Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 3: Answering The Question

The police station witness waiting room was extremely boring to be in, Keith thought. There was nothing he could do except wait. Pokémon were prohibited; the walls were barren; and there was nothing to keep him occupied otherwise. All he had was his thoughts as they tried to make sense of the past few hours.

Danny and Max, criminals? The police sure seemed to think so, demanding that Keith and Jane – who he had been visiting at the time – come to the station to tell them about the two 'fugitives'. The officer hadn't said it like that, but contrary to what Keith sometimes felt in the presence of his three best friends, he wasn't stupid, and certainly not stupid enough to not read between those lines.

A female officer, though not a Jenny, called his name. He finally got up from his uncomfortable seat, stretching before following the brunette down a few cold hallways in complete silence. After turning one last corner, they met a moustached middle-aged man, with salt and pepper hair. "Mister Ya," he addressed Keith as the woman escorting him stepped aside. "My name is detective inspector Roms, and this is constable Ward. We would like you to answer some questions regarding Daniel Birch and Max Maple." Keith nodded in return before going through the door the man was holding open for him.

The interrogation room was not empty. The occupant of the chair turned around as Keith shuffled in, and a woman with short hair stood up. "Mister Ya," she said warmly, holding out a hand to him. He shook it automatically. "I am here to..."

"What are you here for?" Roms interjected rudely, causing Keith to turn around to see that both officers had entered the room. "The interview with your client has been concluded."

"With one client," the woman corrected merrily. "However, she and her parents requested me to extend my services to this young man, and I accepted." She turned to Keith. "I am Izumi Maki, and I am here in my professional capacity as a solicitor – a lawyer – to help you. Do you wish to retain my services?"

Keith wasn't certain what to make of a lawyer being here for him, but if Jane and her parents recommended it… He probably should accept. "I do," he said.

"Marvellous," Ms. Maki replied. "Now, detective inspector, I would like it if you left the room so I can confer with my client, pursuant to..."

"You do that," the man said, sounding like he'd bit into a lemon all of a sudden. "Open the door when you're done."

The slam made clear that the man was agitated at Keith's acceptance of the lawyer's services. She didn't seem to care, instead sending out a bronzor. It fired off a psionic pulse that Keith felt whoosh over him, and then an almost opaque shield appeared. "His dislike of me stems from a case some time last year," Ms. Maki explained quickly as she pulled out a notepad, jotting down a few things in shorthand. "But that was then. This is now. I imagine you have questions."

Keith did, but the first that he blurted out was "Will I have to pay for this?"

The laugh was clear, echoing inside their little bubble. "Technically, you should have asked that before," the lawyer told him. "But this is pro bono work, for which lawyers like me either lower or waive fees entirely. In this case, the costs are waived." She turned a few pages back as Keith nodded mutely. "Let me outline what I'm here for, and if you have any questions after that, ask them."

He could accept that, and he leant forward, ears perked up as he prepared to listen to the explanation.

"You are here because two of your friends are accused of breaking the law and then fleeing from justice earlier today. This interview, like the one with my previous client, your girlfriend, is designed to tell them everything about your friends. Unless you committed a serious crime yourself on Hoenn territory, you cannot be charged with anything from what you tell them. Mostly."

A snippet of memory shot to the front of Keith's mind. "Don't lie to the police, right? That's an exception?"

"Indeed," Ms. Maki confirmed. "Something you probably picked up on one of those visits of the police to your school when you were younger. What they don't tell you is that it doesn't mean you should tell them everything in as much detail as you have to. It is in your – and your friends' – best interest to keep your answers concise and clear. For example, if you're asked how many Pokémon you have, you answer with a number, and not a list of which Pokémon you have. If you are able to answer a question with a 'yes' or 'no', do so.

"Secondly, and this may surprise you… You are allowed to terminate this interview at any point, and you are also allowed to refuse to answer any and all questions. You are aiding the police. You were not a witness to any of the charges, and as such, they have no power to hold you here. Any statements otherwise are bold-faced lies, and any angry looks or threats are empty." She smiled at him. "Any questions so far?"

"So… Keep it short and simple, don't lie, and don't answer if I don't want to?" Keith summarised after sorting everything out in his head. "Oh, and they pretty much can't do anything to me."

Ms. Maki smiled once again. "Words to live by," she said, before taking a deep breath. "My role here is to help you understand and make sure there is no ambiguity. If you don't understand a question, look towards me, and I will ask them to elaborate. If they ask questions that are outside their jurisdiction, I will interject and have it stricken from the record."

