War of Ideals

by Aminti

Sequel to Evolving Stratagems. When ideals clash, truth is often their first victim. In a Hoenn beset by distrust and attacks, Max and Danny have to cope with learning that lesson. As bonds are shattered and remade, can they keep hold of what is important to them, or will they fall victim to the chaos of conflict?

41. The Fire Within

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.

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Chapter 40: The Fire Within

Most people knew New Mauville existed. An underground electrical power plant, used to bring electricity to the region's largest city and large areas of its surroundings. Risky, some called it, for what if an earthquake should strike in force.

A lower amount of people realised that the rock that Mauville stood upon was good to build on and in for earthquakes, though should you ask a direct question or ask them to think things through, they could come up with the logic that led there.

Very few people realised that New Mauville wasn't the only underground area that the city had.

Several hundred feet underneath the city, a small complex of caves existed. It had no real exit to the outside, excepting a long tunnel that eventually led north-west to a cliff in the desert. There was no water; the air inside was stuffy…

And there was a rudimentary elevator that led straight to the First Minister's residence that had been built atop it around two hundred years ago.

This was no coincidence. Santi's predecessor; a long-reigning man in the era of when landed lords were still influential beyond belief, had found something there. Something that had changed the balance of power in the ages before Pokémon had been fully domesticated.

Through means lost to time, or perhaps to careful eliding of history, the man had enslaved one set of the Legendary Golems to the power of the First Minister. And with them, he had united the region, bringing the loosely independent islands and the area around Lilycove into the fold.

Santi cared not about how it had been done, but, he reflected as he sent out three Pokémon, he appreciated it dearly.

Legendary Pokémon were powerful as a rule, and these were no different. They required no sustenance and little care, and though they lacked the advantage of being properly trained, these three weren't the only ones at his disposal.

A closer predecessor, after pokéballs had become available, had captured the other set of Legendary Golems that Hoenn possessed, in the process also sinking an island and killing the regigigas that had been housed there.

The problem, Santi mused, was that though Hoenn had all of these tools, they hadn't been used. People wondered why the region that was known for having discovered regirock, registeel, and regigigas – Sinnoh had been the one to discover regice – in ages past had now no known sightings of them, but that was it.

Power was useless if you refused to use it. Pokémon sitting idly were the same.

He knew a storm was coming. He counted on it. The accursed G-men would not leave him and his alone, not after the fortuitous finding of the boy and the slightly more zealous choice to interrogate. They would seek to stir up trouble, likely involving some measure of public outcry and protests. They would congregate on Mauville, because that was where one protested a sitting government.

And then the hammer would fall.

There would be death. There would be destruction. But from the ashes, a new Hoenn would arise. A Hoenn unafraid. A Hoenn willing to do what had to be done.

A Hoenn purified in fire.

~~§~~§~~

Knowing that he had to do it and hiding his plans from Danny stung, Max found in the day and a half following the revelations on top of the mountain. It was easier than expected to pull the wool over his best friend's eyes, too. There had been a question what Max was doing, restocking his pack, but a little white lie about wanting to get it right and a bit of truth about wanting to leave soon made the older teenager accept it.

Trust. Danny trusted him. He was about to shatter it into a billion pieces.

"Have to do it, keep him safe," echoed through his mind, sounding eerily like his actual voice, and not his inner one, and Max looked up from his seated position near the exit to the upper slopes. Gardevoir approached. "You keep repeating that mantra, Max. Do you not believe it?"

He hesitated to answer, but then realisation dawned. If the Pokémon posed the question, it meant that nobody else was nearby. "I do, up here," he replied softly, tapping his temple. "But down here..."

"The curse of caring too much, my mother once called it," gardevoir replied, sitting down next to him. The slight hitch in the mental voice went unmentioned. "We are rather prone to that."

"I know… It..." he said, clamming up because he couldn't find the words, until he could. "Did… Did your brother's death… somehow cause this? Same way that I… sense stuff."

Silence stretched for a spell as the Pokémon clearly thought it over. "It is possible, perhaps, but this is beyond me." He took hold of Max's hand, sending pure comfort through it and up his arm. "Does it matter if it did? Would it change anything?"

"Maybe?"

"I doubt it," gardevoir replied with certainty. "Not to a great degree. After all, should that not have happened, odds are that you and my brother would have travelled together." A pause, and Max heard footsteps. "And you would have been so close that our alignment at your rescue would have been the rule, and not the exception." There was a slight shift in the air, somehow. "Do you not agree?"

