A/N:

Hey guys. Here's the fifth installment of the story, and by far the most eventful. Hope you all enjoy reading, and if you do, please consider giving some feedback on the story.

I don't own pokémon, etc etc.

Thanks to LunarKnightArchangel for proofreading before publication!

"…" - Spoken dialogue

Italics - Character thoughts

'Italics' - Telepathic dialogue

. . . . . - Time skip

/\/\/\ - Lemon Scene

Chapter 5

— — — — —

Tristan

— — — — —

"But what could it all mean?" the luxray asked. "We got Weavile being imprisoned in one vision, and Eleanor and Lapras talking about some sort of smuggling operation in another. Not seeing how these two things are connected."

"There's far more going on than we are aware of," Eleanor stated. "Lapras, do you know of any locations that match the one described by Liam's second vision?"

"I'm not quite sure… there could be several," the large water-type replied. "But my best guess would be Brine Cave. It's the only one around here that has openings along it, and would provide for the best route towards the water continent. That's where I met Liam and Selina first."

"One thing I don't understand is how our knowledge of these events would affect whether or not they would happen," Rachel said.

"That's… a really good point," Liam concluded. "There's no way these events would happen the same way. Not since we know about them. But… the Dimensional Scream has never been wrong."

"Agreed. Our knowledge of the events would inevitably change how they play out," Eleanor said. "But I think that there may be a way to shut all of this down before it even has the chance to occur."

"Really?" Tristan asked. "How?"

"I mean think about it - we now know a fair bit of information of a situation that has yet to develop. If we can find the cause of all this trouble and put an end to it, then there's no way these events could occur." That's a really good point! the luxray thought.

"So how would we do this?" he asked. "I mean, by the looks of things, the only way we could accomplish that is by killing those outlaws that we fought with. That damn blaziken and nidoking."

"While that may be true… I don't think that's an option," Liam replied. "They're gonna be behind bars for a long time to say the least. Think that blaziken was also convicted of murder. And what would we do? Break into a prison and commit crimes of our own? Doesn't seem very fitting for a team that focuses on bringing outlaws to justice." Dammit… he's right…

"Then what could we do?" Tristan asked.

"I believe we aren't thinking strategically," Eleanor said. "Tell me, have any of you realized anything that these two visions have in common?" They all reflected on what they had learned for a moment. What do they have in common? After all, one vision involved what seemed to be a warped execution, whereas the other was some kind of smuggling operation. Liam was steadily looking down, then quickly looked up, and it was clear that he'd figured something out.

"These visions - both have something to do with the person in power!" What? The cresselia nodded.

"I'm… not sure I follow," Flora said.

"Think about it for a second - in the first one, that blaziken and nidoking were taking orders. They were carrying out a sentence. And the second time, Lapras and Eleanor were talking about patrols and the like. Both of those would be directly tied to whoever's in charge."

"But… wouldn't that make us lawbreakers?" Lapras said. "I don't think I'd be going out on a limb by saying that nobody here has the intentions of committing a crime, much less one that warrants being hunted down by a bunch of patrols…"

"I trust that none of us would wrongfully do something to get in trouble," Eleanor said, "but look at it like this - would you count on someone that's willing to punish a pickpocket with death as morally justified? Weavile has been behaving herself for the most part… I can't imagine what kind of person would subject her to the torment that she went through in that vision."

"You're implying that she'll continue to behave herself," Rachel said.

"I believe that she will, yes. But even if she resorts back to thievery, I think that allowing one's prison guards to rape her would hardly be qualities of a just, moral person." True that. "And I know that Lapras and I - and whoever the others in reference were - would be in the right for wanting to transport those people. I don't know who we were hiding or transporting… but I refuse to believe for one second that we were in the wrong for what we did."

"No," Tristan agreed, "we couldn't have been. In that vision, you mentioned something about keeping others safe. That's what we're about; anyone that tries to brand us as outlaws must be someone we need to keep out of power." The others nodded in agreement.

"But that leads us to something else. What position are we talking about?" Liam's statement introduced a whole new set of questions. It can't be a position over Treasure Town… could it? The only "leader" of Treasure Town was Elder Torkoal, who offered advice to everyone in the town. Him and Wigglytuff, technically, who directly took advice from Torkoal. The Guild contributed so much to the town that it alone could be seen as a governing body.

