Chapter 13: Emotion

"Did we lose them...?"

"Shh... quiet down..."

Pressed uncomfortably along the wall behind the Pyrite Police Station, in a narrow alley that smelt suspiciously like alcohol, Wes, Rui, Espeon, and Croconaw took a peek around the corner out into the street, searching for signs of pursuers. Twenty minutes of running madly all over town had not been particularly fun... and now they were blacklisted by the Duel Square trainers for Snagging Flaaffy.

Wes sighed, and, for what wasn't the first time, began to regret his choice of wardrobe. Dark, long-sleeved overcoats and black pants (not to mention the black shirt underneath, or his black gloves and boots) probably weren't the best things to be wearing in a desert climate, although one could argue that it helped to protect against sunburn. Either way, Wes wasn't in the position to take off his coat. One, because he'd probably elbow Rui in the head trying to get it off in the skinny alley; and two, because his Snag Machine would be a pain to take on and off. Ah well...

"Wes..." whimpered Rui, feeling just as uncomfortable as Wes. Not only was it hot, since they were all sharing body heat, but it also reeked to high heaven with the scent of beer. "It smells in here..."

"Well, sorry... I can't do much about it..." Wes pointed out, as he craned his neck out to look for any other members of the mob that had been chasing them. Damn... that kid on roller skates was still patrolling the street. Now what was he supposed to do? He was too hot and sweaty to go running again; besides, he had had enough of running from his enemies. If he hadn't had Rui with him, Wes would much prefer to stand and fight. Never mind the fact that he'd be outnumbered; Wes had dealt with such odds before and been victorious. But the realization that his Pokémon were in need of healing nagged on his mind as well, despite the fact he'd used a Potion on each of them, and on top of it all, Rui was starting to complain. Damn again. Wes wouldn't have brought Rui here if he had had a choice in the beginning... It was just too dangerous for her here.

He closed his eyes for several moments, thinking long and hard about the best course of action to take. Rui blinked at him curiously, wondering what was going through his head. He hoped he would think of something soon... She was getting scared and uncomfortable here. She almost wished she had never set out from the safety of her hometown of Crysala to go visit her grandparents... She wouldn't be in this mess now if she had just stayed at home with her dad and all their Pokémon.

But then again... she would never have met Wes, either. Her heart fluttered fearfully at the thought; meeting Wes was one of the best things that had ever happened to her. There was a feeling there that she couldn't explain to herself, but it made her feel happy. He was her brave and gallant prince, her hero and rebel alike. He was Rui's friend. And that was something that Rui wouldn't mind getting kidnapped again for.

Her hand, which had been lightly touching Wes's, subconsciously tightened around his, snapping him from his deep thought. His eyes opened once again, and all of a sudden a devious look stole into his face. "Rui," he whispered, a smirk playing on his lips. "Stay here with Croconaw. I'm gonna go and take out that kid in a battle."

"What? Why?" she blurted. "Won't that attract the others?"

"Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Who knows? But if I can defeat all of them, one trainer at a time, maybe they'll leave us alone."

Rui's eyes grew worried. "Wes... it sounds dangerous..." she said. "What if they don't want to fight with Pokémon? But... you know..."

Wes shrugged. "Most of them seem civil enough, relatively speaking..." he assured. "But if they want to get violent, well..." He smiled darkly. "Let's just say I know my way around a fistfight. And that's why I want you to stay here. Ok?"

"Ok..."

"Croconaw, I want you to take care of Rui for me," Wes told the Water-type Pokémon waiting next to him, in a serious tone of voice. "Protect her from anyone who tries to hurt her. Ok?"

Croconaw nodded fiercely. This wouldn't be hard. He would prove he was a strong Pokémon, and make his trainer happy. Happy trainers were much nicer than angry ones, after all... "Croco. Croco naw," he replied in affirmation.

"Thanks, buddy." Wes patted the Shadow Pokémon absently on the head, which startled Croconaw at first. But he soon figured that Wes didn't mean any harm by it. "All right, Espeon, let's go take out that kid."

"Espi-esp!" Espeon exclaimed eagerly, gliding smoothly with his trainer back into the open street.

Rui watched her friend anxiously, praying that nothing would happen to him. As if sensing her worry, Croconaw nosed her leg to make certain she knew he was there. After all, he was supposed to protect her. Surely there was nothing to fear with him around. Rui smiled as Croconaw's gesture. "Thank you," she whispered, gingerly petting the Water-type on the head out of gratitude. "I can tell... Your emotions haven't been smothered entirely..."

There was that touching again. Croconaw wasn't used to being petted like this; whenever a human had touched him before, it usually had hurt, and was meant in punishment. But these gentle strokes on the head... They didn't hurt at all. Croconaw wasn't sure what to think, but he decided they weren't all that bad... Though, of course, he was ready to fight back in an instant if that changed...

In the meantime, Wes was striding rapidly down the street, towards Roller Boy Lon, who was skating back and forth in a nervous patrol. Upon spotting Wes, Lon was so startled that he lost his balance and fell flat on his butt to the pavement. "Ow! Hey! It's you!" he cried, pointing a finger at Wes. "Give back Flaaffy, you dirty Snagging thief!"

Wes's eyes narrowed coldly. "It's rude to point," he informed the younger trainer, stopping several feet away. "And it's even ruder to demand things of someone without saying 'please,' and insulting them to boot. Guess no one ever taught you manners."

