Location: Aether Paradise, Alola

"No! I have to see Kris!"

"Hold him down!"

"Somebody shut him up!"

"Let me go! I don't need to be here!"

Lunick was struggling as he was strapped into a strange device by Aether Foundation personnel in their sterile, white uniforms, blinding white lights preventing him from seeing where he was. He felt a painful pinch in his neck and suddenly felt his energy drained, finding it harder to resist. He realized he was strapped in a cold metal device, his hands and feet bound by thick metal rings, with numerous beeping machinery and test tubes around him.

The Aether Foundation personnel respectfully made way for the new arrival, a tall, blonde-haired model-like woman wearing white clothes. The woman walked over to the still-struggling Lunick, smiling at him serenely as she grabbed his chin. As his vision became hazier, Lunick still recognized the woman from the previous night.

"Just hang in there, sweetheart," Lusamine said in a motherly tone as she stroked Lunick's cheek with her free hand. "We fixed you up last night, so consider this a payment."

Chapter Twelve: The Sevii Cup Challenge

Kris felt like she had just been reborn. The events of Orre, scary as they may have been, felt like nothing but a great victory to her. She didn't have an audience to brag to this time, though, so instead she just felt smug and self-important the whole boat ride from Gateon Port to the Sevii Islands.

But, after Kris and Wes started browsing through the pamphlet given to them by Hilda, Kris started already forgetting about her adventures in Fiore, Almia and Orre as she began to plan her next move - her comeback to the battling scene.

"Finally!" she exclaimed and ripped the pamphlet from Wes' hands, totally forgetting he was present. "Actual battles! So the contest will be four rounds. Only eight participants are chosen, handpicked by the organizer of the Cup, Drake. Drake!"

"Whodat?" Wes asked.

Kris glared at Wes. "Stop being a cliché, Wes! Drake! Of the Hoenn League! Sea captain, no shirt, mustache, dragon-types?! Iris would love this!"

"Oh, hm," Wes just said in an unimpressed tone. "Sorry, Kris, but I don't give much credit to these so-called 'elites' anymore. How many times have we had to deal with authority figures being horrible people?"

"Maybe, like, once," Kris said evasively as she went back to the pamphlet.

"At least one gym leader," Wes counted, "a CEO and supposed philanthropist, another CEO, a mayor..."

"The more famous we get, the more we get into trouble," Kris just said. "The more we get into trouble, the more we attract the wrong sort, it's just our experience and cannot generalize everyone who might be in authority."

"This is not like you, Kris," Wes said, shaking his head. "You just like him 'cause he's a famous and strong trainer. Probably think he's hot too-"

"He's at least 60 years old!" Kris protested.

"But pretty fit for his age, he rocks the captain look, too."

"Maybe you're the one with that kind of thoughts here, Wes."

"How dare you!"

"Kids, please!" yelled Hilda, who had suddenly emerged on the deck while Kris and Wes were squabbling. "The captain says we're half an hour from One Island, we can drop off Professor Know-It-All and part ways!"

"How is Cozmo?" Kris asked. "Never seen a guy get seasick before the boat even left!"

"Never seen a seasick guy still have so much energy to complain," Wes grumbled.

Hilda just shrugged. "Whatever, we'll be done with him soon enough," she said. "For now, we need to keep him happy. EXO has a job for him as well."

"Just how many people have you asked to join this group?" Wes asked, still the skeptic. "Heck, I'm beginning to feel a lot less special…"

"EXO is split into three parts," Hilda explained like Wes was a child, "administrative, R&D and combat. As future Operatives, you would be part of the combat team. We have a list of about twenty potential candidates, and a few confirmations already. Out of those twenty, though, only seven are 'primary' ones, and that includes me and Hilbert."

"And me, Wes, Lunick… Lyra," Kris counted, "what about the last one?"

"Last two," Hilda corrected. "Don't ask me why, but Lunick is only listed in the secondary group. Probably because he's not from this time period. And you'll know soon enough… if you manage to join us."

"So my great plan wasn't enough?!" Kris snapped. "I took down two criminal organizations, one has collapsed and one is essentially my best friend now, and I know the location of their base if they ever get to their old tricks again."

"That proves you're still worth considering," Hilda smirked. "The real fun begins here, in the Sevii Cup. You've got some brains, Kris, but as a battler, you're still average."