"I don't know," Flora said. "It couldn't be anyone around here… or over at Shaymin Village. They only select shaymins, and the people back home would never even consider doing the stuff that we're talking about. And even if they wanted to, it's not like they'd have the power to…" The shaymin clearly dismissed any possibility that her home town could be responsible for the future misery, and with good cause - her points were valid.

"What about any other towns or cities?" Liam asked. "Does anyone else have the ability to send patrols out over the continent?"

"Several cities near here could pose a threat if they decided to become militaristic… but as things stand, I doubt any single area would have enough force to send patrols out over the continent," Eleanor answered.

"But who said anything about the entire continent?" Rachel said. "The vision only implied that pokémon were guarding this area." Rachel looked over at Liam. "Could I borrow one of those?" she asked, pointing to the iron spikes adorning his sash. After he'd tossed her one, she began to draw in the dirt. Arceus, she's pretty fucking smart… The female lucario had drawn out a pretty spot-on map of this half of the continent, much to everyone's amazement.

"Ignoring Treasure Town, the nearest major place of residence would be Capim Town. From my understanding, their population is roughly the same as ours. Being that they're more than a few leagues away and that they don't have nearly the same economic resources as Treasure Town, I wouldn't consider them to be a threat. Meanwhile, Desert Village is further away, and the people over there are… well… inhospitable to say the least, but they're quite a ways away and like to keep to themselves anyways, so I think that kinda takes them off the table. Zero Isle lacks any organized civilization, and despite all that went down on that island years ago, the people at Obsidian City are very decent folks. That and sea travel doesn't really suit a bunch of fire types very well… If this vision is to come true, I would expect it to come from either one of the nearby small settlements, a collusion of such settlements… or locally." Everyone looked at her in complete shock - where had that come from?

"What… what was that?" Tristan asked.

"What?"

"You had all that shit memorized?"

"Well yeah… I've been around a good bit," she replied, as though it was no big deal. Both he and Liam had never even heard of Desert Village, and they'd been fairly close to where she'd marked it previously.

"O-okay then…" Liam said. "Not gonna lie, that was pretty impressive… Anyways, I think we should keep an eye out on the nearest ten or so. We need to learn how they run things, who's in charge, what they're like - all of it."

"We will take care of that," Eleanor said, referring to her and Flora. "We can travel much faster than the rest of you."

"Point taken. On a side note, I think it would be best to have these meetings weekly - especially if I keep getting premonitions at this rate."

"I think that would be wise," Eleanor said. "For now, I implore everyone here to be prepared for anything."

— — — — —

Selina

— — — — —

The sound of the trapdoor opening barely registered to the umbreon's senses. Currently she was curled up in her bed, under the covers and deep in thought. "Selina?" Liam called out. He could likely sense her presence, but he should've been able to clearly see it as well. Especially with it being a full moon and all, the rings on her body would be sure to radiate.

"I-I'm here," she said quietly.

"Are you not feeling well?" he asked in concern.

"No… I'm fine - just tired." She could hear him coming closer, up to the side of her bed. Her breath halted as she waited to see what he would do. Gently, Liam removed the blanket, being crouched down to her level. Selina wordlessly stared at her partner, far too timid to break the silence.

"Please tell me what's wrong - and I'd like the truth. Have I upset you?"

"N-no," she said, shaking her head, "not at all Liam. You've only ever been sweet to me." She immediately realized that her word choice had not been the best - that much was apparent by Liam's facial expression.

"…Okay… but what's wrong?"

"I've just… been really deep in thought," she said honestly.

"Oh… about?" There was no way she could truthfully answer that question and not make it awkward. The stuff that Marvin had said had been on her mind these past few hours, and despite the harmlessness of it all, that still didn't change the implications - implications that flustered her beyond belief. No… Liam can never know about that…

"If it's alright with you… I'd like to keep that to myself…" Rather than press the issue, he smiled and nodded, then got back on his feet. She slowly closed her eyes - maybe a little sleep would clear her mind somewhat.

"Of course." He softly caressed her side, causing her to sigh in content. She always relished his kind and gentle mannerisms - so much so that she was disappointed when he stopped and headed over to his own bed. She watched as the lucario hopped on top and sat up.

"So how did the rest of the meeting go?" she asked.

"We covered a lot. We reasoned that due to the information revealed in the visions, the nature of the problem at hand would stem from a position of leadership."

"That… makes sense," she stated.

"Right. And Rachel filled us in surrounding settlements and which ones could potentially be a threat. We need to keep up with the political landscape of all the nearby villages and the like."