Lon frowned. "Oh, shut up," he said, getting back to his feet. "Give back Diogo's Flaaffy now."

"I don't know if I want to, with that attitude," Wes retorted, his expression and manner growing more and more hateful and taunting with each passing second. From where she could still hear and see him, Rui shuddered. Some dark transformation was going on in Wes's soul... He was becoming Wes from Team Snagem once again...

But Wes would never forget you... Rui reminded herself quickly. He's always your friend. Remember that!

"Look, kid... If you can beat me in a battle, then I'll give Flaaffy back, how's that sound?" Wes continued, after taking a moment to falsely consider. "Think you're up to it?"

Lon grinned at the question. Now was his chance to show Vant he could really hang with the 'big boys'! Plus, he'd make Diogo happy, too! "Ok, you're on!" he exclaimed excitedly, taking out two Pokéballs.

"But," Wes added, before Lon could leap into battle, "if I win, you have to quit chasing us around Pyrite and harassing us for Flaaffy. This is your only chance. If you lose, then you leave us alone."

"It's a deal!" Lon replied, confidence filling him. This Wes had only won against Diogo because she'd underestimated him. Well, Lon was used to getting underestimated himself, just because he was a kid. That was how he'd won the Colosseum challenge not too long ago...

"All right... Espeon, Umbreon, go!" Wes cried, tossing Umbreon's Pokéball forward. The Dark-type appeared with a growl, ready to fight. Espeon moved forward to stand next to his brother and partner, ready to fight.

"Jigglypuff, Slugma, let's go!" Lon shouted, spinning around on his skates as he sent out his own Pokémon. The pink, balloon-like Normal-type and red-hot, lava-like Fire-type each came out and faced their opponents warily.

Wes began to call out his two attacks right off the snap, but the words died in his throat before they could come forth. Hesitation filled his face for a moment; something just didn't seem right...

"Wes!" Rui called out from where she was hiding, unable to remain silent as a now-familiar feeling of darkness and anger washed over her... "That Slugma! It's... it's a Shadow Pokémon!"

"No way..." Wes breathed, staring at the Slugma in disbelief. First Makuhita, then Croconaw, then Flaaffy, and now Slugma? The last four people Wes had had to battle had each had a Shadow Pokémon! How many of them were there?

A horrible thought suddenly occurred to him upon wondering this.

Suppose... suppose everyone in this town had a Shadow Pokémon?

He sweatdropped. If that was the case...

...He and Rui had a lot of work to do.

After watching those two strangers run madly past him a total of four times in the last twenty minutes, with the Duel Square crew in full pursuit screaming all sorts of threats and obscenities as they went, Cail finally came to two possible conclusions.

One, the Duel Square crew had all lost their minds. To be honest, Cail wouldn't be terribly surprised to find this was the case.

Or two... Those two newcomers had done something really big to tick most the trainers in town off.

Cail was leaning something toward the latter.

"I won't even ask... Bloody hell..." he sighed, shaking his head. "What the hell's going down in town lately, I wonder? Three newcomers in the past two days... That ain't normal... And stirring up all sorts of trouble to boot. It's a shame Sierra ain't here to see it, she'd get a kick out of it..." The young Rogue drifted off at the thought of Sierra, and, as it had for the past few days, he immediately grew sullen as a result. Damn. It wasn't normal that he hadn't heard from her since two days ago. No email, no phone call, nothing. Perhaps that sounded odd, that Cail should be so uptight about hearing from his girlfriend, but one would have to first take a look at the relationship between Cail and Sierra to understand.

The two had first met about a year and a half ago, when Nascour, Ein, and Sierra had arrived for the first time in Orre. Sierra, then a spunky and optimistic young 14-year old, had been scoping Pyrite Town out for Nascour—not knowing how dangerous it could be—and had been accosted by a group of drunks out for trouble. The then-16-year old Cail, even then one of the most skilled trainers in Pyrite, had felt particularly charitable that day (possibly due to the fact that Sierra herself had caught his eye as well), and bailed her out of trouble. At first, Sierra was angry for having anyone help her, but Cail's good looks and tough-guy attitude won her over fast. Since then, the two had become inseparable; they never went too long without getting in touch, just to see what the other was doing, and were as fluffy a couple as one could find in Orre. On the now-rare occasions that Sierra had time off from her work in Team Cipher, the two would always spend an entire day together in one another's company. The way that Cail always had his arm around Sierra's waist when they hung out like that, you'd think he was glued to her in some fashion. That's how much he cared for her. Cail had no cares, no aspirations, no appreciation for anything that had gone on in his world other than winning battles... until Sierra came along. The one soft spot to Pyrite's Rogue was Sierra, and Cail, quite frankly, could not envision future days without Sierra in them.

Some of the older trainers scoffed at Cail, told him he was just exceptionally high on testosterone whenever he thought of Sierra, that teenage flings like that would never last. No doubt he was just hoping to get something from her every time they met. Cail always silenced them thoroughly whenever they said that, though. How could they know whether he was in love with Sierra or not? And that wasn't the reason Cail loved her (though it was sure the reason he had been attracted to her initially). It was just... too complicated to explain, even for Cail to explain to himself. All he knew was that Sierra was the motivation for him to get up every morning and live another day.

Not that he'd ever spew such mushy, romantic crap to anyone else, of course.

