Disclaimer: Do not own pokemon, of course. If you're not fond of pokephilia, people attracted to pokemon, or anything of the sort, please stop here and get out because I don't need to accumulate hate just because it's something I like reading and writing about. In this story pokephilia is not illegal and a fairly common practice, as pokemon have evolved to the point that they all speak English, eliminating the speech barrier—and realistically, that barrier is the only thing keeping it from being just as common as interracial or gay relationships, considering they're cute, intelligent, and sentient.

Chapter 7: "Secrets of the Subconscious"

The man was in his typical RBR getup, looking at a map he'd gotten in that area, which he was— for the moment—unfamiliar with.

Oddly, he wasn't certain what he was doing there, at the inn, or even where 'there' was, but for whatever reason, it didn't seem all that prevalent at the moment.

"So you need single room for one, for one evening, correct?" The hostess asked him, after he signed his name in her customer record book.

Diamond jumped up onto the counter, startling the woman. "That's a room for two, thank you very much."

The lady looked like she didn't know what to say immediately, so Gilliam just scratched his head sheepishly in the prevailing awkwardness that ensued. "Eh, yeah, she doesn't like to be kept in a pokeball. Not that I have one for her. We're just kind of traveling together at the moment."

"What he means to say is I'm his partner." She corrected him, giving him a stern look.

The lady sifted through some paperwork, trying to gain a grasp of what their customers wanted. "So… what you mean is, you want a two bed room?"

Gilliam started to nod his head in confirmation of that, not minding paying the extra, but the Glaceon quickly interrupted him. "No, no, that won't be necessary. I was just making sure you knew I was here. I don't know how you humans do these sort of things, but I didn't want Gill here inadvertently sneaking me in if my presence was something that was supposed to cost extra." She informed her.

The clerk shook her head. "No, pokemon partners, captured or otherwise are not counted towards the total number of guests here. You don't have to worry about that." The lady reassured them.

After receiving the keys to their room, the two took the elevator up to the level upon which it was located.

"You know, I really wouldn't have minded paying for another bed for you to sleep on, Diamond." He told her, trying to ignore the cliché music playing in the background of the cab.

She rubbed herself against his leg affectionately. "Now why would we go and do that? We've been sleeping together in the same bed for a while now… you know I can't get any rest unless you're right there next to me, Gill."

He blushed as she made a note to really grind up against his leg, ensuring he got the idea. He didn't recall sleeping with her except for the once for some reason, but accepted what she was saying as the truth regardless. "Well, yeah, but…"

The elevator dinged before he could finish that sentence, and the ice-type trotted out, seeming excited at the prospect of checking out their room for the evening. "But nothing! Come on, let's go check it out! What room number was it again?"

He looked at the key card he had been given. "205. I mean, it's a pretty nice inn, but it's not like it's a hotel or anything. I'm sure it's not all that extravagant. I didn't pay that much for it."

"As long as I have a bed, room service, and you, I'm sure I'll manage." She giggled, once again being far more familiar with him than he recalled her being able to do so comfortably.

As they walked down the hall to their room, she moved in front of him, possibly in a much more… erotic manner than was necessary. The way she almost moved in slow motion, her tail up, and hind-quarters waving back and forth made his blood boil, his eyes unable to look anywhere else.

Before they made it to their destination, she glanced back at him with a smirk and narrowed her eyes, in an unmistakably seductive manner. Almost as if to suggest she knew exactly what it was he was staring at, and didn't mind in the slightest bit. Was she doing this on purpose, he wondered?

"Th… This is it." He gulped, tearing his gaze from her deliciously plump back-side, regarding the door to their room. She tittered at the look on his face, never averting her eyes or changing that flirtatious expression as he slid the key card in along the available card reader on the door, unlocking it.

When it was open, the room was actually a lot more impressive than he thought it was going to be, with a nice, lavishly huge bed, a gigantic flat-screen TV, and an entire kitchen section, as well as a balcony view of a glorious beach setting.

For some reason, he didn't feel the need to question why he was wearing a trench coat at a beach hotel, or why the ice-type seemed to be so comfortable in such a climate, or even how their piddley little inn just transformed into a 5-star resort. Everything made perfect sense, regardless of making no sense whatsoever.

After taking in the scenery for a moment through the glass sliding door that led to the balcony, he turned around. The Glaceon was sitting on the bed in a somewhat provocative position, as if having waited for him to give her some attention. "So, how's the view?" She asked, with a bewitching grin.

He felt the urge to say it. He had to say it. There was no not saying it. "Not half as pretty as you." He chuckled, winking at her.

Diamond shifted her position into what was possibly the only one in existence that was more 'come-hither' than the one she had been in before, turning around and lowering herself, hiking her rear up in the air, her tail currently held low, as if to tease him. She favored him with the same inviting stare as she had before. "Of course, It's not like I didn't notice you getting an eye-full of that view just a few moments ago, either. Why don't you come a little closer, so you can get a better look…?"

As two very specific parts of him burned like the Alolan sun, one more-so than the other, his embarrassment seemed to be a thing of the past, as the situation degenerated into acting upon desires rather than morals, any questions of right and wrong being thrown out the window as he wordlessly complied, stepping nearer to her.

For a quadruped, her posterior really was something to behold. The way her slender body cascaded into it showed it to be her center of gravity, but it wasn't so massive as to be considered fat, just voluptuous—the musculature of it was veiled with a small amount of pudge, in just the right way for her powerful back legs to look as attractive as possible, particularly to any individual fond of the lower half of the hourglass shape. To someone with the capacity for being attracted to the more feral types of pokemon, she was a dream come true.

Given that he was standing up, and her being on the edge of the bed, her backside was perfectly situated at level with his crotch, which was undergoing the expected reactions a male experiences when eye-candy triggers that inevitable yearning for being able to do a bit more than just look.

Craning her head back to see him while still keeping her front low, a positively beguiling smirk spread across her features, as she pushed back a bit, grinding her magnificent butt up against his groin. "Oh me, oh my, I could smell that desire coming from a mile away. Why are you being so shy? We'll both get more out of this if you get a good grip…" She suggested.

Clearly not needing to be told twice, Gill removed his gloves so that he could enjoy the full feel of her bountiful backside, before slowly taking hold of two, big handfuls of it, the combination of softness and suppleness utterly blowing his mind.

