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 53: Palisade Of Birch

Six Shadow Balls, speed and size different, shot at dusclops. One connected, four others missed, the sixth was neutralised on a protective Will-O-Wisp. Foresight tagged banette; a wave of ghostly flame narrowly missing, bobbing in the wind. Night Shade shot back, Fire Punch blocking it.

A weak Future Sight appeared, Phoebe's Pokémon avoiding easily. "Hold it," the Elite Four member told the Pokémon, and Danny took the moment to look around. Couple of scorched trees, grass definitely looking worse for wear, and both dusclops and banette pretty tired from a slog that had gone on for a while. "Did you practice Future Sight in the last week?"

The teenager didn't answer, knowing that it was dusclops whose answer mattered. They had a bit, but Danny didn't know what dusclops did while guarding. She did answer affirmatively, but also didn't sound too happy.

"Ah," Phoebe said, smiling and returning the banette. "Simple thing. You'll get over it in no time; it's a common thing to happen to Pokémon learning the move. Practising on your own without pressure can make it worse, but now that you know, I'm sure you'll compensate for it." She turned away from the short Pokémon and towards Danny. "It's one of the stages of learning the move for Ghosts. They know the move, the thing they need to do, but in the flow of battle, they don't apply enough focus, even if they apply enough power."

He returned dusclops first. "And that would make it inefficient?"

"And weaker than it should be later on. The power of the attack is diffused and below a certain threshold, that leads to a lot of wind and nothing more. At least it's still useful against very light Pokémon."

Danny smiled. It sounded like there was a story behind it, and Phoebe would probably tell him about it later. She was very direct, very open, and unlike Sidney, not afraid to speak extremely plainly if it was merited. "I'll have her not use it… Whenever we get to the manor." He palmed a different pokéball. "Want to test aggron again?"

"Nah. Needed to know what you could do with it, but don't think we'll need him when assaulting the manor. At least, I hope not."

That was true, Danny knew. Aggron were many things, but subtle and sneaky, they were not. If they needed him, then things had already gone wrong somewhere. "Same." He put aggron's capsule back on his belt. "Kinda wish we could go there, though."

"If he's not there, he's not there," Phoebe said, sitting down. Danny followed suit. "I'm not worried. He'll come back, and he's no real match for us. His guards might be, but that's what we can distract them for."

"Froslass is still annoyed you're leaving her out of the distractions," Danny said, smiling at the memory of his Ice-type's agitation the night before. It was sort of adorable. "She knows she can't because it wouldn't seem natural, but that doesn't mean she likes it."

"The mind knows, but the heart disagrees. I think we all know that feeling too well these days."

They lapsed into silence, a gentle wind picking up and causing the leaves on the upper branches of the trees around them to rustle a bit, though it wasn't enough to really sway any branches. Not that Danny thought they would easily part anyway. Like most wild Ghost-types, trevenant disliked sunlight, and with its ability to work through trees, it probably wouldn't be hard to nudge the branches a bit so that the evergreen trees never really let more than muted sunlight through.

After having been here for a few days, it was really easy to see how the local Ghosts worked together to keep their forest safe. Trevenant kept the light low, and there were sufficient gastly and haunter around to work tricks on the minds of beginning Trainers. One of them had even managed to tag him with a compulsion to want to leave at one point, but after three steps he had remembered where he was and shook it off.

And when those gastly or haunter weren't enough, well… Banette were local and known to be vindictive in the wild. Duskull and dusclops were fairly good at turning people around generally. Layers on layers of defence against intruders who'd just wa…

A flash of dread, his mind jumping. "Phoebe?" Danny asked, sitting up and casting an eye around. Of course there wasn't an immediate danger. "What if the government comes here? Or sets off a rampage?"

"They already did once. Captured two young misdreavus before others chased them off." She stared at the ground, clearly not liking what had happened. "That was a few months ago. I also know they captured some at Mt. Pyre before you came there." Blue eyes looked straight into his; intense and annoyed. "They're due to capture more now. Hasn't been a Ghost-type attack in a while and I sent Max to the Aso facility."

"You met Max?"

