Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

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Ash followed the ten Dex Holders down the hall to the cafeteria, eavesdropping on their conversations.

"You know, I've been thinking," Green was saying to Red. "I think we need to get serious about our training again. We were really serious about intense training in the beginning, but we've been slacking lately. We can't let our guard down, especially now."

"I agree," Red said musingly. "But the reason we haven't been training hasn't gone away. All of the good training fields are outside, and we can't go outside during daylight. Can't risk them hearing or seeing us."

"But they're changing their tac –"

"Easy, boys, I've got your solution," Blue chimed in. Both boys looked at her skeptically. "I was on duty last night and I did some exploring. I found some pretty sweet training arenas downstairs. It's like a freakin' labyrinth down there. I mean, there's a good few, and I didn't even go that far underground. . ."

"Y'know," Yellow yawned to Crystal, "we've really got to get on fixing that healing machine. Lance and I can't do it all. I mean, it doesn't wipe him out like it does to me, but I'm just to t-t-tired all the time."

"Yeah, you've really gotta be alert," Crystal agreed. "We gotta fix the transporter, too. It's too bad that Professor Oak wasn't able to bring over hardly any of the other Pokémon when he first came. . ."

"I'm starving," Gold complained. "Why do they make us wait so freakin' long for dinner? It's like torture."

"They needed to wait for the Elite meeting to be over," Silver said, rolling his eyes, leaving the implied ending of 'you moron' silent.

"Stop complaining, Gold," Emerald ordered. "We're eating now. You need to be more disciplined."

"I'm with Emerald on this," Silver agreed. "You've got no self-control."

"I do too!"

"I finished your shirt," Ruby said, tossing the orange fabric he'd been working on at Sapphire. "Try to be more careful, will you? I'm running out of thread."

"Thanks," Sapphire said, holding up an orange T-shirt that had, until recently, had a huge rip down the front. "Wow, Ruby, you're good, I can't even tell it was ripped."

"Of course I'm good," Ruby said absently. Sapphire rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly as they walked. "Hey!"

"So," Sapphire began, turning to face Ash. She was now walking backwards down the hall. "You're good, obviously. You took down all of Drake's Gyarados, alone."

"Well," Ash said, glancing at Pikachu, "The training I did in the Sevii Islands with my Pokémon did us a lot of good."

"I'll bet," Ruby said.

"What do you train?" Sapphire demanded. "Like, apart from your Pikachu, what Pokémon have you got with you?"

"Um, I've got Pickahu, Staraptor, Infernape, Torterra, Floatzel, and Gabite."

"Huh. All Sinnoh Pokémon," Sapphire noted. "You from Sinnoh?"

"No," Ash answered. "Sinnoh's just the last region I traveled through."

"So you don't have a set six?" Ruby inquired. Ash shook his head. "That has its good side and its bad side, I suppose."

"How might it be bad?"

"Well, if you're used to switching your Pokémon around –"

"Which I wouldn't guess, 'cause you haven't tried to get any of your other Pokémon in the past two years," Sapphire inserted.

" – you wouldn't be able to, because the transporter's broken," Ruby finished as though Sapphire hadn't spoken.

"Bill's been trying to fix it, but no luck," Sapphire shrugged.

"Hey," Emerald hissed. "Zip it! Lance is trying to talk."

Ash hadn't even noticed that they'd entered the cafeteria. The room was packed to breaking point; he and the Dex Holders were barely inside the door. Lance stood, elevated somehow, at the front of the room.

"I've got some good news and some bad news," Lance began lightly.

"Bad news first!" yelled a familiar voice. Ash grew excited and began scanning the room for her.

"Alright," Lance said easily. "TTT is changing their tactics. While Karen and I made a loop – from here to Cinnabar and back – and we came across a team of Gyarados attacking a ship. Naturally, we looked into it. As you know, we've stopped using ships to transport supplies. Too easy to attack. But it wouldn't make sense for them to TTT to attack their own ships. . . And they didn't. They began an unprovoked attack on a ferryboat from the Sevii Islands."

