Pushing open the door to the Pokecenter, Joy’s eyes widened the moment she spotted me leaning against Dee. “Okay!” I announced to the room. “I understand why everyone says Wulfric is a jerk.” I wanted to say a much harsher word, but there were children present.

  Dee helped me move across the room, Joy and her Wigglytuff rushing to also help. Dee had used a bit of her Heal Pulse to help with my injuries, but it was clear I needed medical attention. So while she berated me for not immediately calling her out, she was more concerned about getting to the Pokecenter as soon as possible. She was so pissed, but calmed down after examining me. It looked a lot worse than it actually was. In hindsight, sending her out probably would have been fine, and Rio wouldn’t have injured herself.

  Joy started to check over my arm, and I winced slightly from the way she handled it. “Sorry,” she mumbled, but didn’t stop. “This is quite bad… What happened?” She was leading me towards the back room, and Wigglytuff was rushing over with a wheelchair of all things.

  “Wulfric fucking Hyper Beamed me,” I said softly to her, just the thought of it pissed me off again. All three of them insisted that I sit in the wheelchair. “My Pokemon blocked it, but it was close enough that I got caught up in the blast.”

  “You mean he-”

  “Yes,” I interrupted, sighing heavily. “He specifically aimed it at me. Cara barely blocked it…” My thoughts wandered to her still in her pokeball. “Several of my Pokemon are injured.”

  “Right. Right, we’ll deal with that,” she said as she pushed me through the door.

  I fumbled a bit, trying to retrieve the pokeballs. My hands were shaking pretty bad. Probably from blood loss? Most of the bleeding had stopped thanks to Dee and a lot of the pain was gone, but I really should have prioritized myself. But I didn’t, as usual. Even with how injured I was, I was still more concerned about dealing with Keo and her situation. And I had fucked that up.

  After a few hours and a lot of stitches, I was laying in a familiar room, on a familiar bed. I hadn’t actually ever been in this room, but with how consistent the Joy’s were about their accommodations it felt comfortably familiar.

  Other than quite a lot of lacerations to my arm, and a few minor puncture wounds to my side and leg that I hadn’t even noticed, it was mostly just bruising. Bruised spine, ribs, and tailbone. Miraculously I didn’t have a concussion. Somehow managed to luck out there.

  I considered letting someone out to keep me company, but I didn’t really want to be worried over. Primarina would be a mess. I didn’t want to do that to Scoly. And I had no idea how Diancie would react, aside from violence. So I just laid there with my thoughts.

  “I need a drink…” I muttered.

  I quickly realized that I really didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts, so I decided to release all three of them. All of them panicked when they caught sight of me, and I had to explain what happened. Primarina started bawling into my stomach immediately, clinging tightly to my legs. Scoly took her normal place on the bed, tucking herself into my side. She nearly pushed me off the bed with how hard she was pressing into me, but the weight of a blubbering seal kept me in place.

  Diancie just floated there for several minutes, a thoughtful expression on her face. Which worried me greatly. And my concerns were immediately confirmed the moment she spoke. “I’m gonna kill him.”

  “No, you can’t kill him,” I said with a sigh and a soft laugh. “As much as I’d like to… It would be too much of a headache.”

  She just seemed to frown, her little face scrunching up for a moment. Eventually she huffed, folding her arms. “Can I throw rocks at him?”

  I snorted. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

  Diancie moved to float beside the bed, holding out her hand in a demanding way. I chuckled, and placed my hand into hers. It took quite a while of her playing with my fingers before she seemed to calm down. Eventually the large rock settled down and sat beside the bed, Primarina cried herself to sleep, and it looked like Scoly had also fallen asleep.

  My eyes wandered to my coat, hanging up beside the bathroom. The left sleeve was mostly gone, just a lot of shredded cloth. There were a ton of holes, and some of the stitches in the hem had come loose. I thought about getting a new one, but then I wouldn’t match Banette. Mikyu would enjoy repairing it.

  After laying for quite a while, thinking about the battle and enjoying the company of Pokemon, I raised my uninjured hand so that I could get a good look at it. I flexed my fingers a bit, attempting to bring forth some sort of energy. Trying to remember the feeling of whatever had happened when I struck Wulfric. But nothing happened. I tried for several minutes and my arm eventually felt tired, so I let it fall back down to the bed. I had clearly used the move Sucker Punch, or at least an approximation. That was a definitive sign I could use dark type energy.

  The problem would be figuring out how. Or even deciding if I wanted to. Using it probably meant fighting, and I didn’t really want to do that, did I?

  My musings were interrupted as the door suddenly flung open. Everyone looked over to find a heavily bandaged Lucario leaning heavily against the door frame, her breathing ragged. The moment she saw me, her entire body sagged, and she would have collapsed if not for a Wigglytuff grabbing hold of her and keeping her up. “I told you not to run off,” she scolded.

  Cara was still staring at me and I gave her a bit of a smile. “Well, you look a lot worse than me,” I quipped.

  She scoffed, stumbling a bit as she was helped over to the bed, completely collapsing face first onto it the moment she could. Her entire body seemed to go limp, clearly having used all of her energy just to get here.

  “Severe energy depletion,” Wigglytuff started her explanation. “She burned every bit of energy she had and overtaxed her energy channels at the same time. And that was before even being hit by the Hyper Beam.”

  From the explanation I could assume that Cara had burned all of her energy to get in front of the attack. Which meant it hit her dead on without any natural energy to protect herself. “I see…”

  “We’re lucky she survived,” Wigglytuff said bluntly. “If she remained out of stasis for an hour or two, she probably would have died from her injuries.”

  My brow furrowed and I frowned. “Is… Is it okay for her to be up and about?”

  “No,” she responded bluntly, scowling at the Lucario lying beside me. “It isn’t. She was told you were alright, and to remain in the recovery room, but she bolted the moment Nurse Joy was out of sight. She would have kept barging into random rooms if I hadn’t told her which one you were in,” she explained, clearly exasperated.

  I chuckled a bit, which I regretted as it caused a jolt of pain. “I see. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

  Wigglytuff sighed. “It will take three months for her to recover, and it is recommended that that time be spent outside of a pokeball to speed up the healing process.”

  My eyes widened a bit as I stared at the Wigglytuff. “That…that long?”

  “She nearly died. That bastard Wulfric nearly killed her.” Her fists clenched, clearly just as upset over his actions as I was. “I am so sick and tired of seeing half dead Pokemon come down from that horrible place.”

