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 44: What Was Done

As usual, Evan was woken up by Chris sitting down on the mattress. Didn't matter he'd fucking taken the top bed: his travel companion had taken it on himself to be a human alarm.

Except for once after he'd been told off, but then Evan had slept in for a long time, only to get woken up by one of the Psychic-types… Turning his brain on or something. That had been ahead of his second match, on the ice field.

"Morning," he mumbled, opening his eyes. They weren't too bleary. What time was it, even? Fucking clock didn't work in this room, and Nurse Joy hadn't fixed it. "Let me sleep in?"

"A bit, like you asked," Chris replied, and Evan could hear the smile. Morning people, uuuugh. "Natu told me you went to bed earlier last night. Don't you feel better now?"

It was only the fact that Chris had promised up and down that he wouldn't use any of his Psychic-types on Evan that stopped the Hoennite from thinking they'd been involved. Chris was a bit weird like that, even using the drowzee for a power nap at some point after the night had been full of thunder. Eh, whatever. "After shower, sure," he said, glaring. "Get off the bed."

It wasn't the glare that made the other teenager move, but at least he did, and Evan got into the bathroom pronto, warming up the shower and stepping into it to start the day.

He was a lot more awake after he'd done the necessary morning rituals, and he'd also checked the time. Half past nine, which was early for him if he didn't have a match, but he had gone to bed an hour earlier last night. Didn't matter. "What's that?" he asked, not waiting for the answer. "Ralts? You want one of those?"

"Just reading up," Chris replied. "You know why your cousin's isn't a gallade?"

Evan did, but that was one bunch of events he didn't even want to start lying about. So, he settled for some very bare bones truth. "Because he was a gardevoir when Max caught him. Ask him more." And probably not get a straight answer.

"Wait, he… Oh, right. The announcer said something like that, didn't he. That the gardevoir was new," Chris replied enthusiastically. "How do you catch a gardevoir though? And one that strong."

"Very carefully." And by having some form of connection to the Pokémon Max had wanted to start with. "There's ralts in Sinnoh, Max told me. You could try to catch one there."

"Oh, that'd be amazing. Do you know where?"

That, Evan didn't, but Chris was undeterred, heading out the room, probably to find a Pokémon encyclopedia. They would have at least the kinds of terrain Pokémon lived in.

If he wanted to think, he could probably figure out where, but he didn't want to, so… He didn't. Instead, he wondered about his cousin, who had been kidnapped, and then probably rescued, he'd been told, but there hadn't been anything from Max since.

Either he'd been recaptured or he still was in Hoenn, doing darkrai knew what.

If it were up to Evan, he'd leave Hoenn behind. His parents could suck it: he wasn't going to leave all of his Dark-types in Kanto, even for the holidays. He'd feel naked without them around: without the opportunity to play-train with mightyena or absol or houndour, or just sitting under the stars with them – less, now that it was getting a bit colder…

They'd just have to deal with it. That was part of growing up, right? Going your own way with your parents maybe not agreeing?

Besides, they weren't too sure about staying in Hoenn for Yule themselves, but it wouldn't be until November that his Dad knew if he could take the time off. Working to make sure that computers stayed on and all that was important, and last year he'd convinced his colleagues to let him have the time off because of Evan.

Chris had said he understood why Evan couldn't go back to Hoenn, but that was a lie. They got on well, and after a month and a half together, they knew what to expect from each other, but it wasn't like Max and Danny who'd always seemed to know what the other was thinking without even being in the same room. It wasn't even on the same planet as those two.

But what he did know was that Chris was kind-hearted and gentle. The kind of person a ralts would like to be with, if he'd understood Max back at the wedding anniversary.

He shook his head. "Ugh," he said into the otherwise empty room. "I'm turning into him now. Constantly thinking." A flick of his wrist sent the mightyena onto the floor, but two of the legs immediately left it as the Dark-type assaulted him with licking and careful pawing. "You're going to bloody lick my skin off one of these days," he said, sitting down and reaching for the half-wet towel. It'd get the worst of the slobber off. "You think you'll enjoy Sinnoh?"

