OREBURGH CENTER, 13:04

"Wow, Claus!"

Claus had stepped out of the salon to meet back up with Dawn and Barry, only to be greeted by Dawn's exclamation. Barry looked up from his dex, and once he saw him, his eyebrows rose.

Claus shrugged. "Thought it might be fun to shake it up," he said modestly. His hair, previously in an unremarkable black ponytail down to his shoulder blades, was now dyed a vibrant silver, sparkling in the midday sun.

"It's definitely very striking," said Dawn, and that was actually a good compliment. Striking was absolutely what he was going for. Claus grinned, and looked at Barry.

Barry was staring blatantly, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth slightly open. Claus couldn't tell if his expression was one of surprise, concern, or something else entirely, which was weird. He usually didn't have much trouble figuring out what Barry was thinking.

Dawn was grinning broadly at the scene, and Claus, not for the first time, wanted to smack her for looking like she knew something that they didn't. Ignoring her smugness, he remarked to Barry, "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

That seemed to snap him out of his trance, because Barry's expression transformed into a smile so wide it matched Dawn's. "Yeah, I think I will." He lifted his dex, switching to the camera app and snapping a picture of Claus, who stared at the dex, confused.

"Barry… that was a saying, man. Why did you…"

Barry was typing quickly now, and he didn't even look up as he replied. "To send it to your mother, of course!"

"Oh." Then Claus realized what Barry had just said. "Wait, what? No! Stop! Don't you dare-"

"And sent!" cackled Barry. "This is gonna be fun."

Claus sighed. "Honestly, whatever. What's she going to do, send me a disapproving text? Call in a Corviknight taxi just to intercept us and attack me about my hair?"

"It's a possibility," said Barry knowingly. "Your mom may be short, but she's five feet of pure, dangerous spite."

"Barry!" said Dawn, with a reprimanding tone. "That's not nice to say about someone else's family."

"What? It's true," spluttered Barry, taken off guard. "Claus knows it, too! He's said it himself!"

Claus nodded, faking solemnity. "Yeah, good grief. Were you raised by Mightyena?"

"Not you, too," Barry groaned. "What do you want me to do? Apologize?"

Dawn snickered. "I haven't known you for long, Barry, but if I ever see you sincerely apologize for something like this, I'll eat my hat."

Barry's eyes snapped wide open, and he stared at Dawn in shock. "What? This is betrayal! I taught you everything I know, took you under my wing for the gym challenge, and this is how I'm being repaid?"

"You haven't taught her shit," argued Claus. "Dawn interns with Rowan. She probably knows more about Pokemon than both of us combined. Hell, she beat you in a battle."

Dawn was blushing and covering her face with her hands. "Please, you're being too nice. You two are plenty talented yourselves. I only beat Barry because of the type advantage."

Barry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's a load of crap. You saw me battle Roark. You would know how much type advantages really matter in battles. Don't forget who both Claus and I asked for tips on caring for our Pokemon."

Dawn pulled her hat over her face, mumbling something that neither of them caught, and Claus decided to have some mercy on her, standing up. "Well, anyways, we should get going now, shouldn't we? Unless there's anything you're really interested in seeing something else here in Oreburgh."

Barry sniffed. "Like what, the beautiful rocks? I'm ready to leave."

"I take offense to that on principle."

The three of them jumped, and turned around to see Roark grinning at them.

"I mean, really," he continued, "you'd think that a couple of smart trainers like you would know better than to talk trash about a city while you're still in it."

"That was all Barry," said Claus. "Don't drag us into it."

"Hey!"

Roark chuckled. "That's fine. I don't really mind too much. Oreburgh is a wonderful city, but it's not for everyone." He shrugged. "Especially not gym challengers. Y'all probably want to get moving. I guess you're going to Hearthome next, then?"

"Yes, we are," confirmed Dawn, having taken her face out of her hat.

"That's more or less what I expected. Most people who get their first badge in Oreburgh go that way. After that, though, is when it starts going all over the place." He grinned. "The three of you are promising trainers, honestly. I'm new to the job, so I haven't really gotten used to the part where I have to lose some matches, and so far I have a bad habit of actually beating some challengers, because I would whoop them bad enough that it would be obvious if I threw the match." Roark shrugged. "But you three had no such problems. Especially you," he added, gesturing at Barry. "What the hell, kid?"

