Pulling up to the Laverre Gym in the back of a police car probably looked concerning to everyone around. Especially when I actually got out. I was starting to think that all of the weird looks I was getting weren’t because of Cara.

  Adria beat me to helping Cara out of the car. “You need to take it easy, too,” she said firmly.

  I just chuckled a bit, putting up my hands as I took a step back, wincing slightly as the action pulled on some of my stitches. “Alright. Fair.”

  Thankfully, as we made our way towards the building I no longer had a limp.

  The moment we opened the door, I watched as Allie vaulted over her desk and sprinted across the room towards me. Before I had a chance to even say anything, she grabbed hold of my coat and started dragging me. “Quick, this way. There’s Association people here looking for you.”

  I frowned and glanced back at Adria who just sighed and helped Cara to follow after us.

  Allie led us through a few doors, noticeably not towards the training rooms. “They’re interrogating Valerie right now.”

  “Why?” Adria asked, and I didn’t even have to look at her to know she was frowning.

  “Somehow they figured out Jace has been staying here. And-”

  “Is the wolf pack alright?” I interrupted. I knew exactly what would happen if a bunch of people they didn’t know came in. Especially when Valerie had no way of controlling them, since I kept all of their pokeballs in my bag. They didn’t trust anyone else having them.

  “They’re fine. The Association hasn’t been made aware of them,” Allie assured. “And your other Pokemon are with them.”

  Suddenly Adria foisted Cara onto Allie. “I need to leave before they find out I’m here,” she said hurriedly, before turning and running back the way we came.

  Allie did her best to support the sudden weight of a Lucario, but thankfully Cara could mostly stand on her own. Though the jostling from the exchange seemed to have disorientated her a bit.

  We ducked into a room, which I realized was a similar sort of staging room to the one back in Snowbelle’s Gym but much nicer. Allie carefully helped Cara sit down in a rather plush looking chair, which I immediately noticed the canine sag into with an almost pleased look on her face. Must be a really comfortable chair.

  “I’m texting Valerie that I had to step away from the front,” Allie said as she pulled out her phone. “That’s the code we decided on for when you showed up.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “So you all just…expected to have to hide me from the Association?"

  She seemed to pause, glancing at me. “They are treating you with more hostility than they are Wulfric. Delphine said one of her cousins that works in Lumiose overheard what’s going on. He’s apparently living it up in some swanky hospital room. No guards or anything. From what she heard, they’re treating him like he’s the victim. So don’t expect him to get properly punished.”

  A frown crept onto my face. “I should have expected that, but it’s still annoying to hear.”

  “Even though Diantha confiscated his Pokemon and he got temporarily suspended, it looks like that’s all the punishment he’s going to get,” she said with a huff as she slumped into one of the other seats.

  “So why is the Association trying so hard to get their hands on me? It really feels like they’re desperate for some reason. They even roped Sycamore into trying to trap me in his lab,” I said as I leaned against the wall rather than sitting down. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that’s what happened, but it was the narrative I was rolling with.

  “No idea,” she replied, throwing her hands into the air. “Hopefully Valerie can figure it out.”

  “They’re picking on her because she’s the newest Gym Leader,” I commented with a frown. “Not just because we’re friends.”

  She nodded, clearly pissed. I had learned early on that Allie was extremely protective of Valerie. At first I had thought it was because the girl had a crush on her boss, but it was actually because Allie thought of herself as an older sister. Although I was fairly certain Valerie was older than her.

  “I need to get back to the front,” she said as she stood. “Valerie or I will come get you when the coast is clear.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said with a nod.

  She hesitated at the door, looking at me for a moment. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  A snort escaped me and I nodded. “I’ve been worse.”

  “That’s not reassuring,” she grumbled before the door closed.

  I moved over and sat down beside Cara, who I realized had fallen asleep. I looked at her for a moment before settling into the seat, trying to relax.

  Eventually, the door opened to reveal Valerie. She sighed when she saw me and then seemed to tense when she got a better look at me. She seemed to struggle to keep from asking the obvious question. “They’re gone,” she said instead.

  “Any idea why they’re trying to catch me?” I asked as I stood, moving to help Cara get up. The lupine grumbled at me, clearly annoyed at being woken. Injured Cara was a grumpy Cara.

  “I’m not sure, but I heard one of them use the term ‘off leash’ so it’s probably not a good thing,” she said with another sigh. “Mostly they just pestered me with questions about what you were doing here so often, and why you would have such a hostile relationship with Wulfric.”

  I helped Cara towards her, wanting to get back to all the other Pokemon. “And? What did you say?”

  “I told them you use our training facilities a lot, as my thanks for the Hydreigon incident,” she explained as she helped me with Cara, who was still half asleep. “As for the hostilities… I told them that the only thing I know of is you and my uncle don’t get along, and Wulfric and him are friends.”

  I nodded a bit.

  “And then they started questioning my gym practices,” she grumbled. “Apparently my uncle already got to them. While on paper that old man lost a lot of pull, he still has a lot of people who owe him favors. I think it’s both him and Wulfric calling in favors to paint you in a bad light.”

  “Makes sense,” I said with a sigh.

  “From what Diantha told me, the Association is pressuring the League to assist them with this bullshit.” We pushed into the large training room, and all eyes immediately fell on me and Cara.