"Verdanturf, over a month ago, yeah. Had to help him with some things too. What's your opinion of gardevoir's Mega Evolution? First couple of words that come to mind."

That was a weird question. "Loyal and scary," Danny answered. "Why?"

"Max thought you were scared of gardevoir, just a bit. Between that, and a lot of trickery from ninetales and his vulpix, that's why he left," Phoebe told him, and all the intensity in her face was gone. Instead, there was… Compassion? Or pity? "Sidney probably figured that out too: both of us know very well how that Pokémon and its offspring can play on your mind. But most Trainers wouldn't, and someone like Max… He's vulnerable. So vulnerable."

"He's the most resilient Trainer I know."

Phoebe laughed softly. "You're biased, and not wrong either. He took vulpix's betrayal better than I thought. Still got pretty angry, but that gardevoir was feedback looping emotions into him, so I'll give him a pass on that. Still… I think I was wrong to send him on to the Aso facility."

"Why's that?"

"Because he needs you. Or anyone, really. Anyone who knows him, so he can work through what happened to him."

"So why didn't you?"

"Because I thought the catharsis of taking out the Aso facility, again, would be enough. Vengeance isn't kind or nice, but let's not kid ourselves here: we're human, we're tired and angry about what this government is doing, and we have limits." Phoebe shrugged. "Then Rustboro happened, and I heard enough to put him in town even before you confirmed it. I did think he was the other Trainer at the School at first, though."

"Them or—"

"Not blaming you," came the soft interjection. "But with only guesswork to go on, the better guess is that it'd be him there, not you. He's got more of a ruthless instinct than you do. Probably more than anyone close to him, except maybe Gary Oak. And with everything you two have gone through and what he went through before that… I see someone who needs company, Danny. But right now, it can't be us. Not until we've dealt with Cavendish."

"What's your plan for after we've done that, then?"

"Rustboro. Take a boat to Littleroot, ask your Uncle to find Max, and then go look for him that way."

For the first time, Danny felt like Phoebe was wrong. He shook his head. "Max'll use one of his Pokémon to Teleport to a Centre he's not staying near for care and swapping Pokémon out. We'll have to do it another way."

"And paranoid too. At least he's not likely to be caught then." Phoebe stood up and sent out her mismagius again, who started opening a portal. "Plan E it is then."

"Plan E?" Danny echoed as the disc finished forming.

"Extract information. Since you pointed out that we're sort of sitting ducks here if the government incites a rampage and we're not doing much at the moment anyway… Let's go to Rustboro now and see if we can get some info out of the locals."

~~§~~§~~

Roxanne's home was… Bright. Very bright. Like walking into Sootopolis in the summer sun bright. It made Danny feel a bit out of place just wearing darker clothing. At least his white hat was on brand.

The Gym Leader led them to a comfortable-looking living room, but the white still made it feel a bit weird, and not as homely as the Maple living room was, or even the den portion of the Pallet Town Laboratory. Seated there already, and a look towards Phoebe told Danny that she'd known beforehand, was Brock, who seemed a bit surprised to see him, but similarly not Phoebe. "You've fallen far, Roxanne. Cavorting with wanted Trainers now?" he joked.

She, and everyone else, sat down before an answer came. "He has answers we need. You don't know everything, and I was on the other side for far too long. Blinded by misreading data." Roxanne sounded disgusted at her behaviour, before turning to Danny. "Just what have you been doing in the past weeks with Sidney? We didn't get to ask him before the PIA stormed in."

"What did he tell you before they did?" Danny asked in return after pouring himself water from the carafe on the table between them.

"Six Legendary Golems, lorries and machines, the Tree of Beginning, Paulson. They tried to arrest him before he could expound on the first." She produced a set of photographs that looked familiar and not at the same time. "He left these, and Steven made sure to hide them before the PIA could see them. This is Regice's cave on Route 105. It's empty. Steven confirmed it."

"Well, that's some of what we've done…" Danny started, before launching into a short summary of what they'd done on the road, and some of the discussions he'd had with the Dark-type Master.

