Once Mister MegaTen had completely vanished into the Master Ball and the capture jingle had finished playing. Luka permitted himself a brief moment of giddiness. He had dreamed of becoming a real life Pokémon Trainer ever since he was ten years old! It was one of the few wishes his family's vast fortune could not grant for him. After all, how could money buy something if that something did not exist? But now he had the power to reach further than he could have ever hoped to one day prior. And seize things even he believed he would never truly grasp.

Once he had calmed down, Luka decided to check on his Starter Pokémon right away. He looked down at the Master Ball and closed his eyes. With a flex of his willpower, Luka projected his mind into the pocket dimension contained within the Master Ball, hovering over the trees as a disembodied presence. After taking a moment to enjoy the view, he willed the current location of Mister MegaTen into his mind and went there. Once he spotted the Jersey Devil, Luka willed a moonbeam to shine down onto a nearby spot to get Jehoshaphat's attention and then willed himself to gradually become visible in the moonlight.

"Hey there. I figured I'd quickly check in right away to make sure you have a good first impression of the place." Luka said. "How are you enjoying it here so far? Is everything to your liking? If there is anything I can do to make the place feel homier, you need only ask me and I will make it so."

"Hey there. I figured I'd quickly check in right away to make sure you have a good first impression of the place." Luka said. "How are you enjoying it here so far? Is everything to your liking? If there is anything I can do to make the place feel homier, you need only ask me and I will make it so."

"Oh! Good evening!" Jehoshaphat had ducked behind a nearby tree as Luka's image materialized, but now he poked his head out to look at his host. "I, uh. Didn't expect you so soon. I do appreciate your concern, but my needs really are very simple. It's not the barrens, but it will do nicely until I can return home." His large, black eyes blinked slowly. Moonlight glinted off the many sharp, pointed teeth that his mongrel snout was too small to contain.

"Maybe a few deer. Here and there. For a snack."

Luka snapped his fingers and movement could be heard off in the distance as deer manifested within the pocket dimension. "The larder should be adequately stocked now." Luka declared. "If that's all you need for now, I shall leave you to settle in." A moment's flex of will power later, Luka was back in the limo. Attaching the Master Ball to his belt, Luka willed the limo's interior to return to its original proportions, stepped out of the car, and made his way up to his penthouse.

After a good while of having to take a moment to calm down, breathe, and collect herself from...this entire incident, Emily finally was ready to face the world again. At least now she had this cool ability, her Eidolon, but...with it came the responsibility of upholding her end of that deal with Santana. Her mind turned on who he could possibly be, but in the meantime, there were two other matters on her mind.

First was the phone and wallet. When she looked towards the dumpsters, she noticed that Ashley had already gone to collect them. She'll have to leave those two items to her.

There was another matter to attend to: The Crow. She can speak with him! Now might be a good time to speak with him. Upon finding the Crow, she speaks to him, "May I speak with you for a moment?"

Should the Crow agree to speak with her, she'll begin the conversation, "I realize that you might not remember, and you probably just wanted food at the time, but...I wanted to take a moment to thank you,"

@XxFellsingxX

The Crow had been deep in thought when Emily approached him. Well, maybe 'deep' wasn't the correct term. Animals, even intelligent ones, didn't typically ponder on things the same way a human might. They live in the moment rather than ruminating on past events or planning far into the future, and while the Crow had gained a boost in sapience, he was still getting a grasp on how to probably use it. In fact, it was only now, after he and his companions were out of immediate danger, that he was able to properly process the changes that had happened within him.

It hadn't struck him as odd when he found himself able to fully comprehend human speech, nor when the humans had been able to understand him. In fact, it had felt perfectly natural, like he had been conversing like that his whole life. Now that the dust settled, he was starting to realise what a monumental change this was. He was in the process of trying figure out what opportunities this power of communication opened up when Emily asked to speak with him. "Huh? Oh yes! Go ahead," he said. He, of course, did remember her from before today, when she had offered him food. She wasn't the only human to do so, obviously, but the number humans who willingly gave things to the Crow were much smaller than those who he had, ahem, 'liberated' of their belongings, so much so that he could clearly remember each instant quite vividly. Again, it wasn't something he thought about often, but were he to see one of the people, he would instantly and vividly be able to recall them.