The reply was a bark and something that looked like a roll of the eyes. It wasn't hard to interpret. Not after being together full-time for ten months, and part-time for two more. He would enjoy going wherever Evan went, no matter who came along. He also liked Chris, but all of his Pokémon did anyway, and the other way around.

And being with two was better than being alone. They could travel more because they could split tasks up. They could share Pokémon to keep them safe in the night. He'd seen it with his cousin and Danny, but at the time, he had just thought was because they were fourteen and had a ton of experience. Turned out it was just being with more than one, or seven.

Yeah, Sinnoh was going to be fun. Cold, but fun.

~~§~~§~~

The room was old and a bit overdue for restoration, but it was small and devoid of anyone who hadn't had something to do with what was about to happen. That was good. No matter what had happened, Gramps and himself had managed to convince people that an expedited juvenile trial was the right course of action, and juveniles had certain protections under the law.

Like the right to not be plastered across five different newspaper front pages, like Paul's conspirators had been as their trial had been shoved into the public eye by some very well-timed releases. Gary suspected Lance's hand in it, especially after he'd requested in his role as Grand Champion that Hoenn cease their discrimination of Pokémon Types.

Pure political spectacle, of course. Still, the masses needed to be shown things, and on occasion, the sledgehammer was the best tool. Even if people didn't know it was a sledgehammer.

The only people inside were those who'd been involved in some way, shape, or form. Gary was on account of his role as the primary witness, as was the guard that had helped Alice convince her brother. She was sat right up in front, without Linda – who had no role – there. Privately, Gary thought that was stupid: he'd seem the two interact and it was clear as day that the girls were close.

Others there included the solicitor for Paul, the prosecutor, a psychologist, and a scribe.

The guilt had been established, naturally. Part of the deal was that Paul would have to enter into an agreement. This was just for the sentence.

The judge entered, some tradition was upheld, and on they went to the actual meat of the whole thing. Thankfully, the woman seemed to prefer clear and short judgements as well. The few times Gary had seen trials – mostly on the news for something or other – it had been obvious that this part took time. But not here. Not today.

The first surprise came when the judge addressed him, and as he replied, he mentally checked if he hadn't been caught paying no attention, dismissing it because he had been.

Then she told everyone that Paul's punishment was to help out at the Oak Laboratory. At least a year, with heavy supervision at first, and another year possible if he hadn't been rehabilitated fully. She didn't say it like that, but reading between the lines came easy.

Alice was shocked, and burst into tears, but they looked like ones of relief. Probably? Understanding girls and their emotions wasn't something Gary really did. Paul seemed to keep hold of himself, but his reply betrayed him: his voice audibly shook with relief before everyone was dismissed.

A tap on his shoulder, and he saw the psychologist motion off to the side as brother and sister had a reunion at the front of the room. "Yes?"

"Your grandfather's Laboratory houses the Pokémon of those he attacked," the older man stated, beard moving. "It would be best if you could both prepare them for Paul being there, and to inform their Trainers."

Logical. Shelgon was the obvious flashpoint, but there were others as well who could be trouble. That could be nasty, but the Dragon was – last he had checked – not in Pallet, and he could probably lean on froslass or clefairy to be the voice of reason. "I'll take care of that." Though he would do so in a secluded area nevertheless. "Is there anything else we should know?"

"I will contact the Laboratory to set up a meeting."

With that, he left, and Gary adjusted his view just in time to see Paul and Alice look at him, as well as the solicitor, and he joined the trio at an unspoken invitation. "So. You're going to be one of my new assistants," he said, managing to keep the venom out of his voice. Paul was a weakling, but it was weakness from ignorance, not weakness from malice. The talks had made that clear. He stuck out his hand. "Name's Gary. Good to meet you."

It took a moment, but the teenager recognised his gesture for what it was. What was done was behind them, not to be brought up except in certain situations. This was not one of them. "Paul. Any idea what I'll be doin'?" he asked, managing to give a half-decent grip.

"Too many things to count, and a few thoroughly disgusting." Okay, he was a bit gleeful about that. He had never claimed to be a saint. "But it's needed work, and you'll learn a lot that you can use later in life." He turned to Alice. "And yes, you can visit. Just call ahead so he's not smelling like a tyranitar just shit on him."

"Does that happen?"

