"So if I am understanding this correctly," Looker said, scratching his chin in thought, "You believe that Pokémon breeders in the region might possess some knowledge about Team Vortex?"

"The old team, at least," Spencer admitted. "Though they do have the same founding members, right?"

"So far, we only have confirmation that Erwin is involved," Looker nodded. "Even he is the only element from the old team, any information about him would be much appreciated. In the meantime, stick with their group through the Gym Challenge. No doubt we'll see more of Team Vortex's activities along the way. Perhaps we'll be able to track Breakthrough to its source."

"Can do!" Spencer said. He turned to leave.

"Just a moment," Looker threw out. "Before you leave, I want to give you one of my Pokémon."

Spencer looked interested. "Really? You trust me that much?"

Looker nodded. "It's one of Allanza's native Pokémon that the local police love using, and I think you'll understand why..."


"Oh, is that a Whimsicott?" Oliver gasped, smiling broadly as the cotton Pokémon, which had been lazily floating by in the wind, suddenly noticed the small group walking the downward-sloping mountain path. The gang had regrouped and had resumed their trek, now en route to Arryline.

Scarlet flipped through her Pokédex, a surprised look on her face. "Do you have any idea how rare it is to see an evolved Whimsicott in the wild? I'd better update the habitat data…"

Oliver adjusted his glasses as Scarlet began to mutter to herself. "Guess I know what my next catch is going to be." He reached down to grab a Pokéball and threw it out. "Karrablast, I choose you!"

The blue bug-type beetle emerged and Whimsicott prepared to defend itself. Oliver smirked. "Karrablast, use Acid Spray!"

If Karrablast heard Oliver's direction, he did a good job acting like he didn't, wandering over to a bush on the side of the path. Oliver blinked, in exasperation. "Come on... work with me here..." Karrablast again did an admirable job pretending Oliver didn't exist, instead opting to go after a wild Nincada. Karrablast leapt at Nincada and subdued it with his pincers before using acid on it.

Moira looked a little disgusted. "What's he doin'?"

"I... think he's eating that Nincada?" Oliver replied.

"BUT WE JUST ATE LIKE THREE MINUTES AGO!" Moira shouted.

Oliver groaned. "Well, time for Plan B, I guess." He turned back to face Whimsicott. "Go, Jolt-" he paused halfway through saying Joltik's name when he realized Whimsicott had beaten it. Either that or the wind carried it away. Either or.

The bespectacled trainer's shoulders sagged. "Great. The rarest wild Pokémon I've run into and it got away."

"The rarest wild Pokémon ye've run into so far," Moira corrected. Oliver blushed and looked away in response.

He pulled out the empty Pokéball and looked back at Karrablast with a labored sigh. Karrablast had just finished devouring the Nincada and was laying down contendedly, before realizing his trainer was looking at him, at which point he began to glare. "Well, someone's satisfied at least." He took the Pokéball and withdrew the irritated Bug-type.

Spencer, who had remained a silent observer through this whole thing, raised an eyebrow. "This sort of thing happen often?"

Oliver nodded. "It's weird, ever since I caught him he's been really disobedient and really aggressive. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"Hmmm..." Spencer crossed his arms. "I think I have an idea what it might be."

"Oh?" Oliver said, interested.

"It seems to me," Spencer explained, "That you're too soft on your Pokémon. I mean, look at what happened just now. You didn't reprimand Karrablast whatsoever. You need to be stricter on them. Lay down the law, you know?"

Oliver shook his head. "I, I can't do that. Joltik and Ralts were both in a really bad place when I first got them, I can't bring myself to be too harsh with them..." he rubbed his arm unconsciously.

"Fair enough. But... will that make your team stronger? I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but, compared to Moira, your performance against Ricky was kinda pathetic."

Scarlet audibly gasped, as did Moira. Oliver flinched a bit, before getting defensive. "H-hey, I won, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. But Moira steamrolled through his team. Can't say the same about you."

"Hey, none of my Pokémon were knocked out the entire fight..."

"And Moira's Pokémon were barely winded. You're hardly in the same league."

Moira glared. "Ye cannae just-"

"That's hardly fair," Scarlet chimed in, cutting off an impending rant. "Moira's team had a pretty sizeable type advantage. Oliver did win, after all, you shouldn't belittle him like that."

"I'm just giving him some constructive criticism!" Spencer defended.

"Constructive criti-" Moira stammered, a baffled look on her face. "Ye just called him pathetic tae his face!"

