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 38: Ripping The Bandage

"His body couldn't take any more," the adult said after he'd urgently checked May's little brother for injuries, and after his clefairy – which Danny had sent out – had used a Healing Wish that had done nothing except make Max's breathing more even. "Overload from the stress. Unsurprising."He tilted his head. "I am aware. Danny, if you could?"

"Don't want to leave him," Max's best friend said, now sitting down and clutching a wrist like it was a safety blanket. A deep sigh. "Guess I have to." He got up, obviously reluctantly, and gave May a venomous glare before turning to the gardevoir. "Ready."

They vanished, and May took a moment to grab a pokéball. It was inert with stasis. "Only now figuring that out, Ms. Maple?" Reginald said, folding his arms as his dragonair appeared. "How much did you see?"

"Dragons fighting. House exploding," she said, unlocking the capsule, but deciding to not send blaziken out. Yet. "What were you doing? What happened to Max?"

He scrutinised her. She recognised the look from people who first found out who she was. "Six days ago, your brother was kidnapped while defending the Tree of Beginning in Kanto. We rescued him. There were… complications."

"Like?"

"If I am not mistaken, he has been tortured for information. Directly and indirectly. It is equally likely that he did not give anything up. He is stubborn."

Manaphy, was he ever. "How do you know?"

The look she got reminded her of someone about to say she'd asked a stupid question. "Trainers do not collapse and then fail to be revived by a Healing Wish. It is also within the habits of the one whose house was just demolished. At best, it was sleep deprivation."

That sounded bad. "And at worst?"

"That didn't happen," the Gym Leader stated with absolute certainty, leaving her to wonder what that was. "There are many shades of torture in between these extremes. None of them are legal, and none of them are things I'd wish on my worst enemy."

"Who would do that?"

"I can tell you, but not here." He regarded her closely. "You wish to stay with your brother."

"Yes."

A sigh, for some reason. "You can come with us and see him when he's woken up."

"He won't wake up now?"

Any answer was stopped by the arrival of a Nurse Joy, along with Danny and gardevoir. The latter two ignored her, and the Nurse barely gave her a glance. "Oh. That explains a few things," she said when she saw Reginald and Max. "What happened to him?"

"Collapsed under strain after being rescued from kidnapping. He used a Mega Evolution just before."

"He was already shaky before that. Gardevoir clearly helped him in… that room." The Psychic-type hummed affirmatively. "Clefairy's Healing Wish didn't do much."

"Well," the Joy said, sending out a blissey. "I'll have a look as best I can."

The woman and her Pokémon worked in unison as the others looked onward in silence. May looked away once, but met only a glare from Danny when she did that. Max, meanwhile, only responded to what was going on once, and that was because the blissey used some form of attack through her hand. It wasn't in pain, though: if anything, it seemed to feel good.

The focus shifted to arms and legs afterwards, with Nurse Joy tracing something across the inside of Max's elbows multiple times, and blissey doing the same with a very lightly glowing hand afterwards. No reaction came this time, and May wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Eventually, the healthcare professional got up. "The best I can tell, he's got sprains and strains all over his body," she said, addressing Danny and Reginald. "Blissey checked for internal injuries, but didn't find any, and she is good at that. He will have problems moving around for a while. He can take anti-inflammatory painkillers, but it's best if he only does that for a few days to help him remember that his body needs rest. There's also a small first degree burn on his hand. That'll heal naturally."

"What could cause that?" May asked. "The strains, I mean."

"Wrong movements, but in the numbers your brother has… That's not possible. The body would protest long before this point. It's possible for some, but those are generally adults who spend their lives stretching the limits of what their body can do. Not a teenager."

"May I?" gardevoir interjected, and after a shared look between Nurse Joy and her blissey, she gave her permission. "Hold out your arm," he ordered, and once that was done, he used something psychic on the lower arm. "Could this cause it, if done in greater amounts and with more power?"