Cail's downcast vent to himself was presently broken by the rumble of a motorcycle's engine just rolling into town. And not just any motorcycle... a very familiar one. Cail's frown instantly gave way to a small, pleased smile as the motorcycle came to a halt a few feet away from him. The rider switched the engine off and casually swung himself off of the bike, pulling the dark sunglasses from his face and hooking them to his collar. Then, with a cheerful smile, the young man approached Cail, and held up a hand. "Cail," he greeted, smoothing some of his mussed pink hair back with the other hand.

"Willie. Long time no see, cowboy," Cail greeted back, a rare smile of genuine happiness lighting up his face. The two high-fived, and then gave each other a friendly hug. Cail and Willie had been pals ever since they had met up about five years ago, which was a pretty impressive record. "So what brings you to Pyrite?"

Willie shrugged, and crossed his arms across his chest casually. "Not much, really... Well, ok, several things," he admitted, at Cail's indignant stare. "For one... Earlier this morning, Sierra swung by the Outskirt Stand to gas up the jeep she was driving."

Cail raised his eyebrows. "Did she?"

"Yeah. Said she had to head to the Snagem Hideout and recruit a new direct subordinate for Nascour..." Willie crinkled his nose uncertainly at his own words; he didn't know about the inner workings of Team Cipher all that well. But as Cail's best friend (and subsequently Sierra's friend, too), he was faithfully committed to secrecy about the organization. "She told me to apologize to you, for not letting you know earlier, but it was a short-notice deal."

"Snagem Hideout?" Cail repeated. Any and all angry thoughts he'd had for Sierra were now replaced by worry and concern. "Alone? She nuts? I don't trust Gonzap, or any of those crackheads he calls members... She should have—"

"Eh, she wasn't alone, don't worry," Willie assured. "Some guy was with her... guess he was from Cipher, too."

Cail looked up sharply. "A guy was with her?" he asked.

"...Wha-?" Willie was confused at Cail's comment at first. "...Oh, come on, Cail. I'm sure it wasn't like that..."

Cail frowned. "I guess not..." he muttered, unconvinced.

"So anyway, just passing that along... Since you're her boyfriend and all," Willie continued, deciding he'd best press on. "Oh yeah, you see a guy and a girl pass through here? Named Wes and Rui?"

"Describe them."

Willie closed his eyes thoughtfully. "Well... Wes has short, spiky hair, kinda off blonde... Like sand, I suppose. And he had these eerie gold eyes, and was wearing a blue overcoat. And Rui... she's a cutey. Got red hair up in pigtails, and these big blue eyes..."

"Oh. Yeah, I know who you're talking about," Cail replied. "Duel Square crew's been chasing them all over town... They must have done something wrong."

"That so?" The young Rider looked slightly worried. "Hope they're all right... They're cool people, if you get what I mean."

"They're your pals?"

"Something like that... Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Cail smirked. There was a reason Willie opted not to hang out in Pyrite for extensive periods of time: he was much too nice. From what Cail had been told, Willie had just "drifted in" from somewhere in Johto, which was apparent in his straightforward and honest manner. His eyes radiated a sense of kindness and compassion, which, try as he might to cover it up with his casual speech, manifested itself often in conversation. Well, that was all right. That's what Cail was there for. "Well. Tell you what," he said to Willie. "If Wes and Rui can beat everyone in a Pokémon battle, I'll make sure everyone lays off them. Wouldn't want your pals to get hurt, now, eh?"

Willie smiled gratefully. "Thanks much, Cail," he said. "But, did you check out that Rui chick? She was a babe, eh?"

"Willie..." Cail crossed his arms. "I can't go checking out girls anymore. I've already got my girl."

"Oh, right, right," Willie blushed. "Sorry, pal. Forgot you're not single no more."

"I've been dating Sierra for over a year now... And you still forget?"

"I'm teasing, Cail..."

From somewhere down the street, about in front of the Pyrite Grand Hotel, came a sudden shout of despair that made the two look up. "WAAAHHH! MY SLUGMA! YOU STOLE MY SLUGMA!"

"Sounds like Lon," Cail observed. "His Slugma? That's the Shadow Pokémon he won at the Colosseum..."

"Who would steal it, I wonder?" asked Willie, not sounding at all concerned.

Cail shrugged, watching the other Duel Square trainers suddenly dash out from buildings and alleys where they had been searching for Wes and Rui, and thunder down the street to where the shout had come from. "Hey... maybe it was your pals? Wes and Rui?"

"Wes and Rui?" Willie repeated. "Well..." His brow furrowed thoughtfully. "...Now that you mention it, Wes said he was once a Snagger for Team Snagem..."

Shouts and curses filled the air, as what sounded like a brawl began to break out.

"Is that right?" Cail asked with a laugh, completely ignoring what might be going on down the street. "Well now. You can't keep a good criminal down, can you?"

"Guess not..."

Cail frowned, picking up on Willie's thoughts. "...Hey now, I didn't..."

"Look, it's ok..."

At that moment, Rui herself came tiptoeing quietly out of a narrow alley running between the police station and the house next to it, attempting to escape the fight that was taking place back by the hotel. She cast a regretting look behind her to where she had come from; she'd never wanted to leave Wes... But he had told her to, so... here she was. Next to her, Croconaw followed obediently, stalwartly committed to his trainer's order: protect Rui. That was what he had been told, and that what he would do.