"With what?" Danny asked as he appeared around the corner, taking the random question in stride. Max suppressed the uncomfortable feeling at seeing his friend. "Going to need context."

"That the bond between Max and my brother, should they have travelled together, would be unbreakable."

The older teenager barely held in a snort as he sat down, Max could tell. "No need to convince me. You two are already thick as thieves, and ralts would've had nearly two years on that."

It wasn't entirely what gardevoir had meant, Max felt, but it was one of those little lies about talking that everyone did anyway. Probably. "Did Reginald come back or something that you're here?"

"Nah. Was wondering if you'd fallen asleep or something."

Wait, what? "Why?"

Danny gave him a strange look. "You had a pretty harsh nightmare last night. Woke me up with the tossing. You don't remember?"

He had felt a little like his sleep hadn't been great, but he'd chalked it up to other factors. "No… Guess that's better than normal?"

"Only a tiny bit, and that we're talking about normal is bad in the first place. That's the third in seven days."

"I know… Blame my brain." He half-turned to his Pokémon. "You sure you don't know anything to help me with that?"

A sense of fond exasperation mixed with something he couldn't identify wafted over. "Only using Hypnosis to force you asleep, and I neither know that nor would I like to use it in that way regularly."

"Yeah, dreams help you cope with life. Nightmares are sort of the flip side to that," Danny stated softly. "Guess this place isn't helping you either. You weren't that glad to come here last time, and it is pretty gloomy." He glanced around at the unlit torches, not needed because the door outside was open and there was plenty of sunlight that made the slopes pretty uncomfortable. "We'll be out of here soon enough."

"When's that?"

"Couple of days if the weather's right." Max gave what he hoped was a disbelieving look. "Calm ahead of the storm. I'd rather not get pneumonia from being out in the rain, and it's going to be coming down hard according to the forecast.

The day before, Danny had been okay with leaving the day after tomorrow, and this was another delay… One that wasn't really relevant anyway: Max remembered at least three caves nearby enough that they could go to, so they could just get started on everything.

What did the ninetales know?

~~§~~§~~

They met in an out of the way tea shop, somewhere in an area of Slateport May had vague memories of visiting the first time she was here four and a half years ago. The Grand Festival was miles to the south, as was the beach, and the main road north to Mauville was to the east. This area was, as far as she could tell, pretty much residential houses only – a bit below the area her parents lived in – but apparently, there was this random tea shop right next to a small grocers and a place that sold lamps.

Why had Drew told her to go here after she'd asked if they could talk in person? She'd been to his home before, and he'd just told Nurse Joy about it – not even calling her.

Though, being fair, she'd been in bed by eight last night. The boat to Slateport had had some trouble with a thankfully group of wild gyarados, and she'd been deputised to help protect the ferry alongside some others. It had made for little sleep and uneasy sleep when she had been able to catch a few moments.

May entered a… Frankly cosy shop. The traditional folding screens were done tastefully, with art of Pokémon and their elemental types on them. A couple of sturdy vases lined the sides of the path, with well-trimmed plants in them – ones she remembered seeing over at Drew's house. One of the employees appeared out of nowhere, and with a soft word, told the Coordinator to follow her.

Drew was already waiting behind the Grass-type folding screens, a lot of tea blends and a pot with steam coming out of it on the table already. He turned around, and he looked terrible.

Or, well, he was a former Coordinator and he generally took care of himself, but right now, he looked like your average young adult on the street. That was pretty bad for him. "Morning May. Sorry to drop the location change on you, but… It's been an evening and a night."

"What happened?" she asked as she sat down, getting a closer look at one of her best friends. He just looked… Tired.

"Somehow, the water pipes burst in our basement, and the fertiliser I kept there mixed with the water," he replied, not adding water to his empty cup yet. "We were out for a family dinner and got home to the worst smell you can imagine, and of course, water everywhere." He scowled for a moment. "We don't own a Water-type, and nobody in the neighbourhood had one that would be useful either, so I had to ask help from Nurse Joy."

"She didn't tell me that," May replied. "Guess you didn't know how long it was going to take, so that's why we're here."

"Right in one," he said, giving her a pretty diminished version of the smile she liked to see – except when they'd been on the opposite ends of the arena. "Turns out, that was done by about two in the morning, but the smell lingers, so… I'm glad that we're here."

