This chapter also marked the end of an accidental hiatus, albeit a much shorter one.

Patrick winced as he stepped out of the shower, still sore from the workout he had been given by his football coach. He slapped on some pants and a shirt before collapsing onto his bed.

It didn't take long for sleep to set in.

The rock that had been left on the bedside table glowed once and vanished.

Patrick began to dream.

"I reckon you could peel tomatoes if you tried hard enough," Morgan quipped. "I just don't think I know anyone silly enough to want to try. Anyway, enough messing around - you two need to tell me what's happened since I left."

"Well….Rush might have died." Aron started.

"'Might have' is a huge understatement" Isrea muttered.

"What? What happened?"

"We got attacked by the same two trainers who tried to steal Isrea west of Mount Coronet. We got extremely lucky with the arrival of that vaporeon and dragonair. The two trainers knocked most of us out with one explosion and we have no idea what happened afterwards, except that we woke up the next day with burns on everyone and Rush nowhere to be found. We reckon he was the first one attacked and he got knocked out in midair before taking a very bad landing. I've got a good mind to report them to the police, but, well, they won't believe our story, not with Firael's background and all."

Isrea shook her head forlornly. "Apart from that, things went reasonably smoothly - the trainers seem to have stop chasing us. We both got badges at - WHAT IN THE WORLD?"

"Wh-where am I?" A stranger had materialised out of thin air, right in front of Aron. He looked around blankly as Isrea tripped over herself and fell while jumping away.

"Who are you?" Isrea groaned as she got back up.

"This is an odd dream."

Palkia felt Celebi jerk against her foot.

"Woah, what happened there, Celebi?"

The axew looked up before shrugging nonchantly. "I just felt someone messing with the fabric of time and got alarmed for a second, but it's no big deal."

Palkia scratched her head. "Err...that does sound like a big deal. How can you be so sure about this?"

"Because," Celebi grinned, "those disturbances are being caused by me - on behalf of another pokemon, of course. Well, that's not quite true. The disturbances are going to be caused by me."

"Celebi, you never cease to infuriate."

"Ah...I'm…..what." Patrick managed after several seconds of silence spent staring at Aron, Morgan and Isrea's expressions, which also happened to replicate his.

Morgan clamped her mouth shut before finding her voice. "You….you just appeared out of nowhere! It would be...uh...good if you would explain yourself!"

"Well, I don't know how to put this, but you're all just figments of my imagination. I'm just dreaming. You don't exist. Still, it's no reason to be alarmed." Patrick replied.

"We WHAT?! Of course I exist! We were here before you appeared, you know!" Isrea, now back on her feet, was now violently shaking Patrick.

"Well...you would say that if you were part of my imagination, wouldn't you?" He mumbled whilst he endured Isrea's shaking. Visibly shaken after getting released, he glanced up and saw Isrea's reaction after hearing his latest statement. Thinking quickly, he quickly backtracked. "However, I'm willing to act like you guys exist for now. God knows this has been one of the most interesting and vivid dreams I've had in awhile."

"Fine….sure." Aron nodded, clearly shaken (figuratively). "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself then?"

"Sure! I'm Patrick Davis and I live in the Opelucid Complex of Unova city." Patrick paused upon seeing glances being exchanged between his listeners. "What?"

"Unova City? Unova's a continent, not a city!"

Patrick shrugged. "Yeah, but seeing as Unova City covers most of the continent, we just call it Unova City. It's the same for Amica City and Sinnolia, which cover all of Amica and Sinnoh. Where are we anyway?"

Isrea was shaking her head. "We're in Veilstone City, which is in the continent of Sinnoh. We've never heard of Sinnoh getting called Sinnolia...sounds like a bad flu."

Patrick arched his eyebrows. "Really? Veilstone is a suburb, not a city - my grandmother lived there! What kind of joke is this?"

"Veilstone is a suburb, you say? And you think this is a dream?" Aron muttered, stroking his chin.

"Yes, what of it?"

"I think I might have an explanation for all this. Have you recently had any contact with a purple rock? Larger than my fist, translucent and it sometimes glows in the dark." Aron walked over to his bag and began rummaging around in it.

"I….I have." Patrick mumbled as Aron pulled a purple rock out. "Hey, that's my rock! How did it get here?"

Aron shook his head. "This is going to take a lot of explaining, but my rock is, or rather, it WAS your rock. As for your current predicament, you've just travelled back in time by just under a thousand years."

Isrea burst into laughter before she realised Aron was staring at her. "What, you mean you were serious?" Aron nodded. "Really? Where the hell did you get that rock anyway? I've never seen it!"

"It's a long story."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Morgan grumbled. "What have you been hiding from us?"