"That sounds… kinda hard," Selina murmured.

"Yeah, especially since each settlement tends to have a different method of establishing a leader. Eleanor and Flora have agreed to split up and learn about each of the nearest dozen or so villages over the next couple of days."

"Then there isn't much we can do for now, is there?" Selina asked.

"Not at the moment. All we can do is wait until they come back."

"Yeah…" She shivered at the very thought of the two visions. What kind of a society was that? Team Retribution would surely do everything in their power to eliminate any possibility of a future like that from occurring. She just hoped that wherever Team AWD was, that they were staying out of trouble.

"Hey Selina?"

"Mhm?" The umbreon shifted her gaze over to her partner, seeing him looking towards the full moon.

"I was thinking about something during the meeting…"

"Oh? What about?" she asked.

"About our team… about what we do…"

"I-I'm not sure I follow…"

"I mean… when we started the team… you wanted to explore the world. But I picked the name, and I… I geared everything towards what I wanted to do. We were supposed to be in this together, and yet… I've failed you in that regard. I've turned this team into… into a team of bounty hunters…" She kicked the covers off and headed over to his bed. He was trying to conceal his emotions from her - a typical move on the part of the lucario. At the side of his bed, she contemplated what she should do. Her friend needed her; that much was for certain. "Selina… I'm so sorry…" A slight sniff, and she knew what she needed to do.

The umbreon, much to his surprise, hopped up onto the bed with him. Liam was intentionally looking away from her, and she had a suspicion as to why. "Hey," she said sweetly, "look here…" He slowly turned to face her, and she could see the tears that had started to make their way down his face. No… "Liam… please don't cry…"

"Selina… I've ruined your dream… your vision…" She placed a paw to his mouth to gently silence him.

"You have done nothing of the sort, alright? We have been all over this continent, and we've made countless discoveries. We may focus more towards stopping outlaws… but you know what? I'm fine with that. Once that whole thing with Darkrai was settled… I kinda started to rethink what it was that I wanted to do…" He gave her a questioning look, to which she gave him a sincere, heartfelt smile. "I've loved every second of our explorations - that much is true. But nothing has brought me more satisfaction than making the world a safer place by taking down those who would seek to harm others. That is what I enjoy doing now, and I couldn't imagine doing it with a better person than you." She used his shoulders to pull herself upward, and, ignoring all boundaries, gave a tender nuzzle to his dampened cheek.

"S…Selina…"

"Hush now. You are my partner and greatest friend, Liam, and I hate to see you beat yourself up like this. Our team has gone on more explorations than I could have dreamed. But even greater than that, we've made this world a more peaceful place. If that isn't something to feel proud of, I don't know what is. So I don't want to hear any more of this nonsense about you 'ruining' my dream, okay?"

"O-okay."

"Good. Now go ahead and get some sleep."

That night, after the lucario had surrendered to sleep's embrace, Selina found her mind occupied with various topics - the visions, their new teammate, what sort of job they might take tomorrow… But none of those things even came close to her most prominent thought: the exchange she had with Marvin. What… what on earth would lead that child to say such a thing? Her question would only go unanswered. She wasn't upset with the little manaphy for his statement, but that didn't mean she was okay with it either. Just go and 'get him a brother' he says… As if it were even remotely that simple. And the thought of her and Liam…

Ah… I shouldn't be thinking about that… But it was impossible to push those kinds of thoughts out of her mind. Marvin… I swear… As much as she cared for Liam, it was wrong to be thinking thoughts of such activities. And yet as much as she tried, Selina couldn't seem to shake the thoughts. Selina, get a grip on yourself, she thought. He was a human for the love of Arceus… But then again… he wasn't a human anymore, now was he? And what difference would it have made anyways? Whatever - he's my friend. I… I can't be thinking like that about him…

She turned for what must have been the hundredth time that night in an effort to get comfortable. I… should try to get some sleep too… And eventually, she joined her partner in the realm of unconsciousness - but not before completely forcing her mind to stop for the night. Yet even in her sleep, the umbreon wasn't able to put the matter to rest.

Selina was basking on the beach's warm sands, lying down on her belly. The weather was perfect for outdoor activities - something that the rest of the team had been sure to take advantage of. The others were scattered about; some underneath the shade of the palm trees, while others were chilling in the shallows, letting the waves softly impact them. Liam was showing Rachel how to throw iron thorns precisely. Several were stuck within a small target that had been crudely drawn, and Liam was showing her the proper arm motions before releasing.

