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Notes: Chapter Six's title references Revolutionary Girl Utena, and is the name of a music composition featured in the anime. To me, the sunlit garden represents an idealized view of childhood.

---

The next morning, Rose was awakened by loud knocking on the hotel door. Acacius was up before him, getting out of bed and pulling his shirt back on. Rose hadn't noticed him taking it off, but he wasn't in the best mental state when they went to bed. Well, it was a new morning. Maybe he'd have a better handle on the situation.

The knocking continued. "Can I wake up first?" Acacius shouted. "I'm coming, God!"

Sonia was at the door. Rose got up while she spoke. "The ex-Flare scientists were spotted again," she said to Acacius. "You two get up, we're having a meeting about it."

"Cool," Acacius said. "Give us thirty minutes."

"Fifteen."

"You think I get ready that fast? You'll be lucky if I'm down in forty-five!" He laughed. "See you later."

He shut the door before Sonia could respond.

"That was rude," Rose commented, looking at himself in the bathroom mirror. "She won't be happy with you."

"She's been rude to me!" Acacius crossed his arms. "I don't get why, she's too young to have heard of me when my whole situation happened." He glanced at Rose. "Hey, if you're using the bathroom, maybe shut the door?"

"I only stepped in to fix my hair. I'm about done."

As soon as he stepped out, Acacius went in and shut the door. Rose sat on his bed and ran a hand through his hair, attempting to get it at least somewhat presentable. As of late, his personal grooming was not at the level the Pokémon League Chairman needed to have–even if Rose was fairly certain he did not serve that role any longer, despite the people around him calling him "Chairman" instead of his given name.

Absentmindedly, he wondered who the acting chairman currently was. They wouldn't leave the role unfilled, would they?

Acacius returned, pulling his vest on over the clothes he was given. "All clear," he said. "You need to do anything else?"

"I should be fine."

"Then let's tell that lady we're good to go."

That lady didn't look happy when Acacius opened the door again. "My name is Sonia," she said pointedly. "Professor Sonia, actually."

"Professor?" said Rose. "I hadn't realized you took that title. Congratulations, I'm sure Magnolia is very proud."

Sonia glared at him with surprising hostility. "Don't try it," she said.

"Try what?"

She huffed and turned away, walking down the hall. Rose sighed and followed.

"She doesn't like you," Acacius said.

"I've gathered," Rose said.

"Just 'cause of what you did with Eternatus?"

He nodded. "I can't say I'm surprised. My plan required a level of subterfuge to perform, all of which is now out in the open. I imagine that's soured most people's opinions on me."

"That's it?"

Rose frowned. "What else would it be?"

"Quit gossiping," Sonia said.

The elevator ride was spent in tense silence.

---

They entered the meeting room, which contained everyone except for Piers, who was likely still investigating Mable's house, and, more unusually, Leon. "Don't tell me he's lost again!" Sonia said, looking around. "Hop, can you go get him?"

Hop broke off his conversation with Gloria and Bede and spun around. "On it, Prof!" he said, and darted out of the room. A smile crossed Sonia's face as he passed by her, but the next moment, she was frowning again.

The room had more chairs than it had previously; it looked like they'd all get a seat this time. Rose assumed Leon would take the same seat he had previously and took the one beside it. Acacius sat on his other side.

Gloria pulled out the chair next to Acacius. "Hey!" she said, leaning on the table. "You're Acacius, right?"

"Uh," said Acacius. "I thought we established that last night, yeah?"

"Cool! We went looking on Bulbapedia for stuff, and we found some pictures of you."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Pictures?"

Acacius said, very quietly, "Oh, God, help me."

If Gloria heard, she ignored him. "Looks like Flapple was your main guy, right?" she said, taking out her rotom phone. "You didn't have a lot of pokémon–not my style, personally, but I can respect sticking with what works…"

Rose tried not to be obviously looking as Gloria flipped through images. There was Acacius posing with Flapple, there was him in front of Flapple's Gigantamax form, and there he was with a shiftry… the last one was him and what must have been his main team. Flapple and Trevenant, of course, but also the shiftry, a ferrothorn, and one other.

Gloria held out the phone. "I didn't know you had a roserade!" she said with a grin. "Did you know that, Chairman?"

"I did not," Rose said, bemused at being addressed. "Though it's not surprising. He is a grass-type specialist, and the roserade line are grass-types."

"Don't have one anymore," Acacius said. "I left him with my mom. I've got this brat of a budew, but she's unrelated."