  “Have they seen the video?” I asked and was knocked clean off my feet by two dolls and a cat. I didn’t hit the ground, as Banette managed to catch me before I landed. “Oof.” I winced slightly as she put pressure on some of my bruises.

  Banette proceeded to carry us towards the rest area.

  “I can walk,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. Essy and Mikyu were clinging to me. Sliggoo hopped up as well, apparently also having charged over, but the other three had beaten her there. I released everyone that I was carrying in pokeballs; Rio and Dee immediately moved to take Cara from Valerie while I put Eevee onto my shoulder. All of the Pokemon seemed amused at my rather hapless situation. Keo wandered away, apparently wanting some alone time. While all of the hostility seemed to be gone from the ice vulpine, she seemed now to just mostly be in a daze and kept quiet. I really needed to talk with her later.

  “To answer your question, yes. Everyone’s seen it,” Valerie said as she left the room, closing the door behind her. Everyone in the wolf pack was either crowding around me or Cara, talking and asking if they were okay, or numerous other questions. I was petting and assuring the three on top of me that I was alright.

  I glanced at Banette, who was holding me up by a few Shadow Claws. I had no idea she was that strong. She also did not look happy. Her zipper mouth that I thought was permanently stuck in a smile was curved downward into a frown.

  Reaching out, I gently placed my hand on top of her head. She looked up at me, and I smiled at her. I still didn’t understand the little doll, but I knew that she was very caring in her own way. Her smile slowly returned and she pressed her head into my hand.

  Liar was following from a distance, clearly concerned but feigning nonchalance, while the three dogs were practically running circles around Banette. It was honestly rather endearing to see all the different ways they cared.

  When I was finally set down into a chair, a certain Lucario shaped doll was attempting to pull what remained of my coat off of me. I chuckled a bit as I helped her. “Sorry to interrupt your current project, Mikyu, but would you mind fixing my coat?”

  She bundled it all up, nodding vigorously. “Of course,” she said, and immediately ran off with it, Banette quickly following after her. They had turned one of the tables into a sort of tent, draping a blanket over it to hide what was underneath. That was something they did in the other training room as well. It honestly looked darker than it should underneath there; light seemed to avoid it. The space was permeated with ghost energy, my knowledge supplied, which meant a powerful ghost type was there. I wondered if it was caused by Mikyu or Banette, or both.

  The one who reacted more than I thought they would was Essy. She was being oddly demure, gripping my shirt as she pressed her face against my chest. I knew the little cat wasn’t stupid, just a bit of a bean loving goofball, so it might be really hard for her to see me like this. Sliggoo seemed content to just sit on my lap and cling to me. And around my feet was a sea of canine Pokemon.

  Dee suddenly forced her way in. “Let me change your bandages,” she demanded as she gently grabbed my arm.

  I huffed a bit but nodded. Blood had seeped through in some places. “Hopefully I didn’t tear any stitches…”

  Almost everyone seemed to watch as she carefully unwrapped my arm. As I feared, some of my stitches had torn. Also, dang was my arm covered in bruises. Dee just grumbled a bit as she started to use Heal Pulse, and a lot of the bruising faded. A lot of the more minor cuts also closed and I wondered why we hadn’t just done that earlier.

  “Why did I need stitches if you could just do that?” I mused aloud.

  “I can only do so much,” she grumbled, which seemed to be true. Sure it made things better, but nothing really went away. I could also see sweat trickling down Dee’s forehead. “You’ve gotten a lot of natural healing, and rested, so it makes healing the rest easier.”

  “So my own energy plays a part in how well you can heal me?” I questioned and she nodded. That did explain why it didn’t seem possible to just infinitely heal a Pokemon. I had thought it had something to do with stimulating the regeneration of cells rather than something magical, but now I was realizing that it was so effective because of my internal dark energy. That would explain why Dee could heal me better than any Pokemon could heal other people. Also explained why Rio and Cara were out of commission from overusing energy.

  Which brought me to another thought; Hex Maniacs. Diantha had brought them up rather casually, but honestly I hadn’t even realized that they existed, or were an actual thing. Were they people who had dark or ghost type energy? I should probably try and find out.

  All of the cuts had scabbed over now, and a lot of the bruising was gone. Dee still insisted on wrapping the arm, just in case, and I didn’t argue.

  I spent a few hours assuring the wolf pack and everyone on my team that I was okay. Once they were satisfied that I was telling the truth, most of them dispersed. However, Hate remained at my feet, staring up at me expectantly. I really thought that she was the smartest of all the Pokemon in this room, or at least one of the most observant.

  With a sigh I took a deep breath and leaned down towards her. “Do you know who Malva is?” I asked softly.

  Her brow furrowed, and she nodded. “She’s an Admin.”

  “She’s also an Elite Four member.” I could see the way that Hate’s hackles rose, but she otherwise didn’t react, waiting for me to continue. “Do you think she’s evil?”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. Slowly her mouth closed and she seemed to really think about the problem. It looked like she was really struggling with the question, but eventually - much to my surprise - she shook her head no. “No… I don’t think she is…”

  “And why is that?” I prompted, wanting to know how she came to that conclusion.

