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 41: The Revealing Light

A wet nose and a careful, hot, lick, were enough to wake Danny from an already light sleep. He opened his eyes, and found that he still couldn't see too much in the darkness of the cave. "Should've taken a torch from Mt. Pyre," he grumbled good-naturedly.

"It is about half an hour past dawn; a time I saw all too often when your age," Sidney said, nearby. "This despite my preference brought on by my circadian rhythm. It appears that you are not like me."

It was too early to think about the stuff he didn't understand, and Danny grabbed a set of socks from his pack before answering. "We rise early. I'm okay with it, Max somehow lives on precious little sleep before catching up once every three or so weeks." He adjusted the sock so the heel was actually on his heel. "Most Trainers do, right?"

"And most of them wish they didn't need to." Sidney appeared from around the corner, leaning against the opposite wall, face barely visible. "We should talk of hiding and travel. We are both recognisable, and our age disparity makes us unlikely partners."

Despite that, there was a vaguely visible grin on the man's face; and it became more visible as he sat down. "You have a plan."

"Always, and several." He leaned forward, hand hovering over Danny's head, but not touching. "How long has it been since you had a haircut? Long enough to change it."

It made sense, and Danny nodded in acceptance, though he had questions. "Would that be safe? They're… After us?"

"You and your friend, yes. But contacts are important, and I have many; a friend in a small town on the northern shore. She will help us," Sidney said with utter surety. "After that, we travel by foot to Fortree. Tropius is visible, and cannot carry us both for long."

That had been noticed the night before. "Okay. Fortree. Why there? Why not try to find Max?"

"His movement can be erratic, ours cannot. Winona can lend us Flying Pokémon, and I am due to meet her regardless for my duty." He quickly explained the administrative leave he'd taken. "And I am known to wander the wilds from time to time. Delays will not be strange, and that is good." He regarded Danny. "We do not pass for family."

"Why?"

"The younger escorting the elder as he seeks to retrace the glory of his youth. A rarity, but plausible enough."

"We can be nephew and uncle," Danny replied, the idea coming into his mind instantly. "I take after… Whichever parent isn't related to you."

"Of course. That's good thinking; worthy of a playwright's son." Sidney clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be Damien, and you..."

"Can I think about that for a moment?" Danny asked, feeling his stomach want to be fed. "I need breakfast."

"You have more than a moment. We will not fly until darkness, half a day from now. The light reveals too much."

~~§~~§~~

Under the cover of darkness, Reginald landed at the Mt. Pyre docks, dismounting salamence in one fluid motion. No swampert or houndoom challenged him, but that was hardly unexpected: the houndoom would prefer to guard inside in the windy weather, and for all he knew, the swampert had noticed in the water, hidden underneath waves and foam.

When he stepped inside, however, something felt wrong. Multiple somethings, even. He didn't know what, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up as he saw no light, nor heard any sound, despite the evening being relatively young.

Instinct, any Trainer worth anything knew, was a powerful force, and dragonair came out in response to his heightened awareness, gliding through the air far more silent than he could walk.

It soon became clear that there was no sign of anyone, and that the teenagers that he'd left there had been gone. At least a day, judging by the state of some fruit peels in a corner, but probably not more than two. Under the cover of the storm, then, aided by the gardevoir that could likely bring them to anywhere in the vicinity.

Given Maple's previous travels and the route across the region the two of them had taken two years back, they had plenty of places that they could have gone to while he had been stuck hiding from the storm himself.

Despite the problem appearing solved, however, his instincts remained convinced that there was more to it. "Search," he told dragonair softly, sending out flygon for personal protection instead. "Remain inside."

It wasn't long before the dragon returned, his bell chiming softly to announce his presence, and held gently in his mouth was a note. One not in cipher, but one that was unintelligible at first glance as well. It appeared to be a random set of letters and symbols, but one in a script that Reginald recognised.

Sidney's.

It took him five minutes to crack the code, so to speak. There wasn't one. It was all initials, shorthand, and the occasional drawing to symbolise something.

Max left, ninetales cause. Danny and I fought ninetales. Left south-west, then north.