Spencer recoiled a bit at her tone. "I-I didn't mean..."

They continued to argue, but it faded into the background as Oliver hung his head. Of course Scarlet and Moira wouldn't say anything about my performance. They're friends. Spencer doesn't have any reason to sugarcoat it... Ralts stuck her head out of his backpack and patted his shoulder, feeling the bout of self-pity radiating from her trainer, wishing she could reassure him somehow.

"Hey y'all! Am I interrupting something?" a nearby voice asked. The group all turned to face the source, a girl with short, messy black hair and brown eyes, wearing a bandana around her neck, a beige tank top tucked into black cargo pants.

"Can we help you?" Scarlet asked, glad to have an interruption.

"Yeah, are... are you trainers?"

Moira nodded. "Aye, we are. And ye are...?"

"Pamela Hammond!" she greeted. "Call me Pam. I'm taking the Gym Challenge too! C'mon, follow me, I set up camp just over there."

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Pamela jogged away, presumably to camp. Scarlet and Oliver looked at each other and shrugged, then followed, Cassandra trailing behind her trainer. Moira glanced sidelong at Spencer before catching up to them, leaving the police trainee to sigh, sag his shoulders, and follow at a leisurely pace.


"I'm cooking some stew right now," Pam said cheerfully as she practically skipped back into her camp, Scarlet and Oliver close behind. It had a large green tent set up, with a firepit a short distance away, a large pot of stew dangled above it. "Y'all can help yourself once it's done."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Will there be enough for all of us?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Pam said nonchalantly. "I made way more than me and my team needed, I was planning on having a bunch of leftovers and then you showed up. Funny how that all works out, ain't it?"

She sat down in a lawn chair she had set up outside her tent. "So what about you guys? What are your names?"

The gang all introduced themselves, along with the Pokémon not currently kept in Pokéballs.

"Nice to meet y'all. Now let's battle!" she shouted, jumping out of her chair.

That was whiplash if ever they felt it. The challenge was so sudden that Moira nearly fell over and Oliver actually fell over.

"Oh, don't act so surprised," Pam chuckled. "You're trainers, I'm a trainer, you should've seen this challenge coming a mile away."

"Moira, you can go right on ahead," Oliver said, getting to his feet. "I'm gonna go train my team on my own for a bit. Gotta break in Sableye, after all. I'll battle you later."

Scarlet frowned as Oliver wandered off, Ralts and Joltik in tow, knowing full well what he really meant: After their fight he wasn't in the right headspace for a Pokémon battle and needed to blow off some steam. Though he probably was going to train Sableye, that was true.

"Well, ya ready?" Pam asked, tossing a Pokéball up and down.

Moira took out a Pokéball of her own and wound up. "Ye know it," she responded. The funk from the argument was lifting and her fighting spirit was already returning. "Go, Wooloo!" She threw the ball, bringing out Wooloo once again. She baa-ed in an attempt to be intimidating, but failed on account of how cute she was. She hadn't been able to come out during the Gym battle due to the type disadvantage and was more than ready for a piece of the action.

Pam tossed hers out onto the field. "Go, Piloswine!" The Pokéball let out a flash of light, letting loose Piloswine, the brown, furry mound with a snout and tusks that it was. "Let's start off on the right foot here- use Ice Shard!" Piloswine roared, white mist floating around it and coalescing into pointed shards of ice, which promptly launched themselves at Wooloo.

"Look alive, lass! Use Defense Curl!" Wooloo curled back into a ball, just in time for the ice to lodge itself in her thick wool coat, where it began to melt. "Now counterattack with Headbutt!" Still in ball form, Wooloo rolled towards Piloswine, picking up speed before uncurling just in front of Piloswine and ramming her skull into the Ground/Ice type, striking it head-on. To Moira's amazement, Piloswine did a remarkable job standing its ground and staying put.

"Now's your chance! Use Ancient Power!" Piloswine stomped on the reddish-brown ground, creating a cloud of dust and causing huge clumps of rock to float out of the ground surrounded by glowing purplish energy. After a moment, they hurtled towards Wooloo, homing in on her at top speed.

"Tough it out!" Moira cried as the boulders struck her, knocking her back.

I think I got her strategy, Moira thought. She's trying to keep Wooloo at a distance so she can pelt her with ranged attacks. "Wooloo, get ready to use Double Kick!"


