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.

A/N1: Takes place after the Prologue, which took place pretty much simultaneously to the end of last chapter. Re-read that in case you're wondering if you missed something.

Chapter 14: Answers and Questions

Faced with a blade to Danny's arm, and machoke hauling a blindfolded Evan up by his shirt, there was no choice, even though rage burned within him for having to do it. "I..." he started, seeing his captors start to pay attention. "I don't know where they went. It's not like I keep in contact."

"And yet, you have a gardevoir. Caught as one. Is it not from there?" the brunet said, softly as if trying to convince him of something. "Just before we tore through the place, too. Such a shame we didn't find you there."

Max tensed in his bonds. "You… You caught some of them?"

"You don't need to know. Now, since you claim to not know..."

The man gave a signal that Max couldn't see, and the machoke turned Evan upside-down; his cousin's surprise audible through the gag. "Best start talking," the second man ordered. "Machoke's a bit tired. He might drop your friend."

"I don't know!" Max repeated. "I swear, we never talked about that."

"Talk. With a Psychic-type," the main interrogator spat. "As if you're equals. The stupidity of youth." A nod, seemingly to himself. "Yes. If you won't listen to reason… Do it," came a snapped order.

The scream of pain was delayed, but then it was there, audible through the gag, and Danny started to writhe in his bonds as the scyther stepped back, letting out a satisfied cry and folding its blades.

"Fuck you!" Max spat, headache throbbing with rage. "I told you I don't know anything!"

"Aww, does the little boy feel angry? Helpless? Good," the brunet crooned. "You're nothing but traitors to Hoenn, working with a foreign government against your country. If it were up to me, you'd be dropped in the ocean with an anchor on your ankle." The man lifted Max's chin, cold meeting hot. "Too bad they want you back in Hoenn. And if you're good, I'll even let your upside-down friend go. And if you're not, well… Pokémon journeys are dangerous." He produced a strip of cloth from a pocket somewhere. "Open your mouth, or I'll give the order again."

The moment Max did, however, something caught the man's attention. A second later, wind suddenly soared through the clearing; tossing everything not human or Pokémon around and forcing everyone to brace the best they could.

~~§~~§~~

The coordinates had been very accurate, with only a small adjustment needed to find what Gary had expected to find: two Trainers he was familiar with in dire trouble. There was a third one too: brown hair, younger, had been around the lab at one point. The cousin and Danny were awake, but gagged, while Max seemed to be asleep from something. Not willingly, judging by how he was being tied to a tree.

He carefully moved the binoculars a bit, spotting a crate filled with pokéballs nearby. Probably all dead to the world. That made things harder: between all of the boys tied up, the adult men, and the machoke, there were a lot of options for something to go wrong. Without alakazam, he needed to free them manually somehow. Anything that could cut rope could cut into skin, and in the hurry, first aid supplies hadn't been Gary's priority.

A scyther also came out, making everything even more complicated.

Dragonite could muster a Hurricane to knock everyone down, but not with Gary on his back. Then umbreon could maybe snatch a pokéball or two to even the field a bit – and hopefully, they'd be Pokémon that could immediately help.

The binoculars went around his neck again, and after a whisper, dragonite glided down, landing quietly about two hundred feet away. Another quick explanation made sure umbreon knew the plan, and as dragonite went up into the air, Gary gave his Mega Ring a short look before starting to sneak off in the general direction.

The tail end of what was clearly an interrogation didn't reveal anything Gary hadn't known or hadn't been able to guess if he had spent time thinking about it.

From his position behind a nearby bush; within view of the tree Max had been tied to, Gary couldn't see what exactly was ordered so coldly, but the fact that it was the scyther who made noise was enough to cause umbreon to freeze underneath his fingers, before starting to tremble with suppressed rage.

It took a lot for umbreon to do that. Whatever small measure of pity Gary might have had left for his soon-to-be-opponents vanished; he was going to enjoy beating their Pokémon into a pulp, and if some stray attack hit a human… Who cared. He quickly gave the signal upwards, and prepared.