  Her eyes got a sort of faraway look, clearly remembering something. “She used to sneak all of us treats. Little bits of food when we were going through… conditioning, they called it,” she said wistfully. “She wasn’t kind, but it was little things. Extra scraps of food. A smile. Drawing away the attention of the more brutal instructors when they started to go too far…”

  “Do you think she can be redeemed?” I asked. While I wanted Malva to be on the right path, I had to admit that I knew almost nothing about her. I’d had my ass handed to me several times now expecting what I knew from the games or anime to hold true, after all. This was something they would need to decide on.

  Hate seemed to focus back on me, her head tilting slightly. “Redeemed?” she questioned.

  I hesitated a moment, trying to think of how to word it in a way that she would understand. “Do you think… She can be part of the wolf pack?”

  She had a contemplative look on her face as she mulled over the question. Again she surprised me with her response. “Why wouldn’t she be?”

  A snort escaped me. “Okay. Fair.” I reached out to rub at her head, and she pressed into the contact. Sometimes I was disappointed that Hate didn’t want to come with me, but I understood her reasoning. “Which leads me to my other news. She is going to be here tomorrow.”

  Her entire body tensed and she stared at me; I could practically see her pupils dilate. “Here? Why?”

  “Because like hell am I going to sit and do nothing while the Flare raid takes place,” I said with a bit of a laugh, rubbing her head more to try and get her to relax. “I have a plan, but things might turn violent. And if they do, I want all of you to be prepared, okay?”

  “She…is someone on the same level as Miss Diantha, yes?” she questioned.

  “Not quite, but almost,” I said with a bit of a smirk. They usually referred to Diantha quite respectfully, which I always found amusing.

  She seemed to think about it for quite some time as I continued to scratch behind her ears. “We will be ready. Numbers will be our strength.”

  I nodded and gave her a few pats on the head. “Exactly. She may be strong, but even Diantha said she’s not sure she could take the wolf pack.”

  That actually seemed like the right thing to say as she sat up a bit straighter and nodded. “While I hope we do not have to… We shall fight if we must.”

  Again I nodded. “I…really hope we don’t have to.”

  ~

  It was just after noon that I approached Keo. She had been keeping her distance from everyone, lost in her own head. Or maybe she was brooding? Hard to tell. But I swore if I didn’t do anything soon she was going to bore a hole through the wall with how hard she was glaring at it.

  Sitting next to her, keeping her out of arms reach so that she would feel less threatened, I couldn’t help a grunt as some of my bruises ached. “Feel like I’m getting old again,” I grumbled.

  While I was hoping for maybe even a chuff or some sort of noise at my joke, she just looked at me.

  Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the ice stone and placed it on the ground between us. “Keo… I am so sorry for what I said,” I began and she just looked at me quizzically. “I messed up.” I licked my lips as I tried to figure out the right order to say things. “Usually I’m a lot better with words, but I was tired, upset, and angry, and… I nearly died. And I took it out on you, which is not fair or right. So I’m sorry.”

  She seemed to relax the more I spoke, and only then did I realize how stiff she was. But she didn’t reply.

  So I continued, “You weren’t making it easy, but I should have been more patient with you. And I should have never talked about sending you away. You are part of this family, and I am so sorry that I made you feel like you weren’t.”

  Her head drooped, and I could see the tears forming in her eyes. “I… I should have just talked with you…” She sniffled. “You’ve been… so kind… and so patient. And I’ve been so damn stubborn. It’s no wonder that I was tossed out."

  “Hey, none of that. You didn’t do anything wrong there,” I said softly and held out a hand to her. It was an offer that I wasn’t going to make her take.

  Much to my relief, she did, shifting forward to press her head against my hand. I gently rubbed her fluffy head as she moved closer and closer until she had pressed her face into my stomach and began shaking with sobs. Poor little ice princess was such an ugly crier, but I didn’t mind.

  It took her a few minutes before she calmed down enough to speak. “So we…both really messed up…”

  I smiled as I rubbed her back. “Nothing was done or said that can’t be forgiven.”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

  “I’m sorry too,” I replied softly, continuing to gently rub her back.

  It took several minutes before she calmed down, and I pulled out a washcloth to clean up her face. She didn’t really complain about it this time, but she huffed a bit of icy breath at me when I was done. And then she sat against me in silence, staring at the stone.

  There was clearly quite a lot of hesitation, but this was her choice. She said she wanted this, so I had gotten her what she needed. But even after several minutes, she was still just staring at it, lost in thought. It was almost fifteen minutes before she finally spoke, “Do you…think I’m ready?”

  I looked down at her, seeing the apprehensive look on her face. She seemed absolutely lost, so I answered truthfully. “No.”

  She fell silent again for a few moments. “Why?” she asked so quietly that I almost couldn’t hear her.

  “Do you know what an Alolan Ninetales energy typing is?” I questioned rather than answering her. She looked up at me, finally tearing her eyes away from the ice stone. “It’s ice and fairy. Do you know any fairy moves, Keo?”

  She turned away to stare at the ground. “Yes…”

  “Do you ever use them?” I pressed.

  “No…” she mumbled.

  “You are too focused,” I said softly, rubbing her back again. “Your manipulation of ice energy is incredibly impressive, but you’ve thrown away every other thing you could do.”

  She just nodded, eyes fixed on the ground.

  “It isn’t a bad thing to be focused, and hell you could be brilliant with just ice, but that is limiting your potential, and I think you were doing it for the wrong reasons.” I kept my voice soft as I explained things. “You could use it now, and it would be an incredible spike in your strength, and you would be not only beautiful but powerful.”

