'Cue The Music ~ Part 1 of 5

    I wish I was afraid of heights, because that would have been an awesome excuse not to take Rudy to the party. But Stardust was stressed enough trying to secure our rides back down the cliff, and she’s really pretty, especially for a Vaporeon. So yeah. I’m a good Pignite.

    The kid was just standing there on the sand as we waited for the Togekisses to show up. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Just that something is. Sunkern says he’s delusional and sees reality in a twisted way; it’s a coping mechanism since his family probably got lost in the Fog or died or something when he was old enough to understand but not old enough to handle it, which I guess is as good an explanation as any.

    Just between us, I think “crazy” suffices. Delusional or not, he’s just a bizarre little guy. People say stuff behind his back, like how he’s smashed parts of Andalusst three times probably with that Wailord he flies, and how Cassidy would like to lock him in jail for good next time. I try not to believe gossip until I ask stuff for myself, but listening to Kennedy chatter while we work isn’t really gossip, is it? She sees him all the time ‘cuz of her dad. I like to tease her about how she’s kind of Rudy’s mother figure, except we all know why that’s not true. Rory and her team partner are like, saint people.

    I don’t know why they’re not here watching him today. I asked around a bit, and there are stories, but no one’s sure - not even Kit - and that irritates me. It’s not supposed to be my problem, except for the part where it is. I’d try to track them down and tell them to keep their kid on a tighter leash, but hey. I’m a construction worker. We haven’t forgotten who keeps us in business.

    Anyway, you can tell something’s messed up with his brain just by looking at him. He just… stands weird. I dunno. Does that make sense? It’s like… he always leans. Like a door on only one hinge. Like a bad foundation. And he stares. He’s staring all the time I see him, because his big blue eyes don’t work right. It creeps me out. Maybe that’s specist since he’s a Gothita, but it’s still true. Geesh. I wish Stardust hadn’t told him he could come.

    I think our travelling party consisted of too many people. Me, of course- Miles. I had the sleeping Sunkern in my arms, wearing my paddy hat because I thought it looked cute on her. Plus there’s Rudy. He loves parties, because he knows like, half of everyone.

    And I was bringing Kit, because I’m like the only one he knows here besides Rudy, and Shadow Tag or no Shadow Tag we all know why he can’t talk to Rudy right now, and because I like him and he asked me politely. And hey, what are mentor-student relationships for if not to be miserable together?

    Technically I hadn’t asked why he wanted to come, because even Sunkern had figured out why. Same reason I was going, even though the idea behind the party itself makes me sick - that third team member recruitment ticket gives us a leg up on the status ladder. Well, second teammate for Kit. Except unlike him, I was planning to register mine while sober. My job was to be his designated ride home.

    Yeah, there are a lot of people I was babysitting tonight. Entirely unpaid. So again, I’m a good, good Pignite. I wish I could bring Ches to help me out, but he’s too big to fly. And the open desert’s not good for him, being a Chikorita, and I felt bad about taking him away from the clean water. I’d asked him to stay behind in the city and write a poem or something.

    Lastly there’s Stardust. She’s kinda babysitting all of us, albeit from a distance. I don’t know who she is, but she’d said she could get us a ride so I’d said that was cool. She’s sort of flighty, though. I have this weird feeling that all of us being together was really bothering her.

    I know Rudy knows the red Duskull is hiding in my shadow, because he keeps scuffing warm sand over my feet. I can’t fault the little guy. Kit had a pretty bad rap after the infamous masquerade incident of last week, and Rudy had gotten possessed the other day. And even though I’d heard he’d been unconscious that’s still gotta suck for a Psychic-Type, having someone mess around with your mind. From what Kennedy’s said, you wouldn’t think he’d be the type to hold grudges. But his left arm is wrapped in a cast from elbow to fingertips, his beloved Telekinesis is still screwed up and blinky, and he’s only like fourteen in common year just like me, so you can kind of see why he felt like being such a grouch for me. Kit’s actually the reason he has that cast, not the Barboach in the Dungeon.

    I don’t know why I told you that. I shouldn’t throw him under the wagon. That’s petty.

    The sun is going down. They’ve probably started grilling the barbecue down there. I know they have. I can tell from the wind, even though I can’t see or smell any smoke from up on the cliff. I just know. Gaw-ly. Why am I doing this again?

    Because Sunkern. Right. I really should stop following through on my promises. Or at least the stupid ones.

