The sun was descending in the skies above Ryan and his Pokémon when the old man finally returned. Ryan's jogging had finally concluded after over 175 laps of running around the woman's property, an immense amount of soil now covering the area where the young trainer had just been trotting about. Ryan came to a slow halt when he saw the Old Man was watching him. He dropped the empty backpack and funnel to the ground and took a few steps before falling onto his rear end, too exhausted to even stand.

His Sandshrew, upon seeing his trainer collapse in exhaustion, ran over to his side and sat beside him. When Ryan pet him contently, his Pokémon curled up beside him and smiled.

Ryan was so exhausted, he barely had the reflexive speed to catch the Soda Pop bottle the Old Man threw to him. The Old Man had taken the time off to shave his beard. When he looked at the old man now, cleanly shaven, he couldn't quite put his finger on what made him look as familiar as he did. Nevertheless, the three enjoyed a drink of Soda Pop underneath the cool shade of the cliff they sat under.

"Not bad, Kid" the man told him. "Not bad at all."

"My everything hurts" Ryan remarked.

"It's gonna hurt for a while" the old man explained. "But you see the benefit of your hard work?" He pointed out Ryan's work to him. The entire surrounding area of the property was now properly and evenly soiled. The boulder his Sandshrew had been moving, had even made a trail around which encompassed the perimeter of the house.

"I can see we did help someone out" Ryan said, petting his Sandshrew beside him.

"And isn't that the duty of an aspiring Pokémon League Champion?" the man asked him.

"I guess" Ryan laughed. "I don't know how that's going to make things easier for me to get into Greg's Gym, tomorrow."

"It will help you in a few different ways" the man told him. "But there is a lesson you needed to learn from all of this." He looked over to him and grinned. "You seem to be a kid who uses his head to outsmart things and find the quickest route to success."

"I do take pride in that" Ryan remarked.

"But there's a lesson I think everyone should learn once in their lives." He pointed towards the soil Ryan had put down. "If you had simply dropped the soil from a bag all around the perimeter, it could have done the job as well. But the soil would have been uneven and some plants wouldn't grow as well as others." He then gestured towards the higher levels of Terra Town. "And with Greg's Gym? How did you think you were going to get around pushing that boulder out of the way?"

"Maybe wait for someone else to do it?" Ryan joked.

"Then why go out on this journey to be a Pokémon Master, if you're just going to let others do the work for you? I thought this was a quest to prove you had what it took to contend with the League Champion?"

Ryan paused. "I-I hadn't thought of that."

"Sometimes, shortcuts and easy routes are fine" the old man told his student. "But there are some things you can't just find an easy solution for. There are some problems that require direct solutions."

Ryan nodded. All his life, while Matthew was the more physically gifted of the two, he would have to outthink his brother whenever they were opposing each other. And while it worked in some of the time, most of the time it wouldn't end particularly well. Maybe he did need to become stronger himself as well if he was going to become a Pokémon Master. "Thank you. For teaching me that. I really do appreciate it."

"And I'm sure my daughter is going to be very appreciative when she sees what you did for her" the man replied to her.

Ryan looked at him in surprise. "You're daughter?"

The man nodded. "She's planning on spending her off time from work here with the man she loves. She wanted to hire one of the companies to help build her house for her, but I know what my daughter needs." He sighed. "Until today, all of this hard work has been me and whoever came to me looking to toughen up their Pokémon to fight Greg."

"That's amazing" Ryan told the man. "Why did you do this all for her?"

"Why?" the man laughed. "Because I love my children. Because I know she will love this house I build for her because I poured my heart and soul into it. Because nothing would please me more than being her hero again."

"Again?" Ryan asked.

"I know that a time comes when a child no longer needs their parent and is ready to take off on their own" he explained. "But if ever either my daughter or my son needs me, I want to be there for them."

"Do you still talk to them?" Ryan asked.

The man frowned. "Not as often as I'd like. But I do get to speak with them from time to time. I wish it were more often, but I know they have their own lives to live." He took a long drink from his Soda Bottle. "Take my son, for example. He's always off on these grand adventures, saving the world even. He has thousands of kids who look up to him and think of him as their idol and their hero. But when I see him, all I see is the little boy I taught how to throw his first Pokémon Ball." He looked up to the evening skies above him. "I made some mistakes with my children when they were younger. I wasn't as there for them as I probably should have been. My son went through a great deal when I was absent from his life, and in that time, he's had a hard time learning how to trust in others, including himself."

Ryan frowned. "My Dad's usually away too" Ryan explained. "I would like to see him as much as I can, but I also know that he needs to do what he does. He has more responsibilities than just being a Dad. He has to be a Leader to a lot of people."