Sonya's fitful dozing was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching her cell. A quick glance told her that it was simply Nikolai checking in on the two of them.

"Ah, Sonya," he said, sliding two boxes of food through the letterbox opening in the door to their cell. "The higher they are, the harder they fall, don't they?" Sonya glared at him through the mesh of the cage. "I thought that raichu would have killed you by now, but it looks like you've managed to convince him not to do so."

Sonya steeled herself. "So now what? What happens to us now?" Through the fine mesh, she could see Nikolai wag his finger at her.

"You should know that we operate on a need-to-know basis and that you, my dear, do not need to know what we've got planned for you."

"Wonderful. I hope you live a happy and fulfilling life."

"Why thank you! I wish you the same! Goodbye now!"

After Nikolai left, Sonya had a look inside the boxes in the vain hope that they might have provided metal cutlery so they could attempt sawing their way out. Unfortunately, the food came with two plastic sporks, which were about as useful to her as a wet noodle. After giving the raichu in the corner a nervous glance, Sonya turned her attention to the cage she was imprisoned in. It was an extremely small space;it was only tall enough for her to sit up in and just long enough for her to lie down if she did so diagonally.

'This cage wasn't really intended to hold a human, was it?'

Suddenly, inspiration struck. Sonya threw her weight against the mesh in an effort to see if she could move the cage by slowly sliding it across the ground with her body weight. However, after a few attempts, she realised that the cage was welded to the floor was not going anywhere anytime soon. After dismissing that option, she turned her attention to the lock. She assumed it was keyhole lock but there was no way of telling as she couldn't reach through the mesh to feel around the lock and there were no markings on her side of the cage. The hinges on the door looked like the most sturdy part of the entire cage, and Sonya didn't pay too much attention to them. Prodding at the mesh walls, Sonya felt despair sink in like the chill on a winter's night. The mesh was so fine that she could not even get a finger through it to tug at it.

'I wonder what it's made out of?' Sonya thought. 'The mesh can't be a conductor since if it was anyone touching it would just get shocked by the pokemon inside, and this looks like it was made specifically for electric pokemon. Yet….this looks like it's made of metal...oh. There's a ground running along the floor to stop electric shocks. Come on! There has to be something!' She slapped the ground in frustration.

Firael stared forlornly at the gathering of Rob's pokemon, feeling a little left out as the vaporeon, dragonair, scizor and ninjask caught up on news.

'It's not the same, is it?' Alexa murmured inside her.

Firael sighed. 'Yeah, it isn't. I don't even know any of them, so it's not like I should even claim to be a part of their conversation. Still….'

'Ah. Still...because you all shared the same trainer?'

'Yes. I know it's not the same, but….I wish it was. Alexa?'

'Hmm…?'

'Do you ever wonder- ever wonder how everything would have turned out if none of this had happened? If I was still travelling with Rob and you were still training to be an athlete? I feel as though I've messed up so many things-'

'A strange word, 'if'. So many possibilities. In the end, what has happened has already done so, and there is no way to change it. We are all laying down wet cement, and the past has dried up, barren, hard and unchangeble. The past is set in stone, so why worry about it? We may have regrets, but I, for one, am not going to spend the rest of my life dwelling on them. However, the future...'

'What about the future?'

'Well, in the future, the word 'if' still has meaning. Endless possibilities.'

'Hell, since when did you become so philosophical?'

'I don't know what you do when I'm in control, but I get a lot of time to think, although there seems to be more a blur between transitions these days, nearly an hour long where I can't really remember what I'm doing.'

'So it's not just me then?' Firael frowned.

'Ah, you too? No, it's not just you. It feels as though-'

'as though you're in control, but that someone else is mirroring your movements?'

'...yes. In tandem?' Firael felt her right paw clench.

'In tandem.'

"Sooo….pretty much whenever you sleep with that rock nearby you get to come down and join us for a few hours! If things play out the same way, Jirachi might actually appear soon as well!" Aron finished.

Patrick shook his head. "I'm finding this very difficult to swallow."

"He's not the only one, you know." Isrea said, frowning. "The whole story is so far-fetched it's not even funny."

"Well, I'm just telling it as it is! Don't shoot the messenger! He's the guy who appeared out of nowhere." Aron threw his arms up in the air.

Morgan grinned. "Doesn't mean we can't laugh at him. Still, there might be a way we can verify this. Patrick, does Sinnoh...City still have a Pokemon Champion?"

"Well, they have a Commander of the Fleet, which is the honorary title given to the leader of the Sinnoan army for the Fortroid invasion. I'm pretty sure that it used to be called the Pokemon Champion, but I'll have to check. Why do you ask?"