"Mmm, yesss... You always squeeze it so HARD…" She cooed, her tongue lolling out of her muzzle for a brief moment as she glanced back at him with a look of lustful ecstasy. "Mmph. Maybe it's about time I showed you the uncensored version…"

As she said this, she lifted her tail up as slowly as she possibly could, and in her grinding position, that caused it to drag up along his hardening member, the sensation already bringing him to the pinnacle of arousal, as he groaned amorously.

Clearly being invited to do-so, he squeezed her cheeks a bit harder, spreading them apart, and moving himself back a bit so that he could see everything she was about to offer him…

…Until her butt randomly hopped up from its position, and planted itself firmly in his face, as if by magnetism.

The man awoke suddenly to the sound of loud snoring, and the gentle humming of the electric fan, but mostly to the sensation of being unable to breathe.

An extremely large, furry mass had covered his entire face, and the most he could do was mumble obscenities from beneath it, wresting the object from his mouth, so he could once again get sufficient oxygen.

Diamond snorted a little bit, but did not rouse beyond that, as she rolled over. He blushed deeply, realizing that at some point during her slumber, she had shifted in a way that turned his head into a pillow for her bodacious booty.

"*Snk**Zzzz* Hmm…" She stirred, readjusting herself, before the snoring resumed.

As glad as he was she hadn't awakened, it took every bit of the willpower he had built up over years of being a law-enforcer not to try and alleviate himself of what was quite possibly the most painful erection of his entire life right then and there. Stepping as quietly as he could out of the bed with the offending morning wood, the man opted to quickly adjourn to his bathroom for a much needed, extremely cold shower.

"Maybe letting her sleep with me wasn't such a good idea, after all…" He grumbled, wincing underneath the streams of icy water.

Though the things that had happened in the dream had begun to blur already, he felt that he'd acted in a manner not befitting of a ranger. Certainly a manner he never would have acted in reality. There was no controlling the subconscious, however. He was already 30 years old, pent-up as hell, and hadn't enjoyed any form of intercourse for nearly 8 years now. A little wet-dream on the first evening he shared his bed with a girl since he was about Mace's age was to be expected. Hopefully, like most of his dreams, he'd just forget about it in a couple of hours. Perhaps then, he wouldn't have to worry about getting a hard-on every time he looked at the Glaceon.

After he'd tended to himself, he stepped out of the shower, shivering in the cold. With the fan running in his bedroom, stirring the already frigid early morning air up, the icy water still clinging to his flesh in tiny droplets, and the fact that the majority of the house's heating had been turned off for the entire night, he couldn't help but feel like he'd been hit by one of Diamond's blizzards while wearing nothing.

In spite of himself, he chuckled at that thought. She probably would hit him with one of those if she'd known just what warped little fantasy had gone through his head while he had been sleeping right next to her, even if it was all subconscious.

He shook off the thoughts, and much of the chill he felt at the temperature with it. He had no trouble doing this once he'd managed to get himself dried off. He was a fully trained Hailcoat of the Riot Ball Rangers. His body had been intensely conditioned to endure even the most debilitating of environments—it would take a lot more than this to really bother him, at least when he was dry.

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he poked his head out of the bathroom to look in the slumbering eeveelution's direction, as any number of awkward things could have happened were she to see him like that, and all his clothes were in the drawers of his dresser in the bedroom, or in his closet. Fortunately, she seemed just as asleep as before, laying on her back with her paws up in the air, mouth wide open and drool leaking out—still snoring in such an obnoxious manner, he couldn't help but find it adorable.

"Haha. She sure sleeps hard for someone with such acute senses. Must have been really exhausted last night, poor thing." He chuckled to himself, as he retrieved the clothes he typically wore underneath his RBR uniform, knowing it wouldn't be long before he had to do his rounds. This consisted of a white flannel shirt underneath a turtleneck that varied in color, depending on what he was in the mood for. Today he chose brown. Also picking out a pair of matching cargo pants, he went to dressing himself wordlessly, trying not to make too much noise as he glanced in Diamond's direction every now and then.

When he was decent, he went over to his alarm clock, which had been set to wake him up at about 8AM. It was only 7:36. Making sure to set it to where it wouldn't go off, since he was already awake, he yawned. Even though he didn't get his typical 8 hours, he felt pretty well rested.

Now that he had a small window of time to himself, he opted to make some coffee, to try to wake himself up a little bit, and stepped off towards the kitchen to do so, leaving the Glaceon to get some much-needed rest.

Diamond, meanwhile, was having a dream of her own.

It was Spring in Snowbelle, and though that didn't do much for the constant snow that coated the area year-round, it was considerably less than the norm, and was warmer than usual, with a clear sky. Birds were singing, and whatever had the tenacity to do so in such a northern region bloomed to the best of its ability.

She was by herself, hanging around in the town square, just watching people do their daily grind, not really sure why she was there, though she didn't particularly care, either.

Suddenly Melody approached her from across the street, a happy look plastered to her cute face. She was clearly elated about something.

"Hi Sister. What are you doing out here all by yourself? Everyone's wondering where you are." She asked. It did not seem odd to her that she could speak. It was as if she'd never lost her voice in the first place.

The ice-type cocked her head, wondering who 'everyone' was, and why they'd be looking for her of all people. "What are you talking about, Mel?"

The Eevee giggled in her sweet voice, acting as if she was being teased. "Oh come on, there's no way you forgot what day it is today? It's all about to start." She informed her older sibling.

The Glaceon had no idea what she could've possibly been referring to. "Huh? What's about to start?" she asked.

Melody's face took a turn for confusion, then one of distress once she realized her sister was being serious. "Diamond. The wedding. We're going to miss the wedding."

Matrimony was not something even wild pokemon were unfamiliar with, though it was not something they typically did themselves. It was more of a human tradition, but she knew it was a matter of officially promising one's self to a life-mate. She pulled a face. "Wedding? That's not even something I think I want to have to sit through. Everything I hear makes it sound kind of boring." She said, licking herself rather disdainfully. She didn't want to waste her time on such a thing, even if she wasn't really doing much.

"But it's Gilliam's wedding." She added.

Diamond's heart suddenly dipped into the pit of her stomach, as she stopped her grooming slowly, turning to regard her sister with wide eyes. "….Wait… What?"

The brown little fox pouted. "Gill really wants us to be there, Diamond. We're his friends. He wants us to be there to support him. There's going to be sweets and a party. Don't you think you should at least show up?"

Before she knew it, her breathing had quickened, and she stood up more stiffly. "You're… Mel, you're not making any sense. Gill doesn't have a mate. He doesn't have…"

Her sister cocked her head. "What's wrong, sister, you look like you've seen a ghost-type? And of course he has a mate. They've been together for months. She's a very pretty human, remember? They've been talking about this for a long time… Did you really forget?"