  I reached out, wincing slightly as I placed a hand onto her shoulder.

  She took a few deep breaths. “I’m sorry. That was unprofessional.”

  “It’s okay,” I said softly, rubbing her shoulder a bit. “I can only imagine how hard that is.”

  She took in a couple deep breaths, rubbing at her eyes to chase away tears before steeling herself, and glaring at Cara. “Make sure she does nothing strenuous for the next three months. That means she does nothing. No battling, no training, no using energy of any sort. If she does anything more than go for a walk, she’ll spend her time recovering strapped to a bed.”

  “Yes ma’am,” I said, smiling.

  With a huff, she left. It looked like she wanted to slam the door but restrained herself.

  It was silent for a few moments as I looked at the door, then at Cara. She was shaking slightly, and I realized she was crying, not even caring that others were around. “Oh you…” I said softly, shifting a bit to pull her into a hug. Immediately I noticed there was something different. I didn’t feel the usual prick of her chest spike.

  She took quite a while to calm down, as I held her and whispered words of comfort. She didn’t even have the strength to try and hug me back, just putting her paws against me. Eventually I got her to move a bit so I could get a good look at her. As I sat up, which was quite a struggle considering the massive seal on my leg and Scoly still trying to shove me off the bed, I coaxed Cara to lay on her back. The first thing I took notice of was that the tip of her chest spike was gone, and there was a large crack running across the side.

  I checked the ones on her paws next. Her right was fine, but her left paw shook uncontrollably when I lifted it. The spike on the back of her paw was gone, replaced by tight bandages. Gently, I rubbed the side of her paw, staring at the spot the spike had been. “They’ll grow back,” she said, her voice hoarse. Talking was clearly a struggle. “In a year or two…”

  Words completely failed me, so I just continued to gently rub her paw with my thumb. She looked so tired, just laying there. The only movement she made the slow rise of her chest, and the trembling of her paw. Half of her face was nothing but bandages, and the eye I could see was barely open. All of her energy was just… gone.

  “This is the second time you’ve saved my life,” I whispered, smiling down at her. Even while my eyes burned, and I could feel tears sliding down my face, I was just so glad to see her. It was really hitting me now that I nearly lost my best friend.

  “Are we keeping count?” she managed. “Because if we are… I think it’s more like six…”

  “You’re exaggerating,” I said, laughing softly. Her eye closed for a moment before she forced it open, clearly trying to keep herself awake. “Go ahead and sleep. I’m alright, and I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  She huffed softly, but eventually her eyes closed. Within seconds her breathing evened out and the small amount of tension she had seemed to leave her. I made sure that she was comfortable before rubbing at my face to try and get rid of the tears.

  I didn’t feel like laying down again, and it wasn’t much longer before the door opened. Cara tensed, her eyes snapping open. It looked like she tried to move, but her entire body locked up and refused. I put my hand onto her shoulder, partially to keep her down and partially to assure her that things were fine.

  Rio was the one who opened the door; her arm was in a cast and immobilized against her chest. “Mamma!” She practically shot across the room to Cara’s side. Her paw hovered, shifting in an unsure manner, as if she didn’t know what to do with it.

  “I’m fine,” Cara said in the type of voice that definitely did not belong to someone who is fine.

  She started to tear up before she laid her head down onto her stomach, closing her eyes. “I’m so glad…” she mumbled. I can only imagine what the events must have looked like through aura.

  Dee came in just behind with a tray that had three pokeballs on it, and Eevee sitting on top of her head. She closed the door with a sigh. “Keo is fine, just asleep in her pokeball,” Dee started. “Rio tore almost every muscle in her arm, and snapped a tendon. She needs a week to recover fully.”

  Eevee leapt at me and I had to catch her because she did not get enough distance and nearly landed on the two Lucario. I chuckled a bit as I looked at Rio, watching as she was pressing her face into Cara’s stomach. “What even was that, Rio?”

  She shifted her head a bit to look at me, taking a deep breath. “Iron Cannon. It’s a move I’ve been working on. It mixes Flash Cannon with Bulk up and Focus Punch. I’ve never managed to do it right… I still didn’t do it right…”

  I nodded slightly. That explained a lot about the move. The way her arm swelled, and the way it seemed to need to be charged. It was like a much stronger Flash Cannon. Bulk Up and Focus Punch turned the normally special based move into a physical one, as she just punched the air so hard she hit things at a distance. It was an interesting concept, but definitely needed refining.

  “You probably charged it for too long, or because you fired it point blank,” I mused, thinking about the move as I gently pet Eevee. The other possibility was her lack of control over her fighting energy. “We can try and practice it when you’re better.”

  She nodded, closing her eyes. I turned my attention to Dee as she sat down on the bed, rubbing her face. She caught my eye and I gestured at Eevee questioningly. “Eevee is fine. It looks like she tried to do a move, but her energy channels aren’t in a state to be able to properly do that so she exhausted what little energy she had. And she got hit by a rock or something.”

  “Oh?” I looked down at Eevee, who was already asleep on my lap, nestled beside Primarina’s head. I wondered what she tried to do when the door was suddenly kicked open. Everyone asleep jolted awake and all eyes turned towards the door.

  In the doorway, standing with her hands on her hips and a look of relief on her face, was Diantha. “Good. You’re okay.”

  “Mostly,” I said, comforting Eevee and Primarina.

  “That was a hell of a match,” she said as she entered the room, a tablet in her hand. She kicked the door closed behind her as if annoyed it existed. “Wulfric has been suspended from his Gym Leader duties, without pay, and his Pokemon confiscated pending completion of the investigation.”

  I blinked at her, trying to sort the information she just gave me. “You’ve seen the match?” I wasn’t sure why that was that part that stuck out the most to me.

  “Most of the League has at this point.” She flopped down beside me on the bed, showing me the screen of the tablet. It was paused just before the Abomasnow used Hyper Beam. She looked at me, her expression turning into a frown. “I’ve been ordered by the Association and the League to confiscate your Pokemon,” she said, suddenly sounding quite serious.

  Everyone tensed, and I stared at her, trying to think of something. But my mind was blank.

  She snorted. “Like I actually would. Or could. Technically all the Pokemon in your little wolf pack are classified as belonging to you until the reserve opens. And everyone with a brain who’s seen the video knows you did nothing wrong. Real nice shot, by the way,” she added, suddenly fast forwarding to the moment where I punched Wulfric and let it play.

