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 35: On The Brink

The inner area of the Tree of Beginning was pretty strange. The room was lined with something that looked like stained glass panels, but all in the same colour of pulsing green, alongside a few crystals that did the same. The panels were also not all of the same size, and it felt weird under his fingertips when he touched them. The edges were rougher, but still smoother than expected, too. "What is this?"

Brock did the same thing Danny had done, also tapping on the walls with a nail. "I'm not sure, but it feels like obsidian. Which is..."

The vivid green switched off suddenly, leaving the room in half-darkness before a gentle glow suffused the area. It looked and felt less urgent, as if something had been lifted. A moment later, with a happy cry, a Pokémon descended from above.

Mew. An honest to arceus mew.

Which proceeded to dance around them happily, just as the blob of earlier had done. It was even stranger to see the real flesh and blood Legendary do that, as if it was a young child celebrating something. After a few seconds, though, it stopped, instead settling down against a crystal with a strange outgrowth next to it.

"Looks like exertion," Brock observed, and the mew let out a short cry. It sounded like that was a confirmation. "You were controlling the immune system, right?"

A lack of a flare of psionic powers and a green tendril coming out from the crystal behind it made Danny suspect that it still was, even at rest. He made to voice that, but movement on the other end of the room caught his eye.

It was a hitmonchan. Followed by Bruno, who was holding something in his hands. "We have a pr—"

The sentence was interrupted by Anabel and gardevoir appearing. The Frontier Brain looked like she'd come off worse in a fight, but she relaxed when she saw everyone else present. Her gaze lingered on mew. "Found the machine. I left it where it was, but we can pick it up later," she told Bruno. "And you..."

"Where is Max?" gardevoir interjected suddenly, causing everyone's attention to shift to the Pokémon. He rounded on Bruno, empathy apparently picking something up. "What happened?!"

To Danny's surprise, Bruno bowed his head, and something unpleasant nestled itself in the teen's stomach. Then, the Elite Four member opened his hands, revealing a couple of pokéballs. "Your Trainer… He was kidnapped."

Blink. Blink. Kidnapped? Wha—

Rage. Rage and despair and—"

Danny blinked. He was looking upwards. Why was he? He hadn't been, right? Why wa…

"Max!" he yelled, realisation thundering in. He shot up, seeing gardevoir. The Psychic-type was straining against… A shield? No, not straining. Raging.

"The protective rage of a gardevoir." That was Anabel. "Bruno, what happened?"

"There was someone with a Psychic-type of their own. It lifted Max up, and then it and Trainer Teleported out. I don't know where."

"Gardevoir can—"

"This was five minutes ago." Bruno replied. "And it—"

"We can still find him!" Danny said, suddenly next to the shield. There was only one possible source. "Mew. Take. It. Down," he demanded, pounding the shield. "NOW!"

"Danny..."

Something hit him in the back of the knee, and then his hands were stuck. Stuck in large hands. Strong hands. Bruno's hands.

"Listen, Danny, and your Pokémon," Bruno said, looking him straight in the eye. "We don't know where Max is. It could be a trap. It could be too far away. Tactically, it is a risk." The Elite Four member went down to eye-level, somehow still holding Danny's wrists tighter than concrete. "I swear that we'll get him back. But we need to plan. We need to interrogate. We need to know."

"We know who's responsible." That was Brock, and Danny found himself flipped around to see the Gym Leader not nearly as calm as his voice made it sound. "And we captured some of them. We'll set up a rescue team, and we'll get Max back."

"We promise," Anabel said softly. "And I understand your rage. Yours and gardevoir's. I can feel it echoing. But you must not let it master you."

What they said calmed him down a bit. Anabel appeared shaken, and Brock looked ready to go back down and beat the information out of the others. Bruno had been detached, but wasn't that what the Elite Four was supposed to be? Lance always was, he remembered.

An arm hit his shoulder, and tightly controlled brittle rage flowed through it. "You sound sincere," gardevoir replied, seething despite those words. Danny shook his head to not be too affected. The Psychic-type noticed, and the emotions coming through decreased a tiny amount. "But should it be proven false, I will not hesitate."

"And we shall deserve it," Anabel said as she held out the Friend Ball. Danny moved an arm – when had Bruno let go? – to grab it. "Brock, you said you'd captured some?"