It was dated the day before, though something told him that Maple would've left before that. Likely in the night, to avoid confrontation with his best friend.

This was worrying. Birch he could likely track down, given what he knew and where Sidney would be headed. The member of the Elite Four would likely keep an eye on the teenager, out of a sense of duty or mercurial amusement, or most probably both. Equally so, he was unlikely to send Birch back to Kanto as Reginald would have done; not without that being asked.

Which was extremely unlikely to occur, given that Birch would want to find Maple. Their bond was that of stories usually only found in the children's section of libraries, and if anyone could find a teenager with a thirst for vengeance and a gardevoir that enabled him to be all over the region, it was the future Professor. As much as male teenagers often lacked insight in anything that wasn't Pokémon battles, food, and ways to either not think or use the wrong parts of their brain to think… The older teen was an exception, mature beyond his years and with a vested interest in wanting his friend around.

Not that it meant too much. Adding two or three years to fourteen still put you firmly in the age of hormone-induced stupidity.

So now he had two teenagers, running around his region, throwing proverbial wrenches in his planning to oust the government by virtue of influential Pokémon Trainers and key other influential persons turning against them. Any impulsive action would likely alienate people he dearly hoped to sway, and any bonus that could get amongst the regular public was irrelevant, given their lack of power to pressure the government when there was no election in the near future.

It was a conundrum, and one that he would need to spend time on to navigate correctly.

Worse, of the ones who knew he was here, Sidney would have been the one to approach for this path. Phoebe disagreed with him, emotionally invested as she was by her own recent past and a nature that was lesser at compartmentalising and stepping back to see the whole picture as he did. This left precious few options available to him. The one G-man who had an inkay's worth of understanding over others was too close to the situation, being the maternal uncle to Maple. Tate and Liza were moving around the region themselves after their meeting, and Juan was far more useful in place, plus the man hadn't been wholly convinced of the plan, even if he had conceded that there was no viable alternative.

He hadn't even been convinced of contacting them in the first place, but with time and thought came clarity and the realisation that he needed as many people involved as possible. These three were natural starts.

All of this left just one realistic option, and that… Would have to wait, he realised as dragonair shot up, orb glowing threatening white as someone approached. Or someones, judging by the multiple footsteps.

Goons. Black-clad, masked, and likely affiliated with the government. The clothing was too similar to what he had seen during the rescue, and moreover, few would go here and move with such swagger. Four of them entered, Pokémon by their sides. "Knew we'd find somethin'," one said, accent betraying an islander heritage. "Four to one, and we're inside so your dragons can't fly. Surrender."

In the name of dialga, palkia, and giratina, if this was the best the government could find, however clandestinely, they deserved to be overthrown like Unova had been. No respect for his achievements, no care in the world, and only one Ice-type amongst them – and that was a weavile. "You were waiting, weren't you?" Reginald said as he straightened out, flygon appearing from where the Ground-type had been hidden around a corner. "Saw something yesterday," he guessed, and the third one from the left confirmed it non-verbally. "I apologise." To the deceased and departed; the past and present, and most emphatically not to the souls opposite. "But I cannot allow you."

The battle was joined in an instant, and ten seconds later, a Hyper Beam tore chips of solid rock off the outer wall.

~~§~~§~~

Rows upon rows of pokéballs, separated from the rest by one empty column of shelves, filled Birch's view. Off to the side, more were being brought in by assistants. The last ones.

"Is this necessary?" one of them asked, and Birch saw it was one of the newer ones. Rebecca was fresh from university. "Wasn't expecting to do this my… second day here."

"Neither was I. Neither was I..." he replied, sighing. "It pains me to do so, but… It must be done."

"The government hasn't told you to do this, right?"

Ah, the naïveté of youth. But if he wouldn't tell her the truth, others would. There were few secrets in the laboratory. "A few nights ago, one of my contacts in the government suggested that they were thinking about legislating the three Types in such a way that would affect us here." They hadn't been certain about the exact form, whether it be a forced lock-up or a confiscation. The former was more likely; the latter not outside of the realm of possibility. "My duty is to the Pokémon, to make sure that they can live their lives as freely as possible. Even if it means breaking up Pokémon teams."