"You work with the stuff."

"Outside, or in well-ventilated and large greenhouses. Not in a basement about ten feet by ten feet," the university student pointed out drily. "Roserade put in a lot of Aromatherapy and Sweet Scent this morning. I still smelled the fertiliser underneath it." He sighed. "What got you asleep by nine thirty?"

"Half a dozen gyarados and a ferry." She gave a quick overview of her night before the last one as Drew poured both of them some hot water. He also pushed her favourite blend towards her, but… She wasn't feeling the twig tea today. "Think I'll go for something stronger today." She glanced around. "Can we talk about private stuff here?"

"As long as we speak softly," Drew replied, lowering his voice a bit, but still well above whispering. "What's this about, then?"

In response, May took a newspaper clipping from a pocket. It was about the thing she'd seen on Izabe. The story that was so different in a way that she hadn't even seen until her brother and his friend had forced her to leave. It had raised so many questions and Drew was the only person she could trust to talk about this.

Except her parents, but like hell she was telling them that she'd seen Max.

Drew was waiting for her to explain. "I saw that happen," she started. "Except… That story isn't even half the truth. I… Will you promise to not interrupt me?"

"Of course."

That was a relief, and May started explaining everything. From the sight of dragons attacking and gardevoir obliterating the house, via the interrogation and the mind-reading, to the state that Max was in and the eventual confrontation. By the time she had finished, her drink was just the right temperature, and she gulped everything down in one go, and fuck propriety on that tea should be enjoyed while at a tea shop.

"That's a lot to unpack," Drew observed, but he hadn't looked as calm as he'd made the words sound. He'd winced multiple times, in fact. "So, first question… Why would they keep it silent that there's a gardevoir wrecking stuff? Rayquaza knows the government dislikes Psychic-types enough as-is."

That was literally the only question that May had been able to figure out an answer to. Somewhat. "Gardevoir are known to protect, right? Like, it's in their Pokédex entries and all?" The older teenager nodded slowly. "So if you say there's a gardevoir there, you might get questions about what you did."

"Because they'd assume there's more to it? Maybe." He didn't sound convinced. "And I'm sorry your reunion with your brother was so bad, but… I think you went about it wrong."

"What?"

"Your brother, by your own words, was rescued from a week of torture. By one of our politicians," Drew added, and he looked like he wanted to not believe that. "Then you talk to him, about two things that are clearly very important to him and that he's flat wrong on that." A shake of the head. "Look, May. Your brother needed, needs, careful nurturing and healing, not just dumping water and fertiliser and calling it a day. I know you just wanted him back – it's written all over you, don't lie – but you might have only succeeded in pushing him away further." He grabbed her hand suddenly, but tenderly. "Don't forget. He's a teenage boy. They are not known for being rational all the time. Or at all."

They sat in silence for a moment, breaking apart with a start when the screens opened, but it was only the employee checking in, and after seeing that no refill or refreshment was needed, she left again.

"I really blew it, huh."

"Probably. Not sure if there's a… Oh… Oh no."

"What?"

In response, Drew stood up and walked around the table before bending slightly, his breath on her ear. "If you were your brother," he whispered. "Wouldn't you want revenge on the one who tortured you?"

Fuck.

~~§~~§~~

The first thing Danny heard when waking up was an insistent wind whistling around the closed door. It struggled to get through to his brain for a second, and he vaguely realised that the wind must have been just right and strong to get right up there, a couple of doors into the mountain.

He stretched lazily, opening his eyes and finding them slightly bleary still. He closed them, putting his hands on cool stone to make sure he didn't drift off again. There wasn't any slow breathing from Max nearby, on the other side of a pillar, but that just meant he'd woken up after his best friend. It happened, and it had been like one in the morning before he'd felt sleepy enough to actually fall asleep. Weird, because he'd been up at pretty much dawn, but stranger stuff had happened, and it had been pretty cool to watch the weather turn worse as the night went on.

He laid there for probably about five minutes before deciding he should really get out of his sleeping bag and do something. He did want to groom houndoom's fur today, which he hadn't done since he'd been in Kanto, and swampert could do with a rubdown too. It wasn't as effective as hosing him down, but few things were.

His pack was a mess. Something to do today, he swore to himself after finding most of his socks out of their convenient smaller bag and amongst his share of camping supplies. His Key Stone necklace was missing as well, but Max had taken it the night before to practice the Mega Evolution. It hadn't worked, and his friend had probably forgotten to put it back while trying to not fall asleep on his feet.

