she knew almost immediately because her temporary partner (the tube of blue glitter) vanished from her bag, and she felt a strange, supernatural pull towards someone else.

     this was not what she wanted. she had no interest in this partnering system, even if it had some practical purpose of “lessening the strain on her soul.” she didn’t want to be paired with a random stranger. she didn’t need it.

     and not to mention that she already had a partner. (in her eyes, at least.) she didn’t need a new person. she already had him, whether he was here o not. and considering they were (apparently) dead, it might be better if he wasn’t here.

     even if she admitted she missed him.

     but there was no getting around this. if she tried to walk away, it would hurt her. she risked collapsing. it wouldn’t be good. probably. so at her own pace, she followed the direction of the tug.

     she wondered what her partner would like, since the topic was on her mind, even if it wouldn’t affect her too much. she would adjust to them, live with being with them and even being invisibly attached to them,  for what was all of eternity. she was stuck with them, and she would learn to live with it. it couldn’t be too hard. she didn’t care.

     and maybe, someday, she would see her real partner again.

     aware of the fact that every step she brought was lessening the pulling sensation, she figured that meant she was getting closer to the time to meet that new person. she could just barely make out their figure--

     wait.

     ...huh?

     her mouth hung ever so slightly, her eyes widened. it was, perhaps, the most emotion she’d shown since her arrival in this place.

     it wasn’t only surprise that filled her heart. there was disbelief, and even joy. she couldn’t take another step forward. she whispered to herself, if only because he might be too far away to hear her...

     “...zack..?”

    information first. pondering why she was here, and where here exactly was, what was going on, all of that could come later.

    yet she chose to search for information on her own instead of bothering to ask anyone for help. all she had was what she’d been given. she’d wandered somewhat aimlessly, getting a slight feel for the area, and she found herself in the star gardens.

    it was a calm and pleasant area by any standards. beautiful, as well. she tilted the pocket mirror she’d gotten as a gift from the people who run this place as it glimmered, reflecting the lights.

    she didn’t feel much about any of this. it’s beauty didn’t overwhelm her, nor was she here to see the sights in the first place. she just found herself here since it was where her feet carried her.

    the only thing to particularly catch her attention was a tall figure standing a short distance away, staring into the sky, or perhaps just into nothing. since she’d made such little progress, perhaps she could ask a question to this person.

     she walked over to him, not bothering to take in his appearance for the most part. she stopped in front of him, and stared up, blinking only every once in a while, and waiting for him to notice her presence.

     She didn’t like this body at all, but she was tall enough to reach things on shelves she could only have dreamed of reaching before. Although even that might be a curse in disguise. She reached up to grab one of the bags of chips she hadn’t been able to reach before, she stumbled, and still not used to supporting her weight with the cane, she toppled over.

     “Ow... Ooowwww...”

     Thanks to this cane, she was clumsier now than ever before. How did this dude (Accelerator, she thought) live like this every day? How could you just move like this and not fall over? It was like having a third leg! A really uncooperative third leg!

     As she grumbled to herself, she hadn’t even noticed that someone had stopped next to her and was staring over at her with concern.

     Well, this was something. 

     She’d gotten into this weird situation just because she wanted to help the cute little creature (who she’d eventually accepted wasn’t a pokemon) find the “other half” it was trying so hard to get to. And when she finally did, she’d woken up in this crippled body, leaning on the crutch rather awkwardly (as she had no idea how to properly use it), and staring down at herself (kinda.)

    “...So... um...”

     Fantastic conversationalist, wasn’t she? It was hard to find the words she was trying to grasp at, as if her thoughts were scattered and clouded in some way, so that combined with the fact she had no clue how to react to this.

     Amaranth was peaceful. Boringly so. Moon seriously couldn’t stand it here; there was nothing to do. Barely anyone challenged her since there was nobody from Alola around; there weren’t even wild pokemon for her to go out and catch. She couldn’t stand it like this. It was going to be a long, long eternity.

     She sat pouting in the star gardens, staring at the clear, blue sky. She’d already heard how much cooler this place was at night, but she had nothing better to do than hang around and be just a little bit angry at the complete lack of battles to be had in this place.

     Or so she thought.

     A non-human shape entered her field of vision, and Moon immediately jumped to her feet. It looked like... a yellow triangle? Well, whatever it was, it definitely looked more like a pokemon than a person; maybe it was just a newly discovered species! And she was going to catch it! She pulled one of the few ultra balls that had carried through with her out of her bag and over-dramatically tossed it towards the triangle shape. She expected it to hit, bounce off, and then capture it, but...

     It wen’t right through?! The ultra ball phased through the triangle and fell to the ground, prompting a squeak of surprise from Moon. So it wasn’t a pokemon? Or...

     Upon her arrival, Moon had been informed that, to lessen the strain on her soul in this apparent afterlife (or something like that), she’d been partnered up with someone. “Okay, new friend!” She’d thought to herself. Meeting new people was always good, right? Except her partner wasn’t a new person at all, and upon finding out who it’d actually been, she was rather stunned.

     Guzma wasn’t an unfamiliar name to her; not at all. During her Alolan adventure she’d clashed with him quite a few times, viewing him simply as the leader of a gang that got in everyone’s way and needed to be stopped, although she’d never really seen him as a bad guy. Later on, there was a bit of reconciliation. Certainly enough for Moon to view him as a friend; but she found herself uncertain about whether or not her friendly feelings were returned.

     She’d been warned about it in the guidebook, that if she got too far from her partner, she’d feel a tugging feeling, and if she was too far from her partner, pain. So really, she was expecting it; as soon as she’d stepped through the door and into this “eternity” world, it was like someone had grabbed her and yanked her forwards. She didn’t want to hurt, so she just followed it through the streets of the Core, until she finally caught sight of her previous adversary, and now, her partner for the rest of (probably) forever.

     She made her way quietly towards him, initially planning on jumping up and surprising him from behind, but stopping a couple feet from him and looking up instead. She sucked in her breath. Whether he liked it or not, they were stuck with each other for quite a while, so it was probably best to not make an attempt at spooking him (even though the chances of her doing such a thing were next to impossible.) Better to just get his attention by talking.

ENDUROMON: 8 POINTS (2, 4)

CRYPTOGRAPHISM: 2 POINTS (2)

     A fourth loaf of bread hit her in the side, but Takane was able to catch it when it bounced off her before it hit the ground.

     “Hey, watch it! Don’t throw bread at me!” She spat, before turning to see who the person who’d thrown the bread (at least it was only one loaf this time) was, and found herself shocked to see one of her friends that she’d known before she entered this hell place.