"You eaten your fill, Sableye?" Oliver asked as his newest team member just finished chowing down on some rocks. Judging by Sableye's contented nod (followed by a burp), he could only imagine that the rocks she just ate were much more mineral-rich than the ones from the tunnel where Oliver first caught her.

Oliver had found a decent open area with a few bushes and rocks but overall pretty flat ground

"All right, let's see what you can do. Ralts?" He turned to face Ralts and Joltik, who were both sitting on a boulder, chatting about what Pokémon usually chat about, whatever that is. Ralts turned to face her trainer, who gestured to the space in front of Sableye. "You're up." Ralts playfully saluted him and waddled over to her spot.

"All right, Sableye? I want you to use Night Slash on Ralts, but I don't want you to use your full strength. Don't want you to injure each other too badly in a training exercise." Sableye nodded, and brandished her right claw, which began to be surrounded in a dark aura.

"And then I'll have Ralts use Disarming Voice, which you'll try to dodge. Though Ralts, I want you to dial the power of Disarming Voice back a bit." Ralts nodded as well, as Sableye leapt into action.

Hey wait a minute, Oliver realized. Isn't this exactly what Spencer was talking about?

Sableye swiped at Ralts, but right as it nicked her, the slash slowed down visibly.

If I have them hold back, how is that supposed to prepare them for the real battles?

Ralts let loose Disarming Voice, but compared to the one Hoodlet used the day before, it looked transparent and moved slower.

I guess Spencer had a point... "Actually, guys? Change of plans," he said. "Ralts, come back."

Ralts shrugged and rejoined Joltik. Oliver took another Pokéball off his belt. "Let's try this instead... Karrablast, come on out!"

The irritable blue bug popped out and immediately whirled around to glare at Oliver.

"All right, Sableye? Let's pretend Karrablast is a wild Pokémon for this exercise, because Arceus knows he won't listen to me." Once Sableye lands a hit, Karrablast is gonna fight back in self-defense. I don't see what else can happen. "Sableye, use Slash! And don't hold back this time," he shouted, backing up a safe distance from the bug and closer to Sableye, not wanting to get acid in his face again.

Sableye lurched forward with her claw brandished and swiped at Karrablast, who didn't even realize the attack was coming until the last second and only barely leapt out of the way. In response, Karrablast bit back with Bug Bite, landing a solid hit on Sableye.

"Shake him off and use Shadow Sneak!"

She disappeared into the ground, leaving a solid black shadow on the ground, which quickly lurched behind Karrablast and popped out, hitting the bug dead-on.

Note to self, Oliver thought. Shadow Sneak isn't very sneaky in broad daylight. If Karrablast had faster reflexes or more time to react he could very easily have countered.

Because they were up close, Karrablast let loose Acid Spray. Sableye wasn't too affected, being Ghost-type and all, but still had to wipe the acid out of her crystal eyes. By then she only had a second to react before Karrablast let loose an X-Scissor, striking Sableye off-guard and sending her to the ground.

"All right, Karrablast, that's enough," Oliver said.

Karrablast didn't listen, opting to go in for another Bug Bite. Sableye yelped in pain.

"I said that's enough!" he repeated, louder, but Karrablast wasn't listening. As the bug readied another Acid Spray, the corrosive material building up in his mouth, Oliver decided enough was enough and whipped out the Pokéball, withdrawing Karrablast, who clawed at the ground to stop being pulled in. "Guess who isn't getting stew tonight?" he threw out as Karrablast was finally pulled into the ball.

Immediately Oliver was overcome with a wave of guilt. He knew he had to discipline Karrablast, but proverbially sending him to bed without supper was a bit harsh, wasn't it? He remembered how malnourished Sableye was when he caught her. He remembered how desperate Tryote was to catch a bird when they first met. He had half a mind to bring Karrablast back out and apologize but no way was Karrablast going to sit still for that. I guess he did eat that Nincada earlier, he told himself. Suddenly remembering why he had ended the exercise in the first place, he dashed over to Sableye, who was woozy and disoriented, covered in scratches.

"Oh my gosh, I- I'm so sorry," Oliver said shakily. "Y-You okay? Hold on a sec," he said, bringing out another Pokéball and bringing out Hoodlet. The long-eared Fairy-type looked up at him curiously.

"Sableye's injured," he told her, nodding towards the injured Pokémon. "Can you find some berries for her?"

Hoodlet took one look at Sableye, got the message, and bounded off.

