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 6: Yet Another Journey

Daylight was basically non-existent by the time Max and Danny arrived in New Bark Town, thanks to a patch of frozen forest around where the Pokénav said the Kanto-Johto border was. It wasn't insurmountable to cross, but it was slippery, and Max suspected some Ice-type Pokémon had made a habitat there during the recent weather.

Still, they'd left Pallet Town only that morning, and it was with that in mind that both of them headed over to Professor Elm's laboratory for a quick greeting and a package delivery. Professor Oak had asked them to take a peculiar box over, and after everything that he had done for both of them, neither Max nor Danny really felt like they could say no.

Not that they would've in the first place. It wasn't even out of the way: the New Bark Town Center was by far the easiest one to reach in one day's worth of walking. With neither of them really wanting to test their new outdoors gear just yet, it made sense to go there. All this did was to add an extra stop in the town itself.

The Professor came to the front door himself. Unlike the Pallet Town and Littleroot Laboratories, Professor Elm's was pretty small, only housing a few Pokémon, with most of them in pokéball storage. There were also only a few assistants, and after dark on a holiday Sunday? Elm was probably the only one there. "I wasn't expecting you today," the balding Professor said as he opened the door. "When Professor Oak said that you had left this morning, I was expecting you tomorrow, maybe a day after." He stepped aside, allowing them in. "You didn't walk close to thirty miles in one day, did you?"

It was a lot warmer inside, and Max immediately opened his coat so he didn't overheat. "We cheated," he said. "I've been to the Battle Tower before and I've got a xatu."

"That would do it," Elm said with a smile as they walked through the small laboratory. It felt quite homely, with a lot of pictures on the walls. Most of them were of Trainers and their Pokémon, though there were a few of Elm and assistants – Max assumed – as well. "And may I be the first to welcome you to Johto? I think we're all hoping your stay here is going to be fairly uneventful."

Max doubted that was going to be the case, but he fully planned on being the one creating the noise by winning tournaments.

"Why did Professor Oak have us bring this? You can send items over the Pokémon Transfer Network, right?" Danny asked as he got the small box out of his pack. The base wasn't much bigger than Max's hand, and it was about half a hand high.

"You've heard of porygon, I assume," Elm started as he took the box and placed it on a counter. "Computer-based Pokémon with only limited ways of manifesting themselves in the physical world." The Johtoan waited to see if they followed. "More advanced systems exist digitally, but not physically. One of Professor Oak's acquaintances theorised it should be possible to upgrade them in the real world; make them faster, more adept at doing several things at once." He lifted the box up. "This is a device that will install the upgrade onto a system. Oak's already tested it, as has the inventor, and I'm going to test if it works with older generations of porygon as well."

Then why… "A physical device to upgrade it?"

"Prototype. If it works, it'll all be digital. I think," Elm said, shrugging, which looked weird on someone of his importance. "But if it doesn't, and it somehow gets onto the internet… That'd be pretty bad."

Max wasn't sure if he understood it fully, but caution sounded right. "I guess you won't be able to register us, then?"

That got a laugh. "Afraid not. I took my computer off the network or a few days – don't worry, all the Trainers know," he added. "The Pokémon Center should be fine, and this time of year, it's not going to be full. I assume you know where it is?"

"A mile south of here, right?"

"More south-west, but that's splitting hairs," Elm replied. "Danny, Max, thank you for delivering this to me so quickly."

It was a bit abrupt, but Max couldn't blame the likeable Professor. If it was an upgrade to the porygon system, then that was a huge development in some fields.

The Pokémon Center was easily found, and as Elm had said, it was even emptier than he'd been expecting, Then again, their last experiences with Pokémon Centers – on busy holiday islands and in the largest city he'd ever been to – weren't standard by any stretch. For a bit of an out of the way town at the end of the year, only five others sounded about right. They were offered one person rooms because they were free anyway, but they declined.