"It could. It would constitute torture, but it could." She turned towards the other adult. "Do you know who did this?"

It was Danny who answered with a hollow laugh. "We weren't quiet or sneaky."

"Obliteration of property was indeed involved. I will not say whose, but you'll hear soon enough. For now, thank you."

That was a dismissal if ever May had heard one, but Nurse Joy just took it. Probably used to crazy stuff happening. Few of them had looked up when they'd come in off of a Team Rocket scuffle all battered anyway, ever.

"Can you Teleport all of us?" Reginald asked after gardevoir had delivered the nurse back to the nearest Pokémon Center. "Or some of us?"

"Perhaps just Max and you," was the answer, after a moment's silence. "I will not endanger him, nor leave him more."

"Understandable." Two pokéballs went flying towards Danny, who caught one and accepted the other. "Wait fifteen minutes. Stay low once at sea."

"We're taking her?"

"Yes." That was final, May realised, but it sure as hell didn't stop the hateful look she got from her brother's best friend. She still wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve it, but it was a bit understandable after hearing what her brother had gone through. Danny was pretty protective of him at the best of times, she distinctly remembered.

Max and Reginald vanished, and, May realised a moment later, so had her pack. "Hey!"

"Easier on salamence if he doesn't have to carry dead weight. Or more dead weight." Danny stretched. "You stay here. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

"What are you going to do?"

"None of your business." With that, he left, along with both pokéballs.

She wasn't stupid, and so she followed him at a distance, but all that she saw him do was kick branches around, toss a few small rocks, and mutter too softly for her to hear. He never looked in her direction, and she tracked back after a few minutes to make sure he wouldn't see her.

Flying was something she hadn't often done, and the salamence wasn't the gentlest of fliers either, but despite feeling like she wanted to throw up, she didn't as they headed westward, off the island and also going slightly north. Twilight fell before too long, and by the time that she could recognise anything nearby – the Lilycove Inlet – she was soaked to the bone from the spray that the Dragon-type was creating and not shielding her from.

At least, she thought bitterly as she dismounted at their destination – Mt. Pyre – Danny was equally soaked. He didn't give her a second look after returning the salamence and marched inside with sopping trousers and all.

~~§~~§~~

They had made Max as comfortable as possible in a place like Mt. Pyre, and all that was left was for Danny was to wait for his best friend to wake up from his well-earned rest. He didn't care what time that was going to be. He wasn't going to let Max leave his sight except for sleep and toilet breaks for weeks if he had anything to say about it.

His best friend looked a bit better now, after he'd been switched into clean clothes and had a wet cloth pass over his face, arms, and legs to get the worst of the grime off. Better, however, was relative: the hair was still matted as hell, and even asleep, there was something about Max's face that made Danny uncomfortable. Maybe it was the eyes, which lay just a bit deeper in their sockets than normal, or maybe it was the expression, which was drawn, almost tense.

It didn't help that what little movement Max had made in the hours of watching had been to curl up slightly. He didn't appear to be dreaming, which was maybe okay? Dreams helped you cope with stuff, Danny remembered, but right at that point, any dream was probably going to be a nightmare.

He watched, and the hours passed slowly. Reginald came by at one point, leaving easy to digest food before saying his Pokémon would do the guard shift. Several of Max's Pokémon slowly filtered into the room as well: sceptile and manectric first, then poliwhirl stayed for a bit before returning herself to not dry out too much. Vulpix entered from the other side from where they'd set up camp, and Danny figured she'd spent some time with the locals.

Gardevoir and clefairy hadn't come out, but after what they'd done, they deserved rests as well. Gardevoir had stayed with Max until Danny had come by, wet from the spray, only mentioning that it'd be better to change clothing before returning himself.

Danny had promptly done so, not caring about the sleeping Max nearby.

His own Pokémon had come up with some kind of rotation lasting about an hour, using that reminder to also prod Danny to walk around a bit to stretch his legs. Houndoom, dusclops, and diggersby were the ones doing that, but apart from the Dark-type's tail occasionally hitting his legs, they were as quiet and undetectable as anything.