"Fortroi- nevermind. I assume you wouldn't know who the Pokemon Champion is currently, do you? That is, the Sinnoan Pokemon Champion a thousand years from your time."

"Err….no. I don't know that much about Sinnoh City."

"Well, go look him up. If that Pokemon Champion happens to be named Lucas, then you'll know that you weren't dreaming since you didn't actually know this information. If you're really from the future as opposed to some random guy who appeared in our room, how about you bring something we don't have? It'd be cool." Morgan winked. "Anyway, I'm of a mind to go and do a bit of sightseeing. Anyone here game? There's a good movie on tonight as well."

"Sure." Aron replied. "Patrick, you coming?"

"I guess."

"Nah, I haven't warmed up yet. C'mon Isrea! I'll beat you this time!" Aron fished another token out of his pocket to pay for another round of skee ball.

Isrea couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Aron, I've already beaten you three times-"

"We'll do a best of seven!"

"I'd like to play again but you're going to spend ALL your tokens on this one game. Play something else! Maybe you'll win for a change. Where are Pat and Morgan?" Isrea scanned the arcade section of the Veilstone Game Corner for their two friends.

They soon found the two deeply engrossed in a flying simulator trying to beat each other in aerial slalom races. At the end of the race, Patrick shook his head.

"Wow….the simulator is so…..unrealistic! It's not even in 3D!"

Morgan jerked a thumb at the disgruntled teenager. "He's just mad he lost to me after telling me how good he was at racing games."

Isrea chuckled. "Tell me about it. Aron here is absolutely terrible at skee ball."

"Hey! I was warming up!"

Upon catching sight of Aron, Patrick waved him over. "Aron, I just realised something odd about your explanation of the...y'know."

"Really? What?"

"Well….if Jirachi is supposed to appear in a few days, then why is the Millenium Festival 6 months away? I saw a few signs on the way here and kinda forgot to ask."

Aron nodded. "Ah, I forgot to mention that. The comet is actually slightly behind. Each time it takes nine hundred and ninety nine years and 9 months to reappear again, three months short of a Millenium. Since it was three months behind last time, this time it's behind by six months. When I was back a thousand years ago, Jirachi arranged for another comet to come in place of hers when expected so that the Millenium Festival can be celebrated, but it's not the real one. The real one is coming soon. Real soon."

Patrick's eyes opened and he promptly shot up in his bed.

'Now THAT was the weirdest dream ever! Never had a dream end when I went to sleep.' He turned around to look at the purple rock, which had stopped pulsing.

'Then again, I might as well check the name of that pokemon champion….wow, it's late! I'm glad it's the weekend, or I would have been in trouble.'

A few minutes later, he had grabbed breakfast from his rehydrater and had brought up the Extranet on his tablet.

"Run word search. Sinnoh Champion Commander Fleet Lucas."

Patrick yawned as he started absentmindedly reading the search results (which had been compiled in 23.4539 milliseconds, a fact very helpfully supplied by the engine) before clicking on the first result (as he always did):

'...

Neacy DeAustin - Private, 4th Regiment, 3rd Army - On Arrival

Delphi Deay - Private, 3rd Regiment, 3rd Army - On Arrival

Lucas DeBrænker - Private, 3rd Regiment, 3rd Army - Missing in Action

Slane DeBroenker - Corporal, 5th Regiment, 2nd Army - Of Injuries

Broome DeBroenker - Private, 4th Regiment, 3rd Army - On Arrival

Levi DeBuc - Private, 12th Regiment, 3rd Army (Field Medic) - In Captivity

...'

Patrick shook his head and silently berated himself for clicking on a link he already knew was going to lead him nowhere. He was looking at a list of soldiers who had died in the recent Sinnoan conflicts with the Fortroids - something he didn't want to be looking at right now. Refining the search to only include ancient histories gave him a remarkably shorter selection from which to choose from. After some careful scanning, Patrick selected the first option once again:

'Lucas Plato (Pokemon Trainer)

This article is about the pokemon trainer. For other people named Lucas Plato, see Lucas Plato (disambiguation).

Lucas Plato (full name Lucas Rowan Plato) was a Pokemon Trainer most well known for becoming the 54th Pokemon Champion of the Sinnoh Region. The Champions Almanac notes that 'Lucas broke the trend of increasingly politically and oriented Pokemon Champions, having very little to do with the running of the country; rather, he seemed averse to any exposure on media, only appearing for battles and to promote the Millenium festival. Indeed, Saer postulates that Lucas and the champions that succeeded him (upon his disappearance) hastened the transformation of the role of 'Pokemon Champion' into one that was more military in nature and the subsequent evolution of Sinnoh into a quasi military state by around 100 to 200 years by weakening the political power of the Sinnoan politicians.