  It really was a good punch. My form was good, and I’d thrown my entire weight into the hook. I actually knocked him clean off his feet and he was completely airborne for a second before crashing into the ground.

  “How come you never told me you were a Hex Maniac?” she suddenly asked, pausing the video again.

  I stared at her, my brow furrowing. That was a type of Trainer from the game. What was she talking about? “I’m… not?”

  She gave me an odd look, before playing the video again. On the screen I was towering over him, my foot pinning Wulfric to the ground. I was hunched slightly, one arm hanging limply, dripping blood, the other stretched to the side. Hearing my own words caused the hairs on the back of my neck to raise. “You want me to treat this like war?” the me on the screen growled. Actually growled, although it sounded more like it was distorted due to them having amplified the audio to be able to pick up what I was saying. “You want me to treat you like an enemy?”

  She paused it again. “That. That’s Hex Magic, isn’t it?” She had zoomed in slightly to better frame my figure. My fingers were splayed and there were quite obviously large claws made of solid shadow extending from my hand. That was without a doubt Shadow Claw. I hadn’t imagined the sensation. I had actually been using the move. I had somehow been using ghost type energy. And for some reason my eyes were glowing slightly? No wonder Wulfric looked terrified. Was that from channeling energy? Or was I using whatever Hex Magic was?

  “I don’t know what that is,” I said, trying to keep a rising nervous feeling out of my chest. There was a nagging feeling in my mind that this being recorded was bad, but I couldn’t quite think of why.

  “Huh…” She tilted her head to the side slightly, studying the image on the screen. Eventually she shrugged. “Well, it looks like Hex Magic. But those Hex Maniac’s are reclusive, so I guess it’s no wonder you never mentioned it.”

  “I am not a Hex Maniac,” I deadpanned.

  She giggled. “Alright. Sure. But anyways… Yeah, the League and Association want me to confiscate your Pokemon until the investigation is over, but you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to. So if anyone asks, we never met.”

  I let out a slow breath. “Thanks, I guess.”

  “I honestly don’t know what they even expect me to do,” she started to complain. “You’ve got a literal hoard of Pokemon. Like, what, thirty or forty-ish Pokemon? Champion or not, all it takes is you resisting, and just a single one of them getting to me in the chaos and I’m toast.”

  A chuckle escaped me. She really had a point. But before I responded I paused for a moment, looking at the tablet. “Can I see that?”

  “Hm?” She looked at the tablet. “Oh, sure.” She passed it to me.

  I rewound the video to before the Hyper Beam and watched it, but there was just too much going on all at once. Interestingly, when I watched it play out I found out that the referee wasn’t calling the match or asking me for my next Pokemon, he was asking if I was okay to continue. Still not very kind of him. He should have immediately called an end to the match, but at least he wasn’t completely brushing off what just happened. But fuck... watching Cara topple forward and hit the floor was the worst thing I'd ever seen. And the way I croaked out her name... Desperate for a response.

  “Is it possible to slow down the playback?” I asked Diantha.

  “Ah, here.” She pressed on a few buttons on the side. “There. It can’t go slower than quarter speed, but these control that,” she gestured at the buttons.

  I nodded slowly as I hit play. Watching it all again in slow motion made it look so much more horrifying. The mouth movements of Wulfric as he ordered his Pokemon. The slow turn of the Abomasnow. Cara’s calm expression melting into panic as she realizes what’s happening. A burst of white as she uses Extreme Speed as the Hyper Beam fires. It takes her a single frame to clear most of the field, throwing herself in front of the beam. It wasn’t a direct hit. She had undershot by inches, and the beam struck more on her left side. That explains why that side was so much more damaged.

  Then there was me, the agonizingly slow way that I lifted my arms in a futile attempt to block the blow, or at least protect my chest and face from it. A little brown smudge leaping forward and bursting with a dim light of energy that quickly formed into a sort of mostly translucent teal colored bubble surrounding her. That answered the question of what Eevee had done. She tried to use Protect. The shield shattered instantly from the blast as if it was never there.

  Watching myself hit the wall, followed by Eevee hitting me, and both of us bouncing off and hitting the floor, made me grateful I couldn’t hear whatever noise the impact had made. The way the little fox staggered to her feet, struggling to get to me and begin pushing at my face with her paws.

  I sighed as I looked at the little Pokemon in my lap. I gently rubbed the area behind her ears. That was her favorite spot, and she made happy little noises as she pressed her head into my hand.

  “Arceus that was brutal,” Diantha muttered. She had remained quiet as I watched, rewinding and rewatching the events several times. Rio, Scoly, Dee, and even Diancie had also moved to watch, Rio grabbing hold of the sleeve of my shirt. I felt her grip tighten every time the Hyper Beam hit her mother, and I could distinctly feel that flicker of rage she had previously. “I can’t believe he did that…”

  “He’s friends with Aymond,” I said, frowning.

  She sighed. “That doesn’t surprise me… All those old Gym Leaders are friends.” She took the tablet from me, fast forward and then replaying the moment that I socked Wulfric. “This is my favorite part. I’m going to watch this a lot.”

  “Don’t like Wulfric?” I asked with a bit of a laugh.

  “No. Hate the dude. He didn’t Mega Hyper Beam me, but I still remember getting clipped by that damn Aurora Beam when I was doing my circuit,” she said with a sigh, rubbing her arm.

  “You mean he’s been attacking Trainers in all of his battles?” I couldn’t believe that he had gotten away with it for so long.

  “They’ve always been classified as accidents.” She folded her arms across her chest, letting out a huff. “This is the first time - that we know of - that he’s been this blatant.” She played the scene a few more times as I thought. I wondered why he was so eager to try and kill me. Was he part of Team Flare? That was the first thing that came to mind.

  “Where’s Wulfric now?”

  She looked at me, a bit confused. “On his way to Lumiose. He’s been arrested until the investigation is over.” She paused. “Although, their first stop is probably the hospital,” she added with a giggle.

  I tilted my head slightly. “Why would he need to go to the hospital?”

  She stared blankly at me before she played the Sucker Punch again. “He lost three teeth and you broke his cheek bone."

  My eyes widened a bit and I blinked. “Oh. I guess that was a really, really good hit.”

  She laughed. “It was!” She played the scene again, taking an odd sort of sadistic glee from watching the man get socked in the face and crumple. She let the video play, listening to me shout about how Pokemon battles are just a sport. And then the growling threats. “Remind me never to piss you off… Damn. You look like you're about to kill him.”