Max stirred not long past midnight. The movement caught everyone's attention, but Danny was the only one who got up. He glanced at sceptile, asking a silent question and receiving a silent nod in return.

Case for glasses in hand, he waited for the stirring to turn into waking. It was five minutes until he heard a soft groan, and he saw a leg twitch at the same time. "Max?" he asked softly, taking a step forward.

His best friend froze, almost unnaturally so, confirming to Danny that he was awake. It caused a small spark of happiness that vanished as no answer came.

Was he keeping silent on purpose? Maybe… "Max… It's me." Another step forward. "You awake?"

"sit… Is it you?" Max asked, voice hoarse, and only audible because it was dead silent otherwise. "Not… Imaginary?"

The urge to point out that imaginary friends would point out that they were real was quashed. Now was not the time to be like they had been. Maybe never again. "It's me. C'mon, open your eyes. Try to see me," Danny replied.

The encouragement worked, and eyes opened. They were unfocused, slightly bloodshot in a way that he hadn't noticed back on Izabe, and still every bit as sunken as before, but they were open, and the moment that Max saw him was clear. As was the cry of pain when he tried to move. "Wha' happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"Pain… You coming in… Tiredness… Rage," the blue-haired teen listed, eyes moving over Danny before he collapsed onto the mat. "Jirachi… Everything hurts."

"I've got painkillers in the kit, but can't give 'em yet. You know that." He opened the case, taking the glasses out and holding them above Max's head. "Don't move, okay?"

He didn't, and Danny managed to fit the glasses on Max's nose and ears pretty okay. It didn't do much to hide the tiredness, but at least there was some semblance of normality now. "This looks familiar." A hand adjusted the left prong of the glasses. "Is this… Mt. Pyre?"

"Yeah. Perfect place to hide. Nobody's here. Because it's closed."

"What day is it?"

"It's..." Danny checked the time on his watch. "Close to one in the morning. September second," he said. A moment later, he remembered what that day was to Max, and he bit down on his tongue to stop the reply. "Nearly a week since the Tree."

"And still same clothes," Max said, sounding disgusted. "Smell horrible."

"No. Not the same clothes," Danny corrected. "Just same colour shirt. Changed you while you were..."

"Out," Max finished for him. "It was like… Poof, gone. Standing, then lying in pain. And you." Arms moved, and Danny quickly put his hands on the wrists. "No… Need to sit up. Need to… To see."

Carefully, the older of the two wriggled his arm underneath Max's shoulder, and with a heave and a hiss of pain, the younger found himself standing up. He swayed, making Danny think that going from lying down to standing was a mistake, but then Max shifted his weight onto Danny. "Sorry for pulling you way up," he said, realising belatedly that the strains and sprains might've hurt a lot.

"Nah… It's better. Have to do it." Blue hair turned here and there. "This is… Deep in? I think?"

"Yeah," Danny replied, not surprised that Max would remember something like that. "Reginald's sleeping a few rooms over." As was May one over from that, but he wasn't going to mention that right now. "He's responsible for rescuing you, by the way."

A soft whine came from the side, and the two of them slowly turned to see manectric walk up, exaggeratedly shaking her head. "Tric. Ma-tric!" she said, clearly disagreeing with something before starting to rub her head into Max's leg. "Ma..."

"She disagrees," Max said, reaching down to rub her head, gently and shakily. "And… Thank you," he added, choking up with something.

"It's okay," Danny said softly, as he manoeuvred the two of them into a hug. He felt tears of his own slide down, and he made no effort at trying to hold them back. "You'd do the same."

"Damn right." They ended the hug, and for a moment, Max stood under his own power. Then, he wavered, but the support was there in an instant. "Gah!"

"Max… What happened in there?" He trailed off when he saw and felt Max's mood darken; body tensing. "I..."