"It's the Oak Laboratory," Gary replied proudly. "You think of it, it's probably happened there or we know someone who's seen it." He smirked. "This one was a couple of weeks back. Guy fell into it. Took him hours to be clean enough he could mask the smell. His unit only just stopped smelling of lavender." He looked at Paul. "You're a farmer's son, though. You'll be used to it in no time."

"That's wha' he's 'fraid of," Alice said, tone joking with a hint of something else. They had been estranged, after all, so some vindictiveness was to be expected. "An' Gary… Thanks… When Danny..."

"It's okay. I know more about how things work here anyway," he replied, cutting across her. There wasn't any need for Paul to know about what had happened right around the time that the letter had arrived. That would probably come when he arrived, and Gramps could sit down with him. "Paul, I'll see you after the weekend. Alice, good luck up in Sinnoh."

~~§~~§~~

It was a quiet Saturday night, or as quiet as could be in a weekend with a Pokémon League in one of the Home Regions. With the semi-finals done, however, Samuel Oak knew from long experience that there wouldn't be any real rush: that would come next week, when everyone started up travelling again.

He was, therefore, highly surprised when one of the assistants on the rota for the night stormed into his semi-private room where he'd been carefully comparing data from a new Unovan study on using Pokémon to help children relearn how to walk or talk after injury with the currently known baseline. "Yes? What is it?"

"Another injured Pokémon," the woman reported, suppressing the urge to snap a salute. She had been part of the forces in her early twenties, but this wasn't there. "A Psychic-type. From Hoenn. Bearing the identification of..."

"Max Maple," Oak finished. "Oh, my boy, what have you done this time..."

"This time?"

They started walking towards the medical area. "Last time, he rescued a spoink, and the time coincided with an aborted attack east of Mauville," he explained. "And in the process, I think he got himself a new Pokémon, and by now he might have realised that."

"Rescue does that," his assistant agreed. "Loyalty to someone who saved you is a powerful thing. What do you mean with 'by now', though, Professor?"

He smiled gently as they passed through the first set of doors to the medical area, and noise could be heard from ward three. "The gardevoir he has is telepathy-capable, and he exchanged xatu for vulpix two days back." They reached the door, but walked past it to a window. "Oh my..."

The ralts inside was not in a good way, and it was lashing out in impotent hurt because of it. It hadn't dislodged the overhead camera yet, though, and Oak shifted his attention to the monitor showing that, allowing a close-up.

The red horn on its head was splotchy in places, suggesting the previous presence of electrodes. The hair was patchy in multiple places, and the normally white body was discoloured, mostly from being unwashed. It was also smaller than the average ralts, and slight proportion differences suggested it was a younger specimen. Ralts typically reached fully grown status by thirty-nine to forty-six months in the wild: this one looked closer to thirty months old.

But that was only the physical part. There was significant psionic bleeding occurring, with wisps of power breaking free from its hurt-fuelled psionic lashes. This wasn't uncommon to see at all, but usually it suggested a lack of control over its powers, and what was being used wasn't that powerful. Emotionally-laced, if the cycle of grimaces into smiles was any indication on one of the medical team, but nothing strong enough to make any of the two men and one woman inside take a step back forcibly.

That control had broken down that far was worrying, and it made Oak suspect that this rescue had come just in time, for both the ralts and Max.

"Sonia, please locate the clefairy belonging to Max Maple, and the dragonair belonging to Tristan Kiona. Tell them they're needed to calm a Pokémon," he ordered, and his assistant left without another word. Then, he took a few steps towards the door, paused for a moment to get into the right mindset, and then entered.

A wave of anger assaulted him immediately, but it was nothing compared with the rage of any dragon. It felt more like the tantrum of a toddler: a particularly tired one who knew they were tired too. He quickly positioned himself in front of the small Pokémon, deliberately walking into one of the attacks to catch its attention.

He got it, and eyes that had a too-red tint to them to be natural. He focused. "It's okay, ralts," Oak said, carefully placing one hand on the mattress, palm up. A wave of anger sliced across it: he didn't care. "You're safe. Someone rescued you. We won't hurt you. We just want to help you."

The soft sentences and careful emotional control seemed to affect the ralts a tiny bit, but the glow remained. It let out a cry; a question. A question of trust.