Oliver sighed, patting Sableye to try and comfort her. What is with that Karrablast? Is... is it me? Am I that weak a trainer that I can't keep my own Pokémon from mauling each other?


"Spencer?" Scarlet asked, turning to him as the two sat and observed the battle- which didn't seem to be advancing much on account of Piloswine taking Double Kicks like a champ.

"Shoot," he replied.

"I think we oughta talk about... you know, earlier," she said, her voice getting lower.

Spencer sighed, clearly hoping this would blow over. "...sure. Fine."

"Look, you and I have totally different philosophies regarding Pokémon training, but let's ignore that for now. Did you have to insult Oliver like that?"

Spencer looked defensive. "I didn't mean to insult him, I just didn't want to sugarcoat it is all," he said. "I mean, Moira's fight did go a lot smoother."

"Be that as it may," Scarlet continued, "and disregarding the fact that came down to type advantages, if you wanted to be that blunt, did you have to do it in front of everyone else?"

"Well... I..." Spencer looked away.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Well? Aren't you going to answer my-" she blinked. "It's Moira, isn't it."

Spencer flinched. Bingo. "Were... were you trying to make Oliver look bad in front of Moira?" she accused.

"Wh-where did you get that idea?" Spencer stammered.

"Look, I'm not an idiot," she pressed. "I know you like her. And you saw Oliver as a rival, didn't you?"

Spencer sighed in defeat. He had to admit, she was right on the money. He saw the way Moira interacted with the boy. The two were close, even if Moira didn't realize it. And if Oliver wasn't going to make a move, if he was just gonna stand there, stuttering and blushing like an idiot, then in his humble opinion, he had it coming.

Not that he'd say that out loud of course. He'd just learned his lesson on that front.

"You want my advice?" Scarlet suggested. "If you want to impress her, you can start by not insulting her best friend to his face."

Spencer recoiled a bit and had the decency to look guilty. "I... I should probably apologize to him, huh..."

Scarlet nodded. "That would be wise," she said, her tone much less harsh than before.

Just then, a loud SMASH echoed across the camp.

It had taken at least three tries- that Piloswine was a living brick- but at last, Wooloo's most recent Double Kick struck Piloswine dead-on and the bulky Ice-type succumbed to its pain and exhaustion and fainted. Pam withdrew it, Moira deciding to give her own Pokémon a break and recall her as well. That may not have done much damage to her, but Wooloo's right exhausted trying to take it down! Moira brought out her Nidoran. "All right, lass, is your next Pokémon just ginnae stand there and take hits like Piloswine did?" she taunted, not letting on how tough it actually was to take it down.

Pam grinned. "You wish," she taunted. "Go, Cranidos!" She tossed out her second Pokéball and out popped Cranidos, the blue and gray, dinosaur-like Rock-type.

Scarlet's eyes widened. She opened up her Pokédex and flipped through it. Spencer raised an eyebrow. "You realized it too," he said.

She nodded. "That's a fossil Pokémon," she confirmed as Cranidos headbutted Nidoran, who responded by attempting to poison it with his horn.

"And someone out there is after fossils. They're not gonna pass up the chance to get one that's already been revived."

"Isn't it going to be dangerous to have that out in the open? Shouldn't we stop the battle?"

"Actually, I think we can use this to our advantage." He reached down to his belt and pulled out a Pokéball. Seeing Scarlet's curious reaction, he explained. "I got this Pokémon from Looker. They use it a lot for undercover police work, and I think we can set a trap for Team Vortex."

"Using Pamela as bait?!" Scarlet asked incredulously, her shock underscored by the ground shaking as Cranidos smashed into the ground, just barely missing Nidoran.

"Trust me on this," he said, confidently. "If this works, we can capture some of their members and get closer to dismantling their operation."

"And if it doesn't work, Pamela loses a rare Pokémon and possibly gets hurt."

"I wouldn't worry about that," he replied nonchalantly. "Moira and Oliver held their own against one of their Admins, didn't they?"

Scarlet sighed. "Can we at least tell Pamela about your plan?"

"Don't see why not," Spencer agreed as Cranidos once again smashed into Nidoran head-on, knocking him out cold.


"A sting operation, eh?" Pam asked. "Sure, I'll help!"

The sun had long since set and the gang had set up their tents next to Pam's. The Pokémon on her team ate their respective servings of stew quietly. Of course there was the tired Cranidos and the recovering Piloswine, but she also had a Wimpod as well as two more fossil Pokémon- an Aerodactyl and a Cradily. There was no way Team Vortex was going to ignore this treasure trove of fossil Pokémon.