It wasn't just Professor Oak's warning from two weeks prior that made them opt to do that, it was also that sleeping alone in a room had felt weird. Several of Max's smaller Pokémon had spent the night in his room in the week he'd been home, and Danny had told him that he'd done the same. Serena had done that as well, she'd told them over Yule.

"Wait, aren't you..." he heard as he stepped back out after depositing all of his stuff and heading out to the cafeteria to order some dinner for the both of them. "You are, aren't you..."

Max turned around to look at the speaker: a boy who was a bit taller than he was, and shorter than Danny, but older than both of them if the hair and acne on his face were any indication. "Yes?" he asked, hoping that this wasn't going to be about what he did in Kalos.

"You're Max Maple, aren't you? From Hoenn. You got accused of destroying something."

Perhaps Kalos was the better reason to be recognised. "Yeah. I am."

No reply came as the teenager hurried away. Max wanted to call after him, but Danny's hand on his shoulder stopped that, and he turned around. "You scaring people just with looks now?"

Max suddenly realised he was glaring – had been since replying for the last time – and he shook his head, trying to fix his expression. "You heard what he said?"

"I can guess. There aren't a lot of things that get y… No wait, that's wrong," Danny corrected himself, and there was definite amusement in his voice. "There are a lot of things that get you angry, but only a few that others would talk about."

Max sighed deeply, maybe exaggerating a bit. "However did you guess that," he drawled.

"Been your best friend for years. Ought to count for something."

~~§~~§~~

There wouldn't be any fireworks this year, but that didn't stop Max and Danny from staying up all night on New Year's Eve. They had the Pokémon Center to themselves: only Nurse Joy and her Pokémon making sure they could actually stay there. Everyone else had left for Cherrygrove, about eight miles south beyond a patch of forest. Neither of them particularly cared for the fireworks show, and after what had happened in New Bark Town, Danny had suggested that they skip town, literally.

Ash had called them crazy for liking this, but having nobody around was great after spending the past month around people constantly, always with something to do. Both of them had liked working for and with Professor Oak, and Max had enjoyed the fights in the snow with the local children, sure. It had kept them occupied, without sinking too much into thinking about what was happening in Hoenn, but it was also constantly busy and a bit draining, if Max were honest.

The last night of the year was a good one to look back, though, and with all the important bits of Kalos already discussed the day before they left Pallet Town… There was only one real thing left to reflect on, and it wasn't a happy topic.

Attacks were still going on, at a lower rate than before. The government was claiming this was due to the new regulations, but that explanation sucked. Even if Max hadn't known that there was foul play, it wouldn't have made much sense. Pokémon weren't being taken away from Trainers who hadn't qualified just yet: there was a transition period of a few months. It just was quieter.

Honestly, he thought it was more likely that the ones behind it all were throwing Hoenn a bone by not attacking everywhere over the holidays. He knew better than nearly everyone that villainous organisations were human too.

Footsteps announced Danny's presence, and when Max looked up, he saw that Danny was wearing the new pyjamas that Delia had given him for Yule. Striped blue and black, and according to the wearer, really comfortable. It was, however, not nearly midnight yet. The clock in the corner said there were about twenty-five minutes remaining. "I thought you wanted to stay up?"

"I do," Danny said as he sat down, grabbing a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the table. "But why wear day clothing when we're the only ones here? It's late enough anyway to wear them." He scarfed down the snack. "You didn't think too dark stuff while I was in the shower, right?"

"Can you blame me if I did?"

"Nah," Danny shot back casually. "But to keep you from sulking too much, I want to be there for it. Nuh-uh," he said as he twisted out of the way of Max's attempted punch to the arm. "It's about both of us, so we get to talk about it with the two of us."

A bit of annoyance flared, but it made sense. "Just thinking about Hoenn. How it's supposed to be safer now thanks to those new regulations." He scoffed, seeing Danny shake his head. "It doesn't work like that."