"Do you think you can read my emotions if I touch the horn on your head?" he asked. "I promise I will be careful and try to not touch the painful places." He heard a surprised gasp from behind him, and gestured with his hidden hand to tell whoever did that to cut it out. "Will you?"

It seemed to think for a few moments, before attempting to get up from its seated position against the downy pillow. It failed at that, but Oak saw the movement, and he moved the hand on the mattress, stopping his movement a few inches from the red horn, leaving the last movement to be initiated by the ralts.

It did and – confusion, pain, soreness, surprise, understanding, grateful, peace.

She broke the connection, and he took a step back. She looked up at him, eyes devoid of the earlier red, before she let out a soft cry.

Oak wasn't psychic by any stretch, but he knew Pokémon, and he knew that this ralts had just put all of her trust into him and his.

"Treat her carefully, and when Sonia comes here with two Pokémon, let them out."

"Why, Professor?" the newest member of the medical team asked.

"The clefairy belongs to the same Trainer that brought her here, and is the most caring one of them all. The dragonair has previous experiences with being captured and experimented on. Together, they will help to start healing the mind," Oak finished, looking at the ralts from the corner of his eye. No response either way, which was as much as he could ask for. "I will be back in an hour."

He exited the room calmly, but broke into a rapid stride the moment he exited the ward fully as he let the realisation he'd had earlier fully sink in.

That ralts, through genetics or natural predilection or perhaps luck, had a very rudimentary grasp on Hypnosis. Enough to entrance a toddler, to stay with that comparison, at most, but that was what amplification was for, as well as forced training.

To say that Hoenn had just dodged a Hyper Beam it had never seen coming was an understatement, and Lance needed to know of this.

Thankfully, the Grand Champion answered the phone within two rings. "Oak. How bad is it?" the red-haired man asked immediately, knowing that calls weren't made for nothing at nine in the evening on a Saturday, and trusting that he would receive an explanation.

"Max just rescued another Pokémon," the Professor said, pulling up a Hoenn-based news agency to see if there had been news of an attack, but nothing was there in the usual category. Strange. "A ralts. Who knows the barest, and I mean barest, basics of Hypnosis. She tried to use it on me in the medical wing until I won her trust."

Most other men would've let a curse fly. Lance cast his eyes skywards and muttered something under his breath, which was the equivalent. "Thank the Creation Trio that this remains unknown, then. Is it?"

"It's possible," Oak admitted, but it was a devil's advocate argument and they both knew it. "However, given the strength adjusted for the state she was in and rough age estimation, this is not very probable. I'm not even sure she herself realised it."

"The right place at the right time," Lance said softly as Oak expanded his search. He still found nothing. "And he is still alone?"

"Best I can tell, yes." A third search that incorporated the publicly available emergency services channels overwhelmed him with data, and he minimised it to check later. "The last retrieval, not that it tells us anything considering the gardevoir and xatu can zip him around the region, was in near Lavaridge. It..."

"What is it?"

The place that Max's original ralts was lost. The place Max's gardevoir evolved. A place not too far from Lavaridge. A place Lance had sent Ash to, all that time ago. "Do you recall what Ash did to the facility?"

"Collapsed the entrances, fried the computers electrically," Lance replied instantly. "You think they've gone back?"

"It's the height of hubris, but logical. They think the G-men, who stopped them last time, have no reach. It is one of the most remote areas in Hoenn, the core infrastructure is still intact from what you just said, and people are unlikely to happen upon it, meaning they can experiment all they want." He shrugged, even as he pulled up the news for that area. There was a report about travellers being warned to stay inside on account of heavy wild Pokémon fighting, dated ten minutes ago. "It's the best lead, and it's a place with memories for Max." He smiled wanly. "As you said, Lance. The right place at the right time."

"Indeed. It still begs the question why he has left the others, and Reginald offered only that a ninetales was responsible. I am uncertain how that came to pass, but at least there is one good thing to come out of this."

"Oh?"

"Birch is travelling together with Sidney. He will not be captured."

That explained some things, such as the most recent retrieval right in Fortree, and also why he hadn't gone in search of Max. "That's a relief to hear."