He'd remembered Emily almost instantly when he'd seen her in Santana's bar, and while the situation had been overall strange, her presence had been oddly reassuring in a way that the other familiar face, Luka, had not.

He tilted his head to the side. "Thank me? For what exactly?" he said, wondering if all these new thoughts had knocked a memory loose from his head. People didn't normally thank him for taking things from them, even when they were willing to part with it.

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Emily had somewhat expected the Crow to ask why she was thanking him. She took in a deep breath through her nose, readying herself emotionally, before she began answering him, "For...being there at that time," Knowing that that succinct answer would probably confuse him, she elaborated, "...When we first met, long before this near-death event, I...was not okay. I went through...quite a betrayal," She easily remembered how much that event hurt her, and how she had been ugly crying when the Crow showed up.

She continues, trying to not tear up at the memory and keep her emotions in check, "...I thought I was completely and utterly alone, but then you showed up. Even after I gave you food, you stuck around for a while, and didn't seem to want or ask for anything else. At that time...you were more of a friend than anyone else I knew,"

She finishes, "So, thank you, for being a friend then,"

...

....

......

Yeah, Emily's explanation didn't do much to abate the Crow's confusion. If anything, it made him feel even more like he was missing something.

Strange. His mind was buzzing with all these thoughts and feelings, this new layer of information he had never had access to before... and yet it all made him feel like he understood everything far less.

It was a less than pleasant feeling, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. Still, he had enough awareness in that moment to realise said unpleasant feeling was not Emily's fault. Apparently, when they had first met, she had been feeling a very different, yet much stronger unpleasant feeling, and his presence, despite the fact he had been unable to comprehend what she was going through at time (and still wasn't sure if he understood it now), had made it... better? At least a little?

Okay. He could comprehend that much, at least. Now he just needed to figure out an appropriate way to respond.

"You're... welcome?" the Crow said.

Yup. Nailed it.

... Okay, maybe he needed a little more than that.

"The Crow is always happy to lend assistance... even when he has no idea what he is giving assistance with!" he added, before a thought occurred to him. "Why, err, were you so distressed, may I ask? What is this 'betrayal' you speak of?"

Emily immediately noticed that the Crow didn't understand her answer from how he answered her. When he asked about why she was distressed, Emily bit her bottom lip as she thought carefully and started, "Hmmm...How do I put it...?" It would be clear to Crow that Emily is trying to figure out a way to answer his question without confusing him like she did before.

She then remembered that he stole the phone and wallet from the Agent earlier, and upon realizing that, she mutters, "Oh yeah!"

Plagiarism is theft after all!

She starts her answer with a question to the Crow, "You know how you took the phone and wallet from the agent back there?"

After giving him a moment to answer, she continues, "That sort of thing happened to me that day. Someone I trusted stole something important from me. Under normal circumstances, physical objects like the phone and wallet can be returned and the matter easily resolved. However, what was stolen from me wasn't a physical object, per se. It was something I took a lot of time on and worked hard to create. I was proud of that creation. That person didn't just steal it though. They claimed my creation as their own and made sure that people thought of me as the thief,"

Emily's voice cracked a bit as she said the word 'thief'. She fought hard to keep back her own tears and emotions as she explained the situation, hoping to help ensure that the Crow understood her conundrum. She was glad to say that the tears that pricked at her eyes didn't appear on her face.

The Crow nodded along as Emily spoke, doing his best to understand to her conundrum... though admittedly, it was difficult. From his knowledge about humans, they were very serious about the whole concept of 'personal property'. If he took something from another animal, they would give chase and try to get it back, but once he was far enough away with his prize, there was nothing they could really do about it and would usually accept it. Crows were a little more tenacious, but even they sometime had to admit when something was a lost cause. Humans weren't like that. They were attached to their things, so much so they had all these rules about what belonged to who, and would go through great lengths to get their things back or at least get some sort of compensation.

The Crow supposed there was something admirable about that, though he got the sense that Emily might not be in the position to do much within the boundaries of human law.

So he suggested an alternative.

"Well, when people wrong me, I don't sit in distress," he said. "I'm angry, yes, but I use that anger. If someone has wronged you, you should do something to, how do you say, 'get even' with them." He nodded sagely. "Sometimes I tell other crows about it, and then we all band together to harass them." He gave another, more affirmative nod. "So who is this person? Me and the boys will go find them and show them what's what."