"I can already hear Gary say something about how stupid people are," Danny replied softly, and Max took a moment to imagine just that. "It's something he'd totally say. He knows his stuff, but he is so arrogant about it."

Max agreed, but he hadn't minded that attitude as much as Danny apparently did. "Professor Oak tries to puncture the ego, he told me once. It doesn't always work."

"You'd think Gary would be immune to that by now." A shake, and a new round of snacking. "Speaking of stupid, did you see what your sister said?"

Max could imagine what May was saying. He knew how she thought rather too well. "Something like..." He coughed once. "Please come home Max, it's all just a big misunderstanding."

Damn, he was still really good at that high pitched voice. Stupid hormones. At least Danny smiled at the impression, before looking as annoyed as Max had ever seen him outside of being angry for real. "Close enough. Said something about how she hoped we weren't being used by others."

Dark laughter bubbled up, escaping in a harsh bark. "Yeah, she'd know all about that," Max said before sipping from his juice. "Should've known she'd be the one ratting us out. The one time I don't keep a secret because she made me angry."

"Said it before, will say it again, Max. It wasn't your fault. She was way out of line with that. Seriously," Danny said. "Did she get dropped on her head as a child? You don't tell people 'oh, this Pokémon you wanted might be dead' just like that. And she should've known better about Ash. Come on, they travelled together for twenty months. How can you not know what people are like by that time?" A short pause. "Why are you smirking?"

"Isn't it the other way around usually?" Max said, trying to sound over-the-top innocent. "Didn't know you could even rant like that."

"I had a good teacher."

Max had to hand that one to him. "Touché," he said before making a grab for more peanuts, and finding the bottom of the bowl. "Should we get more or..."

"Nah," the other teenager replied nonchalantly. "Dunno about you, but I'll probably go to bed soon after midnight. Just want to see the new year." He looked around for a moment. "You want to do the same thing we did last year? I'm sure Nurse Joy wouldn't mind."

The answer to that was three taps on Max's pokéballs, and sceptile, manectric, and xatu came out, joined by diggersby, klefki, and helioptile a moment later. "All Kalos Pokémon. Are you trying to say something here?"

That made Danny chuckle. "No. The other three are swampert, aggron, and drapion. The tables are stuck to the floor, y'know."

Max still thought there was room for at least one of them, but he let it go, mostly because manectric decided to hop on the chair beside him and start asking for pets after recognising that there was no danger. She'd started doing more of that recently, and Max didn't mind at all. It was soothing and never failed to calm him down. In fact…

In fact all of his Pokémon had been acting a bit differently. Sceptile was just a bit less stoic, clefairy had been even more mothering than before, vulpix occasionally spent the night at the bottom of his bed even after he and Danny had started sleeping in the same room again, ninjask had been oddly eager to fly through cold weather a few times, zipping through the sky overhead. Scouting. "You're trying to help me, aren't you?"

The question was addressed at sceptile, and the Grass-type's answer was a deeply satisfied smirk. "Tile, sce?" he asked in return, smug as anything.

That was probably a question if it was working, or something similar, and with a smile, Max had to concede that it was. "Did he put you up to it?" he continued, jabbing a thumb in Danny's direction.

"Tu."

The monosyllabic answer from the Psychic-type was somehow saturated with amused outrage that Max thought such a thing possible, and one look at Danny's face revealed that he, too, got that message. It caused a bubble of full laughter to erupt, and Danny's indignant shout made that even worse.

He ran out of breath eventually. "Oh, man," Max said as he tried to get air back into his lungs. "I needed that."

"Glad to have helped in some way," Danny added drily, but there was no rancour to it. "It makes a lot of sense, actually. Are you lot in on this as well?" A one-eared salute was the answer. "I should've known."

"You're the best family I could've asked for," Max blurted out. He wasn't sure where the thought had come from, but it felt right. "That includes you, Danny." As did that jab.