"And Professor Rowan has space for this?"

"He has assured me he has." Likely at an annex somewhere. Route 219 had a few islands that the Sinnoh Professors had occupied over the years. "Even if he would not, he would accept."

"Your duty."

"Our duty as Professors, yes," Birch replied, happy that she understood. It was the most important lesson to be learned: though the regional Professors wielded influence in their region, they were always on the side of the Pokémon. Usually, this aligned with the governments, but not always – as in Unova under Team Plasma, and now here. "The Professors of Unova and Dinos offered aid when Orre had a problem with Team Snagem. Professor Juniper asked Professors Krane and Cassia to help her in return, should Team Plasma have reached to her. Kalos and Prudan have the same agreement. We help each other in times of need."

"Didn't take you for an idealist, Professor."

"It's not for everyone, working here. We look underneath the surface," he replied softly. "A Pokémon mistreated acts out. Pokémon grievously injured, we often receive. More than once, Trainers have called here to tell us that they're releasing Pokémon that are here." Thankfully, that was incredibly rare – one a year for the entire Hoenn region, on average. Sadly, more as of late. "You call it idealism, Rebecca, but it's really just a way to deal with the very small downsides to this amazing job."

"Every light casts some shadow, as history will show," the assistant said, sing-song, before blushing horribly. "Sorry. I… I like to write poetry. I..."

Birch chuckled, and to his surprise, he found that it was meant. "My brother writes plays and directs them. I have lived with random poetry or quotations for two decades. If you like doing that in your soon to be limited free time, then by all means, do so. Though..." he added, mischievously, "you might want to keep it hidden for a while."

"Why is that?"

"Our Yule gift exchange. You mention that this is a hobby, and everyone will ask you for 'inspiration' for poems." As he himself did with Gregory, naturally. "As you said, Rebecca. Every light casts some shadow." He turned back to the shelves. "Let's contact Rowan and get this going. If we're fast enough, we'll be out of here before the sun sets."

~~§~~§~~

"Huh, nice place you got here," Ash's childhood rival said as he moved into the main room, complete with kitchen, trophy cabinet, and pictures of all his Pokémon he had been able to find, individually. "Gonna be honest, Ashy-boy, didn't take ya for someone with a brain on interior decorating."

That caused pikachu to snort, but all of them knew it was only a barb just because. "Mum helped, and my Pokémon were what got me here, so… Makes sense, right?" He dropped into one of the bean bags, and Gary did the same. "Why did you want to talk in person?"

"Thought you should know… Some Pokémon were exchanged this morning." The scientist smirked cockily. "A froslass and a litwick, a poliwhirl and a shelgon. Sound familiar?"

Oh, they did. Pikachu, absol, and bulbasaur – the last one just having walked in from outside – also recognised those, and Ash could feel something leaving him. "So, they're back in Kanto? Travelling aga..."

Gary's expression made him trail off, and he knew the answer before it came. "No. They went to Hoenn Centers. Different ones. Seventy miles apart."

Seventy mil…. What? "Gardevoir can go that far, probably," he replied, but it rang somewhat hollow and everyone there knew it. "I… The hell is going on in Hoenn?"

"Let's step back, look at the facts. They probably rescued Max on the first. He probably wasn't in good shape, because that house had all the marks of being wrecked from the inside," Gary listed, adding in some information Ash hadn't heard about. Then again, he hadn't followed the news that closely. "So they hide out somewhere. Recovering. Until… A couple of days ago, something happened on Mt. Pyre. Twice in two evenings. Bet that was where they were hiding."

Ash could see that, definitely. Reginald would like it: it was a place that was guaranteed empty, often foggy, and hard to approach without getting seen if it wasn't foggy or dark. And with gardevoir, food was easy to find – something that had always forced him and Karen to stay closer to the towns or lug a lot of supplies around in Unova. Mostly the last. "Okay. But why would they be apart?"

"You're the one who knows them better. You tell me."