"Shut up! You're lying!" She barked, suddenly in denial and infuriated. Melody winced, taking a few steps back, and shaking at her sibling's sudden outburst. "Gilliam would never keep something like that from me!"

The normal-type whimpered for a moment, not wanting to make her more upset than she already was. "H.. he said he wanted it to be a surprise… the wedding I mean. Why are you so mad?" She asked, quietly.

Before she could answer, Diamond realized she didn't actually know why. Something about it made her feel betrayed. Something about it made her feel cheated. Something about it made her feel… alone. "I'm… I'm not mad. Why would I care, anyway… It's not like…" She trailed, having no idea where that sentence was going.

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's just go. You'll feel better once you see how nice all the decorations are, come on." Melody insisted, walking behind her sister and pushing her along by bumping her head against her backside.

There was no perception of the passage of time. It was as if everything flashed forward for her, with some other familiar faces, standing in a place of worship, which had been fully decked out with all the white and frilly things one might associate with that type of event.

Gilliam was outfitted in a fancy suit with a bowtie, waiting at the podium with another man who appeared to be some type of preacher, and there were some other, more privileged people standing around, like Mace and X, and his brother Edward, all of whom were dressed appropriately.

As the proceedings went on, light seemed to die out in all areas except for one, forcing her to look down the aisle. With an almost horrific amount of overdramatization, the entrance doors opened, and somebody began playing a song on an odd instrument, as a human woman stepped through, wearing a dress of all white, her face totally covered in a thin veil.

Whereas the music was supposed to be festive, and representative of new beginnings for two people ready to start a promising relationship together, she could not help but find it… chilling.

The mystery woman stepped down the aisle, as everyone regarded her with fond smiles of well-wishing, and looks of happiness. All except for her. Who was this…. this human? Where did she come from? What did Gilliam see in her? Why?

When the lady had made it down the aisle to the lectern to stand next to her husband-to-be, the proceedings went on as normal, but the pokemon was not listening to anything that was being said.

She felt immobilized, paralyzed with a strange dread. Plagued with so many questions about herself and about the ranger. How could he have not told her he was seeing somebody? Was there less trust between them than she'd originally thought? Didn't he think she might like to know? To talk to her about how she felt about it? What did this woman have that she didn't? Why was she making such a comparison in the first place? And why… did she feel like she was about to lose something more important to her than life itself…?

"If anyone objects to the union of these two, please speak now." The preacher suddenly said, turning to look over the audience.

Hearing this, Diamond burned with the desire to act. To do something. To say something. She had to put a stop to this, right here and now. She opened her mouth…. But her voice stuck in her throat. She couldn't make a sound. Couldn't move. All of her basic functions had suddenly deactivated, as if by some cruel curse of destiny. Totally frozen. Ice-types weren't supposed to be able to freeze… why now? Why here?

"Then, by the power vested in me, you may now kiss the bride." The man at the pulpit declared.

And in that next fateful moment, the veil was lifted, and the two humans kissed.

Diamond felt her heart utterly shatter, like a block of ice pounded with a full-force focus punch.

She felt like crying, but the tears wouldn't come. This was even worse than when Gill had taken her to the grave site. Ten times worse. A hundred times worse.

She couldn't believe it. He was… he was gone. She could never have him now. Not in the way she had wanted. In that moment, her feelings became so clear. But it was… too late.

And just when she thought she couldn't be any more miserable, the woman turned from Gilliam, showing her beautiful face, looking her right in the eye. The lady sneered, as if she knew she had stolen him from her, and was proud of it.

Bursting into wakefulness, the Glaceon shot out of the bed in a manner only one who'd had a terrible nightmare would be capable of, knocking the electric fan along with her down onto the floor, creating a tremendous clatter of steel against wood.

The device had been unplugged in the process of this, the blades slowly decelerating, as she laid there, shaken and in a cold sweat, struggling to give her fitful respiration any form of pattern, that she might be able to catch her breath.

Not a brief moment later, Gilliam came storming into the bedroom, looking left and right.

"Diamond? What was that, what the hell happened, are you alright?!" he demanded to know.

She however didn't answer him, somehow winded from the experience as if she'd been struck by a powerful physical blow. Not having heard her response, and his view of her being blocked from where he'd been standing, the ranger moved to the other side of the bed, crouching down next to her.

"Hey, what's going on, are you—" he began, reaching a hand out.

Suddenly however, she jumped onto him, latching onto his clothes with her claws. The surprise of this caused him to fall from a kneeling position to a sitting one.

Though the evidence suggested she'd just fallen out of bed, her countenance, sense of distress when she'd grabbed him, and the fact that she was shivering gave him more than enough cause for worry. They sat like that in silence for a time, as she clung to him, almost like a child does with their parents after having seen some kind of monster in their closet.

Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her down a bit.

"It's alright. I'm right here." He said as gently as he could.

She still did not yet have the strength to put anything into words, simply burying her face into his shirt for a long moment, accepting his touch, as her trembling slowly died down.

He realized she must have had a very different type of dream than he had, from the way she was acting. He understood what it was like to have nightmares. When you awake from a particularly painful one, all you want is somebody to hold onto, so that you don't have to feel so frightened and alone. He'd gone through it many times himself… although usually he didn't have another there to soothe him. Not someone he'd be comfortable showing that side of himself to, anyway.

He stroked her back consolingly, if only to make her less tense. "It's okay, it was just a dream..."

It had crossed his mind to ask her about it, but he knew it would not be tactful to do-so while the feelings of fright were still so fresh in her mind, so he simply did the best he could to cradle her until she decided she wanted to be let go.

However, oddly enough, moments passed, and she didn't do anything to suggest that she did. In fact, when he tried to pull back, she clung to him even harder.

"Must've been pretty bad, huh…?" He sighed.

Rather than answering him, she looked up into his eyes, as if studying him. He couldn't help but pinken a bit at the way she was staring at him so intensely, as if coming to terms with what she wanted to say or do. Looking into her gaze was like staring into two big aquamarines, though the way the light shone in them, there was a bit of an emotional waver. The kind that comes with a lot of internal conflict.

As she took solace in the fact that none of what had just transpired in her mind had actually happened, her thoughts turned to reality as she analyzed every aspect of the ranger's expression. He'd come so quickly to her aid when he heard something go wrong. He didn't hesitate, even for a moment.