The fake outrage didn't appear. "Don't you miss them?"

Any and all cheer was dispelled, something heavy settling over them. "Every day," Max told Danny as softly as the question had been. "Mum and Dad, Aunt Louise, Uncle Philip, Evan… I hope they're not in trouble because of us running away. It's all I can do." And how he wished that it was different. "But I know they can't contact us, or we them. It's too dangerous, could lead to trouble… Stuff like that. I don't like it, but… It's what it is."

He didn't press further, and Danny didn't offer anything, but Max had a pretty good idea of where his best friend's thoughts were going. After spending the better part of twenty-two months travelling, how could he not?

~~§~~§~~

Ash had told them about the forest on the direct route between Cherrygrove and Violet City, not too far from Florando. He'd also told them about the Ghost-type Pokémon that called it home and their penchant for illusions. There'd been an interesting story there, but unlike Ash, Brock, and Misty way back then, they had one Pokémon capable of using Foresight to figure out what was real and what was not. "Time to keep us safe, dusclops," Danny said as they passed a sign that warned them of illusions ahead.

The Ghost-type nodded, walking alongside them. It made everything a bit slower, but the forest wasn't that big in the first place. By nightfall, they would be inside the next Pokémon Center, and if they somehow weren't, xatu could always Teleport them back.

"Aren't dusclops illusion users as well?" Max asked as they came across the first obstacle in the dark forest. A flash of red light revealed that the fallen tree was real, and Danny tested the wood to see if it wasn't rotten. It held his weight comfortably, and they climbed over it. "Never really thought about it much, but they do learn Will-O-Wisp."

The Ghost-type gave a reply after phasing through the tree, followed by a quick Will-O-Wisp that was kind of… "Looks like Will-O-Wisp is enough," Danny said as he shook his head violently, getting rid of a fuzzy feeling that hadn't been there moments ago. "Never seen you use it like that in battle, though."

"Focusing ruins it," Max said, and Danny turned towards him. "I figured dusclops was going to do it, so I just… Thought of other stuff." He shrugged. "Or maybe that's just Pokémon attacks not working as well on me."

Danny remembered that from last April Fools' Day, when Max had woken up earlier than he had expected his friend to after gulpin had used Yawn. It had still been long enough for the prank to work. "Should totally have you test more attacks now, just to find out if that's true."

A sharp flash blinded him, white at first, then red bleeding in. Danny saw a glimpse of some beach before Foresight chased it away. "A beach? It's two days into January!" Max said, throwing up his arms. "That's just insulting to think we'd fall for that."

An eerie feeling crept up Danny's back, and he resisted the urge to groan. "I think they're taking it as a challenge," he informed Max.

"Let them. It's a good challenge." He was looking forward to it too, Danny thought, and the older teenager didn't understand that. "If this was a dangerous place, Agatha would have come down on it years ago. Ghost-types were her area of expertise after all."

The logic was sound enough, Danny accepted, but he still didn't like it, and they continued in silence.

Nothing happened for a while, apart from dusclops occasionally checking to see if they weren't stuck in some insidious and hard to spot illusion, which allowed Danny to start thinking about the Will-O-Wisp trick he'd just seen dusclops use. "It's easy to ignore if you focus, right?"

Max got what Danny was referring to immediately. "Yeah. You can test that yourself when we're in a Center."

He would, just to see if it wasn't something Max had picked up elsewhere. "So it's not good in single battles for me because of my style, right?" A quick nod confirmed that Max was following. "But what if we do it in double battles? Like, xatu using Confusion and then Will-O-Wisp to hit them while they're recovering from that?"

"What did the Will-O-Wisp do?" Max asked. "I know the stories about little lights leading people off and how they're mesmerised by it, but what did it actually feel like? Up here," he added, tapping his temple before stopping abruptly, looking at a tree. "That's a beedrill nest. Let's not go there."