"Jurisdiction?"

"Breaking Kalosian law is completely irrelevant. What matters is what you did in Hoenn. It's not an issue that should come up, but given what happened two months ago, it is a possibility that they might fish for it."

He could understand that, and he vaguely remembered a chat at the award ceremony about the interpretation of the law that made a bit more sense now. Relatively speaking. "Okay. Anything else?"

"Not particularly, except that you're entitled to a drink and should probably ask for one before the interview starts. Just so we aren't interrupted." Amusement bubbled in Keith's chest as the lawyer, or solicitor, or whatever, said that. "You'll be fine. Stick to your words of earlier, use your brain, and you'll be able to go off with your girlfriend before you know it." Ms. Maki rose from her seat, the opaque barrier shimmering. "Are you ready?"

He was.

"Mister Ya," the constable said a few minutes later as everyone had taken their seats; a glass of water in front of Keith after requesting it once the door had opened. "Thank you for taking time out of your day to help us. I imagine that Trainers like you are often busy planning where to go next and, well, training. To hear about your friends running away like that must have been… Shocking."

"Or maybe he knew about it beforehand," the detective inspector interjected darkly. "Let's do this properly. You are Keith Ya, fourteen years old, born in Rustboro, birthday the fourteenth of October?"

"Yes, I am."

"How long have you been friends with Misters Birch and Maple?"

He had to think a bit about that question. "A bit under a year," Keith answered eventually.

"Didn't you go to school with them?" Miss Ward asked. "Didn't you give a talk and a demonstration last Tuesday?"

"I did, but we weren't really friends back then," Keith said. "So that does not count."

"When the facility was destroyed, you were not friends?" Mr. Roms asked as he made a note. "Strange that you were involved with them in Kalos, then."

Keith held his tongue, identifying that there was some kind of implied question, but not really wanting to figure it out. "What my colleague means to ask," Miss Ward eventually spoke up, "is how you came to be in the situations you were in. Fighting against a villainous organisation and all."

"Honestly, it was being at the wrong place at the wrong time." Keith shrugged before sipping his water. "Or the right place. I'm still not sure."

"And during those fights, did you ever see either suspect intentionally harm human or Pokémon?"

"Define 'intentionally harm'," Ms. Maki spoke up in response to the constable's question. "Pokémon battles aren't non-violent."

"Intentionally harm beyond what you'd recognise as normal, then," came the allowance.

It made Keith's answer all the easier. "No. Danny did not do that in Coumarine, and I split from them in Geosenge."

"I'm hearing nothing about Maple in Coumarine."

The middle-aged man was getting on Keith's nerves, and he took another sip to make sure he didn't spit something out in his anger. "Max was attacked himself at the start of that. A joltik used Thunder Fang on him."

"And of course, any harsh reaction from Mr. Maple's Pokémon is to be expected, given the injury to their Trainer," Ms Maki added helpfully, saying what Keith had been thinking. She phrased it better than he ever could. "What happened in Kalos is a matter of public record, easily looked up instead of asking my client about a time that his life was under threat."

"Alright. To the best of your knowledge, did Birch and Maple ever meet with..."

~~§~~§~~

"I don't know if my colleague met my son and his friend," Norman said in response to the question he had just been asked. "If it happened… My best guess is that it was at the Ever Grande Conference of last December, but I struggle to think of the exact time. He was only there for a few days." He thought for a few seconds. "It is possible that Reginald flew out to meet them at some point, but then the window opens up to pretty much the full nine months between the boys leaving and the end of the Ever Grande Conference."

The police chief opposite Norman nodded slowly, making yet another note on his pad. "There was no indication of an unhealthy interest, such as asking after them constantly, wanting to see pictures..."

"Just the usual workplace gossip," Norman stated with absolute certainty. "If anything, he paid little attention to it."

"Any reason for that approach?"

"I never asked him, but..." Norman said, pausing to formulate his thoughts. "He is the type of Gym Leader who trusts his own observations in a Gym Battle over anything else."

"Earlier you mentioned that you thought it unlikely your son was responsible for the death of the kirlia. Can you explain that in more detail?"

"While with his sister, Max found a sick ralts," Norman said, hoping that the police would believe what he knew to be true. "Max took a shine to the Pokémon and took it to the Pokémon Center despite some thugs trying to intimidate him. He got there barely in time, and the two promised to meet up when Max was an actual Trainer." A short break to let the man finish scribbling. "Max and Danny left for Izabe Island, where Max had met the ralts, on the day they started out, but once they got there, they received the news that the Pokémon had been poached. He… Max didn't take it well."