Rui sighed, and stepped out into the street—only to stop short at the sight of Willie and Cail standing there. She hadn't expected anyone to be standing there, and a cry of surprise escaped her lips involuntarily. "Oh!" she gasped, jumping in surprise.

Croconaw, apparently, took this as a signal to attack.

"Croconaw!" the Shadow Pokémon snarled, flinging himself at the two trainers with relish. Jaws wide open, he pounced at Cail with the undeniable intent to seriously mangle, if not kill, him. Fortunately for the young Rogue, years of rough living had done wonders for his reflexes, and he leaped backwards as the Water-type came for him. Cail managed to narrowly avoid Croconaw's killer bite, but swore in pain as the tips of Croconaw's claws raked his leg instead.

"Croconaw!" Rui screamed, terrified that the Water-type would kill Cail. In desperation, she seized the pink, spiky crests atop the Pokémon's head, and tried to pull it back. "Stop it! Stop that!"

Willie quickly pulled his friend to safety, before looking at Rui. "Hey... Rui?" he asked.

"Willie?" Rui looked startled to see the Rider, momentarily forgetting she had hold of a 55 lb Pokémon out for blood. Croconaw took the opportunity to rush forward at Willie this time, dragging a shrieking Rui after him.

Cail, however, regaining his wits in the meantime, quickly devised a plan of action and selected one of his Pokéballs from his belt. "Ralts, Hypnosis attack on Croconaw, now!" he yelled. In a quick flash of light, the Psychic-type appeared and instantly focused its powers on the angry Shadow Pokémon. Croconaw grew drowsy, and fell to the ground, sound asleep.

A pause, for effect.

"Nice thinking, Cail," Willie breathed, putting a hand to his chest to illustrate the effects of the heart-pounding situation. "You all right?"

Cail examined his leg, finding the scratches to be superficial; his tough pants had taken most of the damage, with three rends in the fabric as proof. Guess he'd have to sew those tears later... "I've had worse injuries," he grumbled, standing back up. "I'm fine."

Rui picked herself off the ground where Croconaw had dragged her. "I'm sorry... so sorry..." she apologized to Cail, dusting herself off at the same time. "Are you all right, um..."

"Cail. Cail Anderson," the Rogue introduced casually, extending a hand for her to shake. He had to admit, she was a cute girl. But his appreciation of girls had gone down significantly since he'd hooked up with Sierra. Somewhere deep within Cail's subconsciousness, he would not—could not—allow himself to cheat behind her back. She meant too much to him for that. "You must be Rui."

She nodded. "Yes. But how did you know?" she asked, taking a moment to look at Croconaw now stirring from sleep. Cail and Willie tensed, as the Water-type got back up, but Rui merely patted Croconaw on the head. "That wasn't very nice, Croconaw," she scolded lightly. "You shouldn't have attacked. They didn't do anything wrong."

Croconaw looked up, surprised and disappointed at the same time. On one hand, Croconaw was amazed that Rui wasn't punishing him severely for his error; heck, she wasn't even yelling at him. On the other hand, though... Rui's gentle scolding seemed just as bad. He felt disappointed with himself now. But... they were just gentle words! What was wrong with him?

"I was just telling Cail here about you and Wes..." Willie began to explain, before he was—once again—interrupted by another shout. Rui, Willie, and Cail all turned their heads just in time to see Vant get flung several feet through the air before hitting the pavement painfully. Gasping for air, Vant struggled to lift himself up on one arm, before Wes suddenly came into view, approaching the fallen Rider. Wes looked somewhat in poor shape as well, for he was gasping painfully and staggering as he walked. Diogo streaked ahead of Wes, and stood between the two defensively.

"Stop!" she wailed pleadingly. "Don't hurt him anymore!"

Wes muttered something too low for Rui and her friends to hear, from the distance they were at.

"Wes!" Rui called, running down to meet him with Croconaw tailing behind. Cail recalled Ralts, and he and Willie gave full pursuit as well. As they got closer, they could see that Vant had the beginnings of a black eye appearing around his left eye, as well as a split lip and blood trickling from his nose. Wes had a distasteful looking scrape on his right cheek, a cut along the left side of his chin, and a thin stream of blood at the corner of his lip. Both of them generally looked as if the two had gotten in a fight, which obviously was the case here, though Wes looked a lot better off than Vant did. The rest of the trainers—including a very upset looking Lon—hovered behind Wes uncertainly, looking as if they wanted to fight too, and yet were too afraid to.

"What the hell's going on?" demanded Cail of Vant, who slowly got to his feet with Diogo's help.

Diogo spoke up for her friend. "Cail..." she whined, "he took my Flaaffy! He Snagged it! And just now... he Snagged Lon's Slugma, too!"

Vant spat at Wes's feet. "He'd damn well better give 'em back, too," he snarled.

Wes merely wiped some blood from the corner of his lip, continuing to glare coldly at his opponent. Rui made her way up next to Wes and hugged his arm, afraid of the crowd but unwilling to abandon Wes to it again.

Cail eyed Wes skeptically. "So... you're a Snagger?" he asked.

Wes lifted his gaze to meet Cail's, an unpleasant smile on his face. "I was," he answered.

"Was?"

"Yeah. I quit Team Snagem a little while ago."

"But you're still Snagging Pokémon," Cail pointed out. "Care to explain yourself?"

