Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I do however own Alex, and these characterizations of two members of the Darkrai species. Also, this characterization of Tobias, as he is very different in this story from his anime counterpart.

Chapter Fourteen:
Waning Gibbous

-o-O~OOO~O-o-

Alex sighed. It was the night after the day that Tobias and his Pokémon had joined the party, and the group had finally stopped just outside of the tunnel to make camp. Alex had wanted to interrogate their new traveling companion for almost two days now, but the mysterious man had insisted on getting through Oreburgh Gate as soon as possible, leaving little time for talking as everyone had simply been too exhausted last night (and hurried this morning) for extended conversation.

On the plus side, her Pokémon had finally let her help set up camp (though they still did most of the heavy lifting for her) and walk on her own two legs again. Alex frowned internally as she thought about her Darkrai's behavior since meeting another of its own kind. The legendary she'd come to love had been avoiding its counterpart like the plague, even going so far as to openly flee whenever it tried to approach. The only time it had even looked at the other for longer than a split second was when Tobias's Darkrai had gotten a bit too close to Alex. Her Darkrai had sprung up between the two and hissed, glaring at its mirror until the intruder had backed off and floated a distance away.

Her Darkrai's hostility worried her somewhat, but on the rare occasions they had been able to talk, Tobias had said that her Darkrai's mistrust was understandable, given the circumstances. And then he refused to elaborate, claiming that it wasn't his story to tell. Last night though, Alex had considered all she knew about her affectionate legendary and had had an epiphany.

Darkrai had spent the last few years fighting near constantly. When they'd met, it had completely wiped her team with seemingly no effort. The only time it had hid from any of her Pokémon was when Murkrow had hatched, and that had ended when Alex had shown the larger dark type that the little bird was no threat. Darkrai had been wary of her parents at first, but didn't seem to mind them after it had put them in their place. Mightyena was a bit more difficult to figure out, but then she realized (with a pang that always came whenever she thought about her late guardian) that the first two times the dark types had met outside of battle, Alex had greeted Mightyena with trust. It warmed her heart to think that Darkrai had trusted her judgment so much right from the get go, and again made her wonder what in all the world Mightyena had said to it to make it accept becoming Alex's Pokémon.

Then came Tobias. Darkrai had outright attacked him in his sleep when the Pokémon had discovered the man following them. Then that man had another Darkrai. At the very least, that would put the two on equal ground—but from the reaction her Darkrai had had to 'tasting' the other's essence, she'd be willing to bet that Tobias's Darkrai was far more powerful than hers. Thusly, her Darkrai saw the other Darkrai as a threat, and avoided it unless it came close to Alex. It again made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that her Darkrai cared about her enough to defend her from something that it so obviously feared.

And it did fear its counterpart. Earlier that day, after they had set out in the darkness of the Gate with Ponyta lighting their way, Tobias's Darkrai had apparently grown frustrated by its repeated failure to communicate with hers, and had followed the other into the shadows when it had fled. And boy, did that freak Darkrai out. The poor Pokémon had shot from the shadows with its twin chasing it and darted around their group in a flurry of flying fur and panicked screeching, refusing to leave Alex alone with only the rest of her team to protect her but unable to hide properly anymore. It had finally come to a stop between Alex and the other Darkrai, shaking, but with claws raised in a fighting stance.

Tobias's Darkrai had recoiled then, backing away swiftly when it realized just how much it had unsettled its fellow. The two legendaries had spent the rest of the day by their trainers' sides (Alex's cowering, Tobias's moping), and barely even glanced at each other for the rest of their underground trek.

Alex's other Pokémon, for their part, seemed to take it as a personal offense every time Tobias's Darkrai made theirs flee. After the third time Darkrai had dove into the shadows to be away from its mirror, Purugly had marched straight up to the persistent legendary and shouted at it. The dark type had responded with a growl and barely even looked down at the fat cat. Purugly didn't take too kindly to being dismissed, and had reared up and snagged the legendary's skirt in her claws, dragging it to the ground and proceeding to jump up again to put their eyes level, repeating her statement slowly to its face. Tobias's Darkrai had backed off after that. For about an hour, anyway.

Tobias had returned his Darkrai to its ball that night, stating that it would be better for everyone if Alex's Darkrai didn't feel threatened while they all slept. It had earned the man a few points with Alex that he didn't ask for her to return Darkrai to its ball too, and didn't make any sort of fuss that morning when he saw Darkrai slip out of its trainer's tent behind her.

Now though, as Tobias sat down across from her on a lawn chair he'd pulled from his own item cube collection, the veritable stranger that had been traveling with them for nearly two days finally seemed ready to talk.

"So," he began, "I guess you'd like some answers, huh?"

Alex nodded, speaking in a clipped manner, "Yes, that would be nice."

