Author's Notes

Whew, that was a rough chapter to write. Sorry about the wait. Also the longest chapter yet, over 7k words without the author's notes.

I've discovered a rather large continuity error in Chapter 8: Bounty. At the end of the chapter, I had Luxray, Riolu, and some of the Meadow Town Pokémon confront Team ACT, and ask them to leave Arcanine alone. This poses a problem because they would have explained that Arcanine saved them from the Ice-types, Team ACT would have known that they had potentially important information about what the Ice-types were looking for, and would have been more willing to listen to them and Arcanine. Under those circumstances, it wouldn't make sense for Team ACT to go ahead and sell him to Treasure Town, so Zorua wouldn't be able to spend the next chapter convincing Absol and Team ACT to get him back. This is what happens when you write chapters out of order.

To make the timeline work, I've edited Bounty so that Riolu and Luxray don't talk to Team ACT in Meadow town, and Team ACT is going solely on Bayleef's report about what happened.

In other news, our main characters are going to be forming an official exploration team soon, and I still don't have a name for them. It will be Absol, Arcanine, Zorua, and occasionally Riolu/Lucario. If you have any great ideas for team names, I want to hear them. You don't win anything if I pick yours, but you'll feel special.

Chapter 9: Absol and Arcanine

The sound of voices from the courtyard several hours later alerted her that Team ACT and the others had returned. Team ACT was there, along with Team Easy; Team Mighty; Blastoise, Swampert, and Feraligatr of Team Hydro; Aromatisse; and Delphox, but it was the large Arcanine at the center of the group who caught her attention. Absol recognized him instantly from the wanted flier; his back and flanks were covered in fresh wounds, and his coat matted with blood and mud, but she could still make out the pattern of old scars beneath.

Hogtied and muzzled, Arcanine still struggled feebly as he lay on his side in the snow, hot breath melting a puddle around his face. Despite the heavy ropes which restrained him, the others kept a cautious distance.

"...down to my hut," Aromatisse was saying.

A purple glow surrounded Arcanine, lifting him into the air, and as he rose, his head happened to turn in her direction. Their eyes met briefly. Absol expected them to be cold and merciless, or empty like a feral's, but they were not; there was anger and fear there, pain and grief, and a spark of curiosity. Involuntarily, she took a step forward, then another.

Under Alakazam's power, Arcanine began to drift toward the courtyard gate, and their contact was broken. Absol looked around, realizing that she now stood fully exposed in the courtyard. Though the snow had ceased, the cold wind whipped around her, lifting her blanket to infiltrate her thick coat. The teams all fell in around Arcanine as he drifted through the gate. She wanted to turn and retreat to the comfort of the manor, but her curiosity overcame her discomfort. Pulling her blanket tightly about her shoulders and turning her face away from the wind, Absol followed them down the hill.

Pokémon stopped what they were doing and gathered to watch as the procession passed, cheering Team ACT and the others, and shouting taunts at Arcanine; from each group they passed, though, Absol could hear whispered questions and discussion as well.

"Who's the Arcanine?"

"…never seen him before…"

"…what's the bounty?"

"…all those scars…"

"…years ago in Treasure Town…"

"…must be strong if they were willing to split so many ways…"

Only a handful of their audience seemed to have any idea who Arcanine was, or what his crimes had been. Everyone knew and respected Team ACT, and Team Hydro, and even Team Mighty. Many of the Pokémon here had explored with them, or even been rescued by them, and it was natural that they would celebrate their success. There was more to the excitement than that, though; the whole town didn't turn out to cheer for a successful rescue or exploration. No, they weren't all here to laud Team ACT and the others; they were here to scorn Arcanine. The idea made Absol uncomfortable. Maybe he was a bad Pokémon, and maybe he needed to be captured to protect other Pokémon, but no Pokémon ever set out become a murderer and an outcast, did he? They ought to pity him for whatever poor choices he'd made to end up here, rather than cheer his demise, oughtn't they?

Alakazam floated at the head of the group, seemingly oblivious to the excitement around him. Charizard and Tyranitar walked several paces behind him and to either side; the former waving and greeting everyone as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening, and the latter silent and brooding, avoiding eye contact with their audience. Tyranitar was always reserved, but today he seemed to be troubled by something.

Team Hydro walked behind them, Blastoise to the right of Arcanine, Feraligatr and Swampert to the left. Team Mighty dashed to and fro with the same boundless energy they always seemed to have, stopping to relate incoherent bits of the morning's adventure to any onlooker whom they could corner before dashing off to keep up with Alakazam.