  “I considered it,” I admitted.

  There were a few moments of silence, even all the Pokemon stared at me. Diancie looked offended, since I had told her she couldn’t kill him. “I don't think many would have blamed you,” Diantha said with a shrug.

  I nodded a bit. “How do you think the investigation-” my phone ringing interrupted me. I looked at it for a moment, noting that it was Valerie. I should have expected her to call. “Hey, Valerie-”

  “Are you okay?” she interrupted. “How’s Cara?” She was clearly very concerned, holding the phone close to her face in order to get a better look at me.

  “I’m fine. Cara is… breathing.” I could see the way she tensed, and so did Diantha, the latter's eyes dropping to the bandaged Pokemon laying beside me. “She’ll recover, but she’s benched for a few months.”

  Valerie sighed. “Damn… Okay. At least she’ll be okay…”

  I nodded. “You’ve seen the video, I take it?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Diantha sent it to me a little bit ago.”

  “Which I’m technically not allowed to do?” Diantha commented in a noncommittal way.

  Again Valerie seemed to tense. “Diantha? What are you doing there?”

  “Aren’t you supposed to pretend you never found me?” I said, staring blankly at Diantha.

  “Oh, shit. Right.” Diantha leaned in a bit to see the screen, and I had to tilt the phone slightly so the video would pick her up. "Val, if anyone asks, you never saw us together.”

  “Why are you there?” Valerie asked again with a bit of a huff.

  “I was ordered to confiscate all of Jace’s Pokemon after taking Wulfric into custody,” she explained with a shrug. “But that would be impossible. Especially considering those dogs don’t like me…”

  “You make them nervous,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “They know how strong you are and they’re worried you’ll hurt them.”

  She gasped dramatically. “I would never! They’re just all a bunch of cute dogs. Honestly, it makes me sad they’re scared of me.”

  “They’ll warm up to you if you spend more time with them,” I suggested.

  Diantha just sighed and shook her head. “I’m too busy. And speaking of which…” She stood up, smoothing out her clothes. “I better go and pretend to look for you.”

  Both Valerie and I laughed a bit. “Thanks,” I said.

  “Don’t mention it.” She pointed a finger at me, a smirk on her face. “Seriously, don’t. The League is already upset with me as it is.”

  My brow furrowed. “Why?”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  She made her way to the door, waving a hand dismissively. “I’ll explain it later if I get the chance.”

  And then she left.

  I stared at the door for a moment, puzzling over what that could be about, when Valerie suddenly spoke up. “Is she gone?”

  My attention turned back to the phone and I arched an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  Valerie sighed. “Okay. I uh… I made a mistake, and I didn’t want her over hearing because I knew she would tease me. And she teases me a ton already, and so I didn’t want to give her more ammunition,” she rapidly explains, words tumbling out to the point I almost couldn’t understand her.

  “Alright,” I said slowly, staring at her. She seemed to be looking anywhere but at the phone.

  “You uh… remember how you told me not to tell Malva about the wolf pack?” she asked hesitantly.

  I frowned. “Yes. I do in fact remember asking you not to tell her.”

  “Uh…well… I... may have sort of slipped and mentioned it,” she said, very clearly looking away. “And I didn’t even really think about it at the time, cus you see we were having such a lovely time, and we were talking about Pokemon, and she mentioned how much she wanted a Houndour, and I-”

  “Breathe, Valerie,” I said, interrupting her. “Okay. I get it. It’s alright. I can-” a thought suddenly popped into my head, and I began scheming. “Actually. Are you two going on a date for New Years?”

  Her brow furrowed and then she nodded. “Yes?”

  I nodded a bit. “Invite her to meet the wolf pack on New Year's Eve night.”

  Her brow furrowed, her head tilting to the side. “Are you sure that’s okay?”

  Again I nodded. “Yeah. That will actually work out perfectly. Since, you know, the construction has started and all? Would be a good time to start thinking about publicity.” I really hated lying to Valerie like this, but hopefully she would understand. Well, technically I wasn’t lying I was just not telling her everything. If everything worked out well, Malva would be great for getting the word out.

  “Okay, that sounds great. Although, you’ll have to be there so they don’t freak out,” she said thoughtfully. “A lot of them are still nervous around me.”

  “Yeah I was going to suggest that. Sometime around eight. I'll make dinner for them all - and you two - so that they're calm. Don’t want them attacking your girlfriend,” I teased a bit with a smirk.

  Her face went bright red and she disconnected the call. I couldn’t help but laugh as I settled back into the bed. I wasn’t sure when Dee had moved behind me, but she had moved into the position she normally stayed in when we slept.

  It was several minutes before I spoke. “Do you think I made a mistake? Using Valerie like that?” I asked, not to anyone in specific, but I wanted to get their opinions. This is why I hate scheming. I didn’t like manipulating people.

  “We have to,” Scoly said, surprising me a bit. I looked at her, her eyes were unfocused. “We have to make sure they can’t hurt anyone else.”

  I really hated the ‘For the Greater Good’ mentality, but I just had to hope that Valerie wouldn’t be too upset with me for planning things like this.

  An hour passed before my phone rang again. Looking at it, I frowned. It was Professor Sycamore. I answered it, wondering what he wanted to talk about. “Hello, Professor. What’s up?”

  “Hello, Jason,” he said, scrutinizing my appearance for a moment before continuing, “Are you alright?”

  “A bit banged up, but I’ll be fine,” I responded a bit dryly, trying to remain polite.

  “Right. Well, anyways, I wanted to call and let you know that I finally got my hands on some Lucarionite for you,” he said as he held up what looked to be a large orange marble, with a blue and red cats-eye in it.

  “Oh!“ I sat up a bit straighter. “Huh, I guess I totally forgot you were keeping an eye out for one.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Just got it, so feel free to drop by the lab when you’re…” it looked like he was trying to figure out the right word. “Whenever you want,” he decided.

  “I’ll swing by tomorrow. I need to get out of Snowbelle… Too damn cold,” I said with a bit of a laugh.

  He chuckled a bit, nodding. “Your fault for going there in winter,” he snarked. “Anyways, I’m here all day, so drop by anytime.”

  “Thank you, Professor,” I said with a genuine smile.

  He nodded before hanging up.

  “How ironic,” I mumbled as I laid back against Dee. “The moment the Lucario’s are out of action, I get some Lucarionite.”

