As Batoy watched, Brand paced from one side of his office to another. The boy sat huddled on a rather uncomfortable leather chair, the urge to pull his hood over his head and disappear stronger than it had ever been before. Even though he'd changed into his usual garb of baggy pants and a sweatshirt, Brand's mere presence chilled the air, and Batoy couldn't stop fidgeting. He watched the man continue to wear a trench into the floor with the sound of each clicking boot-heel echoing around the room.

Suddenly, Brand's pacing came to a halt, and Batoy tightened up. “Do you know why I called you in here, Batoy?” He asked. It was a rhetorical question, but Batoy shook his head anyways. Under his sight, the boy shrank back even more. “Lord Seishiro has left the premises for elsewhere, leaving me in control. I've called you here because….”

“What's he doing in Orre?” Batoy suddenly blurted out, and Brand snapped towards him. So furious was his gaze that the boy winced away and looked down. “I-I m-mean…” he stammered, “why'd he go with Toby into Orre?” He didn't dare look Brand in the face.

“For your sake,” Brand started, “I'm going to ignore the fact that you just said that, and you had best forget as well. Lord Seishiro's business is not of your concern. Nevertheless, it strengthens what I had already intended to do.” Batoy's face paled. “Batoy, do you know how much money you've cost Team Magma?” Slowly the boy shook his head. “With all expenses included… well over ten million credits. The Memory Firelighter, alone, cost over two hundred thousand.”

Batoy winced. “But… sir, I…” He fell silent. He never even knew that the only uniform he'd ever worn had a Memory Firelighter, but nothing he could say would make any difference for the better. Brand walked over towards the heavy oaken desk located close to the large crystalline windows and bent over, scooping up a piece of paper. He headed back towards Batoy and tossed the sheet towards him. Batoy caught it and glanced up. “Wh-what's this for?”

“Read it. Those are the terms concerning your vacation.”

“Vacation? What do you mean?” Batoy frowned as he glanced down at the pink sheet of paper. Along with lines upon lines of tiny black letters were, in large emboldened letters, `MANDATORY VACATION' and in a just slightly smaller font followed `Without Pay'. Batoy shook his head as the words blurred together into a mess of unintelligible characters. “I… I don't understand…” He wiped his eyes and shivered. Before this professional man, he felt so incredibly worthless.

“I want you to leave the premises immediately. Please leave at once.”

“But… but sir!” Batoy protested.

“Now! I would very much not like to have to call security. Get out of my sight.”


“What the hell…” Batoy muttered to himself as he drew his legs to his chest as he sat hidden in the shadows of a pillar. He stayed his tongue for a few minutes as a slew of curses flowed through his mind, but yet his chest continued to burn. He squeezed his legs together. “What the bloody hell! I don't get it… I know I wasn't the best, but… I tried my hardest!” He turned his head and gazed up at the sky as it made its transition from blue to orange. Large clouds hung low in the air, gradually growing larger as time passed. A tremble ran through him, like thunder in the distance. He sighed again. “I know I didn't follow some of the mission parameters, but I really thought what I was doing was right… but now… Now I don't know… First Meto, then Kick and now this…”

Minutes passed, and Batoy sighed. “I just don't know what to do… if Mia and Tim find out about me, then… then they'll hate me. But I can't just run away again… I promised I wouldn't.” He stayed stuck between his two paths until a flash streaked through the sky followed by a crash of thunder that shook the pillar he leaned against. He sighed and pulled himself up. “I guess… I'd better get back to them before it starts raining…” he said with a pitiful sigh as he dropped himself on the ground and began to trudge off, his hands deep within his pockets.

By the time he arrived at the Center, the sky had broken and rain poured heavily. With each step, he splashed through the slick roads, pausing under overhangs to catch his brief. But when he finally entered into Center, the only thing that greeted him was darkness. The florescent lights had dimmed, and the nurses had already retired to their quarters. The sound of pattering rain echoed through the cool, dry air. Batoy sighed before pulling off his soaked sweatshirt, and shivered as goose bumps rose from his moist skin.

The darkness began to swirl around him, and though he could see with the aid of the secondary blue fluorescent lights spaced throughout the ceiling, he felt blind. Batoy's legs grew weak, and anxiety and exhaustion combined began to rapidly overwhelm him. He felt himself stumble towards the right, but he managed to regain control. He saw several couches in a corner, but as he groggily made his way towards the sofa, he paused.