When Luka made it back to his penthouse, he found only Montague waiting there for him. Jesse had to depart after receiving a call about some sort of fixer business that urgently required their attention. Before leaving though, Jesse had bade Montague make it abundantly clear to Luka that they would be speaking of what had happened at the diner when next they met. With that in mind, Luka immediately took a seat at his penthouse's dining room table and willed a pizza into existence. After all the excitement that he'd come from, Luka had worked up something of an appetite. An appetite much larger than Luka had expected, apparently. As by the time he had finished the pizza, his hunger had not abated. And so Luka willed a second pizza into being.

"Young master?" A voice spoke up then in confusion and concern.

Luka looked to see Montague watching him, obviously uneasy at the sight of Luka devouring a large pizza and then moving on to another. "The night's events have left me rather peckish." Luka explained. "...Ravenously so, it seems. Probably just a side effect of my newfound powers. Nothing you need worry yourself about, Montague."

"If I may ask, young master, what are these newfound powers of yours?" Montague asked as Luka took a bite of pizza.

"Whatever I want them to be." Luka declared after taking a moment to properly chew and swallow the chunk of pizza in his mouth. "I am now able to impose my wants upon reality. I need only will something be so and it will be so."

"Imposing your... wants." Montague repeated.

"Indeed." Luka confirmed. "Anything I desire is now little more than a thought away... You need not fear for your job security though. My power only has a reach of 15 feet, so I'll still be needing you for fetching things beyond my reach." With that said, Luka returned his focus to his pizza. A pizza that left him no closer to feeling full after finishing it than the first pizza did.

And so Luka conjured up a third pizza. Then a fourth. Then a fifth. Then a sixth. But no matter how much he ate, Luka felt no less hungry. Luka moved to manifest a seventh pizza then, but Montague beat him to the punch, placing a pizza he had been preparing in the background for the past five pizzas.

"Montague?" Luka asked in confusion at why the butler would bother doing this.

"I have a theory." Was Montague's simple reply.

Seeing no harm in humoring the help, Luka took up a slice and took a bite. It was the most delicious morsel Luka had tasted all month. Now don't get me wrong, the pizzas Luka had summoned were tasty too. But Montague's pizza blew them all out of the water in terms of taste. And on top of that, Luka found that his hunger was satisfied by the time he had finished his food.

Luka looked to Montague then. His face a silent request for an explanation.

"You said your powers let you impose your wants upon reality, yes?" The butler answered the unspoken question.

"...Oh of course these kinds of shenanigans would throw this in somewhere." Luka said, quickly catching on to the implication. "My powers allow me to bend reality however I want... Only however I want. It will never give me what I need."

"Just so, young master." Montague agreed.

Luka looked up at his butler and smiled. "Well, Montague... you didn't need to worry about losing your job before. But now you can be certain."

Montague smiled back at his charge. "My certainty didn't falter for even a moment to begin with, young master."

---

The next morning, Luka started his day with a Limo ride. Bound for the venue selected to host day three of his Twelve Days of Christmas Parties, Luka whiled away the drive by willing a fawning entourage into existence to occupy the empty seats of the passenger compartment. As a multitude of faceless men toasted his name and a throng of fawning faceless females worshipfully waited on him hand and foot, Luka thought back to what Montague had told him before.

Luka's powers let him manifest anything he wanted, but nothing that he needed. In this particular instance, Luka had wanted people praising his name. And he had gotten precisely that. But between the empty platitudes and hollow affections he had heard and received a thousand times before, and the fact that none of the people he summoned had a face, Luka concluded that what he truly needed was the esteem and praise of those he had not willed into existence.

Unsummoning the faceless fawners with a thought, Luka looked out a window as he slipped into deep contemplation. He had received a text from Jesse earlier, informing him that they were at the party and wanted to speak with him alone when he got there. Already knowing what it was that the fixer wanted to talk about, Luka had sent a simple reply of "Understandable. See you soon." back to them. No doubt Jesse still wanted answers regarding what had gone down on the tail end of the Boxing Day afterparty. Luka wasn't entirely sure how he would approach the conversation. But then again, Luka was rarely entirely sure about his approach to anything. The Indy Ploy was the greatest thing ever, after all. Making it up as he went along was always a lot more fun than planning things out ahead of time.