Terry's replacement, Peter, had been easily convinced, but was too new to the job to really make waves, and Sidney had offered him ostensible neutrality unless things came to a head. Left unsaid had been the expectation that they would, but somehow, the teenager had doubted that Peter would've picked up on it. From what he had read – and heard in the short amount of time he'd spent asking about it in Littleroot – the Coral Cape Gym Leader was considered a bit of an antisocial loner, but someone good for the local community.

At the same time, he had also seen Winona push the boundaries of the laws that bound her, explicitly allowing the pyramid that her Gym was on to play host to a weekly protest, starting the week after they had left. She'd said it was because it was a safe location that wouldn't hurt anyone, but everyone knew better and couldn't prove it.

"Well, that explains a few things…" Roxanne muttered after he had explained that. "Winona's been a lot more vocal in internal talks in the past month," she explained unasked. "I've been keeping quiet and being non-committal. Rustboro being as it is helps as an excuse." She shook her head gently, a strand of hair shaking loose. "And Norman's been a lot more quiet as of late."

The significant look she gave him made Danny smirk for a moment. Then he dropped it. He wasn't Gary. "Yeah, we're responsible. Sidney was going to go there alone, then Serena somehow showed up and Sidney summoned me and made sure the people watching the Petalburg Gym didn't notice." Honestly, he'd forgotten what had been done to cause that. Wasn't important. "And then we were going to visit Littleroot when, well."

"Indeed. And from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to thank you for protecting the School. Lindsey told me what you went through. And with the one you caught in the back alley…"

"We think that they went for the School on purpose. Destroy it, and everyone inside too," Brock stated flatly. "Launch an attack on the front, draw out any defenders – you and your friend here, but the teachers do have some Pokémon – and set the building on fire in the back while everyone else was distracted."

The thought sickened Danny, and made him all the more relieved that they had been there. And even less sorry for the ones that he'd attacked without mercy, if that was even possible. "Let's hope they face justice, then."

The adults in the room shared a look, as if he wasn't even there. No bombshell came, though, meaning that the ones capable of walking hadn't been released or gone missing somehow at least. "Moving on," Phoebe stated. "Cavendish. Roxanne, do you know where in the name of giratina he's hanging out?"

"Cavendish? What's he…" the Gym Leader started, halting as comprehension dawned on her face. Several emotions cycled: surprise, anger, revulsion, more anger, until finally settling into annoyance that was probably only a mask. The way the chair's upholstery veered back was a clue. "That conniving man."

To his surprise, Roxanne followed up with an explanation. Of how he had been a help in recent years, always lending an ear and never asking for much; the perfect picture of an upstanding citizen born into wealth and power. Of how, once they had attacked the facility in the Aso Mountains for the first time, Cavendish had allayed her fears at what he was doing, citing some research; the same research that she herself had then proceeded to use over and over and over again to support her points. His points. The government's points.

He had asked her for opinions on some topics. Restrictions, mostly, but also public safety. All logical things to ask, Roxanne explained, especially when the attacks had started heating up, like that Slateport attack that had cost May her hair, or the attack on a daycare in Fallarbor. And every time, he'd told her, time and again, that more restrictions was the only way, persuasively, elegantly, and without a hint of him having restarted the facility.

"I have been a fool."

This time, Danny was included in the looks that were shot around. The others did seem to agree with him, though. "Let's focus on what we can do. Beating ourselves up isn't going to help," Brock said, speaking for the three of them. "Phoebe, why do you want to speak to him?"

"He's the best bet to find out what their endgame is. Beyond the generic, that is," Phoebe answered. "And honestly, I'd like answers about that facility as well. Which is why I asked for Danny to come along."

At that, Brock's expression flickered, pain showing for a moment. He clearly didn't agree. "I'll assume you've taken care of stuff like hiding your identity and getting past the guards already."

"Guards are going to be distracted by friendly Ghosts. Got a rotom to hijack the cameras and a magnezone for the alarm system. And a Psychic-type to make him… Amenable."

"He drinks," Roxanne offered, causing Danny to raise an eyebrow. "Use that Psychic-type to obscure his memories and create a hangover-like effect. If it can make someone more amenable, that should be doable with a bit of practice. And you probably have about an hour before I would be expected to arrive."