Sound asleep, with her blue hair plastered against her forehead, lay Mia. She was breathing quietly with only the occasional stirring; she'd apparently only fallen asleep recently. Batoy sighed as he looked at the older girl. “I'm sorry…” he muttered softly before collapsing on an adjacent sofa, his sweatshirt dropping to the floor. But before sleep could claim him, he was awakened by a sudden moving. “Uh…huh?” he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

“Batoy? Where were you? You took so long to get back, and we were starting to get a bit worried about you. Are you okay? You look terrible,” Mia said as she pulled herself up. She held her head for a moment before smoothing her wet hair behind her eyes. “I checked at the lab for you, but they said you'd gone off somewhere. Tim and I searched until it started raining, then we came back. We looked everywhere for you. Are you really okay, Batoy? Where'd you go?”

The boy sighed and shivered. “I…” He paused. Thoughts of his banishment from Team Magma rolled through his head, and he shook his head. “I just had to think… I just wanted to be alone for a bit…” he said in a voice just above a whisper. “I… don't know what to do anymore….” His voice broke, and the last few words he said were spoken in silence. He wiped his eyes as his chest began to convulse.

“It's okay, Batoy… I'm really sorry about your Torkoal, but you have to remember… if you just give up, you won't accomplish anything. Just keep doing what you think is right, and everything'll get better eventually,” Mia said as she rubbed a hand through Batoy's wet carrot-colored hair. “You just have to keep at it, no matter what…” Her hand slid from his head and around his arm as she gave him a reassuring embrace.

He continued to shiver as the cold air enveloped him, but as Mia's arm wrapped around him, her warmth caused his exhaustion to peak. “But… I don't… even know what's right anymore…” he whimpered. Darkness began to enclose him as his lids became heavy. “I… I just wanna sleep….” His body fell limp as the patter of rain increased.


He could feel the inky black air swirl around him. A peculiar sound, a cross between a low buzz and a growl, reverberated around him as a strange dimly glowing red mist began to crawl along the ground. Batoy could hear his own rapid heartbeat, and his breath was short and ragged. He held a hand to his eyes and staggered forward. The blinding darkness unbalanced him. “M-Mia? Tim? Are you here?” he called out, but only his own voice answered him. He tripped over his own feet, and collapsed, the mist washing around him.

Suddenly, through the sound of his harsh breath and beating heart, came a loud, slow clicking, like nails against steel. The clicks grew louder, and Batoy felt shivers run through his arms. The mist suddenly stirred quickly, and Batoy looked around as a large perimeter formed around him. He crawled to his feet as the mist began to swirl around him. The clicking grew ever louder, and suddenly came a sharp pulsating howl. Batoy froze as the howl sank into a cackling growl, and he turned slowly.

The same wolf-like beast that had been in his dreams the day before stood in front of him, its glowing red eyes brighter than the mist that surrounded them. Its body was massive, towering well over four feet at the shoulders, and its muscles bristled with each motion and pulse that traveled through them. Its fur was dark grey, with the exception of the red mane that surrounded its neck and a streak of red spinal fur that crawled down its back to become its long, scraggily tail. Its snout was long, and a thick strangely caliginous liquid dripped from its jagged fangs, only to disappear into the darkness. It advanced forward, a snarl across its muzzle. It reared back before leaping towards him. Batoy tried to scream, but his voice was silent.

“You shall always fail….”


Batoy shook awake with a start. He pulled himself up, only to realize that a cover had been draped over him. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced around. The windows were illuminated with a pale blue light, as if dawn had just appeared, yet the sun had not yet risen. Groaning, he squeezed at his temples, only to notice the same red liquid covering his hands. “W-Wha?!” he cried out in shock as he quickly leapt to his feet. The sheet fell in front of him. Batoy stared at the strange red liquid that rolled down his hands. It wasn't like blood; it seemed more solid, but yet he couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach.

A door opened, and Batoy quickly shoved his hands into his pockets. Flame-colored hair stuck out before Tim finally walked out, yawning. “You're up already?” Only the most basic of undergarments covered him. Batoy nodded slowly. “I got up because I heard something. Was that you? Are you okay?” he asked.

“Y-yeah… I'm fine,” Batoy said weakly. The chilling voice echoed through his head. “I… I just had a bad dream... that's all.” He sighed as he wiped his hands on the insides of his pockets. “Just a really bad dream…”

Nodding, Tim yawned. “Oh, okay. Well, I guess I can go get more sleep then…” he said, turning away. But before he left, he turned back. “Hey, are you going anywhere?” Tim suddenly asked.

“N-No…” Batoy struggled not to grimace. “I… don't have anywhere to go.”