Rui spoke up this time. "It's cause... we're trying to save the Shadow Pokémon," she said softly. "It's wrong to make them the way they are... We have to save them..."

"Save the Shadow Pokémon?" Vant mocked. "What's up with our Pokémon is our business. Don't mean you gotta start stealing 'em from us, too."

"You don't understand!" Rui protested.

Wes cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Rui, forget it. They don't care about Pokémon," he muttered. "All that matters to them is winning or losing."

"That's TS," Cail snapped.

"Is it?" Wes retorted, a dangerous look in his eyes. Croconaw gave a low growl, picking up on his master's thoughts, but Rui put her hand on the Water-type's head again to keep him from attacking. "How so?"

Cail's eyes narrowed. "You won't find more loyal Pokémon in Pyrite than mine," he replied in a biting tone of voice. "Don't you dare start up a question of whether I care about my Pokémon or not. I'm not as low as that."

Wes considered for a moment, then, "Fine. Whatever." He crossed his arms and turned away.

Cail turned back to the rest of the crowd. "Listen up. These two are no different than the rest of you thieving, dirty criminals... And don't give me that look, Diogo, you're not the picture of perfection yourself. If they steal your Shadow Pokémon, consider it between you and them. There's no dragging the entire town into this—teaming up on just two people is weak and cowardly. You get your one chance to defend your Shadow Pokémon. If you win, Wes here has to back off. You lose, and Wes can do what he likes with your Shadow Pokémon—Snag it, fuck it, I don't care. But there's no more of this group mobbing. You can only go so far with the police assholes in town here; otherwise, they'll be calling up Olivine police. And I'm sure you remember what happened with the drunken incident three years ago..."

"I don't!" Lon interjected.

Cail spat at him. "Then ask someone who does, dammit!" he shouted. "Now all of you clear out, before that retard Johnson shows up and gives me an even bigger headache than the one I already have!"

Muttering under their breaths, the crowd slowly dissipated away, until the only ones left were Wes, Rui, Cail, Willie, and Croconaw. Wes raised an eyebrow at Cail skeptically. "So what did you do that for?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Tell the crowd off like that."

Cail shook his head. "It's nothing to do with you," he snapped. "Willie here says you two are his pals, and since Willie's my pal, I figured I'd bail you two out of that jam. But don't think I'm doing that again."

Rui smiled. "Thank you so much," she exclaimed. "That was really amazing!"

Willie nudged Cail playfully. "That's Cail," he told her. "The top trainer in Pyrite. That's why everyone listens to him. That, and he's got a girlfriend who can—"

"Shut up!" Cail hissed, elbowing Willie in the ribs and cutting him off. "You don't talk about her, you know that!"

"Sorry, sorry..."

Wes interrupted the two before they could start arguing. "All right. Look. Thanks a lot for that; it saved a lot of trouble."

Cail shrugged. "That's the idea... Anyway, name's Cail Anderson."

"Wes. And this is Rui," Wes replied, shaking Cail's hand. "We owe you."

"Ah, I don't care about that..."

With a tiny smile, Wes turned to Croconaw. "Hey there, buddy," he said kindly. "You watching out for Rui?"

"Croco-naw!" the Water-type replied in affirmation, grinning proudly up at Rui as if to say, "Didn't I, Rui?"

"Nearly killed me, more like," Cail grumbled.

"Did he? Sorry... Least he was doing his job, though..."

Willie smirked at Cail once again, before finally getting around to speaking with Wes himself. "Almost forgot, but I've got something for you, Wes."

"For me?" Wes asked.

"Yeah." Willie reached into a pack hanging from the back of his belt, and from it he removed about ten Pokéballs. Shifting the red-and-white spheres so that they wouldn't drop from his hands, he held them out, a teasing, yet knowing smile on his face. "I don't know how, but I had a feeling you might be needing more of these."

Wes's face twitched. "Why... Why would you—?"

"I never told anyone save for Cail, but... I..." Willie's voice faltered for a moment, and for an instant, a haunted feeling stole through Rui as she subconsciously peered into the depths of his soul. "...I was once a Snagger for Team Snagem, too."

Surprise darted into Wes's face. "You were?"

"Yes. I quit about five years ago." Willie swallowed, and looked downwards to the ground as he continued. "I know... I know that even after you leave... there's a part of Team Snagem that remains with you forever..."

Cail and Rui looked at one another uncertainly; they could only imagine how terrible this must be for Willie to say all of this. And judging from Wes's pale face, they could imagine what Wes must have been feeling as well.

Willie looked up again, a harsh smile on his face. "That... that bastard. Gonzap. He destroys lives. Who you once were. There's no forgetting that, and I can see he's done the same to you."

Wes gritted his teeth at Willie's words. So, Willie had been a Snagger too. It wouldn't surprise him that he'd never known that; the team was generally split into groups that hardly ever interacted. But to hear the truth like that from Willie, so harsh and so brutally straightforward... Wes had never wanted to hear the truth like that.

"So, you thought I'd come back to Snagging?" he asked bitterly.

"I didn't think you'd go back to the team, if that's what you mean."

"It's for good, though... Isn't it?" Rui couldn't help but ask. She looked desperately from Wes to Willie to Cail, and then to Wes again. It hurt her to see the emotional turmoil behind Wes's eyes. And for the second time that day, she was suddenly made aware of how deep the cuts inflicted on him by Team Snagem really were...