They struck left, heading a bit westerly. "It made me slower. Mentally," Danny said as another wave of red light pulsed out. "Like I was lazy and didn't really want to think too hard." There was something that it had reminded him of, but he wasn't certain what.

"Could be useful," Max agreed, stepping around a long-dead tree base. "If it slows them down long enough to be hit with something powerful, it's worth it."

"You said something about Future Sight while at Professor Oak's, I think. That could work. Do what Olympia did." Danny remembered something. "I think gardevoir can learn it as well. Meowstic can too, of course." Dusclops took that moment to speak up, the message clear. "And you too?"

The emphatic nod, as best the Ghost-type could give, was clear. "Guess we've got a lot of training planned out. Need to find a way to teach it to one Pokémon first, though," Max said, soon sinking into what Danny recognised as his friend trying to remember something. It made him keep an eye at what was ahead to make sure Max didn't fall face-first into something, but the path was fairly clear, and devoid of any illusions to boot. "Oh, I'm an idiot. Ash's absol knows it. We could ask them next month."

That sounded like the easiest way to learn it. They would be in the same location for about two weeks after all. "Gives you time to practice with gardevoir too." He shook his head, a half-snort escaping him. "Never thought I'd see too much power be a real problem."

"It's new, I think. Something to do with the evolution." Max shrugged, conveying everything he needed to. "Pokémon are strange, in all the best ways. And – and that's a beedrill nest again."

The shorter teenager made to turn left, but Danny grabbed him by the back of his pack, realising something. A sharp shiver snaked up his back. "Hang on. It's January, and we just had weeks of snow. When did the beedrill find time to nest?"

"I don't know, but I know what I see and—" Foresight washed over him and the area in front of the both of them. "Sneaky bastards."

The forest suddenly felt amused, as if all the Ghost-types were laughing at them. One or two of them were probably nearby enough to do that anyway, though they kept themselves well-hidden from dusclops and the Foresight apparently. "The last nest was probably fake as well. Should probably go a bit more north to adjust."

They did so, and apart from one more illusion as they were just about to exit – a pit that dusclops dispelled after hearing both of them yell in surprise from the sudden falling sensation even though they never moved – the trek was calm, and mostly filled with silence.

And no real or fake beedrill nests.

~~§~~§~~

Danny had a problem. Kind of. After arriving in Florando the night before, he had mentioned that they needed to practice strategies to deal with Falkner's Flying-types as well, and so they'd decided to stay there for a few days to practice before doing the two day walk to Violet City.

He wasn't sure how he hadn't realised most of his more powerful Pokémon were actually bad at dealing with Flying Pokémon in a Gym setting. In Leagues, there were all sorts of rules to make sure an airborne Pokémon couldn't just stay out of range indefinitely, but that was also the challenge of any Flying-type Gym Leader. At the level they were at now, you had to have something to make them fight instead of fly, and over half of his Pokémon were pants at that.

Aggron had nothing except to throw the terrain at the opponent, and swampert, gulpin, dusclops, drapion, diggersby, and ferroseed all didn't have much to force the issue. Some things, sure, but either it was slow or they were bad at dealing with dive bomb runs like Max's ninjask could do.

"I think I might have relied too much on froslass for my anti-Flying strategies," Danny admitted as they found themselves at an arena a stone's throw away from the Center. Max was carrying a small pot filled with something Danny hadn't caught. "And what's that for?"

A mutter under Max's breath – a count of Pokémon. "I see what you mean. Froslass, magnemite, masquerain, helioptile, spritzee, klefki, maybe loudred?"

That was one of the things Danny was hoping to find out. Masquerain probably wouldn't like the plan, though. "That's it, and if he has a talonflame, I'm in a bad way." They'd have to strategise a lot en-route to Violet. "Still don't know – is that cookie dough?"