The Hurricane from up above was perfect to keep humans and Pokémon busy, and under the cover of the winds, Gary quickly ran towards the tree. He needed a moment to find a good spot to slide his pocket knife under, but when he did, the rope fell slack as soon as the blade went up.

There was a surprised cry from the other side of the tree, and in one swift movement, the teenager stepped around the tree, unleashing his starter as he did so. "Protect us," he ordered as he took note of the surroundings – everything had been thrown around, but umbreon had managed to free two Pokémon as well. One was a litwick – not particularly threatening – but the other was Danny's aggron, who roared as the situation became clear to him.

Several Pokémon appeared in the clearing, including a pidgeot that promptly got struck by a Thunderbolt from dragonite overhead. Then it shrugged that off, Mega Evolving in the process and getting another Thunderbolt to the chest.

Gramps' dragonite took no prisoners.

A second Mega Evolution happened; this one friendly, but a primeape stood between Gary and Max and the still-tied-up Danny and the aggron protecting him. "You okay?" Gary asked as he sent another Pokémon out. "Bastiodon, stick with Max."

More Hurricane-force winds buffeted the area, forcing all humans to brace and make themselves small; though it ended fast too. A glance upwards told Gary that dragonite was easily getting the best of that exchange. The cheap shot Thunderbolts helped, but dragonite was skilled even in retirement.

And the pidgeot seemed to not know what to do with its Mega Evolved form, too.

He itched to use Mega Evolution himself; to show the ones opposing them how it was done, but he couldn't, he realised as blastoise took a punch from primeape; returning with an Ice Punch and hitting the ground only. State of mind was too important, and he could not afford cockiness here.

Not that it mattered. The primeape was shit anyway, blastoise only needing time to dispatch the puny punches. Umbreon was running circles around a machoke in the background. Bastiodon and Max had made away, probably looking for an angle to attack from if Gary was any student of human nature, and aggron had secured the crate with pokéballs while defending and freeing Danny. All good, all good.

Except the sandslash that held a claw to the side of the third boy. Two of the captors were there as well – one taller and from what little Gary could see, older.

Fights froze as the predictable demand was made clear: surrender or someone would pay the price. Effective, for sure, but before Gary could look for an opening somewhere, a confident and steel-laced voice answered. "I don't think so," Danny stated from his position right next to aggron; protected by the Steel-type's bulk. "Now."

And a Confuse Ray overtook the quartet, coming from the ground nearby – the litwick, obviously. Immediately, umbreon rushed in, leaving machoke behind, pouncing on the sandslash, who would recover soonest. She imbued her feet with Psychic energy and kicked the Ground-type away from all the humans.

Another roar joined in as the sound of roast bird floated down; the third Mega appearing in the small clearing and immediately pushing out a Thunder Wave that sent all of the hairs on Gary's arms upright.

Be given no mercy, hold nothing back was a motto Gary could get behind, and the man that had been closest to him fell like a bag of potatoes, as did the scyther that tried to block the Thunder Wave with its body.

More Pokémon had appeared around where umbreon had kicked the sandslash away, defending their Trainers, but a sharp warning bark from manectric caused several of them to freeze. The dustox and forretress then returned themselves, leaving a land-bound octillery, a sawk and a throh, and a seviper.

Another Confuse Ray hit, taking temporary care of the two Fighting-types, and that distracted the other two Pokémon long enough for umbreon to create a Light Screen barrier between the four enemies and the humans they were guarding.

Curious. It wasn't as solid as umbreon could make it. A side-effect of whatever contraindicated Psychic-types?

Manectric took the hint the Light Screen presented, and another Thunder Wave came out, nearly overloading the shield and certainly paralysing the Pokémon as her Trainer went for his cousin.