"About that," Wes interrupted, "I was readin' the brochure earlier, and the contest starts in three days! Only eight people can get in, how exactly is Kris supposed to make it?"

"I will arrange everything," Hilda assured. "It's about time you and your friends start working for us. We get a lot more done when we're not rebelling against some made-up authority figure all the time!"

"If you can't beat them, join them, right?" Kris asked.

Hilda tapped her nose. "All right, get everything sorted out, 'cause we'll be on One Island in half an hour!"

~o~O~o~

Location: Opelucid City Gym, Unova

In the battlefield of the Opelucid Gym, a hopeful challenger with seven badges was attempting to get the last piece of the puzzle required to challenge the Unova Elite Four. The Ace Trainer had heard the Gym Leader had changed recently and figured he was getting an easy win.

But as his canine Pokémon Stoutland, one that had been with him since the start of his journey, was getting tossed around like a ragdoll by the Gym Leader's Haxorus. Eventually, as Haxorus used Dragon Tail and whacked Stoutland across the field, knocking it out, the battle was over.

To the Ace Trainer's irritation, it wasn't even a greatly experienced Pokémon trainer who had defeated him - it was a short, bushy-haired girl about the same age as he was. But as Iris went to congratulate the trainer for a good battle, he couldn't say angry for long.

"You should definitely keep training with Stoutland and try again next time!" Iris said cheerfully as she escorted the trainer out of the gym. "Don't feel bad, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," the trainer said somberly. "I just have one question for you. I heard dragon-types are super hard to control, especially fully evolved ones. How do you do it with Haxorus? Do you have, like, a gift?"

Iris just laughed. "No, nothing like that. I've been spending time with dragon types since early childhood, even before I was battling. It's just a lot of practice. It took years to finally reach this evolution."

As the Ace Trainer left, Iris asked the Gym Guide to close for today. Leaving Haxorus to eat a humongous bowl of Pokémon food in the gym area, Iris retreated to the back room where she was staying in to study. Before retiring from the gym, Drayden had left a lot of books for Iris to study, and right now, there was a subject burning her mind more than anything: Jirachi.

"Hey, Iris!"

Iris saw someone emerging from behind a stack of books: Dr. Fennel, a female scientist with long dark hair, still wearing her labcoat from a long day working with professor Juniper.

"Hey, Fennel, thank you so much for coming!" Iris sighed. "Sorry to have to ask for your help, being a Gym Leader is sooo busy."

"I know," Fennel said with a smile. "But it's okay. I haven't had the excuse to study Jirachi before. And I've discovered something extremely interesting."

Fennel showed Iris an opening of a book with an illustration of Jirachi, a map of some kind of islands and a lot of writing in an odd language.

"That prophecy you have been talking about," Fennel said and pointed at the text. "It predicts Jirachi's arrival when some condition has been filled. The land of life's beginning must then be one of these islands. But what is going to happen there, I don't know, and I haven't found any context for this location…"

"It's fine!" Iris said quickly. "Now we know so much more! Wait…"

After hearing the news about Kris' next destination, Iris had been reading about ancient ruins on the Sevii Islands and had checked a map of the islands numerous times that morning. And, looking at the picture in the book from another angle, it looked like an exact copy of the map of the archipelago. All of the major seven islands and a handful of smaller ones were there, although not quite to the same scale.

"I need to tell this to Kris!" she exclaimed.

~o~O~o~

Location: Pokémon Network Center, One Island, Knot Island

After finally arriving to their destination and embarking on dry land, Kris and Wes watched as Hilda escorted professor Cozmo to a teleporter. Though Cozmo protested about his treatment and demanded a flight ticket instead, his cries were in vain as he disappeared in a flash of light, to wherever Hilda had calibrated the teleport to. With that out of the way, Hilda walked back to Kris and Wes.

"Don't worry about him," she said casually. "The good professor is on his way to Unova so see our administrator."

"And will we have a chance before we make any decisions to join?" Wes asked.

Hilda just smiled. "Maybe, who knows," she remarked and put her hands behind her neck. "Either way, for now, this is where we say farewell. Someone will be here shortly to make sure your Sevii Cup admission is taken care of."

Kris nodded and shook hands with Hilda, more concerned about the Sevii Cup than pleasantries right now, but Wes was still not convinced.