Gloria pulled her phone back. "There's a lot on this article! It even says how much money you stole! I didn't really expect it to be in the millions, but–"

"Okay, hey, it was on the very low end of 'millions'–"

"–but I don't care about that." She beamed at him. "I haven't trained many grass types, but I caught a lileep a little while ago, so I was wondering if you could give me tips on raising one?"

"A lileep?" Acacius said, perking up. "You mean the fossil pokémon? I heard there was a living colony in the Crown Tundra, but I never got to catch one myself! I know fossil pokémon need pretty specific care, so I'd say–"

Sonia came up next to Gloria. "Can't you ask someone else about this?" she said. "Milo's a grass-type specialist too, you know."

"Milo's not here," said Gloria. "He said he was booked for, like, a week. Honestly, I just think he didn't want to–"

"I'm sure there's other people here who have trained grass types," Sonia interrupted.

"Hey, what's the big deal?" Acacius said. "Miss Champion here and I are trying to have a conversation."

"I'm Gloria."

"Sorry, I'm bad with names."

Sonia crossed her arms. "Maybe, considering the company you keep, I think Gloria has better people she could talk to."

"Do I get a say in this?" said Gloria. "Like, at all?"

Rose spoke up. "Are you saying you've only been this rude to Acacius because he associates with me?"

At this point, Sonia had caught the attention of everyone else in the room. Marnie hovered nearby, exchanging confused looks with Gloria. "Hey," Raihan said, "I don't like the energy in here. Can we chill for a moment?"

Sonia crossed her arms and glared at Rose. "I've been astonishingly polite to both of you, considering what you did to the region!"

Rose got up from his seat to meet Sonia's eyes. "Acacius' rescued me from what could have been torture, death, or both. If that's his only crime–"

"He also 'misappropriated' over two million of gym funding," Gloria helpfully added, looking at the Bulbapedia article.

"–yes, thank you, Gloria, that was his only actual crime." Rose furrowed his brow. "Regardless, I'm indebted to him, and I have to ask you cease your mistreatment of him."

"What!" Sonia exclaimed. "I haven't done anything to mistreat him, and I've definitely done nothing worse than you!"

Raihan stood up. "Sonia, stop," he said firmly. "Take a step back and calm down. This isn't helping."

Rose raised a hand. "If she has grievances, I'd like to hear them," he said.

"Sure, sure, but now is not the time."

Acacius spoke up. "Look, I don't actually care that much if she's rude to me. I'm a grown man, I can take it. Don't go getting into fights on my behalf."

"…right." Rose sighed. "I apologize, Acacius. I'll let it drop."

When he looked back at Sonia, her expression had changed.

"He doesn't know," she said.

"I've filled him in on my transgressions."

Sonia grit her teeth. "No," she said, "you're just lying and manipulating him like you do everyone else!"

"Excuse me?" Rose snapped. "While my actions with Eternatus necessitated secrecy, I have been nothing but honest with Acacius. What are you accusing me of?"

"I don't buy it!" Sonia jabbed a finger at his chest. "You're just putting on an act! I don't care what happened to your stupid heart, it sure as hell doesn't justify what you did to–to–" She gestured around the room. "–to us, to Bede, to Leon–"

Raihan raised his voice. "Sonia, sit down."

"I regret my outburst at the championship match," Rose said, "and I've told Leon as much. That was–"

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

Rose blinked. "What else was there?"

Sonia slapped him.

He stumbled back and put a hand to his cheek. When he regained balance, Raihan was between him and Sonia. "Sonia, outside," he said sternly. "You're sitting this meeting out, okay? We'll talk later."

"But–"

"Outside."

She passed Hop and Leon in her rush out the door. Leon frowned. "Where's she going?" he asked. "What happened now?"

"I dunno," said Gloria, still sitting next to Acacius. "What did happen?"

"I'll explain later," Raihan said. "Sonia needs a moment to cool down, so she's sitting this meeting out."

"Alright," Leon said. "She knows what we're covering, anyway. Everyone, sit down."

Rose took his seat again, rubbing his cheek. He glanced at Acacius, but the other man didn't meet his eyes.

---

Mable and Celosia had broken into the Wedgehurst Pokémon Research Lab. They were caught by Professor Magnolia and fled without a fight, but not before they had stolen a computer, an armful of documents, and, alarmingly, a Wishing Star. "They didn't steal any info that isn't backed up elsewhere," Leon said, "but it was all pertaining to the Dynamax phenomenon, Galar particles, and Eternatus, and we don't know what they're doing with the Wishing Star."

