Liam spent almost every day of winter break with Cass and her friends. There always seemed to be some old favorite spot to visit, whether that was Feather and Petal Street or Wang's Pizzaria or Jade Lake Park. On the morning of December 26th, they planned a big excursion to Santiago's for lunch. Visiting Bookwood Street the day after Christmas was a risk, but they were still surprised by the dense crowd that they found when they arrived. No one seemed to be moving, and Liam sensed immediately that something was wrong.
"Aw, what the heck?" said Taylor. "C'mon, let's get to the front and see what's going on."
They began to shove and squirm their way through the crowd, which parted only reluctantly. As they approached the front of the group, several of the students gasped.
"Oh my gosh," said Cass.
The street was covered with broken glass and wooden splinters. The front windows of Santiago's had shattered, leaving only stray fragments clinging in their frames. Liam could see police officers—including Mr. Liu, Sylvia and Arthur's father—grimly inspecting the carnage, while their Growlithes methodically sniffed the scene. There were no bloodstains or chalk outlines, but the violence of whatever had happened was undeniable.
"Baba!" called Sylvia, waving to her father, who caught sight of them at once and beckoned them forward through the crowd of onlookers.
"Sylvia," said Mr. Liu with an uncomfortable smile. "You chose a bad time to go out with your friends, eh? Quite a mess here."
"What happened, dad?" asked Arthur seriously.
Commissioner Liu shrugged.
"What does it look like?" he said, gesturing around at the carnage. "We found two fainted Electrodes in the first floor bathroom. Team Power, of course. Who else?"
"Was anyone hurt, Commissioner Liu?" asked Stephanie.
"No," said Mr. Liu distractedly. "No, just a few scrapes and busted eardrums—nothing serious. Of course, the ones who did it are long gone. Who knows where."
He threw up his arms helplessly.
"Well, I have to clean up this mess," said Mr. Liu apologetically. "Be careful, eh? Get lunch somewhere with less explosions."
He winked at them and went back to overseeing the crime scene. For a while, none of them said anything.
"...let's go to the Parfum Cafe," said Arthur at last.
They all nodded in silent agreement.
"I want to know how this happened," said the Grandmaster coldly.
Claire did her best to suppress her triumphant smile. Zhang was sweating under the Grandmaster's piercing gaze, standing across from the dark, ornate desk in stiff attention.
"A rogue operation," said Zhang. "The grunts responsible will be punished."
"It appears that discipline in Nanzo is slipping," said the Grandmaster icily. "This is the second incident that has nearly exposed our entire operation. Clearly something is going wrong in Nanzo."
Claire leaned forward, ready to join her father in dressing-down her rival.
"Wait," said the voice in Claire's mind.
She shot an annoyed look at Rasmus, who was leaning against the wall of the Grandmaster's office. Chewing out Zhang was an indulgence she was loath to forgo. Still, Rasmus was probably right. Jumping in now would only make her look petty. The Grandmaster was leaning back in his chair, touching the tips of his fingers together thoughtfully.
"We can't jeopardize everything when we're this close," he said softly.
His emotionless eyes flicked from Zhang to Claire.
"Admin Claire, can you bring the grunts in Nanzo back under control?"
"Of course," said Claire, springing to her feet. "It will be done, Grandmaster."
The Grandmaster gave the slightest of satisfied nods.
"Rasmus," he said. "Take Admin Claire to Nanzo this evening. She will have direct command from now on."
"Whenever you're ready, Admin," said Rasmus.
Claire could barely contain her smug satisfaction as she walked past Zhang and out of the office with Rasmus. This confirmed it—she was at her father's right hand again. Zhang was out—she was in. The attack on Nanzo would be her crowning achievement. Even working with Rasmus almost felt worth it for this.
"I don't get it," said Cass as the waiter arrived with their drinks. "So Silas says Team Power aren't supposed to be in Everspring at all, but this is the second time something like this has happened this year?"