"Don't. Not… Not your fault." A deep sigh. "He wanted information. About… About a lot of things. I didn't give it. Got punished."

That part was believable, but there was one thing that didn't add up entirely. "How did he do it? Didn't see anything..."

"Didn't need them. He… He's controlling gardevoir," Max told him, speaking softly. Like he didn't want to believe it. "She..."

Danny cut off the words with a single finger on Max's lips. "I know, silly. I was there," he said, forcing himself to remain calm. Barely. "You're here now. You're safe."

"Danny, it's gardevoir's mother."

What. What. What!? Thoughts raced through his head. How was it possible? How had Max found out? How were they… How… Just how… "Controlled?" he choked out.

"Armband. You saw it. And dead eyes. So dead..." A noisy swallow, but the younger of them seemed to draw strength from sceptile grasping his wrist, gently. "Need to tell him. Where..."

"Resting," Danny answered the question. "He used a lot of energy, also after you dropped. Same for clefairy."

"I didn't see her?"

"Healing Wish." That clearly hadn't done nearly as much as any of them would've hoped. "They're in the room with Reginald. Where I'm sleeping too. Want to go get them?"

"Who else?"

"Poliwhirl. And..." Danny said, looking around, but he couldn't locate the fox. "Vulpix too, but she's been… Mobile? Exploring her old home?"

"She'll show up, I guess. Place is special to her," Max replied, but he, too, sounded a bit curious about what was going on. "No shelgon?"

"Eh… We thought it was a bad idea. Professor Oak's been keeping him locked up. To keep stuff standing."

They started walking, slowly and carefully, Danny making sure that he carried as much as Max would let him."He destroyed things?"

"He got in a fight twice in two days, and went berserk when we told him." Danny picked up the pace a little, sensing that he could. "Was a bit risky."

A nod, but then a bit of silence as they walked through the interior of the abandoned memorial site. It was eerie, with the other rooms not lit up. Manectric provided them with enough to see by, dimming her output in the room where Reginald was sleeping. "Can we go outside?"

"Sure," Danny replied in the same whisper.

Two rooms later, and a misty exterior greeted them, as well as a rush of fresh air that was perfect after spending the last eight hours inside and waiting. There was a bench outside, and Max sat down on it after a bit of guidance. "Why's my hand bandaged?"

"Looked like it had been burnt or something," Danny replied. "Didn't want it to get infected inside, so… Guess we'll take it off now. Better for burns anyway."

One gentle use of Leaf Blade later, the loose bandage fell towards the ground, giving both of them a good look at it. Unfortunately, the limited light made that almost impossible, and Max decided to touch it with a finger. "Feels a but raw, but doesn't hurt." He pressed a bit harder. "That does. What caused it?"

"When you collapsed, I found the Mega Stone near your hand. Think it might be that?"

"Maybe? Stuff's kinda blurry. And..."

"Angry."

"Furious. And painful, but… Different?" Max leant back, and Danny heard sceptile shuffle around, ready to catch the teenager. It wasn't needed. "Gardevoir? Might know more."

That made as much sense as anything, and after bracing for a wave of emotion, the green pokéball opened.

The relief still nearly knocked him flat and brought definite tears to his eyes.

He stepped away, giving the two some privacy while they reconnected. Instead, he walked towards the pier, and it was no surprise that one of the Dragons on guard duty came down towards him. It was the dragonair, whose bell pulsed with almost curious green light once when it came close. "Yeah. He's awake." Thank Mew. "Nothing here?"

The whole-body wiggle was definitely negative, as was the soft cry. In fact, it gave Danny the distinct idea that it was almost too quiet for the Dragon-type. He chuckled at the contrast before running a quick finger across the middle of its back, which caused it to shiver before flying off, pulsing out energy from the crystal around its neck.

The mist around the island cleared a bit. Not too much, because it'd be suspicious, but enough that you could still see even without manectric being a nightlight.