It was pretty obvious. "Danny wants to keep Max safe. You know that too, right?" He got a nod back. "No way he'd break them up. Reginald wants them back in Kanto. It has to be Max," he said before sighing. "I just don't know why." There was silence for a minute, and everyone in the room seemed to agree that whatever had caused it, it wasn't a good thing. "I hope they won't get captured."

"And if that happens?" Gary asked. "You'll head over to Hoenn to demand their freedom?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't go there immediately."

"No, you'd go to Lance first. As a courtesy call." Gary scratched his temples. "How'd they convince you to not go the first time?"

"Reginald wanted stealth. I… Don't like that." Misty's words of nearly a year ago sounded in his head. "What did you mean by the house being destroyed from the inside?"

"Some of the pictures don't make sense otherwise, or so they tell me." The brown-haired teen shrugged, nearly falling out of his bean bag in the process. "Given that any rescue attempt would include the gardevoir Teleporting into the room Max was held, it's easy to guess what happened. As I already told you."

"Ya, you did." Another bit of silence. "Can you get a message to them, even if they don't call?"

"Can't put paper in pokéballs. You know that. Can ask one of Max's Pokémon because he'd have the gardevoir. That do?" he asked, and Ash figured it was the best they were going to get. "I… Oh, right." Gary shot out of his bean bag, taking a pen and a small notepad from who knew where. "Ask the poliwhirl about… Right."

"About what?"

"I gave Danny a gardevoirite that his Uncle gave me. Long story," he said, waving a hand. "I guessed that a Mega Evolution could break through whatever they're using to cause the Pokémo… Arceus, I'm an idiot." Before Ash could say anything, Gary walked up to absol, who let him touch the absolite. "I could've tested. Ugh." He turned back. "After the mew in the Tree of Beginning wasn't affected the same way, I theorised that there was an upper limit to the disruptive effect that is causing the Pokémon to rampage all across Hoenn. A Mega Evolution of a sufficiently powerful Pokémon should theoretically be above the threshold."

Following it wasn't as hard as it could've been, and Ash resolved to thank Lance for telling him what had happened in the Tree. Again. "What were they using?"

"Gems. The Unovan ones."

"Aren't those used up pretty fast?" He'd seen them in Unova, but he'd never used them. Karen had used one, but they had split up that time.

"Yeah, but the machines that use Pokémon are big. These aren't. It's a trade-off. Lower power, but portable. Like pikachu normally are," Gary replied, and the smirk was audible. "And they don't send them into a frenzy either, seemingly. Just make sure they can't do anything on the lower settings."

"And on the higher?"

A moment's pause. "That shouldn't cause a rampage," came the hesitant reply. "And it'd only last minutes. It'd burn up the gems fast. Can probably still test that… Just need an abandoned island."

Ash left the scientist to his muttering for a moment, instead standing up himself and going to the shelf behind his sofa, where all the most recent pictures of most of his friends were. The picture of Max and Danny was one from the winter, from the last Indigo Conference, when they'd only recently fled from Hoenn.

The moment that he got a whiff of something going wrong in Hoenn, or if they asked, he'd go. He owed them that much, and it was the right thing to do.

"You're using that one for me?" Gary said, having walked up and for the first time in ages, not sounding like a scientist or someone really cocky. "Ashy-boy? Why is that picture seven years old?"

Pikachu and bulbasaur were losing a battle against laughter, and absol had silently gone out of the room. Ash suspected it wasn't because of some incoming disaster. "Because I don't have a more recent one," he said truthfully, keeping a straight face. For about two seconds after he'd said that. Then, he let out a laugh. "Alright, and I'd hoped to finally get you back. You're always making fun of me, so..."

"Oh, turnaround is fair play. Sure, fine," Gary conceded. "But couldn't you at least have used one where I looked my actual age instead of a ten year old?"

~~§~~§~~

It was October, and the last week had been one of the strangest Danny had ever had. He was travelling, without Max, with a member of the Elite Four, posing as an uncle and a nephew with different names, and that was just where the weirdness started.