The room broke out in distressed whispers at this. Clearly, attacking a Sevii ship was some kind of taboo. Why does it matter that it's a Sevii ship? Ash wondered, frustrated.

"Does it really matter that it was a Sevii Island ship?" Ash asked the people around him. Yellow nodded.

"The Sevii Islands are neutral. Like, they're not helping anyone, so no one should attack," she explained. "So the fact that TTT is attacking them means they've broadened. They're feeling confident, so they're going to try to get the Sevii Islands on their side."

"By attacking them?" Ash asked, confused. Yellow shrugged. "And what is TTT?"

"It's what we call Team Rocket, Team Aqua, and Team Magma," Yellow answered. "Stands for the Three Tyrannical Teams."

"Yeah, 'cause it's not like there was an easy acronym there," Gold added.

"There was," Silver disagreed. "You just thought that 'MAR,' 'RAM,' and 'ARM' were stupid."

"They are stupid," Gold insisted. "Oh no, ARM is attacking! You think people would take that seriously?"

"Shut up!" Emerald ordered.

"Furthermore, the Pokémon were attacking in the same style as Hoenn Elite Four's Drake," Lance continued. "Which leads us to assume that he's finally joined them, and he's taking action."

A chorus of groans rang through the vast room. Lance held his hand up for silence, which he got.

"I promised there was good news coming," Lance reminded them. "Though all of this new information about TTT and Drake is disturbing, some good came from discovering it. Apart from the fact that we know it now."

Lance paused.

"We met a boy on that ship," Lance said. "He fought the Gyarados valiantly. He showed a lot of talent. And he has agreed to help us fight against TTT!"

There was a cheer at this, as well as pronounced wonderings at who the newcomer was. Many of the Dex Holders were staring at Ash, who flushed.

"Who is it?" yelled that same familiar voice. Ash grinned. She was here!

"Easy, Misty," Lance smiled slightly. "You know I like a little bit of suspense."

"C'mon!"

"Ash? Can you come up here?" Lance called.

"Ash?" his name rang through the room. Some who spoke the name were confused, some excited, some dubious. Ash pushed his way through the crowd and made his way to Lance, who was just standing on a table. Lance pulled Ash to stand beside him.

"Ash!" several distinct voices yelled. "It's really you!"

The girl Ash had been looking for since he'd heard her voice sprinted to the front of the room, shoving people out of her way. She leapt onto the table and hugged him tightly. "God! I thought you were dead, Ash! No one's heard from you since it started. . . I thought. . . I thought. . . ," Misty cried into his neck. She pulled back and smacked his arm as hard as she could. "Never do that again!"

"Sorry, Misty," Ash grinned, ignoring the throbbing of his arm. Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulder into Misty's waiting arms. "Didn't mean to worry you."

"You didn't worry –"

"Thank God, thank God!" another voice screeched. Ash looked over Misty's head (his growth spurt finally put him about a head taller than her) and was swallowed by his mother's embrace. "Ash! You're alive!"

"Mom!"

"Hey, let them have their reunion in peace. Get some food," Lance told the room. They obliged. Lance jumped off the table and walked into the crowd. "Hey, Emerald, can I talk to you for just a sec?"

"Ash!" Ash turned and saw Brock hurrying to him, May and Dawn close on his heels.

"Hi, guys!" Ash exclaimed. They reached him, and he hugged his three friends one by one. "I've missed you all."

"Well, we all thought you were dead," May pointed out. "I think we win in the 'missing you' category."

"Where the hell have you been?" his mother demanded.

"Training in the Sevii Islands, mom!" Ash said. "You already knew that!"

"It's easy to forget details like that when you're at war," Dawn said tiredly. Ash looked at her. "Long time, no see, Ash."