  ~

  Cara was an absolute grump in the morning. She was tired. Moving hurt. Being awake hurt. And she was constantly grumbling. A big part of the problem was the cold. It was so cold and it made all the pain worse.

  Putting my puffy coat around her seemed to be enough to at least take some of the edge off. Although it meant I was absolutely miserable on my way to the train station.

  We were both just standing there, shivering in the snow as we waited for the train. “I don’t think I ever want to come back to Snowbelle,” I grumbled.

  “Agreed,” Cara mumbled, her voice still rough.

  We were waiting for a few minutes when I suddenly got a notification on my phone. Pulling it out, it was from Emma. I hurried to open it, but was disappointed. ‘Hello Jason, it’s Kaitline. Some people showed up looking for you, claiming to be from the Association. They were trying to find some way to contact you, and asking if I knew where you were, but they were hella shady so I told them I didn’t know who you were.’

  I frowned a bit. It probably really was the Association. But them not having a way to contact me was interesting… That explains why I hadn’t heard from them. ‘Thanks for letting me know. Are you okay? How’s Emma?’

  ‘I’m okay.’ Came her reply. ‘They left after I said I didn’t know. Emma is okay, but still in a coma.’

  I sighed and ran my hand over my head, trying to think. “Fuck…”

  Cara looked over at me, having to turn her head more than usual in order to actually see me with her good eye.

  “Nothing… I just-” I stopped, looking around. There were a few people around, but I had an idea. A very stupid idea. “Mewtwo!” I shouted, a couple people turning to look at me with either curiosity or annoyance.

  I was starting to feel silly until all of the snow around me suddenly evaporated, and the tall feline Pokemon was standing before me. “Yes?” they said, their head tilting to the side slightly.

  I couldn’t believe that actually worked. “Like I thought, you are watching me.”

  “I put a psychic marker on you,” they explained simply, as if that explained everything. It probably did, if I knew what the heck that even was.

  There was no way I was going to argue with them about that, or ask why. “Everyone you altered the memory of is in a coma. Do you know why?”

  They were silent, staring at me. It took several moments for them to say anything. “Oh.” Their face turned a bit red. “Oops.”

  And then they were gone.

  I let out a long sigh, rubbing my face. “Okay, at least it wasn’t on purpose,” I grumbled, shoving my hands into my pockets. Glancing around, I noticed a two people had cameras of all things, while many others were talking on their phones. There was even someone using the camera on their phone. It was still weird to me that there was no photography culture in this world, but I suppose it had to do with the lack of social media. But still... pictures of Mewtwo circulating was going to be bothersome. That’s going to be a problem for future me.

  The train pulled up about fifteen minutes after Mewtwo left, and numerous people stepped off, all of them commenting about the lack of snow around the station. As I boarded, I had to help Cara step up. She couldn’t do stairs. Honestly I had practically carried her just to get to the station. I took the nearest empty seat, making sure Cara wasn’t about to fall over. She complained at me that I was babying her, but I just chuckled at her.

  A lot of people gave me strange looks as they boarded, but no one said anything. I settled in beside Cara, and she shifted a bit so that she could lean against me before she promptly fell asleep. I watched her for a moment until her breathing evened out and she lost the tension in her body. She was always so tense when she was awake.

  Sometime during the ride my phone rang and I pulled it out, glancing at who was calling before answering it. “What’s up, Adria?”

  “What the hell did you just do?” came the exasperated voice of the tired looking Jenny.

  I hesitated. “You’ll have to be more specific,” I said cautiously.

  “That Mewtwo just showed up at the hospital in Lumiose, and practically ripped it apart before disappearing.” It looked like she was in the police station, but I didn’t know which one.

  “Why would you-”

  “And then I immediately get a report that you were seen speaking to it just before.” She was glaring at me.

  “Oh, so that’s how you knew it was my fault,” I said, nodding. “Well, you see, Emma and all the others are in a coma, right?”

  She sighed heavily and the phone clattered to the table, and now all I could see was the ceiling. “And so you asked it to fix them?”

  “No,” I explained slowly. “I brought it up, and they said, and I quote: ‘Oops.’”

  There were several seconds of silence before she picked the phone back up. “It said ‘oops’?” She asked, trying to confirm.

  I nodded.

  She let out a long, drawn out sigh and groan combo that made me have to scrunch up my mouth to keep myself from smiling at. Then she disappeared from view, and I heard the very distinct noise of a head hitting a desk. “Okay, but did it have to blow up part of the hospital?”

  I made a bit of a thoughtful noise, “Mmm… They are rather… uhm… Naive.”

  The phone moved down so that she could glare at me without lifting her head off of the table. “Naive?”

  “Yes,” I said with a nod. “I don’t think that ex-Director Yellow taught them much of anything since they were created. I ran into them in the forest - or I should say they found me - and Cara had to explain to them the basics of how to survive.”

  “Okay, and how did it find you?” she said with another heavy sigh.

  “Something about a psychic marker?” I began to explain. “I’m not sure what that is, but they seem to be aware of my location and if I want to talk with them, or something? All I did was call out to them and they appeared. I was going to ask Olympia about it.”

  Adria buried her face in the crook of her arm. “Dammit… But did it have to blow up part of the hospital?”

  “They were probably just taking the most direct route. They really don't understand things,” I tried to explain. “They are… Hm… I guess it would be accurate to say that they are a child who had never seen the outside world, given the power of gods, and then suddenly thrown out into said world.”

  She groaned, trying to bury her face even more, as if that would drown out the reality. “Can you teach it?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe? They seem pretty open to talking with me, but I can’t really promise anything.” I could feel the annoyance rising as she readied a reply, but I added, “But I’ll try.”

  “Alright,” she grumbled. “Oh, also. Why are Association officials looking for you?” Her eyes narrowed at me.

  “I punched Wulfric because he tried to kill me,” I said simply.

  She just stared at me, mouth slightly agape and moving slightly as if trying to form words.

  “You can ask Valerie to show you the video, she should still have it I think.” I realized I should have asked Diantha for the video, but I just made a mental note to get it from her or Valerie later.

  She just glared at me for a moment before hanging up.

  I let out a snort, and then settled into my seat. It was a long ride to Lumiose after all.

  But it wasn’t even an hour later when my phone rang again. “Hello, Adria.”

  “Holy shit you weren’t kidding,” she said softly. “He tried to kill you.” She was holding the phone at a weird angle, clearly not actually holding it up, but from what I could tell she was sitting against a wall.