"Could you elaborate?"

"Physical illness, thinking the world is ending like only pre-teens can," Norman said as he remembered those calls vividly. "He received a ralts figurine for Yule from one of his friends, and Danny gave him a T-shirt with ralts on it for his birthday. I think he mentioned getting on well with a boy from Kalos with one too."

The chief nodded, seeming to agree with Norman's implication that Max would not in a million years do intentional harm to a ralts or its evolutionary family. "Are there any contacts they have outside of Hoenn and Kalos? Places they might go to?"

"Professor Oak, two Gym Leaders, Ash Ketchum, all in Kanto," the Gym Leader listed off quickly. "But they took everything they needed to travel. If they wanted to go to Johto outright, they could. If Reginald doesn't hold them or something."

One final note, and the chief rose, prompting Norman to do that as well. "It's more likely that they left of their own volition. Evidence points that way. Whether it is from being misled or being truly involved… I cannot speculate."

The men agreed to share new information if it came to light, but privately, Norman wasn't expecting much. If Reginald had turned, he was more than capable of staying out of sight. If the teenagers were truly involved, they had enough of a brain to do the same until they reached Kalos, where they were legitimate heroes. There were enough ways of traversing the parts of the globe in between here and there. Expensive ways, often, but they were hardly poor.

Caroline waited for him just outside of the station, looking fragile, and they instantly embraced, drawing strength from each other. "Do you…" she started softly as they went on their way home. "Do you think they'll be found?"

He couldn't lie. Not to her. "I doubt it," Norman returned, equally softly, his throat scratchy. "I hope so, but…"

I thought the same," his wife admitted. "Did we do something wrong, Norman? Did we raise him wrong?"

"Never," he said, drawing her closer, emotions calmed by the contact. "If anything, we raised him too right."

~~§~~§~~

Friday. One week into her sort-of-grounded punishment for getting into trouble. Sort of, because Serena and her Mum had been spending a lot of time together watching sappy films, having a spa visit, sharing normal stories about their travels, and the like. They were going to the rhyhorn racing tracks near Aquacorde that afternoon, something Serena actually looked forward to.

Maybe that stupid saying did have something to it, about absence making the heart grow fonder. She hadn't been on a racing rhyhorn since her knee was injured, over a year and a half before, but thanks to a miracle that had happened in Geosenge, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her knee any longer. Xerneas had healed it, and everything in a ten mile radius around the Legendary. Wounds had closed, concussions had vanished, broken bones had been mended – or unbroken, she amended, remembering Danny saying something about that – and even cancer patients in the Geosenge hospital had been fully healed in that one Heal Pulse.

Mum had been amazed as well, but to Serena's surprise, there hadn't been a real push to make her take up the family racing business. The reason they were going to the racing track was to teach, and not to race, and as far as she knew, that hadn't changed.

Maybe that habit had died. One that hadn't was that of getting up early by old-Serena standards. Over the year she'd spent with Danny and Max, she'd gotten used to rising at a reasonable hour, which was why she was grabbing some easy breakfast for the two of them as her mother took a shower to start the day. It was about half past eight, and quite sunny outside, with barely any clouds to be seen.

She ran through what she had to do. The oven was still warming up, the juice machine was clean, and the butter needed to stay in the fridge for now. She'd already grabbed glasses and plates, and with a quick look at the timer she'd set for the oven – still seven minutes – she walked towards the television, quickly turning it on, hoping to find something fun to watch.

As she was looking for the remote, however, Serena heard something she hadn't been expecting. "And now to our correspondent in Hoenn. Nicole, what can you tell us?"

"Well, Alain, we are waiting for a press conference from the Petalburg police for more details. So far, however, it seems that a warrant has been put out on Daniel Birch and Max Maple for allegedly participating in the destruction of a private research laboratory and being involved in the death of a Psychic-type Pokémon in there. They caught wind of the police wanting to arrest them, however, and flew on the back of several Dragon-type Pokémon. Rumours has it a Hoenn Gym Leader was involved with that, but no confirmation has been given for that."

"Sounds like your friends are in a bit of trouble with the law," her Mum's voice came from behind her, fletchling flying into the room as well and instantly finding the remote, muting the broadcast. "Did they tell you something about that?"

Serena quickly unmuted the broadcast. "… was destroyed in July of last year. It was set up to research Psychic-type Pokémon, though only one was actually present at the time."

