Motostoke Stadium

"See that?" Hoops asks.

Kec nods. <That's all four of Ninetails' moves, and three of Arcanine's. You coming up with a plan?>

Hoops nods. "I think I've worked out the best matchups, but I can't be sure since we don't know what Kabu's other pokemon is."

<Do I get to go first, boss?> Sal asks excitedly.

"Depends on who Kabu uses first," they reply. "But don't worry, you'll get to show off how strong you are in this match."

Motostoke Stadium, Stands

-Daisuke takes two Poké Balls off of his belt and throw them into the air. Out from them come Doppel, his Gengar, and Orbito, his Orbeetle.-

Orbito: <Legends above, we made it on time!>

Doppel: <Eh, I'd say we were early by about 7 minutes, tops.>

Daisuke: Regardless, look!

Orbito: <It's Evelyn!>

Doppel: <Fight on, Evelyn! Fight on, Ian! Thoughwedon'tknowyouthatwell...>

Motostoke Stadium, VS Kabu

Kabu: FIRE!

-Kabu's Ninetales takes the sunlight she gathered and unleashes it into a concentrated beam aimed at Oshawittle!-

Me: Oshawittle! Use Protect!

-Oshawittle takes note of the Arcanine charging at him and Mirai, as well as the laser of solar energy targeting him, and disperses the psychic energy surrounding his blade, repelling the Arcanine. He then sheathes the Razor Shell Blade, stands in front of Mirai and raises his scalchop, summoning a shield of light to guard the two Pokémon against the powerful attack.-

Motostoke Stadium

Kim: (smiles) "Well, I was not expecting to see that. Then again, considering who this is, I should have expected no less."

Geddy: (happily) <Yay!>

Peechee: (enjoying this way too much) <VRED THEM, OSHAWITTLE! VRED THEM UNTIL THEY CAN'T BE VREDDED ANYMORE!>

Motostoke Stadium

"So they had that move," Hoops mutters. "They really are no joke. Can I really follow this up?"

Kec glances at his trainer, but doesn't say anything.

Persephone

Des beamed. Or rather, he tried to.

"Glad you like it."

Now

Des groaned as he rolled over in bed. He was a whole mess of emotions after the one-two punch of talking with his mother and seeing other people around him find happiness.

He rolled over onto his back and his headache spiked.

"I should stop drinking."

He pulled out his Dex and started scrolling through social media. He stopped when he saw pictures of the Persephone Station. There were articles about the recent wedding calling it the "wedding of the century".

"Blegh."

He tossed his phone across the room, it bouncing off the opposite wall and falling to the floor.

He had put on a happy, friendly face at the wedding. He was legitimately happy for the Captain and the Fox, but he couldn't shake the envy bubbling up inside himself. It had taken a lot to hide those feelings at the wedding. If he was being honest with himself he felt envious of most of his colleagues, not just the newlyweds.

"...I need the Therapy Rock."

Not wanting to leave the comfort of the bed he kneeled and leaned off the foot of the mattress. Arching above the floor he reached for his phone. He was just barely able to touch it, but he managed to scoop it up and send a text to the Bolts on-call therapist, scheduling an appointment.

The phone would blip back very quickly with "Appointment scheduled, hope to see you soon" as a response.

Denali was rather mysterious... unless you brought pictures of muscular bodies, then Denali was very easy to predict. But they had a good track record so far, getting help was a good idea.

Therapy Rock

Des arrived. He was a little disheveled looking, wearing a wrinkled strap shirt under a black leather jacket with dirty jeans. Although it was hard to tell with the stetson jammed on his head his hair was unwashed and messy.

"Hey Denali." He greeted, half-heartedly as he drifted into the office.

Denali smirked and nodded, "Hello Des. Glad you could come in, I understand you've been having some trouble?" they asked.

They flipped through a notepad and turned on a recorder, "Well, whatever problems you have I'm here to give as good as I got and help you out. And my carbinks are not going to be messing with any of my crystal constructs today."

A pair of gem hands came out and pulled out a comfy couch for Des to sit on. Another set appeared and handed him a glass of water. The window to outside seemed to show drifting stars, until another hand slapped it and it showed an early morning sun... it would probably occur to Des now that he had no clue where the office was actually located.

Denali's Office

Des didn't bother to question fae. He had learned of their tricky ways. Without commenting on the changing scenery and down the water.