  “Yeah, he did.”

  There were a few moments of silence before she let out a sigh. “Well that explains a lot… are you okay?”

  “Mostly,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Better shape than him. Though the stitches itch.”

  She was silent again and I could see a slight frown on her face, although I couldn’t really see much of her expression. “They ordered us to put out a bulletin to detain you on sight. They claimed you aren’t in trouble, but this is…”

  “Man, they’re really going after me for some reason,” I said with even more of a laugh. “I guess they realized that no one has been keeping an eye on me.”

  The phone suddenly moved and I could see her expression. She looked baffled for a moment, and then suddenly her eyes widened. “Wait. Emma is - no wait was - in a coma, so no one’s been keeping track of you.”

  “Emma is awake?” I asked, immediately shifting the conversation onto something more important.

  “Oh, yeah. Uh… So Mewtwo came in, started knocking down doors and flinging guards, and when it got to where the coma patients were it just sort of…” She waved a hand vaguely in the air. “Stood there for a moment? And then teleported away, and everyone started waking up.”

  I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “There must have been too much lingering psychic energy in their system, and because they’re not Psychics it caused their body to shut down. Mewtwo probably removed it,” I explained, my strange knowledge ability giving me the answer, much to my surprise.

  She stared at me. “If you knew what the problem was, why didn’t you tell anyone!” she said exasperatedly.

  “Hey, I just figured it out,” I defended. “I only found out they were in a coma last week, and put the pieces together thanks to Mewtwo.”

  Adria paused, opening her mouth to say something before closing it. She nodded slowly. “Right… Sorry. This has just been… such a headache.”

  “I can imagine it’s been a rough day.” I gave her a smile that I hoped came across as comforting. “But thanks for the heads up about the Association. I can guess why they’re so adamant about getting hold of my Pokemon, if the ex-Director is anything to go by.”

  There was a big frown on her face and she nodded. “The Chief essentially took their request and binned it immediately after they left.” That got me laughing a bit, and she was quick to join in. “I also showed her the video of your match… I’ve never seen her this pissed. Once Team Flare is dealt with, I’m certain all of her focus is going to be put onto Wulfric. The casualness of how he ordered that definitely means he's used to doing things like that. And while we aren't really allowed to meddle in Association or League problems unless asked, I think she's going to bend the rules here.”

  I gave a bit of a shrug, looking around to make sure no one was listening. While our conversation hadn’t been overly loud, I was still worried about people listening in. Thankfully the train was mostly empty, and those aboard were giving me a wide berth for some reason. “Wulfric isn’t really a concern at the moment. I would prefer everyone focus on Team Flare.”

  She nodded. “We have everything planned. Just…be sure to be somewhere safe when it starts.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said with a smile. “I’ll be in the gym, just like I said I would.”

  Her eyes narrowed a bit, but I guess she decided to drop it. “Alright. Stay safe.”

  “You too,” I replied, and then we hung up.

  I looked around again to see if anyone had been listening, but it seems that my worries were unfounded. Cara hadn’t woken up during the phone call, or at least hadn’t moved. She was just leaning against me, the only movement was the slow swelling of her chest as she breathed. Just looking at her started to make my blood boil.

  The rest of the train ride was peaceful, and I felt a bit bad having to wake Cara when we arrived in Lumiose. But at least it was much warmer. There was hardly any snow, which was really nice. I slowly helped Cara off of the train, and she huffed in annoyance. “I can walk,” she grumbled.

  Despite her words, she had to hold onto me for support as we made our way to Sycamore’s research center. There were a few people who gave us curious looks, which wasn’t surprising considering the state Cara was in. Someone might confuse her with a Dusclops under her large poofy coat.

  I had asked if Cara wanted me to get a cab, but she said she wanted to walk. So we walked, with me making sure she stayed upright and every now and then asking if she wanted me to call a cab. Eventually we made it to the lab, the large research building that I still wasn’t sure what to classify as. The receptionist looked up, jumping slightly when she caught sight of us. “Is Professor Sycamore in his office? He should be expecting us.”

  The woman just nodded, seemingly unable to form words for whatever reason. So I just nodded and made my way through the building. I’d been in Sycamore’s office before, and it was easy to find. I knocked before opening the door. “Oh, Jason. Good to-” his words seemed to falter.

  “Morning, Professor,” I said as I coaxed Cara into the room and onto the couch. When I looked back at Sycamore he was staring at my arm. I looked down at it. It was covered in bandages and there were just a few tatters remaining of the sleeve. There was a bit of blood seeping through, which made me frown. That would explain the stares.

  “Are you alright?” he asked tentatively.

  A bit of a huff escaped me. I was getting a bit tired of being asked that. “I’m fine,” I said as I stood up straight.

  “What happened?” he asked, leaning against his desk.

  That was another thing I was starting to get tired of explaining. Or maybe I was just still annoyed at Sycamore. “Short story? Wulfric tried to kill me. Long story? Well, you can watch the video of the match. You can skip the first two rounds.”

  The moment I finished speaking he went around his desk and sat down at his computer to do just that. “Here’s the Lucarionite,” he said as he gestured to a box on his desk before he started to watch the video. I could hear bits of the audio as he searched through for the right time.

  I smiled a bit as I walked over, opening the box. Sure enough, there was the orange marble with red and blue cats-eye. “Perfect. Thanks, Professor.”

  He just hummed, and I heard the beginning of my match with Wulfric begin before he skipped to when Cara hit the field. I stepped away from the desk, moving more towards Cara. Her eyes were locked on the marble. “That’s…”

  I nodded, my smile widening. “This is the Mega Stone for the Lucario line.” I held it up, turning it in my hand as I examined it. It was quite a beautiful thing.

  But…

  Something felt… off.

  I frowned slightly, my eyes narrowing as I examined it. I had only ever held one other Mega Stone, the Diancite that Diancie had. But this… felt too different. I was trying to figure out what this feeling was. “It feels wrong?” I mused as I lifted it up higher, trying to use the light to better look through it.

  With a thought, I tried to activate it, doing my best to mimic the sensation I felt when Diancie activated her stone and just pushing a tiny bit of energy from my Key Stone towards it. Just to test what sort of reaction I would get.

  “Do it,” came Wulfric’s voice from the computer as I felt the heat from the explosion. No, not that explosion. I coughed, trying to get up and figure out what happened, waving my hand in the air to clear the smoke. My empty hand. The Mega Stone had exploded.