"Not quite - you gotta remember to keep your arm straight."

"Alright…" She took one into her forepaw and aimed carefully at the target, before letting the weapon fly. It embedded itself deeply inside the tree - right within the middle ring.

"Much better!" he congratulated. "Look at that! Tone your aim a tad bit, and you've got yourself a bullseye!"

"Thank you so much," she said with a warm smile.

"No problem. With a little practice, you'll have it down in no time." As he gave her a few more tips about the subject at hand, Marvin approached the lucarios.

"Hey bud," Liam said.

"Hey dad! That looks like fun," he said. "Would it be okay if I tried?" Liam looked over towards Selina, then back to the manaphy.

"I'd uhh… prefer that you give it a year or two more before you start trying to throw these things…" Marvin was disappointed to hear this, to say the least.

"Why? I could totally do it!"

"I don't doubt that one bit," Liam said gently, "but the fact of the matter is that it's a little dangerous. They don't always stick… sometimes they bounce back. I can't even bear the thought of you getting hurt… so it's a no for now."

"Oh alright," he mumbled. "Don't get to do anything fun around here…"

"It's… not about that son. Not everything we do is fun. When the time comes, your mom and I will allow you to engage in the activities we do. But that'll be when we feel that it's safe enough; you will have to be patient. You know that we want what's best for you."

"I know," he admitted with a sigh.

"I'd better go," Rachel said. "Need to head out towards Amp Plains before long, and I still gotta pack."

"Okay then. You take care," Liam replied.

"Sure thing. And thanks so much for the advice!"

"Anytime." The female lucario took her leave, whereas Liam walked over to the tree and began to pull out the embedded spikes.

"Wow," Marvin said, "those went in really deep…"

"Yeah. Gotta throw 'em hard if you want it to be a threat." After he yanked the last one out, the two of them headed over to where Selina was.

"Did you have fun?" she teasingly asked. He always resorted to a sense of childishness when lobbing around those spikes.

"You know it. What about you? You look like you're enjoying yourself." He was right about that - she was far too comfortable to even consider moving.

"Mhm. You two feel free to join me down here." Liam wasted no time and jumped down beside her, his back having impacted the sands harshly and sending small particles flying in each direction - including towards her face. "Ugh! Liam!"

"Heh, sorry." He reached over and softly brushed her cheek, removing all traces of his action. Selina couldn't really be frustrated with him, even if she wanted to - not when he was so gentle and so caring.

"You're a handful," she muttered.

"Yep. But I'm your handful."

"That you are," she said with a smile. He slid his arm under her chin, putting them in the same position they were on the beach. She nuzzled his neck, then his cheek, and finally…

She awoke with a start. Her heart was pounding, and she was holding the covers in a death grip. Arceus… oh Arceus… Selina stared up at the ceiling of their home, unsure what to make out of all of this. Tears were beginning to well up in the umbreon's eyes as she quietly stepped out of bed. Liam was still sound asleep, thankfully, and by the looks of things outside, it wouldn't be too long before the sun began to rise. Selina walked up the steps and silently opened the trapdoor, then stepped out into the still-dark atmosphere.

— — — — —

Eleanor

— — — — —

Let's see… that looks about right… The cresselia, after the previous night's conversation, had not found it within herself to settle down and get some sleep. Instead, she had gone to the guild at a late hour, much to Chatot's annoyance, and had asked for a copy of a complete map of the continent. Despite his irritation, though, he still had sought to appease the legendary, for the matter at hand was quite a serious one. This modern map had nearly every single major town and city that had been constructed across the land, each labeled and with their respective populations underneath.

Eleanor had spent the majority of the night taking notes on each and every one, incorporating everything she had learned about them all and jotting down their respective spheres of influence. And it had been just as Rachel had stated; whereas a few select areas possessed advantages that could help them dominate this part of the continent, all of them lacked some factor or another that would make such a conquest within the realm of probability. It must be a fairly local conflict, she had concluded after hours of work. And that was by far the most terrifying conclusion of all.

She wearily rolled the map back up and placed it in the middle of the table. That was enough for now. Her and Flora would likely depart near midday, so there was no problem with her sleeping in a little. Using her psychic powers, Eleanor had the curtains close over each of the windows. She descended onto her bed, where the soft pillow called her name…

A knock sounded at the door. Her eyes slowly opened. Who… who could that be at this time?

