Chapter 1

Hayden was in the wrong part of town.

Sunyshore City had its many unspoken rules, and by crossing onto the piers, he had broken most of them. A townie just didn't belong on the pier, and the local children weren't about to yield their territory easily.

He hoisted his threadbare coat high on his shoulders, covering his face as best he could. Maybe they would mistake who he was, long enough for him to cross back to the shore side. "They still following us?" Hayden might be only twelve years old, but his urgency was no less intense than any adult. Tucked into his jacket was a bundle of precious cargo. Stolen cargo.

Beside Hayden, his daemon ran along the handrail in the form of an eevee, her ears high and eyes alert. She balanced as perfectly as the pokémon she imitated, even on the narrow wooden beam. "Yeah," Ahuiliztli said. Liz's voice was higher than a human's, distorted by her animal form. But they'd spent a lifetime talking to each other, and Hayden understood her easily. "Four of them now, maybe five."

Five. Hayden abandoned all pretense of acting casual, and broke into a run. Without a word, the daemon beside him transformed into a starly, cutting through the sea air with skill. Hayden crouched low into a crowd, dodging through a group of adults carrying heavy crates towards the docks. 

A sailor's poochyena daemon barked and snapped at Liz as she flew past, but she was too high to reach. "Sorry!" Hayden called, without slowing down or even looking back. Many of the sailors knew him too, at least the ones who worked on local fishing boats and the cargo ferry. But the odds were good most of them were just passing through, and would never see his face again.

Hayden didn't have the time to care. He leapt behind Eddie's fried fish stall, then around the corner into another pier. Sunyshore City was made of many of these, most covered with legal and somewhat-legal establishments catering to the sailors and pleasure ships that docked in town. Hayden's family couldn't afford any of them, but that didn't matter—what did was the maze-like network of alleys that connected each from the back, giving him somewhere to retreat out of plain view. 

The gap was plenty wide enough for a child, with room for him to dodge past exposed pipes, overturned garbage cans, and a small group of wild sentret raiding an open dumpster full of trash. 

Some part of Hayden's mind rebelled at seeing pokémon without a human attached. He knew they were natural, the world was filled with them. But it still made him a little uneasy.

And careless. His foot caught on a pipe crossing from one building to another, sending him into a tumble. He rolled several feet, before smacking awkwardly to the ground against a fence.

"Ouch!" Liz landed beside him, transforming smoothly from a bird into a buizel as she touched the ground, and nudged his shoulder. "Shake it off, I know you're fine."

Even back here, the alley was lined with posters of Shaymin House. Its ruling lady looked down on him with stern green eyes, while the shadows of the other regions' mythical houses loomed in the background.

"Do your part for Sinnoh!" it proclaimed, in block letters. "United, we can achieve anything! Volunteer in the Service Corps today!"

Hayden didn't feel particularly united with anything just now. The noble family could hang up posters, but they didn't help keep townies safe from dock kids.

Hayden rose, brushing his bloody hands on his trousers. "Just a… sec." He reached into his jacket, removing the paper-wrapped bundle of medicine. He had to peek inside, and check the bottle hadn't broken. The dark glass was intact, and no liquid spilled into the space.

He tucked it back into his jacket, stumbling to his feet. "Ellie's done without this. I'd have to go back for more if—"

"It's fine. Get up, Hayden, they're—"

Two figures emerged from the other end of the alley. Ashlie with her pachirisu daemon riding her shoulder, and Donald trailed by his less coordinated gible. They both looked like sailor's kids, with a rough mismatch of clothes that never quite fit, and a perpetual coating of grease and dirt over their bodies. 

"Hey, uh… guys. I was just leaving, you know. Got myself a little lost…" Hayden edged sideways along the fence, towards the open gate. Through it, a maintenance walkway dropped below the dock, one that continued all the way to shore. Along that route lay the key to his escape, if only he could reach it.

Someone stepped through the gate, shoving Hayden by the shoulder. He stumbled forward, but caught himself on the wall this time, spinning to face the newcomer. He already knew the voice, but the sight of him only confirmed it.