"Now hol' on a minute!" he cried. "I need answers, damn it! How did you manage to get Kris in the cup anyway? And don't think you can just show up to Cipher's base with… with him without explaining me how?!"

Hilda just sighed, while Kris looked confused.

"Did you drink the seawater on the trip here?" she told Wes.

"It's okay," Hilda said. "If you're going to join us, you'll find out anyway. Do you wanna tell her or should-"

"Yes I want to!" Wes snapped and turned to Kris. "That guy who Hilda was with earlier, Hilbert? He was on Navel Rock too, along with me, Hilda and the others. And like most of the others, the official news is that he died. I didn't see it myself but she," Wes pointed at Hilda, who just shrugged, "did. Now, I was pretty upset about that, so on top of almost getting murdered by my ex-girlfriend whom I also assumed dead-"

"That was just a story you told, Wes," Kris reminded.

"...oh yeah. Well, anyway, this thing got me messed up! I deserve an explanation, especially if I'm going to be recruited! Which I haven't agreed to, by the way!"

"Relax," Hilda laughed. "He was assumed dead. He survived. That's all."

"Okay, but," Wes stammered, "the facility, it… got destroyed! Many times! First by a massive energy blast when we teleported out, and then it was bombed to hell. How does anyone survive that?!"

"I dunno," Hilda said, "how did your friend Yellow survive?"

Kris blinked and stared at Wes while Wes scowled at Hilda.

"Don't even mention Yellow's name to me," he snarled. "How do you know?"

"We know you two have been talking, Wes, I was there, I know Yellow had the power to avoid the facility's destruction," Hilda said with a slightly more serious tone. "I would like to also remind you that Yellow is currently suspected for aiding and abetting criminals, sabotaging the Pokémon Association's operations and failing to register as a psychic individual."

Wes shook his head. "You're not serious," he said quietly. "Yellow saved us all back there."

"And out of respect for that, I'm not focusing any efforts on arresting Yellow," Hilda said. "I advise you to stay out of me and Hilbert's business too."

While Wes kept sputtering his protests, Hilda grabbed Kris by the shoulder and shook her roughly.

"Take care of yourself, girl," she said. "I'm hoping to see you kick ass in the Sevii Cup. To motivate you a bit, I have a little bit of information for you. I just spoke with Drake, and he mentioned recruiting another promising Pokémon trainer from New Bark Town. Does she sound like someone you would know?"

"Are you serious?!" Kris snapped, pushing Hilda away. "Her?! Why?"

"I just told you," Hilda scoffed. "To motivate you. The trainers for this competition are handpicked, and only eight are chosen. This is your best chance to prove your superiority in front of an audience and have it broadcast across the region. This might be a small place, but the Cup will be televised across Kanto and Johto as well."

Hilda looked over shoulder at something Kris and Wes couldn't see, then quickly turned back to give Kris a smile.

"Anyway, looks like I'm done here," she said. "The finale is gonna be at the end of next week. I'll be back on the islands by then and we'll discuss more about this EXO thing. See ya, Kris! Wes."

Giving a cold nod in Wes' direction, Hilda shuffled off, whistling cheerfully. Before Kris could even ask about what to do next, she spotted someone approaching her in the crowd. An old man, probably in his late 60's, but walking with great poise and confidence, with a thick white mustache and wearing a sea captain's outfit. The one Kris had seen fight on TV many times over.

"Welcome to the Sevii Islands, Kris!" Drake proclaimed. "I am Drake of Hoenn's Elite Four. I've put together this tournament to showcase battles from interesting trainers, anYoud from what I heard, you'd be an excellent candidate. If you decide to accept, of course."

Kris just stared at Drake, prompting Wes to step in.

"She's interested, sir," he said. "Name's Wes, by the way. I'll be acting as her manager."

"Wait, what?!" Kris shouted, snapped out of her reverence.

"Kidding!" Wes said quickly, but looked visibly hurt when Kris turned her attention back to Drake.

"It's an honor, Mr. Drake," Kris said cautiously, her face getting slightly red. "I'm a big fan."

"And I have to say, Kris," Drake said and took off his hat, revealing a mostly bald head, "the feeling is mutual. I have watched some battles from the Silver Conference and the Hoenn League. You have gone through many ordeals for someone so young."