"So they're out of Hammerlocke now, huh?" Nessa said. "Do we know how they're traveling?"

"Mable doesn't have a bike or any ride pokémon," Acacius said. "It would be on foot, unless Celosia has something I don't know about." He paused. "Which she might. Sorry, guess that's not helpful information."

"Wedgehurst is pretty close to home," Hop said. "Could they be targeting us already?"

Leon shook his head. "I doubt it. They were just after the lab, and honestly? That's bad enough. Considering what they stole and what Mable said she studies…"

He hissed air through his teeth. Raihan looked at him. "You're thinking what I'm thinking, huh?" he said.

Gloria stood up. "What?" she said, an edge to her voice. "What could they be doing?"

The room fell silent. Leon took a deep breath. "They might be aiming to replicate what happened to Rose," he said.

Rose stiffened. He put his hand over his heart, a subconscious gesture he stopped as soon as he noticed, clasping his hands together on the table instead. He caught Acacius looking at him in concern. He didn't meet his eyes.

"No," Gloria said. "Don't say that. They can't–" Her hands trembled. "–they don't know!"

"It's just a theory," Leon said, "and it's not one I like either. We'll stop them before anyone gets hurt, alright?"

The champion pushed her chair back and ran out of the room. Marnie called her name and ran after her; Hop moved to stand, but Leon's hand on his shoulder brought him back down.

"She's upset," Acacius said.

Hop shared a look with Leon. "Yeah," he said. "Not surprising."

"I didn't expect her to be that badly affected," Rose said. "Am I missing something?"

Hop winced. "I guess you wouldn't know, huh?" he said, looking miserable.

"Know what?"

Everyone in the room looked thoroughly uncomfortable. It was Leon who answered him. "Hop and Gloria were the ones who found your body," he said.

"Ah." Rose struggled for words. "I don't remember…"

"Well, yeah," said Hop. "You were looking pretty dead, and we didn't get close enough to realize you weren't. Oleana was the one who realized you were still alive."

Rose thought back to when he first woke up. He remembered someone finding him, but he hadn't thought about how long it had been after the explosion. He must have looked very much like a dead body, considering he no longer even needed to breathe.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said.

Bede broke the uncomfortable silence. "If they're still trying to get the chairman, someone should check in with Oleana."

"Where is she?" Rose asked, grateful for the change in topic. "I was under the impression she had been put in custody."

"She shouldn't be. She was waiting for a court date, last I heard." Bede frowned. "I don't know how secret this situation is supposed to be, but if Mable resorts to kidnapping again, Oleana would be the most obvious target."

Leon nodded. "You're right," he said. "I'll contact the police force to let them know what's going on. There's no real reason to keep secrets from them."

Rose opened his mouth, then closed it. He suspected he didn't have room to argue.

Acacius thought differently. "Is that wise?" he said. "I mean, if you tell the police everything, won't they want to arrest the chairman again?"

"Considering the circumstances, I don't think they'll put up a fight when we say he's staying here for the time being. We could also begin the process of negotiating his sentence." Leon met Rose's eyes. "That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"It is," Rose said. "If possible, I have one other request."

"What is it?"

"If you intend to tell the police my situation, I'd like to contact Oleana and tell her I'm alright. We haven't spoken since she helped me leave the hospital. I imagine she's been worried sick."

Leon paused for a moment. "That's doable," he said. "I'll try to arrange something after we talk to the police."

Rose nodded. "Thank you."

"That's it." Leon looked around. "Anyone else have any updates? Marnie's left, I'll have to ask her if Piers said anything to her…"

"Oh!" Raihan said suddenly. "We should have a way to keep each other updated outside these meetings. I'll make a mass text for everyone."

He had already taken out his phone, tapping on the screen as he spoke. Leon shrugged. "Well, we don't need to be in a meeting for that," he said. "Set that up however you want. I'd say we're done here."

"Question," Acacius said. "Am I allowed to go outside?"

"No," Leon said, then caught himself. "Wait, actually, I don't think there's a problem with you leaving the hotel, as long as you stay in Wyndon. Do you have a way for us to contact you?"

"No."

"I'll get him a burner phone," Raihan said. "He can be part of the texts then, too. Can't promise it'll be today, though."