Sudden agony brought Danny to his knees. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the cause was, he reflected as he got up, and he rejoined Max and gardevoir while trying to keep a lid on his own emotions. "…know she doesn't. She hasn't got a choice."

"How?!"

Danny suppressed a wince. That had been loud as hell. Max didn't seem to notice, though. "There's technology that can do it. Ancient and modern. Ash saw it a few times. Told us about it."

"How did that stop?"

"Break it. Somehow," was the answer, and it was clear that Max wanted to be able to tell gardevoir more, but couldn't.

"We'll need your help for it," Danny added softly, and he flinched under the glare. "Max said it. No choice. She does everything that her controller orders. Including torturing someone she liked."

Maybe the emphasis was a bit much. This glare scared him stiff.

An eternity passed. "Enough." That was Max, harsh. "He's right, gardevoir. She did do it. You think she would if she had any choice?" He let it sink in, and Danny felt like he could move his arms again. Legs, not so much. "I don't blame her. I'd never."

The brittle rage broke, replaced by deep, deep, sorrow. "I lost my brother to them. I can't lose my mother too..."

Carefully, Max reached over, and Danny shot forward in case something went wrong. "We did," he said leaning into his Psychic-type, one arm reaching around. "And we won't lose her." Eyes locked, and the words came from two mouths as one. "We promise."

~~§~~§~~

Scowling, Danny stepped aside after exiting the room Max was in, leaving the path free for May. She ignored it for now, but she'd be lying if it wasn't getting really old really fast. He'd talked past her when he told Reginald that Max had been awake earlier. He hadn't responded when she asked him for a quick spar…

Yeah, sure, there was the whole thing where they thought that she did something, but she hadn't and he knew. Come off it, seriously…

Her brother looked a lot better than he had earlier. Sorta clean, even. And the gardevoir was nowhere to be seen either: only his manectric was there, sitting beside him as he'd propped himself up against one of the pillars in the room. That was good: she'd always liked the canine. "Hey Max."

"May." Moving like he was forty, not fourteen, he got up. He still leaned against the pillar.

"Hey Max," she said softly, keeping her distance for now. "How are you feeling?"

"Worse now that you're here."

"Don't you remember? Gardevoir said..."

"That you didn't tell anyone. Except Drew, not too long ago," Max finished for her. "I remember, May. Don't care. You could've, you just didn't."

"That makes no sense!" She was tempted to throw her hands up, but she kept her calm. 'He's just being a moody teenager,' she reminded herself. "And I never would have."

"Really." That was Danny, and May turned around to see him walk up to the two of them. How had the taller teenager been so quiet? "Could've fooled us alright. Going on television. Saying that you thought we were being taken advantage of."

"I didn't say that. I said..."

"Yeah yeah," Danny interrupted her rudely. "Keep telling yourself that. We're not stupid, we can read between the lines."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" May said quickly, hoping to at least get through to them before they'd get each other angrier and angrier. "I was wrong. I know that."

It seemed to be the wrong thing to say. Her brother glared at her, reminding her of a different time they'd been at each other's throats. "Wrong? Just wrong when you told me that I needed to face it? That ralts was dead? Or that you weren't going to bail me out when I had Lance's letter ready? Didn't hear excuses for that, now did I?" He spat onto the ground. "Don't know why gardevoir took you along. Waste of energy."

"Maybe because I'm your sister and he knows it." She rounded on Danny, who'd chuckled for some reason. "What?"

"Max hasn't called you his sister in months. And now I know why." The tall teenager drew himself up a bit. "You're nothing like what a sister should be. You're nothing like what a friend should be, too."

"Wha..."

"Didn't even ask before you told Max that Ash was responsible for killing a kirlia. When you told him ralts was dead two days before!" Danny spat venomously.

Okay. Fuck staying calm. She was not going to just take this. "Shut up!" she snarled. "You weren't there when Ash jumped into danger again and again and again. He goes looking for it, Danny. Don't know what excuse he gave you for wrecking that lab, but he lied about it."