This got Kris even more riled up, but before she could fangirl more, Drake announced he was too busy to stay and chat and invited Kris to attend the opening ceremony on the island's newly built stadium tomorrow. As Drake left, Kris and Wes exited the Center as well, not exchanging a word, contemplating in silence. As they stood near the entrance, both of them just gazed into the distance. Without someone else there to offer a distraction or an immediate goal to fulfill, awkward memories began to rise to the surface, with Wes finally cutting through it with a direct question.

"So… now what?" he asked. "How are we goin' to look into Red and Jirachi and this Prophecy thing if you're gonna be busy with your obsession about Lyra?"

"Hey!" Kris protested.

Wes shrugged. "Had to say it, Krissy."

"This is really important to me!" Kris insisted. "But so is all that other stuff… so I have to ask something pretty big from you."

"Hey, if you didn't want to say it in front of Drake, it's fine, I can still be your manager if you so desperately-"

"No," Kris said quickly. "Listen, Wes, I know there's been some bad blood between us since… always. I still think you're a compulsive liar-"

"Hey, don't judge me for what I say but for what I do!" Wes protested.

"Okay then, you're a thief."

"Hmm… doesn't sound any better, honestly."

Kris sighed. "But," she said with a lot of emphasis, "I do trust you with this. I want you to look into the Prophecy, and I want you to do it here. I got a message from Iris earlier. There's definitely something about it here on the islands. I want you to ask around town about it first. Then go and find them."

"But…" Wes bit his lip. "I'm just… don't wanna miss your battles in the cup."

Kris smiled. "According to the pamphlet, the battles are spread every few days. Even if you miss the first round, you can be there for the other three. Because I'm going to win this thing!"

"Lyra is pretty good, Kris," Wes said, smiling back. "Where's that confidence coming from?"

"It's not that I just want to win. I have to!" Kris waved the pamphlet in Wes' face. "The fourth round is the winner of the cup against Drake himself. I don't even care if I win that one or not, I have to face him in battle. If I can hold my own against a member of the Elite Four, I'll finally know if I'm good enough to make it big time."

"I know you can do it," We said and gave a little mock salute to Kris. "And I'll do my part, ma'am. I'll start looking for clues here."

Kris sighed in relief. "Thank you," she said and took a Poké Ball from her belt. "And one more thing,"

Kris opened it, revealing Shrew. Shaking his head after a long nap, Shrew blinked and looked at her owner before jumping into her lap. Kris scratched Shrew behind the ear, but the Sandshrew's look of contentment changed to a look of betrayal as Kris handed Shrew to Wes.

"While you're out there, can you take care of Shrew, please?" she asked as cutely as she could muster, though Wes saw through the act.

"Why?" he asked incredulously. "You and Shrew are so close. Don't you want to use it in the cup?"

"Truth to be told… he's not exactly a heavy hitter," she said quietly while covering Shrew's ears. "But more than that, I'm going to be facing Lyra. I know Shrew is close with Lyra's Typhlosion. I don't want to take even the slightest risk that the two are going to be in close proximity to each other. I want to win this!"

Slowly, Wes took Shrew from Kris. The Sandshrew's reaction was curl up to a ball, refusing to even look at Wes.

"At least he's not scratching my face off," Wes sighed.

"You'll do fine, you guys accomplished a lot in Orre already," Kris assured. "You saved that little Sandshrew from drowning back in Hoenn, remember?"

Wes put Shrew in his backpack, keeping it open in case Shrew would want to uncurl and look at the world. At the moment, though, nothing of the sort was happening and Shrew remained tucked inside the bag.

"Good luck, Kris!" Wes said. "If you need any help at any point, just call me."

"You'll be the first one I call," Kris said with a smile.

~o~O~o~

Location: Tournament arena, Boon Island

Two days later...

Kris had spent the last two nights at the island's Pokémon Center worrying, but before she knew it, the Sevii Cup was about to start. Drake was helping Kris register for the Sevii Cup, explaining the rules to her:

"The tournament consists of four rounds. You are one of eight chosen contestants, and will be randomly paired against an opponent. Losing a round means you're out of the tournament. Furthermore, every battle of each round will be held on a custom battlefield with special field and weather conditions. The available fields are Water, Rock, Ice and Grass. The battle participants will have one Poké Ball with no time limit. Apart from that, standard League rules apply, except the Pokémon you use has to be different in every round. We want to keep the Cup surprising, don't we?"

