[Nate]

It is weird that the most modern-looking structure in this city is the gate to Route 19. None of the buildings here are built in as much metal as this one. The fact it's surrounded by trees on either side also contributes to making it feel out of place.

"Hey Junior!" Samantha says after clearing her throat. "Come on, we don't have long before Rosa and Hugh get back."

"R-right, sorry," I reply as I call out Mister Jaw, who flies between the two of us as he materializes.

"Vib," he murmurs as he narrows his eyes at Samantha.

"Yes, yes, nice to meet you too." She turns her gaze back to me. "You've already told him who to look for, right?"

I shrug. "Some old guy with a purple goatee. It's not much to go on, though."

Samantha lets out an amused snort. "Oh, he'll notice him. It'll be hard to miss how hard he tries to look inconspicuous."

Right. He tries and fails spectacularly, at least according to Samantha. The only reason why she thinks this man that's been eyeing her, Hugh and Rosa every time they leave for Route 19 is just some random creep instead of a Team Plasma member.

"Now," Samantha turns back to Mister Jaw. "You make sure to follow the freak until you've made sure of where he resides. I've already checked at the Pokémon Center and they haven't booked any room for anyone with a purple goatee, so if he stops there, keep following him. Got it?"

Mister Jaw turns to me.

"Don't worry buddy, we'll be fine. You just make sure not to be spotted, alright?"

He doesn't say anything to that, but he tips his head to me and then flies upward to the closest and tallest of the stony houses. I and Samantha follow him with our eyes right until the moment he lands on the roof.

"Well, that's taken care of," Samantha says. "Hope he's better at tailing than at battling Dwebbles."

Hey!

"Now," she turns to me, "have you got any other mons besides your Rufflet?"

I decide to drop the matter of what she said about Mister Jaw for now. "I've got my Marill with me. I've also got a freshly caught Growlithe, but he's currently recovering from injuries."

Samantha narrows her eyes. "Marills are those round Water-type rodents, right?" I nod. "In that case, I would like you to use that to spar with Rosa while I take care of Hugh."

I nod. "Is there anything you want me to say when we're done?"

Samantha doesn't answer me right away, as she just stares at me with a contemplative look and pursed lips. "No, I think I'll leave this one to you for now. I want to see how you handle being a mentor for once."

U-uh? "B-but I-!"

"Hey there guys!"

I turn to the street where that came from and I see Rosa rushing toward the two of us while she waves her hand, with Hugh right behind her. As those two get closer and closer I know that Samantha's and my time for talking is over.

[Eugenio]

When I rejoin Dawn and the others, I find them with Summer and the now handcuffed leader of the Pinchers, the operation basically as good as completed. According to the top ranger, she and her fellows were able to apprehend the majority of the Pinchers as well as a whole squad of Team Plasma grunts, with their leader - true to Tabitha's earlier words - quickly identified as Courtney Marge, former Team Magma Admin.

Tabitha doesn't say anything about that particular last bit of news. But I don't miss how his jaw clenches.

As for the Pokémon they apprehended, they were all found within the base, locked in cages inside a laboratory of some kind. What was done in that laboratory is yet to be determined, but our theory that they were after the Fire-types' DNA is pretty much confirmed by the state they're in. Growlithes and Arcanines missing patches of fur, Magbys and evolutions showing puncture wounds from needles, Pansears and Simisears showing both and the list goes on.

What the absolute fuck are you cooking up, Ghetsis?

Thankfully, for the return trip we don't rely on the Jellicents again. Summer just calls the Ranger base for transports to come pick us up, as well as the freshly arrested prisoners.

Tabitha busies himself with coordinating the operation with Summer and Roxie. Wes, on the other hand, tells Dawn and I to speak with him in private. Dawn is oddly submissive to his request, so I end up having no choice but to comply.

And the first thing Wes does when it's just the three of us is telling me exactly what's up with the two of them.

"Excuse me, what?" I ask, Dawn's solemn expression being the only thing that keeps me from laughing to Wes' face. "Invisibility? Is that a thing in this world?"

"No," Wes replies before he turns to Dawn. "And while I'm grateful for my life, I would like some explanations. Starting from whether that was actually invisibility or something else."