As the adults started planning stuff, Danny sat down. Bruno gave him the other pokéballs, mentioning that clefairy and manectric knew, before going off elsewhere.

Gardevoir sat down opposite him, not calmed down at all. But when he put an arm on Danny's knee, it wasn't rage alone that flowed through. There was an undercurrent of something else. Of fear. And of… Sorrow?

He wanted to ask, but was pre-empted. "I lost my father shortly after my brother was born, to an illness that swept the congregation," Max's Pokémon said softly. "I lost my brother, fuelling a machine like the one that was destroyed earlier. I don't want to… Want to..."

~~§~~§~~

Danny crashed onto a sofa in the Oak Laboratory, and anyone not liking it could go to hell. The past few hours had been a nightmare between having to tell the police that Max had been kidnapped – and a stupid officer who'd doubted him until he'd literally called Bruno – before explaining everything to Nurse Joy – who had understood – and then finally, relaying the news to the Pokémon who hadn't been there.

Shelgon had gone berserk. Danny had expected that, and had given xatu an early heads-up in case getting out of harm's way was needed, but he didn't fancy explaining to Professor Oak or one of the aides exactly why there was now a circle of blackened ash where there'd once been grass and a wooden fence. Even houndoom had been wary of the fire, but the green tinge to it might have been a point there too.

It had taken the combined forces of clefairy trapping him, gulpin using multiple Yawns, and meowstic and xatu using layers of Light Screens to get the enraged Dragon into a fitful sleep that had probably lasted two minutes maximum, but it was enough for Danny to get the hell out of there. The Pokémon would take care of it, sceptile had basically said, and he trusted them to.

The only one not there or being patched up was houndoom, who had refused to leave Danny's side all day, including when talking to the police. It was probably just canine pack behaviour or something, but damn it if it wasn't helping him stay sane.

She pressed her nose into the back of his hand before giving it a hot lick, wanting him to get up. When he did so, her head immediately went into his lap, gazing upwards with sad eyes that were probably a bit overdone.

Who cared. "You know you're a bit too scary to do that," Danny said, getting two fingers between the horns and starting a soft scratch. "It barely worked as houndour, you know."

The look he got back was faked disbelief before she rose up to put her entire front half over Danny's legs, giving a lot of warmth, and most of it comfortable. The growl that she let escape was also weirdly okay to him, even if it probably sounded a bit threatening to others.

But he knew what it was. It was her promise to him that she'd protect him and unleash fiery hell on whoever dared attack him.

Once, the teenager might have thought it strange that one of the Pokémon he'd caught most recently – not even four months ago – could understand him and his feelings so well. Even last year, he would've expressed some doubt: Pokémon were smart, but between not seeing each other all the time and more, it was always a challenge for Trainers and Pokémon to come to understand each other intimately.

This was houndoom's territory, though. She had always loved finding out about the two of them. It was as much her quirk as clefairy's mothering was, or bagon's clinginess back before he'd evolved. Or even marshtomp's lack of fine motor skills that had caused more than a few laughs back in the day.

Back in the day. Before everything. When life was as simple as just travelling, training, and talking about normal teenager stuff. Teasing Max about Linda. Wondering how well they'd do in their first League. Laughing at every little amusing thing.

But also Max's anguish, twice over. The poacher trying to capture masquerain's swarm. The enraged salamence in the mountains above Coral Cape. The fight with Team Aqua in New Mauville. They'd happened too.

Simpler than Kalos, yes. Smaller, sure. But in the moments themselves, it had been every bit as bad, and maybe worse for some. Every time an attack was aimed at them – and usually Max at that – was as heart-stopping as the next, but that first time…

A soft whine knocked Danny out of his thoughts, and he zoned back in to see houndoom looking at him. The canine had left his lap for some reason. "Just memories. Not even that old." He felt a bit of a sting behind his eyes. "They feel long ago, though."

His Pokémon tilted her head before coming in closer, but then a door opening basically straight across caught their attention.

Professor Oak stepped out, looking unsurprised at finding Danny right there and walking straight over. "I hadn't realised your houndoom had evolved," he said by way of greeting. "I imagine that's about the only good thing about today for you."

"Not even today. It was yesterday."

"Ah, during the battle with Anabel?" the Professor asked, and Danny confirmed it. "She does have some scrapes, but it's looking like she hasn't wanted to leave your side?" Another nod. "That is understandable after what happened. But if I promise you I'll keep your Trainer safe, will you go and get yourself checked out? It shouldn't take long."