This was Corrin, the oldest of the dock kids, and their leader. His hatred of townies was plain in the sneer on his face, pockmarked with half-healed scabs and a few ugly scars. Corrin's parents had passed him a sailor's sickness early in life, and it hadn't been kind to him as the years progressed. The boy, in turn, was unkind to everyone around him.

The stunky daemon that emerged beside him was barely any less ugly than the human she belonged to. But that was the way with daemons—seeing one always said something about the person they were attached to.

Liz put on a brave face, stepping between Hayden and Corrin. The dark type tackled her to the side, sending her tumbling into the fence. Hayden felt the impact on his own shoulder, recoiling as though he'd been the one struck there. If it was bad enough, he would have an identical bruise in the morning.

He darted over to her, crouching low beside his daemon. "You don't have to do that, Corrin. We were already leaving."

The larger boy laughed, his voice cruel and thoughtless. Hayden knew that sound all too well by now. "Should've stayed where you belonged, townie. What did you think was waiting for you out here?" 

The other two members of his gang appeared from the alley behind Ashlie. Ned and Dozer, the rest of Corrin's shadow. They wouldn't represent much threat to Hayden unless he tried to run past them. 

Hayden eyed the fence exit—that walkway was his only way out now. But how to reach it without getting grabbed? "Just had to get something for my sister," he said, not making eye contact. He stroked Liz's back, smoothing out her fur. But daemons were much tougher than humans, just like the wild Pokémon they resembled. It would take more than that to really hurt her.

"Ashlie, I think you should show Hayden that new move you learned. It was so interesting, maybe his daemon would like to see it. Give her something to look forward to when she settles."

She nodded, and the squirrel leapt off her shoulder. Hayden saw the flash a second later, and recoiled away, back towards the fence. An electrical attack—not a strong one by daemon standards.

Strong enough for kids their age, though. While he dodged, he felt Liz respond too. Not to avoid the attack—how could she, when the other daemons were moving to surround her. Instead, she changed—getting taller, sharper, almost pointy.

Daemons never settled into an evolved form directly, that just wasn't how it worked. But until that time came, Lize could be almost anything. Including a jolteon.

Hayden still felt the shock, even if his daemon was resistant to it. His knees gave out and he dropped to the ground. His body spasmed once before he got it under control. 

Then Corrin kicked him in the gut, hard. He grunted, doubling over and curling into a ball. "Can't believe you haven't settled yet, townie," Corrin said. "No fair to keep changing. Aren't you gonna grow up?"

"It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out," Donald added. His daemon loomed over Liz already, stubby arms reaching for her, huge mouth opened in a grin. "Your whole family are the same boring dogs. Just get it over with."

"Not… dogs." Hayden sat up, with difficulty. He reached for Liz, but Corrin's stunky blocked the path. He withdrew his hand quickly, getting nowhere near the other boy's daemon. "They're eevee, it's… different. Still get to make a choice."

As he said it, Liz shrunk down to punctuate his point, becoming brown-furred and small. But growing up with eevees meant she had practice with every form, except one. The family didn't have a sylveon yet. 

Corrin shoved him down again, resting his dirty boot on Hayden's shoulder. "Think you're better than us, townie? Because you have both parents instead of just one? Think you're special, having dry land under you instead of the ocean?"

Hayden's body tensed, but he didn't fight any harder yet. His bruises would heal—but if Corrin discovered what he was hiding, if he tried to take—

"No," he grunted. "I'm not some heir of Shaymin House. I'm made from the same dirt as everyone else. When I grow up, I'll make clothes like my parents. So what?"

"What's that sticking out of his jacket?"

Hayden slumped lower to the ground, rolling sideways to try and hide it. But once someone had seen him, there could be no going back. He felt an intense pressure as the gible leapt on Liz, pinning her to the ground. It bit hard, though not hard enough to draw blood. It still stunned Hayden with pain, letting Corrin swoop down and rip the brown bag out of his jacket and hold it up, triumphant.

"What you got in here, cigarettes? Booze?" He shook the bag, expression hungry. "Whatever you took, it's ours anyway. Got it from our home."