"…and Tyranitar fell."

"And he jumped."

"And he ran."

"And we chased."

"And we tackled."

"And we bit…"

Aromatisse and Team Easy walked together in the rear, talking quietly amongst themselves. Grey and Pink didn't seem to socialize much with the other Pokémon in Pokémon Square, and she'd never seen the two of them apart for more than a few minutes. They spent almost as much time in Team ACT's library as she did, if one didn't count sleeping, and when they left, they seemed to always go back to their team base, or head out into the woods together, rather than going down into town. She hadn't seen them playing in the meadow in the afternoons, or at the bar by the river where Tyranitar and Charizard and many of the other teams gathered to talk, or loitering around the food stands to eat and chat.

Absol followed at a distance, happy to avoid the attention.

Three young Pokémon, a Sneasel, Cleffa, and Tyrogue, edged forward out of the crowd as Alakazam passed, giggling and whispering together. Tyrogue darted forward, running between Tyranitar and Blastoise to tug on Arcanine's tail before scurrying back into the crowd. Sneasel ran in next. Tyranitar turned around, catching her with a heavy open-handed cuff which send her sailing back several meters to land unconscious in a bush. Cleffa stared in surprise for several seconds before slipping back into the crowd, apparently deciding not to try his luck.

Tyranitar was definitely grumpy this morning, Absol though. He hadn't used claws, and Sneasel would probably be fine when she woke, but that sort of display of force was uncharacteristic for him.

They reached Aromatisse's hut. Tyranitar stepped forward to hold the door curtain aside; Alakazam and Arcanine floated inside, followed by Aromatisse, and then he and Charizard stood in front of the door, blocking the onlookers outside.

Absol made her way through the crowd in front of Aromatisse's hut. Finally Team Mighty noticed her. They broke off from the crowd and came running over to greet her.

"Arcanine was the strongest criminal."

"With the biggest bounty."

"We chased and chased and chased…"

Absol found herself unable to share their enthusiasm, but she didn't want to be rude. "I'm g-glad all of you are b-back s-safe," she said, leaning in to touch noses with each of them in turn, "b-but it's fr-reezing out h-here. C-can you c-come up to the m-manor later and t-tell me ab-bout it?"

"We'll come visit the soonest," they agreed.

"It will be the best story."

"About the fastest hunt."

Charizard waved and smiled as she approached, but Tyranitar seemed reluctant to meet her gaze. Had she done something to upset him, Absol wondered, or had something gone wrong on the job, and he was embarrassed? The Mightyenas didn't seem to think anything was wrong. The two of them parted, allowing her to pass between them into the hut.

The stove was cold, but it was still much warmer in the hut than outside. She stopped in front of the door to shake the mud and slush from her paws. Arcanine lay on his side on the bed where she had awakened two and a half weeks ago, after collapsing at the crossroads; in front of him, Alakazam and Aromatisse argued.

"Really, Alakazam! You could have called them off sooner. It wasn't necessary to maul him like this."

"He's dangerous, Aromatisse. You know that as well as I do. He killed five Pokémon in Treasure Town, and one in Meadow Town."

Meadow Town? Absol though. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember what significance it held.

"And look at all these old scars. Where does a Pokémon get scars like this? Don't just stand there, help me get some of these ropes off."

"The ropes stay on, Aromatisse"

"I get to treat him to my satisfaction before you send him to Treasure Town. That was our agreement, remember? Get them off, all but the muzzle, forepaws, and hindpaws. I'm sure you can control him in this condition."

A soothing scent began to fill the room, the same one that Aromatisse had used that night she'd arrived. Alakazam grumbled as he undid the ropes. Arcanine winced at each movement, his jaws clenching, but he remained silent.

Alakazam finished untying his prisoner and backed away. His forelegs no longer bound to his hindlegs, Arcanine wriggled over onto his back and tried to stretch out to his full length. His face contorted in pain as he tried to stretch his back legs out behind him, as if that one movement hurt him more than all of his wounds combined. A soft whimper escaped through his clenched teeth, the first sound that Absol had heard him make, and his limbs drooped in defeat. Her own discomfort and Arcanine's dangerous reputation forgotten, Absol wanted to push Aromatisse and Alakazam aside and run to comfort him.

"Now hold still," Aromatisse said, hopping up onto the bed, "and let Aromatisse have look at you."

Absol saw panic in Arcanine's eyes, and he tried to wriggle away as Aromatisse climbed onto the bed with him. The motion ground the straw-stuffed fabric of the bed into his wounds, and he yelped in pain.