"Really?" Acacius cracked a smile. "I appreciate it. I'll stick in here until then."

"I take I am not allowed to leave the building at all," said Rose.

Leon didn't return his smile. "You are not."

---

Accompanied by Raihan, Acacius went to get breakfast from the hotel buffet. He returned with a plate for himself and one for Rose. "I dunno what you like," he said apologetically. "Eggs are good, right?"

"I'm not picky." Rose accepted the plate and fork that came with it. "Eggs are fine."

Acacius took a seat next to him at the table. The meeting room had emptied out, leaving only the two of them to eat together. "Kind of a crap deal you've got, huh?" Acacius commented through bites. "I mean, you can't even leave these rooms!"

Rose swallowed. "It's understandable," he said. "I have not exactly put myself in good standing with the law."

"So you're just okay with it?"

He glanced over at Acacius. "Were it not for my heart, I would have been happy to face the consequences of my actions," he said. "As it is, I'm being treated with, frankly, an astonishing amount of good faith. I'm trying to be a good sport about everything else."

"So why did you do it?"

He frowned. "Do what?"

Acacius put down his fork. "Why'd you try to awaken Eternatus?" he said. "And why did you lie to everyone about it?"

Rose sighed, tapping his fork against the plate. "I told you," he said. "Eternatus would have provided energy for thousands of years, perhaps even longer. The future–"

"But Galar doesn't face an energy crisis for a thousand years, right?" Acacius said. "Why did it have to be you to solve it?"

"Why not me?" Rose said, a little harsher than he intended. He corrected the next moment. "Ah, I don't mean to snap at you. I have heard the same thing from… many people."

"The same thing?"

"That a thousand years is too far away to worry about it." Rose shook his head. "It's true that a thousand years is a long time, but what would have happened at the end of it? Would everyone in Galar dramatically change their lifestyles to account for less energy consumption? Would they have stopgap measures to keep the power on for a couple more decades at a time? I thought I had the capability to fix the future's problems. Why wouldn't I take action?"

"Huh," Acacius said. "You still think you were right?"

"No. I underestimated Eternatus, and many people suffered for my mistakes."

"I mean, sure, but…" Acacius frowned. "Let's say you did what you did, you captured Eternatus, and you could guarantee Galar's lights would stay on for tens of thousands of years or whatever. You still think you would've been right to do that?"

"Of course," said Rose. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Just curious."

The door opened. "Sonia went home," Gloria announced, followed into the room by Hop and Marnie. "Dunno what her problem was, but she doesn't get to butt into my business. We can talk now, Acacius!"

"Cool," Acacius said, and very quickly shoveled the rest of his food into his mouth. Rose figured their conversation had to end.

"Okay, wow, don't choke to death." Gloria laughed. While Acacius struggled with his food, she pulled out the chair next to Rose and knelt down on it, leaning most of her body on the table.

"So," she said. "What have you been up to?"

"What?" Rose said. "Are you talking to me?"

"Am I allowed to?" Gloria said. Hop snorted.

"There's no reason you wouldn't be." Rose nudged his plate to the side. He wasn't particularly hungry. "I'm just confused. I told the league everything I've done in the past few days, haven't I?"

"Just trying to be friendly." Gloria tilted her head. "You have pokémon, right? Where are they? You have steel types, right?"

"Yeah, he has steel types," Marnie said. "Doesn't it say so on the league card?"

"I'm trying to be friendly!"

Rose raised his hands. "One question at a time, please. Yes, I am a steel-type specialist, but my pokémon are currently in police custody. I don't know their exact location."

"Dang! I kind of wanted to battle you."

"Really?" Rose smiled. "I imagine I wouldn't be much of a challenge to the newly-crowned champion."

Gloria laughed. "I dunno, I've never fought against many steel pokémon. It's kind of a weak spot, honestly! I realized that after Raihan's duraludon nearly wiped me out in the tournament, and then I was like, well, too late to train a fire type now, y'know?"

"What types do you train?"

"I try to go for all of them, but I never evolved my vulpix, and she left my main team after I beat Milo. So no fire types right now."

"I see." Rose turned his attention to Hop and Marnie. "And you two? As far as I'm aware, Marnie, you're a dark-type specialist like your brother…"

Marnie shrugged and avoided eye contact. "Yeah," she said. "That's what I grew up with, anyhow. Figured I should stick to my strengths."

Hop frowned. "I don't specialize," he said. "If I did, it'd probably be normal types, though.