July, a laboratory, a Psychic Pokémon… The ideas echoed around Serena's brain once before crashing into perfect clarity. She knew what that was referring to, and it was just so wrong.

"Serena?" her mother asked, gently poking her right arm. "Is it true? Did they do that?"

Before the Performer, soon-to-be-Coordinator, could reply, the doorbell rang, pretty insistently, and Serena jumped on the opportunity to not answer just yet. "Coming!" she shouted, wondering who it could be.

She had not been expecting Diantha and her gardevoir; the latter gently opening the door a bit further once Serena froze at the sight of the Kalos Champion. "I am sorry, Miss Galbena, Serena," Diantha said as she entered gracefully, immediately closing the door behind her. "But something happened that required me to go here."

"Serena, who is..." her Mum said as walked into the hallway as well, falling silent when she saw who had entered. "Err… Welcome, Champion."

"Mrs. Galbena," Diantha greeted with a small bow, Serena half-noticing her mother returning a full bow. "I apologise for dropping by unannounced, but overnight developments forced my hand," she said before turning to Serena once again. "Did you have any contact with your friends after they left Kalos?"

The thirteen year old shook her head. "No. But… They didn't do that. You—"

"I know," Diantha said soothingly, and the gardevoir tittered, a soft pulse of energy wafting over Serena, and a bit of tension drained from her body. "They only told me the barest details, but it was enough. On top of that, something like what they're accused of leaves an emotional mark: something empathic Pokémon can easily pick up on."

Serena understood immediately. "Like gardevoir could."

She was graced with the gentle smile that was basically Diantha's trademark. "Indeed. I have no doubt they are innocent of what they are charged with." A sigh, mirrored by the gardevoir. "But as good as my word is, I've only met them a few times, and there are a few in the government who would like a source closer to them. Just to confirm everything."

There was something slightly off about what Diantha was saying, Serena felt, but she had no idea what it was, or even where to start. It also didn't matter. Danny and Max were her friends, and she'd tell the truth about them until she fell over from exhaustion. "Mum? I know that..."

"Go get dressed Serena. I'll finish up our breakfast. She is still allowed to eat that before leaving, right?"

"I wouldn't come between anyone and their breakfast."

Barely twenty minutes later, Serena found herself standing in front of a very recognisable building: the Kalos Foreign Affairs building in all its old and stately glory. She'd been here once before, on a two day trip with school, not long before tearing her ACL, and as she remembered that, she recalled something else. Only a few people actually worked here. Most people working for the Foreign Affairs ministry worked somewhere else down town. "Uh… Champion Diantha? Who exactly wanted to know more?"

Diantha smiled down at the teenager, and her gardevoir sent over reassurance. "Quite a few people, right up to the President." That caused Serena to freeze, and she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder. "Don't worry. We all want to help your friends."

"Okay..." Serena said softly as they walked up the stairs. The door opened before them, revealing a richly decorated entrance hall, with two people waiting at the end, the taller male standing behind the elegantly dressed woman in her late twenties, if Serena had to guess.

At a lark, Serena glanced left, spotting a duo of stoic and bulky guards to their right, a pitch-black Pokémon half-hidden in the shadow of a plinth. She put the umbreon out of mind as Diantha led the way.

"Champion Diantha, Miss Serena Galbena," the woman said, the hard, almost harsh, way she said the words revealing she was from around Laverre. "Good to see you at such short notice. President Lumière was adamant we find out the veracity of the claims the Hoenn government are making."

Somehow, Serena didn't feel the woman thought much of those claims, and it was with a slightly lighter heart that she let herself be led deeper into the building.

~~§~~§~~

Brock cooking dinner for Ash, Misty, and himself felt just like old times. Even if it had been nearly four years since they had last travelled with just the three of them, before Misty went back to the Cerulean Gym, it genuinely felt as if nothing had changed. "We need to do this more often," Ash said as he pushed his plate back on the round table. "And I'm not just saying that because I just want to taste Brock's cooking!" he added before Misty could add a teasing remark.

"It's fun. Like old times. Not sure why we didn't do it before," Misty agreed, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "I mean, Brock and I meet up every so often anyway for Gym Leader stuff. No reason we can't do something like this afterwards. It's cheaper and better than a restaurant."

"And Ash has charizard to get around from anywhere in the region," Brock added as he sat back, looking pleased with himself at the compliments. "I should know."