    I don’t even know him very well - Rudy, I mean. Well, I guess I mean both him and Kit. Heck- or Sunkern either. Basically everyone I’m supposed to be in charge of tonight, I have no idea who they are. But Rudy’s acting moody enough that, as I’m standing here with Sunkern and shadow-Kit next to the really tall cactus, I’m starting to suspect he didn’t take his anti-depressants this morning. Maybe he ran out? I wish I would have thought to grab him a new bottle from the medical tent when I picked up Sunkern. I guess the Puddings have me beat at the parenthood game.

    Pathetic as it is, even Rudy has me beat there now. He’s balancing that Egg between his hand with the blue glove and the big white bowtie on his chest, staring at me as the sun dips beneath the cliff edge behind him. Yesterday I was convinced that whoever gave him the Egg was flaming Fogwiped, but now I can see why they did it. That thing’s like his child already. I wonder if he can tell what’s inside of it with his mind-reading deal. It’s light brown with black stripes, but I don’t recognize the pattern.

    The Togekisses are like five seconds away from finally showing up. I can tell, because Rudy stiffens all along his spine, then turns and walks over to the lip of the cliff and stands there even though it puts him only three steps from Stardust and he doesn’t like her anymore.

    Yep, there they are. Two of them fly over the edge of the cliff in a loud flapping of feathers and keep going up. They’re bigger than I expected - like two feet bigger than me. Maybe riding them down to the lower part of the cliff and across the sand won’t be as hard as I thought. Maybe it’ll even be fun.

    Sunkern wakes up as I shift her to my other arm. “Ohh… Is he ready to head out now?”

    That’s the weird part about talking to Sunny. She could be referring to me with that sentence just as easily as to Rudy. I’ve only known her for two days, but maybe she’s the delusional one. I decide to just say “Yeah,” and move on.

    She yawns and rolls over like she’s trying to suckle from my chest or something weird. “I’m awake. I’m awake. He won’t leave me behind.”

    “I can’t believe I’m doing this for you. Flaming can’t. I just feel bad for you, I guess.”

    “Yeah… He did.”

    I can tell she wishes she had something clever-er to say to that. Usually she does. I know, because that’s what she does most of the day- sit there and come up with stuff. She doesn’t get yet that jokes are only funny the first time around (Speaking of which, don't ever ask to hear the watermelon one).

    Right now though, in the moments when the light disappears and she has to stop drawing on the sunlight and switch over to her own energy reserves or something I wasn’t really listening to more than a little, she can’t be bothered to muster an attempt.

    “I’m awake,” Sunkern says again. She tries to grab my arm with her leaves to push herself up to a sitting position except, well, they’re leaves. “Why is he waiting? All the cool kids are gonna be there and I need to recruit some fast before they go home.”

    “Recruit them for what?”

    “To be my loyal minions, duh.”

    “Oh. Duh.”

    “Miles,” Rudy says without turning from the cliff, “who are you talking to?”

    “What?”

    “What?” Sunkern says too, the word stretching through an offended yawn.

    Rudy pretends not to hear her. He tosses the Egg straight into the air, making all of us (even Kit down in my shadow) jerk forward. But broken arm and ditzy head or not, Rudy still has enough control over his Telekinesis to catch it in a blob of blue as it falls. He runs across the sand as the first Togekiss touches down. If he’s blind, I wonder if he can tell where the drop of the cliff is.

    Sunkern taps my wrist with her leaf. “Fifty candied cinnamon Teddiursa on him smashing that baby before the day is out.”

    “I want in on this,” Kit insists. “Twenty starcoins, man. Better yet, up it to thirty.”

    There are two things in this life I can never force myself to do. One is face a Palpitoad eye to eye. The other is turn down a bet.

    “You two wanna go? Make it fifty stars and you are so flaming on!”

    “Spit on it?”

    Before Kit can stop us, Sunkern and I both spit on my shadow. The dark image of Kit’s arms move like he’s wiping his face.

    “You guys are so immatu-”

    A Togekiss lands like a foot in front of me, and I jump a little. “Mount up,” Stardust calls, walking over to one of her own. She pats his neck and whispers something to Rudy I don’t hear.

    But Rudy I can hear as I start to climb. He places his hand on the Togekiss’s side, then pulls it away. “I need a saddle.”

    The Togekiss turns his head, screwing up his eyes in an offended face.

    “What?” Stardust bounces on her heels. “I don’t- Just sit in front of Miles, he’ll hold you.”

    “Um-”

    Rudy makes a gesture at himself from head to toe with his cast. “I need a saddle.”