The Dark-type looked torn, and Danny knew she was about to tell the Professor 'no', so he decided to interject. "I'll be okay with him, houndoom," he told the clingy Pokémon. "And it won't be long. You can guard me all you want afterwards."

That was enough to convince her, and after a short explanation of where to go, the black Pokémon trotted off. "I am surprised she went so easily," Professor Oak remarked once she was out of hearing. Probably. "We'd expected that to take longer."

"We"

"Gary saw you storm in, and the closed circuit cameras told the rest of the story." Danny scanned the ceiling, finding one after a bit of searching. "Come. There are people waiting for us."

"Us?"

They started walking, and the Professor opted not to answer, instead moving with pace and purpose that left anyone they met moving to the side. Danny didn't ask again, hoping that answers would come later.

They did, when the duo passed into the secure area of the Laboratory, and then into a room with a few people he'd seen earlier. Brock was there, as was Gary. Bruno was on the videophone: Danny figured it was a secure connection to the Indigo Plateau. "Good time," the Elite Four member said as the door closed.

"Quite," the Professor agreed. "Brock, Bruno, did you get the details from Gary while I was away?" They both nodded. "Good. Now, Danny, you might want to sit down for this," came the suggestion, but Danny didn't feel like it. "If you insist. We are reasonably certain that it was the Hoenn government, or someone with significant ties to it, who ordered the attack on the Tree of Beginning that was aimed at kidnapping the mew."

Blink. Blink. "Wh… What the hell?" Danny exclaimed. "The Hoenn gov… Why?!"

"Which question do you want answered?" Gary asked. "Why mew? Because it's a Psychic-type, and the Tree of Beginning is a softer target than trying to get lugia to surface in Shamouti. Why they're doing this? Power?"

"Enough, Gary." The Professor placed a hand on Danny's shoulder, pushing him towards a chair. "Our working hypothesis, and I stress it is just that, is that they sought mew to control in one of those machines that you are intimately familiar with. An ambitious plan, but one that could have worked."

"Except that we ruined their plans," Bruno said calmly. "And for that, Kanto has you and Max to thank. Being there allowed us to split up. For that reason alone, everything is being done to find Max and bring him back."

"Reginald and Anabel are scouring the coast on dragonback, looking for boats leaving for Hoenn. The moment Lance is in safe communications range, we'll ask him to help out," Professor Oak explained. "Unfortunately, the teleportation means we are flying blind. The kidnapper could as well leave from near New Bark as they could from Olivine, if they have knowledge of the area. There is a very real chance they'll still get away."

Anger roared in Danny's ears. "And you're just going to let them?!"

Brock grabbed his wrist. "I know it's hard," he said, not letting Danny get out of the hold. "It's a matter of manpower, not because we don't want it. We had enough problems finding Team Rocket when they successfully stole a Pokémon, and that was when we knew what they did, how they operated, and when they couldn't be anywhere in an area as large as a third of Kanto. It's a needle in a haystack, Danny."

"Gardevoir could find them!"

"He could," Professor Oak said, and Danny recognised that tone. "But right now, the kidnapper likely knows someone is looking. They will be wary, on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. You'd be going into a trap, even if they do not know about gardevoir being able to Teleport to Max." The grey-haired man folded his hands in front of his stomach. "I know it is hard, but..."

He'd had enough. He slammed the door open, leaving the room, intent on finding gardevoir and going after whoever had kidnapped Max.

A wall of pink assaulted him – Yawn, he realised as he felt his brain falling asleep – and just before he stumbled onto the floor, strong arms grabbed him as something flashed.

~~§~~§~~

Awareness was sudden, but dark was the only thing that assaulted him when Danny opened his eyes. He was on something comfortable, feeling strangely rested. It felt like a sofa. He wondered for a split second why he was on one, but then, memories flooded back into his head.

The light automatically turned on as he bolted upright, revealing a small room, empty of everything except the sofa and a lamp hanging from the ceiling. The door was closed, but it was a familiar kind of door. A laboratory door. One that didn't budge when he tried to open it, and after going for his belt to force it open, he found that he had no pokéballs on there either.

