Author's Notes – I decided to expand chapter four (Preparing for Departure), thus making two chapters: Proof (this chapter), and Fugitives (chapter five). Also, I will be updating this story less frequently, likely only once per week. Sorry.

\\\Chapter Four: Proof///

"Don't leave!" Adam yelled.

"Why not?" Stephanie yelled back, already at the edge of Shoal Island.

"Because –"

"Because why? Why should I listen to you – you're insane! I have had my entire life destroyed by you! I stole a ship – a Seagallop! I'm an illegal alien inside a country hundreds of miles from my own! All so you could chase after some delusion!"

"It wasn't a delusion!"

"How? How is it possible? You say you became a Cyndaquil, so tell me. How can one have such a change, eh? Like I said, it's impossible!" Stephanie screamed as she waded into the ocean surrounding Shoal. She was not an experienced swimmer, though the distance from Shoal to Mossdeep was less than one-fifth that from Quest Island to Trainer Tower, so she was more than likely to reach the city alive.

"I suffered the curse of the Ninetales," Adam lied.

Stephanie stopped wading and turned around. "Alright," she said, "you got me there. I suppose, if the legends are true…well, then yes, it is possible. But it's highly unlikely every legend is true. Besides, no credible sources claim there's a curse!"

"Sure they do. Just check your pokédex."

"Why would I –"

"I tell you what. If the pokédex has no information of a curse in it, then you win, and I'll go. You'll never here from me again, except for a large check you'll receive in the mail fully paying for all your debts," Adam offered. "On the other hand, if I am correct and there is a mention of the curse, then you have to join me, right up to Rayquaza. After that, you can go your own way. I don't care."

Stephanie considered this. On the one hand, she lost absolutely nothing if she was right, even if Adam was lying about the money. On the other hand, if she was wrong, she would get a chance to battle Rayquaza, supposing Adam was right about more than just the curse. Either way, she had very little to loose, so she accepted the challenge, and flipped out her pokédex.

"Ninetales, the fox pokémon," it said. "When a Ninetales evolves, its six tails merge into one, and then split again into nine."

"See? See?" Stephanie teased. "I told you–"

"Ninetales are often revered for their fur, which is used in coats," the pokédex continued. "This is both illegal and extremely dangerous, due to the 'Ninetales curse,' which affects anyone who touches one of its tails. The effects of the curse are currently unknown."

Stephanie was silenced, and it took her several seconds to think up a rebuttal. "This proves nothing!" she finally said. "Just because there may be a curse doesn't mean you did become a pokémon."

"Very well," Adam replied. "I suppose you are right. We did have a deal, but I'm willing to extend that. How about this: we go to Mossdeep, straight into the Space Center. If they're airing new footage on television that goes against my predictions, you can once again go, and I'll once again cover your debts. However, if I'm right, you once again have to come with me, no exceptions. Agreed?"

"That depends…what do you predict?"

"Rayquaza will be on the footage, battling two other pokémon. The finishing blow to Rayquaza will be an Absorb, yes, Absorb, used by a Treecko, preceded by a Flamethrower used by Cyndaquil. Rayquaza will appear to recover, but will then reconsider, and destroy the meteor."

Stephanie readily accepted. If any pokémon could defeat Rayquaza, it would have to be fully evolved and use some all-powerful move like Hyper Beam.

Twenty minutes later, they were walking through the doors of the Mossdeep Space Center. Immediately, Stephanie's smug vanished. All the trainers were gathered around the lone television in the building (all other screens were monitoring satellites).

"…shocking new revelations about the Citadark Meteor. Less than twelve hours after the so-called SPR theory was disproved in a multitude of laboratory-based experiments, new footage reveals the meteor actually being destroyed, by none other than Rayquaza. We now go live to the Canalave City Sinnoh National Archives, where we have Ronald Sterling, a professor of theology at Canalave University, will supply us with more information."

Ronald, a short man with a terrible haircut, appeared onscreen. "Rayquaza's appearance in the Citadark Footage has proven the existence of the most powerful pokémon to-date, one the legends say was second only to Arceus. Even more astonishing is the fact that, according to the satellite footage, Rayquaza was actually defeated in battle by two or more pokémon. Not only that, but the two pokémon were actually extremely common. One, a Treecko, appears in the footage for only a second before the image becomes obscured by a meteor, but appears to launch an Absorb attack."

'Is that right," the original newscaster said, the screen splitting to show both their images.

"Yes. Absorb, in case you don't know…"

Stephanie was amazed. After what seemed like an eternity of silence (it was really just five seconds), Adam took her aside.

'I told you!" he said.

Finally, Stephanie responded with, "So what if you predicted the battle? Just because you win the lottery doesn't mean you know the numbers before the drawing."

"Fair enough. But look back at the footage. Do you see anything unusual about the scenery, specifically the cloud the battle takes place on?"