    “Oh, yeah. That too.” I clear my throat. “So like, Rudy can’t touch people. Like at all, I think, mostly. He has this disease thing.”

    Stardust glances at our ride. Her thick tail swishes across the sand, stirring a cloud of grit and dust. “But we don’t have a saddle here. And… it’s rude?”

    “Your jacket. Where’s your jacket?”

    “My… I don’t have a jacket.” Stardust checks in my direction for back-up. She doesn’t seem to know how to deal with Rudy. She doesn’t seem to want to know how to deal with Rudy. He’s another mark off her list, and she’ll be glad when she’s done with us.

    “Me neither,” I say. “That’s kinda a Researchers thing.”

    Rudy sighs. He kicks a swirl of sand into the air. “I said ‘jacket’, but it doesn’t have to be a snowman.”

    I look to Sunkern for the translation.

    “He’s an Allusionist,” she says, not even opening her eyes. “It’s a compulsion. Stresses him out if he doesn’t follow the rules.”

    I know Rudy hears her. He pretends he doesn’t, but he does. He glances up at us on our Togekiss for less than one second, then shoots his eyes back to the bird next to him.

    “How come you know so much weird stuff, Sunkern?”

    “Practice. You start to notice a lot of things when you fall out of the sky every day for seven and a half season-cycles.”

    “Right. That’s what happens.” I don’t really want to dwell on the part where she’s technically twice my age, so I shout down to Rudy, “Hey, if it helps then you can like, sit on my hat, and your glove, I guess. But just if you’re real careful not to bend it, or you owe me a new one.”

    So that’s what we did. I gave up my hat and Rudy used it kind of like a saddle, and Stardust remembered she had Kit’s orange scarf that he couldn’t wear when he was in shadow mode. I don’t know how Rudy held on tight enough when we were flying. Stardust was in front. He was bracing himself with his cast too, and I guess he has practice being in the air. And he’s got Shadow Tag. That helps, I think.

    The instant Rudy and Stardust’s ride passes ahead of us, Kit uncurls from my shadow and clings to our bird’s neck. His tail whips like a flag against my snout. “Sorry,” he tells me, not looking my way so near as I can figure, but he does manage to get his tail under control. Leaning forward, the red Duskull breathes in the wind. If Ghosts breathe.

    “I’ve never been this high before,” he confesses.

    Sunkern snorts. It sounds odd. “This is nothin’. Try falling out of the sky.”

    “I like flying. The sand’s really pretty in the sun. That’s nice.”

    “Eh, it’s okay. Not great, but alright.”

    Kit glares at me.

    “I’m just not the hugest fan of heights. I mean, I’m not scared, but like… I’ve seen this kind of view lots of times, y’know? Doesn’t make much of a difference to me if the ground’s all sand or stone. I’ve seen better, is what I’m saying.”

    “Do you have to be so critical of everything?”

    I pause. “Am I? Yeah, well, I’m not really the sentimental one, I guess. Try Ches.”

    “He’s mad because you’re making fun of him and he cares about the approval of others,” Sunkern informs me.

    Kit turns his back. “I’m not mad. It’s fine.” Then he says something that catches me completely off guard. Leaning up to one of the Togekiss’s ears, I distinctly hear him say, “Mofofs faca famafs faraf ifdo llefgifar anftes de fuespues fata fa-sol?”

    “Uh… I don’t think they know Por-”

    “I speak Togetic, man. My partner was born feral and he taught me some.” Turning back to the Togekiss, he says, “Folo fara fa-pagar fobofono.”

    Basically that means something like, “He’ll pay you a bonus”. Which I wasn’t planning on. Again I look at Sunkern, because she’s smart and she gets me. She’s either stumped silent by Kit’s language skills, or asleep.

    “I speak Common, mate.” Our Togekiss angles his wings. “Stay tight, lean forward, and betcha we’ll make it while th’ sun’s tail is still red.”

    I tap Kit’s shoulder with one claw. “You realize you were speaking Porci, right?”

    “… Oh, shut up. I probably knew your great, great, great grandfather.”

    “So. Er. Were you like a Pignite in your past life too?”

    “No, actually I was…” Kit trails off as the Togekiss in front of us pitches down some in the sky. I think he frowns behind his mask. Then Stardust checks over her shoulder like maybe she can sense his eye on her. When Rudy starts to turn his head, Kit dives into Sunkern’s shadow and doesn’t come out again.

    Yeah, life probably gets weird when your friends start hating you for messing with their brains.