"Being both a Father as well as a Man can be fairly taxing on someone" the man told Ryan. "I'm sure your father does the best he can."

"And I know you're doing the best you can with your kids" Ryan told him. "You know something?"

"What's that, kid?"

"Maybe you should tell your kids how much you need them too?" Ryan said.

The old man eyed Ryan for a moment and then smiled. "I think I'll do that. Thanks kid." He rose to his feet. "Well, I think that's a good enough time to pack it in for the evening."

Ryan and his Sandshrew rose to their feet and yawned loudly. "I think so, too."

"I'm sorry I took a whole day from you, kid" the man said.

"Took?" Ryan replied, laughing despite his exhaustion. "I learned a whole lot today. And I have you to thank for it. Thank you, sir."

"You can call me Mike" the old man told the boy.

Like Michael. "Thanks Mike. I'm Ryan."

"I know" the man grinned as he made his way up the slope. "You look just like your mother."

"Huh?" Ryan looked back towards where the old man was before, but he was gone. Ryan hurried up to find him, but he was nowhere to be found. With his Sandshrew tugging at his shoes, Ryan picked up the exhausted Pokémon and the two made their way to the Terra Town Café. "Funny, Sandshrew. You're a lot lighter than I remember."

As the two finally made it up the slope, he saw Addison and Holly nearly asleep in their chairs he had left them in. Ariel, Addison's Eevee, nudged her Trainer awake, prompting Addison to fully awaken and see Ryan returning. "Ryan? What the heck happened? Where were you all day?"

Ryan shrugged. "I guess I was so busy training with Mike, I forgot to check in with you guys."

"Mike?" Addison asked. "I didn't know Michael was here."

"No, not that Mike" Ryan explained. "Another Mike. He's the old man who is building one of the houses for his daughter." He then went on to tell Addison about all of the training he had put in, alongside his Sandshrew, including spreading the soil around and his Sandshrew's strength in moving the boulder all around the perimeter of the foundation of the house.

"Sounds to me like he got you to do his chores" Addison teased.

"No, nothing like that" Ryan laughed. "I used to think that you could avoid all your problems until you think of a clever way around them. There was no way I could do that with that boulder in front of Greg's Gym. Some problems you need to face head on." He then pet his Sandshrew as he sat beside Addison. "I also learned that you can become stronger just by trusting others."

"And you learned all this from Mike?"

"I think so" Ryan said. "Maybe. Maybe not. I just know he helped me see it more clearly."

Addison paused. "Wait a minute. You said you two were working on a house?"

Ryan nodded. "Yup."

"For a woman who loves gardens and wants to live in Terra Town?"

"Yeah?"

Addison gasped. "Do you know who that man was?"

Ryan thought for a moment. Terra Town was a very dry land, almost incapable of making flowers or garden grow. But this was where someone who love those gardens wanted to live. But why would she, unless she had someone who she loved who worked in Terra Town? And Tori was someone who loved plants and Grass Pokémon. And she was engaged to Greg, the Gym Leader of Terra Town. So that meant that Tori was moving into that house he and Mike had worked on. And Mike seemed to have known who I was because of my Mom. Was Mike? Could Mike have been...

Holly yawned as she slowly began to awaken herself. "Did I miss something?"

Ryan shrugged. "Hopefully not much."

"Ryan?" she stood up, almost as tired as he was. "Ryan, when did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago" Ryan told her. "Let's see if they have a room for rent in the Terra Town Hotel." Despite the aching and quaking beneath his legs, Ryan was able to keep his feet beneath him as he and his two equally tired friends made their way towards the Terra Town Hotel for the evening.

Holly was almost sleepwalking, only being kept forward by a gentle nudge from Addison every other minute. Addison's Eevee fell asleep atop her head, while she and Ryan were barely able to keep themselves awake as they neared the six story tall hotel in the secondary section of Terra Town. Ryan took a bad step and nearly fell to the ground, but Addison was fast and caught him.

"Hold on there" she called, grabbing his arm and pulling him back to his feet. "Can't have you falling asleep on me just yet."

Ryan tried to shake himself awake. "Sorry Addy. I'm just so tired."

Addison put her arm around Ryan. "Hand in there, Ry. We're almost there."

Ryan thanked her. "Thanks Addy, you're the best."

As her exhausted friend lay his head on her shoulders, she beamed. "I-I do the best I can." She then led both her best friend and Holly their way towards the entrance to the Hotel.