Max smiled sheepishly. "Serena's idea, actually. I needed something that was malleable and easy to get for gardevoir's practice. I was thinking about water, or maybe snow, but, well..." Any snow that had fallen overnight had already vanished completely. "This is a bit more solid, too. Easier to see if he's putting too much power into it."

The older teen wasn't sure if it was genius or insanity or both, but the explanation made a bit of sense. He'd have to see it in action, he supposed. "And what are you going to do with your other Pokémon?"

"Autonomous dodging," was not the expected answer. "I've got a lot more ways to clip flying Pokémon's wings, remember. Ninjask are some of the fastest Flying-types out there, so if my Pokémon can dodge him…"

Danny ran through Max's collection of Pokémon in his head, instantly realising his friend was right about his team. Psychic-type Pokémon could stop wings, manectric was manectric, clefairy had Gravity, ninjask and doublade could fly themselves. "You're a lot better prepared than I am."

"Quirk of my team," Max said with a shrug. "And honestly… Teaching gardevoir restraint feels like the right thing to do. Maybe it'll make his Teleports smoother too."

"Oh?" That was something Danny hadn't heard, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Tested it the day before we left Pallet. It felt like walking into a closed door. While running." Another shrug, but this time, Max put the pot down after. "Nothing a long soak didn't cure, but not something I'm eager to repeat either."

That sounded like a good idea.

The experiment with the cookie dough lasted for about ten minutes, Danny noticed from random glances in between watching loudred track masquerain and lead weak Hyper Voices into the Bug-type's path. They'd just started weaving in weak Gusts to dissipate the Normal-type's attacks when a sharp whoosh sliced through the air, and dough went flying everywhere.

Danny ducked instinctively, but none of it came near enough to hit him. Loudred didn't have that luck, though. Masquerain immediately headed down to help the Normal-type. "Hope you didn't have plans for that," the older teenager called across the arena to Max's half.

Max and gardevoir came over, the human visibly amused, the Pokémon shrunk a bit. Embarrassment? "It's a good start. Yes," he added, and Danny wasn't sure if there had been any telepathic protest. "Can't expect to be good at it immediately." A pause fell, and Max tilted his head in a way that made Danny certain there was telepathy going on. "Just because you could doesn't mean you can now. Serena had to relearn how to walk after an injury."

The shock on the Psychic-type's face was clear as day. "Tell him later. I still want help with training for Falkner."

The gardevoir returned himself. Thoughtful, and it made Max smile. "Right. I'm assuming you want practice with Flying Pokémon going in close."

"Got half of it right." Spritzee and klefki appeared. "If you can use ninjask and doublade..." Danny asked, knowing that Max had both of those on hand. "Spritzee moves faster, so it's probably better if she practises with ninjask."

"Don't use Attract," Max addressed the pink Fairy-type, who tittered in confusion. "You can't guarantee you'll get a male opponent. If you do get one, great, but if you're relying on Attract and suddenly it doesn't work..."

The message was well-received, and Max quickly gave a few instructions to ninjask before both Pokémon flew up into the air. "Klefki," Danny addressed the small Pokémon. "You've been doing good work with the curved shots. I want you to practice those down here. Fire them at doublade."

"And then dodge them," Max added, to Danny's surprise. "Doublade's got the basics of deflection down, so now it's just practice under fire." A glance at the older teen. "That okay with you?"

Danny felt that was a stupid question, and he made sure to show Max just that.

They left the field, baltoy coming out as well to intercept any stray Mirror Shots from the deflection, and watched their Pokémon at work, looking for flaws and strengths.

Klefki and doublade were working together perfectly in a weird tennis match, that became clear almost immediately. Danny's Steel-type wielded the Mirror Shot expertly, infusing them with curves that were early and late and only the shots that went left and down seemed slightly harder at first, but he soon self-corrected that.

There were some issues when klefki tried to spin the projectile in such a way that it would go right first before reversing the curve leftwards, but that was only not curving left enough; the shots coming out to doublade's own left side.