    Holding Sunkern close, I bend forward. “So, is there some plan you guys have? Do we need to meet you somewhere at like, two in the morning, or…?”

    My Togekiss twitches his ears. “Actually, we’ll fly ya in, but we’re not bringin’ you back out. You’ll have to head through th’ desert after it’s done just like everyone else.”

    “… Oh. Stardust didn’t say that.”

    “Stardust doesn’t say a lot of things,” Sunkern says.

    “Technically, we’re s’posed to be th’injury patrol, checking out who’s been ‘urt but needs better ‘ttention than what can be provided by those on hand. Or turned down a Pulse due t’ sanophobia ‘r other reasons. Ship ‘em out to th’ healers. Usual stuff. Yadi, yadi.”

    “Oh. That’s actually pretty cool. I’m sanophobic myself, so… I just think that’s cool.”

    “Thankee. Someones is gotta be th’ ones doing it.”

    Flying goes on for awhile. Rudy can’t get off fast enough once we land. Or before we land, actually - he jumps straight from his bird’s back as soon as he thinks the ground’s close enough. He lands splat on his broken arm. As Stardust turns, grabbing for him after he leaps, she knocks the Egg loose from its spot between the Togekiss’s wings. It plunges towards the sand.

    “I got this!” Kit springs from my shadow. Twirling, diving, spinning, he shoots down real fast and catches the Egg when it’s just like a foot from the ground. Even though he doesn’t have to, he rolls on purpose because he thinks he looks cool. In his defense, he kind of does. I wish I could fly like that. He moves quick for a dead guy. I think Ghosts control gravity.

    “Saved your kid’s life,” he pronounces, but as Rudy gets up from the sand, spitting grit and nursing his injured arm, Kit puts out a hand to hold him at bay. “You sure you’re old enough to handle this thing, kid? Maybe someone else had better keep their eye on it ‘til you grow up.”

    Sunkern is still only half awake in my arms, but she’s bristling at the teeth. “Why did he catch it?” she demands as we pull in for our own, actual landing. “We could’ve won that bet right here, and I’d’ve been rich with Cinnamon ‘Ursa, guaranteed!”

    Kit stares at her. Then he smashes his free hand into the forehead of his mask. A bitter taste like… bad food fills up my mouth. He won’t let himself make that ‘mistake’ again, I think. Which is the first time not making mistakes is bad, maybe. He might try to knock the Egg from Rudy again so he and Sunny win, so I’d better watch him because murder is wrong.

    “If it happens again…” Sunkern grumbles in agreement, except not really agreement because we’re on opposite sides about the issue except she’s agreeing to the part where I said he’d probably make Rudy lose the Egg again.

    Rudy points his finger because he’s annoyed. His Telekinesis flashes blue around Kit, but it doesn’t hold for long. Kit still has enough willpower to sort of shy away from me a little as I dismount and grab my hat back and and walk over.

    “Okay,” the Duskull says as Rudy gives up, not looking me in the face, “but is the bet still on if I’m the one who gets it killed?”

    “No way! And give me that!” I wrench the Egg away. Even holding Sunkern, it’s easy because Kit’s a scaredy-Skitty a lot of the time and doesn’t fight me for it. She kind of does- tries to push it from my hands. Laying my ear against its side, I listen for a heartbeat. I don’t know if Eggs beat, though. This one doesn’t.

    Rudy doesn’t seem to care that I’m holding the thing, even though it’s his. As Kit fritters back to my heels, the Gothita just stands there staring at his hand with a disgusted look on his face. He smacks it with his cast. I come over with the brown Egg. Then he looks up.

    “I believe I’m the third strongest amongst us.”

    “Kit messed you up pretty bad, huh?”

    Kit bites my ankle. His real teeth are stubby so it’s easy to pretend I don’t notice. Except then I kick him in the face, so he probably knows I noticed.

    “Why is that, anyway?” I ask, tipping back my hat. “I mean, it’s like… your brain power, right? So why’s it your hands that gotta be working so it works and stuff?”

    Rudy tucks those hands beneath his armpits and breathes once in a long way. “Everybody’s got something to hide except me and my monkey. I wish her plant friend was still here. It’s great to learn, ‘cuz knowledge is power.”

    “Yeah. Any guesses on the finger thing, Sun?”

    “I’m Dad’s psychology seedling,” she mutters into my chest. “I don’t know anything about how bodies work.”

    “They sent him to sleep with the fourth-graders. Rory’s plant friend.”

    “… Oh.” My snaggletooth cuts into my upper lip. “Eh, I… didn’t hear that part of the story.”