However, Kroening provides an alternate hypothesis - that the small amount of exposure that Lucas provided caused a public disinterest in the position until it was brought back into favour by Vinty Kristef some 153 years later, who was instrumental in getting the Commander's Act passed. His relatively short tenure as the Pokemon Champion (4 years, second only to the 3 days during which Bale Sanderson held the title before infamously losing it to Della Connors) is further cited as evidence by backers of Kroening's views.

Apart from Lucas' short tenure as the Pokemon Champion, not much else can be said for his life except for the circumstances under which he disappeared….'

"Patrick! I'm going to need you for shopping! We need to leave in 5 minutes if we're to beat the weekend rush! Get dressed and do all that other stuff you need to do before we go!" Patrick started for a moment before coming to his senses and shutting down his workstation. He then turned his attention to the hunt for clothes that hadn't already been ruined by Juka; he had been too afraid to tell his parents about his pancham's tendency to chew on anything she could get her hands on.

'So I guess that dream was right. Wow….that's pretty cool. Lucas exists- well, he existed and actually had a role in Sinnoh's history! That's pretty cool too. Legends above, I'm really going to have to think hard over what happened last night then - I'll bring them my translator, seeing as Morgan wanted some proof I was from the future. This IS pretty cool. Pity I can't bring Juka with me.

…

Or can I?'

After saying a quick goodbye to Liesel, Lucas left the hotel and set out for the nearest Landing Bay.

'It's good to be free from a constant schedule! I don't know how the other champions did it.'

Upon reaching the Landing Bay, Lucas released his skarmory and checked his watch. 'Well, it's not as early as I would have liked, but I'll make it to Veilstone by tonight. I'll probably check the station out tomorrow then.'

Lucas climbed onto his skarmory with practised ease and put his flying goggles on. "Alright Wyvil. We're good to go."

"So you're telling me Jirachi actually does the wish thing?" Isrea asked, wide-eyed as she prodded at her food. The three of them were seated in a diner, waiting for dinner to get served. None of them wanted to admit it, but they were all waiting to see if Patrick would turn up again.

"Yeah, you get a wish as the comet passes overhead. Still, I'm not sure if Jirachi's can fulfill any wish you give her - she couldn't fulfill mine." Aron shrugged.

"Wait, you got one? Oh yeah, you've already met her….what did you wish for?" Morgan asked.

"I...wished that Steven was alive again. I...I wonder when my meal is coming? Seems a bit odd that they would serve one meal way ahead of the other two. Maybe I should ask the waitress. Oh, here they co- nevermind….that's not our order. Well...I hope you two don't mind, but I need to head off to the toilet for a bit. Yeah." Aron promptly got up and left the table.

Isrea and Morgan looked at each other.

"Hey, Patrick. Why're you wearing the translator to bed?" Juka climbed onto Patrick's bed and padded over to his pillow before poking the translator's earpiece.

"Stop that! I just want to try something!" Patrick grabbed at the pancham, an attempt that was deftly avoided as the pokemon clambered over his face in an attempt to avoid getting caught. Eventually, Patrick's left hand closed around a limb and he triumphantly lifted Juka into the air.

"Ha! I got you!" Lowering the pancham, Patrick leaned close and whispered into Juka's ear. "Hey, how about you sleep next to me tonight, huh? I've got something I want to try."

"But your mum said not t-"

"I know, but just for tonight, okay? It'll just be like old times. Just try not to chew the bedsheets or we'll get caught."

Patrick smiled as he felt Juka snuggle into his arms.

"Night."

Even though they were partially prepared for Patrick's arrival, both Isrea and Morgan jumped a little in response to Patrick's sudden appearance.

"Oh, thanks for leaving food out for me, but I've already eaten!" Patrick smiled before realising that Juka had made the trip with him. "Oh, Juka, you made it! Guys, meet Juka! She's my pancham. Juka, please don't ruin any of their stuff, and please don't spaz out." Thankfully, the pancham seemed to have taken the jump in her stride.

Isrea greeted Patrick while Morgan shifted over to get a closer look at Juka. "Hey Pat! That's meant to be Aron's meal, by the way. You're in his spot." Patrick moved over as Juka came within a hairsbreadth of knocking over Morgan's drink.

"Wow, I don't think I'd ever expected to see a pancham in Sinnoh. Kalos is a long way away and pancham is a pretty rare pokemon. Here, lets take a photo together when Aron comes back!"