{Some Time Later}

After booking themselves a room using an exhausted Ryan's Trainers Pass to get them a room for the night, Addison hauled her exhausted friends to their designated Hotel Room for the night. As soon as she got the three into the room, Holly nearly fell into her bed, falling asleep instantaneously. Addison brought Ryan towards the second bed in their room and put him on the bed. He seemed to be keeping himself awake through pure adrenaline, but could fall asleep at any time.

"Ryan" Addison told her friend. "Maybe you should take a shower before you fall asleep."

Ryan yawned loudly and nodded. "If you say so." He made his way over towards the bathroom to shower, while Addison collapsed in the other bed and fell asleep. He looked outside to check on his friends a moment later after his shower, but saw Addison was sound asleep. As he was about to make his way for the chair to fall asleep in, he saw Addison shivering in the cold. Ryan quickly put her blanket over her, before sitting on the couch and falling asleep.

{Meanwhile}

Michael rose from the bed he'd been in since collapsing upon his return to the Pokémon League HQ. He was in his old League HQ Bedroom, a room he had not slept in since they had begun their raids on Syndicate Bases. As he climbed out of bed, he saw that he had been attached to an EKG machine by his friends after what had happened since he confronted Cameron over her actions regarding Cassius and his trial. Once he was sure he wasn't still attached to it, he stood up and threw a jacket over his back to walk out to see if his friends or even Julia were still here.

"Mike?" a voice called to him. He looked outside and saw Lizzie and Mark had been sitting outside of his room.

"Hey guys" he called over to them, keeping himself standing by leaning on the door frame.

"You shouldn't be up" Lizzie insisted, running over to his side. "You should be back in bed."

"I'll be fine" he insisted. "What happened here? Where's Cameron?"

Mark sighed. "Cameron left a little while after we brought you here" he explained. "She had a blowout with Chris after he talked to Julia to let her know what was going on."

"Was she here?" Ryan asked.

Mark shook his head. "She said she would try to get here if she was able to get off of work early enough, but it's night, so I don't think she'll be here tonight. Besides, you need to get a little more rest, so I told Chris to tell her not to-"

"No" Michael insisted. "I need to talk to her-"

"C'mon, Mike" Lizzie told him. "Let's get you back into bed." Without the strength to resist her, Michael let her push him back into the room and at least have him sit on his bed. Chris, after seeing his cousin was awake, ran into his room.

"Hey, Man" Chris told him. "How are you feeling?"

Michael sighed. "I'm fine. Just a little tired. Where's your sister?"

"Relax" Chris told his cousin. "I told her not to come back while you were here. She's at Dad and Shannon's."

Michael held his arm. "How long was I out?"

"About nine hours" Lizzie told him. "We were going to bring you to the Hospital, but Celebi managed to calm you down. It was too close, though. Mike, you should really consider taking it easy."

"Not so long as I have work to do" Michael insisted.

"You can count on us" Mark assured his friend.

"I thought I could trust Cameron too" Michael said.

Chris sighed. "Come on, Mike."

"I did" Michael told him. "I trusted her with my life and she repaid my trust by letting Cassius slip out of her hands!" He shook his head, still in disbelief that Cameron had acted the way she did. "I thought Arcana would be better off in her hands, but she just made the biggest blunder the League has ever made!"

"I know you're upset" Chris told his cousin. "But you need to understand where she's coming from. I mean, it's not like this was some incredible betrayal or anything."

Michael's eyes widened in utter terror. Thrice shall you be betrayed, The First you know but refuse to see.

"Mike?" Lizzie asked him. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Michael eyed her as if he didn't know her or anything anymore. "No. No I'm not. I need to go."

"Where do you think you're going?" Mark asked him. "Mike, we're getting worried about you. You can't leave until you're healthy."

"I have to get out of here and clear my head" Michael told his friends. "There's someone I need to meet with."

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked him.

Lizzie's eyes widened. "Michael. You can't go to see her!"

"Who?" Mark asked.

"Who are you talking about?" Chris asked her.

"Mike" Lizzie pleaded. "She's a witch! You can't just go to see her!"

"A witch?" Chris asked. "What's going on here?"

Michael threw on his belt with his Poké Balls and he pushed past his friends. "I need to get out of here!"

"Mike!" Lizzie snapped.

"What is it, Lizzie?" Michael turned to her.

"Promise me, you aren't going to see Courtney" Lizzie pleaded with him.

Michael sighed. "I have no intention of seeing Courtney right now. I need to meet with someone else. If you need me, I'll be in Terra Town until tomorrow afternoon."

"Did you want me to go with you?" Chris asked.