Danny and Phoebe both nodded. "Well. That's already useful," Phoebe said. "Anything else you can tell us or things you want answered?"

~~§~~§~~

"Did it have to be this kind of clothing?" Danny asked, pulling at the not-quite-right-fitting all-black. "It's anti-Psychic stuff, right? And where did you find it anyway?"

"Police evidence locker," Phoebe said. "Where else? And what's wrong with it?"

It was mostly slightly too large, especially in the chest area, but the arms were slightly short, leaving the end of one of his forearm bones uncovered and that just felt weird. That, and it just felt off to wear this clothing when they had always fought against those who had been wearing it. "Just… Let's get this over with." He pulled a balaclava over his head, ignoring the scratching feeling on his cheek, and made sure he could see. "Ready."

Being ready meant having to walk for a bit while one of Phoebe's Pokémon signalled the local Ghost-types to start their fake rampage. It wasn't a tricky walk though somewhat forested territory, though the low light thanks to no moon and somewhat overcast skies made it harder than it could've been. Still, they reached the point that they wanted to be at on time, and didn't have to wait long for the signal: a large plume of fire by a lampent.

Without a word, mismagius opened up a portal: taking them from outside the walled compound to inside the grounds. Walking through it didn't produce the same instinctive reactions that it had before, thanks to previous experience, and he had a first look at what honestly didn't look too out of place in Petalburg gardens. The upscale ones, sure, but quiet pond, softly flowing waterfall, all lined with stones and nice plants?

Then he looked around and saw the size of the garden. Some of it, anyway: the darkness blocked his sight after a while, especially on the side where no light came from the nearby manor.

A muted flash saw the rotom go invisible, and Danny kept the pokéball with the drowzee palmed and primed, just in case someone jumped them. Luckily, nobody did while they moved through the garden, moving from shadowed area to shadowed area, passing closely by evergreen trees as much as they could to further make them invisible to anyone looking their way.

Then they caught a lucky break. An open window, on the ground floor. Wide open, in fact, and not a light inside to be seen. He gave Phoebe a leg up and climbed in after her, idly noticing as he did that a haunter had come out.

As they waited for the scout to return, he looked around the bedroom that they had climbed into. Sight was limited, but from what he could tell, it was a very traditional bedroom. There was a slightly opened closet not too far from him, probably holding the futon that the occupant would sleep on every night. There was a small lantern near his feet, too, and a half-opened set of sliding doors led off to the side, which, after some careful tiptoeing to not alert anyone, revealed a small table set with nothing, and a few pillows, along with a small television in one of the corners.

The teenager chose to ignore Phoebe's muttered comment about Cavendish being a traditionalist in the bedroom. That went nowhere he wanted to go.

After a few minutes, the haunter returned, seemingly reporting good news, judging by the casual way it sauntered into the room. Somehow. "Nobody else inside. Circuit breakers a few doors down too. Cavendish two rooms beyond that. Almost seems too easy."

Danny suppressed a groan. You did not tempt fate like that. Ever. He kept silent as they exited the bedroom, moving into a more modern-looking hallway, and with haunter's help, they soon located the circuit breakers.

It almost seemed too easy, and after a moment of disbelief shared between them, Phoebe flipped the switches, immediately causing all the light to go out. Danny took point, and started moving as Phoebe returned the Electric-type to its confines. Before he could open the door to what was presumably the living room, however, the door opened on him.

Cavendish got out half a yell in surprise before the drowzee straight up dropped him where he stood with a burst of hypnotic energy. The man landed roughly, but at least avoided anything hard by the sound of it. "To the chair," Phoebe ordered from behind him.

The Psychic-type obliged, and a small ball of light from the haunter provided enough light to see by, giving Danny a good look at the man whose property they had destroyed over two years ago.

The picture in the file had been outdated, he immediately noted, judging by the much shorter hair; black in the limited light and also in daylight. He looked taller than Danny was, but not by much, and with a build that looked decently in shape from walking or hiking. There were no signs of any Pokémon on him – else they would've come out already – and nothing around the room suggested Pokémon had ever lived inside.