Upon returning from the toilet and seeing Patrick seated at their table, Aron managed to muster up a grin. "Ah, you're a back. Guess you'll be with us for the next week or so, eh?"

Patrick smiled back. "Yeah….I still can't believe that this isn't really a dream, but I found an article on Lucas...Plato, I think? Apparently he doesn't like to get seen that much."

Isrea frowned. "Yeah, you don't see him much outside of battles - the last champion was everywhere on TV, although he seems to be on board for the festival, so there's that. By the way, what's on your ear?"

Raising a hand up to touch his ear, Patrick grinned. "I thought I'd just bring this over, seeing as you had no way of communicating with your pokemon ver- ….you know, by using your voice. This is a babel decoder and it can translate any language in it's database into whatever one I want. Here!" Patrick detatched the earpiece and handed it to Morgan. "Try it out with Juka. The battery lasts for a few days, so it's really convenient since you don't have to charge it a lot. Of course, you can get more expensive ones that last longer and have a voice that is better stitched together, but this does the job just fine."

Morgan had been fumbling with the earpiece a bit, but she finally managed to get it on. "Okay, err…. Juka. Tell us something about Patrick!"

The pancham grinned devilishly. "His favourite colour is pink."

Everyone burst out laughing as Patrick's face turned a dangerous shade of red after hearing Morgan's translation. "Juka! That's not true. Nope. Definitely not. My favourite colour is not pink. No. Not pink."

"What about lilac?" Isrea added sweetly.

"What? No! Juka, you're no fun when you're like this!"

"I'm inclined to disagree. She's got a good sense of humour."

Aron waved a fork in the air. "Y'know, this is going to be pretty useful for us to get a chance to talk with our pokemon. We're going to have to try this out when we get back."

'Mortality is a curious thing. When one is mortal, they spend their entire lives avoiding the inevitable end, the passing into Giratina's Shadow. Yet they fail to realise that what they seek is not what they want. Forever is a long time, and and with the spiralling of time things slow...and slow…..and slow. Days become years, became decades, centuries, even millennia. it is easy to grow indifferent; it requires a certain madness to stay sane when everything you have seen has been witnessed thousands and thousands of times before. I know….no, I knew a hundred people like Isrea and I've known hundred people like Aron. I've lived the same moment a thousand times, heard the same joke ten thousand times. They will be gone within a blink of an eye. When the batting of an eyelid spans a century, one cannot afford to make friends.

A dying of fires, a laying of pyres, these losses so dire, tolls rise ever higher. Sympathy's burden grows, empathy to apathy a path from attachment to detachment a catchment of dying emotions this notion a caution from agitation to vegetation….

And yet…

"Hey guys, we're back! We've even got a surprise for you!" Aron shouted as he burst into Morgan's room where everyone's pokemon had been left behind to lounge around.

"Betcha it's gotta do wi' that there guy that appeared yesterday." Gilly gestured at Patrick, catching the attention of Alexa next to him.

"Yeah, good pick. I wonder if Vaiel has let Rush out of the bath yet."

Gilly chortled. "Fair chance it ain't happenin' till late, Firael! Rush shoulda known by now not ta mess wit that vaporeon!"

Alexa didn't even bother correcting Gilly's choice of name. "Ha! Looks like everyone who was watching has come over - did Scythe just lock the door?!"

"Guess he knew Rush and Vaiel wanted some alone time, eh?"

"One of them, sure." Alexa ignored Gilly's suggestive tone and spied Vendel approaching out of the corner of her eye. The prinplup was shaking his head.

"Vaiel got Scythe and Sasha to tie Rush's wings up, so now he's stuck in the bathtub and Vaiel's just spraying soap at him while he tries to run up the sides of the tub. He's pretty much given up now."

Aron clapped his hands. "Okay, guys. First, let me introduce Patrick. He's from Kalos and also happens to be from the future. Just under a thousand years in the future, if you want to be exact. I've got a bit of a story for you guys."

Alexa glanced at Gilly. "Ooooohhhh, boy."

And yet….all regrets stay. Why is it we all lose the ability to feel all but the most soul-crushing of emotions? I am not a stranger to despair or grief, but why do those blades still hurt while I am denied the heady fumes of euphoria?

If we were to offer a mortal the gift immortality, would they, if denied, spend the rest of their life regretting their decision? Yet, is that not better than possessing doubts for the rest of eternity?

If so, does the opposite hold true? I may regret becoming mortal, but all I need to do is blink….then it all ceases to matter regardless. People say regrets are not meant to be dwelt upon, what what else is there left for me to dwell upon? There is nothing new, and I seek nothing in truth. The very essence of nothing. Oblivion.

The cessation of feeling is a gift, not a curse. I have so many regrets.'