Barry put his hands on his hips with a cocky grin. "Natural talent! And there's no way you're old enough that you can call me kid."

Roark laughed. "Point taken. But I'm sure you'll make it far on your gym challenge. All three of you. So, back to the reason I came here." He stuck out three little slips of paper, and Dawn tentatively took them from Roark. Claus and Barry peered at them over her shoulder, and she noticed, handing them one each.

The three identical cards were laminated, and they depicted Roark standing against a black background with a fire burning as well. Roark himself was depicted back to back with his ace, Rampardos, wearing his signature mining helmet with his glasses dangling from between his teeth and one hand behind his head as he grinned at the camera.

"Don't mind the stupid pose, the photographer insisted," he said modestly. "The back is the important part, anyways. It's got my Dex ID on it."

"I know what a League card is," said Barry, like the tactless idiot he was. Claus really wanted to smack him until, surprisingly, he corrected himself. "Sorry, that sounded ruder than I meant it to."

"No harm done," said Roark easily. "My point is, you can use this card to contact me. Try to let me know before you start a gym battle, especially if it's on TV. I'd like to watch it myself, or at least a recording of it."

Dawn blanched. "Our gym battles are recorded?"

Roark looked surprised. "Well, yes, they are. They're generally broadcasted on several TV channels, since it's common for multiple battles to be happening at once. Does that bother you?" Roark frowned. "If it's really a problem, then you can specify that you don't want your battle to be broadcasted when you're signing up. I didn't think to specify that, since you seemed to be all right with the audience."

"Oh, no, no," Dawn replied hastily. "It's fine, really. I was just surprised, that's all."

Roark's grin returned. "Well, maybe you should read the forms you're signing before you check all the boxes, yeah?" Dawn looked at her feet sheepishly, and Roark shook his head. "Don't worry. You're hardly the first-"

However, Oreburgh's Center seemed to want to get one last laugh before the three of them departed from it. The television beeped once more, displaying an emergency broadcast for the umpteenth time. There was a murmur from the crowd, but it was less angry than it was last time. Claus suspected that Roark being present had something to do with it.

"Emergency broadcast."

There was immediately a difference that Claus noted. The voice reading out the broadcast was neither that of the emotionless man who delivered the false alarms nor the one of the one who had branded those as miscommunications. Instead, a man with a measured, patient, but still forceful voice was speaking.

"All of those who are currently in Oreburgh City may continue to go about their business, but are urged to maintain caution and travel in groups when possible. An unknown specimen, similar to the bug Pokemon previously described in other falsified broadcasts, has been discovered dead in the Oreburgh Mines, along with the corpse of a Machoke and a Skiddo. If your Machoke or Skiddo is missing, please report to the ICU to identify the bodies."

There was a gasp, and a girl leaped out of her chair and ran for the door, sobbing. Another girl followed, concern written over her face.

The broadcast continued. "If anyone has any other information that they would like to share with the League about this occurrence or the circumstances that lead to the death of the unidentified Pokemon, they are encouraged to contact the League by dialing 223. Thank you for your cooperation."

For the first time since the broadcast came on, Claus thought to look at Roark to see what he thought about the broadcast. He was disappointed by what he saw, though, as Roark had kept his face carefully blank as he watched the television.

"Hm," he said, turning back to the three of them. "I should probably go and check that out myself. Sounds like something that they'd need a Gym Leader for, eh?" He grinned at them once again.

"We don't want to keep you," agreed Claus, a little suspicious. Dawn and Barry nodded, and Roark raised a hand to them, walking off without another word.

Roark had hardly walked out of earshot when Barry piped up, "So, do you think he knew something about that, or what?"

"Yeah," Claus replied immediately. "He took that really calmly." He glanced at Dawn. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed."

Dawn nodded. "I know that if I was the Gym Leader, I would be a lot more distressed about something like this, especially if I hadn't already known about it. It could just be a personality thing, but…"

"Oh well," interrupted Barry. "What are we, fae? We don't know- hold on," said Barry. "We actually don't know what affinity you have, Dawn."

