Bill kept a respectful distance as he followed her—hood up, hands in his pockets, mind racing. He wasn't sure what he expected when he finally caught the signal's source, but it wasn't this.
The older teen? Walked like someone who didn't need backup. Someone who'd gotten used to being hunted, and worse—winning. Every step was casual, but her eyes flicked corners, reflective surfaces, light changes. Trained, or taught by necessity.
And then there was the Raichu.
It stayed close to her, ears perked and tail twitching, like it could read radio waves in the air. Occasionally, it glanced back at Bill—not threatening, not unfriendly, just watchful.
A few minutes into their walk, it slowed slightly to fall in beside him.
Bill's breath hitched.
It didn't growl. Didn't spark. Just looked up at him, head tilted, measuring.
"…Hey," Bill muttered awkwardly.
The Raichu blinked.
Then—to his surprise—it gave a short, approving chirp and trotted ahead again.
He blinked after it, frowning. "Okay. That's not normal."
"Rai likes you," Cyel said without turning. Her tone was casual, but Bill caught the edge in it—like that meant something. Like the Raichu's approval was rare.
"He, uh… he doesn't like many people?"
"He doesn't like anyone." She finally glanced back. "We are almost at my base, you are lucky that I trust you."
Bill blinked at her words.
"You're lucky I trust you."
He wasn't sure how to respond to that. Not because of the words themselves—he'd earned trust in stranger places—but because of the way she said it. Like this wasn't the first time they'd met. Like some unspoken history hung between them.
"Wait," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes. "Have we… met before?"
Young Adult didn't answer. She didn't even shrug. Just walked a little faster and tapped something on her PokeNav? An the garage door to a rather nice beach side mini mansion opened.
The sudden hiss of the garage door sliding open broke the tension between them. Bill's eyes widened as the door revealed a mostly empty shop with workbenches everywhere and boxes for tools.
"Are you just moving in?" Bill asks
Bill stood just inside the garage, eyes sweeping over the makeshift lab. The place wasn't furnished yet, but he could see the shape of it forming—workbenches against the walls, crates of old tech half-unpacked, a corner clearly being set aside for a server rack. Whoever this girl was, she wasn't just tech-savvy—she was building a command center.
"Kinda," she answered his earlier question, tone cool. "This is gonna be my base of operations in Indigo. Probably my new home base."
Bill nodded slowly, but his mind was still spinning. She knew his name. Knew things about him that weren't in any public record. And now that they weren't being followed, she seemed… different. More grounded. More familiar.
"You know my name," he said carefully. "What's yours?"
She tapped something on her wrist—the PokeNav?, probably triggering the door controls again—and the garage slid shut behind them with a hiss.
Then she turned.
Pale fingers went to the edge of her hoodie and tugged it back, revealing sharp eyes and windswept hair.
"I go by Cyel now," she said. "But it's nice to see you again, Bill. And you're not a Clefairy this time."
That made him stop cold.
Bill blinked. Once. Twice. Then slowly leaned back, eyes narrowing in disbelief.
"…What did you just say?"
She didn't repeat it. Just watched him quietly as Rai, her Raichu, circled once near the crates before hopping up to perch on a workbench, tail curled behind him like a grounding rod.
"That accident," Bill murmured. "The one with the teleporter. I fused with a Clefairy for a few hours. Hardly anyone knew about that. Certainly not—" He squinted harder. "Not a teenager who wasn't even on the island."
Cyel's lips curled into the faintest hint of a smile. It wasn't smug. It wasn't amused. It was almost… sad.
"You didn't recognize me when you first saw me," she said softly. "Most don't. Time does that."
Bill's breath caught in his throat. He looked at Rai again—the way the Raichu watched him, not just with intelligence, but something older. Something seasoned.
"Yellow?" Bill asks in shock.
Cyel didn't answer right away.
She let the name hang in the air like dust in the sunlight, unmoving, undeniable. Her posture didn't change, but something behind her eyes flickered. A shadow of grief. Of memory.
Finally, softly—like it hurt to say it—she nodded.
"Yeah," she said. "Once."
Bill stumbled back a half-step, like the word had hit him in the chest. "But… you—Yellow vanished. You were presumed dead. Red said you were dead?"
"I let them." Her voice was level, but flat in a way that said she'd made peace with that long ago. "I had to disappear. If I didn't, they would've come after me. I was technically a general under Spark afterall."
"You didn't just survive," he realized, stunned. "You built something. You've been active this whole time."
Cyel exhaled through her nose, crossed her arms. "I've been preparing."
Rai chirped once, sharp and affirming, his tail crackling faintly at the tip.
"Why are you back?" Bill asks
"I am looking after Red's Son. Now lets head inside from the garage I'll show you the server running Pokenet Online."