"Yeah," said Taylor. "It doesn't add up."
"Third, actually," said Liam timidly.
They all looked at him. Liam took a deep breath.
"You all remember that rain at Fall Camp, right? That was Claire. That was actually why I fell into the stream. I was trying to grab her before she got away."
Everyone—except his classmates—stared at Liam in stunned silence.
"Dude, give me my money back." said Taylor to Vasilio.
"Yeah, no way," said Vasilio. "Liam fell into the river because of Claire. That's way closer to what I said than him getting eaten by an Ursaring."
"Are you sayin' Claire doesn't significantly resemble an Ursaring?" said Taylor.
"He's got a point, Vasi," said Rebecca.
"I'm gonna text Silas and let him know," said Arthur, taking out his phone. "Team Power is definitely in Everspring."
"Yeah, but if we don't know where, what good is it?" asked Liz. "They could be basically anywhere, right?"
Cass stroked her chin thoughtfully.
"Could they be, like, coming in and out, but not actually here?"
"No way," said Liz. "Team Truth would catch them at the border."
"Unless they don't have to cross the border," said Liam, struck by a sudden idea.
Taylor cocked his head.
"Man, this keeps getting weirder and weirder."
"No, listen," said Liam urgently. "They've got that guy Rasmus, right? He's supposed to be psychic."
"He is psychic," Liz confirmed. "I met him back in the day."
"Wait," said Sylvia. "People with psychic abilities can do basically everything psychic Pokemon can. So if Rasmus…"
"Dude," said Taylor, his eyes wide. "Raz is teleporting them in and out."
"So they could be in every city," said Arthur.
"We must be ready to fight them," said Ruth seriously.
Everyone nodded.
"Silas can't be everywhere," said Arthur. "It's gonna be on us to stop them if something goes down in Everspring."
"We've done it before," said Liz.
Cass squirmed excitedly in her chair.
"I'm so jealous of you guys," she said. "Still here fighting Team Power. I wish I could help."
"Don't be," said Sylvia, adjusting her round glasses in a businesslike manner. "Okay, if we're gonna do this, we'll need to be organized. We'll need some rules. First rule is that the adults don't know about this. If they find out, they'll try and stop us."
"And you guys didn't believe when I said my sis was underhanded and conspiratorial," Arthur muttered.
"Second rule is we keep watch and we share information," Sylvia continued. "If we see anything suspicious, we share it with the team."
"And what's the team called?" said Vasilio.
Liam reluctantly raised his hand.
"Well, back in the Second Pokemon War, there were volunteers from Unova that fought for Nanzo against the Kantonian Empire," explained Liam, "called the Flying Incineroars. Professor Werner was one of them. If we're protecting Nanzo together, I think it'd be fitting to name ourselves after them."
"I like it," said Liz.
Liam was relieved, even though he had expected that the flavor of his suggestion would tickle Liz's local pride.
"It doesn't really roll off the tongue," said Arthur, clearly still unconvinced.
Liam conceded that much.
"Since we won't be doing any flying," suggested Stephanine. "What about just the Incineroars?"
"The New Incineroars," Taylor, gesturing as if to indicate the name written in huge letters on a billboard.
"Still too long," said Vasilio. "Hey, Liam, what was the Flying Incineroars' real name? The official one?"
Liam thought for a moment.
"The Unovan Volunteer Group."
"Then how about this," said Vasilio. "If they were the UVG, we're the IVG—the International Volunteer Group."
"The IVG, aka the New Incineroars," Taylor pressed.
"That works for me," said Sylvia. "And guys, be careful who you let in on this. The more people know, the more likely the adults are to find out."
"Keep it to the teams," added Arthur. "And anyone else that can actually handle themselves," he added with a glance at Vasilio and Ruth.
"I wish I could help," sad Cass. "Is there really nothing I can do?"
"Pray for us," said Ruth simply.
"Yeah," Arthur concurred. "I think we'll need it."