    Kit stiffens against my legs. “Wait. Did you just- did you just say Adrian actually is dead? For real?”

    Rudy can’t see, I think, but there’s nothing wrong with his ears. He flashes out his good hand and fires a big Shadow Ball straight into Kit’s face. It knocks him down, and almost knocks me.

    Sunkern yawns as the Duskull scrabbles up again. The yawn goes on for a bit before she says, “So, who- who did him in?”

    He points to his eyes. “Thermosighted. No more notes, no more notes.”

    “Does that mean you don’t know? The Chimchar girl didn’t tell you?”

    “We don’t know anythin’.”

    “But she’s like your… But you and that Chespin were like…” I make a swirly sign with one claw to mimic their relationship.

    Sunkern says, “She doesn’t want to say for his own protection. So he won’t be scarred for life. And now,” she continues, biting my other claw, “I go to meet my potential minions. Onward, my lieutenant goes! Eih! Eih! The big dumb swine will move eventually. You’ll see.”

    Kit just sits there - actually sits there on the sand, his hands pressing either side of his mask. When he feels me looking, he whispers, “I’m going to need a stronger drink.”

    Rudy’s bored now. He yawns, either because of that or because it’s almost his bedtime, and says, “Eggs. Eggs. E double-G S Eggs.”

    I pass it to him. He tries to hold it close with his cast, but he slips a little and almost drops it again. He shifts it to his other hip and sighs.

    “Why can’t you do the…” I mime tucking an imaginary object behind my back and show him my hands again like ‘Poof’. Rudy just looks at me, brows together.

    “It’s too big. This doesn’t make sense. Where’s the treasure?”

    “It’s like a bag,” Sunkern explains.

    “Ah. Oh, hey, yeah, I almost forgot! Hey, do you know if the Chimchar girl came through the tunnels? What was her name, uh… Rach-”

    “Rory,” Kit supplies. “Unless you’re thinking Coriander.”

    Rudy wrinkles his snout and finally pulls the Egg from my grip. “I think she’s stuck in a drainpipe.”

    “But is she supposed to be watching you, though? Like, did you guys make arrangements or… She just… she just let you wander through the tunnels all by yourself?”

    “I do what I want to get what I need.”

    “Ain’t that the truth,” mutters Kit, and Rudy blasts him again. I hold Sunkern a little tighter, the flint flecks in my teeth rubbing sparks.

    “Eh… Okay. If you need anything, come find us, okay? Or Stardust, but I know you don’t like her. You can always talk to me though. I want to make sure you stay out of trouble. Do you still remember what the ‘kisses said the Guild assignments are? ‘Cuz I can say them again if you need me to.”

    “Uh, yes sir. The three R’s: Reading, writing, and arithmetic. I mean, I will be responsible, reliable, and really useful. Everything’s okay. This story where nothing was okay.”

    “He doesn’t like to be alone much, does he? Hmm. I think he needs his attention fix bad or he feels worthless. That’s a sign of possible neglect in childhood. I need to set him up a pretty girlfriend.”

    Rudy whirls on me and Sunkern. “I’m not interested in girls! I’m not interested in anyone! I’m not interested in anything you have to say! I most certainly am not!”

    Then he realizes what he’s done, and his face flashes with panic and irritation. The game is up. After a long day and a half, he’s finally admitted that she exists. Sunkern wins, and she knows it. She straightens importantly in my arms, her ego flaring like fire. She tries one of her evil cackles. It still needs work, I think.

    “Someday, I’ll either turn him to my side or else destroy him completely.”

    “You don’t get to cheer.”

    “Will too, will too.”

    “No ya din’t, Stormy, no ya din’t. Na na hey hey, kiss him goodbye, eh? Stop, you will give me a seizure. You will give everyone a seizure.”

    “So did, still doing it. La la la, this is the part where I’m not caring at all, la dee da.”

    I want different friends.

    “Guys,” Stardust calls from between the Togekisses, her tone edged with half-heartedness.

    “So?” Yawning a yawn almost bigger than her whole body, Sunkern leans forward. The bits of her dark eyes that I can see sparkle in the setting sun. “Do you know what kind of girl he’s into? Or boy, or plant, or rock, or robot.”

    “Or like a Barboach the size of a modest house, maybe?”

    “Hey. Sandshrew’s in love with him and they’re my OTP. And now that they’re gone, I need to captain a new ship. My time’s running out fast, but I won’t count this night a success unless he’s got himself a proper girl and a nice place to sleep.”