In her exhaustion, she looked anything but presentable. Yet she couldn't leave whoever it was unanswered. Slowly she levitated to the front door and opened it. "S…Selina? Why are you up so early?"

"I'm so sorry," Selina said, "I just… I need to talk with you now…"

"A-alright." They went inside, where Selina spilled everything - Marvin's words, her thoughts, and most importantly, the dream she had just had. Despite her exhaustion, Eleanor intently listened to every word, not interrupting once as the distraught umbreon explained her predicament. As Selina struggled to keep it all in - tried as hard as she could to keep from breaking down - the cresselia remained silent. You poor thing… beating yourself up over factors that are out of your control…

"I-I don't know what to do," she sobbed. "Liam… is my friend. And all night… I haven't been able to get thoughts of… of that nature out of my head…" Eleanor figured that she had heard enough and embraced the troubled umbreon.

"Shh… it's okay…"

"N-no… it isn't - I shouldn't be—."

"Selina," Eleanor interjected, "you cannot control what others say, nor what you dream. All you can control are your own thoughts and actions. And from the looks of it, you have struggled very hard to do just that."

"But…"

"Not to mention the fact that it has been a one-time occurrence. It may never happen again, and if that's the case, it would only be a matter of time until this whole thing fades away. Do not trouble yourself over it - just give it some time."

"O…okay…" The umbreon leaned into her, and Eleanor placed her hands on Selina's sides, giving her friend a supportive hug.

"I wouldn't worry about this if I were you," Eleanor said. The matter really wasn't as big of an issue as Selina was making it out to be, but the cresselia decided to keep that to herself. And even the 'worst case scenario' might be pretty enjoyable for the dark-type. Ha… I better really keep that one to myself…

"Thank you," Selina said. "Thanks for listening to me."

"Anytime." The sun was beginning to rise, and Selina started to head for the door.

"I… I should go now. Liam should be awake by now. We always eat together…" Shouldn't that tell you something?

"Understood. I'm going to catch some sleep now," Eleanor replied.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I uhh… didn't sleep last night. I was busy taking notes and working out some calculations in respect to all the major settlements across the continent."

"Oh my… Eleanor… you should have said something. Liam and I would have helped you…"

"It wasn't too big of a deal. Essentially I just came to the conclusion that Rachel was almost completely correct in what she said at the meeting."

"Well… if we could, let's all look it over together. Right now I'm gonna let you get some sleep."

"Alright. You take care Sel—." A knock sounded at the door. Oh for the love of Arceus, who could that be? She opened it telekinetically, only to find a magnemite police officer there. W-what?

"Sorry for the unwarned visit," he said in his staticky voice. "However, given the circumstances, a mandatory town meeting has being scheduled. All citizens are to report to the Town Square immediately."

"What? What's going on?" Selina asked.

"I do not know. All will be revealed at the meeting." With that, he left, joining several other officers in spreading the news to the other nearby houses. You have got to be kidding me, Eleanor thought. It was as if everyone was making a collective effort to ensure that she wouldn't rest. Nevertheless, only a really important matter would warrant such a visit from the police. The two of them slowly joined the crowd of people heading towards the center of Treasure Town.

"What could be the matter?" Selina asked Eleanor. "Only time they've done anything like this… was back when Dusknoir was here…"

"I'm not sure," Cresselia sleepily said.

"Concerning to say the least," Tristan said from beside them. Selina looked to her left, seeing the luxray had found his way to them.

"Oh, hey Tristan," Selina said.

"Hey. Looks like something's gotten them stirred up. Thinking they're about to give some sort of a public announcement."

"That would make sense," Eleanor stated. "You think they knew to go over to Sharpedo Bluff? You and Liam kinda live out in the middle of nowhere…" Selina shook her head.

"Liam is surely awake by now. He gets up earlier than I do. My guess is that he'll be waiting for us over in town." They passed the Guild, from which people were streaming out of. Something serious is going on here…

As the umbreon had suspected, Liam was waiting towards the front of the crowd. "See? Told you two." Selina slowly made her way through the crowd until she was by Liam's side. Before long, the rest of the team had arrived, and they all stood right in front of the public speaking area. Within another fifteen minutes, everyone in Treasure Town had found their way there, forming a large, bustling crowd of nearly ten thousand. Wigglytuff stepped up on the central podium, with Chatot by his side. Both were visibly upset by something. The crowd fell silent. Oh no…

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," he said loudly enough for all to hear him. The usual emotion in his high-pitched voice was absent. "I apologize for the sudden nature of this meeting, but something has come up, and we felt that everyone here had the right to know about it as soon as possible…" Chatot walked forth and took over.

