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"Salieri," Henrietta said. There was a pause between that and the next time she spoke, a pause marked by a sob, by her arms raising to wrap around the karate girl. "Thank you."

"I never had any friends growing up," Henrietta said as she began her tale. "I began doing kendo because it was the only thing I was ever good at. Even on the team, I didn't have any friends. Even when I was the captain, or when they awarded me as the best in Nimbasa city. After highschool I didn't have any reason to live, I didn't..." she sobbed again. "I didn't have anything I wanted. I gave up living. But it didn't work, it turns out..." She stepped away from Salieri and moved her dress after making sure nobody was around, to reveal the scar over her heart. "you can survive puncture wounds to the heart. Figures, I screwed that up too."

She let go, the dress covering it up again. "So they sent me to a hospital."

So long ago, yet not so long ago.

"Ms. Avalite, you've not said a word since you got here." The Doctor sat across from the girl. An adult, but she didn't look it. Fresh out of highschool, the summer of the previous year. Her parents had brought over some clothes, but not many, and she'd mostly stuck to what the hospital had given her - clothing more like scrubs than actual clothing with the softest socks in the world. The girl said not a word in response.

"Your parents tell me you refuse to make friends. That you liked being alone growing up. Is that true?"

She didn't speak.

"You were a star kendo practitioner. Why didn't you pursue that further? I'm sure you could be doing is professionally by now."

...

"Do you like music? Video games? Introverts tend to spend their time alone but your parents didn't list anything that you did alone. I noticed, when I visited them, that your room was full of stuffed animals. Did you play with them?"

...

"..."

Halloween, the previous year

"I got you something," The Doctor said. They had allowed the patients to dress up, there was a small party in the lounge. Henrietta was the only one still in her room.

"Why don't you come out and meet everyone? I'm sure you could make friends."

...

"Henrietta." He placed the costume, a princess costume, beside her on the bed. He sat on the other side. "These people understand you, I understand you. I've been there. Growing up was hard, people don't understand you, they don't appreciate you. So you lock yourself up, and one day you can't find the door to get back out. You don't want to be stuck alone anymore, so you decide the only way to escape is to die."

...

"Everyone here knows how that feels. You have to be willing to try. If you do, just for tonight, I can order some wax. No more razors, I can't authorize those after last time."

...

He sighed. The Doctor dressed as a Beedrill left the room.

November

"Hey Henrietta," the Doctor said as he entered her room. He had brought two plates, he set them on her desk. "Have you been writing in that journal?"

...

"Do you mind if I check?"

...

He picked it up and began to flip through the pages. There was a story there...

About a girl who tried, but nobody liked her. A girl everyone picked on, and her parents never believed her. The doctor sat down at the desk with a troubled face as he flipped the pages. It wasn't just a story about a girl rejected by society - it was about a girl rejected by everyone in her entire life. The only acts of kindness being used to abuse her, a fake friend that used her to win at kendo, parents were badmouthed her under the impression that they were helping.

The dinner was cold by the time he was done. The Doctor set down the book and approached the girl. "Henrietta. Being a kid sucks. That's the bad news. The good news is, everyone gets over it when they're adults. They begin to understand the world and work with it. I think it's too early for you to give up."

...

He knelt down before her and took her chin, looking at her face. "You're a beautiful young woman, with a lot of potential. Anything that's ever been yours, and yours alone, you've excelled at. People have hurt you for trying to share a part of yourself with them, and I'm telling you tonight, that won't happen ever again. Share dinner with me, I brought you some. I promise, nothing bad will happen."

Henrietta looked at the plate and the Doctor's face brightened. He retrieved it for her and she took a bite.

"It's cold." The first words she'd murmured since her arrival.

"But is it good?"

"...Yeah."

Christmas Eve, last year

"You've been making great progress this last month, Henrietta. Your parents said they'll be here in the morning for Christmas. I'll be here too if you want."

"No, you have a family."

"I don't." There was no trace of sadness on his face. "It's the circle of hell for those that are selfless. When we care so much about others, we don't have time to let them be a part of our lives. But, I care enough about you to be there for you."

The girl began to cry. "Then I'll see you tomorrow," she said and the doctor smiled.

The following day her parents never showed.

"They said they forgot," the girls aid as she hung up the phone.

That day the Doctor looked so angry. So angry he asked Henrietta to go to her room. But she heard him, shouting at her parents on the phone. About how they were willing to undo all that progress she'd made because they didn't care about her.

That's when he returned with her present. A stuffed Teddiursa.

"About ten years ago I saw my hero on television," he said as he pointed to the Teddiursa. "That's when I decided to make my own here."