With no apparent fear, Aromatisse leaned over Arcanine's chest. A faint blue glow surrounded her hands as she traced the outline of one of the Mightyena's bites, and the skin where she touched began to regrow. It did not heal fully; Aromatisse seemed like an experienced Pokémon, despite her size and motherly manner, and Absol was certain that she could have done more. Perhaps she and Alakazam had agreed not to heal him completely, so that he would be easier to handle?

Aromatisse moved to the next bite and repeated her healing. It was enough, at least, to stop the flow of blood which still oozed from the wounds, and reduce the risk of infection.

"Now lift him up for me," Aromatisse told Alakazam. Arcanine rose into the air again in the purple glow of Alakazam's Confusion. Once Aromatisse had finished healing him, she took a pot of some strong-smelling herbal paste from a shelf, and smeared it over the newly grown pink skin on each wound before wrapping them all in bandages.

Absol heard the curtain rustle behind her, and turned to see Delphox enter the hut. Now she remembered; Meadow Town was where they had gotten that first report about the Cryogonals, the one that Delphox had received before she arrived in Pokémon Square. Could there be a connection?

"I saw the bounty on the desk this morning," Absol said, "how did you find him?"

"He attacked Meadow Town four days ago," Alakazam answered, not looking away from Arcanine, "abducted the mayor to a mystery dungeon, and tried to force him to open some treasure chest. He's also wanted for five murders in Treasure Town, a few years ago."

"Oh." Absol was disappointed. It must have been just a coincidence. Meadow Town wasn't that far away; it made sense that they'd send to Pokémon Square for help with a bandit.

Arcanine's eyes drooped closed and Absol could see his muscles beginning to relax. Absol was feeling sleepy from Aromatisse's scent, and Alakazam and Delphox looked like they were too. There must have been something else though, in the salve, or a move she hadn't noticed Aromatisse use, to put him to sleep so quickly.

"I recognize him," Delphox said, "those scars are unmistakable. That was big news for a while; everyone was going to find him and get rich. There was a rumor that some super-powerful psychic no one had seen before was searching for him too."

"What do you mean, a psychic whom no one had seen before?" Absol wondered.

"I mean, no one recognized his species." Delphox shrugged. "Nothing ever came of it, though, and then the Times Gears thing happened, and everyone forgot about him."

Arcanine began to whimper in his sleep. His legs twitched and his head jerked up and down. Absol could see the muscles in his jaws straining against the rope. She turned away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Arcanine didn't know why he was alive. When he had collapsed under the weight of the Mightyenas, he hadn't expected to get up again. What did they want with him? Why were they healing him? He didn't fear death. Death was something that happened to every normal Pokémon, eventually, like eating or breathing. While he wasn't eager to die, it held no terror for him. He didn't really think he feared pain, either; he had always endured, and he would always endure. What he feared was helplessness; being tied up, unable to fight, unable to run.

He had struggled for an hour or two, he though, after waking up, bound, still on the shortcut through Haunted Forest, while his captors waited for the psychic contact to teleport back to whatever town this was. Now, exhausted, he was beginning to think clearly again.

Zorua would be safely back in Meadow Town by now. She would travel to that cave by Sinister Woods where they'd spend the night, and find that he had not been there. Maybe they would come looking for him; Zorua and Riolu and Luxray. They were brave, and clever, but they were no match for all of the teams here. As strong as he was, Arcanine knew that he wasn't either, even if he were healthy. He needed to control himself, stop panicking, and wait for his wounds to heal and his captors to become complacent.

He couldn't remember killing five Pokémon in Treasure Town; just those two Magnemites; they'd deserved it, though. Maybe that had been his mistake, running away instead of going back for the rest of them, just like he should have finished off Bayleef, rather than expecting the coward to be grateful for his rescue. That was all back near the very beginning of his memories. Everything there was indistinct, fading in and out of view like Ghost-types in the fog. Perhaps he had killed five Pokémon. Maybe they'd deserved it too. Maybe he'd never seen them, trapped in one of the burning buildings while he fled.

Aromatisse's scent of earth and rain and flowers faded into a stinging chemical odor. The lights glared down, implacable, reducing the rest of the room to darkness and shadowy outlines. Even with his eyes closed, there was no relief; it burned pink through his eyelids, making his eyes water and his head ache.

His whole body was agony. A hundred bits of shrapnel ground against muscle and bone with every movement, every breath. He could not feel them as distinct wounds, just a solid mass of pain which enveloped everything below his head. Unable to dissolve them like spikes or razor leaves or other natural projectiles, his body was healing closed around them, entrapping them.