He'd let her sleep in his own bed, and when she asked him to, he stayed with her, even though he probably thought that was strange. He'd saved her from a life of vengeance-driven sin, and even took risks to himself to make sure she was not punished for the atrocities she'd committed, even though she should have been. He'd taken her and her sister in—contrary to the terrible things she'd done—like they were his own family. He wanted to help her be a better person, and was doing everything in his power to push her to do that. It was not due to a sense of justice, or duty like she'd first thought. He genuinely cared.

She could not even begin to fathom how anybody, human or pokemon, could be so selfless and kind. But it was something she admired so deeply, the thought of being apart from him became more and more painful the longer she spent getting to know him.

This man, she thought. He truly was different. He truly did mean something to her. Something more than she was able to admit. She couldn't deny it any longer, at least not to herself.

…She had feelings for him.

"…Diamond, you know you really make me kind of nervous when you look at me like that…" the ranger told her through a slightly cracking voice, looking in the other direction as he rubbed the back of his head.

His cheeks were red as he said this. She did in fact take note, though she assumed it's because they hadn't known each other that long, and she was kind of on top of him.

"Oh. Right, sorry. I just… I don't know. Looking at your face sort of brings me comfort." She told him, being at least slightly honest as she let him go, stepping off of him.

He sat up, wondering if she really meant that. "What, this ugly mug?" He chuckled, indicating the features in question. Perhaps he was just trying to lighten the mood, which had become rather heavy.

She sat on the floor herself, clearly more composed than before. Troubled, yes, but now in-touch enough with the gravity of things that she was able to approach them more realistically. She cast him an unamused glance as she licked a paw, fixing the fur on one of her long ears. "Don't be stupid. You're very attractive for a human."

She stated this so flatly that he couldn't help but be surprised. Like she wasn't even ashamed to say it. Normally she'd be embarrassed to admit such a thing. Or at least far too proud. Did something happen without his knowing? She'd said it like it was common sense. "Kind of funny to hear that coming from someone who looks like you do."

Something about this seemed to catch her interest, though she was blatantly casual about it, as she grinned, fluttering her eyelashes at him in an almost flirtatious manner. "Oh, is that so? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were calling me pretty again." She teased.

"A fact is a fact." He teased back, standing up. No matter how embarrassing it was, it seemed criminal to try and lie about something he deemed so obvious. Though, the knowledge that she remembered his saying that the other day in the kitchen threatened to bring even more color to his cheeks.

She turned around, as if being disdainful, raising her snout like a spoiled child. "I suppose I can't argue with that." She conceded, making a bit of a recurring joke, remembering that last time she had said such a thing in the face of factual evidence, he had found it humorous.

Little did he know, she was only throwing that out as a cover-up act. The real reason she had turned around was to hide the inevitable blush, and dopey smile that came along with hearing him compliment her on her looks in such a way. Of course, she didn't seem to realize her tail was waving left and right, a key indicator of her delight.

"Haha, as usual, you bounce back pretty fast. Do.. uh… " He trailed, "Do you want to talk about-"

"No, that's alright. I forgot what it was about already, anyway. No big deal. Don't worry about it." She lied.

Though he didn't feel entirely convinced, neither was he about to press her on a subject she clearly didn't wish to revisit. "Oh… well, okay then. Do you want something to eat?"

The prospect of him making food for her pleased her more than it probably should have, but she felt like a meal would be a good start to the day, regardless of exactly why. "I could eat." She told him.

Gilliam prepared a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and sausage—a simple affair, but good enough to satisfy anyone's needs. As he'd stated before, he couldn't cook quite like Edward, but nobody in the household seemed to mind. Shortly after he'd begun cooking, both Ed and Melody showed up in the kitchen, yawning and sitting at the table drowsily as they tried to wake themselves up.

As the ranger tended to the edibles, Diamond noticed her sister leaning against the younger boy as she nodded off a bit in his lap, and without really realizing it, the lad stroked her head fondly. The familiarity they had with one another almost made it seem like they had been living together for a very long time.

She found it a little odd. Melody was never so affectionate towards anybody so soon after meeting them. Particularly not humans. Then again, Ed was a lot nicer to her than most of his kind ever were. Maybe she was just enjoying the attention—for the last couple of years, she had been rather lonely, and she could only provide her with so much company.

After everybody had some food, Gill cleaned everything up, and did the dishes right after that. They seemed to have a rule about washing things subsequent to using them, probably to prevent dirty plates and cutlery from stacking up.

Just then there was a knock at the front door.

The hailcoat wiped his hands dry, before glancing at his watch. "Huh. Kind of early for someone to visit. Hang on, I'll get it." He said to the others, setting down his hand-towel in the sink, before heading into the hallway to see who it was.

Diamond followed him, if not because she was curious, simply because she didn't want him to end up going somewhere without her.

The man answered the door, still dressed in only his turtleneck and cargo pants. Outside stood a modestly dressed young lady the ice-type had never seen before.

The woman had an irritated look on her face, as though impatient, but it changed to a more polite expression when coming face to face with the ranger. "Oh, thank goodness. I'm sorry to bother you officer McAllister—I know you haven't begun your work yet today, but… there's a bit of a ruckus going on close to the pokemon center." She informed him.

The ranger scratched his beard. "Really. Another unsanctioned trainer battle?" He asked, already seeming to know what was going on.

The lady nodded. "Yes. Couple of young badge-collectors got into an argument, and they're settling it the only way they know how. The pokemon they're battling with are very large and destructive. If you don't stop them, it could cause a decent amount of damage."

"What about Wulfric?" Gilliam asked.

"He's at the pokemon village again. The trainers probably got tired of waiting for him and decided to just take their frustrations out on one another." The woman conjectured.

Diamond's ear twitched. She was surprised to hear mention of the village. Not many people knew about it—even on the pokemon side of the equation. Also, she wasn't sure who this Wulfric person was, but the name sounded somehow familiar to her.

"Well, that figures. Looks like I'm going to have to lecture the old guy again… *sigh* Anyway, thanks for the info. I'll be right out there to put an end to it." He promised, bidding the woman a polite farewell before shutting the door.

"What's going on?" Diamond asked—she had a general idea, though she wanted to hear it from the ranger first, "And how did you know why she was here before she even had a chance to tell you?"

The man began putting his snow boots—which he kept next to the front door—on. "Couple of young, hot-headed trainers having a pokemon battle where they're not allowed. It's illegal to have any sort of battle inside of a town's boundaries unless you're in the Pokemon Gym." He informed her. "And I knew because the only time Lucy ever talks to me is for that exact same reason. She's a nosy woman who reports anything even remotely illegal immediately, even if it's not that big of a deal. Sort of what you'd call a 'tattle-tail'. Still, can't really say much bad about her, since she does kind of make my job a little easier. Anyway, I have to go."

She narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed that he would suggest she'd stay here while he went out to do something that could be potentially dangerous. "You're not going by yourself. You'll probably need my help." She insisted.

Gilliam finished strapping on his boots, then grabbing his RBR trenchcoat off of the coatrack, and putting it on. "As much as I appreciate the offer, I don't actually. I deal with this sort of thing every day. And I don't really need you seeing a couple of brats ordering their pokemon to beat the crap out of each other and regressing back to your previous view on humans, particularly not right after you seemed to be having a breakthrough. I was kind of enjoying the trust you've been putting in me." He stated, quite serious suddenly.

She didn't know whether to feel touched that he didn't want her to go back to her original opinion on humans, or insulted that he thought it would affect the way she felt about him. "I don't care. If they want to listen to snot-nosed human cubs and only get a breath of fresh air whenever they have a fight to win, that's their business, not mine. I know not all humans are like that now that I've met you, Gill. I won't go overboard, I promise. Just let me come with you. I'm afraid you'll get hurt."

The law-enforcer stared at her for a moment. Like her, he felt two different ways at once, not knowing whether to feel joy in her worrying about him, or disappointment that she didn't think he could handle it. Turning to his belt of RBR equipment, he produced one of his Riot Balls, showing it to her. "Do you remember what this is?"

She took a step back, as memories of the glowing ball came back to her in a rush of disjointed images and feelings. It was the same kind of ball he used on her when he first placed her under arrest. The only kind of ball he carried. "…A Riot Ball?"

He nodded, having prior described to her the way they function, and exactly what they were capable of doing. He reattached it to its appropriate notch on the belt, switching it for his Riot Rod, which was currently collapsed. "That's good, Diamond. What about this?" He asked her.

Again, memories of the pain that device inflicted upon her came flooding back into her mind. He had hit her with it so hard that it felt like he nearly snapped her neck. Then the sensation of being shocked and burned all at once left her nearly helpless, and would have incapacitated her had her adrenaline not been rushing at the time. He had—of course—apologized for this numerous times, though she didn't hold it against him. It was only self-defense. "All right, all right, I get it, you don't… need my help. But… Don't you want it?"

He fastened the belt around his waist at a stinted pace, the action slowed as he was studying her expression while he did-so, his face taking on a conflicted look.

Seeing that he was already starting to buckle under the pressure, she trained her big eyes on him, fully prepared to milk his guilt in leaving her for all it was worth. Initiate puppy-dog pout. Droop ears, rub together front paws awkwardly. Maximum adorability overdrive. His defenses would not last against a full-on assault of this caliber.

He groaned, as if being struck physically, opening the door. "Okay, okay, you can come with me... That is completely unfair, you know that?"

She trotted alongside him triumphantly as they left, quite pleased with herself. "Hehe, you have your overpowered tools, and I have mine." She giggled.

"You've really got a lot of nerve, talking down to me like that when you're stupid enough to take on the ice-type gym with a friggin' ground type." The girl said, flipping her bangs out of her face haughtily.

The young boy wasn't about to let her get away with bad-mouthing his strategic approach to a situation just because his team's anchor was at a type disadvantage. If she didn't think his Nidoking could make up for the bad matchup through sheer power alone, he'd just have to show her how wrong she really was. "You're one to talk about type advantage, considering you plan on taking him on with that Aggron, which are doubly weak against ground-type moves." He said, indicating the fully grown rock/steel-type she had sent out.

The Aggron groaned in irritation, glancing at his trainer. "You know we could get into trouble for doing this, right?" He reminded her.

The Nidoking standing next to the boy wasn't about to disobey his trainer, either, but couldn't help but agree, also turning to look at his master. "He's got a point you know. It's against league rules. If we get caught, you could both get your trainer cards taken away."

"Please. There are hardly any cops in this sleepy little town. Besides, the Gym is locked. It's not like you to wuss out, Thorn." The lad scoffed, folding his arms.

The girl, for once since they'd met, agreed with the other trainer. "Same goes for you, Alloy—you need to remember who's in charge, here. Now use Heavy Slam!" She commanded.

Alloy the Aggron took a sort of sumo fighting stance, getting ready to throw all of his weight at the Nidoking, needing not fear his poisonous barbs, as he was part steel type. "Well, guess we're doing this. No hard feelings."

Thorn the Nidoking only grinned a toothy grin as he prepared himself as well. "Naturally. Though I hope you're not planning on holding back…"

"Not on your life!" The enormous pokemon roared, unleashing his attack, full-force.

"Move out of the way, and use Earthquake!" The male trainer ordered.

However, seeing the trajectory of the Heavy Slam, Thorn disobeyed, taking the hit himself. If he hadn't, it might have hit his master, who was standing just a bit too close to the action.

"Aww, what the hell do you think you're doing!? I know you saw that coming from a mile away!" The boy stomped, immaturely.

The female trainer smiled smugly. "Hah, what a loser, your pokemon doesn't even do what you tell it to!" She chortled.

Backing away from the foe, who he'd managed to wind but not quite knock down, Alloy examined the damage he'd inflicted with a bit of guilt, realizing exactly why his foe had opted to take the hit. "If you want to quit, I'd do it now." He told the Nidoking, feeling bad that his trainer was so inconsiderate.

Thorn winced, but was still quite alright to battle. "Afraid I can't do that. If Randal doesn't trust me to at least follow his orders, he won't use me in the fight against the gym-leader. And if he doesn't have my help, there's no way he can pull off a win."

"Alright, no big deal. Now's your chance to use Earthquake!" The boy said, ignoring the exchange between the two in its entirety.

Obeying this time, the poison/ground-type stomped the ground, causing it to rumble and crack. The result caused some of the nearby buildings, still damaged by the avalanches, to crack under the tremors, their foundations threatening to give way.

The attack landed as it should have, the Aggron having no real way to dodge, as it fell to the ground, damaged severely by its own weight.

"Get up, Alloy, I know you can take more than that!" The girl called out, trying to keep her own balance as the attack made it very difficult to stand.

Struggling to get up to his feet, the large pokemon had a bit of trouble, knowing he couldn't take another attack like that one. "If you don't give me the go-ahead to end this right here and now, I'm going to lose." He coughed, looking in her direction.

The girl looked at the white bracelet on her wrist, knowing exactly what he meant. "I don't know, isn't that going a little overboard? Last time we did this you lost control." She reminded him.