Before he could demand something or bang the door, however, it opened. Inward, forcing him to take a hurried step back, and a familiar teenager stood in the door. "Here," Gary said, holding out a plastic bag with six pokéballs in it. "You'll want these."

Danny accepted them mutely, immediately putting them on his belt. He'd figure out which Pokémon he had later, when there was time and room. Room that was also being taken up by an alakazam? "What."

"We need to talk. In private, which is why I'm leaving with alakazam, Gramps," Gary added, seemingly at thin air, and looking pretty annoyed while doing so. That vanished somewhat when his gaze fell on Danny again. "You know the drill."

They reappeared somewhere Danny didn't immediately recognise, but a look around gave him enough of a clue. The Pallet Town harbour was off in the distance to his right – west, then – which meant that this was the coast south of the town proper.

They were on top of a cliff. Not a high one: it was maybe twenty feet to the water, though it was hard to see by the starlight. The sea was calm, and the air was comfortably warm without being too humid. When he turned around, Danny saw Gary send out another Pokémon: a shuppet that immediately lit a fire in a firepit that didn't look improvised. "Everyone needs a place to think. This is mine," the scientist said by way of explanation. He also made a gesture; one that caused the shuppet to dive onto Danny with a gleeful cry.

He threw himself onto the ground out of instinct at something coming his way, but the red aura surrounded him, tinting the darkness, and…

Leaving him surprisingly mellow. Like he could get mad if he wanted to, but it'd take some effort. Effort he could expend, but curiosity at why Gary felt the need to do that was more prevalent. He picked himself up from the grass, seeing, in the limited light, an almost catatonic shuppet. "Warn me the next time."

"So you can run away. Yeah, no," Gary retorted, and Danny had to admit that was a point. "You can send out your Pokémon to shuffle them around on your belt. You're particular like that."

Swampert, froslass, houndoom, exploud, dusclops, aggron. All of them unsurprised to be sent out at this time, in this place. "You told them."

"Had to unless I wanted to spend the next year in hospital," Gary said, shrugging. "Litwick already caused someone to bang his head when it came looking for you. Aggron also tore a door from its hinges later. And before you apologise, don't. What they did – what Gramps did – was wrong. Rationally understandable, but wrong."

Gary Oak, apologising? Danny was certain he wasn't dreaming, but he pinched his skin anyway. It hurt. "Understandable? And what did they do? Yawn doesn't make you sleep for… However long."

"Force-fed you some sleeping pills. Gramps thought you'd be better off asleep." The venom was clear as anything. "Look. He wants to keep you safe. Shit way of doing it, but at least it doesn't get you captured, that's his thinking. Playing defence before playing offence." Gary motioned towards something, and Danny saw it was a rock. "C'mon, sit. We need to talk, and you need food."

At that mention, Danny suddenly realised that his stomach was empty, and that he hadn't eaten anything since noon – and that had been only a bit anyway, in the middle of telling the police. "Okay then," he said, taking the few steps and sitting down while Gary rummaged in another bag. Danny took the time to return all of his Pokémon, excepting houndoom because she wasn't going to let him return her anyway. It also gave him a clear look at the Ghost-type sprawled out on the ground. "That your shuppet?"

"Nah. Someone's. Don't know whose, don't care. Not hard to bribe one with the prospect of a free meal," the older teenager shot back. He also produced two things from the bag, one of which he handed over. It was a forked piece of metal, with a wooden handle. "Turned out it was an all you can eat buffet. It won't be doing much for the next hour. Try not to get too angry."

There was only one possible reason for that warning. "They didn't find Max, then."

"'Course not. The plan was a stupid one anyway. For a spy, Reginald was stupid at not covering his bases on this." A box of some kind popped open. "Let's start with something that'll get you fed."

The smell of spicy sausage overcame the seaside smells, and Danny speared it on his utensil, before putting it above the fire. "Why was it a stupid plan?"

"Couple of reasons," Gary said as he mirrored Danny's moves. "The ones responsible are knowledgeable. That group that got you in June wasn't noticed at all until they found you. Same here. From that, we know they're well-prepared and good at covering their tracks. We also know there's a Pokémon with Teleport. And if you're looking to leave quickly with whatever you got, and not want to risk detection, you don't leave from a harbour. You have a boat waiting for you out at sea."

"Why didn't you tell them that?"

"Only thought of it while waiting for you, then ran it by Lance."

"What'd he say?"