Unfortunately, while everything was going alright down low, it wasn't up high. "Spritzee hasn't landed a single hit yet," Max said after they'd been watching for a while. "Ninjask is never there, and she's not fast enough on the Fairy Wind."

"She would've been with the Attract," Danny said, recognising the problem as well. "But can't rely on that. How big of a problem do you think it is?"

The bad news was visible on Max's face before the teen with glasses spoke up. "If the opponent knows Quick Attack, Agility, or anything like that, don't send her out. They'd never give her a chance to do what she wants to do if she can't land Attract."

Danny craned his neck, watching his pink Pokémon. She looked frustrated. "Maybe swap masquerain and ninjask now? See if loudred can deal with ninjask, and masquerain is – what the!"

A sudden burst of pink light gathered and erupted in front of spritzee's nose-beak, causing her to lose a bit of height as she surprised herself. She flew down immediately afterwards, using Protect to avoid getting hit by a deflected Mirror Shot. The Steel-type attack didn't even scratch the shield. "That looked a lot like Moonblast. Pink, vaguely round, gathered in front of face… It all fits."

A snap decision was made. "Then we'll go practice that," Danny declared as he held out an arm for spritzee to perch on. "You did well, but I don't think you're made for dealing with opponents that fast." It was nothing new for Danny or his Pokémon, but it was a bit annoying for the upcoming Gym. "You'll get your chance to fight in another Gym Battle, I'll make sure of it. Now go take a rest, okay?"

"She'll get her chance," Max told Danny nothing he didn't already know. "Give her a target and she's great. Something she can Draining Kiss." A wry smile. "I'll just give up if it's shelgon against her at some point."

Danny could understand. It hadn't been all that close last time, and now with a powerful Moonblast soon to be in her arsenal, spritzee could probably wipe the floor with the Dragon-type. "If that's her niche… Taking out slow and hard-hitting Pokémon, I mean," he added for Max's benefit, "then that's fine. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses." Two heartbeats passed. "As you're fond of pointing out."

The soft slug to his upper arm was affectionate, and Danny wouldn't have it any other way.

~~§~~§~~

The door slammed behind him. Glass rang in the quiet street, but Evan did not care. He walked off, scowling as he thought about what he'd just heard his parents say.

"You're not allowed to write to them, Evan," his mother had said after reading his letter – his letter. "They can't reply regardless, and your father would be in so much trouble if someone learned you sent it."

His father had just nodded beside her before going back to read the Saturday newspaper. "They are still wanted. If I knew where they were, I would have to tell someone."

Evan hadn't met Max that often, but they were the closest in age in the family. Max was smart enough to talk with the adults already, but he never was bad about it to Evan, and they'd spent most of the time at Uncle Norman and Aunt Caroline's 20th wedding anniversary just talking about everything, off in a corner with way too many snacks.

An older woman nearly bumped into him, and Evan scowled right back at her. She said something about

Trainers these days, and Evan gave her a finger behind his back in return. He'd seen her coming, but she'd walked into his path, forcing him to press himself half against a wall to still not avoid her. Stupid crone.

He walked for another few minutes, looking down at the ground intently and finally finding what he was looking for about a minute away from his old school. The reverse G made him think: a normal G was close to the Department Store, but he didn't remember what the reverse was for a second.

Then he remembered: a warehouse close to the harbour.

He'd never been there, but it was easy to find with a bit of walking and a short cut over a fence in a back alley. The warehouse was a dump: boarded up or broken windows, missing bricks, some green plant growing up one side of it.

"Was expecting you yesterday."

Evan did not jump up like a scared child. He just turned around to see a tall man, with black spiked hair and deep-set eyes off to the side. With a smirk, the adult pushed himself off a nearby building, walking up to him with swagger. "Shopping all day. Enough clothes for a fucking orphanage."