    “Eh…”

    Rudy’s Telekinesis grabs her and freezes her. Full power, maybe? I dunno. I don’t think I ever saw his full power one. He tries to hurl her into the air. My whole body jerks forward and kind of up, and I almost let go, but Rudy can’t quite wrench her from my arms. Kit grabs my ankles to hold me down too. We all yell at him. Rudy, I mean.

    “Screw it,” he grumbles, letting her go.

    “Ha… ha… Ah, would you like to?”

    A split-second later, Sunkern and I are both like twenty feet in the air. Fifty, even. No duh, I scream. You’d have to be a Ghost-Type not to scream. I actually drop Sunny. Below, I catch Kit launching himself at Rudy in a crimson blur.

    And then I’m on the ground again. Just… standing. Except my stomach’s in my chest. All at once it slams back down. My knees crumple.

    “I told you I was a good friend, dude,” Kit says through Rudy’s vocal chords. He smiles.

    “Ugh. Did he just-? Flaming geez. Who flaming does that? Where’s Sunny? Oh. You lived, right, Sunny?”

    “Is that the best he’s got?” She tries to wriggle as I crawl over to her. “I could fall from ten times that height and be perfectly fine! I am invincible! The immortal blood of the Sun upon Parai! The first generation of the Stormfire offshoots! My name shall strike fear in their hearts! I am Sunkern!”

    Rudy-Kit laughs and rubs his eyes with cast and glove. “Oh man, I can’t see worth a diddly-do” (He didn’t really say ‘diddly-do’ but I’m not allowed to repeat what he did say) “but I sure can hear. No wonder this kid is nuts- he’s on a constant trip with no hangovers attached.”

    Stardust throws her arms in the air and turns her back.

    “Bleh.” As I get up, I brush sand from my legs. At least it doesn’t seem dirty, just kind of a little dusty and scratchy. “Well, I can take ‘Being Telekinesised’ off my list of stuff to do now. That kid’s gonna get someone murdered that way, easy. I don’t wanna know how hard we’d hit if he’d run out of energy before you got to him. Break my arm too, I dunno. Thanks for the save, Kit. I owe you one. Or like, two. Eh… but you’d better let him out now. I mean, since it’s his body, y’know?”

    “In a minute, man; no rush. Last time I possessed him, he was out like a candle and it was all I could do to make him move. I actually had to wash myself after I was done. Pretty much like sleeping with a dead body, if you catch how I’m drifting. Shut up. Oh, dude, I’ve got to try this.” Rudy-Kit toddles over to me with his hands held straight in front. His left eye’s all bloody scarlet. I back away.

    “Kit, that’s not okay. Let him out. Like, seriously please.”

    “What’s the matter, Pig? You don’t hate science, do you, scaredy-Skitty? Man, this arm kills. He’s not kidding about being thermosighted. Did I say that already? Sorry, the party’s pretty loud and it’s hard to stay focused. Shut up. Everything’s rainbows. No white, though. Do I still have feet, Miles? It’s so hot, I can’t see them against the sand. Hey, what is that floaty thing above your head, anyway?”

    “Kit.” Stardust seems annoyed about the part where he’s being a child, not the part where he’s possessing Rudy again, which FYI’s how the guy got messed up in the first place.

    “I’m not a scaredy-Skitty! Just like, c’mon, stop it. You know he doesn’t like that.”

    “I just want to see if touching people’s really as bad as he always whines it is, man. Where’s the harm? When I was on Stardust’s back the other day, I couldn’t tell how much of it was mind-reading and how much was just me trying to hold onto an unconscious Psychic body while also using Telekinesis for the first time, because that’s not easy at all. Please let me have just this, if nothing else.” I’ve stopped backing away because rocks. Rudy-Kit pulls off his blue glove and reaches out his hand. “Think of something that happened to you once when I wasn’t there. Think food- You like food.”

    He lays his palm against my side, under my arms that hold Sunkern. Nothing happens to me- not even a spark. To his credit, Kit keeps put for a good several seconds before he jerks back his hand. I eye him uncertainly.

    “Well?”

    “Ow.” He sticks two fingers in his mouth. “Well, the mind-reading thing’s true too. There’s a pretty Treecko girl floating around in your head right now. Shiny blue. What happened? You were supposed to think food. Waffles with whipped cream, buttered corn, sliced bread, that sort of thing.”

    Stardust starts walking over then. On her wobbly hind legs, so you know she’s annoyed. “All right, Kit. You can slip out of him now.”