  “Or?” she questioned softly.

  I smiled down at her, but she was still staring at the ground. “Or you could wait. Train other energy types, especially your fairy energy, and get an even bigger boost to your strength.”

  “And you’d tell me?” she looked up at me, though it was just out of the corner of her good eye. “When I was ready?”

  “Of course,” I said softly as I ran my fingers through the poof of hair on top of her head and she pressed against my hand. “I’m sure you could get to that level in just a few months if you focused.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  I heard a soft ping from my phone, and pulled it out. I had a message from Emma. ‘Jason, I just got home. What’s happening?’

  What to tell her? ‘A lot.’ I replied, ‘Glad to see you’re awake.’

  ‘Thanks. Kaitline is filling me in on a few things.’ There was a few seconds before I got another message, ‘Why is the Association so upset with you?’

  ‘Watch the battle between me and Wulfric.’ I responded simply.

  It was nearly an hour before I got a response. ‘Okay, well, that’s fucked up. Why are they going after you?’

  Glad I wasn’t the only one confused about that. ‘No idea.’

  ‘I’m going to make some calls and try to figure things out.’ And it was about twenty minutes before I got another message. ‘Okay. Do not reply or accept any calls from anyone in the Association.’ A beat. ‘Except me.’ Another message, ‘Please respond to me.’ Followed by another, ‘I’m still trying to figure things out.’

  ‘Okay, Emma. How are your Pokemon?’ I sent, absentmindedly petting Keo who was still deep in thought.

  It was quite a while before I got a response. ‘They’re fine. A bit stir crazy from not being able to see me often, but okay.’ There was a pause. ‘Thanks for helping Kaitline with them.’

  ‘Of course. So what do you know of the situation?’

  ‘Not a lot. Wulfric is suspended until next season. Without pay. You’re suspended as well, which I cannot figure out why. And when I asked they said protocol which is complete crap because there is no such protocol.’

  It was interesting finding out I was suspended as well. ‘Does that mean I won’t be paid?’

  ‘Probably not. I’ll see what I can do.’ came her reply. ‘The fact that you’re also managing to avoid all attempts at contact is spurring them to push to have you removed from your position.’

  My brow arched. ‘They want to revoke my Pokemon Expert status?’

  ‘Which they can’t do. It’s like being a Pokemon Professor. Unless you are proven incompetent, and all the Professor’s who nominated you withdraw their endorsement, which they tried and failed to do, they can’t revoke anything.’

  It was a bit worrying to find out that they had tried to fire me, but I guess it was to be expected. ‘Well that’s good to know.’

  ‘What’s weird is some of the reports I’m reading… Have you really been out of contact since we last talked?’

  A bit of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. ‘No one’s contacted me.’

  Her reply made me laugh, ‘???????’ Followed by ‘What do you mean no one’s contacted you???? Who’s your Liaison?’

  ‘You are.’ I replied simply.

  I didn’t get a reply to that.

  Suddenly Keo took in a deep, shuddering breath and then nodded. “Okay…” she said with a nod. “Okay, yeah. I… I think I can do this.”

  I looked down at her. “Are you sure? That means no more ice moves unless I say otherwise,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.

  She looked up at me in confusion. “None?”

  “Almost none,” I said. “We’ll do them occasionally so you don’t get rusty, but we need to do another run through of all the non-ice moves you can do, okay? Since you only showed me the ice ones.”

  It took a moment before she nodded. “Okay…”

  And damn was I annoyed all over again when she demonstrated all the other moves she knew. She knew so many moves, but she was bad at all of them. However, it was when we got to her fairy type moves that I actually got frustrated, though I did my best not to show it. “Was your father a Sylveon or from the Primarina line?” I asked when she was done and we sat back down.

  Her head tilted to the side. “He’s a Sylveon,” she confirmed, her brow furrowed. “How did you know that?”

  “Because you know both Baby-Doll Eyes and Moonblast,” I said with a sigh. “Which are both egg moves-” I paused, unsure if she would know that term since it was just a theory. “They’re moves that you can’t normally learn. But since you know both, and weren’t taught them, I assume they’re egg moves.”

  She still seemed a bit confused, but nodded. “Yeah, he’s a Sylveon. My mother always said she liked having him around because he knew what he was doing with those ribbons, whatever that means.”

  I coughed a bit, turning away. “Alright. Well, with those two moves you’re definitely going to want to build up your fairy energy a lot before evolving. I also want you to work on your steel type energy, and we’re going to have Rio and some of the Houndoom teach you Iron Tail.”

  “Why Iron Tail?” she asked.

  It was a question I was expecting. “Because you have four of them, and when you evolve you’ll have seven,” I explained simply. While I hoped evolution would help her out, unfortunately I had been told not to expect it to fix her missing appendages. Chances were good it would heal the little remaining damage in her eye and cause most of her scars to fade, but that was all, and Joy had said I shouldn’t get my hopes up for more. I should look into prosthetics.

  Her brow furrowed a moment, before she looked over at some of the other Pokemon nearby and realization seemed to dawn. “Oh! I have way more tails than everyone else,” she said, actually sounding quite pleased at this revelation. Her pleasure was very notable as those tails were actually wagging, which was something I didn’t think I’d ever seen her do.