I hate Team Snagem! she thought darkly. They ruin everything good and happy! They ruin everyone's lives...

Willie smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're right, Rui. This Snagging is different. Somehow, I believe you when you say it's for good. Which is why..." He offered the Pokéballs to Wes again. "...It's why I brought these to you."

Slowly, Wes reached out and took the Pokéballs from Willie, an uncertainty in his face. "Thanks... I guess..." he replied softly.

"Yeah, no big deal. Besides... you can pay me back later."

Wes and Rui both faceplanted. "Pay you back?" Wes repeated in disbelief, getting up again in an instant.

Willie grinned. "I'm not doing this for free, Wes!"

"You jerk... What makes you think I'd want to pay you back?"

"I'm sure you'd want the same in my place!"

"I never asked you to bring me Pokéballs in the first place!"

Rui and Cail sweatdropped. "I... don't... get it..." Rui said.

Cail crossed his arms despairingly. "It's guy egoism... you wouldn't understand..." he tried to explain.

Then, fashionably late as always... Johnson came on the scene.

"Hey there!" he greeted cheerfully, totally oblivious to the blank expressions on each person's face. "I thought I heard a commotion out here... Wanna fill me in?"

A disbelieving silence followed his innocently offered question for several moments.

Then, Wes, Rui, Willie, and Cail all burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

The very instant that her feet crossed the threshold, Sierra decided she didn't like the Snagem Hideout.

Her first impression was that the entire place was a dump; the floors and walls were covered in sand and grime, suggesting that it had never been cleaned since the day it was built. Tools and other various items were left here and there, and Sierra had to step carefully as she followed Travis inside to avoid stepping on rocks, nails, debris, etc. Of course, the fact that the base had only just recently blown up didn't help matters, either; several of the walls had huge holes in them, exposing some of the support beams, and the ceiling was dangerously crumbly. Sierra couldn't help but wonder if the building was even safe to be in, so perilously close it looked like it was to collapsing. As they continued further inside, the clutter became more reduced; though it was still painfully obvious how different this hideout was from the nearly completed Realgam Tower. If so much as a screwdriver were left out of place at Realgam Tower... there'd be hell to pay.

"I'm sorry it's not quite up to standard, Miss Sierra," Travis said, after noting Sierra's repeated looks of dismay at her surroundings. "Gonzap never really cared about the cleanliness of the hideout... Of course, the recent explosion didn't help matters much..." He had to bite back a grin at the thought. Just the other day, Travis had received a brief email from Wes, indicating he had skipped out on the team and blown up the base to boot. Travis figured Wes would have left Team Snagem eventually; those nightmares he had been having lately were almost too much to bear. It was just a shame that Wes hadn't taken Kimberly along...

"Yo, Travis!"

Travis looked up, and inwardly groaned at the sight of a Snagem member coming down the hall towards them. Like many of the other members, no doubt in an attempt to emulate their leader, Gonzap, he was shaved bald, and wore an outfit of red and black. The end result was that they were rather ugly individuals that garnered as much distaste as Gonzap did. Sierra backed into Travis, a look of disgust on her face. How could Travis possibly have worked among these people? Just by looking at this particular individual, she could tell that he was unpolished beyond her will to accept. And he was ugly, too. Yuck. She'd rather hang out with Miror B.

"Cavel," Travis responded, recognizing the Snagem member. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, man, no kidding!" Cavel exclaimed, going to Travis and whacking him so hard in the arm that he winced. "You never come to visit, man! What's wrong with you?"

"Busy, I guess..."

"Too busy with your new team, eh?" Cavel sneered. "Or with your new girlfriend? Heh... hey there, sexy. What's your name?" And much to Sierra's shock and disgust, he suddenly put an arm around her shoulders.

That was not acceptable.

Before Travis could move to stop Cavel, Sierra had instantly elbowed the Team Snagem member in the gut as hard as she could, making him double over in pain. She stepped away from Cavel and kicked him to the floor, glaring at him hatefully.

"Don't. Touch. Me," she snarled, before turning haughtily on her heel.

Finding herself face to chest with Gonzap, head of Team Snagem, himself.

Barely able to hold back a shriek, Sierra leaped back from him hastily, ducking behind Travis. Eyes wide with indescribable surprise at the sudden appearance of his former boss, Travis was at a loss for words for several moments, unable to speak.

"Well, well... Miss Sierra. Glad to see your loveliness in person again, it's been a while," Gonzap grinned, crossing his arms. "And Travis! If this isn't a pleasant surprise. It's been way too long."

"Ah... yes. Too long," Travis replied, painfully aware of Sierra's vice-like grip on his shoulders.

"Well... It seems like my members are a bit rude, aren't they, Miss Sierra?" Gonzap noted, glancing down at Cavel gasping for air on the floor. "My apologies. I don't know where they get such manners."

From you, no doubt, Sierra thought darkly. Bloody pervert... Don't act like your mind's pure of those thoughts, cause I know it's not...

"Shall we go to my office, then?" Gonzap offered, turning around and beckoning the two further into the Hideout. "We can discuss our deals further in there..."

Travis sweatdropped. "Um... of course, Master Gonzap..." he said, slowly following. Sierra sighed despairingly, before moving to walk side-by-side with him. She hesitated a little, before she slipped her hand into Travis's, startling him.