"He agreed, but he'd search anyway. Just in case, he said." The fire sizzled as some fat dripped into it, and Danny adjusted where he was holding his stick-thing. "He'll be by tomorrow evening. Or this evening, technically."

It was. The watch revealed it was around one in the morning. No wonder he'd felt so rested. Nine hours was more than he regularly got. It felt nice, but between a lifetime of sound sleep and having interrupted sleep but Max back… It was always going to be the second.

"I'm going to Hoenn." With or without help. "Not today or tomorrow, but I'm going to look for Max, find him, and rescue him."

"That was obvious," Gary drawled, but Danny didn't care. "But you might want to enlist some aid."

"What? I'm supposed to wait for the help to come help break Max free? Help from the adults?"

"Breaking free, no. You can do that by yourself. Gardevoir alone probably could if there is no machine. The problem," Gary said, pausing to gesture with his sausage, "is that we don't know where he is or will be. And no way of finding out. Unless you're secretly the son of a criminal empire boss."

His Dad had played one once, back when Danny was ten. The original actor had broken his ankle two weeks before the show. But that wasn't the point. "Gardevoir can find him."

"Gardevoir can Teleport to him, but he has limits, and they're lower if he needs to bring you."

"What's your point?"

"You need help. Help that the adults can give. Reginald's a spymaster. He's got contacts in Hoenn even now, bet on that. Lance's dragons can cross the region in hours instead of weeks." Gary gave him a look. "Be angry with them. You're fucking right to be. If they're half the Trainer their status says they are, they'll accept it if you're not angry at them."

Danny frowned, untangling the words. "Angry with and angry at?"

"'What you did was fucking stupid.' Angry with. 'You're a fucking idiot.' Angry at," Gary summarised before letting silence fall.

Danny chose to not respond, instead focusing on the sausage in front of him. His other hand went to the houndoom, who detected now was the time to put her head on his upper leg. She was every bit as comforting as she'd been that afternoon, even when he wasn't angry enough to slam doors. He focused on that while also trying to think of what he could do.

Five or so minutes passed, with the only sound the crackling of flame and branches. The sausage was ready by that time, though too hot to eat still. If it weren't for the constant reminder that Max wasn't there, it could've been something they would've done on their own. Maybe with marshmallows instead of sausages, but the same otherwise. Just sitting and thinking.

He'd give anything to be able to do that again. "Alright. So I convince someone to come with me. Or at least to share information. Then what."

"You find Max, you rescue him, and it's all sunshine and litten and rainbows. Between the ruins of whatever's left of where they held him after gardevoir's done," Gary told him. "Give me time and I'll come up with something more in depth, but there was other stuff to do. Relevant, even."

"How."

"Anabel only disabled the machine. It's intact. Gramps also happens to have a mostly complete set of Unovan Gems that he forgot he ordered. A rush order, even." In the light of the fire, the smirk looked demonic. "And something else. Mew could still do things. That suggests an upper boundary as well as a lower one, which is clear because Max reported a headache back in June and you didn't."

"How's that going to help?"

"With getting Max back? Not a lot. But those attacks in Hoenn have gone on for a long time. It would be a shame if someone found a way to counter them, wouldn't it?" Gary said, before taking a bite of food, reminding Danny that his sausage was safe to eat now. "And to level it with ya, you need to keep busy. So yes, I'm enlisting you. If you don't like it, boo fuckin' hoo. Better this than you blowing up at Gramps and the others. And probably the lab with you if gardevoir's involved."

The emotion drain from earlier was probably the only thing that kept Danny from blowing up right there and then, and that realisation was strange and enlightening. Somehow.

The argument made sense. Or enough sense anyway. He'd lived days waiting for something to happen, one year ago. The days that had been best out of them were the ones that had something for them to do. Like Serena's Showcase, or even travel on foot. Staying in one place? That had been terrible. "You're lucky I need to make an effort to get angry," Danny said softly after finishing his sausage. "Arceus knows..."

"I was there, remember. And you were right, but it doesn't help conversation." An unrepentant shrug. "And you're sure you can get angry?"

"Yes." He took a moment to think; to figure out how to put it. "You know how anger and rage are like a fire? In descriptions."

"Flowery tauros shite, but sure."

"It's like embers. Has been since shuppet did it."