Ash grinned. He'd sent charizard to get Brock over to Misty's place in Cerulean. "I prefer walking somewhere, but for going somewhere fast, it's great." He wiped the grin off his face, knowing what was to come. "I need to tell you something."

"If you've somehow found yourself a girlfriend before Brock did, colour me surprised," Misty replied instantly, and Ash found himself glad he wasn't drinking anything.

Brock wasn't as lucky, and pikachu went into a coughing fit of his own.

"Nothing like that," Ash said after everyone had recovered. "I think I need to come out and say I'm a member of the Pokémon G-men. Officially, I mean."

Both of them worked through the statement. Misty was faster. "This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened in Hoenn, right?"

"You are basically implicated in it already," Brock added. "It's just that accusing people without actual proof is frowned upon. Wonder how they got proof for Max and Danny..." A soft shake of the head. "I'm assuming the account that was put out from Kalos matches yours pretty closely, by the way."

Ash had seen that, and he had wondered how it had been so accurate until Lance had informed him of the source: the girl that had accompanied Max and Danny in Kalos. "Pretty much identical. That's why Lance is pushing me to go public, too. It adds legitimacy, he said."

"You wouldn't be able to do stealth missions any longer." Ash looked over at Misty, who turned her head to look at pikachu meaningfully when she caught Ash's gaze. "But that's no harm. You're pretty pants at subtlety."

"I can be subtle," Ash protested.

"With great effort for little gain, and you'd have to give pikachu up for them anyway," Misty countered. "Meanwhile, you have a team of Pokémon that's great at crisis response and visibly helping. I don't see the downside."

Across the table, Brock nodded slowly. "Misty is right. There aren't any real downsides, and we might be able to make people look at the G-men more favourably if you do it really right. Emphasise you've got a bit of experience with stopping big Legendary fights and all that." He put a hand to his chin. "Going to need a good press release for that..."

"We can't just say I am a member and be done with it?" Ash asked, not able to keep the whine out of his voice, and flinching at the 'are you stupid?' looks he was given. "Can you help me?"

"Wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise. Misty?"

The redhead shrugged. "I'm not great at stuff like this, but Lily is. Mind if I see if she can help?"

Any help was help Ash was going to accept, and the redhead soon went into an adjacent room to make the call. "You said something about the big Legendary fights?"

"Be honest, Ash. How many times have we – you, really – found and fought or really helped some kind of Legendary?"

Ash wasn't even certain himself. "Shamouti, Greenfield, Celebi," he started, counting on his fingers. "Lugia in the Whirl Islands, Altomare, Jirachi, LaRousse, Groudon and Kyogre, Tree of Beginning, Manaphy." He ran out of fingers, but there was only one left. "And Alamos Town in Sinnoh."

"That's eleven times. I'm sure one or two of those we can use and not remind everyone that Pokémon can be dangerous too." The Rock-type Gym Leader thought for a moment, hand on chin. "I've got an idea, but..."

The black-haired teenager let out a deep sigh, knowing where Brock was heading. "Altomare or the Tree of Beginning?"

"Altomare." Brock did look sorry for bringing it up. "That, and the Whirl Islands."

Misty returned before Ash could reply. "Caught her on a free night. She's coming over in ten minutes." She sat down, taking a closer look at Ash. "Brock suggested we use Altomare as an example?"

"How..."

"I've got a working brain," came the interjection. "And as stupidly upbeat as you are, there's only like four topics that get you this down anyway." The clock on the wall let out eight seel barks. "I can explain it to Lily if you want me to."

"No," Ash said, surprising himself. "I mean… It'd give her a better idea of what I feel about it if I did it, right? So I should do it."

"If you're sure..."

Honestly, he wasn't, but he'd jumped in now.

~~§~~§~~

A large stadium on a hill overshadowed the Pummelo Island harbour and adjacent town, visible from the moment the sun rose above the horizon. The S.S. Brian was deftly navigated to a free pier, but when Max and Danny made to disembark, they were held back by the ship's owner. "You've thought about what to do when Kanto doesn't accept you?" the former Elite Four member asked gruffly, wearing his usual captain's clothing and a plain white shirt underneath. "We can't take you, you know this."

"Then we're in deep shit," Max replied, shrugging. "It's too far to Kalos and of the Home Regions, Kanto is the best option."

It wasn't ideal, Max and Drake both knew, but the Dragon-type Master nodded regardless. "Let's hope Reginald managed to convince the bureaucrats, then."

"Weren't you all about not trusting in hope?" Danny asked from Max's side, shuffling a foot on the wooden deck. "You told Max something like that on top of Meteor Falls."

