When Red returned into the house after waving goodbye to Gold and Wally, he felt glum and confused. He knew what he had to do, but he had no idea how to do it. He had no idea why Green would still support the Association, but he knew that he had to find out what was going on – especially if Blue and Silver were correct about someone manipulating the Association.

"Hey," Yellow said, giving him a soft hug. "It'll be alright. You always find a way."

"You knew what I was thinking about?" he asked, surprised, but she just laughed.

"It is quite obvious that you are concerned," Ruby supplied from over by the stairs. "We have packed our clothing and whatever food we could fit into our packs. Yellow, Sapphire was wondering if you have any rope, string or stuff like that? It would be useful if we need to set traps or build shelter and such."

"I think I might have some, I'll go help her look!" Yellow replied, rushing out of the room and up the stairs. Ruby came down and looked around, as if making sure him and Red were really alone.

"We really are doing this, then?"

"Yeah," Red replied, shrugging. "The Association is working hard to minimize possible threats against itself, and I want to know why and what they are planning. Are you sure you really want to come? It'll be dangerous."

"Not as dangerous as Sapphire if I didn't go," Ruby said, smiling. "She can be very... convincing. She wants to help, so I do as well."

"Thanks. I am happy I won't be going alone, even though I am worried."

"About her?" Ruby said, motioning towards the upper floor, where Yellow was loudly rummaging about. Red thought for a second, then nodded.

"Partially, yes. But it is for people like her I am doing this in the first place, so it's only fair that I let her come along. I guess it is kind of like what you are doing for Sapphire, right?"

"Sapphire and me are... complicated. I try to keep her out of danger, but she is drawn to it by instinct. We are different though. You protect Yellow for her sake, while I protect Sapphire because I am selfish."

"Selfish?" Red asked, raising an eyebrow. Ruby bit his lower lip, his eyes flicking towards the stair quickly before he replied.

"I told her that I forgot our love confessions," he said, looking ashamed. "She understands that I am lying, but not why... and it is hurting her. The truth is that I am just too damn scared that we will get together and that I will lose her. I hoped that by remaining friends only, I would suffer less if she... You know."

They were silent for a while, then Red nodded slowly.

"Is it working?" he asked. Ruby frowned.

"What?"

"Is it working? Do you feel less attached to her? If she died, would you 'suffer less'?"

"What? No! I feel as strongly as ever. If she died, I would be devastated no matter what!"

"So why keep up the lies?" Red asked, softly. "If you tell her the truth, I am sure she'd understand."

"Maybe," Ruby replied, doubtfully.

"If you keep lying, on the other hand, she might find someone else," Red continued, but there was no edge to the words. "We only have limited time for things like that, so you really shouldn't let fear get in the way. Right?"

"Right."

Platinum woke up to the sound of her Pokegear blaring. She looked at the screen and saw that it was a message alarm. She opened it and was surprised to see that the message had been sent by Red. Dia was sitting on the other bed in the room, giving her a little smile as she looked up.

"Glad to see you slept better than me," he said.

"Not much," she replied, shaking her head. The nightmares she could deal with, but she had also woken up once every few minutes, convinced she was under attack. She read the message, then immediately wished she hadn't.

"What is it?" Dia asked instantly. "You look pale. Well, paler than before. Did you receive a message?"

She nodded, handing him the device. He read the message slowly, then nodded, looking troubled as well.

"He suggests we go into hiding, if possible," Dia said, thinking. "But he doesn't know what happened to Pearl yet, as we never sent a message to the others about that."

"Hiding could also put my father and Rowan in danger," Platinum commented, sighing. "Do you think we should reply?"

"I'll send him a message, tell him what happened," Dia said. "After that, do you want to get something to eat? You haven't had any food since lunch, yesterday."

"Yeah. But I want to go visit Pearl at the hospital, as well. I know they said they would call when he woke up, but I want to go there anyways."

"We can get something to eat on the way there," Dia said, giving her a soothing smile. "Pearl is strong, so we really shouldn't worry, but I am certain he will be happy to know we visited while he was out."

"What happened yesterday made our situation even worse," Giovanni said. "If this man you spoke to really does work for a group of Association members not happy with their organization, they must have some other motive than just forcing people to be loyal to it. We need to find out what that motive is, so I really wish you'd have brought him back here."

"We really were not in a situation to bring him in," Silver replied.

"I understand," Giovanni sighed. "No matter. Surge is currently following another lead, so I hope he will be able to uncover some more information that we may use. Now, the two of you should go do some more training. You may need it in the days and weeks to come."

"Yes father," Silver said, nodding. He and Blue exited the room, leaving Giovanni alone. The Team Rocket leader looked at the door for a while, then got to his feet. He locked the door, then used his Crobats Sonic attacks to scan the room for any bugs that might have been planted since his last check. Finally satisfied, he turned on the secured video phone hidden in a locker behind his desk.

"Sir," Surge said the instant connection was established.

"Have you found anything?" Giovanni asked.

"Yes, some of the Association members have been sneaking massive funds into some hidden project. I will try to gain access to base coordinates so I can go there and check it out."

"One more thing. Our two newest members found a man in Saffron City that claimed to be working for us. Some quick interrogation revealed that his real employers is a group from the Association. He started the riot there."

Surge was silent for a while, then nodded.

"Makes sense. Let Saffron burn to scare the others to their side. Do you have him there now?"

"No, they were unable to bring him in. If you review televised footage from the protests, you may be able to see what he looks like. Surge, we are dealing with well-funded and very dangerous people here. From what we have seen so far, they stop at nothing to achieve their goals."

"Like us then," Surge said with a grin. "I'll be careful, but we must figure out what they are doing, and if them achieving their goal might stop us from achieving our goals. Surge out."

Giovanni gave him a nod of confirmation, and the connection broke. He sat there for a while, eyes on the dark screen, then sighed and put it away before getting back to work.