Claus, for the second time that day, wanted to slap Barry. "You fucking dumbass, you don't just ask that," he hissed. "Dawn, please feel free to ignore the question. It's none of his business, or anyone's but yours."

Barry appeared chastised, and he scratched his head. "Well, sorry about that. I should think before speaking, huh?"

"It's fine," replied Dawn, though Claus had mentioned that she had gone pale at Barry's question. The color was just beginning to return to her face.

It clearly wasn't fine, but it also wasn't Claus's business, as he'd just said, so he tried to push past it. He was just as curious as Barry, and possibly more, honestly. But he knew that this wasn't the time for that line of conversation. "And hey, what do you know? It wasn't a prank after all. Or maybe it was a really elaborate prank. But it wasn't fake."

Barry nodded. "Weird, huh? Kinda crazy that even now, we're discovering new Pokemon. Even if the circumstances are a bit odd."

"A bit odd is certainly one way to describe it." Dawn absently petted Rose, her Helioptile, who had stuck her head out of her spot in Dawn's bag, curious. The yellow reptilian chirped happily and nuzzled into her hand. "At least three 'sightings,' and then the creature itself is found, but it's dead?" She shook her head. "As a hopeful future scientist, I'm interested and excited, of course. But as a new citizen of Sinnoh, I'm pretty concerned."

"Aren't we all," muttered Claus, glancing at the time on his dex. "Anyways, we really should get going. Mount Coronet isn't going to cross itself."

MOUNT CORONET, 15:30

"So, y'all are the next batch, eh?" asked a huge Ursaring of a man, looking down at them.

"Yep," replied Barry. "Headed to Hearthome City for the gym challenge."

"Figures," he grunted, cracking his neck. "How many Pokemon ya got on ya?"

"We've got six total," said Claus. "We only have one badge each, though."

"Hm," said the guy, scratching his beard. "Well, how about this. Y'all can handle anything that decides to attack by yourselves, unless ya think ya need my help. If ya do, I'll step in. Sounds good?"

There was no way that was officially allowed, but Claus grinned. He knew without looking that Barry was smiling, too. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"Great," said the guide. "As long as we don't get set on by a pack o' Lycanroc or something, ya should be good on yer own." Dawn's eyebrows shot up, and the guide hastily added, "Not that we will. We're not climbing to the peak, just goin' around the foothills." That seemed to satisfy Dawn, so the four of them set off.

The landscape started out as a continuation of Route 207, with sparse vegetation and dark soil. Multiple Geodude slept peacefully or ambled about on their two arms. Most of them ignored the traveling group, though one of them challenged them with a growl, only to be quickly chased away by Pello's Razor Leaf.

"You think I should catch one?" asked Barry, as the Geodude hauled itself out of their path and shut its eyes, looking once again like an ordinary stone. Only the slight motion of its breathing distinguished it from its inorganic brethren. "Golem can be pretty strong, and I think a rock type might be nice."

It was probably Roark that had brought this about, and Claus was of a mind to say so, but Dawn spoke up first, and he held his tongue. It was still rare for her to take the initiative in their conversations, but it was happening more often, and he was glad she was starting to feel more comfortable with them so quickly.

"If you'd like, you can," she said. "But keep in mind that you would be stacking an ice weakness with your Starly and a water and ground weakness with Roy."

"Hm," mused Barry. "Nothing wrong with stacking a weakness, of course, or specialists would all suck. But I think you're right, and I'll pass on this one."

Claus nodded. "I'd pass too. You already have two Pokemon that are different types entirely. Unless you think you're going to do some sort of half-specialist thing like Flint, then I'd suggest trying to maximize diversity and synergy."

"Wow," said Barry. "I'm glad you haven't forgotten your habit of turning into a language professor whenever you're talking strategy."

Dawn smiled, but Claus rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you haven't forgotten your habit of turning into a crybaby for no reason when I use words with more than three syllables."

"Whatever, Mister Vocabulary," replied Barry archly, before stopping and counting on his fingers. "Vo-cab-u... damn it!"