"Hah. Well-remembered, but for one detail. I said to not leave to chance that which you can control," Drake said, looking and sounding pleased. "You can't control this. Someone with more life experience than you might be able to minimise negative outcomes, but even the most slick sliver-tongued politician in all the world can't control events on this scale." Danny made a noise of understanding. "Now go, and nurture the fire that burns within you."

"The fire that burns within us?" Danny echoed a minute later as they reached the beginning of the pier. "Sounds like something Dad might say."

Max took a step sideways to avoid bumping into a munchlax waddling past. "Fire needs fuel, right? That explains why you ate so much on board."

"And that's why you're still small," Danny retorted instantly, gleefully. "Well, you getting seasick on Saturday didn't help..."

On cue, Max's stomach gurgled, reminding them that breakfast hadn't happened yet, since they had been so close to the harbour the night before. Max checked his watch: quarter to eight. "Thanks for reminding me and my stomach," he said, fishing his wallet from his pocket and checking how much he had on hand. "About seven thousand. Should be plenty for breakfast. That first, then Pokémon Center?"

A bit of murmured agreement later, the teenagers set off to find something that was actually open. From where they'd stood, Max had spotted at least one place to find some dinner, but most of those only opened at nine, which was when the earliest ferries from other islands in the area came in after an overnight trip. Fitzwilliam had wanted to avoid those specifically because they'd just make everything troublesome.

A small corner shop proved to be the first place they could actually buy food in, and though the woman at the register gave them a surprised look, she didn't press for questions why the obviously non-native boys – the Orange Islands had as much sun a year as Hoenn, and neither of them were that tanned after spending a year in Kalos – were out for food that early. They kept it simple, Max picking up a portion of steamed rice and some fruit, while Danny grabbed a few sandwiches.

They sat down on a nearby bench as the sun started to peek through the clouds that had been overhead, and started eating. Max was halfway through his breakfast when Danny's fingers rapped on the wood. "Anything you want to do while we're here?" he asked.

"Find out if we're allowed into Kanto."

Danny waved Max's words away. "After that. Reginald's on that, and you've got a few friends who can vouch for us."

Being relentlessly optimistic had been Danny's way of dealing with everything, Max thought, and he pushed his annoyance down. If it made him feel better… "Well… Ash won in the Orange League and there's a Hall of Fame here. I wanna check that out, and if there's a match scheduled before we have to leave, maybe try to watch it."

"Have to make sure we're not out of funds completely before that," Danny remarked. "I just hope we can withdraw from a Kalos bank here."

"We signed up for worldwide service because you wanted it," Max reminded Danny. They'd gone for a Kalosian account because Home Regions banks were incredibly strict on foreign withdrawals, most of them not allowing more than four thousand Pokédollars per day. "I still don't get why you wanted that."

Danny's laugh was a bit embarrassed. "Well… I was afraid I'd forget to fix everything while we were home after Kalos, and I didn't want to be out of funds. Hey," he added when Max turned to him in disbelief. "I didn't know about the withdrawal limits, and I didn't want to be caught out again."

The blue-haired teenager shook his head, feeling a grin on his face despite it all. "And then we couldn't close the accounts while in Kalos because we were still waiting for prize and award money..." Another shake. "That idea of yours worked out pretty well, I'd say."

"It did—"

A sweeping and intense burst of string instruments interrupted Danny as someone rang Max's Pokénav for the first time since they'd left Petalburg, now a week back to the day. "Hang on… I know that number," Max muttered as he saw the display, quickly pressing a button to accept the call. "Yes?"

"Ah, hello Max," came the instantly recognisable voice of Professor Oak. "I know you're on Pummelo Island. Can you get to the Pokémon Center as soon as you can and call me back?"

And with that, the Professor hung up, leaving two very confused teenagers sitting on a bench.

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

When asked about the press release that Ketchum put out, Lord Charles Cavendish, owner of the destroyed laboratory, had the following to say: "It does not surprise me that a more powerful Trainer was present at the time. The involvement of the Pokémon G-men is troubling, however,. My understanding was that their mandate was more restrictive than this. It should be ascertained whether any agreements or laws were broken by this unilateral operation on sovereign soil, and if so, what that means for the status of this once venerable organisation."

Author's Note: To my surprise when checking Bulbapedia, Pummelo is actually one of the more northerly Orange Islands, making it a perfect drop-off point without going into Pallet immediately.

As a reminder: Pokédollars are analogous to yen.