  “Exactly. I have some other things I want you to work on, but we’ll get more into those details when we start doing actual training. Right now, your first task is to learn Iron Tail, okay?” I asked, smiling a bit.

  She nodded enthusiastically, hopping up to her feet. “Okay!” And before I could say anything else, she shot off.

  With a soft laugh under my breath, I picked the ice stone back up and put it in my bag. The drastic switch in attitude was honestly a bit worrying, and I was going to have to keep an eye on her mental stability.

  At least we both seemed to feel better about the situation.

  ~

  The next day was rather uneventful, and I spent most of it watching Keo learn Iron Tail from Hate. Rio was annoyed she couldn’t help, as Dee had stepped in and shut that down really quickly.

  I also got my first view of the extent of Cara’s injuries as Dee changed her bandages.

  The sight made my stomach twist.

  Most of her left side from the stomach up was badly burned, and all the fur burned away. The burn traveled down her arm to just past her elbow, and nearly reached her other arm going in the other way. Some of her chin on the left side was also burned. The rest of her stomach, arm, and the left side of her face also showed signs of being burned, but not as badly. She had at least turned her head before being struck, so there was hardly any damage to the right side of her face.

  Looking at the wound I could practically see where the center of the Hyper Beam had struck; directly in her left pectoral. The proximity to the center is actually why her chest spike didn’t also break like the one on her paw. Which was an entirely different thing to look at. It was rough, like when a rock is split in half. She seemed unbothered by the loss of the spike, it was the lack of being able to use that hand that irked her. It still shook violently if she tried to do anything with it besides let it sit limply.

  Rio also got a change of bandages, and seemed to have the beginnings of what looked like a few scars running down her arm. The scars were jagged and chaotic. The canine thought they were cool, and was extremely disappointed when Dee explained that they would fade pretty quickly.

  It was just after noon when Emma started texting me again. ‘Hey, so you’re in contact with the Mewtwo thing, right?’

  I hesitated a moment before replying, ‘Yes.’

  ‘Cool. Cool cool cool.’ There were a few seconds after that response before I got another, ‘Could you explain to it that it can’t just blow up a hospital and attack people?’

  I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. ‘I’ve already had a talk with them about that. They felt really bad about putting you all in a coma and just wanted to make sure you all were alright.’

  Several minutes passed before I got a reply, that was a simple, ‘Oh.’

  I was considering asking her about what was happening in the Association, but her next reply caused me to stop.

  ‘So, I’ve been suspended.’ she sent and I just stared at the message for a moment. ‘They said they’re not blaming me, but they’re clearly blaming me.’

  ‘Sorry.’ I replied.

  ‘It’s fine. Just means I don’t have to help them.’ I could practically hear the smug tone in the text. ‘Felt really good when they told me I was suspended, and then asked me to hand over your contact information and I told them no.’

  A snort escaped me. ‘Really?’

  ‘Well, specifically I told them “As per regulation 287.4 section eight, a suspended Association employee is prohibited from doing anything related to their position. Which includes the handover of information to any other party.” which was a real fun way of saying fuck you I don’t have to do what you tell me.’ She followed it up with a smiley face.

  ‘Thanks.’ I replied.

  ‘Of course. Wouldn’t’ve handed over anything anyways. Some really shady stuff happening. Apparently there’s been a big upsurge in police activity, and the Association is freaking out because they’re being kept out of the loop.’

  That was interesting. I knew that Chief Cassandra had said she didn’t want the Association to be involved, but it sounded like they were keeping them completely in the dark. ‘Interesting.’

  ‘Anyways. Stay safe. And stay hidden. Things are weird right now, but hopefully it’ll all blow over in the new year.’

  ‘Thanks Emma. You too.’ I put my phone away as I thought about all the different things that were going on, before refocusing. Malva would be here tonight, and I needed to be ready.

  ~

  I was in the middle of making dinner for everyone, including the wolf pack, when Malva and Valerie showed up. Malva was a rather lithe woman with pink hair, and was at the moment wearing a pair of red rimmed glasses. What caught me off guard was the way that her face seemed to light up at the sight of the wolf pack.

  All of them looked over at her, a bit wary at seeing someone new. All of them were lined up, patiently waiting for their plate of curry.

  “Ah, you must be Malva,” I said with a bit of a smile as they approached my kitchen area.

  “And you’re the Pokemon Expert Jason, right?” she replied, returning my smile. “One of Kalos' most wanted. The man who has avoided both League and Association attempts to detain him. Cooking for us like he's not in trouble. Quite the setup you’ve got.” She was looking at the kitchen, but I saw the way her eyes flicked to the Pokemon nearby, lingering a brief moment longer on Essy and Diancie.

  “That’s me. But I prefer Jace.” I turned most of my attention back to my cooking, but I took note of the way all the dogs watched her, especially with how focused Hate was on her. "And, I'm not in trouble," I added as I tasted a bit of the curry.

  Malva nodded. “True. Honestly a lot of us are confused at the League and Associations actions. But... enough about that. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since Val suggested it. She’s mentioned a few times how good your cooking is.”

  Valerie huffed, giving Malva a little slap with her costume wing. “I have not.”

  I laughed. “Well, it’ll be a little bit. There’s a lot of Pokemon to feed.”

