so brave with someone so much bigger than you are."

I'll have my chance for that soon enough, she thought. She made no further admissions that night, though she didn't try to reverse the

transformation and return to her proper shape. Once the process was reversed and she was a kitten again, she wasn't sure she'd be able to make herself human a second time, let alone the same human that the people of Galea expected.

Despite the drama, her friends shared the bed with her anyway. No words were exchanged between them, but none needed to be. They were all confused, helpless, and alone.

When morning came, Lane dressed in one of the new outfits she'd been given the day before—proper trainer's gear, right down to the belt for pokéballs she could occupy with Lopunny's much-dented and scratched old ball. She slipped out early in the morning, before most people were awake, with hair done up and hidden with a cap.

At Dominic's insistence, she'd replaced the backpack for carrying him with a new hard-shell bag, which he'd outfitted with cushions and supplies for the day of travel ahead.

"Though it would be better if you just teleported us all there," he declared, hesitating with one tiny hand on the zipper. "It would save us a quite uncomfortable day. Even with a private cabin, we'll have to be on edge."

"You maybe," Elisa said, balancing on Lane's shoulder. She had all of yesterday to practice, and now managed to keep her grip even while Lane took a few testing steps. "I plan on enjoying my trip back, thank you. People like me."

"They won't worship you outside Galea," Dominic said flatly. "Outside here, you're not a savior, you're a rare and valuable commodity. Don't forget that. Your 'trainer' can't even prove she's licensed to have you. She can't play any fancy mind-tricks on anyone who gets too interested. If one Jenny between here and the city raises an eyebrow, we have to flee out a window."

Elisa turned up her nose, grumbling to show just how likely she thought that outcome would be. Lane held the bag open, inspecting the mesh sides near the zipper. They felt thin enough to let air through, but that didn't do much to reassure her. "If it gets bad in there, get out however you have to,"

she said. Then, a little quieter, "What do you mean, 'mind-tricks'?"

"Older you," Dominic said absently, climbing inside. He really was just a sprout, albeit larger than Elisa. The bag would've fit several of him, or enough room for him to rest comfortably on cushions from all sides and still have a few bottles of the greenish slime he'd mixed earlier that morning. "You're not

mean like your mom. But when you're in trouble, you make people forget they saw you. It doesn't work on other legendaries, so don't even think about it.

You can't make me forget what you made me do yesterday."

"I still owe you," she said, humorlessly. She zipped the little bag closed around him, then settled it gently on her shoulders. It was a shame she was leaving so many nice offerings behind. More outfits, bags, training supplies.

Did mew really have to hide out in the jungle in some old starship all their lives?

It would be so much better to live around people.

She hadn't brought much in the way of supplies. Some small bills she could tuck into a pocket, along with seeds for the red flowers and a single adult plant in a little pot, which squeezed into the suitcase with Dominic.

She dodged out the back of the hotel, but even so she found people following her by the time she reached the train station. Well, they were following Elisa. While they waited for the train to arrive, someone brought them a meal, someone else bought their ticket, and she posed for dozens of pictures.

Lane didn't actually mind that last part, much as she never would've admitted that to Elisa. She'd picked a good outfit today, the same one she pictured herself wearing when she finally met mewtwo. Layers of white, except for the pink of her high socks and a ribbon for her hair. It was either white or green with the shaymin offerings.

But then the train finally stopped, and they climbed aboard. In more central stations, a trainer would have their Pokémon checked against their licence for conservation and smuggling purposes. Out here, the conductor took one look at the creature in her arms and nearly fell over. She pressed her ticket into his hand, continuing on towards the tiny private cabins with suitcase held carefully level while she walked.

The cabin was far nicer than anything Lane could've afforded, with a bunk bed positioned over a desk, and a pair of benches beside her own private window. She looked out, holding up Elisa so they could both wave to Galea as it faded into the distance behind them.

Only when it was finally gone did she draw the thin privacy screen closed over the window, and gently open the suitcase.

Dominic flopped out, wings buzzing with pent-up energy. "Does it not bother you how much those people gave because of a religion you know can't

be true?" he asked, as though he'd rehearsed the line half a dozen times. He landed beside Elisa, glaring. "You took advantage of them."

She only stuck her tongue out in response. "Their religion isn't fake—the shaymin really did bless their village. Now they're going to be even happier this time."

"We'll see." Dominic folded a pair of tiny arms. "There are consequences, girls. Every action you make leaves ripples behind. The world changes as you walk through it. Neither of you understand what you just did. I might, because I've been to Galea after this."

Lane covered his mouth with one hand. "Save it, Dominic. Right now, the one thing I'm sure of is that I'm helping Korina. If you want to talk about consequences, then let's talk about what happens to humanity when the mew are all gone. What happens when the real monsters out there have nothing holding them back? You think they'll miss a skirt and some shoes when that happens?"

He deflated visibly. "The mew aren't extinct. There's you."

"Not with my—'' She stopped herself short of the word before it could form on her lips. "Not without Korina there isn't. Maybe I shouldn't care—

maybe I should think she deserves this for the way she treated us. Look at me: I've already done what she said I had to. I can be human, that means I could leave. I won't do it. If you want me to be around in the future you keep talking about, then you'll help me."

"I am helping you." He slumped to the cushion, looking up with wide eyes. "Don't think I'll be able to get you out of whatever trouble Mewtwo causes. What you are to the mew, that's what I am to the celebi. Small, young, and mostly useless. I can't fight him."

"I'm not asking you to," she said, rolling onto her back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. "I'll worry about Mewtwo."