The moment he was there, umbreon tightened the shield to cover only the two teenagers, and a third Thunder Wave went out as something crashed hard nearby.

And with that, the opposition was gone. Blastoise had dealt with primeape; the sandslash wasn't where umbreon had left it, but it had been embedded in a tree instead, and bastiodon looked mighty pleased. Scyther had had a bird slammed into it, and both of them were being guarded by Gramps' dragonite.

Simple, brutal, and effective. The only way you dealt with people like this. The Pallet Town inhabitant glanced at the idiots lying prone around the small clearing, twitching, probably raving in confusion for two in the back, wondering who was most likely to recover first.

It was probably the one that had been interrogating Max, having only been the subject of one Thunder Wave and nothing more. He gestured for blastoise to guard and started moving, stepping past – and on – the primeape that had been beat into the ground by superior punching power, reaching Danny, but focusing on the other two teenagers sitting a bit away.

Max's cousin was babbling nonsensically as the older Maple tried to get him back into the waking world. It was classic confusion: maximum disruption to faculties while seemingly not affecting perception itself. "Light shocks are legitimate therapy for this."

Max looked loath to do that, but a soft whine from his Mega convinced him of the truth, and a spark and a moment later, confusion cleared, replaced by panic fully settling in.

He was going to let Max deal with that, turning towards the other wounded teenager around. Danny had released a masquerain that was pushing gentle bubbles onto the bleeding wound. They came away red, but only very lightly so. "How are you?"

"I'll survive until I get Nurse Joy to have a look," Danny replied as he took a closer look. "Or when shock sets in."

"Your Mega Evolution grounds you from that," Gary said, nodding at aggron, even as he felt pretty relieved that he wouldn't have to run through calming Danny down after what happened. "Your trigger is protective, if I remember?"

A slow and deliberate breath before answering told Gary that the teenager knew more than just something about shock, and his respect rose accordingly. To have the self-control – even if aided by a feedback loop of calming emotions from the aggron – to do that literal minutes after being sliced was impressive. "Yeah, and he wants me to stay calm, it feels like."

"Can you hold the Mega Evolution? I want to interrogate them."

"If I can't, we'll just find out." A wry smile. "Besides, if he held it in the face of Death, I can hold this."

Good point, though it made Gary think of something else. "Max?" he said, turning towards the teenager softly talking to his cousin. "Let manectric go back, okay? The fight's over, and she's powerful enough to stop them anyway."

Manectric did shift back, but there was a startle to Max's figure as she did so – she had made the decision, not Max. More proof for Gary's hypothesis; and boy was that going to be a pain to work with.

He put that aside, instead walking over to the prone figure that had been leading the interrogation. "How the arrogant have fallen," Gary drawled slowly. He took the pokéballs off the man's belt, and soon returned the fallen Pokémon. Curiously, there was one full pokéball, but despite its owner being injured, the Pokémon inside hadn't come out. He put it in stasis anyway. Surprises weren't good. "Can you put..." he started, turning around and seeing Danny already picking things off a belt. "I love it when people listen before I tell them to do something."

"It's a good idea." Two more Pokémon vanished as Gary moved up, beckoning bastiodon closer for guard duty. "Wonder why those two Pokémon re..." Danny continued, but he froze mid-sentence, losing grip of the shoulder he had grabbed to turn one of the two paralysed-and-confused idiots around for easier access to the other pokéballs. "Wha… Gary?"

Gary briskly walked over, doing what Danny had stopped, and seeing a teenager's face babble back at him; spots and badly shaven whiskers and all. Couldn't have been a day over sixteen, he thought, but before he could ask for details, Max joined them. "Evan's o..."

On instinct, Gary turned around, and he saw rage. Not impotent teenage angst-induced anger that was the hallmark of the average poorly-disciplined Trainer, but something far deeper; mature and ugly. He was barely in time at wrestling Max's arms over his head, physically dragging him away, though not before one kick landed on an ankle. "Calm yourself, or I'll have umbreon calm you."