  Malva nodded as she leaned against the other side of the counter, looking at all the dogs patiently waiting. There was a rather interesting look on her face. A sort of fond expression on her face. She probably knew that they were Pokemon from Team Flare.

  However, I noticed the way her expression shifted as Valerie started to explain the wolf pack more. Specifically why we only had ones from more recent events. Malva seemed… unaware that they put down the Pokemon that they captured? Or perhaps she just never paid attention to what happened to them?

  “So how goes the progress on your reserve?” Malva asked, looking at me as I started to plate up portions for the dogs.

  “I dunno,” I admitted, “Everyone keeps me out of the loop.”

  “It’s going well,” Valerie said with a bit of a giggle. “Diantha refuses to involve him more than necessary because she finds it funny.”

  Malva joined in on her giggling. “That is so like her.”

  “Yeah, yeah…” I said with a huff. I straightened up a bit. “Mewtwo?”

  There was a sudden pressure as the Pokemon appeared in front of me. “Yes?” their voice echoed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Valerie and Malva both tense, hands going for their pokeballs. A few of the wolf pack also startled, but calmed when they realized who it was. They had been quick to adopt Mewtwo into the wolf pack when I explained their history.

  “Here,” I said as I handed them a plate. Their serious expression melted into one of excitement as they accepted the plate, sitting crosslegged in the air as they began to eat. “Let me know if you want more.”

  They nodded, slowly drifting away to watch the television. I still wasn’t sure if letting them do that was a good idea, but I wasn’t about to tell them no. It had been a spur of the moment thing the previous night to invite them to dinner and try to explain the world to them. When they showed interest in the Mystery Dungeon show, the first thing I did was explain to them that it was fake, and that those Pokemon were actors. I didn’t want another Keo problem.

  “Is…is that…” Valerie muttered, and I turned my attention back to the two of them.

  “Ah, yes. That’s the same Mewtwo,” I said as I started to hand plates out to the wolf pack. They accepted them eagerly, tails wagging as they moved out of the way so that they could start eating. “Officer Jenny asked me to uh… educate them a bit on how society functions after the incident at the hospital.”

  “I heard about that,” Malva said, seeming to relax, though her hand remained near her pokebelt. “It caused quite a scene, damage was severe, but injuries were minimal."

  “They don’t understand things,” I said with a bit of a sigh, letting Dee and Mikyu do most of the plate passing now that I needed to get back to cooking. “They probably would have starved by now if they hadn’t sought me out in the forest. They barely knew how to feed themselves when given food, and didn’t know what foraging was.”

  “And why were you given this task?” Malva asked, clearly curious about the feline Pokemon.

  “Because they trust me. Or at least I think they do?” I shook my head a bit. “Not sure.”

  There were a few moments of silence as I continued cooking. “Have they… told you what they did with the ex-Director?” Valerie asked softly. “I heard the Yellow Family say he was back with them, but apparently no one’s seen him.”

  I glanced at her and then laughed a bit. “From what they described, they sent him into orbit.”

  They both seemed to be confused at my comment and gave me rather funny looks. “Orbit?”

  I paused as I thought about how they had described it when I asked the previous night. “They flew up as high as they could, to the point that the ex-Director couldn’t breathe, and then threw him as hard as they could.”

  “Ah…” Malva made a soft noise, glancing at the Pokemon that was now joined by many others in front of the television.

  “I don’t think anyone will ever see him again,” I added with a bit of a nod.

  “Good riddance,” Valerie said with a huff, and I could tell that she was folding her arms in front of her.

  It seemed Malva could tell as well, because she giggled and nudged her. “He was a prick.”

  “Worse than that,” Valerie said with a shake of his head. “I can’t imagine how many people’s minds he twisted using that poor Mewtwo.”

  The two of them devolved into a conversation about all the messed up things that were probably the ex-Directors fault as I finished up the cooking.

  Finally all the Pokemon were fed, including Valerie's and Malva’s. Malva only had four Pokemon with her: Pyroar, Torkoal, Chandelure, and a Talonflame. It was a good thing that she didn’t have any huge Pokemon, but this was her Elite Four team.

  “Do you like spicy food, Malva?” I asked as I plated Valerie’s curry. She liked sweet curry the most, so I made sure to add more of that to her portion.

  “Not particularly,” Malva said with a laugh. “I’m actually more a fan of sour things.”

  I nodded a bit as I made hers a bit more sour. Of course, I couldn’t give her the straight sour curry, since I’d found people reacted poorly to the pure stuff. “Sour it is,” I said with a smile as I handed her the plate.

  She took it, clearly excited. And that first bite was always so entertaining to watch. The look of bliss that she had on her face. “Oh Arceus this is good. You should open a restaurant.”

  “Right?” Valerie said, already enjoying her curry. “And he feeds his Pokemon like this every night.”

  Malva choked softly, coughing a bit. “Every night?”

  “Diet is important,” I said as I handed Dee her plate, the last one before me to be served. “Pokemon are athletes, they need the proper nutrition, vitamins, and care. And it tasting good is a bonus.” I leaned against the counter with my own plate.

  “I mean, yeah,” Malva said with a bit of a laugh. “I pay close attention to that, and have frequent visits to the Joy's. Just, seems like a lot of work to do for so many by yourself.”