The teenager balled his fists, but then Max cleared his throat, and May saw that he was livid. "Fuck off, May. You're too stupid to understand." Gardevoir came out. "Let's go."

Before her eyes, the two teenagers Teleported away. May didn't know where, but she wasn't inclined to go look for them. Stupid childish idiotic…

Red overtook her vision.

~~§~~§~~

It was midnight by the time that dragonair came down from the sky to alert Phoebe to the incoming flight. She had returned a few hours before, finding the two teenagers in a mood she recognised from shuppet snacking. They'd seemed happy enough to see her, though, and after a bit of chatter about Ghost-types and moves – turned out the gardevoir was learning Shadow Ball – she'd left them to rest.

Not that either of them admitted they needed the sleep, but teenage boys did as teenage boys were, and one of them had been locked up not even thirty hours before. They needed it.

Then Reginald had dropped by her, saying that Sidney was going to come here. He'd said no more, preferring to only explain once, but even the most dimwitted politician could see the writing on the wall.

He was staying. Good.

It had taken a while for the Dark-type Master to arrive. Reginald had told her that there was a hearing about whether or not Sidney could continue to be a member of the Elite Four in this time and age. Phoebe guessed it would be a 'no', but regardless, it meant that it was going to be a late-night chat. Or early morning, she supposed.

The tropius landed easily, and Sidney seemed wholly unsurprised to see her here. Reginald had probably told him that they'd met. "Phoebe, my favourite Ghost-type Master. Fine atmosphere we got here, innit? Fog and creepy; we're riiiight at home."

"Have you been drinking again?" she asked in return, rolling her eyes as he dismounted tropius. Her haunter floated away to get the other. "Or are you trying to be funny?"

"A bit of levity never hurt, not that you'd ever catch Mauville saying that." Those words were decidedly not-slurred. "Quit. We're not getting younger; the body takes too long to recover. Been juice since March." He moved into the light of the small lantern that illuminated the area around her. "Nobody knows. Eccentricity's advantage." He held out his arms.

She accepted the friendly hug as one of her Ghosts told her something. "So. How did you get roped in?"

"By finding a very enterprising and slightly foolish G-men agent pumping the seedy underparts of Lilycove for information," Reginald answered, appearing just as the mismagius had communicated. "As well as cleaning up the streets. How is that going, Sidney?"

"Got a lab last week. Second one of the summer. 'course, one's probably opened elsewhere, but the guy's workin' for a pardon hard," Sidney said. "And he's not even on the radar of others, best I can tell."

"How do you know?"

In response to the question, Sidney sent out a sableye. "This little guy goes out with a small microphone. Nobody ever looks up into the shadows, and he's good at sticking to them." The Ghost/Dark hybrid flickered in a Faint Attack for a moment. "Enough about that. Reginald?"

"Let's head inside," Phoebe said as her banette returned, unhappy. "Some of the locals are territorial."

They did just that. "Sidney, you are the most up-to-date. What is the government doing?"

"Don't know if I know much more than you do; downside of being who I am," the lanky man said, leaning against a pillar as the others had sat down. Somehow, he managed to avoid looking down on them. "They're consolidating power; outlawing things that needn't be outlawed, and not everyone's okay with that."

"How many Gym Leaders are on our side?"

"Ignoring three, about five more I can say for sure. Six, provided you use them. Brawly, LeeAnn, Flannery, Juan, Winona." A wry smile. "A pattern unfolds here; irrelevant as it likely is."

Phoebe didn't see it, but she had other things to worry about. "Why focus on just the Gym Leaders? Why not regular people too?"

"They are scared, and will follow whoever's most charismatic about it," Reginald replied dismissively. "It is also dangerous. Do not forget that this is a government that attacks its own citizens." He turned to Sidney. "And Wattson?"

"Wants nothing more than to be left alone, for all his realisation that he is in the heat of the forge. Play it right, he's off the board. Play it wrong, he's forced in by them."

