Damien tried to think of something for the team to do if they encountered Abigail. From previous experience, he had learned not to just go in and battle. He needed a strategy. If Abigail was a murderer, then she might have some sort of weapon on her, like Bolt's knife or something similar. She would easily be able to take them out without trying with a weapon in hand. But on the other hand, if she was simply strong enough to kill with her attacks, then outnumbering her could work. She couldn't be invincible, Damien thought.

All of a sudden, Damien heard a low growling sound, which surprised him a little.

"What was that?"

Pachi and the others stopped. "What was what?"

"That… growling sound," Damien almost panicked. It took him a moment to realize that it was his stomach growling, and not a sneak attack.

"I take it you're hungry, Damien?" Mike remarked.

"Heh… yeah, sorry."

Bolt stepped in. "I'm a bit famished too. Why don't we split and look for some food?"

"That isn't a bad idea—but, what if one of us finds the criminal?" Damien wondered.

"Just signal with one of your Aura Sphere thingies. I'm sure we'll see it."

"Oh. Okay…" Damien didn't feel too smart right now. First, he had no strategy for defeating Abigail in battle. He would need one in order to not get himself killed. And second, he hadn't though about using signals when the team is separated. He felt like he was being a bit of a hindrance to his team.

"We'll meet back here when we get something, if none of us see a signal. Be careful, Damien." Pachi said.

"I will, don't worry." Damien went off his own way. He searched the ground and the trees to find some berries or apples. Soon enough, he found a big apple on the ground. He put it in the bag, and before he could set off again, he saw an apple roll out of a nearby bush.

The apple looked delicious. The crimson color on it was perfectly solid, and no bruises were apparent. Still, he was suspicious. He waited a moment for some Pokemon to come out and retrieve the apple, in case someone had just dropped it. But no one arrived. He also considered the option that it could be a trap, set up by the authorities. He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes and started to sense the area around him. He found nothing around him, but he did notice someone in the trees above him.

A Riolu. A female one, to be exact.

Damien opened his eyes and shrugged, pretending to have not seen her. He walked towards the apple at a normal pace, waiting for her to jump from the tree. Once he got closer to the apple, he stopped to look around, making himself open for ambush. But, to his surprise, no one attacked him. He picked up the apple, and started to sense the area again, this time focusing on the tree above him.

The Riolu had disappeared.

Damien looked up to make sure what he had sensed was accurate. No one was in the tree, though. Maybe she wasn't the criminal? Maybe she just wanted to help him? Damien took another look around. He bit into the apple and walked on, still looking for food.

After another mile or so, he decided it was time to turn back. He had found a few apples, enough to satisfy the rest of the group, so he didn't need to keep searching. He started to turn around, but then he heard a noise. Someone was in the area. He used his aura to search around him, and found the same Riolu from before in a clearing. She appeared to be eating something.

Damien took a detour to see what she was doing, in case there actually was reason to not trust her. He peeked at her and cringed. She was the criminal, all right. She was spotted with blood and had cuffs and chains on her wrists, which appeared to have been cut somehow. Damien checked the direction of the wind. He was downwind, so he could quite possibly create a signal without her noticing, just so long as he was quiet about it. But, then again, what if she did notice? What if she heard the signal and ran off? He would have to keep her where she was somehow.

He took his chances. He backed up a little bit, so that he wouldn't be seen or, hopefully, heard. He charged up his Aura Sphere, and prepared to launch it straight up. He almost had it ready, but then he was hit by a rock. It sent him falling to the ground. He stopped face down in the dirt, and looked up to see who did that. Standing there was the criminal Abigail, smiling triumphantly as she made her way towards him.

"Nice try, kid, but you need to be quicker than that."

Damien made it to his feet. "I wasn't attacking you, you know."

"Trust me," Abigail's smile grew, "I knew. You were going to signal your friends to try to catch me, weren't you? Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

Damien got into fighting stance.

"Really? You wanna fight, huh? Oh well, I'm game!" Abigail copied Damien's stance.

"I really don't want to fight you by myself, Abigail!"

"You know my name?" Abigail's smile faded a little. "Geez, I only escaped yesterday! They make those wanted posters really fast these days! Whatever. I know your name too… Damien!"

"You were watching me, weren't you?"

"Of course. I knew you came to this island, so I wanted to meet you personally. Of course, I couldn't just go out into the open after you found out I was wanted for murder. So I trailed your sorry excuse for a rescue team. When they split, I followed you. That apple was good, wasn't it?"

Damien glared at her.

"Don't worry, it wasn't poisoned or nothin'. I just wanted to see what you'd do." She frowned a little. "You attacking or what? My legs are getting tired of this!"

Damien thought out his plan carefully. A wrong move could be bad here, he thought. He charged up energy in his paw.

"Pulling the old Force Palm on me, eh? Stupid."

Damien paused for a moment, the energy still building up in his palm. He dashed off to the right and took off running. He could hear Abigail behind him. "Where ya going?"

Damien ran for a moment, sensing with his aura as he did so. He constantly checked his surroundings for just the right moment. Then, Abigail jumped out in front of him.

"Too slo—"

Damien sent the Force Palm into her stomach, making her fall onto her hindquarters. Damien quickly charged up his Aura Sphere and launched it into the sky, hoping the rest of his team would see it…

Mike was going about his own business, trying to find food for Damien's team. He thought to himself, why did I join in the first place? Of course, this wasn't the first time he had reconsidered joining Team Renegade. The whole purpose of being Jess' godfather was to protect her and take care of her. It was hard to do that when he went on potentially life-threatening missions. After a while, he heard a noise. He looked around, hoping he didn't meet Abigail. His cheeks started to spark, cold as ice. He prepared himself for battle.

He heard the bushes behind him rustle. He turned to see Blaze—the fire-breathing Mudkip from Team Renegade's previous battle—sneaking around him.

"You again?"

Blaze jumped when he heard Mike's snarling voice. He looked at him and backed away slowly.

"Why don't you two just leave us alone?! Do I have to teach you a lesson, freak?"

"Don't call me a freak!" Blaze shot back. "And besides, I'm not with Bruti anymore. Please don't hurt me…"

Mike was puzzled. "What? You mean, you don't work with him anymore?"

"No. I don't work with Bruti anymore. I don't even work for Shade anymore!"

Mike's animosity turned to confusion. "Are you… still a bad guy?"

"I never wanted to be a bad guy. I was just pulled into the job because I had no choice! I'm running from them now."

Mike was trying to comprehend this. All of his life, he believed Dark Pokemon were naturally vicious killers. He didn't believe this for a second, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor Mudkip.

"Hey, do you… do you think the Riolu will let me join his team?"

"Whoa, say what? You're a Darkie! You seriously think we're—" Mike stopped himself. Damien never said that Dark Pokemon were allowed to join the team, but he never said that they weren't, either. "I'll ask him. He's pretty…open-minded about that kind of stuff."

"Thanks. I just hope Shade's not going to kill me for breaking away from the army."

"Army?"

"I suppose I might as well talk. Shade's planning an army of Dark Pokemon to take control of the forest. To do that, he has to make Pokemon sad by killing loved ones and destroying homes. He recently shot down a plane, hoping he could get some Darkies for it."

"Wait, he shot down a plane?" Mike was concerned now.

"Yeah… I think there may have been a human in it, but they're probably long dead."

"I have to tell him!" Mike interjected.

"Who?"

"Damien! His trainer died in that plane crash!"

Just then, they both heard a noise. Mike looked to the sky and saw an Aura Sphere.

"…Dammit, Damien!"

He ran off. Blaze looked around, making sure no one was following him, then took off after Mike. "Wait up!"