He tried to push himself to his feet. Something wrapped around his shoulders and hips, holding him firmly against the cold metal of the table. There was a wire cage around his muzzle secured by straps which reached behind his head, out of his field of vision. He tried to turn his head, to see where he was, to escape the unrelenting glare, but the muzzle was secured to a bolt in the table, and wouldn't move more than a few centimeters. In panicked reflex his body jerked upward, attempting to break free of his bonds. The straps dug into inflamed wounds. The pain was incredible; nothing he had experienced in two decades of battling and training could compare. The room faded to silence, and his vision went white.

He was still laying on the table. His throat felt like he had been screaming, but he didn't remember hearing himself. There were voices beside him, Human-speech. A pair of hands grabbed fistfuls of his mane. There was a click and a hum. Something cold and vibrating pressed against the the back of his neck. It slid slowly against his skin, leaving a trail of cold as it passed. Something cold and wet pressed against his exposed skin. There were Humans on either side of him, leaning their weight against his neck. Something jabbed into the cold spot, followed by a brief stinging, burning sensation. The feeling of cold began to spread slowly down his back. As strange as it was, the sensation had a flavor, a feeling like dirty, silty water in the back of his throat.

The clippers buzzed again, leaving chilly lines of exposed skin down his flanks. The hand operating them was none too gentle, and Arcanine winced and whimpered as they jabbed into his wounds or caught on torn skin and blood-matted fur. His whole body began to feel warm, and his limbs felt heavy, as if someone had turned up the artificial gravity in one of Mewtwo's science fiction novels, and he was sinking into the table. His entire body felt as if it were pulsing with each heartbeat.

Hands groped at the back of his head, and the straps holding the muzzle fell away. They gripped handfuls of his mane again, lifting his head from the table. His lower jaw hung limply open. He tried to resist. He should have had no difficulty; he could snap a Stantler's femur between his molars. He tried to summon his fire,but there was nothing there, just a cold, empty place inside of him where the warmth should have been. He tried to move a paw, to curl his toes, but his body failed to respond.

One of the Humans held a tool which looked something like a large plastic ice pick. Arcanine hung there, unable to move, as it slid into his throat. A plastic tube slid in after it, scraping its way painfully down his throat. He wanted to gag, he wanted to cough, but he couldn't.

Fingers prodded roughly at the wounds on his back. Whatever was in that needle in his neck wasn't anesthetic, or at least not enough. That was probably intentional, he though. The Humans didn't care if they hurt him; he was just a curiosity, a science experiment. Mewtwo was still here, somewhere, trapped in Giovanni's machine. Mewtwo would feel his pain, his fear. Mewtwo was the prize.

The two of them always had a special connection, even beyond what Mewtwo shared with the other clones. Arcanine had read his files; he didn't really understand most of the biochemistry stuff, but he knew he had a little bit of Mewtwo's own DNA, and he'd always wondered whether he wasn't a tiny bit psychic himself. He'd always cherished that connection, and the place it gave him as Mewtwo's confidant, but now he wished he could die rather than be used as a tool to harm their leader.

Something jabbed into his back, one of the long muscles along the spine, just posterior to his ribs, sending waves of pain up and down his back. He could feel it wiggling around before it withdrew. The sequence repeated slightly lower on his back, and again, and again. He couldn't tell what was happening, but he imagined a pair of forceps pulling bits of metal from his flesh. Nurse Joy had used tools like that, when she had helped Wigglytuff and Vaporeon treat their injuries back on Cinnabar.

Arcanine had no basis to judge time, but his torture seemed to go on for hours. After completing his right side, the Humans working on him departed. Over the sound of the ventilator, he could hear movement around him, other Humans talking somewhere nearby . They must want to keep him alive, he thought; if they'd only wanted to hurt him, there was no need for all this effort. Would they put him in a Ball? What would it be like? Would he be conscious? Aware of his surroundings? Would it be like this, able to see and hear and feel, but totally helpless to react? Would he ever see the others again?

After a little while the Humans returned; the same group or different, he couldn't tell over the smell of antiseptic and the blinding light. They began again on his other side.

#Arcanine.#

The light was gone.

#Arcanine?#

A gentle hand stroked his muzzle; a familiar scent. His eyes opened. Mewtwo's large violet eyes stared back at him, filled with pain and dulled from exhaustion, but no less full of love than they had ever been. He supported himself with an arm around Blastoise's shoulders.