"Yes," Kris said nervously as she typed her information in on a terminal. She had been spending most of the past two days thinking about which Pokémon to use and contacting professor Elm to send her a particular one that could be useful.

"The Cup will begin today with the opening ceremony and the actual battles begin tomorrow," Drake continued. "The battles will be held every other day, so you'll have time to train in between rounds, should you make it that far. Special training will be made available for you, of course. Half of you will naturally drop out after the first round, and then half of that half after the second one. The winner of the third round will battle me for the title of Champion of the Sevii Islands and a significant sum of money in the fourth."

"Um, a question," Kris said quickly. "Not to sound rude, but I thought you lived in Hoenn. How did you become the Champion of the Sevii Islands? Did you win a tournament?"

"Oh no," Drake said casually. "There has never been a tournament of this scale on the islands. This is the first, hopefully of many, and will turn in a huge crowd, I hope. No, I helped organize a group to defeat a biker gang here. See, this place has been riddled by crime for a long time. First a gang of smugglers, then Team Rocket expanded here and took over their operations. When they disbanded, the bikers took over. But after I gathered a group of trainers from here and fought back, we managed to dismantle the gang and I got the title. I don't really care for fame but at least I can finally use it to create something good here!"

Kris nodded. She had a good feeling about Drake and the Cup and it was only improving. She hadn't even thought about Wes and Shrew since yesterday. She went back to finishing her registration, the terminal confirming that she was now a contestant.

"I'll stay here and wait for the last contestant to arrive and enter her info," Drake said. "Feel free to do whatever you want until the opening ceremony starts. Grab a snack, read a book-"

"Can I use the facilities?" Kris asked quickly. "Uh, need to freshen up."

"Uh, certainly," Drake said and pointed down the corridor leading further into the stadium. "First women's restroom is the sixth door on the left."

Kris quickly thanked Drake and stormed into the bathroom. She rushed over to the sink, opened the faucet with her shaky hands and sprayed cold water on her face. As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, it was blurry, as if the air itself had been coated in grease. The blurriness made Kris falter a bit and she felt her legs almost giving in, managing to grab onto the sink before collapsing.

"Trouble?"

Kris' head perked up at the sound, her senses sharpened now. She looked behind her, but no one was there - just the closed, locked door of the bathroom. As she turned back to face the mirror, she flinched - but didn't scream. The face she saw was something she recognized: dark gray and pink with a wide grin and crazed yellow and green eyes.

"How did you get in here?!" Kris gasped. "I thought I had to be unconscious for you to appear! Oh don't tell me I hit my head…"

"Nope!" Hoopa said. "Once I have initiated a psychic conversation with someone, I can do so whenever. Well, whenever I have enough power, that is. My powers of dimensional travel and telepathy take a lot of energy and it takes a while to recharge!"

"And what do I owe this quote-unquote honor?" Kris asked and folded her arms. "I have enough to worry about."

Hoopa just grinned and emerged from the mirror, materializing next to Kris, but lacking reflection. Kris was not impressed at the trickery - she knew enough about psychic Pokémon to know that Hoopa could just be using its telepathy to make Kris think it could physically inhabit a mirror.

Actually that's still pretty damn scary…

"Good job back in Orre, Kris," Hoopa said finally. "Of course, I'm not sure how it will accomplish victory over your rival."

Kris scoffed. "Are you kidding me?!" she snapped. "How many criminal organizations has Lyra taken down recently?"

Hoopa's response to start floating upside down. "It's true," it said. "She hasn't been the most… proactive in the fight against crime. But in the long run, one Cipher here or there, what does it matter?"

"...excuse me?"

"You think after taking on enough gangs or teams, there will be a gigantic trophy filled with candy at the finish?" Hoopa sneered. "You think the ancient forces of destiny will see what you're doing and pause in their tracks in order to reward you as the Transcendent One for chasing a couple of purse-snatchers?"

"They were brainwashing Pokémon!" Kris argued. "They wanted to take over the world!"

"And neither me nor the higher beings out there will hold that against you!" Hoopa said, still grinning. "But to them, an organization like that affects the wheels of destiny as much as a Caterpie crawling up a tree."

"Then what does?" Kris asked dejectedly.

"All in due time," Hoopa said. "You don't even know if this prophecy is about you or-"

"Don't say it!" Kris yelled. "I have a plan."

