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"Pretty close," Eve said with a nod, glancing up at Jude's response before shrugging it off as simply him commenting on Ship's question, "Much like the younger brother I never had."

"Younger brother," Ship mused. He had heard of times when girls referred to guy friends as like a brother and the friend-zones those sort of relationships beget. Ship silently concluded that that was all between the two. "I see. It sounds like a good childhood."

Jude's ears perked once more once Nick returned. He stared with a certain, singular purpose. "Hey, Nick," he said. "I...get the feeling I know what you were thinking about in the shower."

"Yeah, it was pretty fun," Eve said, finishing her tea and silently debating making more. Of course, that'd require getting up and moving away from Ship's hair, "Mikey was great fun to be around, until he and his dad moved away of course. Think he's got a girlfriend now, though...."

"I'm going to pretend I don't know what you're talking about," Eve said as she watched Nick walk back from the bathroom. Her attention was, soon, captured by the boy's Porygon, however, as the girl noticed it staring at her, "Um, what's that thing doing?"

"Maybe we can go visit sometime," Eve said, still keeping a close watch on the Porygon as she, too, got up to refill her cup with her own tea, "It'd be nice to see him again. As well as Mama and Papa. Though, I'm really not looking forward to that."

With no news given about Sub's well-being, it didn't take me long to get too tired to be able to wait. With everyone talking amongst themselves, I figured I could slip out quietly.

~*~
"It's not like that," Keiko said sharply to Lykas, although the boy didn't seem interested in hearing her side of the story. Keiko, too, was starting to feel tired. Was that really the time?

Keiko eventually led Aluette out of the base, figuring he'd be more comfortable in his own, private space than sleeping on the couch in the main lobby, though she promised to check on him in the morning. Whether he liked it or not, though she didn't say that.

With Al taken care of, she walked back into the main lobby and passed out on one of the couches.

~*~


I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat. So, that's what he was trying to tell me. Why did I forget? ...right, the concussion. The battle with Night Shadowstar's Torchic, Peeps, must have triggered the memory.

I left Snagem HQ shortly after the lockdown was released. I had business to tend to.

"Yeah, well." Nick said, blushing furiously as he retrieved the device. "You weren't supposed to see those."

"My name is Durandal. I apologize for any discomfort. I am simply scanning and inputting new data." The Porygon said, a robotic, digitized voice.

After a while, Larry remember what he was doing and stood up. "Back to training," Larry said, continuing forward and into the training area. When they arrived, Snips and Lancer took opposite sides of the field. They would be working independently for this battle with Larry acting as ref. "Begin," Larry said with a downward chop. The two Pokémon would now come at each other with pounds, quick attacks, bubble beams, and icy winds. It seemed that Pit was holding his own, despite that little episode. They were evenly matched with each having an advantage over the other. It wasn't long before both were exhausted in panting. That was when Larry put and end to the match. "Well done," Larry said, applauding the two. "Seems like the King is well." The Piplup nodded while Snips just growled, unhappy about having the match end prematurely. She would only get angrier, for at that moment, Lancer began to evolve.

Meanwhile, Night attention was drawn from Terashi when he noticed a small Growlithe standing outside the door. He seemed to remember Night, because as soon as he saw him the fire-type would leap on the trainer.