~~§~~§~~

Serena dismounted the tropius with ease, and altaria landed beside her, touching down gently and letting a wing deliberately stroke her leg through the thin legging. "Stop it, you know it tickles," the Kalosian said, smiling at her Dragon's antics.

Unsurprisingly, the blue Pokémon only preened before returning herself, just as another draconic Pokémon landed. This one was less cuddly, and far more dangerous, even before knowing whose charizard it was.

But Serena also knew that he was just a grumpy old Pokémon with a good heart, and she gave him a quick rub on his head as he allowed Ash to get off. "So, why did we have to go here?" she asked.

Here was close to the Tohjo Falls, which had been visible for a while already from the air. They were probably about two miles away, and they were right across the lake that all the water fell into. Except this was decidedly not travelled as well as the other side, as she noticed when she turned around to see brambles. "Because we're not talking about this in New Bark where everyone can hear."

Good point. "Right. Why come to me?"

"Professor Oak suggested it," Ash said, and he patted the ground, having returned both of his flying Pokémon. It looked dry enough, and they sat down. "You wrote him, but he thought it was better if I told you everything."

"What is there to tell?" Serena asked, curious. "It's Team Flare all over again, except worse. Please tell me that you haven't heard about wanting to summon groudon or kyogre. Again," she added with a wry smile.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked, shocking Ash, who didn't care. "It's probably more Unova than Kalos. Probably," he repeated for emphasis. "And in more ways than one."

"Unova's the other side of the planet, and I had my knee. Explain, please."

"It started with small attacks there, by Team Plasma, over a year before they fully took over. Or half-fully," Ash said, shrugging. "Not sure why. Karen thought it was to test strength, Lance thought it was to build a movement with enough popular support." He flicked his wrist, and absol came out. "Small attacks, before taking over. Now think about that in Hoenn."

"They're responsible for everything," Serena said darkly. Not that she needed to think too hard: it was logical from what she'd heard over the past two years and she'd reached that conclusion on her own. "Why isn't Kanto doing anything about it?"

"What?"

"If you know, Lance knows. If Lance knows, your government knows," Serena reasoned. "So why this hidden stuff."

"I am told," Ash started, and it was clear he didn't like it, "that governments are slow and that doing stuff wrong would be some kind of 'diplomatic crisis'. Officially, we have to wait for that." Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder and into her lap. The static was strangely comfortable. "But there's more people fed up."

"Who? You? Gary Oak?"

"That's two of us," the adult confirmed. "But not the only ones. Brock, Misty, Anabel… We'd be pretty happy to go to Hoenn and sort things out."

Okay. Brock, Serena understood, because he'd gone through Hoenn with Ash and Max. Misty… She was one of Ash's best friends. But… "Anabel?"

"She was there in the Tree of Beginning. Or outside of it. She says she doesn't feel guilty, but she's a bad liar."

"Says you," Serena snapped off, to amusement from the yellow Pokémon leaning against her stomach. "I guess that's the point, though..."

"Yeah. If someone as stupid as me can see it," Ash replied, straight-faced. "Anyway, the five of us got together a couple of days back. Anabel and I can't leave because we're Frontier Brains. Gary can't leave because he's got stuff to do around the laboratory. But..."

"Really? When?" Oh, that was great! They could definitely help with everything. Something popped into her mind, though. "What about Brock's Gym?"

"Their siblings. You'd know about Misty's."

Oh, right. Max had been pretty clear that he thought a lot of Brock's cooking skill came from caring for his younger siblings. She also thought he had mentioned that one of them had taken over the Gym while Brock was with Ash. "So, what are they going to do there?"

"Talk to their colleagues about how they could prepare for something like what's happening in Hoenn," Ash replied, and pikachu let out a static-releasing snort. "Well, that's what Lance and Misty are telling the government. I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain the rest."

No, he didn't. Serena had learned that there were always at least two parts to stuff like that a year ago. The secrets that the boys had kept from her until Durocor had opened her eyes, and by now, it was easy to think that way. It came in handy on occasion, but it also made others her age seem really immature when they just didn't think. Ugh… "They're not going to believe that, right?"