The bluenette crosses her arms. "Or?"

I blink at her reply. So does Wes.

"What do you mean 'or'?" the beige-haired man asks.

"This ability concerns only me. It's not going to hinder fighting Team Plasma or anything else. In fact, I would say it helped."

Are you for real, Dawn?

Wes lets out a snort. "Seriously, that's how you're gonna play this?"

"No," she retorts. "That's the kind of answer I'm expecting to hear if I ask 'why did you keep it hidden that Tabitha was on our side?'"

Oh…right.

I cross my own arms and turn to Wes. "She makes a very good point. What good was keeping that hidden from us? What were you hoping to accomplish?"

Wes glances between me and Dawn after my question. There is a moment, a very brief one, in which he seems to open his mouth to talk. But, just as quickly as it came, the moment passes and his mouth is back to shut.

"Suit yourselves," he says before walking past us and offering no further words.

Idiot.

After he's left the two of us alone, Dawn lets out a deep breath and I turn to see her looking away from me.

"I suppose you would also like some answers."

...truth to be told, I do. I remember the games had people with actual psychic powers, but this seems like something else entirely. I suspect Dawn is not so keen on sharing, though.

"If you don't want to talk about it, we-"

"I appreciate the thought," she interrupts, "but I think this is something you should know."

"But first," she turns around, revealing her forlorn expression, "I believe I should show you. Turn around, wait until I inhale and then look at me again."

...uh? "Why?"

"I'll explain later."

Okay...I think?

I follow her instructions and look away from her until I hear the forewarned inhale but, when I turn back, Dawn is nowhere to be found. I look around, even though I didn't hear her move from her spot, but still find nothing. What the heck happened?

Before I can be bewildered any longer, I...feel rather than see a hand placing itself on my shoulder. Only when I actually look at it, do I see the hand, and it's not like it was always there or it turns visible beneath my eyes. One moment it isn't there and the next it's there, like a blink of an eye. So is the arm it's attached to and its owner who is now exactly at the same spot where she was before, cheeks puffed as she keeps the air inside.

As she lets me go and opens her mouth to take deep breaths, several questions fill my head. I choose to ask the one that sums most of them up.

"Che diavolo…?"

I have no idea whether Dawn understands it, but when she's done with the deep breaths she says, "It's not 'invisibility', as Wes put it. It's a form of cloaking myself from your senses. It relies on no one in the room paying attention to me so I can tune myself out. But if I so much as let out a single sigh, it's all undone."

"That's...kind of specific."

She nods to me. "I know. And I've tested it before, that's how it works."

So she does have experience using it?

"If that's the case...why? Why didn't you use it before? Why didn't you even mention it? You could have-"

I cut myself off as I realize what I was about to say. It turns out to be too late.

"Because I couldn't draw Jupiter's attention away from me. If I could have, I would have used it to save Nate, but I couldn't. As for why I never mentioned them…"

I all but wince when Dawn's eyes widen in horror and she raises her shaky hands in front of them. "I...when I think about it, I'm reminded of where I got it. And I don't like that."

...where? Where could she have gone that terrifies her so much? The only times I've seen her so frightened were related to Team Galactic, but none of the places I can think of could have possibly given her this power.

Wait, no. There is one.

"The Distortion World."

I mutter that name in a low voice, barely a whisper. But Dawn jumps in place all the same.

"Yes," she mutters after the initial surprise. "I...don't know what you were shown of it, but it was much worse than you could imagine. A dark place where there is no sun, where time and space are distorted, and where the only other soul you can feel besides yourself is a gigantic dragon stalking you from the shadows is...it's horrifying."

I fail to muster anything to say. All I'm able to do is stare at her, applying what she just described to the Distortion World I know and getting shivers out of it.

"S-so…" I try to say. "It was...the Distortion World that…?"

Dawn purses her lips. "The Distortion World itself didn't do this. Giratina did."

Upon hearing that name, an image fills my head. A younger Dawn, similar to the one Roh showed me back when, standing alone on board a floating chunk of ground, with nothing but darkness surrounding her. And within that darkness, the same menacing serpentine form that appeared at Spear Pillar.