  “It is, but it’s worth it. My team is evidence of that,” I gestured at them with my fork.

  Malva made a thoughtful noise. “Mmm I guess that’s true.”

  “Don’t bother, Mal. I’ve seen him have this discussion a few times. Even heard him giving a lecture on proper diet and nutrition,” Valerie said, trying to stifle a giggle.

  “As expected of a Pokemon Expert,” Malva said, leaning in a bit with a smile. “I’m sure you know more about Pokemon than some Professors. At least that’s-”

  Suddenly all of our phones made an odd noise. Before any of us had a chance to look, the television suddenly cut, showing one of the oldest Jenny’s I’d ever seen. “Attention. We, the Jenny Clan, would like to apologize for the interruption. As of right now, Kalos has entered a state of lockdown. This is not a drill. Everyone is to immediately seek shelter and remain there until the lockdown is lifted.”

  Valerie’s attention snapped to me. “This-”

  But the Jenny continued. “Any League affiliated Trainers that wish to assist may approach a Jenny with their Identification out. Those who assist will be compensated in accordance with how much they help. All others should seek shelter and remain until the lockdown is lifted.”

  Checking my phone, I saw a similar message. As well as ‘Only Emergency Services are accessible at this time.’

  “It’s happening now?!” Valerie exclaimed. “What are we doing here?! We could be out there helping!”

  “I’m not allowed to participate,” I explained with a bit of a sigh. “And I’m going to need your help here.”

  She looked at me, puzzled. “What-”

  Valerie’s words were cut off by an odd little noise coming from Malva’s pocket. She hesitated, looking between the two of us. “That’s probably Lysandre,” I said calmly, taking another bite of my curry.

  Malva narrowed her eyes at me as she slowly pulled a Holocaster from her pocket, and it immediately lit up. “Malva,” came the distinct voice of Lysandre, as well as a holographic image of the man. “I need you to end your little date and head to the Lab immediately.”

  “What happened?” Malva asked slowly, glancing at the two of us.

  “The Lab has been seized by the Jenny’s. I’m on my way there now, but I fear I’m going to need your assistance,” Lysandre almost sounded reluctant to request help from Malva.

  “Alright,” she said hesitantly before putting the Holocaster away and looking up at me.

  I was in the process of slipping on the Z-Ring that I had been keeping in my pocket, just in case. Her eyes flickered with recognition as she saw it, clearly knowing what it was. “You have three options, Malva. You can stay here and give up on Team Flare, fight us, or leave and either join Lysandre in a desperate attempt to keep Team Flare going or flee Kalos.”

  Her eyes darted around, as most of my Pokemon and every member of the wolf pack was now standing in a semicircle around her, though not blocking her escape. If she wanted to run, I wasn’t going to stop her. I glanced at Valerie, who had taken several steps away from Malva, with a rather conflicted expression. Seems she hadn’t found out Malva was Team Flare. The only ones who didn’t come over were Mewtwo, Rio and Cara.

  “I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Malva said through gritted teeth. Malva's Pokemon looked tense behind her, clearly shifting slightly to get into better positions to protect their Trainer.

  “Of course you do. I just explained them to you,” I said as I picked my plate up to continue eating. “I’ve promised I would remain in the gym, and I’m not going to break that promise. So I won’t chase you.”

  She was silent for a moment before she sighed. “It’s not a choice. If I walk out that door, or fight you, I lose everything.” With a sigh, she took another bite of her curry, clearly accepting her fate. “This is actually convenient. Lysandre has been getting more and more unhinged lately, and I was thinking about ditching Flare anyways.”

  I nodded. “Good. I really didn’t want to have to fight you.”

  She sighed again. “You really planned all this out really well, didn’t you? Never would have thought you were a schemer.”

  “You would think that, wouldn’t you?” I said with a bit of a laugh as I rubbed the back of my neck. “Now that that’s settled, you can explain things to your girlfriend,” I said with a nod at Valerie.

  Malva seemed to freeze, her eyes flicking towards the other human in the room. It seems like she had forgotten Valerie was there. “Oh. Uh… Yeah. This is going to be an awkward conversation…”

  And it was. Oh Arceus that was an awkward conversation and I bailed on it quickly. I did hear the beginning of Malva’s explanation, that when she joined, Lysandre wasn’t anything like the man he is now. He was a bit jaded with society, but he wasn’t the complete madman that he was now. Interestingly enough, she blamed Xerosic on his drastic shift into thoughts of genocide.

  It was nearly ten in the morning the next day when the Jenny’s called off the lockdown. The old Jenny appeared on the television again, explaining the reason for the lockdown. She started by explaining that Team Flare had been found engineering a bio weapon, capable of wiping out all of Kalos. And then she just… kept listing things. Pokemon theft, trafficking in illegal substances and weaponry, and experimentation on both humans and Pokemon.

  As I was listening, Adria called me. “Jace. Where are you?” she asked immediately, and judging by her tone of voice she was well prepared to start lecturing me.

  I sighed. “At the gym, just like I said I would be. Jeez, do you not trust me or something?”

  She winced at the comment. “Sorry…”

  “It’s alright,” I replied with a smirk and a bit of a chuckle. “Your suspicions are well founded.”

  Adria just stared at me. “And what the hell does that mean?”

  “Well, while I didn’t break my promise of not leaving the gym, it just so happened that Malva came here to celebrate New Years,” I said with a smile.