"No, but… What did Gary say..." Ash visibly searched his memory, before clearing his throat. "Stopping a Gym Leader from entering the region?" he said, trying to sound like Gary: extremely confident to arrogant, with some vague… Looking down on? There had to be a word for that. "Might as well, eh… Might as well write to say you're a diplomatic pariah now." A smile, but Serena thought it wasn't really there. "Maybe it's a bit different in Kalos, but Gym Leaders in the Home Regions have some kind of history that makes everyone agree they're important."

"That's why people were upset in Hoenn, right? About three Gyms being closed?"

"And going against what the Gym Leaders themselves wanted, yeah," Ash confirmed.

"Why don't they say something about that?" Serena asked, but immediately, she had a guess. "Laws? Really?" she added when pikachu confirmed it with a disgusted syllable. "The more I hear, the more..."

"The more you want to go there," Ash finished for her, and she looked at him in shock that he had read her mind. "You don't want to, but when stuff goes wrong, you'd rather help in whatever way you can than do nothing." He smiled at her, reaching out and letting pikachu jump on his arm. "So why don't you?"

Several reasons shot through her head, but all of them she'd gone over before. All of them she'd cast aside if it was needed, so… Was it? "You don't think that they'll think it's weird?"

"Probably? But you're free to go everywhere, and if Hoenn complains… Kalos would have your back in a heartbeat or less." He stood up, and Serena followed suit. "Besides, unlike me, they don't want you for destroying stuff."

She gave him a strange look. "I thought..."

"They did that for Max and Danny. Not me. Not sure why. Lance didn't like it either, but… I'd do it again. And again." On his shoulder, pikachu agreed, but both of them seemed sad for some reason. "And if things really go sour..."

The message was clear as Cyllage crystal. "Kinda hoping you won't need to."

"You and me both..." The Frontier Brain agreed instantly. Silence fell between them, only broken by the sounds of the water nearby: a small splash revealing a seaking's horn just above the surface. They watched it swim for a moment until Ash cleared his throat. "Anyway… You've got three Ribbons. In a month and a half since you started. Your rivals might be glad you're leaving for a bit."

That got her to laugh. Fully, despite what they'd talked about. "I needed that," she admitted, and he gave her a boyish grin. "Could even visit the Grand Festival. That's in a few weeks, right?"

"Yeah. That's a perfect excuse. Like the one Brock and Misty have."

Always two or more parts. Always.

~~§~~§~~

Coral Cape had been… Something. They had arrived in the air late on the day after their chat with Winona and Umbra, and the day after that, Sidney had found no trouble in convincing the Gym Leader and Trainers to keep an eye out. That was all as had been planned, but then… Things had taken a turn for the weird. \

They had also planned a trip to the Rangers in the mountains, which was on their second full day in Coral Cape. above had been all normal until a flygon had dropped down in front of them and sniffed them. Something had surprised the Pokémon, and it had flown off towards its trainer at speed.

Which turned out to be the same one that had found Danny and Max, all that time ago with a bagon Egg. "Sidney, Danny," the woman – Sophie, he had remembered after a moment – had said by way of greeting, as if he wasn't in disguise and even wearing sunglasses because the sun had been half-blinding him through puddles and reflections. "Been a while since I saw either of you."

After a short discussion on how Sophie knew him – which had actually surprised Sidney, Danny thought – and a longer discussion to figure out how the Rangers could help protect Coral Cape, they had moved back down the mountainous paths, only to come across an injured Trainer.

Which had been a trap by some thieves who wanted their Pokémon. Foreign ones too, judging by the Unovan accent, which explained why they hadn't recognised a member of the Elite Four. They weren't even good Trainers either, instead hoping to overwhelm through numbers by sending out nine Pokémon all at once.

Three minutes and six Pokémon of their own later, Sidney had sent his honchkrow down to town. That had taken up the rest of the day and a good part of the day after, but by four, they were free, and of a mind to quickly get to the harbour to take a boat to a town just north of Rustboro, since their borrowed Flying Pokémon had gone back to Winona, thankfully.

Flying still didn't sit well with him.

They hadn't even gotten in sight of the harbour. Three streets from the hostel they'd been staying at, a miltank had come rolling around the corner, slamming itself into Sidney, and that, eventually, brought them to where they were now, shuffling aboard a ship four days after the fact, with Sidney still using a crutch and a swapped-in incineroar to carry his pack.