"...so the result of all this is that Patrick and Juka, his pancham, are going to be staying with us, on and off, for about a week or so. However, this is not the only reason why I'm telling this story. You see, Pat's been kind enough to bring us something from the future. We can't keep it, since it's his, but it's still something we can try to make the most of." Aron waved the translator at all the pokemon before putting it on. "See this? It's an...err…..what is it called again?"

Patrick, who had previously been struggling with the tap, smiled and shook his head. "Wow, you don't have an amazing memory, do you? It's called a babel decoder, and it allows anyone who wears it to understand what other pokemon are saying. I'd actually forgotten to mention this, but it works for other languages as well. I use it to talk to my pancham all the time. Um...Hey, Isrea, how do you get water out of the dispenser? I've tried tapping the knobs and waving under the tube-thingy."

"That's called a tap. See the knobby things? You twist them- no! Not that one, that's hot water! The other one. The other way. Don't you have taps any more?"

"It's all motion activated. Tap? What an odd name. Why is it named after a noise?"

"I don't know. Hey, does the translator have the ability to connect to a speaker? It'd be a lot less cumbersome to use, what with there being four of us."

Patrick shook his head. "With what? Our cables aren't the same as yours."

"Can it broadcast a radio signal?" Morgan asked. "If it can we might be able to get it on a frequency that the hotel's radio clock can receive and play."

Firael (Alexa had decided that it was a good time to let her take over) had managed to find Sonata and Steven while the humans were working on getting the translator to work with a speaker.

"Hey Sonata, do you still have that voice recording?" Firael asked the chatot.

"Yeah, I do. You think we should tell Aron about your past?" Sonata replied.

"It's a good idea. I reckon you should keep my err….past relationship with Aron quiet until we've sorted out yours. I don't think he's likely to react well to both of us revealing that we used to be hum- sorry Firael - partially human."

"Yeah….okay. What about Rob's relationship with not just me, but Vaiel, Drats, Scythe and Zask? Hell, his whole team is here except for Rai. What are the chances of that happening, you reckon?"

Sonata's eyes widened. "Wow, I've never thought of that. Then again, apart from you, his team did arrive in pairs."

Firael shrugged. "Anyway, I think we should tell him about Rob's involvement in all this. He ties into the fiasco that my….situation has caused and I'm worried as to where he is, considering that he hasn't appeared since Eterna City. At the very least, Aron'll have a name to report as a missing person and he'll know a little more about Vaiel and Drats. Steven, go find Vaiel and tell her what I'm planning to do. I'll tell everyone else to get the go-ahead. Sonata, can you help round everyone up?"

"What about Rush?" Steven asked as he headed off.

Firael rolled her eyes. "What about him?"

After a few minutes of fiddling around with the radio on Morgan's alarm clock, Patrick and Morgan managed to get the transmitter on a receivable frequency.

"Right, let's turn this up!" Morgan slowly slid the volume dial up. The hubbub in the room died down as all the pokemon slowly realised that the translator was working."

"...Yeah, Vaiel said that she was cool with ev….woah, that's weird. That's some cool tech." Aron had to stifle a laugh upon seeing Scout's reaction at hearing himself on the radio.

Isrea started speaking first, dumping herself on the bed next to Sacha and Adele, one hand absently stroking Morgan's ninetales. "Ha! You know, now that I actually have a chance to talk to you guys, I have no idea what I want to ask."

"Well, that's probably for the best, since we've got some pretty worrying information on the trainers chasing me and the trainer with the Raichu that helped save me from getting taken."

Patrick looked nervously between the charmeleon and Aron. "Wait, you're being chased? You never mentioned that!"

"Well, we haven't seen them in a few weeks, so the whole issue had kind of slipped our minds. However, the last time we met, they nearly wiped all of us out and Rush came scarily close to dying. We have considered filing a report to the police, but it's not a very believable story." Aron said.

Isrea continued. "Yeah, you see, Firael was the result of some experiment that tried to combine human and pokemon minds together. For all intents and purposes, it worked….I think?"

"Yeah, it did." Firael sighed.

"Well...um. Anyway. We also know that the trainers that are after us are from Team Rocket and Team Galactic because Morgan's chatot managed to record a conversation between them with his chatter ability. We don't know why they want Firael though, seeing as they could just conduct another experiment to get another hybrid."