Luka was pulled from his thinking by a familiar sight beyond his window. Walking along the street was none other than one of the girls who was roped into this situation along with him. Ashley Whitlock... Or perhaps not Whitlock. She didn't take her surname being recognized all that well. Luka recalled her saying something about wanting her surname changed to Herrera but being unable to for some reason. Luka wondered if that might be something he could help with. After what he had tried to pull during the standoff at the diner, Luka figured he should probably extend some kind of olive branch. "Montague? Pull over in front of that girl there." Luka ordered.

"At once, young master." The butler dutifully complied with the request.

As the limo came to a stop, Luka rolled down the window and leaned out as Ashley drew near. "Miss Herrera." Luka said to Ashley in friendly greeting. "Running into you again so soon is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I'm on my way to meet an acquaintance of mine. One who might be able to help you with your name changing difficulties. If you're free to tag along at the moment, I could introduce you if you like."

The orange haired teen looked at the limo with what she sees as reasonable suspicion for a brief moment she considered the logistics of throwing her books on her and running away.

No the library fees would be too expensive and she needed to be able to get back there.

"How much of this is planned? How much of this is a whim?" she asked before the man as her eyes narrow.

"Changing names is a long process even without my father intervening, he sure made it look easy though." she told Luka before adding.

"So I don't think you have an acquaintance that could pull it off, this isn't a thing you could throw money at."

Not like she wants his help in the first place.

"How much of this is planned? How much of this is a whim?" Ashley asked with narrowed eyes.

"Planning is for the weak." Luka declared.

"Changing names is a long process even without my father intervening, he sure made it look easy though." Ashley said. "So I don't think you have an acquaintance that could pull it off, this isn't a thing you could throw money at."

"Don't count Jesse out until you've met them." Luka replied. "You'd be surprised by what they are capable of... You'd be surprised by a lot of things regarding them. Keeping people guessing is a hobby of theirs."

"Fine, I'll at least see how this goes." Ashley relented as she looked at the limousine, she never saw one in person and she never thought that she is about to write one. When you're in close proximity of a reality warper and had the ability to see the future yourself, it would feel a little underwhelming though.

She entered the limousine and sat beside Luka who would see a pieces of metal on Ashley's small fingers and hidden by the book. It looked like a comically oversized ring but a moment of Ashley's fist clenching made it clear what they actually are.

"Hope you don't mind, I would preemptively crush any funny business." Ashley's orange eyes stared at Luka as the book covered the brass knuckle in her right hand.

"Fine, I'll at least see how this goes."

"Wonderful! Come on in! Come on in!" Luka exclaimed as the limo door nearest to Ashley swung open on its own. "I can assure you this will only go well. You'll see. Even if Jesse cannot solve your problem completely, they can at the very least make significant progress." Luka smiled as Ashley chose to take a seat next to him, but arched a curious eyebrow when he noticed a glint of brass beneath her books.

"Hope you don't mind, I would preemptively crush any funny business."

"Perish the thought!" Luka laughingly reassured Ashley, amused by her audacity. "As I said when we first met, I am not one of those fraternity savages. I prefer my partners going into business with me smiling rather than struggling. I'll give you no trouble... Drive on, Montague."

"At once, young master." Came Montague's reply.

"So! If I recall correctly, you were the one who made off with The Crow's loot last night. Yes?" Luka said as the Limo began to move again. "Did you manage to pry any interesting secrets out of that phone?"

"Wonderful! Come on in! Come on in!" Luka exclaimed as the limo door nearest to Ashley swung open on its own. "I can assure you this will only go well. You'll see. Even if Jesse cannot solve your problem completely, they can at the very least make significant progress." Luka smiled as Ashley chose to take a seat next to him, but arched a curious eyebrow when he noticed a glint of brass beneath her books.

@rush99999

Ashley didn't believe him, not because he doubts the pull of this guy's friend but because she knew why the process was stalled, namely her father and his stubborn determination to bring her 'home'. It didn't matter that she rejected him, it didn't matter when it is slowly turning into a scandal or when for his own actual family actually sided with her rather than him. He would admire his determination if not for the fact that it is bothering her.