They reached a quiet corner of the ferry, helped by the Fire-type also looking intimidating, and they looked out over the morning sea. The weather was overcast, and Danny knew they'd probably have to go inside before too long, but now was the time to talk what they were going to do. "You still want to talk to Roxanne?"

"Knowing your enemy is important. Unseen obstacles can stymie the prepared," Sidney replied, sitting down on a bench and propping the ankle that had been sprained up. "As, I believe, happened in the mountains a few days ago."

"What?"

"The Saturday I spent talking to the Gym Leader, something happened in the Aso Mountains. The warning was of powerful Pokémon fighting." Sidney seemed a bit exasperated, and Danny raised an eyebrow. "Different areas have different strengths. The Aso Mountains have strong Pokémon, but not many dangerous save rock slides."

Now he saw where this was going. "So. Something happened there," Danny said. "Max?"

"We know he was headed there, unusual sloth aside. Plausibility suggests it is him." The Elite Four member regarded him. "We cannot chase him. Not as I am. But..."

"But what?"

"We move in territory known. You first learned about this movement in Rustboro, from Roxanne, you told me. If anyone would know more, she would be the most accessible." A grave look passed over the drawn face of the adult. "And if he is out for revenge… He might make a mistake."

"He wouldn't attack her!" Danny said, remembering halfway through that they were in the open and lowering his voice instantly. "He's not stupid."

"No. He is not. But you are teenagers, impulsive and sometimes careless," Sidney pointed out, but the smile was… Fond? "Plant the seed of an idea, and it might take root. We don't know what the ninetales said in full. We don't know if Max knows who is pushing ideas."

Nor did Danny, and he sat down just in case. It was starting to feel like one of those conversations. "Right. Who?"

"Who was caught by the ninetales for Max?"

The teenager felt like dropping his head into a wall, but settled for his hands. "Vulpix knows Confuse Ray. She could… But he would sense it."

"Not if she affected him while he wasn't paying attention; while his mind is resting."

It took him only a moment. "His nightmares? They're… Vulpix caused them?"

To that, Sidney only shrugged. "You have seen the depths and the peaks, experienced joyous tears and grievous elation. He more than you. The mind copes through dreams and nightmares, and even you do not escape that." Another shrug. "Some natural, some induced, most interwoven would be my guess. As all things are."

That made sense, and Danny remembered one nightmare in particular where vulpix was out guarding for the night. He hadn't thought much of it at the time – it had been early o'clock – but with hindsight… That sounded like it was just a bit unnatural. "Can we help him?"

"Onl—" Sidney's words were interrupted by a loud horn, and Danny demonstratively put a finger in his ear after it had passed. That had been too loud. It got him a grin. "Only indirectly." The hand that wasn't holding the crutch – just so it wouldn't fall onto the deck – went out, and the thumb was extended. "Tell one of your Pokémon, send it to Oak." A finger. "They tell Max's Pokémon." Another finger. "Your friend gets one of his, tell the gardevoir about it, who will translate for Max."

That just seemed… "So, basically nothing?"

"Yes." Sidney stood up again, causing incineroar to move a couple of steps. "What was done, was done. All we can do now is decide what to do in the future."

"And that is?"

"For now? Relax on this boat." A smirk, and Danny rolled his eyes. "More as we've been doing. We're doing what is needed."

It would have to be enough.

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Three Unovan thieves put in an application for the Slowpoke Award of the Year this Sunday as they decided to try and steal from the first Trainers to come down a mountainous path near Coral Cape. Unfortunately for them, the Trainers involved were an unnamed teenager, and Hoenn Elite Four member Sidney, who made quick work of the Pokémon involved. Police questioning revealed that they were recent arrivals to the country, and that this was their first attempt at doing something here.

Remember kids: crime doesn't pay, even in another country.

Author's Note: Oops, schedule slip. This one's partially on me being a lazy bum and partially on Shield: most of it was finished a few days before last Saturday (the 30th), but then Shield came along and, well... Yeah. Serena's scene just... Sat by the lakeside for a week.

The Sonia mentioned in this chapter was conceived before I even bought the game, though. They're not related at all. I'm keeping it in as a funny little event.