"Orphanages don't want your clothing, shorty. Kids your age aren't in one." Evan scowled, trying to duck the hand that went into his hair. "Scowl like that more and Lu's not going to let you leave."

"Where is she? In there?" Evan asked, starting to move towards the warehouse. A hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Hey!"

"Don't wanna go in there," Os replied, pulling Evan back. "Why do you think I was here?"

Evan wrenched himself free. "You wanted some fucking air? Or maybe you were tired of Lu's yammering?"

A whistle echoed a bit in the quiet area. "Listened, did cha? Can't say you're wrong on that either. Still can't let ya in there."

They'd played this game before, and Evan liked it. "What's in it for me?"

"Your life," Os replied calmly, looming over Evan. Then he produced something from behind his back. "And some time with this boy."

The twelve-year-old tried to snatch the pokéball out of the adult's hand, but he wasn't fast enough. "What the shit. How are you so fast!"

Os tweaked Evan's nose hard, causing him to wince. "Just age, shorty. Just age." He released the nose before pressing the pokéball into Evan's left hand. "Don't they teach you how growing up works at school?"

"School's boring. Glad I'm rid of it," Evan replied, switching the ball to his right and fiddling with the release on it. Soon, a small grey Pokémon came out, barking happily as he saw Evan. "Hey buddy, did you miss me?"

The answer was a lot of licking as Evan lifted the poochyena into his arms, and he let it happen for a bit until it became too much, and he patted the Dark-type's side to make him stop. "Oh, right. You had your birthday. The big one-two," Os said from a few steps away. "How's it feel, little guy. You a big boy Trainer now? Where's your starter?"

"Don't have one yet," Evan mumbled.

"I left the day I turned twelve. Is stuff different here in Hoenn?"

"Not really. Had to wait for Mum to have free day first so we could shop for my clothing." He scratched poochyena under his chin, getting a high-pitched bark and a snap of a jaw for it. "And..."

"And you want this boy to be your starter but you can't because of some stupid-ass laws by some goblins." Evan looked up into a smile. Huh? "Heard ya talk last week. When you thought I was getting smokes. There's a simple way of solving that."

"Huh?"

Os grabbed the pokéball from the ground where it had fallen, pressing it into Evan's hand and closing the fist. "Take him. He's yours."

"I can't. Not allowed."

Another tweak of his nose, this one harder than before somehow. "Not allowed here in Hoenn. So don't start in Hoenn. Start somewhere else. Makes ya safe from those random attacks too."

"Like Mum's going to let me. 'All our family started in Hoenn'," Evan said, trying to imitate his mother's voice and failing terribly. "I tried asking about starting in Johto, and she just told me that I wasn't allowed. They wouldn't allow it."

"Simple solution to that." Evan looked up into Os's face. "Just go to Johto. You're twelve. They can't fucking tell ya what to do. Ya think I told Mom I was leaving? Sure as shit didn't. Stupid whore was all conked in her bedroom and I grabbed stuff, got pawniard and got out. Bet she didn't even notice I left until she wanted me to buy food. Never seen her since." He shook his head as Evan tried to make sense of what he'd just heard. "Ya don't need to do it like that. Just go away while your parents are working and feed them something about not wanting to start in Hoenn because it's… I don't fucking know. Unsafe? Want to see other places? Want to freeze in Sinnoh? There's tons of boats here, Ev. One of them can take ya where ya fucking want to go." A sharp bark. "And him too."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

LUMIOSE – The Lumiose Palace de la Nation was the theatre today for a much-anticipated event: the first day of trial for former Team Flare leader Lysandre Elisio. Those expecting insight were quickly disappointed, however, as Lysandre came without legal representation, only making a statement that he did not recognise the court and the regime behind it. Any questions directed his way were not answered, nor did he speak to the press once the hearing was over.

The prosecution has confirmed in previous statements that they will seek life imprisonment for the role Lysandre played.

Author's Note: Welcome to Johto!