"Do you want to win or not?" he growled.

Though she hesitated for a moment, the girl nodded. "Alright then, you asked for it. Alloy… unleash your power…" She said, tapping the multicolored stone in the center of the bracelet, which began to glow and pulsate, "…And Mega EVOLVE!"

Randal hadn't noticed the bracelet was fitted with a key stone, having thought it was just a fashion statement, but seeing her tap the prismatic gem and hearing a distinct keening sound, the boy took a step back in alarm. "Wait, you've got to be kidding me!"

Alloy's Aggronite, which had been carefully fitted into a large, spiked collar he was wearing, began pulsating as it reacted to the hum of his trainer's key stone, and he could immediately feel the power coursing through him. Crouching down and rolling himself up in an almost fetal position, he was surrounded by a pinkish purple sphere, almost like he was being placed into some kind of evolutionary cocoon, and after a brief moment of a rather impressive display of concentrated evolution power, this shell shattered, revealing a much larger, smoother Aggron with many more natural weapons, and far thicker armor.

It was right at this point that Gilliam and Diamond were a short dash away from arriving at the scene, only just able to make out the light display in the distance.

The Glaceon had never seen such a thing before, wondering what the power she felt coming from it could possibly be. "What on earth…?"

Gilliam recognized the light however, and immediately broke into a sprint. "Shit! If we don't stop this now things are going to get out of hand!"

Diamond dashed after him, surprised at how fast he was for a bipedal creature. "Gill, wait up!"

The ranger only ran faster, however. He'd dealt with situations involving mega-evolution before. The amount of destruction a mega-evolved pokemon could inflict was second only to legendary and mythical class creatures, and perhaps ultra-beasts. Some mega-evolutions had the potential to be even MORE powerful than that. He had seen such things before, and he knew that when younger generation trainers got ahold of keystones prematurely, they often neglected to establish the necessary bond with their pokemon required for them to control this power.

"Alright Alloy, now use-" The girl began, though she was cut off as her pokemon released an ear-splitting screech that forced everyone within the vicinity to cover their ears as their auditory drums threatened to burst, every window and piece of glass within proximity also shattered instantaneously.

Alloy's eyes lost their shine, and the pupils shook with an unfettered rage, a maddened look consuming it's features as it hunched down into a primal, all-fours position, pouncing upon Thorn with all of its weight, much, much faster than it was before.

"Agh! Hey, what are you doing! I didn't tell you to do that!" the girl whined.

Alloy ignored her, slamming its head into Thorn's face viciously and repeatedly. Even after the first attack, the poison/ground type was immediately knocked out, and it went limp, but Alloy would not stop.

"Hey, hey! CALL HIM OFF, he's going to KILL him!" Randal pleaded.

The girl stepped forth, seeing that the situation was indeed rather grave. Head Smash was an incredibly powerful attack—using it in succession like that would prove fatal to anything, regardless of how tough, and damaged its user as well quite a lot, but Alloy did not seem to care, going utterly ballistic. "Alloy, stop that! STOP! It's over, just quit! Can't you hear me!?"

This time, however, the mega-evolved Aggron did hear his trainer, stopping and turning to look at her as it released the bloodied Nidoking, standing up to regard her with a dark, hate-laden look.

The girl began to quiver. "A-… Alloy? That's enough..." She pulled out his pokeball, her intent on returning him to the ball.

Within a trice, however, the Aggron closed the distance between them, swatting the ball out of her hand with a swipe of his tail, causing her to yelp in pain and fall onto her butt in surprise.

Randal, who returned his own pokemon to its ball at this point, stared on in horror. He didn't have anything on his team that could even hope to stop that monster—Thorn was defeated so fast, and he had been by far his strongest partner.

The Aggron growled throatily, it's expression completely lost in an unfathomable rage as its new-found power had spiraled completely out of control, used prematurely. He could only see all the things he hated about his trainer, raising a claw ominously, which could easily end her with a single swipe.

However, its senses had been enhanced despite its fury, and its eyes snapped to attention on a different threat, jumping backward as a glowing, bluish ball came flying from the side at breakneck speed, just narrowly missing and snapping into pieces against the wall of the Gym from how hard it had been thrown. Riot Balls were highly effective, but the stasis-conductive material they were composed of were incredibly fragile.

"Dammit!" Gillaim cursed, whipping out his Riot Rod, and igniting it on the fighting setting, causing it to pulsate with a reddish electrical glow. He took a Kali martial arts stance as the Aggron rounded on him.

"Gill! What… What the HELL is that thing!? I've never seen an Aggron like that before!" Diamond informed him, rushing up to take a stance of her own, positioning herself between the Hailcoat and this new enemy. The man was not having this however, knowing she'd be at a supreme disadvantage against an opponent such as this, so he side-stepped around her, being the separator himself.

"No time to explain! Here he comes!" The ranger exclaimed.

Within a trice, Alloy began a charge that shook the very ground, making a bee line for Gilliam. Though it was indeed fast, the man had dealt with faster opponents, and knew how to take on enemies that had gone berserk, having done-so many times during his career.

As his opponent closed on him for a devastating Heavy Slam, the ranger pivoted around him at the last possible moment, using a karate-derived stepping technique that rotates you around your foe by 90 degrees, causing him to slam into the ground instead, rocking the very earth.

Though Gilliam had planned to counterattack, the tremors caused by this incredibly powerful attack threw him too off balance to do-so immediately.

However, the Mega-Evolved Aggron was prone, and he saw his window of opportunity still open, catching himself and raising his rod to strike. He had miscalculated how well his opponent would be able to fight from that position however, and Alloy nailed him across the chest with a powerful strike from his tail, while getting back onto its feet.

Though strong, tough, well-equipped, experienced and well-trained, Gilliam was still only human. The attack plowed into his chest, sending him flying into the air like a rag-doll.

"Augh!" He grunted, sent back a good 10 to 15 feet, tumbling violently along the snow-covered ground, and dropping his weapon in the process. He felt as if the attack had shattered his entire ribcage.

"Gilliam!" Diamond yelled. After an agonizingly long moment though, miraculously, the ranger began to shakily pick himself up off the ground.

"*cough* I'm… I'm alright." He lied, "Don't let your guard down, dammit!"

Diamond did not have time to be impressed with the man's resilience against an attack that surely would have knocked even her out cold in a single blow, as she found herself on her toes against the same frightening opponent, which swung at her left and right with its tail as it had with the ranger. Iron Tail—she could not afford to get hit by one of those, she knew.