They had their questions. It was time to have them answered. He took a deep breath, focusing on the voice he wanted to use: a hint Brock had given them in Rustboro.

A sign. Wake-up and immediate glassy eyes. Spellbound by the drowzee. "What was the Aso Mountains laboratory for?" Groudon, that was harsh on his throat.

The answer came instantly. "To find a way to control Dark, Ghost, and Psychic Pokémon," Cavendish droned, slurring a bit, but not enough to stop understanding.

There was no follow-up explanation. He had answered the question, and in this state, that was that.

More questions it was.

Danny tried to keep calm as the man slowly, methodically, explained how he had influenced and conspired to create some of what was happening. The plot went back years, to when Team Aqua and Magma were still around. Cavendish had been the one to come up with the idea of lorries being used for most of the attacks. Gem disruptors had been one of his subordinates thinking about it in a facility that hadn't been found on one of the islands in the east.

Making Roxanne an ally had been opportunity. No other Gym Leaders were complicit, nor was Glacia. Phoebe sighed in relief at that. He knew nothing about the Golems, but a lot about the general idea of what had been planned, but not anything really specific. He hadn't even suggested any targets for attack except for a test run on Mossdeep.

Phoebe nudged Danny after probably about fifteen minutes. With a gesture, Danny prompted the drowzee to send Cavendish back to unconsciousness. "Getting a bad feeling. Get to the kitchen and get an open bottle of something."

The kitchen was easy to find, as was the fridge. Opening it carefully with his sleeve covering his hand, he found a bottle of rice wine that looked about a quarter empty. He poured most of it down the drain, ignoring the fresh, sweet smell, and ran the tap for a bit to make sure the sink didn't smell of alcohol.

Back in the other room, he poured a small glass to about half, placed the bottle on the floor, and looked at the other, who'd been keeping watch, with some of her Ghosts – haunter, but also a dusknoir – moving around and communicating with her. "Good work. Let's go."

They backtracked to the circuit breakers, flipping them back on and suddenly bathing the hallway in light – there must've been a switch that had been pressed at some point – and misdreavus opened up another Phantom Force portal to the outside: this one with as much range as could be mustered: no need in holding back now.

All in all, they were in and out in about half an hour. Half a very enlightening hour. Danny wasn't sure if he could use all the information, but he knew enough people who could and would be able to make use of it. "Now what?"

"Back to camp. Haunter, go tell the trevenant to act up here in… Ten minutes, then set off the strongest Rain Dance you can and back to camp," Phoebe said in turn as she started walking. "We'll have to move a few miles tonight as well, just to throw off the trail some more."

He could understand that, but the haunter's orders surprised him for a moment. Thinking things through as he held a branch so Phoebe wouldn't have it hit her face, he figured out the purpose of the trevenant – destroy any sign of their tracks by just making it the site of a battle and also distract anyone who might come after them in the first place, but the Rain Dance eluded him. "Phoebe? Why Rain Dance?"

"Wash away our tracks inside the compound itself a bit. Also had dusknoir get rid of any dirt we tracked in while you were in the kitchen," the Elite Four member answered. "Cover as much as we can." She stopped unexpectedly, and put a hand on his shoulder, looking straight into his eyes – helped by being slightly higher up on a slope. "You did well to keep calm. Remember this feeling when you inevitably have to order this in the future, like your uncle did to you earlier."

~~§~~§~~

A heave, a quake, and a sharp statement. Danny returned aggron, as Brock returned a golem in a fight hindered by not wanting to completely destroy the area, but one that had still left marks regardless. The rocky plateau was cracked, and debris from myriad rocks being thrown, launched, or otherwise used in battle was strewn everywhere after the two Pokémon, as well as drapion and a sudowoodo, had gone at it for several rounds. "You've trained your Pokémon well, and know when you have to attack instead of hanging back."

Danny grinned, before grimacing as he nearly looked into the sun. "You said to treat it like as real a battle as it gets. And if this is real, no way golem doesn't use Earthquake or Magnitude in the first fifteen seconds."