"Is that what the scar is for?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, he had one. Right under the eye, just like that. The story I was told was that his trainer gave himself the same scar. It was something like that. I can't give you that, but I can give you this."

"..Thank you." The girl hugged the Teddiursa toy to her chest.

February

"So this is it, huh?" The Doctor said. Henrietta wasn't waiting for her parents. She sat in a car for the first time in months, on her way home.

"Y-yeah.."

"You'll go on an adventure, and when you're done?"

"I want to be like you."

"Like me?"

"Selfless. A hero. A knight."

The Doctor chuckled a bit. "I'm glad I'm inspirational."

"Doctor Mumford?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I write you?"

He sighed. "I don't think that would be for the best."

"W-why not?"

"Because you have to do this without any crutches. When your journey is over, come see me though, okay?"

"O-okay."

"I'll be waiting."

The Present

Tear stained cheeks, blood shot eyes, tired and sad and afraid of the future. Henrietta looked at Salieri with a face like this, her story complete with sobs and tears, her hands had grabbed her dress, gripped it tightly as the painful story had gone on - but now they loosened, they relaxed.

Her next words were strong. This weak girl, underweight and pathetic, the damsel in distress, fragile and for so long alone, spoke with a tone that betrayed how she looked, how she felt. "I will become a knight."

Salieri's words caused a smile to form on Henrietta's lips. Sudden and her head tilted away like it was surprising, embarrassing. "Y-yeah." She wiped her eyes, her cheeks. "No more crying." When she looked at Salieri she didn't physically look any better, no, there was actually something different.

The crystal on her face was gone, in the face of it? Soft white skin, not like a scar, but pale like it lacked sunlight. The wound was shallow, and in two hours it had already healed.

Perhaps neither of them knew it just yet, but natural infusion had begun to pick up in all of them. For these people, to speak of hope was something plausible, to act on hope could warrant results.

"We should go start the-

Henrietta cut herself off as she stared behind Salieri.

"Melty..."

The Lampent floated there, but not upright, its form tilted, as if to bow itself before Salieri.

"I think he's apologizing."

Melty moved its body like a nod but remained quiet. He wasn't big on words most of the time.

Henrietta was quiet now. The television was still playing the news, the smell of food was enough to tease anyone, the tension felt as if it was dying away.

((Now waiting on Takamaru))

"We need the meeting," Henrietta said as she descended the stairs. Her eyes were on N, Wayne and Takamaru as they watched the television. Robby was still making dinner, and she wondered if he could pull away for a second to take part.

"Can you get Robby?" she asked Salieri before stepping over to Wayne and taking the remote, clicking the television off.

"Dang." Wayne frowned and turned to face Henrietta, pulling his legs up onto the chair. "So what's up, Hummietta?"

After walking around for a bit Kijin soon finds a spot near the entrance to route 4. The gates were still closed as the city was on lock down but this was probably the best spot he could find to train both Venipede and Blitzle so it wouldn't do anymore damage to the area,"Alright you two time for some training." He says to the two pokeballs before releasing the creatures. " Alright we will do some light sparing and then a few other exercises to keep you two in shape." He says to the two Blitzle gives a light spark as a signal before the two pokemon begin to spar.

Wukong gave Robby a thumbs up, not taking his eyes off the food as he continued to prepare exactly to Robby's specifications. He was curious as to what would happen if he added a little bit of this here, a little bit of that there, but his training still had a long way to go before he felt comfortable making things up as he went on.

Salieri was thankful Henrietta turned off the TV when she did: if the news kept going with their report, then the next part was not something she wanted to see. For the second time that day, or ever again.

The Battle Girl sat on the couch next to Wayne, and N sat down on her other side. He had been under the impression that the meeting would be some sort of communal meal since he had been in the house, but now he could tell that wasn't the case.

Robby didn't even take the moment to look around before apparently deciding on such a big decision. It was fairly immediate, and someone would probably think he hadn't thought about it. But then, when you're cooking, even with all he was cooking, you often had plenty of time to think, given that most of it was adding ingredients, or knowing how to move.

He'd decided that these people would probably end up starving themselves if they went off alone. Everyone needed a good chef, someone who knew how to cook, what to cook, and how things went best together. A nutritious meal meant nothing if nobody could stomach it, especially if they were serious. And a delicious meal was only good for bursts of energy, or adding pounds, muscles, to someone who trained hard. Oh, sure, his student could probably do well enough...

But then, someone had to step up to this kind of thing, and if it wasn't the best... Someone else might have done it wrong. "''M in."