It happened. Danny just hoped that they could find a happy medium to trigger the process instead of the bottomless rage that had been the previous cause, and also to do it without gardevoir getting in his Trainer's head to cheat the mechanism.

There wasn't always time and in official battles, that probably wouldn't work anyway thanks to the shields.

Strangely, Max's sleeping bag had vanished, but then again, he could be airing it out. Danny needed to do that to his own, and with the wind around, it'd probably be done pretty fast. Good timing, just ahead of leaving, which he really wanted to do after the storm had passed by in two days or so. Max was getting antsy about it, and honestly, it was about time too. They had things to do in Hoenn. He'd tell Reginald if he came by, or Phoebe maybe, but if they didn't… He wasn't above leaving and just sticking a note somewhere. He still remembered the cipher, too.

To his surprise, Max also wasn't near the upper exit, which was the younger boy's preferred spot. A bit strange, but that only left him downstairs at the entrance, Danny figured as he strung rope from one end of the room to the other. A tap brought houndoom out, and she gave him the lightest of exasperated looks as the humidity settled in on her. "Can you go find Max downstairs? See if he's not asleep over a memorial or something."

Just because he hadn't woken up from his best friend having a nightmare didn't mean there hadn't been some – most of them came in the pre-dawn hours, not early in the night, and they were pretty common as of late. It was taking a toll, not that the younger teenager was ever going to admit that before he'd be found bone tired or something.

Being kidnapped and tortured had, unsurprisingly, left a mark. It wasn't really obvious, but to someone who'd known him that long, and who was looking, it stood out. Max was just a tiny bit more short-tempered – and Danny privately suspected gardevoir probably grounded most of that by just being himself, meaning it could've been a lot worse – and more closed-off. Between that and the nightmares, it wasn't a surprise that Max wanted to go, if only to have easier ways to just tire himself out so he didn't dream.

Tiring out worked, but Danny suspected that the second failed Mega Evolution attempt no longer took as much out of Max as his friend probably hoped it would, if he was using it as a way to fall asleep. Logical at some level – they were growing up and all that, and they'd had a year of experience of Mega Evolving to boot – but this was a side-effect.

With the sleeping bag secured, Danny went downstairs again, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake by leaving it that close to the open storm.

He met houndoom halfway, and the way she bounded to him had him on instant alert. "What is it, girl? Where's Max?"

At the mention of the name, houndoom howled mournfully, before shaking her head slowly.

A sinking feeling overtook Danny, and he broke into a run to the entrance.

No Max.

He started methodically searching the rooms, ordering froslass and houndoom to do the same to cover more ground faster.

No Max.

He asked froslass to head out into the storm, to see if the younger teen was somehow idiotically stuck on the mountain or something.

No. Max.

The pack was gone as well; nowhere to be seen with Max's half of the camping supplies. They'd always split that roughly the same; the only big difference being that Danny had most of the pans because he was the stronger of the two. On a hurry, he went back to his own pack, and found…

Two pans fewer than he thought he'd find. And paper.

A note. Of what had been done, but not of why it had been done beyond vague and empty words.

"Stay safe, Max..." he uttered after he'd read the words three times. "Jirachi watch over you."

~~§~~§~~

He was sitting in a dim room when houndoom – who would not leave his side to the point of him having to threaten to return her so he could pee alone – suddenly got up from her comforting position right next to him. She adopted a threatening posture, a low growl echoing in the hall, and vague redness radiated out from her.

"I mean no harm," came a vaguely familiar voice. The intonation was just a bit strange, but who it was… Danny had no idea. "Is entrance allowed, preferably without involuntary flambéing of me?"

Okay, that was strange. Houndoom didn't make that much sound, and he put a hand on the back of her head to tell her it was okay. She turned it, shooting a thin lance of flame in the direction of two torches on the walls. They burned anaemically, but they burned, providing a bit of light.

Sidney walked in, hands far from his side to look non-threatening. Danny wasn't fooled for a second, and he'd eat a hat if half the Dark-type Master's Pokémon weren't ready to erupt at a moment's notice. Still, Reginald had said that he was on the level, and after a small push with the bottom of his palm, houndoom stood down. "Well trained, albeit one you did not possess in Kalos, and not evolved in Johto. An older wild specimen?"