Gracefully dancing around the blows, she showed off some impressive speed, frustrating the opponent with her agility. She could not find an opening at this range however.

"Don't stay close to it, use ranged attacks! See if you can slow down his movement with some of your ice moves!" Gilliam ordered her, tiredly plucking his final Riot Ball off of his belt. The RBR were only given 3 at any one time, and he had used one on Diamond, and the other just a moment ago, now cursing himself for not requesting more this week.

However, if she could just manage to freeze the Aggron in place, they'd be able to pull off a victory for sure. He couldn't afford to miss, however, so he needed her help.

For a moment that thought froze in his mind, bringing him back to when he'd told her he didn't require her assistance only a few minutes ago. He shook this thought aside, however, focusing on the battle.

"Okay, I got it!" the Glaceon told him, flipping away from the attacks, and unleashing an ice beam, which hit its mark, but had very little effect at all.

Roaring, the Aggron charged at her again, only made more irate by her attack. Like before, she evaded its angry, blundering attacks, hopping away for distance before firing another ice beam, which hit like the one before it, but again did nearly nothing.

"Gilliam, it's not working!" She shouted in frustration.

The ranger was still catching the breath that was knocked out of him, though he'd managed to limp along enough to recover his Riot Rod. "Just keep it busy, don't stop trying! And don't let it get ahold of you with its attacks!"

She nodded, not even considering the thought that they were functioning not so differently from a trainer and their pokemon, continuing to follow his orders without question, as it just felt… natural.

However, Diamond, this time, put herself in a bad position, backed against the wall of the gym as she was dodging away from the large steel/rock type, leaving herself cornered.

Unable to do anything else, she unleashed her strongest blizzard in its face as it rounded upon her, causing it to wince and cover its eyes with an arm, but it was not blown away or slowed down as much as she'd hoped.

It lifted its tail to strike her, and this time it looked like she had no choice but to take the hit. She winced her eyes shut as she awaited the inevitable.

"Don't you touch her!" Gilliam hollered, jumping onto the mega pokemon's back despite his injury, holding on with one hand while he wielded his special stun baton in the other.

Alloy bellowed defiantly, swinging this way and that to attempt to expel the man from his body, but it was useless, as the ranger's grip was tight, and the creature's arms were too bulky too reach back and grab him, though it tried.

"I'M. SICK. AND. TIRED. OF. PEOPLE. GIVING. KEY. STONES. TO. INEXPERIENCED. LITTLE. BRATS!" The man roared, punctuating each word with a swat of his Riot Rod against the Aggron's head, each and every attack enveloping it with a red electricity that emulated fighting type moves, such as the energy from an Aura Sphere or Focus Blast.

Though, due to the fact that he was also touching the pokemon, and the energy was still very similar to that of electricity, the pokemon's steel body conducted it, and just from looking at the way his clothes began to burn and tatter, and the condition of his hair, you could tell that each shock was also harming the ranger as well, but he did not stop until the Aggron finally hit the ground, its body reverting back into its original form.

Gilliam rolled off of it, to the side, dropping his now heavily damaged weapon onto the snow, and breathing heavily with his eyes closed.

Diamond was at his side immediately, assessing the damage, little droplets beginning to form in her eyes, as he had hurt himself extensively in order to protect her. "You IDIOT! Why didn't you just throw the ball like you were going to!?" She demanded to know.

The ranger opened a single eye to look at her as he rested. "*huff*… Even… Ahem. Even if I had, the moment it takes for the ball to envelope the target in its stasis field… he'd have hit you."

She moved closer to him, frowning. "You don't know that. He'd have probably turned around when he realized something had hit him."

"What, like the way he was 'flinching' against your ice beams? Nah, I don't think so, Diamond." Gilliam chuckled. "Besides, he sensed the first throw and moved out of the way. Mega pokemon have an innate ability to detect danger. That's why I wanted you to freeze him, if you could. As it was, the throw might have failed, and you'd have ended up getting hurt. I wasn't going to risk that."

The Glaceon squinted her eyes shut, infuriated with herself, and feeling utterly useless. "SHUT UP! You're the one who ended up getting hurt, instead!"

"I'm fine, geez. I just kind of can't… move, at the moment." He laughed, before coughing up a small bit of blood, confirming internal damage. He licked at the red fluid, trying to remove it from sight so she wouldn't worry as much. "Just let me lay here for a few minutes. And don't let those kids go anywhere. I still need to have words with them."

The ice type felt like her heart was going to shatter seeing him in such a state, and she could not help but blame herself. She knew he was strong, but he was clearly pushing himself too hard. On the other hand, if she hadn't been here trying to help him, he might not have done something so crazy. He might have stayed down after the first hit. If he hadn't been trying to protect her, he wouldn't have hurt himself further, or he might have even been able to concentrate enough to manage to catch the thing in one of his Riot Balls.

Then again, he might have gotten hurt even worse had she not been there to distract it. She had no way of knowing. All she knew was that she didn't end up doing much to protect him, like she wanted. It ended up being the other way around…. Again.

Did he always have to be the one to save her?

Thinking to take advantage of Diamond's distraction, Randal took the opportunity to quietly take the lock off of his bike, which he had chained to one of the Snowbelle Gym's bike racks. The ice type-however, ear-twitched at the sudden sound, temporarily leaving the ranger's side to menace the boy, her look dark and dreadfully serious enough to nearly make the boy wet his pants.

"Oh no you don't, brat. You think you can just come here and cause all this mess, then walk away without so much as a slap on the wrist?!" She growled, mouth glowing with the power of frigidity to emphasize her point.

"Wha-hey, hey! What are you-!?" The boy stuttered, flinching away from his bicycle, which was promptly frozen solid to the rack, courtesy of a very angry ice-beam. He wasn't going anywhere with that thing. And he'd never out-run the Glaceon on foot. This ensured he had no choice but to face his punishment.

"HEY! I'm not even the one who did all of the damage! It's that stupid girl's pokemon that ended up going nuts!" The immature child whined, shifting the blame, pointing to the girl, who was currently on her knees in the snow, too shaken by a near-death experience at the hands of her own mistake in judgment to try and run off, or really react to much of anything.