"And enemies?"

"Four. Dragon, Ice, Bug, Rock."

"Not Cory?"

"Falling out. My colleague overstepped her bounds." Sidney sounded very unrepentant about that, and Phoebe wouldn't put it past him to have fanned the flames a bit with some careful words. "Interestingly, only one on the main landmass."

"She was on board early on," Reginald replied. "And what you say is a common thread regardless."

"So, what are we going to do now that we know where everyone's standing?"

Reginald turned towards her in response. "We disseminate the truth of what has happened to them. The allies for sure. Some neutrals as well. Once they know, we can go further. Methodical steps work best."

For someone who professed that there was grave danger, it was a surprisingly tepid response, and Phoebe didn't like it. She flashed a sign out of Reginald's vision, and she saw the nod. "Alright. I suppose you want us to contact them?"

"Sidney more than you." Reginald sounded – and probably was – genuinely sorry about that. "He has motive, you less so."

"Motive?"

"For the time being, I am on administrative tasks only." He sounded rather happier than Phoebe would've expected about that. "It was easy to arrange: simple questioning what was happening with the Dark and a request of my own with a lie most foul that I could not trust my own Pokémon. The politicians lapped it up like a young litten milk."

"And as such, he will undertake a periodic check of all Gyms, which will give him ample excuse to move around the region to those Gym Leaders you cannot approach." Reginald regarded her. "Who can you approach?"

She thought for a second, thinking about who she had excuses to meet. "I can run into Brawly while visiting my parents, and LeeAnn is a good friend. I can probably get away with Gwen too," she added, listing the neutral Fairy-type Gym Leader. "Got her a mimikyu Egg last autumn."

"Good. You contact them in the next few weeks, and we'll move from there. I will be scouring the region, trying to find clues to where they're striking next and trying to disable some of their machines." He pulled out a meter that was wholly unfamiliar. "Before that, I will have to take care of the rescuee."

"How long is that going to take?" Phoebe asked.

"Probably a week. Birch can do the rest easily, and will as well. Provided this afternoon doesn't cause a setback."

"What happened?"

"I made a mistake," Reginald admitted, to Phoebe's surprise. "Through a stroke of cosmic luck, Maple's sister saw part of our assault. I convinced her to come here, hoping to reconcile the siblings and to gain another influential ally. I was… Very sorely mistaken."

That probably explained the shuppet snacking symptoms. She'd have to pump the boys for the story. Or the shuppets. Either would work.

~~§~~§~~

"I see. It makes sense why you did not include that in the report then," Santi said after Raphael had explained the reasoning. If anyone connected a rampaging gardevoir to what they were known to be, questions would be raised. They didn't have the clout to bury that. Yet. "A pity that he didn't reveal anything."

"Greater men than mere boys would have broken. There is something that gave him mental strength as his body was pushed."

"How long until he can move freely?"

Raphael thought it over. There had been extensive shaking after the last session, and the boy had clearly been affected even five hours afterwards at the escape. "Several days until he can move around somewhat. Two weeks until most of his day should be painless."

"That gives us time."

"It does, but are we going to wait?"

"I understand that you wish for revenge, Raphael, but as you well know, the ability to be anywhere within a large area makes hiding easy. They could be in a G-men safehouse, or on one of the myriad islands. We do not have the manpower to search, but we know where they'll go."

"They would suspect a trap."

"Reginald would, but after what happened, would you trust him to keep your captive under control and not seek vengeance?"

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Following the recent attacks, Hoenn Elite Four Member Sidney will now travel the region to make certain that all Gym Leaders know what to do in the event of an attack on their town. This move, along with further restrictions, is one that the Hoenn government hopes will finally bring an end to the continuous outbreaks of Pokémon violence in the region. Previous restrictions, however, have not proven to be effective in the long term, although overall casualties went down slightly on a year-to-year basis in the first six months of this year.