"Please don't leave me alone in this place," Sierra whispered in his ear, too low for Gonzap to hear. "I don't trust him... and I wish Master Nascour could have considered the fact that I was a girl and Gonzap a dirty bastard."

"I'm sure you could take care of yourself just fine, Miss Sierra," Travis tried to reassure, giving her a smile. He patted the holster on her left hip to emphasize. "But don't worry. I won't leave you alone. Promise."

Sierra smiled. "Thanks, Travis," she whispered. "You're so sweet."

Travis felt his heart leap into his throat, and, suddenly, the surroundings seemed to melt away for a brief second. "You're welcome," he replied softly.

And though he had promised himself he wouldn't... Travis couldn't help but dare to hope that what Sierra felt was the same as what he felt himself...

After a brain-draining hour or so of "talking" with Gonzap ("talking" being used loosely to describe the biting conversation laced with indirect threats, insults, and innuendos flying every which way), Sierra felt like crying.

Not because Gonzap intimidated her, because he didn't. It was because she had stretched the powers afforded to her to their limits in the deals she'd set up with them. After everything she had been forced to promise, she was afraid Nascour would bite her head off upon her return. "If nothing else, remember that Gonzap has no authority over you," was what Nascour had so kindly told her the day Team Cipher had made its alliance with Team Snagem.

First off, Sierra had to promise him a place in the tournament, just like they had discussed. This wasn't so bad... except that Gonzap had made all sorts of terribly snide comments about Nascour while they ironed out the details. The things he'd said about Nascour! Some of them too dirty and disgusting to even repeat. At one point, Sierra had suddenly stood up in her chair, aimed Zenith Aria right at his head, and told him point-blank that if he didn't quit insulting Nascour in front of her, she'd blow his filthy brains out and spit on the remains. Gonzap had merely smirked, and "apologized" before continuing the discussion. She hoped Nascour would kick Gonzap out of the tournament just as soon as she put him in it... Most likely he would, when she told him all the things Gonzap had said about him... Unless Evice got involved. Yuck. Evice and Gonzap were close allies; if Evice decided to put a word in for Gonzap, the Team Snagem Head would stay stuck in the competition whether Nascour liked it or not.

Secondly... Sierra had to take an entire bag of Pokémon to Ein for transformation into Shadow Pokémon. She didn't even want to think of how mad Ein would be when he found he had to work on all these, especially since they all should have been delivered weeks ago. Now Ein had to time-crunch to transform them all. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to help Ein with the whole mess; he'd be cursing nonstop through the entire process and generally being a bastard about the whole thing. She was scared of her brother when he was pissed...

Then, there was the one Shadow Pokémon she'd promised Gonzap he could have. It was a Skarmory; something he'd apparently caught on his own time, not too long ago. Perfect. That meant one more Shadow Pokémon for Ein to work on. Wouldn't he be pleased to hear of that...

And, lastly, Gonzap had demanded that some of Cipher's members be drafted into his temporary service, in order to hunt down some girl with special powers, or such... Sierra had no idea what to promise (she wouldn't wish serving Gonzap on even the most incompetent of Team Cipher's members—Gonzap was not known for his kindness to his subordinates), except that she'd ask Nascour to pass some orders to the Admins telling them to look out for this girl. Then Gonzap had gotten all pissy and demanded that this could mean almost millions to him, and Sierra had retorted that she'd given him enough liberties in the meeting already—after all, it was only one direct subordinate that Cipher was getting out of this whole deal! It took all Travis could muster to keep the two from breaking into a fight. In the end, after confirming all three of these terms, and signing a contract to insure Sierra would at least inform her superiors about them, the meeting had ended.

And Sierra was not pleased.

"That bloody... fucking... bastard..." Sierra snarled, trying hard to keep tears from coming forth in her frustration. "He knew I didn't have the power to promise those things! And yet he gave me no choice... That's so unfair... Now Ein and Nascour are going to be mad at me for letting Gonzap have his way... But what was I supposed to say?"

Travis bit his lip, unsure of what to say. "It's ok, Miss Sierra," he tried to assure. "I was witness to the whole thing... I'll tell Master Ein and Master Nascour you didn't have much of a choice..."

"That's not the point!" Sierra snapped, looking up at Travis where she sat on the bottom remains of a staircase in a corner of the first floor (the top seven stairs having been demolished in the explosion, leaving the floor above inaccessible by this stairway). "You... you don't understand. Ein's my big brother, it kills me to upset him or make him mad in any way! And Nascour... he's the only other person besides Ein I truly look up to. You don't know how Ein and I first met Nascour... do you?"

"No, I don't," Travis replied, sitting down beside her. "How?"

"Well... my parents died when I was only seven, so Ein and I were sent to live with our aunts and uncles in a town near Olivine City, in Johto," Sierra explained. "Save for one uncle, who died not too long after our arrival, they all hated us. They disapproved of who my father—their brother—had married, so they held that against us. Bloody idiots... Anyways, you probably wonder why that mattered. Well, when I was twelve, I was going out to pick up something for one of my aunts, when I got kidnapped by a gang of thugs. They demanded millions of dollars in ransom, or they'd kill me. Of course, we didn't have that kind of money, so my aunts and uncles just told the police, and calmly waited for the cops to save me. But Ein knew that the gang meant what they said... and he wasn't about to leave me to die. So he went out to look for help."

Travis blinked. "And is that when he met Nascour?"