Shouting and cursing was his part. Inventive, Gary had to admit, and probably impossible to pull off without altering reality, but within the rage were no answers as to why the sight had set Max off.

Blastoise waddled up, brusquely grabbing Max's arm. "Toise. Bla," he commanded sternly, and you didn't need to speak Pokémon to know the underlying message to quit. "Bla?"

There was no answer, but Gary let go of Max's wrists anyway, stretching his arm out to unlock muscles he might have locked in the struggle. "So, Danny? What makes Max angrier than a beedrill?"

"We know him," was the cold answer, and Gary took a closer look at what surrounded the group now. Aggron had drawn himself up imperiously, while manectric was tense, fur lowered, knees bent: ready to pounce. The litwick near Danny's feet seemed to not understand what was going on, but its Trainer appeared agitated despite the calming bond, and despite being the more level-headed of the two in general. "He used to be a friend. Then he left his sister to rot, and we haven't spoken since."

Mew save him from melodrama. At least that made the rage understandable. "Keep him in one piece until after we interrogate them," Gary told them. "I don't know about you, but I want to know a few things. Like how they got the jump on you, and what they were here for."

"Want me to go back, swap xatu for gardevoir, and take it from them by force?"

Scooping information without aid, in people who were paralysed and confused, in an advanced technique that had left the unwilling temporarily catatonic in the past. There were laws and ethical points against that, but those were clearly not remembered. "Let's not do anything that sticks you in prison," Gary drawled. "Oh, and umbreon, can you go look for something? Should be a machine, pretty close by. Use Light Screen to triangulate."

The other two seemed confused, but then a groan from behind caught their attention; and Gary's too: Max's cousin had heaved himself up, wobbling on his feet. "Feel like shi'," he mumbled just loud enough to hear. "Wha' fuckin' 'appened?"

Danny hurried over, putting his good shoulder under the boy's arm, taking him away from the clearing. Gary kept watching for a moment, but it seemed like Danny was going to take Max's cousin out of view completely, which was good. No sense in more witnesses than strictly necessary. "Alright, reprieve's over," he said, beckoning Max over and moving towards the seeming ringleader of the bunch. The man – probably in his thirties – had recovered, and was now glaring at them as they approached. Dragonite's presence nearby kept him in check, even without rope. "No insignia, no logo… Woefully underprepared, though. Did you think having a Mega was enough to give you an advantage in case someone fought back?"

"Is this where we bant—argh!" the man replied, interrupted by dragonite stepping forward and twisting the man's arm hard. "That's… how it is… is it?"

"Hey, you started it," Gary said, shrugging before summoning the anger he felt – and finding that he didn't even have to fake some of it. "As far as I'm concerned, you're a bunch of low-life thugs nobody would miss. I could tell dragonite to throw you on top of Mt. Silver, or into the Cinnabar volcano. It'd be no less than you deserve."

"Awaken yveltal just to deal with you," Max added, playing his role perfectly, though Gary doubted the teenager knew he was doing that. "How'd you find us? Was it May?"

"Boy, you're not gonna get anything out of me-eeeeee!"

"Indeed," Gary added as dragonite released the electricity. "Too hardened a target. Good work dragonite," he complimented, and a serious nod was his answer. "Let's go to the softer target. Anything I should know about him?"

"He's a bully," Max said. "Hates Psychics and Ghosts and Darks. Thinks they're unnatural."

Translation: standard brainwashed follower who would fold. Just needed to find the weaknesses. "What was that about your sister, by the way?"

"She's in Johto. Probably looking for us." Just those words seemed to make Max angrier; not too unsurprising given context, but then, suddenly, relaxation visibly settled in. "Whoaaa."

"What happened?" Gary barked, hand on his belt, looking for a Pokémon attack.

"My headache just… Vanished. Like poof-gone, was never there vanished." Max seemed confused about that, pretty understandably so. "Never had that before."