"Which is why you'd only use aggron if you could mitigate their effects and if the need was dire enough," Brock said in turn. "Who would you use against me anyway? Or at least consider."

That wasn't too hard to figure out. "Swampert, froslass, dusclops, exploud, magneton if I knew there weren't any more Ground-types coming, drapion's in the same boat, and klefki if I thought he could hold out long enough. Endurance might be a problem, though."

"They can learn Draining Kiss. I think your spritzee knows that?" The Pewter City Gym Leader chuckled. "Jasmine brought one a while back. Golem beat it, but not very easily. Lots of Reflects and Protects as well."

"How'd you end up beating it anyway? Klefki should be nimble enough to avoid most of the things golem does and what it can't, it Protects?"

"Rollout while golem set himself on fire."

That would do it, Danny mused as probopass went to work on the ground, using Earth Power here and there to stabilise the soil and make sure that the next travellers through wouldn't fall into some kind of cave or crevasse that opened up underneath. Normal battling wouldn't have that problem, but with the attacks and weight that the two Pokémon had thrown around, better safe than sorry. "You think one of my Pokémon can learn how to do that?"

Brock didn't reply at first, sneezing instead. "Sorry," he said after blowing his nose. "And yes and no."

Yes, they could, but no, it would take way too much time most likely. "Tricky use?"

"Specialised use. Subterranean Ground-types are better suited for it. Diglett and trapinch are the most well known ones. Wild rhydon too. Blaine thinks numel and camerupt have something like it for volcanoes, but that's a bit harder to quantify," the Gym Leader said. "Diggersby is probably the best at it for you, but you don't have the time right now."

It was all he could to not snort in disgust. They really didn't. Brock was finally, after over two weeks of delay and PIA questioning, off to Coral Cape to continue his tour as a Gym Leader looking to protect against any attack. Meanwhile, Danny was striking out south to Dewford. That had been his and Sidney's plan for after going to Littleroot, and with the ferries in Dewford, he could also go to other places in Hoenn fast if need be.

Cavendish had known surprisingly little about the future plans of the government. After writing everything down that they remembered – in cipher, which had taken Danny far too long to remember how to use because Max was usually the one to use it – he and Phoebe had realised that a lot of what the man had revealed to them had already happened. Background information: useful for people to analyse, but not something that could be acted on immediately.

Between that, and not a dang clue on where Max was – his uncle had hinted that the last retrieval had been near Verdanturf, but also over a week ago – there wasn't much Danny could do except go on as the plan had been before. Phoebe and his uncle would find out where he was needed more, or maybe there was something else that'd point him. Anything.

He hadn't felt this lost since they'd been forced to flee Hoenn. Every other time, there'd been someone to share the burden with at least, or someone to help him. Even the half day when Max had fled had been grounded in the knowledge someone was going to come by. As Sidney did.

Now? He had only himself and his Pokémon.

"I'm not going to lie and tell you everything is going to be fine," Brock interrupted the teenager's thoughts. "But I want you to know one thing."

"What. That I'm going to be just fine on my own?"

The adult snorted as the probopass came up, stopping and landing next to Brock. "No need for sarcasm. Trust in yourself. You and Max are the youngest Battle Frontier entrants in history, and when you make it to my Gym, you'll be the youngest I'll have had to pull out my A-team against. You will be just fine in any fair fight."

"And if it isn't fair?"

"As if you'll not do everything you remember to stop that," Brock said, still visibly amused. "Max probably told you about at least thirty percent of what Team Rocket did. Between that and your own experiences, I'd like to see them try anything underhanded, and it'll take a lot of effort to overpower you."

Danny wasn't as certain, but he wasn't going to convince Brock otherwise, so he kept silent, calling on the memory of the bond for a mask. "Any more hints?"

"No. Roxanne thinks Brawly is on our side, and he'll at least not turn you in, but you probably knew that already from Sidney."

He did, and after a short shake of hands, he turned south, towards Rustboro. He had a boat to catch that night.

Author's Note: Next up: travels in Hoenn's middle.