Stephanie, for the first time, looked at the cloud. "Adam, all I see is a…no! That can't be right! It looks…it looks like…"

"Yep! It's your sister's gym. Don't you recognize me? I designed your sister's gym! Based off of the very image you see here! Surely, you've been inside the center room where your sister battles from. If you have, you must have looked at the ceiling directly over her head. If you have, you've seen the perfect-square of what appears to be fire, painted onto the ceiling. Tell me, what would fire be doing in a flying gym? Nothing – it's actually an image of the meteor, the only thing in the whole gym I painted myself! I designed the gym to model this –"

A chorus of "Shh"s silenced Adam, but he had made his point on Stephanie. Without another word, they both slipped outside.

"Alright! Alright! I get it! But let me ask you this – what do you plan on doing with this information?"

"I don't know! Right now, all I want to do is return to the Sky Tower."

"But you don't even know where to look!"

"Not yet, but I have a plan," Adam said as he walked back inside.

Stephanie returned to the Space Center to find Adam sneaking through a back door labeled "MISSION ARCHIVES: Authorized Personnel Only". Normally, she would not enter a door she was not permitted through, but she knew that if Adam got caught, she would loose all possibility of returning to the Sevii. Though it filled her with guilt, she ran through the door.

Stephanie found Adam at the end of the hall, who merely nodded to acknowledge her presence, and pointed at a security microphone (cameras had been banned in the Hoenn following a series of lawsuits). Adam returned his attention to a computer interface next to him, and rapidly began typing on the keyboard. Stephanie understood nothing until a familiar image popped up – the original meteor image.

"That's what we needed," Adam said, pointing to text beneath the picture:

Image OR5-1350.2: "Citadark "

Satellite Coordinates:

43 degrees, 12 minutes, 56 seconds North

64 degrees, 27 minutes, 11 seconds West

"You got the exact coordinates of this tower? How?"

'It was simple – all I had to do was guess the password, and the computer gave me any information I asked for."

"What was the password?"

"Space."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Now come on! We have to go!"

Adam ran out the door, but Stephanie stayed behind. After imputing a few more commands into the computer, she was satisfied, and followed Adam.

"What were you doing?" Adam said.

"I returned the screen to the password input. This way, no one knows we were here."

Adam and Stephanie ran out of the Space Center and returned to a walking pace, wandering from building to building. When they entered the gym, the scene was much like that in the Space Center, but with a more startling image on the TV. Two sentences were written in red on a black screen:

ATTENTION

This broadcast has been classified by the Hoenn Government.

Any attempts to view information in this broadcast is punishable by two months in jail.

Adam was shocked. Stephanie was shocked. The other trainers were shocked. Even the man dressed in all black was shocked, but he did nott show it. Instead, he calmly took a position at the back of the crowd, keeping careful watch on both Adam and Stephanie. He had followed them here from the Space Center, and witnessed something very disturbing. Careful not to draw attention to himself, he withdrew a micro-sized cellular phone.

The shaded figure approached Gateon Port when his cellular phone began to beep at him.

"Sir," a male voice on the phone said, "there's been an information leek. Two children appear to have learned of the Sky Tower, which means they could know about the lab. If they leave now, they're expected to be within ten miles of it in…just over a week, sir," the voice said, wincing at the end.

"I thought I told you to remove all the evidence!" he yelled.

"We're sorry, sir," the man on the other end of the line apologized, "but we classified all the information concerning the lab over three years ago."

"Then explain to me why two children have somehow determined the laboratory's location!"

"It's impossible! Perhaps they're just going after something else. Rayquaza –"

"Quiet! Don't give me any of this 'Rayquaza' garbage – if they were going after a Rayquaza, they would've just gone to Hidden Tower, or Sky Pillar, or any other typical Rayquaza-spotting location, and would've come to the same conclusion everyone else has – Rayquaza is a myth! It has never been caught on camera for this reason alone!" the man said. He was lying, of course, for he had seen Rayquaza on three separate accounts: once when he first built the lab, he saw it in the distance, and he saw it again the night he first set out to return to the eight regions. The third, and final, time he saw Rayquaza was when he was hunting his enemy…but the meteor did a good enough job of doing that for him.

Yeah. He thought. The meteor did a great job – until you messed it up and saved him! Oh well…no one ever saw him past the next day, anyway…

"Sir, pardon my correction," the man on the other end of the line said, bringing his boss back into focus, "but Rayquaza has been caught on camera – it's all over the news! Have you been watching ONBS?"

"What? When was this?"

"About an hour ago, sir. In fact, it came from the footage of that meteor we saw – Rayquaza, blasting it to bits."

The figure stopped in his tracks. Only slightly audible, he uttered into the phone, "Ready my chopper. Be at Gateon Port within the hour. If anyone tries to stop you, tell them General Rich sent you."

"And if they still try to stop me?" the other man said, though he already knew the answer – he just liked to hear Rich say it.

"Kill them. And leave no witnesses," the General said, fifteen minutes from Gateon.

\\\End of Chapter Four///

Coming Soon: Memories, Chapter Five – Fugitives