"Knock, knock." Security Guard One knocked on the door to Arven's room. His friends stood in a single-file line behind him, and Miraidon rested beside Security Guard One's Iron Hands.
He opened the door, and Arven's friends poked their heads inside his room.
He had drawn the shades, and Arven rocked back and forth on his bed, clutching his knees like a child. Pure horror, grief, and separation anxiety were on his face. It reddened with his streaming tears.
Miraidon saw trauma—the same kind that Sada experienced with the earthquake.
Security Guard One tried to be friendly. "Hey, buddy," he chimed, "I brought your friends."
"Oh my God," was the only thing Penny said when she saw Arven.
Miraidon could not help but agree. Arven looked horrible, both mentally and physically.
"They took her from me. They took her from me!" the boy cried maniacally. He turned his head toward the guards. "You rats! I hope you rot in Hell!"
"Whoa, Arven!" Penny went to the side of his bed.
"They took AI Sada from me—the only thing I have left of my mother!" Arven fell into Penny's arms and shouted, "Get out!" at the guards.
"We're going, we're going." The guards surrendered and pushed their Pokémon's backs, hurrying out of the room.
Scarlet and Nemona joined Penny. There wasn't room for Miraidon, so he occupied the other side of the bed.
Celebi plopped down on Arven's meal tray.
Scarlet searched his bed for Mabosstiff's pokéball, and Penny gently shook his shoulders. "Arven, you've got to snap out of it."
"I lost not only my mom but also my baby sister!" Arven tugged on Penny's hoodie. "Mom told me I could name her. Pen-Pen, what did I do to deserve this?"
"Please, Arven." Penny tried to lie him down on his pillows. "You're only making your Broken Heart Syndrome worse." She pulled Arven's hand away from his IV, which he attempted to rip out, and pinned him down the best she could. "You need to rest."
Scarlet found Mabosstiff's pokéball under Arven's mattress. Releasing it, she whispered, "Here we go," to herself.
Miraidon came in to help while she readied Mabosstiff. He was Sada's Pokémon, so he wondered if Arven would calm down if something that belonged to her went to him. While it was just a theory, it was worth trying. Rotom was also an option because it had the pictures it took of Sada and Arven in the past.
"I miss her," Arven cried, hugging Penny tighter. "I just want my mother back."
"I know you do," she sweetly said, "and we're going to help you, Ven. I promise."
Scarlet straightened her posture. "Penny, do you mind if I talk to him?" She slid a chair from the window over to Arven's bed.
Penny released him and moved to the side. "Not at all. Go ahead, Scarlet. He probably understands you better than me."
"That's what I was thinking." Scarlet took her place at Arven's side.
He started to rock back and forth again. "Go on," he said, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. "Tell me how much of a crybaby I am."
"Oh no," Scarlet said. "You're grieving. You have every right to cry. However, you do need to tell us what happened. Where's Sada?"
"Mom should've never told them she was an AI." Arven clutched his head. "They kicked her and Miraidon out... all because she's an AI."
"Did you try telling them she's a cyborg?" Scarlet inquired.
"I couldn't, Scarlet. I couldn't risk telling them she's pregnant. And now look what happened! I'm such a loser!" Arven fell onto his side, turned his back to Scarlet, and put his covers over his head. "What man can't handle a little Broken Heart Syndrome?"
Another silence ensured. It seemed like everybody couldn't believe what Arven just said. Him, a loser? That was far from the truth, and it appeared like Scarlet knew that.
"Arven, let me tell you a story." She removed his covers, but he put his pillow over his head instead.
"When my father died," Scarlet continued, "I tried to join him. I went to that beach, dove into the ocean, and stayed there until I could no longer breathe. A Pokémon saved me, but it wasn't just any Pokémon. It was a Lumineon, the evolved form of Finneon, the Pokémon I wanted to see with my father."
A tear ran down Scarlet's cheek, but she brushed it away. "I've convinced myself that Lumineon was my father, and he came back to show me life will continue, even after death. While it may feel like your world is crashing down, it's not. You need to find that Lumineon and re-kindle that joy."
"What's the point of this story?" Arven mumbled behind his pillow.
Scarlet remained patient. "My point is that AI Sada is your Lumineon, and she's showing you the joy of life by bringing a new one into it—your baby sister, you said? You can't help your little sister if you're not there for her, right? She also doesn't have a mom, so when she's born, she will need you. You will be her Lumineon.
Life doesn't end when someone dear to you dies. It's the start of a new journey, a new reality, which you need to get used to. And when you do, you will ask yourself, 'Why was I grieving in the first place?' Just sit on that for a bit, okay, Ven?"
Arven did, but he did so by lying still as a rock for about ten minutes. After that, Miraidon and his friends heard him breathing steadily, indicating that he had fallen asleep, hopefully with his thoughts. Finally, he was getting his much-needed rest.
Scarlet sent out Mabosstiff, and he and Miraidon plopped down at the foot of Arven's bed.
***
Arven saw the Finneon, Lumineon, and him swimming in a luminescent Paldean Sea. Like Suicune jumping across tainted water, the ocean's sugary taste purified his filthy lips.
Arven wondered if Suicune could always walk on water, even back in Paradox times. Was there any way for him to know for sure? Whatever—he didn't worry about it now. Instead, he thought more about how he was underwater and not drowning.
He checked his legs, but he didn't see a tail. By then, Arven knew what was happening was a dream; however, it didn't feel like one. It was like he had gone to Heaven and now swam in the world of the Neon Pokémon.
"Luuumin!" the Lumineon cried in a haunting, siren-like call to the Finneon.
They swam by Arven and gathered in a 3D circle with the Lumineon. Each layer had a line of Finneon or Lumineon, and the pattern continued to the circle's top.
Finneon and Lumineon split apart, and a glowing figure appeared within their heart.
Sada dropped one hand from her chest and held it out to Arven, smiling gently.
He picked up his own hand and clutched hers. Warmth and a chill spread through his body, leaving him to believe the woman he was looking at was his mother's spirit.
Arven had never known what magic felt like until now. Sorcery contained his mother's spirit and the few memories he had of her before she abandoned him. During that special moment, he connected with her—even more than AI Sada.
"I love you, Arven," was the only thing Sada said before she returned to the Finneon and Lumineon.
They snapped their wing-like fins like fingers and circled her again.
Before Arven knew it, his mother disappeared in a flash of light.
ns 18.68.41.179da2