He was free now. They were in the gymnasium. Arcanine could see many of the others gathered around; Venosaur and Charizard and many of the younger clones, but some were missing. Where was the rest of his team? Sandslash was there, but where were Vulpix and Vaporeon? At the back of the group stood a Human, in a white lab coat smeared with blood. Arcanine wondered whether the blood was his.

He wanted to raise his head, to look around for the others, but everything hurt so much that he didn't want to move. He wanted to speak, but his throat was raw; he managed an unintelligible gurgle which sent him into a fit of coughing that set off flashing lights of pain in the back of his skull. His tongue reached out, curling around Mewtwo's fingers.

#I know, old friend,# Mewtwo said, #but we haven't much time, and I haven't the strength to carry you. Giovanni's helicopter escaped; he knows how close he was to breaking me, and he'll be back.#

Absol and Alakazam were gone. Aromatisse and Delphox chatted by the stove on the other side of the hut. Blastoise stood in the corner, still watching him, though not as warily as before. There had been a Blastoise in his dream, Arcanine thought. He was so close to remembering, now. There had been other Pokémon there as well; his friends, no, his family. A great hall carved into black stone where they had trained and played. There had been big violet eyes in a short-furred grey face, hard as steel but full of compassion, a species he recognized but somehow could not name.

His whole body ached. His head throbbed. He shut out the pain, trying to focus on the memory of the dream before it slipped away like all of the others. He wished that he could speak, to ask Aromatisse to turn off her scent so that he could think clearly, if only for a few minutes. There had to be something there he could hold onto, a place, a name...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Team Mighty stopped by to visit her at the manor before Alakazam sent them out to Snowcliff Village that afternoon. Their paws were clean when they entered the library this time, despite the mess of slush and mud in the courtyard. The same was not true for the bag of pies they had brought to share with her, which was covered in mud and thoroughly soaked. The Mightyenas wolfed theirs down without seeming to notice, so Absol ate hers without complaint. They really were trying, she though, even if they couldn't quite get things right. Once she was back to normal it would be fun to explore with them for a while before she returned to Mount Freeze, like Mother had with Team Go-Getters.

Their story was barely more coherent now than it had been earlier on the road to Aromatisse's hut. She did learn that Tyranitar had been knocked out; Charizard had failed to mention that when he recounted his version of the story. Perhaps that explained his earlier grumpiness.

"You guys be careful out there," Absol said, touching noses with each of them in turn.

"We'll be the carefulest," they assured her.

"And find Kyurem the first."

"And come back the soonest."

After they left, Absol tried to work, but her mind kept returning to the outlaw Team ACT had brought in that morning. Eventually she decided to brave the cold again and go visit Aromatisse.

As always, the scents of all the various cooked foods for sale in the Square were wonderful. Living on Mount Freeze, she and Mother and Ninetales had hauled plenty of bags of berries up the mountain in the summer and fall to dry in the sun and store for winter, but cooked food was something she had been familiar with only from stories. There were so many kinds of cookies and pies and poffins and other goodies on display, and she wanted to sample them all. Maybe she could find a job on the board that Charizard had shown her, something which didn't require too much time outside, so she would have Poké to buy them...there wasn't time for that, of course. She had important work to do already.

A waving Lopunny caught Absol's attention. "Try some candied Orans?" she offered, "you'll not find anything sweeter in Pokémon Square."

Lopunny must have caught her staring, Absol thought, embarrassed.

"They look delicious," Absol said, "but I'm afraid I haven't any money."

Lopunny laughed. "My cousin is Zangoose on Team Razor Wind. He says you walked all the way from Mount Freeze to warn us. Honey, I'll never be brave enough to join one of those exploration teams searching for Darkrai and Kyurem, but let me do something to help, okay?"

Lopunny piled two handfuls of the berries onto a large leaf, and wrapped it up into a package. Absol hesitated a moment, then accepted.

"Fank you!" Absol said around the mouthful of berries, not wanting to set the package down in the mud, "I'm fur fay'll be good!

"No," Lopunny said, "thank you. Whatever is going on, I'm glad we have Pokémon like you to figure it out."

Arcanine was still there. He lay on the bed on his side where they had left him that morning, looking furious and thoroughly miserable. At least he seemed to be healing well; Aromatisse had already removed the bandages from some of the smaller wounds, and Absol could see the soft fuzz of fur beginning to regrow. He didn't lift his head, but his eyes followed her as she entered the hut.

"Welcome back, dear," Aromatisse greeted her

Feraligatr sat in a chair in the corner, his head leaned back against the wall, snoring quietly. Team Hydro must have been taking turns helping to guard Arcanine, she thought.