"No" Michael told him. "I need to do this on my own. And I don't want anyone to follow me."

"Mike..." Mark said sadly.

"Guys" Michael did his best to assure his friends, "I'm telling you I'm alright. I just need to clear my head for a little bit." He made his way for the nighttime skies outside of their building. He then reached onto his belt and called out Rhaegar from his Poké Ball. The Dragonite looked at his trainer with concern.

"I'm fine, Rhaegar" he assured his Dragonite. He pet the Dragonite on his snout, who growled happily and hugged him. "I'm fine, Rhaegar! Don't worry. Are you up for a flight?" The Dragon Pokémon roared in approval and lowered his back, allowing Michael to climb onto his back and the two took off into the skies. I need to speak to an old friend. I just hope he can meet with me tomorrow. He can be a very distant man.

{Meanwhile}

Despite having closed up the Research Facility for the evening, Julia continued her work well beyond when she was supposed to. She didn't care what she was doing so long as it was work for her. Anything to get her mind off of what she had heard on the television the previous evening. She just wanted to forget that the press was trying to push Michael and Piper together and instead to focus entirely on hers or her friends personal research. And she had learned of some potentially game changing research being given by Professor Rowan and his apprentice named Lucas in Sinnoh.

Hmmm, so there might be some more potential Pokémon Evolutions that we haven't explored yet? I wonder if Eevee will factor into any of his theories. Whenever there was a Pokémon Evolution research explosion that her former mentor from Sinnoh was a part of, it was usually followed by a burst of information regarding Eevees and their evolutions. She wondered if there would actually become a Ground Type Eevee or a Ghost Type Eevee.

As she began to read the research notes Rowan and Lucas had sent her, she receives an Email from an unsolicited source. She quickly dumped the Email in the Spam filter and resumed her reading. But as she did, it popped out of her filter and appeared on her screen. She rolled her eyes and sent the Virus Scanning software to read it, but to her surprise, it wasn't full of viruses or an unsafe source. She shrugged and decided to open it. It was headlined as a warning to her.

[WARNING: DANGER TO ALL OF ARCANA! CHAMPION IN DANGER!]

Julia laughed at the idea of Michael being in mortal danger or Arcana being in the same situation. But she nevertheless could use a proper joke and opted to read the warning from an unsolicited source:

[To the Honorable Professor Julia Pines,

I am writing to you to concerning the state of Arcana and the growing danger of The Syndicate and it's leaders, Elezar Aced and Cassius Sinclair. While I cannot be too sure of their next moves, I can promise you that they are preparing to wreak havoc on the rest of Arcana. You and your loved ones, chiefly Piper Pines and Michael Kingston, are in grave danger and I urge you to safeguard yourselves as soon as possible.

In case you are unaware, the Syndicate has been an acting force in Arcana's underworld for the past 10 years despite Michael's victory over Giselle Odelia in Titanio City. They have been secretly plotting and adapting to the strengths and weaknesses of the ruling powers, chiefly Michael and The Elite Four. And thanks to the growing tensions surrounding the Elite Four, Elezar Aced is preparing to make his grand return to the forefront of Arcana. Because I know how close you are to the Champion, I must stress that you do whatever you can to keep him from succumbing to the anger of the Crimson Fury dwelling deep within him. The Syndicate plots to use his inability to control the curse that Cassius and Elezar gave him against him and you and your cousin could end up in the crossfire. And from what I've discovered, the two will be in danger in Taghwan City.

But there is more. Far more. The Syndicate is gaining strength thanks to the arrival of their supreme leader known only as The Grand Master. I cannot yet tell you the depths of this...man...being's power, but I can assure you that you would be as afraid of him as I am if you ever met. Elezar Aced is not only in league with this Grand Master, he is The Grand Master's subordinate. And they have plans set on luring the Champion into his own destruction. If they manage to use the fury already within Michael as well as the manipulation of another Syndicate Administrator named Courtney, the Champion will not be able to combat them.

I will continue to send you information as I learn it. Please keep in touch with me through Email Contact if you have any particular questions. I beg of you, Professor. Please, do whatever you can to prevent the evil of The Grand Master from spreading.

Sincerely Yours, Deep Jade]

Julia read and reread the Email, but cannot possibly take it seriously. She simply decides to keep it in her Inbox and let it get swallowed by all of the Ads and Spam Messages she gets. Not only was this person using a code name and an unsourced Email Account, but the all the things this person had sent her was hardly anything but conspiracy theories. Besides, what was all this about Piper and Michael being in danger in Taghwan City? Julia rolled her eyes and turned off her computer, choosing to put the matter behind her.