Hayden leapt on him like a feral pokémon himself, tackling the larger boy to the ground with desperate fury. "You can't have it! My sister needs that, you don't!" The surprise bought him a few seconds, but not more. He was several years younger, and at least twenty pounds lighter. Corrin shoved him to the ground with one hand, hard enough that his head briefly smacked against the wood. His body went limp, momentarily dazed from the impact. 

He lay on his back, watching without comprehension as Corrin stood over him, dumping the contents of the bag into his hand. A single dark medicine bottle. He turned it over in one hand, squinting down at the tiny writing. "What is… Tyro-thricin? Is it good?"

Hayden recovered rapidly. Fast enough to realize the desperate situation before him—he'd come all this way, and Corrin was about to destroy it!

Hands hefted him roughly into a standing position, holding him by both arms.

"Well?" Corrin asked again. "The hell did you come all this way for?"

"It's… medicine," he whispered. Blood trickled from between his lips as he spoke—he'd bitten his tongue when he hit the ground. Some pain was fainter than others. "Ellie needs it. She's sick. Got an… infection. Can't even drink it, Corrin. Poison."

He squirmed, trying to get free—but no good. Gibble had Liz pinned against the dock, claws pressed into her back. With that much pain, even a daemon as adaptable as Liz was trapped. What she felt, he felt.

"If it's poison… then I'm doing you a favor getting rid of it," Corrin said." He stepped around the fence, holding one arm out over the water. "Wouldn't mind seeing you swim for it."

Hot tears streaked his face. Hayden fought to pull his arms free—but even with his full strength, he wouldn't be a match for two bigger kids. We're not strong enough, came a thought, clear in his mind. It belonged to him, yet—somehow, it wasn't his. How was that possible? Eevee aren't strong enough. But some things are.

There was a blinding flash of blue light from the ground, throwing the gible and stunky off Ahuiliztli like stuffed toys. She rose up into the air without wings, her whole body shimmering blue. On his left, Donald released his arm. Hayden turned on Ashlie, shoving her free of him with sudden, incredible strength. She stumbled away, then toppled sideways into a pile of garbage, landing with a soggy thump.

Corrin was more focused. He dropped the bottle deliberately, grinning defiance at Hayden. 

The bottle didn't fall. Instead it zipped over the fence, then right into Hayden's outstretched hand. He moved instinctively, knowing exactly how to catch it. Hayden's pain fled his mind, suddenly superficial. Nothing would stop him from saving his sister's life—not bigger kids, not the great families, no one.

Corrin picked up a fallen length of wood from beside him, swinging it through the air towards Hayden. "You don't know when to quit. You think copying a powerful Pokémon makes you one of them? You're still just a tailor’s son. You're nothing."

Liz floated through the air beside Hayden, her body still glowing. She caught the length of wood in her psychic grasp, lifting it up into the air. Corrin went up with it, almost five whole feet before his fingers gave out and he tumbled to the ground in front of Hayden, bruised.

"If I'm nothing, what are you?" Hayden demanded.

He didn't see it—but Liz did. Another bolt of lightning came hurtling directly at him, not even his daemon. Liz stopped it anyway. A flash of white, and it struck against nothing, discharging harmlessly off into the water instead.

"Leave us alone!" Liz yelled. Her voice echoed through the alley, far louder than that tiny mouth could produce. The whole dock district shook under them. A nearby window shattered, raining down shards of broken glass.

Corrin was the first on his feet. He didn't even look at Hayden, scrambling away along the dock like a scolded pet. The others soon followed, nursing fresh bruises. 

Liz dropped into Hayden's waiting arms, and the glow vanished. She was so small then, smaller than any form Hayden had ever seen her take. She was also the legendary pokémon mew, same as the greatest of all the great families.

"How'd I do?" she asked. Her voice wasn't audible anymore—instead she spoke directly into Hayden's mind, as only psychic types could. "Pretty good?"

"Pretty good," he agreed, stroking her head with two gentle fingers. 

Together, they left the dock behind.