"About four years old, got in a hard fight with a stantler before we found her. Evolved against Anabel. Why..." he stopped suddenly, biting down on his demand. You didn't do that to someone like Sidney. "What brings you here?"

"Starting out on a trip around Hoenn. Been a while since I last properly went around, 'stead of taking tropius or some other Pokémon everywhere. So I thought to myself: 'Sidney, you need to find yourself company.'" The member of the Elite Four gave his trademark lopsided grin. "Looking for people to keep me young; a duo of young whippersnappers. Know someone?"

The levity failed to amuse Danny. "Max is gone." He produced the note from his pocket, and when he looked up again, he saw Sidney frown. "Read this." That was done in silence, and the teenager waited patiently for any verdict.

The whispered words surprised him. "He… They couldn't have. Could they?" Then, to him. "Did Max venture up the mountain?"

"Probably? Didn't always stick right next to him once he was healed… Why?"

The note was crumpled up. "Because this mountain is home to Pokémon of legends and myths; creatures revered and feared in these areas. And this is something they would do."

"Wha?"

"He wrote little, but that he had to leave, that it was better for both of you. These words do not sound like what I know of your friend."

That had bugged Danny as well, but Max had a habit of bottling things up, so he had just assumed it was something to do with that. Now, though, after Sidney had mentioned it… "You think the ninetales are responsible?"

"I do not know, but I do suspect. Which Pokémon are with you?"

Danny listed them quickly. "Why? And why do you suspect?"

"Legends and myths suggest that the ninetales on this very mountain ask boons of those who would carry them out, willingly," Sidney replied darkly. "However, being as they are, trickery is in their blood; their very existence tailored towards deceit and subterfuge. They asked something of him, did they not, when the vulpix was made to join?"

"Yes?" Danny said, casting his memory back. "Yeah, they did. Something about purifying and stopping abominations?" He shook his head. "Should know this better."

"Perhaps. But if my full suspicions are right, then this is already enough for us to act." A shift of movement, and the casual Sidney was fully gone; in its place the deadly serious and underhanded Dark-type Master of Hoenn. "Keep houndoom out. Once we engage, use aggron and her to defend us, and exploud and swampert to join in with my attacks. Do not, under any circumstance, send out your Ghost-types."

They moved. "That's a lot for two Fire-types."

"It won't be two Fire-types. They likely command the loyalty of Ghost-types; being as linked to this place as they are on top of their mystical powers granted to them by their evolution." A hand went into his pocket, bringing out a small bottle. "Persim extract. One mouthful and adequate movement should suffice to blunt confusion."

The rain had stopped, but the ground was muddy and the wind was unrelenting, instantly making Danny wish he'd brought boots and his coat. A thousand questions ran through his head, and he intended to ask all of them of Sidney.

But first, the ninetales had to be dealt with.

The Fire-types appeared out of apparent nowhere after a minute of walking, but there was a slight shimmer behind them that faded out a moment later. Had they been hiding behind an illusion? "Master of the Dark, we welcome you," the female fox greeted, mental voice palpably warm.

"Cut the pleasantries; we know what you have done. You lied and deceived; playing with a life not your own to carry out that which you cannot, away from your seat of power," Sidney replied coolly, and three Pokémon appeared in front of him: an umbreon as black as night; a honchkrow that immediately took flight; a bisharp with blades gleaming in the limited light. "This stops tonight."

"He was chosen. He is willing. He will purify," the male ninetales said, not as calm as his counterpart as aggron appeared on the mountain. "You will not stop this. Our influence reaches."

To Danny's surprise, Sidney laughed. Short, and bitter, but still. "I have neither inclination nor reason to do so. Nor will you have either to play with lives or unlives not your own after tonight."

"So be it."

With that, the mountain's flanks lit up in flame, as twin Flamethrowers were sent straight at them. Protect – aggron, umbreon – and physical interception – houndoom – blunted all of it except the heat that was too high to be welcoming, and then the offensive was joined.

Umbreon and honchkrow shot forwards, as did exploud after Danny had called him forth. A pair of Hyper Voices and a Dark Pulse shot forth, impacting on a sudden mass of Ghostly energy that had surged into the way, falling apart into several duskulls that had acted as a living shield for the ninetales, who retaliated with a fiercely powerful Fire Spin, glowing with unnatural light.

Cursed flame disrupted it, at the cost of causing a shock wave that flash-fried grass and nearly feet.