Tobias smiled, giving her a 'go on' gesture. "Ask away."

"Alright," Alex thought for a moment. "How did you find me?"

Tobias raised his eyebrows, apparently surprised at her choice of query. "It wasn't easy," he admitted, "I first picked up your trail in Canalave, after I had gotten word that the Darkrai on New Moon Island had gone missing. I'd left a bit of a trap at the library for anyone looking for information on Darkrai—"

"Ashley Kaughtum," Alex interjected, frowning as the unusual name came back to her. "You used a proxy?"

Tobias scratched the back of his head and glanced away, abashed grin plastered on his face. "Not quite…" He cleared his throat and continued in a very feminine voice, "I can make a very convincing female when I want to. It's a very useful skill for gathering information—most people don't see a woman as as much of a threat as a man, so they tend to drop their guard around me more in that disguise."

Every single Pokémon in the clearing nearby (barring Tobias's Darkrai, who was still sulking a distance away from everyone) looked up from their quiet conversation to stare at the source of the unfamiliar voice while Alex shifted in her seat, uncomfortable respect for the remarkable ability warring with outright awkwardness at experiencing it first hand.

Alex blinked. "I'm impressed, but please don't ever do that again."

"Right." Tobias dropped his hand from his head and continued, "You didn't leave a name at the library, so I had to do a bit more snooping. I eventually found someone who knew your name and I was able to correlate a few things. I still wasn't sure it was you until I got my hands on a copy of the room registry at the Pokémon Center. I found out what room you stayed in and sent my own Darkrai out to 'sniff' for the essence of its own kind."

Alex's eyes widened. "They can do that?"

Tobias nodded. "If the trail isn't too old, yeah. Darkrai leave essence wherever they go—especially if they use their powers or exert themselves physically or emotionally—and it tends to saturate the people and places they spend a lot of time around. New Moon Island was home to a Darkrai for fifty years," Tobias glanced to his legendary, "though it was caught about three years ago after an incident involving a Cresselia."

Tobias's Darkrai shot its trainer a warning glance, prompting the man to put his hands up in surrender. "I'm shutting up." The legendary went back to brooding. "Anyway," Tobias continued, "I'd think that the saturated essence of another Darkrai might be what attracted yours to the island in the first place. It might not have even known what it was sensing at the time—Darkrai, like most Pokémon, are driven by instinct in a way that's hard for us humans to comprehend—and might have settled there simply because it felt familiar."

Alex nodded, explanation making sense. "So, you tracked me to Jubilife. Did you just have your Darkrai 'sniff' around until it found which way we went?" An image popped into her head of Tobias following his Darkrai through the busy streets of the city with its nose pressed to the ground like a Growlithe.

Tobias's mouth twitched, apparently building a similarly silly scene from her words. "No. Darkrai don't leave essence when they're in Poké Balls, and I had no idea you would travel with it out—at night, no less—or even that you had kept it on you. At the Pokémon Center, I was just hoping for a trace of residual essence from simply battling with a Darkrai. I didn't think you'd let it stay in the room with you when you slept."

Alex was confused for a moment before she realized what Tobias was referring to. "Oh, uh, no, we've… um, only started doing that recently." The trainer glanced over to her Darkrai, who seemed to be periodically checking on the two humans from the corner of its eye to make sure they remained an appropriate distance away from each other.

Tobias followed her gaze and smirked, "Darkrai also tend to be very protective of their territory," then laughed at her resultant expression. "Don't worry, the zealousness should die down after the next new moon."

Alex frowned. "Why? What happens then?"

Clearing his throat, Tobias shrugged. "It's not really for me to say." Before Alex could protest, the man continued. "So, after I figured out that you were headed to Sandgem—"

"How?" Alex wasn't about to let the other trainer skip over that detail. "I could have gone anywhere from there—even to other regions!"

Tobias was silent for a minute. "Would it make you terribly mad if I told you I couldn't tell you?"

"Yes."

The man winced. "I'm sorry, then." Tobias sighed at Alex's glare. "I keep a lot of secrets for a lot of people." He glanced over to his Darkrai again. "Let's just say that I used an asset I would normally not use in order to find you."

Alex frowned again. "Why did you want to find me so badly?"

"Our Darkrai have unfinished business," Tobias said shortly, moving on with his tale, "After I got to Sandgem, I decided to lie low for a few days. In retrospect, I really shouldn't have waited." The man shook his head sadly. "I only made my way to Professor Rowan's lab the day after the attack when I saw it on the news." Tobias sighed, leaning back in his chair to look up at the gibbous moon over head. "If I had known Hearsay'd be after you, I wouldn't have loitered so long… I just thought I'd give you a chance to rest a bit at home before dumping my presence upon you.