"Right. Ein found Nascour, and begged him to save me. And that's exactly what he did... he went out, found me, and obliterated every single gangster that had me imprisoned." Sierra's eyes softened, as if she were remembering that moment again. "Ever since then, he's been sort of like... a hero to me. Even though I couldn't say that about him now. He's not the same person he was before. It's like I'm not as important to him as I was then..."

"Sierra..."

She turned away, although Travis still was able to catch a tear fall from her eye into her lap. "After that, Nascour took me back to Ein, and told us he didn't want money as payment. But instead, he would one day call upon us for our services to him... and we had best be ready to serve him when that time came. And that's how we ended up being probably the first two members on Team Cipher."

"...So. That's it, then?" Travis asked, making Sierra look up. "What you're looking for... is someone to care about you. And you can't bear losing the attention and care of Ein and Nascour, because they're two of the only ones you have that do care about you."

Sierra gave a dry smile. "You're very perceptive," she retorted. "Yeah, I guess that's it. You make it sound so simple. I wish I could put things down like that into words... put my feelings into words... I feel either too stupid or too complicated."

"You're not stupid, Miss Sierra."

"Complicated, then. But I guess... I guess you can't have it all, eh?"

Travis shook his head. "No... Things never turn out the way you plan. You can calculate, and predict, and have all sorts of facts and figures to prove it'll be that way, but... no. It's never that way."

"Heh... try telling Ein that, I'm sure that'll please him."

"What I'm saying, I guess," Travis concluded, a slight smile on his face, "is that... don't worry so much about how things are going to turn out. My guess is that Ein and Nascour won't hate you. Maybe they will be mad, maybe they will be upset. But they'll never throw you aside. You're not just a direct subordinate like Carmen was. You're a sister and a friend."

A long pause.

"So... you done making your inspiring speech?" Sierra asked sarcastically, after a while.

Travis blinked. Had she not found anything worthwhile in what he'd said at all?

Sensing his confusion, Sierra laughed, and smacked him playfully in the shoulder. "Damn... I'm only kidding!" she giggled. "That made me feel better, really it did. Though I don't like to admit it."

"Oh... Well, I'm glad of that..."

"You're a really cool guy, Travis, you know that?" Sierra asked, resting her head on his arm playfully and looking up at him. "I'm so glad I brought you along. This would have been a nightmare if I hadn't."

Travis smiled again. "Only here to please," he replied, standing up and offering her a hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. "I guess we'll be drafting members tomorrow, is that right?"

"Yeah... Gonzap gave me a disk to look over... Has all the Team Snagem members' profiles on it, or so he says..." Sierra sighed, and rubbed her hand through her hair. "Yuck. I feel dirty. All this sand and sweat and ick."

"Well, if you like, we can find one of the nicer bedrooms in the hideout, and you can wash up there. Some of them have pretty nice bathrooms, relatively speaking..." Travis suggested.

"For real? Thank you. So much..." Sierra breathed. "Travis, you're a lifesaver once again. I absolutely love you!"

Travis twitched slightly at her words, as he led her once more through the Snagem Hideout. If only she'd meant those words...

But what was he saying? It was a golden rule within Team Cipher that crushing on your superiors only led to disaster—after all, look at what happened to Carmen. But he couldn't help it. Sierra was so candid and honest with him, and he with her. But it could never be, the two of them. Better to quit now, while he was still ahead.

...But how many times had he told himself that already?

As the two walked down the hall, searching for a way to another staircase without running into a dead end of debris... two pairs of eyes watched from around the corner.

"Kimberly... I want you to speak to Travis for me," Gonzap whispered harshly, staring down at the young woman standing stiffly before him. "Tell him..." And he whispered the rest of his command in her ear.

Dulled green eyes barely flickering as he spoke, Kimberly Van Kai stood listening to her master's orders, an emotionless expression upon her beautiful, pale young face. She was only 19-years old, a striking beauty with long, reddish-brown hair falling in waves to more than halfway down her back. She wore a black, bare-midriff tank top underneath a red vest, clearly showing a silver star charm permanently set just below her belly button; and a short, black skirt. Her black leather boots came mid-thigh, laced up delicately, and around her hips were two belts. One held a set of five Pokéballs, while the other held a handgun in its holster on her left hip and a switchblade on her right hip. Completing the look were a pair of black, fingerless gloves (the left one partially covered by a small Snag Machine worn there), and various gold pins, necklaces, and earrings.

"Understood?" Gonzap asked.

Kimberly nodded, hiding what pleasure she felt inside, at being able to speak to Travis again. At last, she would be reunited with a friend, a person who understood her. She had never felt so alone than she had these past few days, since Wes had left... Gonzap could never understand. He who sent her here and there to complete objectives, do as he decreed... he could never understand the true her.

She was not even sure that she understood the true her... She had little understanding of such things...

"I understand, my Master Gonzap," she replied, her voice impassive.

Gonzap chuckled softly, before placing a quick peck on her left cheek. If Kimberly was not so unaccustomed to showing emotion, she would have winced and pulled away from such a loathsome gesture. She hated Gonzap, hated how cruel and uncaring he was. "Good girl. Off you fly now, my Valkyrie."

Silently as shadow, Kimberly strode off to complete her master's objective.

None of them—not Kimberly, nor Gonzap, nor Travis or Sierra—could have guessed what changes lay ahead for all of them...