Can't he just see the writing on the wall and yield?

"Perish the thought!" Luka laughingly reassured Ashley, amused by her audacity. "As I said when we first met, I am not one of those fraternity savages. I prefer my partners going into business with me smiling rather than struggling. I'll give you no trouble... Drive on, Montague."

"At once, young master." Came Montague's reply.

"So! If I recall correctly, you were the one who made off with The Crow's loot last night. Yes?" Luka said as the Limo began to move again. "Did you manage to pry any interesting secrets out of that phone?"

@rush99999

"I suppose, you deserve to know what I learned." Ashley spoke as she recalled the countless timelines she gazed through.

"I didn't get much information in the organization's inner structure, the phone is as empty as it gets." she recalled with a little disappointment.

"But I knew two more agents in the organization, one named Kofi Bull who is his partner, female, nearly same age and thinks she's a minder of Ray. The other one is the one they both answer to, one they called Sevara I wasn't sure if she's using an actual nor if she's actually a she. Her tone is smooth but has a no-nonsense approach, didn't try to speak with me and either set Bull or the entire agency to us." she speak letting her legs stretch out for her comfort.

"I still have the badge and the phone on my bag, I buried the gun because it too much risk for a bothersome benefit." she added before speaking her suggestion. "Do you think your friend would recognize the badge?"

"I still have the badge and the phone on my bag, I buried the gun because it too much risk for a bothersome benefit."

"Especially when we have access to methods of murder far grander than a simple gun." Luka said with an agreeable nod. "...Not that we'll be murdering anyone, mind you. I haven't forgotten that we're not that sort of merry band of misfits and rogues."

"Do you think your friend would recognize the badge?"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up. As much as they enjoy pretending to be a genderfluid shapeshifter, Jesse has no connection to the supernatural that I know of." Luka replied. "But we can find out for certain once we get there. In the meantime, I'm curious about the power you received last night. You mentioned you could see alternate futures. What's that like, exactly?"

"Well, I would rather not rock your boat right now maybe later when there is an actual tangible gain." Ashley decided as she let out a sigh. She do agree with opinion of the gun, not on the likelihood they won't need fo kill though.

You just never know these days.

"I would rather not answer that." Ashley spoke to Luca. "It's like on how you haven't told me what exactly you can."

"And before you speak, no we're not doing an exchange."

"I would rather not answer that." Ashley rebuffed Luka's question. "It's like on how you haven't told me what exactly you can."

"You didn't a-." Luka began to reply before Ashley cut him off.

"And before you speak, no we're not doing an exchange."

"Well I like speaking to you, so I am going to tell you anyway." Luka said blithely while reaching out a hand. "My Eidolon warps reality around me by imposing my wants on the world." His fingers closed over thin air to make a watermelon popsicle appear in his grasp as it had done the night before. "I can summon, control, or alter anything within fifteen feet of me. I have but to want it be that way and it will be that way."

Luka took a long, indulgent lick of his frozen treat then. It was tasty enough, and the coldness of it was pleasant on his tongue. But knowing what he knew now, Luka noticed an absence he hadn't noticed the first time he did this. The pleasing cold of the popsicle did not travel down his throat when he swallowed, the feeling refusing to travel any further back than his uvula.

"Despite how overwhelmingly powerful this may initially seem, there are limits to what I can do now." Luka continued with this reminder on his mind. "My powers allow me to bend reality however I want... Only however I want. It will never give me what I need. If I create food or drink, it will taste delicious. But it will do nothing to sate my hunger or quench my thirst. If I will a crowd of two hundred worshipful hangers-on into existence so that they may prostrate themselves at my feet, it will serve as proof that I am lord and master. But a legion of faceless sycophants will come nowhere near the feeling of even a single real person's true loyalty. If I command a battle to be won, the battle will indeed be won. But the war will be no closer to ending. In this, the scales are balanced... Though it seems there are some who would disagree on that last bit."

"We have arrived, young master." Montague spoke up then, the limo coming to a stop in front of the city's most notable party venues a moment later.

"Then let's not keep the guests waiting." Luka declared as the door closest to him swung open by itself. Luka stepped out onto the sidewalk before turning back around and offering his hand to help Ashley alight from the vehicle. "Shall we?"