"Thank you for cooperating," Spencer said. He had already revealed that he was working with the police, so it's not like she could really refuse, but she seemed like she'd be willing to go along with it regardless. The rest of the gang ate in peace, with everyone's teams each having their share of stew (except Karrablast, obviously). Before broaching the subject of the plan, he tried to make conversation with Moira, who merely glared at him in response.

"How's the trap gonna work anyway?" Oliver asked, gulping down a mouthful of stew.

Spencer smiled. "Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of my team." He gestured down towards the ground. Next to his Croagunk, eating a big piece of potato was... a coin? On closer inspection, the regular, average-looking coin had eight tiny little spider legs coming out from underneath it.


ARACHOIN

Loose Change Pokémon

Bug/Steel

When it finds a coin, it carries it on its back and uses it as a shield. No one truly knows what their real body looks like. Attempts to take away its coin usually result in injury. Its small size and coin disguise make it popular with the police.


"These guys are the Allanzan Police's secret weapon," he said. "These guys can disguise themselves as the coin itself and hide that way, but they can also tell the difference between real money and counterfeit coins. They're super useful."

"So if I'm getting this right," Scarlet said, "Arachoin is going to hide in plain sight?"

Spencer nodded. "Once the Team Vortex guys show up, it'll return to my tent and wake me up. Then I'll call for backup and wake you guys up."

"You really think it'll work?" Pamela asked.

"Of course it will!" And not only will we be one step closer to taking down Team Vortex, but I can also show Looker his faith in me isn't misplaced. Maybe I can even get Moira to stop being mad at me.

"So, uh, Oliver," Moira asked, turning to face Oliver. "How'd the training go?"

Oliver sighed. "Pretty poorly. Karrablast went off the handle again, and Sableye got hurt pretty badly."

Moira looked at the Pokémon in question sympathetically. The scratches had mostly healed, thankfully, but you could still see them.

"I don't know what his deal is, but I'm no closer to getting him to listen to me."

"I'm sorry tae hear that," Moira said sadly.

"I tried taking Spencer's advice... I'm going to try working my team harder, be stricter with them. Though so far the jury's still out on whether that's actually working."

Moira flashed a sidelong glance at Spencer before facing Oliver again, having had a realization. "Is that why ye didn't bring Karrablast out for dinner?"

Oliver nodded. "I mean, he ate that Nincada on the way here, so he'll be fine."

A few moments passed with hardly a word, the crackling of the fire loud as bullets in the silence. Finally Spencer stood up. "Hey, uh, Oliver, can I talk to you for a second?"

Oliver looked up at him and nodded. "Sure, in private?"

"Yeah." The two got up and walked away from the camp, the girls eyeing them curiously.

Scarlet turned to face Moira, who was glaring at Spencer. "Moira, I don't think you need to worry." Moira looked somewhat skeptical but decided to just return to her meal.

Once the two were a reasonable distance away, Spencer looked Oliver in the eye. "I'm sorry for humiliating you earlier," he said.

"O-oh, no, you don't need to apologize," he stammered in response, waving his arms. "You're totally right about me being too-"

"I don't mean that," Spencer clarified. "I mean bringing it up in front of everyone else and putting you down like that."

Oliver nodded in comprehension. "Oh yeah, that... Look, it's no big deal, really. I've heard far worse, trust me. All's forgiven"

Spencer smiled a little. "That was easier than I thought it'd be. You're a nice guy, you know that?"

"I know, though I have been told it's hindering my career as a trainer."

Spencer chuckled. There wasn't any self-doubt in that sentence. Oliver was just cracking a joke. He held out his hand. "So we're good?"

Oliver took his hand and shook it. "Yeah. Yeah, we're good."

"Glad to hear it. Now then," Spencer continued, smirking, "Let's get ready to show Team Vortex what for."


I am so, SO sorry about the delay! I had a bunch of unforeseen things I had to do, some of which involved the virus, THEN I got distracted by the new Animal Crossing game, and THEN my saved document got deleted by accident.

Anyway, I was sincerely not expecting this one to be a two-parter but it be that way sometimes. Also, I think I finally know what to do with Spencer. Hopefully. He's still my least favorite character and I still wish I never came up with him in the first place, but it's too late to back out now.

Arachoin, and its eventual evolutions, are based on the recurring Mimic enemy you see in a lot of RPGs.