That sounded like something did happen, but there weren't any Pokémon visible, and unless there was some extremely skilled Ghost-type nearby… Gary had nothing. "How'd you meet the guy anyway?"

That brought the scowl back, but even so, it was less intense; just a little. "Tournament opponent, 'bout two years ago. Met up some more times, kept in contact until he abandoned his twin sister. She's up in Sinnoh now."

"He got beaten by Sabrina, couldn't make it to the Kanto League, tried to lie to Alice," Danny said from behind them, and when they turned around, Max's cousin wasn't there. "Left Evan with houndour and litwick. Think litwick wants to apologise too."

That was understandable, and Gary made to move towards the two others prone on the ground – mostly because manectric and blastoise were keeping them in check by now – but umbreon shooting out of the undergrowth stopped him. She was carrying something… cracked purple in his mouth? "Bre!"

Gary picked it up, and it only took a moment to recognise a Psychic Gem; albeit one that was in the stages of being used up. "Was there a machine?" he asked, and umbreon barked affirmative. "Max, go get it. Now," he commanded when there was no movement.

"Why me?"

"Just go, Max," Danny stated; and there was a short stare-off between the two teenagers, one that ended when Max up and left, huffing, umbreon hurrying after him. "He's rattled. I never win staring contests."

"You're technically cheating," Gary pointed out, which got a nonchalant shrug. "How's the arm?"

Danny raised it, and droplets of blood fell to the ground. It wasn't bleeding profusely, but it was still bleeding. "I hope it's not as bad as it looks. The bond is kind of numbing it."

"Let's get this over with fast, then." In several swift steps, Gary closed the distance with the prone teen, pulling him up by the back of his clothing – professional-grade Dark-type fur woven in. Not umbreon or absol or houndoom fur: the texture was wrong. A push brought him into blastoise's waiting arms. "Gonna level with ya, Paul. This isn't great company you're keeping. How'd a kid like you get mixed up?"

Anger sparked, focusing the boy's mind. "Fuck you. Aargh!"

"You are not in a place to insult me," Gary said lightly as the teen's arm was moved back. "But it doesn't matter. I know more than enough about the likes of you. Jealous, an unskilled Trainer who doesn't want to put in the time and effort to actually get good. There's a thousand of you for every one of me or the two that were your friends at some point. Hell, I don't even know her, but your sister sounds like someone who's just superior to you in every way possible."

"Why'd you do it, Paul?" Danny chimed in, and Gary hid a frown. "Why join some organisation like Team Magma or Aqua?"

No answer came, except for a laughably bad glare. "Do you know who I am. Paul?" Gary asked calmly, and the intensified glaring was all the answer he needed. "I can use Max's xatu to go get some Pokémon who'll force you to tell the truth. And then you'd probably end up in prison for a long time, too." That finally got a reaction other than anger. "What? You didn't think you'd get away with attempted kidnapping, did you? Might even be something more. Law's not my strong point. And then there's that arm of Danny's, too."

"And holding Evan upside-down."

"Even more. Busy, weren't you." Shit, that was the wrong thing to say, as the boy clammed up again. "Okay then. Final offer." He let a pause fall, making sure it was understood. "Max has a gardevoir. One so powerful your entire team loses. He's not here now, but your little plan with blocking Psychic-types failed. Max can Teleport back to town, get gardevoir in, and then leave the two of you alone." Gary stopped for a moment, pulling out the Pokédex he had forgotten to put away back in Pallet. A few taps, and he found the exact quote he was looking for. "So. Who would win? You, or..."

Gardevoir, the Embrace Pokémon. This Pokémon will try to protect its Trainer at all costs. It has the psychokinetic power to distort dimensions while doing so.

"So unless you want to find yourself stuck in the Reverse World for what's left of your life, I suggest you talk."

For a moment, Gary wondered if he'd gone too far, but then, he saw the crack; spreading like invisible wildfire under the boy's skin. And he started talking.

