Bronze flew through the gates of Aredia City, ready to finally get a mid-day nap at the hotel. The events in the tomb had left him tired and emotionally overwhelmed.

Entering the hotel room, Bronze noted Tess's absence, and a note on a bed from her. Bronze picked it up and read it.

Bronze, by the time you get back, I will be challenging the Gym Leader. I know that I have never had any interest in doing those things myself, but ever since Team Eclipse took Jake, I have been thinking about getting stronger. If we are ever going to see the defeat of Team Eclipse and rescue Jake, we will need to get stronger, and have powerful allies. Victory is still possible. I heard that Team Eclipse tried to capture Yveltal, but they were stopped by the Pokedex Holders. And if the being in the tomb is still safe, then you have succeeded as well. If you get back and I'm not here, go to the Aredian Gym.

-Tess

Bronze was surprised. He had not known that Tess now thought that experience in Pokémon battling was the way to defeat Team Eclipse. Deciding that he wanted to see Tess, Bronze gathered his energy and headed out to the Gym.

After arriving at the castle-themed gym, Bronze saw a substantial backup of people. These were likely people who had arrived not knowing that Ryan was gone, and that it was a off day for the gym. Bronze hoped that Ryan would arrive soon to address the problem.

Bronze noticed a commotion near the door to the Gym arena entrance. Tess was there, watching a old woman and a teen boy who looked like a former Team Skull member argue loudly. The old lady had a staff with several rings tied to the end, and white robes.

"I can't believe how rude you are to your elders, young whippersnapper! You have no right to make such a demand!"

"Listen, I know you are the only one who can teach the ultimate moves! Just give me the HM ring, okay? Its not that big of a deal!"

"I couldn't teach you even if I wanted to! Your Pokémon are not strong enough to learn the ultimate moves. You cannot even get the ring from me without passing the curse to yourself. Do you really want to be within eight feet of me your whole life?"

"Come on Ultima, just give it to me! My Pokémon will learn it eventually!"

This situation was definitely getting heated. The guy was definitely going to try to steal Ultima's rings by force if nothing changed. Bronze was about to try to intervene, when he realized that he didn't need to. Ultima shot out a Meganium, which threw the guy on his back and knocked his Poke Balls aside. Virtually everyone in the Gym entrance was watching now.

Ultima gave one last remark. "Why do you young fools always harass old ladies when they are touring far from home? I am not teaching anyone the ultimate moves! You are not worthy! Good bye!" Ultima and her Meganium turned and strode out of the Gym, giving a nod at Bronze on the way out.

Some people glared at the punk, while other continued waiting. Tess saw Bronze and ran over to him. "Bronze! Your back! By the way, did anything happen in the tomb that I should know about?" Bronze started to reply, but then he noticed the punk sneaking into the Gym arena. Bronze motioned to Tess to follow him as he chased after the punk.

Going into the dark, unlighted arena, Bronze could make out the guy scrambling through the bleachers to reach an emergency exit. Tess sent out Garchomp, cornering the punk at the door. The guy ran over the rocky arena tot he other, but Electivire stopped him a well. Surrounded, the punk stopped trying to escape.

Bronze demanded answers. "Who are you? Are you part of Team Eclipse? Trying to steal ancient HM's seems like something they would do!" The punk smiled. "Ha! I won't tell you anything. I don't think you would attack a unarmed trainer, and none of us can even be here without permission! Your defense would never hold up in court!"

"Unless the owner of the establishment gives them permission to be here, that is." Bronze and Tess turned to see Ryan coming through the back exit. "I saw the whole thing through the camera network. Thieves always try to steal Ultima's rings ever since she moved here for the tournament. In fact, she taught my Stunfisk Mega Volt." Ryan got up into the punks face. "Anything you want to say?"

The guy bit his lip, and started talking. "One of my old buddies from Team Skull, Gladion, forced me to look in this area for Team Eclipse movements. I thought that he would like some of those rare HM's, but that didn't go so well. May I go now?" Ryan let him run off through the back door.

Ryan sighed. "Sorry about that." He turned to Tess. "Weren't you going to fight with me? Bronze already had his badge, but you were in the gym waiting." Tess seemed to be about to say something, but she remained silent, looking directly into Ryan's face. Before Bronze could ask why she didn't accept the invitation, Tess hurried him away with a wave back at Ryan, who looked very interested.

Bronze protested as she pulled him back into he Gym entrance. "Tess, I though you wanted-oooof!" Tess shoed him against a wall, frantic with fright. "Bronze, listen to me. That's not Gym Leader Ryan. I saw him earlier, just before he left to the tomb. Did you meet him there?" Bronze was confused. "Yeah, I did, we did some stuff in the cavern, what do you mean, that isn't Ryan, it is-"

Tess hurried him away, now walking out of the Gym to the sandstone alleyway beside it. "Ryan left a message saying he wouldn't be back for the whole day. I actually left the Gym for a while because of that. Now that he has arrived, things don't add up. His clothing is different, the way he walked, I can remember everything." Now that Bronze thought about it, Ryan back in the arena had seemed a little off. Bronze was still skeptical. Some Pokémon could create illusions, but the fact that Ryan and Bronze had defeated Team Eclipse may have made him leave sooner.