"For as long as Treasure Town has been around, it has followed the advice of Elder Torkoal. His wisdom has been an invaluable factor in the creation of public policy, and I can assure you that this town would not be half of what it is now without him."

"Now that you mention it, where is Torkoal?" a wartortle asked.

"Don't be a dumbass - you know it takes him awhile to get anywhere," someone else said, albeit much quieter.

"Elder Torkoal…" Chatot was having considerable difficulty in giving voice to his statement. "He…" Wigglytuff stepped in for his friend.

"Our friend… our advisor… he passed away in his sleep…" What?! No… oh Arceus no… Everyone fell silent as the members of Team Retribution looked at each other in terror.

"He went peacefully," Chatot said, "surely he didn't know when it happened… But this is problematic for a number of reasons other than the passing of a very close person to all of us…" Liam put his hand to his head, trying his best to keep his worry under control. As though they weren't struggling with the very same thing.

"Chatot and I influence much of the funding for the town," Wigglytuff said. "But frankly… I don't know what I'm doing. I've always taken the advice of Torkoal before spending anything. That's always worked because he was very wise… but now…"

"What's gonna happen to the town?" asked a concerned voice - a female kirlia.

"…I'm not sure," he answered defeatedly.

"Until there is a replacement for Torkoal, we cannot in good mind spend the Guild's funding. All forms of expansion and renovation will have to cease for the time being…" This sparked a slight outrage within the community, and it became difficult to hear anything over all of the commotion.

"What do you mean?!" asked a plusle. "My wife and I don't have a home yet! We even put down the first payment!"

"The stream through our house has been blocked!" said another. "What do we do?!"

"What about the—."

"Quiet!" Chatot yelled over the crowd. Everyone fell silent. "Obviously we understand the importance of Torkoal's position - that's why we are seeking to find a suitable replacement as quickly as possible."

"And how long will that take?" someone asked.

"I don't know - we need to appoint the right person! We can't just pick anyone!" Chatot said.

"And how are you going to do that?" another voice yelled.

"I don't know!" he snapped. "We've never had to do this before! Now you all shut up for one damn minute so we can talk!" For the rest of the public announcement, no one dared to utter a word out of place. Wigglytuff took over once more.

"Chatot and I were thinking… that perhaps it may be best to leave this matter to the people. Although a situation like this has never occurred, we figured that the citizens of Treasure Town know what they want; that you all are capable of selecting a leader that can represent your interests better than we can. With that being said, we think that it would be best for everyone here to select the new leader of Treasure Town through an electoral process." An… election?

"But… I don't understand…" Kangaskhan said. "How would it work?" Even the concept of a democracy seemed alien to the inhabitants of Treasure Town. Liam decided to answer her question.

"Basically what Chatot means is that some people that feel like they're right for the job would compete for it. But instead of fighting, they hold debates and talk about policies. When the time comes, everyone casts a vote, and the person that gets the most votes wins the position."

"That's so… strange," she replied.

"Several places around the continent actually do it," Liam stated. "I know Obsidian City holds elections like that. And it definitely works well for them."

"Exactly," Chatot said, "which is why we feel that such a system would be ideal, given our lack of proficiency in the field of public policy. This way the people can choose what they want and who they want." Several nods throughout the crowd as people began to take to the idea of democracy. But despite the comfort among the citizens, all of the members of Retribution were trying their best to hide their panic. It's happening… Liam took the others by surprise when he walked up to the podium.

"What are you doing?" Chatot asked him. The lucario just turned towards the audience.

"I'd like to see a show of hands - who here is now in a difficult situation due to halt in public spending? And I mean really going without." Everyone looked around; a couple of dozen hands went up here and there - fairly good odds, considering the amount of people present. What are you up to Liam? "Alright, anyone that had their hand up come visit Team Retribution after the announcement. We're willing to help you out if you need it." A round of applause sounded as he stepped down and rejoined his teammates. Eleanor noticed the relieved looks on the faces of those who had their hands raised.

"What convinced you to do that?" Flora asked. Liam looked around, then motioned for them to follow him. He led the group off towards Duskull Bank - out of hearing range.

"Other than the fact that it was the right thing to do… we're making sure the right person wins this election…"