"Before long, I discovered Cynthia had also developed...this. We looked into what it could be and we found our answer in some ancient texts. Apparently, the power some legendary Pokémon wield can affect humans standing near them. Alter them in a way that they develop unnatural abilities."

"...and that is what happened to you and Cynthia," I conclude. Dawn lowers her head afterward.

"No one else besides you and Cynthia knows about this," she admits. "I couldn't find the nerve to tell anyone - not my parents, not Professor Rowan, not Barry - that," she lets down a gulp, "that I'm no longer human."

That last statement manages to break me out of my stupor. "Whoa there! What do you mean 'not human'?"

"What I said," she retorts. "This power of mine...it's changed me into something I wasn't. Something no other human has ever normally been. How can I still be considered human with all-?"

"Riley."

She looks up to me and blinks her eyes confusedly. "Excuse me?"

"Your old friend Riley, he's got some kind of special power too, right?"

"Yes, he's an Aura Adept." She furrows her brow. "What does that have to do with anything?"

I decide to ignore that question for now. "And how common are Aura Adepts?"

"Well," she rubs the back of her head, "they are not common, but I would hardly say there are few in the world."

I nod. "More than there are in my world." Dawn's frown deepens. "Where I come from, we don't have Aura Adepts. Or even just people who can wield aura powers. Nor do we have people with psychic powers. Those who claim they do are nothing more than charlatans."

"With that said, if Riley were to come to my world, where only he would have aura powers, would that make him not human?"

"No!" Dawn snaps. "Just because he'd be the only Aura Adept in your world, doesn't mean that he'd be any less human than anyone he'd come across!"

I smile at hearing that. "My point exactly. And if that's true for him, why shouldn't it be the same for you?"

Dawn hesitates. "This is…different. I wasn't born with it."

"But are you any different as a person than you were before?"

To that she offers no answer, and the two of us just stand across each other for the next few minutes.

"Ah, here you guys are!" Roxie is the one who breaks the silence in the end as she approaches us. Although she has to furrow her brow and glance between us when she does. "Did I interrupt something important?"

"...no, I think we were finished for now," Dawn replies, though she steals one last pleading look at me.

I purse my lips but ultimately opt not to contradict her. Aside from Roxie being around, it's probably best not to push on the matter. I can only hope some of my words got through to her.

Dawn then goes back to business. "Anyway, what is it?"

Roxie looks at us perplexedly but ultimately doesn't ask anything. "The boats will be here any moment. You guys coming, right?"

We both nod to her. "Yes, of course."

After that, we simply follow her back to the dock. And don't speak of her power again even as we leave the Pinchers' base.

Today's lesson is that when a criminal is arrested, any Pokémon they may have on them are confiscated and their Poké Balls uploaded to a specialized server where they stay until the Ranger Union and its bureaucrats decide what to do with them. The most well-behaved can be entrusted to other trainers or simply released into fitting environments. Some require a period of rehabilitation before they can do so. Or - in cases like this Purple Eyes' mons - they end up imprisoned in containment structures for dangerous Pokémon.

And personally speaking? If this means those Nidoking, Galvantula and Wishiwashi rot in cells where they'll never see the light of day again, fine by me.

As for the human element of the Pinchers, the rangers do have the structures to hold humans, but not enough for as many as the ones that were captured, and that's without counting the Plasma folks added to the mix. As such, only Purple Eyes and some of her lackeys are actually kept by them, while the rest are transferred to the nearest precinct.

As the police take their new convicts away, Summer drags me, Dawn, Tabitha, Roxie and Wes to her office. When we get there, there's a couple of new things on her desk. One is a crystal cage inside of which there are two Salandits, which Roxie widens her eyes at. The other is a Control Gauntlet with a cable sticking out of it that ends into some kind of shoulder pad, which Wes narrows his eyes at while Dawn eyes him uncomfortably.

"Is something wrong?" I whisper to her.

"That Gauntlet was Purple Eyes's," she replies. "She claimed it was an augmented version Team Plasma gave her. Something about it seemed to rattle him."

"Rattle him? Why?"

"I don't know."

"I'd invite you to sit, but unfortunately I don't have enough chairs for all of you," Summer sighs as she sits at her side of the desk. "So I'll try to be brief. First of all, I would like to thank everyone for participating in this operation."