  All I heard was a heavy sigh followed by the phone clattering to a desk. There were a few moments of silence before she spoke again, “Is the gym still standing?”

  “Oh we didn’t fight. Malva was more than eager to cooperate, in exchange for amnesty,” I explained as I leaned back in the chair I was sitting on.

  Again Adria let out a long, heavy, drawn out sigh. “Thank Arceus…”

  “So, how did it go?” I asked, eager to hear about the fruits of my labor.

  “Good. Almost perfectly,” she said as she picked the phone back up.

  “Almost?”

  “A few got away. Lysandre is in custody, but some of the other elite members, admins, and grunts escaped,” she said, clearly frustrated. “We had thought Malva was amongst them, but I’m glad that isn’t the case.”

  “What’s the public's reaction so far?” I asked, rubbing my chin.

  “Still mostly shock. Too soon to tell, but… damn. I can’t imagine anyone supporting Team Flare after we put everything out.” She closed her eyes as she slumped in her chair. Then, as if an afterthought, she added, “Sycamore has been put under house arrest.”

  “Was he part of Team Flare?” I questioned, now a bit more focused.

  But she shook her head. “No. Not as far as we can tell. But he and Lysandre had a lot of contact with each other, so we have to investigate.”

  I nodded a bit. “What about Association or League ties?”

  She shook her head. “Practically none. Or at least, none that weren’t above board. The Association and League only dealt with Lysandre Labs, never with Team Flare. And everything is well documented, like they knew some day it would all fall apart and were covering their asses.”

  “So they just left Team Flare alone in exchange for working with the Labs,” I guessed, and she nodded. “Annoying.”

  “Especially because nothing was illegal. The Association is throwing a fit about the Jenny’s overstepping our authority, but the League is entirely on our side.” She looked at me for a moment. “Which I guess we have you to thank for that. Diantha didn’t even hesitate to join when asked. What did you tell her?”

  “Nothing,” I said truthfully. “I just asked if she would help when asked. Glad she did.”

  “The fight between her and Lysandre leveled three blocks… I can only imagine how bad it would have been if she wasn’t there.”

  I felt a shiver go down my spine. “Lysandre was that strong?”

  “He used some kind of weird device on his Pokemon. It ended up killing them…” her voice trailed off as she got a rather distant look. “The only reason Diantha was able to win was because it was a four on six… But after the fight, Lysandre’s Pokemon seemed to just… burn out before we could even get them to a Pokecenter.”

  A slow breath escaped me as I stared up at the ceiling. “Damn…”

  “And he didn’t even care,” she said and I could hear the tenseness in her voice. “He was just… He was disappointed in them. Like… Like it was their fault.”

  “So he never finished it, I guess,” I muttered and I saw out of the corner of my eye the confused look she gave me. “Let me guess, the device was small, pierced their skin, with an odd artificial Mega Stone?”

  She continued to stare, but nodded. “Yeah…”

  “Then it’s a similar device to the Hydreigon incident,” I explained.

  She frowned and then sat up, typing something on a computer in front of her. “Ah… Yeah, here it was. Stolen from the Research Center?” she questioned.

  So it was a Research Center. Good to know. “Yes. Sycamore said it went missing. And the Pokemon, it’s Trainer and the kids' father all went missing.”

  “I’m flagging it as a Flare Incident,” she said with a sigh. “Just one more thing on a very, very, very, very, very long list.”

  A snort escaped me. “Well, at least it’s mostly dealt with.”

  She nodded. “Team Flare will have a really hard time doing anything now.”

  “And that’s a good thing," I replied as I relaxed into the chair. I wasn't entirely glad that I had been sidelined, but if Lysandre had pressured Diantha that much, I wouldn't complain. At least, not too much.

  End of Arc One: Snuffing the Flare

  End of Arc One: Snuffing the Flare. Bit of a short chapter to top off quite a bit of a long arc. Been a heck of an interesting journey, and I am finding out there are a lot of people who like to read but lack certain uh... skills that are fundamental for reading. Some of the public reviews and comments I've gotten on this fic show some pretty clear evidence of that. It doesn't really upset me, but it makes me a bit sad that they can't understand what's going on. Makes me wonder if it's my fault that I didn't explain something right. But it's pretty obvious when someone just blatantly didn't even read something, or skipped/skimmed chapters. Still a bit bothersome, but oh well. I will never claim that I am a good writer, but I like to think I'm a good storyteller.

  Fun fact: the wolf pack was not in my original notes about this story. It wasn't until chapter 16, and I asked myself the question "Wait, what would happen to these Pokemon?" and then things got pretty dark as I ran with it. Ended up adding something like five more chapters to this arc than I intended, but I think it was a good thing. It added a whole bunch of good dogs, and the idea for the Pokemon Reserve. Also completely changed my plans on how Jace was going to deal with Team Flare, and I like this version so much better than the nonsense that I had. It's a lot more hands-off than the original idea, but it keeps the power gaps at a more reasonable level.

  Second Fun Fact: The original arc name was Drowning the Flare, cus there was gonna be a whole thing with Primarina using Oceanic Operetta on Lysandre Labs.

  Hope everyone likes how I write Pokemon battles, because the next arc is going to have so many of them. There won't be a break, so next arc will start on schedule.

  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