    The Gothita-Duskull droops. He lets out an exaggerated sigh, then nods.

    “But you’re sure you don’t want me to walk him into the middle of nowhere and forget to point him back to civilization? Look around you. Open desert. No consequences, man.”

    “Eh, no. I really don’t want him to stay mad, actually. He’s gonna be ticked.”

    “Yeah, I would be too. Hang on. I’ll Disable him as soon as I can again.” Rudy-Kit thinks for a minute. Then he closes his eyes and pours Kit out of Rudy’s nostrils. He’s red, so you can guess how creepy it was, like leaking blood. He totally backflips over Rudy’s shoulder, which is good because when he’s in control again, Rudy instantly shoots straight in front of him with a Shadow Ball. He hits a grain of sand. Also my stomach, because he shoots to the left and right too. I double over. Kit’s vanished when I look up again. Rudy just looks sick.

    “W’at was ‘at? Oh, there’s a bird. Let’s jump on him. I’m gonna seize the you!” He looks around blindly (Is that insensitive to say?) and fires Shadow Balls at anything that moves, because that’s how he can tell it’s alive, until he runs out. We tell him to calm down, and I tie his feet up with Grass Knot, which is probably mean but that’s too bad. He even finishes off his Psybeams. I don’t think that’s what I’d do in his place, but he does what works for him, I guess.

    Then he doesn’t know what to do. He can’t hit with his hands. He kicks some sand. Sunkern makes a snarky comment, which he ignores. He sits down on the ground to yank my vines from his legs, muttering bad words.

    Stardust gets on her toes to put her mouth as close to my ear as she can. “I think we ought to let him have his refresh period naturally. Don’t let him eat any leppa berries. He’s not well enough to handle a full boost.”

    “Rudy is unhappy that his friends don’t believe him,” Sunkern narrates.

    I watch him kick off the last of my Grass Knot. “Eh, so about the plan for tonight…”

    “I have my own things to do, my own friends,” the Vaporeon says. “You’re not my responsibility. Go nuts.”

    “Cool. See ya around, maybe. And thanks for the ride down here.”

    She rubs one paw up her cheek as she lowers herself to all fours. “If it means that much to you, you can thank me by keeping You-Know-Who from getting into too much trouble.”

    “I’ll think about it.”

    “Oh!” Stardust slaps her tail to the sand. “And if anyone asks who found you the lift, it wasn’t me.”

    “Sure?”

    “I mean, it doesn’t have to be a secret, I just don’t want it shouted from the rooftops, is all. Because Rudy and Kit. If they get into trouble again-”

    “Got it. No one’s gonna find out from me.” I toss her a salute, she gives a final smile, and we part ways like that. She waves good-bye to the Togekisses and they zip off.

    That leaves me with Rudy. I think he’s calmed down some. He’s between me and all the rows of tents, so I figure I’d better say something instead of just like walking straight past him. Tugging on the cord of my paddy hat, I come over.

    “Eh… Rudy, look. You need to like, calm down. I know you’re real trigger-happy sometimes, but you can’t just go around shooting people you don’t like. You already get into a lot of trouble on a normal basis. You shouldn’t dig your hole any deeper when you don’t have to, y’know?”

    “You’ve gotta dig a little deeper.” He puts his palms out to me. His one palm and his cast, anyway. “But it’s okay. I-it’s fine. It’s fine. I’m calm. Like the wind.”

    Sunkern opens her mouth. I cover it and squeeze the little bump that makes her nose.

    “So, do you have like a plan for what you wanna do, Rudy? Me, Kit, and Sunkern are gonna help with the- with the, um, cooking, I guess.”

    “He wants to win too. Why, yakkity yakking.” Rubbing the end of the cast into his cheek, Rudy jolts with another thought. “Friends are never far away. If there’s this guy - he’s a Machop - and his name is Sourdough, psst! Ring my doorbell.”

    “Sourdough. Machop. I’ll keep my eyes out and I’ll bring him to you first thing.”

    He scratches his leg. “Better try one more time. Be careful what you say, so they can hear you, if you’re going to get embarrassed. They’re listening today.”

    “Who’s listening?”

    Wordlessly, Rudy points into the sky. I follow his gaze to empty air. After a stiff minute of this he finally says, “I’m still glad I came. Today’s one of the important days, for some reason. Especially in this place.”

    “Yeah?”

    “Uh-huh. There are so many breaches, see?” Rudy points to the left, just a bit above my head. Then he waves. I just stare at it. Actually, there wasn’t even an “it” to pretend I was staring at. Nothing but open desert.