War had clearly had its affect on Dawn. She barely even looked like herself. Her dark blue hair was longer than it had ever been, and it was tangled and dirty. She kept it tied back in a ponytail now. She had dark purple circles under her eyes, and she looked as though she'd traveled to the end of the earth and back. The happy-go-lucky glint that had always been in her eyes was gone, replaced by deep and obvious stress and misery. His other friends looked tougher, but not nearly so drastically changed. May still wore her hair in low pigtails, and Misty still had her side ponytail. The only obvious different Ash could see was that both girls looked as though they'd seen more of battle than they'd ever wanted to. Brock's hair was longer, and his face looked hardened, but otherwise he looked the same. His mother just looked exhausted.

"Dawn, are you alright?" Ash asked quietly.

"I'll leave you to catch up," Delia said. She hugged Ash again, and placed an arm around Dawn before she started to walk away. "But young man, you'd better find me later."

"I will, mom."

"Dawn?" Ash prompted once his mother had walked away. Dawn shrugged.

"I've. . . been better," Dawn answered, tears filling her eyes. May put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Her mother was found dead last week," May answered Ash softly. Dawn's shoulder's heaved, and she cried into May's shirt. Ash's mouth fell open in horror. "She went back to Sinnoh for something. . . Trip T found her. . . They knew she was on our side. . ."

"How. . .," Ash began in revulsion. He swallowed. "How can they be so cruel?"

"Th-that's not all of it," Dawn hiccupped, pulling herself back together. "They t-tortured her first. For information on us. Our headquarters. . . Our plans. . . She wouldn't give in, and she just c-couldn't t-take the st-strain. . ."

Ash was speechless. He hadn't guessed the war was that serious from how the Dex Holders were behaving earlier. I should have known, Ash thought angrily, grinding his teeth. I need to prepared.

"Dawn," Ash said hoarsely. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," Dawn whispered. "Me, too."

"What about the rest of you?" Ash asked, mentally preparing himself for the worst.

"Well, I made my parents take my brothers and sisters to the Sevii Islands when I knew this was starting," Brock stated. "They didn't want to go, any of them. But it's too dangerous here."

"And my whole family's here," May said. "Me, mom, dad, Max. . . And Ruby."

She said the last bit sounding very unsure of herself.

"He seems nice," Ash offered.

"Oh, he is," May said quickly. "Really, he's very nice. It's just that. . . I always had a big brother that no one told me about? There was always a brother I never got to meet? It was too much to handle at first. I couldn't talk to mom and dad for a while. . . Mostly dad, though. But it's better now. He spends almost all his time with his friends, but I see him sometimes. We're getting to know each other. . . Kind of."

"That's good, May," Ash said. May nodded and rubbed Dawn's arm. Ash glanced at Misty, who'd been very quiet. "How about you, Mist?"

"Well, I know my sisters are okay," Misty said, trying to sound matter of fact. "Daisy's here, somewhere. Probably with Bill, or someone. Violet and Lily are fine too, as far as I know."

"As far as you know?" Ash repeated, confused.

"Tell him the truth, Misty," Brock said. Misty narrowed her eyes at Brock.

"Violet and Lily are on the other side."

"What?" Ash gasped. "Your sisters? On their side?"

"Well, they're not very strong-willed," Misty admitted. "They'd rather be on the side with power. If they win, that is."

"It makes sense," Brock said to Ash, as May, Misty, and Dawn already knew. "If they win, Misty's sisters will be fine. If we win, they won't suffer as many consequences. If they win. . . Well, it won't be so good for us."

"They won't win!" Ash said fiercely. His friends looked at him pityingly. "What? We won't back down!"

"Ash, you've gotta be realistic," Misty said. "Optimism doesn't help us."

"There's no guarantee that we're going to have a happy ending," Dawn agreed. "Trust me, Ash. This is coming from the girl you knew as the eternal optimist. We could very easily lose this war."

"That doesn't mean we'll stop fighting, though," May assured Ash. "C'mon. I'm starving. Let's get some food."

- . - . - . -

Red watched as Ash and his friends wended their way through the cafeteria to get something to eat.

"What do you think of him?" Red asked in a low voice, nodding his head in Ash's direction. Green followed his gaze.