Tim nodded. “Alright. Well, I was talking with Mia yesterday, and because with Toby gone, I don't really have anything to do…” He trailed off, frowning with uncertainty. “Well, anyway, she suggested that I escort her to some port city. We were wondering if you'd like to come with us. I mean, if you wanna stay here with your Torkoal, that's cool, too, but we'd like you to come with us.”

“No, that's okay. They said… Kick won't be okay if he leaves them, and even then, it'd take like six months to make him better…” Batoy sighed. “I-I don't think I could stay here for six months…” It pained him to say it, but now that Team Magma had abandoned him, there wasn't any way he could stay close by to the Torkoal.

“So, you'll come with us?” Batoy nodded. “Alright, well, try to go back to sleep,” Tim said before he disappeared back behind the door.

Batoy sighed. “Yeah right… sleep… like I'll ever get to sleep again… not with that thing there….” He yawned and stared out the window. The light grew brighter as the sun began to inch over the mountains and into the sky. The fleeting clouds from the clouds were bathed with the morning light, turning pink as they began to evaporate. The low hanging clouds vanished into wisps as the sky eventually turned from a rosey-red to a light blue. The new day had arrived.

Standing up, Batoy couldn't help but grimace at himself. He looked so scruffy that it was embarrassing. He scooped up the fallen blanket and folded it before plopping back onto the couch. Though he didn't have any way of keeping time, he assumed it was sometime before eight. The nurses were entering in from their quarters, but none paid him any mind other than a nod and the occasional `Good morning” which Batoy responded to. He sighed and rubbed his cold feet together. “Uh…wha?” He'd just noticed that he had on neither his shoes nor his socks. Both were placed neatly by the foot of the sofa. Whoever'd covered him probably had removed his shoes and socks as well. Batoy shivered at the thought of anyone touching his feet.

Minutes passed and Batoy sighed again as he laid his head against the sofa. Rather than fear or exhaustion overcoming, Batoy was fighting off a new evil. Boredom. But this fight was not a long one. “Batoy? How're you feeling?” Batoy turned to see Mia closing the door softly behind her. She'd tied her hair into a semi-neat ponytail behind her, and through her unzipped white jacket Batoy could see her slim figure, accented by the light-blue torso tank-top and navy pants she wore.

“I'm fine, I guess… I didn't sleep too well… too many things on my mind,” Batoy said as Mia drew closer. “I've just been having all these…”

“Nightmares? I know what you mean. Lately, I've been having troubling dreams as well.” Mia paused and looked towards the ceiling, as if thinking about something distant. “Someone once told me that dreams held enormous power. Some can even see into the future. But dreams will always be dreams until we make them real. So a nightmare is nothing but a dream gone wrong. It's not real unless we make it. We have that power to choose.”

Batoy nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. That makes me feel a little better…” He sighed. “I just feel bad about leaving Kick here. I hope they take really good care of him, and… and maybe he'll forgive me.”

Mia smiled gently. “Batoy, that Torkoal's not going to hate you. You're not abandoning it. I don't really know what's wrong with it, but I feel you're doing the right thing by leaving it here.”

“Thanks, Mia…” Batoy said with a sigh.

“Alrighty, then, once Tim's finished washing up, we'll probably head on out. You okay with that?” Mia asked, and Batoy nodded. “Alright. Well, see ya in a bit, and don't worry so much.”


The passing of just a few hours saw Batoy standing on the edge of the massive city. Little distance separated the city from the sprawling mountains that surrounded it. So massive were the mountains that they dwarfed the plentiful gnarled pines that grew along their slopes. The sun had nearly reached its zenith, but already its scorching rays bathed the city. The air grew thick and humid from the previous night's rain, and Batoy tore off his sweatshirt. “Man… it's like an oven out here!” he said as he wiped sweat from his forward.

“Hey, you might wanna put that back on, Batoy,” said Tim as he pulled a lavender windbreaker over himself.

“Why? It's freakin' hot out here!” he protested. He tied the arms of the maroon sweatshirt around his waist. “Besides, it's gonna get even hotter when we start hiking to whatever city we're going to.” Mia giggled slightly, and Batoy glanced at her in confusion. “What? Am I missing something?” he asked, looking at the both of them.

“Sorry… thought Tim'd told you,” Mia said, covering her grin.

“Tell me what?”

“Well,” Tim said. “First, we're headed for Oolite Town. It's a small port town, but it's really the only way to sail to Kanto. And we're not walking, either.”

Batoy frowned. “But… if we're not walking, how're we gonna get there? Drive?”

Tim shook his head. “Nope. We're gonna fly!”