"Come on Tess, how can that not be Ryan? I would like to hear your explanation." Tess took a deep breath. "I once heard of a man from Team Rocket that could manipulate his appearance perfectly to match other people. Maybe that person who is disguised as Ryan has that same ability." Tess would have continued talking, except that Ryan came from the back of the gym through the alley to the two.

"Guys, why did you run off like that? Come on back. Bronze, you know me." Bronze was almost certain that this was actually Ryan, and was about to answer him when he saw another Ryan coming from behind them.

The second Ryan looked at Bronze with confusion. "Uh, the people in the entrance said you two ran out here. I am sorry I took so long to disable the explosives, why are you looking-" The second Ryan saw the other Ryan, who was now grinning.

"Well, it looks like you kids figured it out. Sorry we couldn't get to know each other better." Bronze, Tess, and Ryan sent out their Pokémon, seeing that this was indeed a imposter. The fake Ryan put his hands up. "Hey, no hard feelings. I was going to keep tabs on you now that I saw you two were here, but it looks like I've got to leave."
The fake Ryan grabbed his face, and tore off his almost perfect mask.

"Commander Petrel of Team Eclipse, at your service. Now, maybe you will be a bit more careful at trusting others. I can be anyone, friends, allies, family...might want to watch your step." "Capture him!" Bronze yelled, but Petrel sent out his Wheezing, causing a cloud of gas that forced the three to back away to prevent being poisoned. As it cleared, they could see Petrel flying away on a Golbat, before turning into a tiny dot in the sky.

"Well never catch him," Ryan said. "Petrel! I've heard of him...the little traitor just couldn't stay with Team Rocket. If they know you are here, then you should probably get out of the city, and travel to Fluoruma City in the mountain caverns. Here, take this Onyx, Bronze, you might need it for navigating." Bronze took the Poke Ball and attached it to his hip with the others.

"I suggest you get packing! I will make sure you get out of the city undetected. Now, go!" Bronze and Tess swiftly walked back to the hotel, ready to move on.

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Oak, Looker, and The Chairman walked through the stark white holding cell area of the bunker. They were going to see if they could make the canary sing.

As the guard opened the double blast doors, a large, sparse room with a single man rolled up in a marked space was revealed to the three officials. Looker walked over to him, ordering the doors closed.

"You are Phillip Damson of Unova, born 2/4/4, reported missing two years ago. You delivered the message relating to Team Eclipse's demands, and were arrested. I would say you are one of the oldest members of Team Eclipse. And we think that you have some things we would like to know. I am sure you also understand that we are willing to go to much...farther lengths to ensure your cooperation. What do you say?"

"Have you ever felt the beauty of the night?" The prisoner muttered. Looker was not deterred and continued to press on. "If you are not willing to cooperate, I am afraid we are going to have to resort to much more strenuous methods to extract information from you." Looker's Toxicroak began sharpening its spines ominously.

The prisoner stood, and faced Looker directly in the face. "I am sorry for my rudeness and your appalling lack of information. I am Commander Drake of the Eclipse Alliance, and I request to be addressed as such. Night is when the movements of those on the earth are hidden from the being of above. Night is when all minds are free to finally roam the wastes of the subconscious."

The prisoner was reaching a fever pitch. "Night is the domain of an eclipse, and I will walk in the night just as my lord does now, struggling to escape the oblivion of the grave and rise once more! I will testify to the greatness of night, as I have been liberated by its embrace! Glory to the Eclipse Alliance!" Toxicroak moved in to tranquilize the deviant.

The prisoner whipped out a small device from a hidden zipper in his jumpsuit, and threw it to the ground. Black, burning hot smoke blasted out of it, making Looker and Toxicroak fall back, coughing. The prisoner shifted through the smoke, heading for the blast doors.

Before Oak and The Chairman could tackle him, he placed another device on the doors, which burned a crawlspace in seconds. Squirming out of reach, he ran out into the cell block. Looker had recovered and was yelling at the security camera to open the doors.

The doors opened, and Looker and the rest, flanked by a team of security guards, ran after the escapee. Seeing that he was running for the waste shaft in the maintenance sector to be flushed out to the surface, Looker grabbed a guards radio and signaled for the attendant in the control room to shut the sluice doors in the shaft. Even if he burned through the doors, they would catch up to him by then. But how did he have such a knowledge of the facility, and how had he gotten the devices to escape?

The team ran through the maintenance sector, eventually seeing the prisoner running toward the open shaft. Why had the doors not been closed?

The prisoner waved back, and embraced the flow of the rushing torrent, carrying him up to the surface. The guards Pokémon launched attacks up the shaft, but they simply missed as the form of the prisoner disappeared into darkness. Looker franticly yelled to secure the upper sluice exit, but the signal seemed to be malfunctioning, as the only thing Looker heard from the surface was static.

Storming back into the tunnels, Looker was focused on seeing why the operator had not closed the gates. Bursting into the office, he saw that no operator was there. Instead, a single, painted Eclipse sigil remained on the wall.

Looker collapsed into the traitorous operators chair. They had lost the only asset that could help them in their fight. If such an escape had been organized, then the Commander had known far more then he had appeared to. The insider was likely escorting Drake to a secure house as they stood.

The Chairman left to radio the escape in, while Looker lied back and chewed on a Rage Candy Bar.