~~§~~§~~

Alice slumped in her chair, as bonelessly as possible while still sitting up. Linda didn't blame her one bit for that. Hearing your estranged twin had been involved in trying to capture and torture some of your friends… It sounded like a bad TV show.

But it was real. They didn't lie about this stuff. You asked the boys questions, and they'd answer or tell ya they couldn't answer.

It had sounded so out there, too, but then Danny joined the call, looking bone tired and with an entire arm bandaged up. For safety, apparently, and that had sold the girls on the truth for sure. You didn't just bandage your arm for nothing, and the pain on Danny's face as he described arguing with the nurse that his tetanus shot was recent enough was the nail in the coffin. Nobody volunteered for getting one of those.

"Alice? Talk to me?"

The Hoennite shook her head, black hair going everywhere, and she didn't put it back behind her ears after. "I.. I never though' he'd try somethin' like this," she said, softly. Linda leant forward just to hear her better. "I know he hated Psychics 'n Darks 'n Ghosts, but… It wasn't this bad."

"It's been a year," Linda pointed out gently. "Lots can change in a year."

"Enough that yer okay with hurtin' some of yer former friends?"

Linda held up her hands in response to Alice's question. "Don't look at me. I was ready to throw him off a cliff after findin' out what he did to ya last year. But I know it's different for ya."

There was no reply for a bit, but that was just Alice thinking about something. She did that. "D'ya think Mom 'n Da knew?"

Pointing out that Alice knew them better wasn't going to lead to anything. "They don't like Psychic-types, ya told me that, but… Isn't it harvestin' time right now? If Paul left earlier, sayin' he wanted to just travel after stayin' home, wouldn't yer parents be too busy to care about what he's doing as long as he doesn't get into trouble?"

That seemed to reach Alice, at least, and she perked up a tiny bit. Enough to reach out and drink what was left of her water, at least. "Guess yer right… Mom 'n Da maybe don't like 'em, but they're not gonna tell Paul ta do somethin' about all of 'em. Too big a thing," she said, grinning weakly. "They're 'bout the small things."

"Wonder how Paul got that ego of his, then, 'cause girl, that thing is huge," Linda replied, getting even more emotion out of the girl in front of her. "I know I keep sayin' it, but..."

"Nature 'n nurture, I know, I know. Least you've stopped sayin' it was because he's a boy."

"Most teenage boys are immature brats. That's just facts." The occasional letter Linda got from some of her friends proved that, even if Trish sorta loved it when the boys paid attention to her. "And Paul's definitely an immature brat. Think that cousin of Max's is more mature."

At that, Alice outright giggled, and Linda gave her a weird look. "Y'know Max said his cousin caught a stunky, right?"

She didn't, but why was she not surprised… "Well, then he's tied with Paul. And aren't you like two and a half years older than him anyway? Think that counts as a win for Max's cousin, then," Linda told Alice, who had to give that point up. "Hope he'll be okay, too…"

"Now look who's all compassionate with boys," Alice said, smirking. "If there's anyone that can help him, it's Max 'n Danny. They've gone through too much to not know somethin' to keep 'em sane."

Despite her words, Linda knew Alice wasn't certain either. Getting attacked by Pokémon was one thing, but getting attacked by people? Even with all the experience the boys had with that, trying to explain things to someone else was hard. They'd experienced that in Unova, where they'd watched an interview with someone whose Pokémon had been forcibly taken away by Team Plasma.

There had been a happy end there. Linda hoped there would be one in Johto too.

~~§~~§~~

Oak wondered why security had asked him to follow, but odds were there was something at the ranch that needed discussing. His grandson, for all his bluster, was still barely an adult, lacking the finesse required to keep everything sailing smoothly. Personally, Oak had put a bet in with one of the senior aides that the tauros would break out and trample things; it was both the time of year for it and they always responded poorly to a large absence.