"Anyway, I got Professor Rowan to tell me where you were headed and moved to intercept you," Tobias finished, looking back down at her, "And then we met."

"Really?" Alex asked flatly. "The professor just 'told' you where to find me?"

Tobias grinned. "Well, he wasn't too impressed with me at first, but he was a bit more interested after I called Cynthia on her private phone."

Alex's eyes went wide. "You know the champion?"

"I actually have the right to challenge her for the title," Tobias bragged, still grinning, "but these past three years have been a bit… hectic for me, so I haven't really had the chance yet."

Alex's dream a few nights ago came rushing back and everything clicked. Tobias—Lily of the Valley—three years ago—trainer caught his Darkrai near Canalave—wiped the league and all the gym leaders with a Darkrai. "Oh," she said, reeling from the sudden stream of connections, "you're that guy."

Tobias just stared at her. "I don't know why I bother with the disguises, no one recognizes me without my cloak anymore." He shook his head. "You'd think they'd remember…" Sighing again, Tobias returned to the present. "So, that's how I found you. Next question?"

Alex hummed, glancing to her Darkrai. "What sort of business does your Darkrai have with mine?"

Tobias looked between the two Pokémon in question, frowning. "I'll tell you what, I'll give you the whole story when those two finally get to sit down together and talk. When, not if. Because I'm not leaving you alone until they do." Tobias's Darkrai glanced to its trainer, a look of fondness taking over for a few moments before it went back to surreptitiously watching its fellow.

Alex watched the exchange. "You two are pretty close too, aren't you?"

Tobias nodded, smiling softly. "It's been my friend through hard times—I owe it this much, at least."

Alex hummed again at the mysterious statement, but had a feeling she wouldn't get anything further from him on that topic. The two trainers watched their Darkrai for a few moments in silence before Alex asked her next question. "What do you know about Team Hearsay?"

Tobias sighed as he'd been expecting her to ask, but dreading it all the same. "Hearsay is a very dedicated group of people that for the most part is made up of refugees from towns that have been destroyed by powerful Pokémon. They recruit from every region, and have a very loose command structure—everyone in that organization is devoted to their cause and their leader, so while they might not be the most disciplined of teams, don't think that any one of them won't be willing to push you aside if you stand in their way."

Alex frowned. "That sounds like personal experience."

Tobias nodded. "They're the main reason the past three years have been so hectic for me. They gave up chasing me a long time ago—it's surprisingly hard to keep up with someone who rides a Pokémon that can fly faster than a jet—but they've caused a lot of problems for the Guardians otherwise."

"Guardians?"

"A different group of people dedicated to protecting the freedom of all Pokémon—especially legendaries. As Hearsay's mission statement is to protect humans from powerful Pokémon—often at the cost of the freedom of said powerful Pokémon—you can imagine how frequently the two groups butt heads."

Narrowing her eyes, Alex pointed out an apparent hole in the other trainer's story, "You said that you were a 'Legendary Guardian', right?"

Tobias grinned. "Yep."

"Then how come you have a legendary Pokémon on your team if your goal is to 'protect the freedom of all Pokémon—especially legendaries'?" Alex raised an eyebrow pointedly.

Tobias responded by shooting her another sly grin. "Actually, I have three. You've already met two." The mysterious trainer continued before Alex could question him, "When the Guardians talk about 'freedom', they don't mean the separation of Pokémon from people. The leader of the Guardians actually used to belong to a group that did that, but he's learned since then that 'freedom' includes the right to choose one's own place—even if that place happens to be at the side of a trusted human."

Alex decided against questioning Tobias about his team—she was beginning to get the idea that when the man skipped over topics, it meant he'd flat out refuse to talk about them when she pushed. Instead, she hummed thoughtfully and fell silent for a moment, asking a new question once she had finished digesting the information. "So why does Hearsay want my Darkrai?"

Tobias grew serious. "I don't know. It's odd to say the least—Hearsay doesn't normally go after caught Pokémon unless their owner is causing chaos. I do have a few theories, though."

Alex nodded, gesturing for him to elaborate.

"Before I can explain, there's a key concept you need to understand—have you ever heard the term 'experience levels' used to describe a Pokémon's power?"

"It's essentially a simplified system used to express how powerful a Pokémon is in general, taking into account things like battle experience, life experience, and personal and physical growth."

"Exactly!" Tobias praised, causing Alex to raise an eyebrow incredulously at his condescending tone. The man cleared his throat self-consciously and glanced away, embarrassed by his gaff. "Anyway, Pokémon levels are generally rated from one to one hundred, with one being the lowest, and one hundred being the absolute highest. This maximum value is mostly due to the life span of the Pokémon coupled with a physical limit as to what their body and/or mind can do.