  “What the hell?!” I shouted, coughing to try and breathe properly. My hand stung, but it looked to be fine. Cara was struggling, trying to get up to get to me. “I’m fine,” I quickly assured, reaching into my coat and pulling out Dee’s ball.

  I glanced over at Sycamore, who was starting to get up, apparently having fallen out of his chair. “What happened?” he asked. “Are you alright?”

  Dee appeared in a flash, and I held out my hand to her. She immediately grabbed my wrist and began healing what little injuries my hand had as she pulled me up onto my feet. “I’m okay. The Mega Stone exploded.”

  “What?” He was moving around the desk, but his steps faltered when he caught Dee’s glare. He made the wise decision to keep his distance in a situation like this. “That shouldn’t be possible. I’ve never even heard of something like that happening. Sure, sometimes they break, but they never explode.”

  My mind raced. Had the Sundial ruined my Key Stone? No, that didn’t make sense. Sure, it altered it, but if it made Mega Stones explode, what would be the point? Suddenly I felt a tightness in my spine and I looked over at Sycamore. “Professor. Where did you get this Mega Stone?”

  “Same place as I get most of them?” he said, his tone a bit questioning. “Lysandre Labs. That’s where most people get Mega Stones.”

  I let out a slow breath. “Artificial Mega Stone…” I muttered.

  Dee pat my hand, letting me know it was fine. “First degree burns, all healed up.”

  “Thank you, Dee.” I turned my attention back to the Professor. “I think that was an artificial stone.”

  He frowned. “That wouldn’t make any sense. I’ve never had any problem with any of the other stones that I’ve gotten from Lysandre.”

  “My Key Stone has been upgraded,” I said simply.

  “What? How?” He suddenly seemed rather excited. “Is this something you did with your other world knowledge?”

  “You mean the knowledge you don’t believe?” I snapped, and he froze. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, this is much more important. You got that artificial Mega Stone from Lysandre?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. After we talked last time, I called him. I had to be sure, and of course he said he didn’t know anything about some sort of Ultimate Weapon.”

  My hand immediately slapped into my forehead. “Damn it, Sycamore,” I grumbled as I dragged my hand down my face. “No wonder the base was empty. You warned him he’d been caught.”

  “What? No. It-” he paused, as if recalling the conversation. “It really didn’t seem like he knew what I was talking about.”

  “Sure, like I’m going to believe that the leader of Team Flare doesn’t know about a secret weapon in one of his own bases,” I grumbled as I rubbed at my face.

  “He’s not the only leader,” Sycamore tried to argue. “Xerosic is one of the co-leaders.”

  “Sycamore-” I stopped when I looked at him, and I realized something absolutely annoying. “You’re just defending him because Lysandre Labs supplies you with Mega Stones.”

  “That is slander,” he snapped, standing up straighter.

  “It’s only slander if it’s not true. Damn it…” I rubbed at my face again. “Dee, help Cara up. We’re leaving.”

  “Wait, you can’t just leave,” Sycamore started, clearly wanting me to stay. But he seemed to hesitate as if trying to find an excuse. “You have to tell me how you upgraded the Key Stone.”

  I saw the way his eyes flicked to something over my shoulder and I glanced back to see a clock. The time? Why was he- “You piece of shit. You contacted someone and told them I was here. You lured me here with a faulty artificial Mega Stone. Who is it? Huh? The Association? Or is it Team Flare?"

  “Jason, there are protocols for things,” he said firmly, putting his hands up. “The Association is running an investigation and just wants your cooperation.”

  “There isn’t anything to investigate,” I snapped. “Wulfric blatantly tried to kill me. There’s a video of it. And witnesses.” I could feel my blood boiling again, and I was struggling to stay calm. “If you can stand there, look me dead in the eye, and tell me that I did anything wrong, you can go fuck yourself, Augustine.”

  He was stunned. Clearly the pretty-boy Professor had no idea how to handle this situation, so I took advantage of his stupor and made a quick exit from the room.

  Just before closing the door, I left some parting words. “As far as I’m concerned, the only thing I did wrong was put my trust in the system the Association and League have made.” Dee was practically carrying Cara as we made our way down the halls. Not towards the main entrance, but to a side door that I had seen once. I felt like a beaten dog that had shaken free of the rope tying him down. No way I was going to let the Association put it back on. The fact they had seen the video and still tried to take my Pokemon was a blatant sign they could still not be trusted.

  I almost thought I had gotten lost in the massive building until I found the door I was looking for. Shoving the door open revealed a small balcony, with stairs leading down. This was where Sycamore often answered my calls when he wasn’t in his office or in a lab.

  We started to quickly make our way down the stairs and I immediately hailed a cab. It took a moment before one actually stopped. “Where to, boss?” His eyes went from me, to Cara who Dee was helping into the back. “Pokecenter or Hospital?”

  I shook my head. “Police Station,” I replied as I returned Dee and got in beside Cara.

  “In a hurry?” he asked as he pulled away, driving quite a bit fast.

  A soft laugh escaped me. “Nah, the desperate escape already happened. Now it’s just a matter of getting somewhere safe,” I joked, trying to keep my tone jovial despite the panic that I was feeling.

  Thankfully the man laughed, clearly taking what I said as a joke. “Aight. Next stop, Lumiose Police Station.”

  I slumped into the back seat, running through everything that just happened. Sycamore sold me out to the Association, no big surprise there, they were his employers after all and the main source of his income.

  He told Lysandre.

  Damn it he told Lysandre.

  How many would have been arrested if he hadn’t? Would Lysandre have been caught then and there? That would have solved so many problems. Or at least made life hell for Lysandre for a while.

  Lysandre was the source of the artificial Mega Stone. That probably meant that the device used on that Zweilous to force its evolution into Hydreigon probably came from Lysandre Labs. I had suspected that, but this was more evidence pointing towards them.

  This was so annoying. So many problems and questions. Had the device not actually been stolen, and he actually returned it to Lysandre? Was Sycamore part of Team Flare?

  The thought caused my entire train of thought to come to a halt. He couldn’t be, right? He and Lysandre were old friends. But that was just more evidence that he could be. Maybe not entirely, but he was on Team Flare’s side, or at least on Lysandre’s side. Did that mean the Association was also part of Team Flare?

  I tensed when I felt something on my hand and looked down. Cara had grabbed it. “Your aura is fluctuating in a bad way,” she said softly.