Arcanine was rubbing his nose back and forth on the edge of the bed. At first, Absol thought he was trying to loosen the rope. That was probably a hopeless endeavor; it was wrapped around his jaws dozens of times, and tied securely around his neck and behind his head. Then she realized he was probably only trying to scratch his nose; he'd been tied up and unable to reach his face all day, and the rough fibers of the ropes were probably irritating.

Absol approached cautiously, and reached out a paw to touch his face. Arcanine didn't pull away, or lunge at her. She rubbed his nose and jaw, through the ropes. He snorted, blowing warm air across her paw, and sighed in relief.

"Anywhere else?" she asked.

Arcanine lifted his forepaws toward her in answer, and she rubbed around the ropes, and his hindpaws as well. After laying in the snow and mud for hours, he needed a thorough grooming, but Absol was not ready to be quite that familiar.

"You'd make a good healer," Aromatisse said when she had finished.

"I don't know," Absol said, "I'm Dark-type. I don't even know if I can learn any healing moves."

"But you feel other Pokémon's pain. That's what matters. I know an Umbreon who could probably teach you Moonlight, if you're interested, even though you might not be quite as effective with it."

Absol considered. It would certainly be a useful ability to have, and she thought she would enjoy being able to heal other Pokémon, but she would have to give up something else, another move like Snarl or Dark Pulse for which she was better suited. Not permanently, of course; relearning a forgotten move was simple enough with a few days of practice, but it would make her less effective in a fight for now.

"I'll have to think about it," Absol said.

The kettle was steaming on the stove, and Aromatisse added the tea.

"What's going to happen to him in Treasure Town?" Absol asked.

"Team Magnezone has enchanted cages made by Conkeldurr and Gurdurr where they keep outlaws," Aromatisse said, "they say that moves can't break them, no matter how strong a Pokémon is."

"How long will they keep him there?"

"I don't know. If he really killed six Pokémon, maybe forever."

"Forever? In a cage? That's horrible!"

To be trapped for a hundred years or more, alone, not able to play or run. He's a bad Pokémon, she reminded herself, he killed six people. Those six Pokémon weren't here, right now, though, starting at her; Arcanine was. There was some connection there, something that she was missing; she could feel it as a subtle tingling of her horn, barely noticeable under the throbbing cold. Absol didn't know what to do with the feeling. It wasn't something solid and discrete, like her dream or the constant chill, which she could explain to Team ACT and the others. She didn't even know if it was related to the current emergency, or something else entirely.

Aromatisse nodded in agreement.

"I know...Team ACT and that wanted flier said he did bad things," Absol said, "but are we sure that what we're doing to him is better?"

"No," Aromatisse agreed, shaking her head, "but what else can we do? If all that is true, we can't let him go to hurt more Pokémon, can we?"

Absol didn't answer. She didn't have an answer.

The tea finished steeping, and Aromatisse poured a mug for herself and a bowl for Absol. Absol began to open the bag of candied Orans, and then stopped, feeling Arcanine staring at her. He was probably hungry, too. They couldn't very well take off the muzzle so he could eat, and it would be rude to make him watch, wouldn't it?

She put the bag away.

"What's wrong?" Aromatisse asked.

Absol explained.

"I'll tell you what, dear. Lets drink the tea before it gets cold. Team ACT will be back in a couple hours to teleport him to Treasure Town. If it makes you feel better, I'll make another pot, and I won't let Alakazam send him on without a bowl of tea and a good meal, no matter how much that old grump complains."

"Thank you," Absol said, smiling, "I know I'm being foolish, but…thank you."

Absol opened the bag. Aromatisse took several of the candied Orans for herself, and placed a handful in front of Absol, leaving another handful in the bag. The two of them talked for a while, sipping tea, while Feraligatr dozed in the corner. Arcanine turned away, and Absol couldn't decide whether he had fallen asleep, or was only feigning disinterest.

"You ought to get back home," Aromatisse said eventually, "it'll be getting dark soon."

"Oh!" Absol looked up at the windows to see that the sun was already low in the sky. She hadn't even noticed that the inside of the hut was getting darker. "It is, isn't it."

"Would you mind making a delivery on your way, dear? I've some potions Team Mighty wanted as soon as possible, but I shouldn't leave our friend here unattended."

"Of course," Absol answered, "but they've already left for Snowcliff Village a few hours ago."

