Someone was trying to break down my front door.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
I opened one eye and stared at the ceiling.
Gray morning light leaked through the curtains, which meant I'd managed somewhere between three and four hours of sleep.
Wonderful.
The pounding came again.
"Samael!"
I recognized the voice immediately.
Gible lifted his head from the blanket beside the fireplace, amber eyes narrowing toward the entry hall as he released an annoyed grunt.
'Female researcher.'
I dragged myself upright from the couch and rubbed a hand across my face. 'You could just call her Elara.'
'Female researcher is more descriptive.'
Across the room, Totodile stirred.
His golden eyes opened beneath the dark ridges above them, and a thin arc of electricity crawled between two yellow dorsal spikes before sinking harmlessly back into his obsidian scales.
He'd spent his first night outside that cave sleeping barely four feet away from Gible.
Apparently that counted as friendship by predator standards.
"Samael Oak!" Elara shouted through the door, louder this time.
"I'm coming!"
I pushed myself to my feet, stretched the stiffness from my shoulders, and started toward the entrance.
Totodile watched me go, then glanced toward Gible.
'She sounds angry.'
"That's normal."
'You anger females frequently?'
Gible made a low rumbling sound that was suspiciously close to laughter.
I decided not to answer.
The moment I opened the door, Elara stepped inside.
She wore a thick white winter coat over fitted dark pants and boots, with her silver hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. Snow dusted her shoulders, while several loose strands clung to cheeks reddened by the freezing morning air.
Her bright blue eyes locked onto mine immediately.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" she demanded, pushing the door closed behind her.
"Morning?"
Elara's eyes narrowed. "It is six forty-three."
"Very specific."
"I went to the laboratory at six because Professor Oak told me you and Ash were supposed to leave this morning."
"We are."
"And then he casually mentioned that you disappeared to the beach last night."
"I went fishing."
Elara stared at me.
"For nine hours?"
"The fish were unusually committed."
Her expression flattened as she folded her arms beneath her chest.
"Samael."
I smiled.
Then Totodile walked into the entry hall.
Elara stopped speaking.
Her arms slowly dropped to her sides as her entire expression went blank.
That was impressive.
I'd seen Elara irritated, embarrassed, fascinated, competitive, smug, and dangerously curious.
I'd never seen her brain stop functioning.
Totodile tilted his head as he studied her.
A soft golden arc danced between the spikes along his back.
Crack.
Elara's eyes widened.
She looked at Totodile.
Then at me.
Then back at Totodile.
"What is that?" she asked, her voice suddenly much quieter.
Totodile's jaws opened slightly as he stared back at her.
'She appears intelligent.'
Gible wandered into the hall behind him.
'Until she looks at Samael.'
I ignored both of them.
"Totodile."
"I know what a Totodile is," Elara snapped, finally finding her voice.
"Then why did you ask?"
"Because Totodiles are blue."
"He was blue."
Elara turned toward me so slowly that I almost laughed.
"He was?"
"Last night."
Silence settled through the entry hall.
'Maybe that was too much information.'
Elara walked straight past me and approached Totodile.
The researcher had completely taken over.
She crouched several feet away, wisely leaving enough distance that the newly transformed predator didn't feel cornered, while her eyes traveled methodically over every inch of his body.
The navy blue scales.
The golden markings.
The yellow dorsal spikes.
The pale belly.
The faint electrical current circulating harmlessly beneath the surface of his hide.
"May I?" she asked, extending one gloved hand but stopping before actually touching him.
Totodile looked toward me.
'Touch?'
'Only if you allow it.'
He studied Elara for several seconds before stepping closer.
'Briefly.'
"He's allowing it."
Elara carefully touched one of his dorsal spikes.
Golden electricity immediately crawled over her glove.
She jerked slightly but didn't pull away.
"It isn't discharging randomly," she murmured, leaning closer as fascination overtook everything else.
"No."
"The current is circulating through his body."
"Yes."
Her gaze snapped toward me.
"Water and Electric?"
I nodded.
That silenced her again.
She returned her attention to Totodile and traced the air above another spike without touching it.
"That's biologically absurd."
"I've been hearing that a lot lately."
"Samael, Water-types are naturally conductive. Producing this amount of electricity internally should damage muscle tissue, disrupt nerve pathways, interfere with cardiac function..."
"It did."
Her hand stopped.
Elara looked at me sharply. "What?"
I leaned against the wall and folded my arms.
"When I found him, his body couldn't handle whatever was happening inside it. Electrical discharges were burning him from the inside."
Her expression changed immediately.
The scientific fascination remained, but concern appeared underneath it as she looked back toward the faint scorch marks still visible beneath several newly formed scales.
"And now?" she asked softly.
"Volt Absorb."
Elara closed her eyes.
I could practically hear her thoughts screaming.
"You found a Totodile suffering from an undocumented genetic condition, somehow triggered another Prism Transformation, converted him into a Water-Electric variant, and the resulting ability perfectly compensates for the defect that was killing him?"
"That's the short version."
Her eyes opened again.
"You have been a licensed trainer for less than twenty-four hours."
"I've had a productive first day."
Elara stared at me for several seconds before covering her face with both hands.
"This is insane."
Gible sat beside Totodile.
'She says that frequently.'
Totodile nodded thoughtfully.
'Perhaps Samael causes illness.'
'Likely.'
'Traitors.'
Elara lowered her hands and noticed the packs sitting beside the staircase.
Something in her expression changed.
The researcher disappeared.
"You're really leaving," she said quietly.
There it was.
Not Doctor Frost.
Not the scientist fascinated by impossible genetics.
Elara.
"Yeah."
"When?"
"Ash should be here around eight. We're heading north shortly after."
Her gaze dropped toward the floor as she rubbed her thumb along the edge of one glove.
"I thought I'd have more time."
The sentence was quiet enough that I almost missed it.
"More time for what?"
Elara looked up quickly. "Nothing."