"I don't know," Green said honestly, folding his arms. "Gary's mentioned him to me a few times over the years. Apparently he's good. Good enough to beat Gary, at least. But I'm reserving judgment, at least until I see him battle."

"I like him," Blue said. She watched Ash with her chin in her hand. "He seems nice."

"You don't know him at all," Green scoffed. "You're going to trust your life with him 'cause he seems nice?"

"I didn't know you at all either, at first," Blue countered. "You've gotta give people a chance."

"Hypocrite," Green shot back. "You haven't given Karen a chance."

"That's different," Blue argued. "I have reason not to trust her. So does Silver. Hell, so do the rest of you! She worked for the Masked Man, have you forgotten that?"

"Trusting the wrong people right now can end in disaster," Ruby pointed out, cutting off what was sure to be a huge fight between Blue and Green.

"But look at that," Yellow inserted, pointing across the room the where Ash and his friends stood. "Brock and Misty both know him. We trust both of them. Ruby, your sister knows him, and – "

"Half-sister," Ruby corrected her. "And I don't actually know her that well."

"Puh-lease," Sapphire rolled her eyes. "When are you going to get over yourself? He didn't pick her over you."

"Excuse me, but –"

"Whatever," Yellow said. "Regardless, he's talking to Professor Oak, too. And we all definitely trust him. So we can trust Ash transitively. Besides, he seems like a good person to me."

"He didn't seem that bad," Silver agreed, surprising everyone. He looked at them one by one. "Oh, what? I know a lot of you thought that about my father at first. Even I did. And clearly he knows Team Rocket and how bad they are if he knows Giovanni. So, I'm with Yellow. We trust people that trust him. I think he's okay."

"Well," Sapphire said. "I'm going to try. To trust him, I mean. It's too risky not to."

"You've got that backwards," Gold disagreed with his mouth full. "It's too risky to trust him blindly."

"Gross," Crystal said to Gold. "Swallow your food. And I agree with Sapphire. We need to believe in the people that are on our side, 'cause God knows it's not as many as they have."

"What about you, Em?" Ruby asked the blonde boy. "You've been quiet."

"Well," Emerald said after a pause, each word measured. "I think that trusting him implicitly is dangerous. Because even though we trust people he knows, we don't know him at all. But I don't see that we have much of a choice. We have to trust him."

"So, Em, Saph, Chris, Yellow, Silver, and I are all gonna try to trust him. Why don't you four trust him?"

"I didn't say I didn't trust him," Ruby said. "Just have some reservations. 'Cause Em's right – we don't know him at all."

"And I think he's fine," Gold shrugged. "I was just pointing out that Saph was wrong."

"How kind," Sapphire said dryly.

"No problem," Gold said. "I agree with Ruby, though. I say trust him with reservations. We don't know him, it's true, but we gotta give him a chance to earn our trust."

"I'm not saying I'll never trust the kid," Green said. "But I'm taking my time to decide how much and how quickly I'll trust him."

"Red?" Blue prompted. "How about you?"

"Hmm?" Red hummed. He looked away from Ash and back at Blue. "Oh, I guess I'm just more paranoid than I used to be. It's nothing on Ash, specifically. It's just harder for me to trust new people now. Y'know?"

"Word," Gold agreed as he stuffed bread into his mouth. Crystal looked at him with distaste.

"You are disgusting," Crystal informed him. Gold shrugged.

"Yeah, but you like me," Gold winked. "So don't expect me to change any time soon."

"Ew."

"Oh, yeah!" Emerald said suddenly. Nine pairs of eyes flicked to him. "I forgot to mention earlier. We've got a meeting with Lance after dinner. Meets in one of those tiny conference rooms no one uses at nine."

"What? Why?" Yellow asked curiously. Emerald shrugged.

"He didn't say."

"Who's going to be there?" Ruby asked.

"Just us, I think," Emerald said. "And Lance."

"I hope it's good news," Sapphire said worriedly. "I just can't take any more bad news. . ."

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