    “Oh,” I say.

    He smiles and starts to walk the way Stardust went, so I call after him, “Hey, you’re an Explorer like me, right?”

    “For you, I could be.”

    “The ‘kiss told me the scouts are still looking for the last of the lost merchants. Unless maybe they’ve like found them already, I dunno, but I think they’re still looking. So if we’re both Explorers, do you wanna go together when we rescue them? You’d be really good help with your Telekinesis.”

    Rudy freezes. I mean he stops, not like he’s frozen because that wouldn’t make sense since we’re out in the desert by some of the cliffs and stuff. He doesn’t turn around, but he says, “I like the way that rolls out.”

    “Cool. Eh, when they come back with news, meet me by like… um…”

    I take a good look around for the first time. We’ve landed a short distance away from the main camp area, so not too many people over here. There’s a really big cactus. Huge. Like, it’s a house. Actually a hotel thing. That kind of huge.

    “How ‘bout just under the blue tent covering over those tables where those guys are? Like, way over there? The covering that’s just kind of strung like a roof, and it doesn’t have walls.”

    He tells me that sounds good and says something about how he’s going to find Chelle, Cassidy, and the Sundance kid. As he hurries up the sand and through the rows of actual tents towards the crowd, it hits me that there’s no way he knows which tent covering I mean.

    Hmm… But do I actually care enough, is the question. I kind of hope he can’t find me again and someone else takes responsibility of like, finding him a place to sleep and stuff.

    “Yeesh.” Kit fades back into existence from under my shadow. Stardust had left his orange scarf and two bracelets on one of the red rocks. He takes the scarf and wraps it over one shoulder. “Man, am I ever glad to get this baby back.”

    “Hey Kit, how come your accessory stuff can’t go invisible but then like your mask can? I know you can take it off because of how you switched it the other day.”

    “Science,” Sunkern says.

    Kit shrugs. “Science. I don’t know, man. I don’t question it. I guess I could’ve asked Adrian. You… you don’t happen to know what’s up with him, do you? If he’s not really dead? His shadow hasn’t left the back part of his Guild HQ for a week.”

    “Yeah, I don’t know who that is.”

    “Hm. Well, I suppose it’s possible that he’s still alive, working night and day on some new research project of his. Constructive venting. Oh hey, I forgot about these. Do you want my card, Miles?”

    I squint. “Your card?”

    He flips one to me, so I catch it. It’s a weird little business card with a red and white Duskull blob on it. I think he drew it with crayon. Ink smears and words cover the rest of the card: Kit No Surname, expert possessor for hire. Stage fright? Claustrophobia? Hate exercise? Gross food? Just curious for the sake of science? I can help. Find the ST2 House on Cherry Street, Andalusst for deets.

    “That Robin guy is gonna kill you if he finds out you’re doing this.”

    “Won’t be the first time I’ve died. I’ll get over it.”

    “No one’s gonna fall for this.”

    The little aura of pride drops from around him. He touches his chest. “Fall for it? What falling? It’s a business operation, man, not some kind of nasty trick. You make me sound like a criminal!”

    “Yeah, and everyone out there’s been saying that you are a criminal.”

    “Most people don’t know tha- How do you know that?”

    “Hey, I keep up with my ex-anger management therapist meditation yoga whatever you were kinds of guys. You didn’t show up that one time last week after the party, so I asked around. Heidi told me stuff. You lied to the Guild leaders about your identity. You broke into the Hunters Guild. You stole a mask from that one vendor guy. You possessed a Wailord and almost like, smashed people. You tried to possess Atlas.”

    He’s grabbing his elbows now. I think I hurt his feelings. When he says, “But I didn’t possess him, gaul! Doesn’t that count for anything?” it comes out in a whine.

    “Look, I know you’re a good person. It’s just your situation that was bad. So like, if you want to hang out with me at all tonight, I’m fine with that, seriously. I’ll defend you if I’ve gotta. Unless we’re like, facing Palpitoads. Then you’re on your own.” Sunkern is playing with my hand with her leaves, so I give her the card. “So. What’s your plan?”

    In the end, Kit decides to come with me. “I need friends,” he says, “and I need a new team partner. If you’re going to be saying good things about me, I may as well come with to see who’s going to believe you.” He sits on my shoulder with his tail around my neck like a scarf. So he’s like my scarf wearing a scarf. That’s a terrible joke, but you’re still jealous of it and we all know it.

    Flame it. I’m starting to sound like Rudy.