Seeing a dragonite – his dragonite – standing outside the convention centre's entrance, with an agitated grandson tapping his foot a few feet away was not expected. "Hello gramps, you got any secure places we can talk?"

The guard nodded in response to Oak's raised eyebrow, and he led both of them to a room not far from the entrance. "As isolated as possible. I will be outside."

Once the door closed, Gary moved swiftly, releasing his alakazam and umbreon both. Two sets of barriers went out, removing external sounds well enough that breathing was audible. "It'll have to do," Gary said, leaning on the table in the middle. "The secure hotline to the lab. The porygon-2 clearance one. Who has its number?"

"You know I can't tell—"

"Fuck that, gramps," was the vulgar reply, and that took Oak aback with its vehemence. "It was used earlier today, with a very cryptic message, and if I hadn't picked it up, two of the most talented Trainers in the Home Regions would have been kidnapped by now."

Connecting the dots wasn't hard. "So they did make a play," he mused, and Gary looked bemused. "I'm more interested in how they actually managed to get to them. I hesitate to call them paranoid, but they're certainly more conscious of what's around them."

"Sleep Powder and this," his grandson replied, sliding something across the table. "A Psychic Gem powering some kind of machine, when the warning said Psychic-types are counter-indicated. There's something f… Gramps?"

"Proof," Oak whispered. "Not hard proof, but this should be enough to… Is the machine still in one piece?"

"Mostly. Umbreon broke some glass and cut a wire or two when getting the gem out," Gary said. "What's going on, gramps? Or is this more classified shit?"

It was classified, but Oak made a snap decision. "There has always been something fishy about the attacks in Hoenn. There are reports of a single lorry showing up in multiple locations that then were attacked by some form of Pokémon psychosis," he said, and he saw that Gary was still following. "Of course, white lorries are more common than pidgey, but when it is the only common thread, a pattern appears."

"This doesn't prove anything so far."

Oak knew it didn't, but now for the second piece of evidence. "Reginald saw a white lorry at the Petalburg Gym, and there was a small psychosis reported – one buried under the news of the boys' escape and some celebrity death. And now, there's a machine that's there as well, using a Psychic Gem, and around a Trainer who's known for having very powerful Psychic-types?" He tapped the side of his nose. "Foul play is most definitely an option. We'll have to test the machine to see what it does, but if its function is what I suspect it to be..."

The moment everything clicked was one Oak wished he had a camera for. Rarely did he see his grandson so utterly struck silent. "The… The government is behind the attacks? They're the they you referred to earlier?"

"Not necessarily," Oak said, but in a tone of voice that he knew would be picked up on: devil's advocate for the sake of it. "It could be an individual, or even several individuals, setting up a conspiracy that not everyone is in on. Think the Team Rocket corruption scandal, if you will; I know you've read up on that."

It was at least twenty seconds before everything had been processed. "So… What do we do now?"

"We tell the right people," Oak said, putting a hand on his grandson's shoulder. "And then we plan to expose the truth."

"We?"

"My boy, you didn't think being a Pokémon Professor was only scientific? How dreadfully naive of you."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

If you get a cut from a wild Pokémon, always talk to a doctor or a Nurse Joy as soon as you can. You may need medicine or even a tetanus shot, even if the cut is small enough that you don't need stitches. Wounds can get infected, and then you are in a lot of trouble. When it comes to medicine, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

From: Injuries and You, Starting on a Pokémon Journey

Author's Note 2: The shortest chapter - excluding A/N and disclaimers - since somewhere early in Evolving Stratagems, but it's a doozy. Lots of things revealed, and accordingly, this chapter was a complete and utter pain in the **** to write. My hard disk dying did not help - although it didn't cost me any significant words, it did cost me a day or three before I felt like writing again instead of installing things and hoping that that day was the last time I found out about something I had forgotten to set up.

That being said, I probably typed closer to quadruple the words that actually made it into the chapter. Fun, though.