"However, there is another reason," Tobias said, holding up a finger, "Because of their design, Poké Balls can only contain Pokémon up to a certain level—that being one hundred. Now, most Pokémon never even get to that high of a level—with or without a trainer—but what happens if a Pokémon in a ball gets even stronger than that?"

Alex frowned, starting to get an inkling of where the man was going with this. "The ball wouldn't be able to contain the Pokémon."

"Exactly," Tobias said again, though far less patronizing this time. "The original designer of the modern Poké Ball got around this limitation in a very interesting way. Care to take a guess?"

Alex paused, catching the way the other trainer's eyes narrowed oh-so-slightly as he asked his question. Glancing over to the Pokémon, Alex noted that her team had hushed their conversation to watch the two humans talk. Her Darkrai kept flicking its gaze between the trainers as if debating on coming over and separating them while Tobias's Darkrai merely observed them all with quiet interest.

Alex realized that Tobias was challenging her intellect. Quickly, she reviewed their conversation, noting all the while how the other trainer seemed content to wait for her conclusion. "Well, I don't know too much about that field of research," she began slowly, an idea solidifying in her mind, "but I would assume that the Poké Ball has some way of suppressing the Pokémon's natural power level to the point where it could be safely contained."

A small smile twitched at the corners of Tobias's mouth. "That's correct," he said with a nod, gaze darting over her with a critical, yet somewhat approving edge. "Now, imagine that you have a Pokémon that doesn't age. One that has a natural power so strong, that any member of its species could reasonable expect to live forever."

Alex returned Tobias's inspection with a shrewd tilt of her head. "You're talking about legendary Pokémon."

"Yes. Ghost Pokémon move on, Steel types rust, and even Dragons eventually wither and die. But legendaries, for the most part anyway, remain." Tobias turned his focus to the two Darkrai watching them. "So now you have a naturally powerful Pokémon with an unknown amount of experience under its belt. A Pokémon like this in a Poké Ball doesn't pose too much of a threat because its power is suppressed down to a manageable level. But what about wild Pokémon? One whose power isn't suppressed? A Pokémon like that could be any level—one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand… Who could tell?"

Humming, Alex digested this for a minute while trying to figure out how this line of thought might lead back to her original question. "So…" Alex started off slowly again, picking up speed as her conjecture took shape, "Your theory is that Hearsay knows I have a Darkrai, but doesn't know how powerful it is. But if it's in a ball already, why do they want to take it from me?"

"That," Tobias frowned, "I do not know. Again, it's just a theory. They chased me for a while after I swept the conference on live television, but they gave up after I proved I couldn't be caught. They could just be being paranoid, but the way that they attacked Rowan's lab makes me think they might be after Darkrai for a specific purpose." The man shook his head. "It might be that they're after something big, and they need a Pokémon that's skilled at lulling its opponent to sleep. Or perhaps their motives are more sinister and they want Darkrai's ability to further their plans in some esoteric way. I just don't know."

Alex had no comment for that, simply taking in her team's troubled expressions at the man's ominous musings.

Tobias sighed, pulling his sleeve up to glance at his watch. "It's getting late, we should probably get some sleep. We'll be in Oreburgh tomorrow—we can restock and rest for the day before we head out again."

Alex raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so we're leaving Oreburgh now, are we?"

"I told you," Tobias said, sly smile creeping back onto his face, "I'm not leaving you alone until our Darkrai settle their business. On a more serious note, though," he continued, smile fading, "Hearsay knows you're going to Oreburgh. The cave-in should buy us a few days while they try to find a way around, but we really shouldn't linger. Besides, there's someone you need to meet before the next new moon, someone who doesn't live in Oreburgh."

"Oh?" Alex asked, "And where does this 'someone' live?"

"Alamos."

-o-O~OOO~O-o-

End chapter.

Well, Mr. Badass is now also Mr. Mysterious.
Don't worry, though—we will be getting that story. I'm not sure how much of those intervening three years I'm going to be able to get at, though, so don't hold your breath there.

Also, sorry about the exposition dump chapter, but my beta was having trouble following all the unsaid stuff, so I took some time out to say it.

On the whole Ashley/Tobias thing; it's really more of a testament to how far Tobias will go to deceive someone than it is any sort of hidden fetish he might have—think of it, not only did Tobias cross-dress just to be better able to manipulate someone, he also messed with the librarian's mind, making the book keeper think an event that happened long ago only happened a few weeks ago.
Moral ambiguity FTW.

Questions? Comments? …Concerns? Well, not even Darkrai can read your mind (run away!), so if there's something you want to say, make sure to post a review to let me know. I welcome constructive criticism. I will never yell at you for stating your opinion-but please include a reason if you're going to flame.

Next chapter; Oreburgh! And we meet someone who's only been talked about so far.