Morgan took the cue. "The problem is that the police won't believe what we say about Firael since the very concept of a hybrid is sci-fi material. They won't buy the Team Rocket or Team Galactic story because they've both legitimised their businesses….or everyone thinks they have. Hell, Galactic have their headquarters in this city and nobody bats an eyelid! We don't know if this Team Galactic are even directly connected to Galactic Corporation or whether they're some renegade leftover offshoot. What else can we say? Some thieves really want our charmeleon? Doesn't sound very convincing at all. Then there was that guy with the Raichu…"

"Rob. His name is Rob." Scythe's rumble caught everyone off guard; nobody had really expected him to say anything.

Firael decided to take over. "Yeah. Rob's actually got a lot to do with us. I used to be his trainer before Kova, one of the guys chasing us, took me from him. Drats and Vaiel used to be on his team before they left, and you already know that Scythe and Zask used to belong to him. I can't believe he tracked me down before that fight with Kova…."

Aron nodded. "We should try and track him down - see how he's doing after losing that battle. I don't know if all of you want to return, but I feel that we should at least try and find him now that we know his name - wait….what's his full name?"

"Robert Palmer. It would be good to meet again." Scythe grunted.

"Right, I'll go downstairs and ask the Nurse to run a database search on the last few places he used his trainer card." Aron got up and headed out the door.

Patrick snapped his fingers. "I just find the whole thing appaling! Surely there's someone you can tell about the experiments? Illegal hybrids are pretty common where….when I'm from. The technology is banned except for military use, but they're constantly uncovering underground labs of hybrids like Firael and others that are physically a combination. If you're caught running a lab it's a death sentence. Most people don't even get a trial. There are rehab facilities that try to help split the hybrids back up, and I guess I could take Firael and Alexa back with me if she wanted to. The only problem with that is that the process takes a few months, so she wouldn't be able to come back. Why can't we just go the police with the translator? Surely they'd listen to us then!"

Adele shook her head and yawned, baring her fangs to everyone. "You show them the translator and they'll be asking so many questions about the translator that we'd all die of old age before we got to our actual story."

"It's just so stupid!" Patrick stood up and started pacing the room. "Think of all the other people and pokemon that could be getting experimented on right now! We just can't sit here and do nothing! If I'd reported a hybrid facility in my time the police would have acted immediately!"

"It's not that simple, Pat. Our story would have been believable in a thousand years, but right now, nobody is going to believe us. Trust me when I say I really want to do something, but we need more information!"

There were a few moments of awkward silence before everyone was alerted by a scrabbling at the bathroom door. Patrick, being the closest, walked over and opened it. He was greeted with the sight of a foamy staravia stumbling out, trailing suds and bits of shredded string along the floor.

"What in the world?" Patrick exclaimed.

"Bloody killjoys, the lot of you...can't take a joke. No sense of humor…." Rush trailed off as he realised everyone was staring at him in disbelief. He gave himself a cursory look and shuddered before nonchantly pointing a wing at the bathroom door. "Y'know...I'm just going to head bad inside and clean m'self up. Yep."

Patrick blinked. Then he blinked again. "That was….unexpected. Still, my point stands...just think of all the poor people or pokemon that are being experimented on! It's just….I feel so helpless. It could be anyone, you know. One of us could have just as easily been in Firael's position, or someone that we knew well."

Patrick's musings were interrupted when Aron bust into the room, eyes wide.

"Rob's missing! He hasn't checked in anywhere since we last saw him!"

Isrea raised a hand to her mouth. "Oh no. He lost that battle, didn't he? Sonata didn't find his body..."

Nobody wanted to acknowledge that possibility. Sonata activated her chatter ability to play a small snippet of audio.

'Just call me Kova. We've knocked out a trainer who also has been searching for the charmeleon that the two of us are looking for. I know him to be her previous owner, and personally, I think that he needs to be removed somehow. I had found her, but due to his meddling, she has gotten away again.'

Aron shook herself. "When you last played that, I'd just assumed they were going to beat him up, but I guess it was a lot more serious than all of us thought."

There were a few tense moments of silence.

"The least we could do is file a missing persons report." Morgan finally said.

After saying goodbye to Patrick - who had retired to Morgan's bedroom to go to sleep and return to his time (taking Juka and the translator with him) - Aron, Isrea and Morgan set out for Veilstone police station. Revelling in the crisp, fresh air, Rush, Scout and Sonata had all left to make the most of the night and enjoy a bit of a break from the rather claustrophobic feelings that roofs gave them. Meanwhile, Morgan recalled Adele and Rynka, as neither the ninetales nor the bellossom enjoyed nights too much.

"Do you reckon the police station will still be open?" Aron asked.

"Veilstone's a big enough city that the main branch stays open at all hours of the night. Of course, there'd be less police officers there compared to the daytime, but that's only to be expected. Still, you only need one person to file a missing person's report." Morgan replied.