"They insisted on having it delivered quickly." Aromatisse shrugged and handed her a bag which exuded a strong smell of unfamiliar herbs; several glass bottles clinked against each other inside. "If no one's there, just leave it in their base. In this weather, it won't go bad."

"Okay. Where are they staying?"

"You don't know?" Aromatisse gave her a mischievous grin. "I was sure they'd've invited you over by now."

Absol blushed, her ears dipping slightly in embarrassment. "They've been really friendly, but they haven't, yet."

"They're squatting in Team Meanies' old base," Aromatisse said, giving her directions, "you'll know it when you see it."

"I'll find it. Thank you so much!" Absol leaned in to touch noses with Aromatisse, who wrapped her stubby arms around Absol's neck in a brief hug.

Team Meanies' former base was indeed unmistakable; a purple dome about the same diameter as Aromatisse's hut, but shorter, with one large purple ear protruding from the top. The other ear and part of the surrounding roof had collapsed, and the whole structure sagged to one side. The door was a leering mouth surrounded by white-painted shingles arranged like teeth, with two red eyes painted above, and covered by a tattered black curtain.

Though they'd only been in town a week, the place already smelled strongly of Mightyenas. There was another Pokémon's scent as well; a female Growlithe, Absol thought. She approached and scratched at the wall by the door. There was a faint rustling from inside, but no answer.

"It's Absol," she called, scratching again, "I have some potions from Aromatisse."

This time a voice answered from within the ruined base, quiet and timid, "please leave them by the door."

Absol set the bag by the door and began to back away; then she stopped. The stuff in the bottles was probably some kind of medicine, she thought, and Team Mighty would be gone for days, which meant that the Pokémon inside was alone and probably ill or injured. She couldn't leave without at least trying to check on her.

"Are you okay in there?"

"I'm fine. Please just leave them."

"Okay," Absol said, "it's by the door, and I'm leaving."

Absol turned and started back toward the manor. There wasn't much else she could do, she thought, besides come back tomorrow and ask again. The way Team Mighty flirted with everyone, it wasn't surprising that they would have another Pokémon living with them. She made it about thirty paces before she heard the voice again, somewhat louder this time.

"Wait. You're the Absol?"

She turned around again to see a small orange and black muzzle poking through the curtain.

"I, ah, guess so." She didn't really like the idea of being the Absol. She was just trying to help, like everyone else. There wasn't really anything special about that, was there?

"Can you come in?"

Team Meanies' old base was in even worse condition than it had appeared from the outside. Half of the poles holding up the top of the dome were broken. Chunks of plaster were missing from the walls, and there was a large puddle under the missing ear. Everything smelled like mold and dust. A pile of tangled blankets and cushions lay on the floor under the intact ear, as far as possible from the leaking roof.

Growlithe was sitting in the center of the room, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She must have been asleep already, Absol thought. She was chubby, which was unusual for a Pokémon, particularly a species as energetic as Growlithe. Growlithe stood, deliberately turning her back toward Absol.

"Your legs!" Absol gasped, "what happened?"

Below her knees, both of Growlithe's hindlegs bent out at unnatural angles. She picked up the bag of potions and walked to the end of the bed furthest from Absol and the door; it was an awkward movement, stepping with each of her forelegs and then hopping with both hindlegs at the same time, and Absol's hips ached in sympathy just watching her move.

"Bandits," Growlithe explained, settling on the bed, "Team Mighty saved me, but they didn't heal right."

Growlithe pulled a bottle from the bag, held it between her forepaws, and worked the stopper out with her teeth. She tipped it up and grimaced as she took a gulp.

She's showing me all this on purpose, Absol thought, whatever she wants to talk about, she wants me to know up front that she's crippled and drugged.

"So you're part of Team Mighty, too?" Absol asked.

Growlithe laughed and shook her head. "I've never been strong enough for that, even before..." she looked back at her ruined legs and shrugged. "I know everyone thinks they're not too smart, and only care about humping and fighting, butthey do their best to take care of me."

"Have you been to see Aromatisse?"

Growlithe shook her head. "I've seen Blissey and Chimecho in Treasure Town, and Kirlia in Boulder Town. They say there's nothing to do but wait and hope it gets better, or," Growlithe shuddered, "break them again on purpose"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask, would it?" Absol said, "we can go right now. I can carry you..."

Growlithe was shaking her head; Absol stopped.

"There's nothing she can do. I don't want to be poked at and pitied."

Absol didn't know how to answer, so she remained silent, waiting for Growlithe to continue.

Growlithe stared off into the distance for several minutes, and Absol began to shift uncomfortably. She really should be getting back to the manor, she thought.