Sidney didn't look anything like what he'd been used to, with his mohawk buzzed down to basically nothing. Danny himself was now permanently wearing a hat and had had all the dye washed out of it last week, leaving him with his normal brown hair, and a bit shorter than he was used to at that. It made him look weird, and pretty different.

Which was the point, Sidney and his friend had explained.

And then there were the battles. He was still a Trainer, and that meant he did get challenged. He made sure to stick to shorter battles so people couldn't connect the dots, and his companion helped by supplying him with some medium level Pokémon he'd acquired somewhere – an Alolan raticate and an eevee being two of them – and then there was the talk later on about battles.

Oh, and that one two-on-two at the end of a rainy day that meant they hadn't gone anywhere. It had been completely clear that Sidney had been holding back, and even then, Danny's Pokémon had been trounced handily.

At least that was somewhat normal, and like Max, Sidney was eager to talk about how to improve, also accepting Danny's ideas.

He headed up a rope ladder – a skorupi flashing through his mind momentarily – and at the top, the valley that held a strange rock in the middle.

He and Max hadn't been here before, taking a path through the wilds to cut off the main road back when they'd just started out instead. Electrike, nincada, and gulpin had all been caught on that stretch. The valley was maybe thirty miles west of where they'd been, and back then, that had been a lot of distance – not something they'd want to do when they were both wanting to get to their second Gym.

As he'd said when Sidney had told him about it, three nights ago when the adult had told him they'd be going here… That was the resting place of registeel? This rock, not far from the main part of Route 120, that was just solid rock and where no Rock-types even lived? "It looks so unassuming."

"A place where no grass grows, no Pokémon live, no entrance is present. It has always surprised me that there is a lack of myths about this place," Sidney replied in turn, not even wheezing. Danny wasn't either, but he had been travelling non-stop for… Basically two and a half years, minus some interruptions. "Perhaps the subconscious remembers who sleeps here."

"Have you ever seen it?"

"We are told, no more, of where to enter, as a precaution, should the worst come to pass. Yet none, to my knowledge, have checked since at least the birth of my parents, six decades ago." He looked around, checking for something. "East now." An umbreon appeared. "Confuse any near to leave until we return."

Any discomfort that Danny felt, he suppressed. Umbreon would do it as gently as possible, and they really needed to not be caught. Max had a get-out-of-traps-free Pokémon. They didn't.

Sidney led him to a cliff wall, and, after a moment's searching, a hidden button at shin level. "The entrance. Hold to enter, release to close." A lopsided grin. "A simple mechanism, designed to force separation. But one with a weakness to one of your oldest Pokémon."

"Dusclops," Danny said, sending the Ghost-type out and giving a whispered order.

Half a minute later, she provided light inside with a Will-o-Wisp that flickered in the stuffy air. "From here, I am blind."

Danny nodded, and they slowly proceeded in the dark.

It was deathly silent, causing every single sound they made to be loud by comparison. He could hear the shuffling of a shoe when Sidney didn't raise his foot enough to avoid a small raise in the path; blood rushing in his own ears; the muted steps of dusclops walking ahead of them; the slightly louder shuffling of raticate behind them.

Danny couldn't see much, because of the darkness and Sidney leading ahead of him, but what he saw was all the same: rocky walls – ancient walls – and a path that felt like it went gradually downward. This became clearer as they went on, with the small height difference between the two of them – Danny was the taller by under an inch, at best guess – becoming slightly more pronounced, until it levelled off, and they came to something that looked like a steel door.

Without a word, dusclops phased through, leaving them in darkness for a moment until she opened the door again, letting several larger balls of fire hover overhead in a large hall.

It was empty, and the two of them spread out. Sidney stepped on something that cracked, and the sharp pang echoed through the room. "That was not wood," the member of the Elite Four said, rattled for the first time that Danny had heard.

It was bone. There wasn't much, but unmistakable white bone was on the floor. Danny saw two and a half skulls before he looked away, breathing heavily as bile rose in his throat.

Dusclops created more lights, and it became clear that the walls weren't as smooth as the ones in the pathway. They were… Marked. Dented. Battle-scarred.