After walking for a quarter of an hour, the three came to a stop at the police station. It was one of the taller buildings in the city, but it was still dwarfed by the imposing and recently renamed Galatica Building, it's spires clearing a large starless wedge in the sky above their heads. Morgan waved Aron and Isrea on. "You two go on ahead; I'll wait outside for the birds to come back. They shouldn't be too long."

"Sure. Drats, I'm afraid you'll have to go back in your ball - you're too long and they'd just ask me to recall you anyway." Aron replied while holding a pokeball out for Drats, who duly slithered up and tapped the ball with her nose.

"Argh, long flights always leave me stiff!" Lucas groaned as he slid off Wyvil's back and recalled his skarmory.

"I don't know why you don't just transform into a bird pokemon and do the flying yourself then. I do the best I can; it's not my fault you humans seem to dislike any sort of discomfort at all." Wyvil replied, mostly in jest.

Lucas grinned. "You know as well as I do that I need to be seen riding pokemon, if only so people won't start asking questions. Look, one day, I promise. I'll fly with you across Sinnoh. Deal?"

'The police station's near the Galactica building, isn't it? Huh, fitting. Well, it looks to be pretty close - huh, might just head over to make sure I know where it is. I need the walk.'

The steel bird ruffled her feathers, making a very soft screeching sound. "I'll hold you to that promise, Lucas."

Aron and Isrea both entered the automatic glass doors into the reception area of the station. The décor was relatively spartan, with dark blue carpet forming a stark contrast with the cream white plaster walls, where three unmarked doors were situated on all the other walls of the reception area. The room was furnished with a few chairs, a coffee table, and a water cooler with a portrait of a houndoom above it. Opposite the door was the receptionist's desk, behind which sat a middle aged man with pepper streaked hair. He was sleeping. Above him, a plaque with his picture on it read 'Employee of the Month'.

Uncertain of how to continue, Aron and Isrea quietly approached the desk before rapping on the desk with her knuckles. With a grunt, the man woke up and peered at them through bleary eyes. "Ahrreer….Oh. Sorry about that. Welcome to Veilstone City Police Center! What can the VCPD do for you?

"We'd like to file a missing person's report."

"Ah." The receptionist rubbed his hands and put on a pair of glasses. "Ok. Who would be the name of the missing person?"

"Robert Palmer."

"Oooookkaaaayyy…." The man muttered as he typed the name into the computer on his desk. "That's 'Palmer' with one 'l', is that right?

"Yeah."

"Riooooght. Yep, got his profile. Where and when was he last seen?"

"Oh, we last saw him just outside Eter-" Aron stopped talking as the receptionist's phone began ringing.

"Sorry about that. Just a minute." The man said as he picked up the phone while absentmindedly tapping away at his keyboard. "Yes, yes, Oh. Yes, two. Yep. Two minutes? Sure, I'll be right there." The receptionist hung up before smiling at Aron and Isrea. "Right, I'll go and start processing your report. Could you please take a seat? If it doesn't inconvenience you, could you also recall your pokemon? It's not necessary, but I don't particularly want to tidy the place up too much at the end of my shift, you know? I'll be a few minutes - we can continue after I come back." With that, the man promptly left, leaving Aron and Isrea staring at each other in bafflement.

"Weird. Wonder what was so urgent at this time of night that took him away?" Isrea said

Aron shrugged and stomped over towards the chairs before slumping into one. "He's probably the only person left in this place. Cut him a little slack, won't you?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just worried about Rob, that's all." Isrea followed suit after grabbing a cup of water.

The next minute passed in relative silence as the two trainers recalled all of their pokemon (as per the receptionist's wishes) before settling down. After a while, Aron was snapped out of his daze by a muffled pounding. After looking around for the source of the noise, Aron realised that Morgan was pounding on the glass doors, which had stopped operating.

"Hey, Isrea, looks like the door's gone buggy." He walked over to let her in using the manual override button, but nothing happened.

The lights turned out just as Aron heard twin clicks that signified the two side doors opening.

"Uh oh."

Also, why is it ninetales instead of ninetails? I'm pretty sure I've complained about this before but I did it again. :(

Ramenknight: I'm not sure if you'll ever see this, but if so, thanks for that long review! You've brought up some very good points for me to think about.

ValeforXD: Haha, I managed to surprise you again! Never overunderestimate my ability to do things...eventally.

Rush: Wow, for once the Author's notes were actually short.

Steven: Yeah, good point! What's happened here?

Firael: It's almost like this chapter was finished at 3am and he just wanted to publish and go to sleep.

Rush: Nah, don't kid yourself! Tanon loves a long ramble, even if it means typing for an extra hour.

Steven: Maybe one of his hands fell off.