"Normal?" Gloria said. "Really? You don't give off that vibe to me."

"What? I'd have to take Dubwool off my team otherwise!"

"Are you sure he's not choking to death?" Marnie said.

Acacius swallowed hard. "I'm good," he said, his mouth now clear. "Sorry 'bout that. What did you need me for?"

"This," Gloria said, and she released a pokémon onto the table.

The pokémon that emerged from the pokéball was purple and short, with a large head balanced on a sturdy base. Acacius' eyes lit up. "A lileep!" he said, standing up and looking down at it. "From the Crown Tundra, right? Did you catch it yourself?"

"Nah, I traded for him, but he's from the Crown Tundra, yeah." Gloria frowned. "Careful, though, he doesn't like when you make eye contact."

Within the circlet of tentacles, two yellow eyes blinked. The lileep reared back and slapped half its tentacles directly into Acacius' face. He fell off the chair.

"Acacius!" Rose jumped to his feet. "Are you alright?"

From the floor, Acacius gave him a thumbs up. "I'm good! It's not poisonous!"

Hop burst out laughing, while Gloria's face flushed. "I tried to warn you!" she said indignantly. "C'mon, Lileep, I'm trying to get advice here."

The lileep trilled and began taking small steps, waddling across the long table away from them. It didn't get very far before Gloria picked it up and held it in her arms, though not without some effort. "So," she said, walking around the table to where Acacius was getting back up. "You said you've never raised a lileep, but can you help me out?"

"Sure, sure." Acacius got back in his seat. "What do you need?'

"His color's a little off, and I'm worried he's getting too much sunlight. I mean, lileeps lived on the bottom of the ocean, right? I can't imagine they got a lot of sunlight back in prehistoric times."

"Sure, maybe in prehistoric times. The modern colony lives in shallow water, and they've adapted to handle plenty of sun. See, the ocean temperature's changed a lot…"

While Acacius and Gloria chatted, Rose's attention drifted. Hop and Marnie hovered near Gloria, occasionally adding a comment to her and Acacius' conversation. Both of them had lost to Gloria in the tournament, he knew that much, and they both considered themselves to be her rivals. Marnie would be succeeding her brother to run the Spikemuth gym, but what would Hop do with his life?

The door opened. Gloria looked up briefly before Lileep squirmed and she had to switch focus. "Hey, Leon," she said, adjusting her grip on her pokémon. "Here to tell me who I can and can't talk to?"

Leon stared at her. "No," he said after a moment's silence. "I… needed to talk to the chairman, actually."

Rose nodded. "What is it?" he said. "Not bad news, I hope."

"No, but it's a private matter. Step out here for a second."

"Alright." Rose stood up. Acacius waved briefly before Lileep slapped his face again. Rose figured he could handle the situation and followed Leon.

Leon brought him to an out of the way door that let to a small room with a sink and basic cooking appliances. Good to know that was there, Rose thought. "What did you want to talk about?" he asked, turning to Leon.

The former champion glared at him. "Stay away from Gloria," he said.

"Excuse me?" said Rose. "She came to me. What, am I supposed to ignore her?"

"You're the adult, just tell her you're busy, or make something up."

"So I'm supposed to be dishonest with her?"

Leon shoved him. Rose stumbled back and half-fell on the wall.

"She's a kid," Leon said, "and you shouldn't be interfering in her life." He clenched his fists. "I will not let you do to her what you did to me!"

"What I…" Rose mentally flipped through his memories of Leon's gym challenge. He had been a promising child, and Rose had been certain that, with a little push, he could be a talented trainer and a champion worthy of being the face of the Galar region. Rose had never intended to hurt him–and, up until he interrupted the championship match, he didn't think he had.

"I don't understand," he said. "What did I do to you?"

Leon's face twisted in anger and he opened his mouth–just as his phone rang. He swore quietly and answered. "Hey, Piers," he said, turning away from Rose. "No, I'm not busy. Did you find anything?"

He left the room. Rose stared at the door as it slowly swung closed. He wasn't surprised to know that Leon disliked him, but it was clear that he was upset about more than just Eternatus. What else was there?

Rose frowned. It seemed he was the only one unaware of his past transgressions.

He returned to Acacius. "Oh, hey," Gloria said, crouching on the floor with Acacius and Lileep. "What did Leon want to talk about?"

He sat down like nothing happened. "Don't worry about it," he said with a smile. "It was a private matter. What have you been up to, Gloria?"