Behind him, Danny heard and felt static build up, and he turned around just in time to see a rotom being shot down by a fourth Pokémon of Sidney's – an unmoving sableye using Power Gem – but even as the Electric-type fell, two more Pokémon took its place: gastly both.

They, too, were easily dealt with after bisharp gave them a taste of their own Ghostly medicine.

Embers flew to the right; the sound of Ice hitting grass grew loud before a roar of fire temporarily deafened all involved, but a flash of green kept everyone safe and unharmed as a horde of Ghost-types flew in from the edge, presumably having been summoned.

"Hydreigon!"

Sidney's fifth Pokémon joined in, and in an instant, the mountain lit up green as a massive Dragon Pulse – the kind of attack that would serve as manectric's most powerful shot while Mega Evolved – completely took out a mass of Ghosts that had been swarming up the mountain. Danny turned to the Dark-type Trainer, and their eyes met.

He was smiling; the smile of a mad man in his element. "Head in. All on the foxes."

Aggron stayed back, too slow to fight the kind of mobile fight that was going on up the mountain, where three foxes jumped from rock to grass to rock; where a flying Pokémon sought to intercept, and where exploud and swampert were coating the area in ice, reducing the places that the ninetales could go.

The umbreon held its own well, despite being hit multiple times by whatever the Fire-types summoned to get it away from them. Fire, Shadow Balls, Confuse Rays, even an Iron Tail infused with flame. It didn't engage in offence except to stay near and threaten, rings glowing threateningly to secrete a deadly poison should it find the time, though it never did.

A crossfire of Dark Pulses and Ice Beams connected with one of the ninetales, and a howl told Danny exactly which one. The female one, and the male one – who, if he recalled, was the one more emotional – howled in anger, breathing forth a Fire Spin that dwarfed everything Danny had ever seen, except the firestorm that Lance's dragonite had unleashed.

It was easily dealt with between swampert, houndoom, and an Air Slash disrupting the circular forces that held it together.

"Yield," Sidney suddenly demanded, and Danny's eyes shot back to the ninetales to see that one had been frozen from the chest down – and his Pokémon were continuously reapplying it to keep the Fire-type from melting it away – while the bisharp had a blade to the neck of the other. "I was expecting more of a fight."

"What do you want?"

"Two things; dissimilar yet related. One: for you to not engage in the behaviour that brought us down on you again. Two: to tell us what you told his friend."

"And will you let us go?"

"I will let you live," was the answer, and looking at him, Danny knew that the Elite Four member would carry that threat out. "A deal as fair as can be, akin to yours."

The ninetales acquiesced after just a moment, the female one filling them in on what they had shown Max. It carried the ring of truth, and it was all that Danny could do to not hit himself right there and then for being stupid.

He hadn't known. He hadn't shared. He'd been ignorant.

Ugh.

"No need for that," Sidney said lightly as they moved down the mountain, a few minutes later after promising to get off the mountain. "Perhaps a mistake; perhaps the cleaving of a gap where only minute cracks were. The blame is yours only secondary."

"And Max first?"

"Ninetales first," came the swift correction. "Both of you didn't realise about the other, as is your age cohort's wont. Let it pass through you, and come out stronger."

"But what if..."

"Captured once, shame on them. Captured twice, shame on him," Sidney said after silencing him with a grabbed wrist. "Paranoia will serve your friend. As will relying on himself."

That stunned Danny, and only a gentle tug kept him walking. "We… We're not going after him?"

"The roads to Mauville are myriad. You will meet again, though explanations should wait."

"Why?"

"What we did was seen. I know of a cave to the south-west. We will spend the night, then head elsewhere tomorrow."

"To a Gym Leader?"

"Perhaps, though I had other ideas; shattered as glass hitting stone. It cannot be helped." They entered the memorial site yet again, and houndoom – the only Pokémon left out – loped forward, lighting up every third torch to give them vision. "After all, plans do not survive enemy contact. Let us do so, and be that, to the government and light the fires of rebellion."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Last night, Mt. Pyre lit up with Pokémon attacks as the Pokémon of the mountain turned on each other in a spectacular tableau. Fire was reported to be visible from Lilycove, and only the preceding of that by a green glow that is often associated with the Dragon-type dissuaded several eyewitnesses from believing that the mountain had been a volcano all along.

Regional police could share nothing of note, saying that aerial surveillance would be carried out in daylight.