"Something happened here," Sidney said gravely, completely serious for the first time. "These marks… Archaeology is not my strength, but… They look decades old, fresh only because this place is so abandoned. And bones do not break easily either." He put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Deep breaths."

"I know," Danny said, wishing that he had a Key Stone available to ground himself. He concentrated on the feeling of the bond in his memory, and that dulled the queasiness a bit. "Registeel fought, then."

"These guys sought its power and paid the price. Yet..." He quickly walked away, sending out sableye and barking an order to search for something unusual.

Danny wasn't included, but he did as well, starting to the left of the door they'd entered through. It kept his mind off of… No, he wasn't going there.

He had found only gouges and dents, even after turning the corner, when Sidney's Pokémon let out a cry, and both humans walked over, as did dusclops with some light.

Dots in a panel on the wall. Great amounts of it, too: hundreds probably, in three distinct rows. The first one was decidedly shorter than the other two. "What is this?"

"No clue," Sidney admitted softly, tracing a hand over the top left of it. "But… It's familiar." His other hand joined the examining, and Danny stood back to let the eccentric man do his thing. "T… I… S… Oh. Darkrai, that is not something I was expecting to find."

"What is it?"

"The alphabet for the blind." Sidney stood back, putting his pack down and taking something from it. Something dark, nearly black, but with a small red light. His Pokédex. "Someone carved it into these walls." He manipulated the small device – an older type, with a more robotic voice than the modern ones. "The Pokédex has it stored. Has had from its inception."

"How old is that, then? You said..."

"The alphabet is older than you think," Sidney interjected. "Closer to two centuries than one and a half." He left Danny with his thoughts as he started translating, muttering to himself. It took about five minutes and lots of checking, but eventually, he stepped back. "Those who inherit our will, shine in the midcle."

"Midcle?" That wasn't a word.

"I guess the result of the battle that happened here. It looks and felt stranger in a certain spot. If there were a dot there, the c would become a d. Middle."

That made sense. "And shine?"

"I have a guess." The adult started walking, and everyone else followed. They all headed to the middle. "Closing your eyes might be a good idea. As is dispelling the flames."

"Closing your..." Danny echoed, before realisation dawned. Shine. Light. Flash. "Seems too simple."

"Installed before data at the tips of our finger was ever conceived; a defence for a less knowledgeable age." They reached the middle of the room. "Three, two, one."

The Flash was bright enough to pierce through Danny's eyelids, and only after covering his eyes with his hand as well did it dim enough to be comfortable. It lasted for about ten seconds, after which it tapered off, and he risked opening his eyes another ten seconds later.

And he saw an opening in the wall ahead of them, next to where the panel had been. It was easily large enough to fit any Pokémon, and it had just… Come out of nowhere, without a sound. "How on earth..." he said, starting forward, and finding an arm slung across his chest. "Ow!"

"Let sableye scout. If registeel was hidden, then it was asleep. If it was asleep, then waking it up might be perilous to those who awaken it," Sidney replied, and his other hand gestured, alluding to the bones on the floor. "Pokémon are more nimble; this one more than most as well."

It was logical enough, and though it hurt realising it, Danny'd rather a Pokémon invoke the ire of a Legendary. He shoved that into the recesses of his mind, focusing on the steely feeling and a need to stay calm.

Calm was not what sableye was when it returned. They heard it before it came into view, crying out desperately, but not sounding in peril. In fact, it sounded… Distressed?

Danny looked at Sidney, using the light that dusclops had thrown up, and the Dark-type Master had paled, as if realising something very bad. "Come," he said, and they hurried along, breaking into a half-run; something Danny regretted since he still had the pack on his back. He was able to keep up, through the wide and slightly twisting passage into…

A completely empty room, with not a Legendary in sight, nor even any sign of it having been there any time in the last decades.

"It is as I feared. The bones were of fallen conquerors. Expected, without any Pokémon bones or pokéballs, however primitive, and yet I had hoped." The nearly bald man turned to Danny. "Hoenn is in far more danger than we realised."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Birch moved all of the Dark, Ghost, and Psychic Pokémon in his possession to Sinnoh, out of our reach. Can we use this somehow to strengthen our case?