"Huh. I'd have to read the literature on that, then. If there is some." Gary returned the shuppet, which still hadn't moved. "You want another sausa… Of course you do."

"I did skip dinner unwillingly. And—" Danny stopped his words abruptly as he realised something.

"And what."

"Max's cousin. And friends," he whispered. "Evan. Serena. Keith, Jane. Alice, Linda. Hugo. They don't know."

"Yeaaaah, don't talk to me about that." Danny gave the older teenager a hopefully exasperated glare. "Never did the whole friend thing much. Got a couple, but… Pokémon science keeps me busy. You'll have to figure this out by yourself. Or enlist aid not mine." A bag flew through the air, and Danny caught it on reflex. "All yours. And houndoom's, probably. Should be enough for both of you."

"Where are you going?" Danny asked as Gary stood up, stretching once.

"Bed. It's late, and I didn't spend the day sleeping against my will." Another object was lobbed, and Danny caught that, too. The stick fell onto the ground because of it. "See you in the morning."

With that, Gary vanished alongside his alakazam. To the lab, or the Oak home, maybe. That didn't matter, and Danny took a look down to see what he'd caught.

A green pokéball. In stasis, for now.

Light filled the place where Gary had been. Danny didn't want to be alone. Not now, not ever again if he could help it.

~~§~~§~~

Another Teleport, and the insolent child was dropped inside the cellar. There was no daylight coming in; he'd made sure of that earlier by boarding the window, and now, all the blindfolded and gagged boy had was a threadbare mattress and the clothes on his back.

Raphael had taken everything else. The glasses, he'd leave in the room. It helped hammer in the hopelessness, and he controlled the lights regardless. The watch and Pokénav had been flung overboard after the Teleport onto the boat. The boy didn't have a Pokédex on him when captured, so he hadn't needed to get rid of that like the others.

That left just the armband with a kingly prize. A Mega Stone. There were some in Hoenn, but not a lot under friendly control. This could prove useful.

The former intelligence agent left the room, taking a moment to change his clothing to something entirely nondescript. He didn't have a suitable disguise to emulate Team Rocket, Aqua, or Magma garb, so this would have to do. A pair of sunglasses, a hair-hiding hat, and a quick vocal exercise to modulate his voice to the one he'd used on the Johto beach, and he went back into the cellar. The gardevoir followed wordlessly, as she did.

On his mark, gag and blindfold flew off. The boy spluttered at the sudden freedom to breathe and see, before turning a baleful glare on him. "You fucki—"

He couldn't continue, because gardevoir had frozen him in place. Good girl. "Listen carefully, boy. You are here. Nobody knows where you are. Nobody will come to save you. You might feel free to delude yourself otherwise; I care not what you use your pathetic little brain for. Cooperate, and your stay here will be painless. Don't, and you will feel my wrath." He signalled for release, and immediately, the boy took up a combative stance. A pathetic one.

This was followed by something entirely predictable. "Fuck. You."

Another freeze, and Raphael shook his head exaggeratedly. "One minute, stretch."

Thirty-four seconds. That was how long it took for the whelp to whimper as his muscles were stretched just beyond what was normal. One of the few uses for Psychic-types, admittedly. Then, at fifty-six, the first actual cry of pain echoed through the room. Good.

"I will bring you food and water. Don't bother trying to escape. I will be back tomorrow with questions," Raphael said as the boy cramped on the floor. "If you don't answer them, I'll give you more of that."

With that, he left, and after a short moment of getting dressed again, he Teleported back to the boat that he'd left earlier. The captain needed no signal, raising the anchor and starting to sail back in the direction of Johto.

After all, he had a trail. It wouldn't do for a politician to suddenly come back to Hoenn without actually being seen going back.

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Pokédex entry: shuppet

Characteristics: sock puppet-like, leviating, Ghost-type. Avg. height: 2'00'',Avg. weight: 5 lbs.

Detailed information: Though folklore says that shuppet will live in places that have seen vengeance and jealously, it is more accurate to say that they seek these emotions out in the wild. Dark emotions are ambrosia to them, and eventually fuel its evolution into banette. Despite this, a general range of temperament is observed in them, and friendlier ones are often used by professional mediators to defuse arguments.

Author's Note: And back after the cliffhanger. Shortest chapter in a while, but one sub-scene didn't make sense here and enough got done anyway. Or not done, as Danny is very annoyed with.