  “Ah…” I sighed softly before taking several deep breaths to try and calm myself down. It wasn’t my problem anymore, was it? I had done all I could and was then told to sit back. A smile formed on my face as I felt the little paw pads on Cara’s hand rub the back of my fingers. “Sorry… Just worrying about things.”

  She nodded and I tried not to think about all what was happening and just calm down. After a while, Cara spoke up. “What are we going to do about the stone?” she asked softly, and I could hear how downtrodden she was.

  I looked at her for a moment and then sighed. “We go with plan B.”

  She turned her head to look at me, tilting it to the side in a questioning manner.

  “What? You didn’t think Sycamore was our only option did you?” I said with a smile. “He was just the easiest and most straightforward.”

  A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth that wasn’t covered in bandages. “So… there’s still hope?”

  A bit of a scoff escaped me. “Of course there is.” I grabbed and squeezed her hand slightly, giving her a smile.

  It was silent again, until we pulled in front of the Police Station. “Aight, boss. Here we are.”

  “Thanks.” I pulled out my trainer card, swiping it through the little machine in the chair. It was nice that they had convenient little things like that. I then helped Cara out of the car. A few Officer Jenny’s immediately rushed to help me. “Is Adria here? Or can I talk with Chief Cassandra?”

  They all seemed to pause, until one of the Jenny’s nodded and ran off. “You’re Jason, right?” one of the Jenny’s asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah that’s me.”

  The next few minutes were a flurry of movement. Honestly I wasn’t entirely sure what happened, but I soon found myself in a nice office, not Cassandra’s but it was nice, with a mug of coffee. I had mostly just taken the cup to be polite, but now that I was actually smelling the coffee I was very tempted. Mostly I was just using it to warm my hands, which I hadn’t realized were so cold until I took the cup.

  They had left me and Cara alone, and Cara was slumped in the couch beside me, her head tucked into my side as she tried to sleep again. I really shouldn’t have dragged her around like this, but I wanted to see her excitement when we got the Lucarionite. And instead it was all just a bunch of disappointment.

  When the door opened, it was Adria standing there, her shoulders stiff and concern written all over her face. “I’m fine,” I said immediately, putting up a hand. “Just… I wasn't sure where else to go.”

  She closed the door, and took a seat across from me as I put both hands back onto the mug of coffee. She didn’t say anything, clearly reading that I was trying to figure out how to word what I wanted to say.

  In the end I decided to just be blunt. “I think Sycamore is part of Team Flare.” The sudden silence that followed made the room feel extremely tense. “Or at least helping them.”

  I remained quiet to let Adria absorb that information. After a few moments she only replied with one word, “Why?”

  “Artificial Mega Stones. Lysandre has figured out a way to make them.” I looked down at my hand, flexing my fingers a bit. “I just had one explode on me. I don’t know if it was faulty, designed that way, or incompatible with my upgraded Key Stone…”

  She seemed to perk up when I mentioned an upgraded Key Stone, which was understandable because that was pretty big news. But she was professional and stayed on topic. “So he’s taking bribes?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know that wasn’t a natural Mega Stone.”

  Her face turned into a scowl, though I knew it wasn’t aimed at me. “That’s why you didn’t want him involved in the Flare Raid?” I had suggested during discussion to keep him out of the loop, as well as a few other people that I was suspicious of.

  “I never had concrete evidence. But…” I paused, thinking through how to word what I wanted to say. I should have organized my thoughts more on the ride over than worry about things. “Something felt off. He did a whole lot of things for me, seemingly without wanting anything in return, and then pressured me to join the Association as an Expert. I just wanted to be a Trainer.”

  She leaned back a bit, blinking at me. Clearly more caught off guard by that statement than the idea Sycamore might be part of Team Flare. “What?”

  I laughed softly, and nodded. “I didn’t have any sort of grandiose plans. I just wanted to explore the world, and make friends with Pokemon.”

  “But instead, he went above and beyond to help you so that you would feel indebted to him…” she mumbled.

  “And then made becoming an Expert look like my only path,” I finished her thought, nodding. “Come to find out later that I had a few other options, although none of those are as respected or lucrative, none of them would have tied me to the Association.”

  Her brow furrows as she nods a bit. “That is suspicious.”

  “And now I find out that the reason the Flare base in Geosenge was empty, is because Sycamore ‘accidentally’ let Lysandre know that people had found out about the Ultimate Weapon.” I made exaggerated finger quotes when I said the word accidentally.

  She punched the arm of her chair. “Damn it! He’s the reason we practically got nothing?!” she shouted.

  Cara jolted awake and tried to get to her feet, but I put an arm around her and held her down. “I don’t know if he did it on purpose, but it’s definitely his fault.”

  “Ugh!” She threw her hands up into the air before slumping back into her seat. There was a few seconds of silence. “Wait, when did you find all this out?”

  “Just before coming here,” I said with a vague wave of my hand. “I went to him because he said he got me some Lucarionite.” Her eyes flicked to Cara for a moment before returning to me. “It exploded. And I asked him where he got it, and apparently it was from Lysandre Labs. And then I realized that he was trying to keep me at the lab.”

  “You think he told Team Flare you were there?” she asks.

  I shrugged. “Or the Association. They’re apparently really mad at me for socking Wulfric.”

  She scoffed. “It was deserved.” She paused. “So that’s why you came here?”

  “It was the safest place I could think of around here. Well, technically my first thought was the Pokecenter, since I know the Joy’s would protect me. But all of you Jenny’s have also been really helpful, and you’re more trained for combat if things turn nasty.”

  She seemed to think about what I said for a moment before nodding. “Makes sense. Glad to know the police are high on your list.”

  I wobbled my hand a bit in the air. “More-so the Jenny Clan, rather than the police.”

  The slight smile on her face had started to turn into a frown. “The Jenny Clan are the police.”

  Immediately I put up my hands. “I don’t mean to offend or anything. Just that I trust Jenny’s more than the police.”

  She let out a huff as she folded her arms. “Okay, I guess I can accept that.”

  There was a moment of silence, before I cleared my throat. “So uh… Can you give me a ride to Valerie’s Gym?”

  Lucario - The group mom, battered and out of action

  Lucario - Craves violence, busted arm and out of action

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Liepard - Big hungry cat

  Houndour - Just a little pup

  Houndoom - Bit of a space case

  Mightyena - Super serious

  Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel