I was waking up on what felt like a couch. Once I could see things properly, I look around and see Candice, Dallas, Blue, Jazzmyne, and Kenny sitting around me, talking about something stupid from what I could tell. Luckily, I was able to catch the last few bits of Kenny's conversation.

"-diet furries and syrup furries. Basically, the first three layers are the diet, people whom you can stay around with out strangling the hell out of, and the last four are the syrup, plain degenerates in that Zubatshit crazy fandom."

Looking at the other four, I could see a combination of thoughts on this topic, Dallas appearing somewhat interested, Candice was slightly disgusted, and the Pokemon were simply confused. Dallas was the first one to say something to this, "So, what about just normal trainers than?"

"Well, as long as they aren't trying to do anything weird with their Pokemon, I think either level one or not even on the spectrum."

Candice, still with a disgusted look, asks, "And... if they are?"

"Probably around level six or seven. Although, if they are seriously trying to do that and you know it, call the police. That's just messed up."

I reach up and feel my head. Yeah, ow, ok that hurt. Must be where I hit whenever I fell. Why did I even fall in the first place? I start to sit up and catch the attention of the five others, making Candice and Dallas rush over to me. I sit upright and look at the two, "Can someone tell me... what the hell happened?"

Dallas looks at Candice and back down to me. "You kind of fainted, dude."

I roll me eyes at this. I am not in the mood right now for someone to be smart at me. "No duh. Why, did I faint?"

Candice chimes in at this, "I can answer that one! You fainted when Scrap put his hand on your shoulder. By the way, I am so sorry! I did not know you had phasmophobia, and that was a bad move on my part."

I rub my head and look around again, seeing the little demon sitting on the table where I was earlier. I remember now completely. Little thing scared the ever loving shit out of me with those creepy little arms. Part of me figured I had to suck it up and be at least some sort of apologetic over my reaction. "No, no, it's fine. He just... surprised me is all. He isn't gonna, you know, come with you, is he?"

"Well, uh, yeah. He's my partner, of course he is. Is that a problem?"

Oh dear Arceus, I'm going to have to put up this thing, aren't I? Of course I am, because every damn Pokemon story has some female companion. Yeah, y'all can blame M for that, he's unoriginal and can't take liberties with having an all dude cast. Dipshit... Well, I guess I'm going to have to suck it up a little Alright, I'm off my forth wall soapbox. "No. No, I can... I can work with it, I guess. Just, keep him at least... a mops length away from me, please."

"A mops length?"

"I was playing a game a while back, and there was some crazy janitor that was required to have everyone a mop away from him or else he'd probably snap and kill a kid. So, yeah. A mops length."

Everyone just looked generally confused at this except for Kenny, who just laughed at the unnecessary reference. Eventually, Candice spoke again, going over to the table and Scrap, "That's kind of retarded to be honest. If you dare try to do anything like that, it will come to bite you again."

"I'm serious, Candice. Keep that little munchkin away from me!"

"Look, I'll keep him on a short leash, but I can't promise anything."

I give it moments thought before looking to the side, "I can live with that, I guess. Man, my head hurts." I take off my hand and get a lot of release off the knot. I guess most of the pain was the pressure I was giving myself. Of course, like usual I'm the cause of my own suffering. Just like my first date. That was a disaster that we shall not go into at the moment.

Dallas steps forward and lets out Jet, who jumps at my sight. I think that little guy likes me. "You did hit your head pretty hard, so it makes sense. Jet here can give you an Ice Bean if you want it." He and Jet laugh at this and, I guess Jet took it seriously, blasted the side of my head with an Ice Beam. Surprisingly, this did subside the pain I had before. Not surprisingly, was that my head was now freezing cold and most likely had the joke block of blue ice on the side. Dallas then covered his mouth extremely surprised and sorry, Candice and Kenny laughing in the background.

After a few moments of laughing and silence, I finally speak up to lighten the tension. "Well, good news? My head no longer hurting. Bad news? I am more than certain my head is frozen. Jet, good work, but you need to learn sarcasm. Anyone else, please help?"

Candice laughs again and puts her hand up, pulling out her... Pokenav? "Wait, wait! Hold on! Let me take a picture first, this is hilarious!." I hear a click come from the small device and Candice puts the Nav away, "Alright, I'm good. Someone who cares, take care of the ice."

"Yeah, yeah," Kenny says, walking over with a pen, "I'll get you outta there, give me a minute. You might get stabbed a few times."

Hearing this, Blue hisses-adorably, of course-and jumps in between me and the secretary. He glares at the guy in orange and Kenny backs off. Blue turns back to me and takes out his claws, putting them against my head and the ice. In one quick move and a very quiet whoosh sound, the side of my face and head wasn't cold anymore. Blue let's out a happy 'Zaaang' and walks back to his little sitting area with Jazzmyne.

"Uh, thank you, Blue!" I say to the shiny as he sits down, going back to their conversation with Jazz. Wonder what they were talking about. I look back over to the three and rub my head again, not out of freezing or pain, but out of weird awkwardness. People were paying attention to me. This is weird for me. I just cough after a few moments and talk again, "Sooo... I believe we were about to go somewhere and do a thing?"

Dallas, finally coming out of his apologetic and surprised moment, speaks again, "Yeah, yes we were. We were just about to go out and you train for the Gym battle against Cress!"

Hearing this, Kenny picks his head up and looks at me like I'm some kind of idiot. "You're going against Cress? With those two?" He motions to Blue and Jazz in the corner. "Dude, you is gonna have some problems there."

I tilt my head, confused as to the reason, "And why is that exactly?"

"Well, let's see here," he makes a thinking look, only to mock me, "Maybe because Cress uses a Normal- and Water-type Pokemon! You're good with the Rockruff on his Lillipup, but Panpour? You need, like, a Grass- or Bug-type, or something! Arceus, man, don't you read anything about these Leaders?"

I think back to the Pokemon Center and the magazine that literally has interviews with the Gym Leaders in it. I now regret not reading those. Meh, there's always the next Center. "I... did not, but I will now. Where can I go to train and catch a Grass- and/or Bug-type around these parts?"

Kenny rolls his eyes and brings out a large piece of paper from his desk. Must be a map or something. He puts the map on the table in front of us. "Alright, here's where you're gonna want to go," he points to a small road off of the picture of Striaton City, "this here? That's Route 3. There, you can train to your hearts content and probably find... I dunno, a Sewaddle or something. Got that, Mr. Freak Out?"

"The nickname is unnecessary, and yes I have. Thank you, Kenny, we will be on our way."

"Nice. See ya, Freak Out. Dallas. Candice, don't let Scrap scare the hell out of him again."

Candice picks up the Mimikyu and starts walking out, followed by Dallas, then me, then Blue and Jazz. "Can't make any promises on that one! You know Scrap's a hugger."

Hearing this, I take a few steps away from the Ranger and her Pokemon. It'll be my ass if that little freak gets those weird hand things around me. "I understand that, and I request you not let Scrap try to hug me, please."

Candice just laughs at this and points down, "Little too late for that one, Walt."

I panic quietly and look down, just at the perfect time to see and feel the black arms wrap around one of my legs. I squeal and pick up my leg, almost hitting myself in the face with my knee. When I do this, I look back at Scrap and see he tear up a little and slide back to Candice. Honesty, I couldn't care less. I said I wouldn't allow any contact with him.

Candice scolds at me and walk keeps walking. "Just so you know, when Scrap likes someone, he will not rest until he shows his affection."

"Oh, no. The affection has been shown, I just chose to ignore it and not return it, in fear the little shadow with rags will steal my soul or something."

The little Ghost-type tears up even more, once again not getting any reaction from me, and let's out a quiet 'Kyuuuu...' Was I being a little rude? Definitely. Do I give any shits? Absolutely not. I don't work with these things.

Getting over my little 'episode' with Candice and the little demon, I keep walking through the door and back out into Striaton. Still decently day light out, so I couldn't have been knocked out for long. Could probably get a couple hours of training in. Grab something to eat then call it a night. Probably go to the Gym tomorrow. I look around the main part of the city and notice some people setting some stuff up by a kind of garden place with a fountain. The weird thing with this? They were all wearing the same colored clothes; purple and white. The worst color combination possible. Must have taken a page out of Dallas' book on fashion.

Sadly, from what I know from everything my Mom's told me, all the things I've seen on the news, and the Rocket and Galactic documentaries... There is, like, an eighty percent chance these guys were criminals or terrorists or something. Well, guess I'm not going near them. I promised my Mom, and that is the one promise I can not break.

Dallas sees them and points in their direction, "Hey, guys. Looks like those dudes are setting a thing up. Want to see where it goes later?"

This gets a 'yeah' from Candice and a couple affirmative mews, growls, and whatever the hell sound Scrap makes from the Pokemon. I'm the only one to think differently, "Nah, I'm good."

This gets a confused look from Candice. "First, you threaten my Scrap. Second, you know nothing of this regions Gym Leaders. And now, you don't want to check out one little thing in a garden, that is literally in the way of the Route we are going in?"

"Hmm, yeah, pretty much."

"No," Candice responds, very sternly, "You are checking this thing out with us. Understood?"

"What? You can't tell me what to do."

"Yes I can. Just because you're the one with the major goal, that doesn't mean you're the leader. We all have an equal choice here, and if we all want to see something, you're gonna have to suck it up and come with us, got it?"

I was a little taken back by this, if I'm being completely honest with you. This version of Candice was a tad bit different than the one I was acquainted with. Must be that good old Alolan bipolarity. I guess I can go with these guys, even if it is slightly going against my promise. I'm just listening, not getting involved, so it's good. Right? "Ok, I suppose you're right. I'm sorry, and I will go to this thing even though it is obviously a public presentation of a criminal and/or terrorist organization."

"Thank you. Now was that so hard?"

"Would you be surprised if I said yes?"

Candice forces an obvious sarcastic laugh, "I would be shocked other wise. Nobody said you're a main character, boy-o. For all we know, I'm the title character and you two are the lackies that follow my fine ass for no reason."

"I'm sorry, but are you breaking the fouth wall right now? Because that's my thing, Candice. Look, I'll go to the thing, I won't drop-kick your piece of Scrap. We are all now having equal choice and voting in this group. Sound better to you, Alola?"

After a few seconds, Candice smiles and turns back to the people setting things up, "Extremely better, Johto. Thank you." With this, all five of us start walking again, only to be interupted by Dallas asking something, "I'm sorry, going back a minute. Did you just say breaking the fourth wall is your thing?"

"No, man, I'm telling you," the new grunt told his superior as they were walking through the hallways, "it was a huge thing in Hoenn for, like, half a year! I saw the freaking laser shoot up, I know what I'm talking about."

The ace grunt just sighs, thinking about how he could possibly be having this argument for almost half an hour, and turns to the newbie, "Vince. How many times do I have to point this out? There are movie companies that do this crap! There are two in this region alone! They did it with the moon landing, and they did it with this so-called 'Deoxys.'"

"Alexander, you just don't get it. What would people gain from faking something like that? It makes no sense!"

"What makes no sense, is that we've spent almost half an hour arguing this instead of doing our job. You think that Sam kid has called for Celebi yet?" Alexander asks, looking through the door window at the, currently being tortured, kid. "I can not believe a guys nether regions can take that much electricity. How much did you set that too again?"

"Don't wanna hear it, that is my least favorite type of torture..." Vince takes a second to force that thought out of his mind before having another, honestly more important thought come to him. "Hey, uh, Alexander?"

"Yeah, Vince?"

"So, like, uh..." Vince stutters a little and finally forces out the right way of asking this, "Why exactly are we torturing children to capture Legendaries?"

The ace grunt just looks at Vince for a second before answering, "Excuse me? We do not ask why, we just do as we're told."

"I-I know, it's just... what is the end goal here? I mean, I know the perfect sanctuary for all Pokemon thing, but what does collecting every single Legendary have to do with this?"

Within five seconds of asking this, Alexander grabs Vince's shoulder and forces him against the wall, looking him dead in the eyes. "Listen here, you little runt. There are some things you don't ask around here, got it?"

Vince just nods his head, terrified. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened.

"Good. Now look, what we're doing is important and not for the bottoms of the barrel, like you, to know, understand?"

Vince nods again.

"Good," Alexander takes off his hand, dropping Vince down to his knees,"Pick yourself up and go clean yourself off. And if I hear you ask about this anymore, you're going to be the one in that thing." The ace points to the doors window as he says this.

Vince just nods and rushes down the hallway, going into the nearest restroom. Good young Vincent. Blond nobody, wearing a dumb purple and white outfit-quite possibly the most Arceus awful color combination on Earth-standing at a nice five-eleven, and stupid red glasses. Still got the little scar under his eye too. He doesn't know why he thought that would go away, but he wants the thing gone for some reason. Funny thing, he doesn't even know where he got it from. Vince just looks into the mirror for a second before starting to talk to himself, "Ok, Vincent, that was pretty effed up. Note number four of this place: Don't ask questions. Oh, Mew, why did I give up my Contest career for this? I was amazing at those! I was always the only one with perfect fashion in it." The grunt sighs and turns on the water, splashing his face and trying to collect himself. As he does he turns and enter one of the stalls. Hey, since he's there might as well, right? As he sits down, Vince hears the door open again and two other people enter the restroom, in the middle of a conversation.

"-all human life," one of the voices say. Vince can tell just from this that the speaker was their leader, Isaac. Something pushed Vince to listen even closer to this. "Once we get our hands on Palkia's Orb and the rest of Johto's artifacts, we will be making the world a pure sancturary for Pokemon."

Soon, the next person speaks, "Amazing, Leader Isaac!" This other voice was the Lieutenant, Freddrick, "I could hear this plan every single day and it will always be perfect."

'This plan'? Were... were they seriously going over Vision's plan right in front of him? Vince quickly took out his Nav and turned onto the voice recorder function. Thank Mew for apps. He holds the Nav close to the crack in the stall and waits for the two to start talking again.

"Leader Isaac, if I may?"

"Go ahead, Freddrick. I'm actually in a much better mood presently."

"Is Celebi really a necessity? I know this is an idiotic question, but we already have Dialga. Why have a secondary time Pokemon?"

Before Isaac speaks again, the water turns on, making the conversation more difficult to listen to. "Ah, because Freddrick, you stupid, stupid underling. Without Palkia, Dialga's Orb is useless. With Celebi, we will be able to go back to a point where both Orbs were present at the same time. Do you follow me here?"

"Oooh, so when we get Celebi, we will go to the past, collect both Orbs, bring them back here, summon Dialga and Palkia."

"Which in turn summons Giratina and Arceus. Allowing our plan to enter the final stages and cleanse this filthy world, and make our paradise."

"And leave it to the Pokemon to enjoy existence without human interference."

"Correct, Freddrick! Soon you may be on the same level as Claire. Now, come. It's been a while, the Sam child might be in trouble enough to bring up Celebi."

The water turns off and the duo leaders exit the restroom. Holy shit. Vince saves the voice recording and closes the app, putting the Nav back into his pocket. Vince then gets up again and goes to the sink again, talking to himself once more, "Vincent, does this classify as criminal activity?"

"Yes it does, other Vincent. Yes it does."

"Are we going to do something about this?"

"Once again, yes, other Vincent. Yes we are. Now get your lazy ass out of this restroom, stop talking to yourself, and find a way to get this thing shut down!"

"Yes sir!" Vince points to himself and smiles before leaving the restroom, going down the hall, and rushes into the elevator "Vincent, you sly Fennekin, you are as hidden as a Mew in Kanto."

Vince presses the button but before the doors close, a hand reaches in and opens it. The doors open again and Vince cowers a little seeing who it was. It was a very tall woman with a purple and white eye patch covering her left eye. She stood a good foot taller than the grunt and was dressed very formally, still bearing the Vision colors. She steps into the elevator and stands next to him, looking down at Vince. Realizing what was happening, Vince quickly salutes to the second Commander.

The lady looks down and chuckles a little, waving her hand. "At ease, grunt. No need for the salute."

Vince looks up and quickly puts his hands back down to his sides. "Y-yes, apologies Commander Saylen!"

The Commander looks down and watches the elevator light flash, slowly going back to the ground floor. She looks back at the grunt, "If you don't mind my asking, grunt, but why are you trying to be 'As hidden as a Mew in Kanto'?"

Vince panics a little and tries to come up with a lie. "O-oh, I'm, uh... trying to slip out real quick to... go buy Leader Isaac a present! Yes, I believe his birthday is coming up, correct?"

"Oh, you're right! Thank you, grunt, I almost forgot." The door opens and the Commander walks out, not acknowledging Vince anymore.

Vince lets out a deep breath and starts walking out as well, exiting the building and trying to think of what to do, where to do, and, most important, who he could trust now.