"Oh?"

"I was told Lyra is in the Cup," Kris said, staring at her reflection in the mirror. "I know she's better than me. But even if I have to forego eating, sleeping or bathing, I will dedicate all my available time to training. I've done things she cannot even imagine. I will take her down and prove that this is my destiny."

"Glad to see you haven't forgotten what we discussed earlier," Hoopa said. "I don't care one way or another, but you have to promise yourself that you will stick to this."

Kris squeezed the sides of the sink. "I promise," she grunted.

With one last grin, Hoopa vanished. Blinking and slowly letting go of the sink, Kris resumed washing her face until she felt ready. Once done, she exited the bathroom, the door almost knocking over the person on the other side reaching for the door handle.

"Oh, sorry!" Kris gasped, but didn't help the girl she knocked over up when she recognized the long brown hair, the black dress and white mask covering the top half of her face. "Hang on…"

When the girl removed the mask, Kris relented and helped her up. It was Leaf, wearing the same outfit she had used in the Silver Conference, which she had entered under the moniker 'Anonymous'. It felt like ages since she had last seen the girl, and didn't exactly know if the two were on close enough terms to hug, so she just waved awkwardly.

"Sorry about that," Kris said weakly, "but why are you here?!"

"What does it look like?" Leaf said and put her mask back on. "The legendary Anonymous, the one who reached the semi-finals of the Silver Conference, is one of the eight trainers chosen for this tournament. You should feel honored to speak to me, peasant!"

Kris rolled her eyes. "Seriously," she said. "I know you don't care about this."

Leaf sighed, took out a pocket mirror and started adjusting the mask and her hair. "I really don't," she admitted. "I heard Lyra signed up for this and I knew you wouldn't be far behind. But plain old assistant researcher Leaf Greene would have never cut it. And this gives me a chance to spend a while at the beautiful Sevii Islands."

"I guess you didn't come here for your health," Kris said, "though if you did, it's a good idea, you really need some R&R."

"No time," Leaf said sadly. "I wanted to talk to both of you, and Iris, if she's here."

"Well, she's not, she's busy being a 'Gym Leader'," Kris said, making air-quotes at the word 'Gym Leader'. "I mean, if she was homesick, she could have just told me, but I find it hard to believe they would let a 17-year old-"

"It's true, I read about it on the Unova Times website," Leaf said quickly. "I just figured maybe she would have come to visit or somethin. Anyway, have you had a chance to look into what I told you about back in Snowpoint?"

"We're totally on it, especially Wes!" Kris said proudly. "He's looking for signs of Jirachi and the Prophecy around the islands and I'm sure Iris is hitting the books as we speak."

Leaf frowned at Kris, and when the realization dawned on her, she sighed and pinched her nose.

"Kris," she said tensely, "don't tell me you've spent these past month looking into a myth about a magical wish-fulfilling Pokémon?"

Kris had to rack her brain about the conversation she had with Leaf in Snowpoint, but it was a complete blur to her. When Leaf looked increasingly annoyed at Kris' silence, she had to come up with something.

"Hey," Kris said finally, "did I tell you that I took down a criminal enterprise in Orre almost single-handedly?"

"Kris!"

"Calm down! I just remembered that I might have something. I talked with the ex-CEO of Altru, Blake Hall. He knows exactly what the data Red has is, and he could help shed some light on this conspiracy!"

"All right, thank you, that's a great start," Leaf sighed. "Where is he?"

"Um, kind of on the lam, with a target on his back, last seen in Orre," Kris said slowly, every detail making Leaf more annoyed.

However, Leaf didn't yell at Kris, simply leaned back and exhaled deeply yet again.

"Thanks," she said. "Honestly, I know I'm asking a lot, but Red was a good friend. He did a lot for me. I owe it to him that he can stop hiding and continue his life one day."

"Did you really sign up for the Sevii Cup and travel all the way here just for that?" Kris wondered. "I'm flattered, but I think I know better at this point."

Leaf fiddled with her hair uncomfortably.

"Back in Sinnoh, me and Silver were looking for them," she said, "those kids that ended up kidnapped by Pryce just like us. I was able to track down most of them, but there are a couple that I have been putting off. The first kid he ever took was 18 years old by the time I joined the group. The rest of us were forced to do horrible things by him, but that one… she liked being Pryce's number one. She liked using violence to keep us in line."