The frosty quadruped scowled at the boy. What a selfish little spoiled runt, she thought. Having lived with Gilliam and his brother for a while, she had almost forgotten that humanity was a two-sided coin… and how much she hated this side of it. "You might be able to fool a human, but you can't fool a pokemon like me. Some of the damages to these buildings were caused by an earthquake attack, and when I was fighting that Aggron there's no way it wouldn't have used that move when I was dodging around the way I was if it knew it, especially while it was mindlessly raging like that. So that means it had to have been your pokemon—and no pokemon in their right mind would start an earthquake in a town where the slightest little tremor can cause an avalanche that might envelope everything in sight, so it must have been an order given to it by a snot-nosed little brat—the kind who's stupid enough to break the law and think he can get away with it just because he's a child." She accused, making the boy sweat. He had the look of somebody who knew they were in big trouble, and that there was no more lying or throwing the blame to be done that could get them out of it. "You're lucky recent events have seen that the mountains near here aren't quite snowy enough for another avalanche to be shaken down, otherwise you'd have ended up doing something you'd regret for the rest of your life. If you even LIVED." She elucidated him, feeling slightly hypocritical in lecturing the boy for almost accidentally doing something she herself did intentionally on three separate occasions.

While Diamond was dealing with the boy, Gilliam made a painful effort to fish his cell phone out of his jacket, unfortunately, as he did, he regretted keeping it in the front pocket, as it was completely smashed to pieces by the impact from the Mega Aggron's tail.

He dropped it to the ground, just laying flat on his back, seeing as it was useless now anyway. He found it ironic that both RB Rangers in this town totalled their phones on the same day—he had intended to call Mace's house phone in hopes that he would be there, and if that didn't work, he was going to call Edward to ask him to go and fetch the man. Now he'd have to think of something else. "Diamond, come here for a second, please?" He choked out.

The Glaceon was at his side within a trice, however still keeping an eye on the two trainers and the incapacitated Aggron. "Gill… I'm sorry I wasn't of any help." She randomly apologized. She didn't know what else to say to him, simply seeing him in such a state was tearing her nerves to pieces.

The ranger waved his hand as if that wasn't the prevalent issue at the moment. "Don't be stupid. If I hadn't brought you with me, that Aggron would have probably killed me. Just between you and me, I've only ever had to deal with a mega-evolved pokemon once before, and that time I had the assistance of 4 other trained RB rangers, two of which were injured way worse than I am. If you hadn't been here to distract it, everything would have been a lot worse. Besides, I need your help again… like, literally, right now."

Her eyes lighting up a bit, the guilt she felt at what had transpired was temporarily overshadowed by the warmth that came with hearing him say that he needed her. She glanced at his destroyed cell, before looking again at his strained expression. "Do you need me to go and fetch four-eyes? Is he even strong enough to carry you to the treatment center?" She asked, putting his wellbeing before any kind of punishment that would be doled out to the offending party.

He smiled at her. "Good, I'm glad you're the kind of person who's still smart even when they're upset. But I told you I'd be fine, I don't need to go to the hospital just yet. Right now somebody needs to handle these kids, and decide what's going to be done with them, and their pokemon. Normally I'd just take them back down to my basement, where I kept you for a while, and use my equipment to fax a report, then ask them to wait while my superiors came up with a suitable punishment—or, if there was no mega-evolution involved, I'd have just wrote them up and given them a warning. But after all that I'm feeling kind of biased, so I think it would be better for the two of them if Mace did it instead. He's got access to all the same things I do at his own home, with the exception of the containment cell. So, yeah, do you think you could go find him for me?"

The ice-type pulled a very distraught face. "I'm not going anywhere until you promise you'll go and get looked at the moment I bring him here." She insisted, stomping the snow with a paw.

"Fine, fine, if that's the way you want to play it, I'll go as soon as I know he's got the situation under control. Do you know where he lives?" Gilliam asked her.

"I can track him easily enough. He smells kind of odd, and X leaves very obvious prints wherever he walks." She informed him, already sniffing the air.

"Yeah, Mace does wear a kind of odd brand of cologne." The man laughed, though he ended up coughing instead.

Diamond, who was about to take off, instead turned around and nuzzled his face worryingly, as if it would make him any better. It was clearly not a gesture she considered to be out-of-place, though Gill found it to be a bit embarrassing, as much as he probably would have enjoyed it under normal circumstances. "What about these trainers? Won't they run off?" She asked him.

The ranger gently nudged her face away from him with a gloved hand, if only to keep her face away from his as he coughed again a few times, clearing his throat, and suddenly sitting up. "Sssst. No, it's fine. I'll make sure they don't go anywhere. Just go get him, please."

She blinked a few times in disbelief, almost flinching at the way he hissed as he picked himself up off the ground, and shakily stood up once more, his face contorted in pain as he held his chest. "Wh-…I thought you said you couldn't move!"

He coughed a few more times, but his expression relaxed just a bit as he steadied himself, ignoring the pain in his chest. "Ahem. Well, that was just ranger code for 'give me a minute, I think I punctured a lung'." He laughed, though doing so without coughing was impossible.

She favored him with a half-worried, half-infuriated look. "That's not funny. You're coughing up blood. I don't want to leave you like this…." She trailed.

He looked at her jokingly, thinking that she might calm down if he made light of his injuries. "Well yeah, cracked ribs, punctured organs from that, and I probably shocked myself so bad that I'm going to have to change underwear when I get home, but what are you going to do by staying here? You planning to kiss it and make it better?"

She blushed at this comment, despite the situation. "I'll allow the fact that you're in excruciating pain right now to deter my sudden urge to hit you."

"Just go, Diamond, I'm alright. It's nothing life-threatening." He reassured her.

She turned to leave, but looked at him one last time. "And the kids? You're in no condition to chase them down if they make a run for it." She reminded him.

Gilliam made sure to say the next part out loud enough for the two nearby trainers to hear him loud and clear. "Oh, don't worry about that. I have access to a copy of every trainer card in the entire region, so I can easily pull them up on file, and report their violation of the Trainer-Town Preservation Pact, as well as the fact that they evaded arrest on those grounds, to every single police station in the Kalos region—if they try to run they'd have their trainer cards, and all their pokemon taken away from them, as well as being suspended from reinstatement of those things for as many as 10 years."

Hearing this said, the young boy and girl looked at each other nervously, before slowly walking over to the ranger, and standing anxiously next to him, much like children who are made to wait outside of the principal's office.

"We'll… we'll cooperate, Mr. Ranger, please, just go easy on us." Randall mumbled.

"Yeah, w-we'll be good." The girl added.

At this, Gilliam sternly nodded, then looked to Diamond.

She nodded as well, and took off at a rather quick pace, intent on finding the other RB Ranger so she could get Gilliam's wounds treated as soon as possible.

* End Chapter 7 *