"With that said, Miss Roxie," she pushes the crystal cage toward the Poison-type's specialist, who picks it up when it's in reach. "My men are still sorting through the Pinchers' equipment, so they haven't found the key yet. If you can wait by the storeroom on the ground floor, you'll be the first to know when they find it."

The white-haired girl nods to that, tells her "Thank you," and then she leaves the office.

"Next," Summer crosses her arms and turns to Tabitha, "Mister Ottavio, there is something I need to tell you-"

"Don't worry," he brushes her off. "The Terra Foundation will call off the introduction of the Salandit species. Just give us a couple of days to come up with an official reason."

"That is good to know. But not what I meant."

Oh? What's up now?

"It will take the police most of the day to sort the prisoners in their custody into cells, but it is likely they will call on you tomorrow. One of Team Plasma's members was asking for you even before they took her away."

Uh-oh.

Tabitha's cheery expression drops. "Why?"

Summer shakes her head. "She wouldn't say. I just wanted to let you know in advance."

Sounds like someone connected the dots and wants to get the last laugh. Something Tabitha realizes too, if his sweaty face is anything to go by.

"Interrogating her and her buddies is going to be my main priority for the time being," Wes intervenes, drawing Tabitha's attention to him. "We can meet at the precinct tomorrow and sort out what this is together. Sounds good?"

I refrain from scoffing. Both at the question and at Tabitha's answer. As if Wes even needed to ask it.

After the exchange between the two, Summer dismisses Tabitha and then tells the remaining three of us, "So, it would appear this operation worked out better than expected for your group. The likelihood of finding and capturing members of Team Plasma was very low."

Judging by how little enthusiasm she says all that with, I get the feeling there is a 'but' coming.

"With that said," she starts tapping the Control Gauntlet. Actually, not the gauntlet itself, just the shoulder pad. "Do you know what this is?"

Uh… "Some kind of protection Purple Eyes wore?"

Summer gives me a half-lidded look. Come on lady, I'm still new to all this!

"I think it's what caused Purple Eyes' Control Gauntlet to sever the connection between Wes' Meganium and her Poké Ball," Dawn intervenes before frowning. "But that feat shouldn't be possible, right?"

Summer answers with another half-lidded look. One that she then turns to Wes, who has his arms crossed, his lips pursed and his brow furrowed. What has he done now?

"Are you going to tell them or shall I?" Summer asks.

"We don't know it's that for sure," Wes replies.

The ranger lets out an annoyed scoff. "You know these things far better than me. What else could it be?"

As that back and forth between the two goes on, Dawn and I share a confused look.

"You are right. I know better than you do." Summer starts glaring daggers at him. "If I say we don't know for sure, we don't know for sure."

"Then by all means, enlighten me on what else it could be. You've heard Miss Hikari, severing the connection between Pokémon and Poké Ball shouldn't be possible."

"Something we don't know of yet, clearly."

I'm internally groaning at the sheer stupidity this man is capable of. Too bad we've gotta stick around for this pitiful shitshow if we want to know what the heck is going on.

...or do we?

I lean closer to Dawn's ear. "I've got an idea to loosen his tongue. Do you trust me enough to play along?"

Dawn has to blink her eyes a moment before she readily answers, "I do."

I give her a small nod, "Thank you."

I clear my throat and set my face in a scowl before loudly declaring, "Alright, that's it, we're leaving!"

I turn my back to Wes and Summer, but not fast enough to miss a glance at the bewildered faces they look at me with.

"Agreed," Dawn snorts, following in my example as we start walking out of the office.

"Wait a moment you two!" Wes calls from behind us. Dawn stops in her steps when I do. "What do you mean you're leaving?"

"What do you think?" I say, trying as best as I can to make it sound like a hiss while not turning around. "You and us are finished."

"Just like that? What about everything else? Aspertia and her P-?"

Oooooh, bad move.

"Don't you dare!" Dawn retorts, genuine anger in her voice as she spins around. "Don't you dare try to use that against me!"

I turn around myself to see what's happening. Wes' usual confidence is nowhere to be seen as he looks at Dawn with his mouth agape. Summer's eyes go from watching uncomfortably at Dawn to Wes.

"Let's make one thing clear," Dawn continues as she steps closer to Wes, an accusatory finger raised. "When we met, you promised us a deal of mutual trust. We have made good on our part of that deal. But you! You've done nothing but make fun of us and keep information hidden time and again!"

"Precisely," I chime in, some genuine anger creeping in for me as well. "I'd say we've let ourselves be made fools by you long enough. It's clear this partnership was only ever your means of exploiting us."

He's got some serious balls to frown at me. "Now, listen here-"

"No, you listen!" I growl. "We've had enough of your antics! If you really want us to work with your boss, here's what you can do: either tell us what this device is right here right now or tell your boss to send another middle man!"

Wes doesn't retort and just glares into my eyes.

"Very well," I scoff before turning around with Dawn. We get out of the office, walk to the elevator, call it and get on when it arrives. Never during any of that, do we hear Wes call out for us.

During the beginning of the descent with the elevator, neither Dawn nor me say anything. But after a bit, she asks, "Uhm, you had taken this into account, right?"

"Don't worry," I reassure her. "He will have to report this to his boss no matter what, including the 'send another middle man' part. Whatever Catcher does next will tell us whether he ever genuinely wanted to work with us. And if he leaves us to our devices, it's back to the original plan."

"That doesn't bring us any closer to knowing what that device is, though," Dawn sighs.

"We don't know what it is," I concede. "But Summer does. While Wes is busy interrogating Courtney, we'll ask her."

Dawn stays quiet for the following few moments. "That's actually clever. Though we'll miss on anything Courtney has to say."

"Would you have trusted Wes not to keep some of it away from us anyway?"

"No."

Thought as much.

[Wes]

One final argument with the ranger later, I'm finally able to get out of the blasted base with Purple Eyes' Control Gauntlet, fuming all the way. Those two getting idiotic all of a sudden was the last thing I needed. This device is bad enough on its own.

As soon as I'm able to find a secluded alley, I pick my phone and dial Michael's number.

"Hello?"

"I've got good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" No sense wasting time with pleasantries at this point.

"Wes?! How…what are you-?" He cuts himself off. "Never mind, good news first."

Smart. "The operation was successful. The Pinchers are finished and we've captured Courtney and the others."

"Glad to hear," he sighs. "And the bad?"

"Purple Eyes had a Snag Machine."

The immediate aftermath of my words is silence on Michael's end of the line. When he eventually does speak, I think he almost deafens my ear.

"What did you just say?!"

"There's more," I groan. "Hikari and her gig have decided to break off our deal."

"What the- Start from the beginning, don't skip anything."

I do just that, giving him all the details going from Tabitha's decision to join up to my last debacle with those two. To say he's displeased by the end of it would be an understatement.

"You've gotta be kidding me. What did you think being secretive about Snag Machines was gonna accomplish?"

"Hikari is not stupid," I rebuke. "If I'd told her jall that Cipher created, don't you think she would have figured out what Plasma may have done to her Pokémon? And don't tell me being vague was gonna cut it."

"That's not-" He cuts himself off and lets out a huff. "Alright, never mind. Just apologize, explain why you hid the truth about Tabitha and tell them you're gonna be more forthcoming with them."

"I already was as forthcoming as I needed to be," I retort. "And I'm not going to tell my life's story to a pair of strangers."

"Even if that were what I'm saying, you already did it once, didn't you?"

...that's a low blow.

"Rui was different," I sigh.

"That's true. But could you say you two truly trusted one another before you opened up?"

"Yeah, look how well that went," I scoff as my grip on my phone tightens.

Michael remains silent for a bit after that. "Look, just...just try to patch things up with Hikari and the others, okay? I don't want grudges like this to get in the way."

"...no promises," I ultimately say before hanging up.

Explain why I hid the truth about Tabitha? Yeah right, like a pair of goody-two-shoes would understand the meaning of looking after a fellow former criminal seeking atonement.

Still, I suppose I'd better try to patch things up with those two before they make a mess of things. The question is, how?

And chapter. Not much to say about this one, just a bit of a cooldown after the last couple of chapters.

Thank you to Softandhappy and Krosrodes for betareading. You can find us at the Fanfiction Treehouse discord server at: 9XG3U7a

See you all next time!