"Thank you."

He laid down on the couch and took a preparatory deep breath.

"Where do I begin?"

"Well, we could start with some recent feelings. I had heard that you had recently met your mother again, not something easy to do as I would understand," Denali commented calmly.

"We could also try something else if you don't feel like talking about that, these sessions are at your discretion."

Denali's Office

"...ok."

He took another deep breath.

"So I recently started talking to my mother again. I first reunited with her two years ago but I wasn't ready to talk to her until last week, a few days before the wedding. I was angry, and I had hard time keeping my emotions in check."

"It's entirely understandable. There are a lot of complex feelings one can have when reuniting. I understand it wasn't a pretty encounter, anger is a valid feeling to feel about these kinds of situations," Denali responded writing it down.

Denali's Office

"Well, what's weird is that it was only a few years ago I would have given anything to see Mom again. I guess something in me changed. I think I started to resent her. I was only 7 when she abandon-when we were separated."

"Des," Denali began, "It is not wrong to say you feel abandoned. It is not wrong to have those feelings, it being defined as her as a separation does not invalidate those feelings. You can use that word here, it is better to confront it, than to redefine it."

They wrote down more and continued, "Resentment is something we all feel, and seeing as you were 7 it isn't hard to understand why."

Another hand appeared next to Des and set down a box of tissues, "For if you need it," Denali said, "If you need to vent, feel free to."

Therapy

Des glanced at the box of tissues. He could feel his eyes burn a little as tears started to come out of his duct.

"Thank you. Hopefully I won't need them."

He blinked away the tears and looked back up into the ceiling.

"Right. So, she was a single starving artist in Lumiose and I was her unexpected burden. We were strapped for cash. Then I remember going to a shelter where some mysterious men were offering free check-ups for kids. Mom thought they were doctors. They performed some tests on me that I wouldn't understand until years later. After that they told Mom I was "gifted" and offered me admission to their 'school'. Full-ride and everything."

Denali wrote that down, "And I can only presume that gifted meant something else, more secretive and sinister."

Therapy

"Aye. This was before the surge of aurics nearly a decade ago. Before then most people thought aurics were just a myth. The aurics that were around mostly kept to themselves on the edges of society. However the problem was that I was no 'wizard'. They flew myself and about a dozen other kids to Kanto. There we stayed in a basement facility in either Saffron or Celadon. Can't quite remember which. I 'studied' there for a year before being kicked to the curb. I wasn't progressing as quickly as my classmates. Probably the first time I wasn't 'good enough' for someone."

"In a way, that's a blessing. To be rejected from there probably saved you in the long run, it can hurt, but sometimes something that hurts can be good later. It of course varies," Denali noted.

They also made a note for 'Get Arthur and Victor to investigate auric kidnapping rings' for later.

"And after that, you wandered, got into shenanigans, and eventually met the J-Team and have more or less stuck with them," Denali continued.

Therapy

"Yeah, sort of. Switched sides a couple times. Couldn't feel like I could trust anybody, really. I think Sakura was the first one I opened up to."

He paused.

"Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Feelings of abandonment and resentment have bred issues of trust, you will close yourself off from others to avoid being hurt. Though with how you desire contact and connection with others those feelings this will breed feelings of envy and anger at the people you have connected with," Denali explained looking over their notes.

"That's my current running theory."

Therapy

Des just lay there silent for a minute as he mulled over Denali's diagnosis in his head.

"...I never did tell you what I spoke to Mom about, did I?"

He suddenly sat up and turned to face Denali.

"You know a bit about fae contracts, don't you?"

"Well I was a licensed attorney in the 1980s," Denali admitted, "I know all about contracts... also never look up the [Miami] Roadtrip of 1984, Prime and I don't like to talk about it," Denali added.

"What did you two discuss?"

Therapy

Des leaned in closer to Denali, suddenly with a very intense look on his face.

"This must never leave the room, you understand? You must be familiar with doctor-patient confidentiality as well?"

The floor seemed to give out, the walls vanished, and it was just Des and Denali in a floating void. Denali stared back, "What was said here will never be heard, I am well aware of doctor patient confidentiality."

And then in an instant the room returned. Denali sat at their desk and looked at Des plainly, "What happened?"

Therapy

"Very well. Before I was born, my mother gambled with my life..."

And then he told Denali the thing.