Kris nodded awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Her depressing home life was a cakewalk to what Leaf had went through.

"Anyway," Leaf continued, "now Silver has joined up with his father and it's just me. And I tracked down that number one. She used to live on the Sevii Islands and someone is still living in the same address. The name is different, but her age, characteristics, they all match. I want to find her, and, I dunno, talk, I guess."

Kris nodded again, but her concentration had slipped. She just realized something, but wasn't sure if telling Leaf about Pryce was right move. The crisis in Orre had distracted her, but Kris remembered Pryce's words to her all too well.

I told you, Kris. I don't want to kill you. I want to destroy you.

Still, the attack in the Ranger Tournament was very public and authorities in several regions were looking for him. How much damage could Pryce even do?

~o~O~o~

Location: A temple far in the mountains

The warrior monks of a particular, hidden temple far in the mountains to the north of Johto hadn't expected this. As they rushed to the entrance of the temple, they noticed the guard had been frozen solid, standing glued to the floor like a statue. And next to him was an old man with white, receding hair, wearing only a pair of black pants, blue waves of energy surrounding his right hand.

"Evening," Pryce remarked to the stunned monks. "I believe you have something that I want."

Having all sworn to protect the temple and especially its contents with their lives, the monks rushed Pryce, armed with swords and axes. As they did so, Pryce stood still as the energy in his hands crystallized and became solid, growing into a sharp, long spear. Pryce avoided the monks' attacks with ease, parrying their blows and destroying their weapons.

One by one, the monks fell by Pryce's icy hands. The old man didn't give them a second look as he strode forward into the depths of the temple, to find a room sealed with a heavy padlock. Smiling at this pathetic attempt, Pryce grabbed the lock in his hands and yanked it off with one pull, dark energy circling around his arm as he did so.

As Pryce opened the door, his objective was in full sight, in the middle of a small, otherwise empty room. It was an old, ornate bottle, relatively tall as it went up to Pryce's knee. The bottom half of the bottle was white and ring-shaped, with a large hole in the middle and decorated with golden rings. The top half was pink, with the cap of the bottle shaped like the horned head of a Pokémon Pryce couldn't recognize.

After making sure the room was clear of everything else, having a hard time believing this was what he came there for, Pryce walked over to the bottle and picked it up.

Meanwhile, a short, bald man arrived to the temple, hiding behind pillars as he made his way through, inspecting the bodies of the monks and looking over his shoulder. Despite his best attempts, Pryce could hear his footsteps.

"You don't need to worry," he said calmly but audibly as he inspected the bottle, startling the bald man. "No one else is coming."

Narrowing his eyes, Grand Master Greevil adjusted his robes and walked over to Pryce, who presented the bottle to him.

"Excellent work!" Greevil said, his tone not matching his words at all. "Give it to me, please!"

Pryce frowned. "Something troubling you… sir?"

"That girl that you just had to keep alive to toy with!" Greevil yelled. "I just came from Orre to see what she had done to my operation there. Es Cade is in jail! Cipher is ruined! Your henchwoman failed to do anything about Blake Hall!"

"She is busy implementing the next phase of our plan, as per your order," Pryce said patiently. "As for Cipher, I was not aware of what your plan with them was, so I can't comment on that. Here, sir."

Pryce handed the bottle to Greevil, who grasped it slowly and carefully, one finger at a time, before taking it from Pryce. He stared at the bottle with reverence, ignoring Pryce completely. After a pause, Pryce cleared his throat.

"So what next, sir?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, nothing."

Pryce raised his eyebrows.

"You heard me!" Greevil said impatiently, keeping his eyes on the bottle. "Nothing! Your henchwoman will continue monitoring the situation. The hard work will be done by an old friend of mine. After the Litleonid meteor shower, it's our time. Until then, you will stand by!"

"And it didn't cross your mind," Pryce said slowly as Greevil turned to leave, holding the bottle like a baby, "that I might have other plans besides just sitting around?"

Hearing this, Greevil closed his eyes, exhaled deep and turned around.

"Pryce," he said, "your obsession with this girl is not healthy. But more than that, it threatens to ruin my operation. Don't make me regret bringing you back. Both the Ranger Union and various other police departments are already in search of you. Even you can't stop them all.