"They really like you, you know," Growlithe said eventually.

Absol cocked her head uncertainly.

"Team Mighty, I mean."

"They seem like good Pokémon," Absol said.

There was another awkward silence. Absol still didn't know what Growlithe wanted with her. Was she in need of some sort of help, but too shy to ask? Was she just lonely, with Team Mighty out of town? Was she jealous of the attention that the Mightyenas had been giving her?

"I don't mean to encroach on your relationship…" Absol began.

Growlithe was shaking her head again. "There's plenty of Mightyena to go around."

"Then what-"

"You should leave before it gets darker," Growlithe said abruptly, "you're afraid of the dark, right?"

There was no judgment or anger in Growlithe's voice, just a statement of fact, but Absol felt suddenly defensive. She wanted to argue until she glanced up at the sky through the broken ear. The sun was nearly set already. She didn't think that anything would really happen to her if she was out after dark, but if she panicked and lost herself in the woods, it would be a terrible, miserable way to spend the night, and she would be so embarrassed when she found her way back in the morning.

"You're right," Absol conceded, "but may I come back tomorrow to visit?"

Growlithe hesitated several seconds before replying with a single, quick nod.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Charizard and Tyranitar were the first to arrive in the library the next morning. Charizard looked around the room and then flopped down on the pile of cushions which Absol had just vacated; Tyranitar put down the bag of Apples he'd brought and sat down across from her at the table.

"Think Alakazam is in a better mood this morning?" Charizard asked, staring up at the ceiling.

Tyranitar snorted derisively.

"What happened?" Absol asked.

Charizard rolled over to look at her. "He finally met someone more stubborn that himself. It was your idea though, wasn't it?"

"What do you…oh, feeding Arcanine?

Charizard nodded. "They argued. Aromatisse insisted it was part of the deal, healing him. She made Alakazam unmuzzle him. He got a bowl of tea, a Big Apple, and some of those candied Orans Lopunny and the Bunearys make. Took his time eating them. Alakazam just stood there glaring at both of them."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause trouble."

"We're not saying you're wrong," Charizard said, "and neither are most of the others. There is something about him, isn't there?"

Absol and Tyranitar both nodded.

"Also," Charizard continued, "we only got a fifth-share of the bounty last night; I don't think Magnezone expected Arcanine would ever turn up again, and he claims he doesn't have the money."

"Delphox said people thought he was dead."

Charizard nodded. "Anyway," he said, "he'll be grumpy this morning. He's not used to not getting his way"

"So how did he get away five years ago? " Absol asked.

"Story is he jumped off a cliff into Serenity River, couple days east of Treasure Town," Tyranitar said, "water's pretty deep there. They never found the body, but since he's Fire-type, people figured he didn't survive. That was the last anyone heard of him until Meadow Town."

Eventually the other arrived. As Arcanine's capture had occupied everyone's attention the day before, no one but Delphox had any progress to report.

"As you all know," Delphox said as Charizard poured tea for everyone, "the main limitation on long distance telepathic communication is that both parties must be attempting to reach each other at the same time; that's why we arrange contacts in advance by Pelipper. During the Time Gears crisis, the Federation realized there was a need for faster communication in emergencies, and they created a plan where a team of Federation Psychic-types working out of Treasure Town or Pokémon Square could contact every Federation representative in every town at the same time each day."

That would make a huge difference in how quickly they could search, Absol thought; instead of waiting a week for the Pelippers to get a message to some of the further towns, Alakazam or Delphox or Xatu could make contact that day and teleport out with a team. She wondered why no one had though of it before.

"The main problems was timing the contacts," Delphox continued, "without a standard way of keeping time between towns, and the change in time moving east or west, they had to make the contact windows two hours long. Most Pokémon didn't have enough power for more than two or three contacts each day, so it would have taken a lot of Psychic-types to implement."

Alakazam nodded in agreement.

"Metagross from Team Victory has invented a solution; he calls it a sand-glass. I don't know how they work, but he claims they're accurate to within half an hour each day. Once the Time Gears were replaced, no one had much interest in implementing the system, so they've been in storage for years."

"Team Victory?" Absol asked.

"That's Victini, Metagross, and Alakazam, the leaders of the Federation," Delphox explained, "they've already begun distributing them, but we're short Psychics. Xatu has agreed to help." Delphox glanced toward the seer, who nodded in agreement, and then to Alakazam. "We would like to ask for your help as well, and permission to house the Pokémon Square sandglass and several more Federation Psychic-types in the manor."