This is the second chapter of the three I'm releasing today. If you haven't read Chapter 43, go read that first.

Cody: Bastion (Wartortle), Mars (Diglett), Colossal (Pupitar), Antonia (Skarmory), Cortez (Lampent), Reflet (Eevee)

Heather: Somnos (Poliwhirl), Feathers (Pidgeotto), Nadine (Nidorina), Sasha (Eevee), Smaug (Vibrava), Crescent (Lunatone)

Jared: Charmeleon, Servine, Feraligatr, Haunter, Shelgon, Jolteon

Chapter 44: Redaction

Michelle Perry was probably the most unassuming member of the Brotherhood of Life. A stout, mousey-faced brunette in her mid-thirties, nothing about her appearance stood out. But that was probably why she was so good at her job. She wasn't a trainer, a scientist, a scholar, or a snatcher, but a social worker. After multiple breaches of what was considered appropriate client boundaries, she lost her previous job, although she considered what she had done to be in said clients best interests. Before she found another line of work, she was contacted by the Brotherhood, who offered her the chance to help more people than any of her previous jobs would have allowed. The pay was okay, but what really interested her was the work itself. She couldn't use her degree in her job title, but when she was able to help so many with so few restrictions, she didn't think twice about taking the position. Alongside running one of the Haven Houses, she managed a large number of the low-level members of the organization. More often than not, she was kept in the dark about the Brotherhood's more classified information, but so were so many low-ranking members that she didn't care. She saw the good work she was doing and how the organization was helping so many people. And that's why looking so unassuming played to her advantage. She had a certain amount of power and control with the freedom to make decisions at her own discretion about how to complete her duties for the organization, and nobody would ever believe that this woman had such power. Even if she was ever fingered about her work, she could only provide so much information, as certain secrets remained in her blind spots.

Reviewing her current assignment, she had already picked the member for the job. It was an unusual assignment: keeping an eye on one low-level threat until his threat level decreased. Even though she wasn't made aware of all of the reasons why this person needed to be watched, to her, it seemed like a waste of manpower: one person didn't seem like he could be that much of a danger. But it was her job to find a candidate for the job, and she had chosen the best option available; a member who many people would never have guessed.

There was a knock at the door. "Michelle?"

"Come in, Brooke," the manager called out in reply.

The door opened, and the pretty, young blonde walked in. Michelle looked up at her for a brief moment and felt the tiniest twinge of envy. This girl was far too attractive. But looks weren't everything. When the Brotherhood took her in, Brooke was homeless and almost broke, unwilling to go back to her remaining family out of some sort of youthful pride. She wasn't a good trainer, lacking of "practical" talents, so she spent most of her days in Valdren, working in Haven's soup kitchen. She was good at that job, but it was the lowest work she was qualified to perform until that moment.

"How're you doing today?" the teenage girl asked, sitting down in the old metal chair in front of Michelle's desk.

"Good as ever, I guess. You know how it is." She put the file on the desk and looked forward. "I have some news for you."

"News?" Brooke's smile didn't disappear, but it did fade slightly. "Good news, right?"

"Well, yes, but I guess it depends on how you look at it. It's an assignment; long-term, if you see no ethical dilemma with what we'll be ask-"

"Better pay too?" Her grey eyes flashed with excitement.

"Yes, better pay, but there's-"

"The ethical dilemma, right." The girl's tone calmed some as she remembered that part. "What is it?"

"Well, this job… Brooke, I've decided that you're our best potential candidate for it. You've been a big help around here, but I think that your talents will be far more useful outside of ladeling up soup."

Her smile fell further. "This is a field assignment, isn't it? You know I'm not exactly a good trainer, right? The last time I was in the field-"

"This isn't like last time," Michelle continued. "You know, not everybody in the organization needs to be a good trainer. Our best recruiter was marked below average in battling, and myself, I don't even own pokémon; not even as pets. No, we want you to work undercover; as a mole."

"Undercover? Okay, then…" She looked bewildered. "You said talents... what talents do you mean, if not training or using pokémon in some way?"

"I've been paying attention to your work here," Michelle continued. "You weren't even here for more than a day and you already mixed well with your coworkers and the clients alike. And judging by your personal testimonies, I've come to see that you're an incredibly adaptable socialite. That's a good thing for a field agent to have. You'd be surprised at how many of our agents fall flat because they just can't act naturally." She scowled internally. She was convinced that part of Brooke's success with fitting in was because of her looks, but that wasn't her fault or anything. If she was effective, that was all that mattered in the end.

"Also…" Michelle continued, lifting one of the girl's files to eye level, "do you remember the examination procedure that you went through when you first joined?"

"Vaguely…" Brooke answered, her voice wavering. "I remember they had me perform a bunch of different tasks and what not, but-"

"Lying," Michelle interrupted. "That was your talent. Do you remember that?"

Brooke's face lit up slightly and she smiled. "Oh, I remember that part of the examination. But I figured I failed that. Nobody told me that I-"

"That you were a good liar?" Michelle said, finishing her sentence. "We typically keep examination result secret until we have a good position for our agents. We don't want to give anybody a big head by telling them that their special before we need them. But yes." She looked back at the paper she was holding and began verbally interpreting the results. "You're scores weren't one hundred percent perfect. Nobody's is. But it says here that not only were you were human subjects unable to differentiate between you telling truths versus lies, you also consistently fooled polygraphs and psychic pokémon into believing that your lies were true. One of the examiners notes here says that he was actually shocked at how somebody who was so young was so successful in this domain." She put the paper down and looked back up at the girl. "Should you accept this assignment, you'll be in the field for a few months, following training. You'll be observing your target up close after gaining his trust. From there, reporting back to us on everything you learn."

"Okay…" she answered while processing. "And the lying? Where does that come in?"

"Hopefully, not all that often," Michelle answered. "We want you to be truthful as much as possible, using your real name and any real information you feel comfortable sharing, so long as it doesn't pertain to the organization. We've found that agents do better when they're not fudging every personal detail about their life. It's much easier for them to keep track of things that way. However, should you need to lie in order to protect yourself or the organization, we know that you are able."

"But me?" Brooke asked, still unable to believe that she had been chosen for the assignment. "I have no idea what I'm doing here. Aren't there more qualified agents for undercover work? You know, people who have been trained? Or have been doing this longer than I have?"

"Brooke, we're not just going to drop you there without training," Michelle replied, trying to hide the fact that she thought the question was dumb. "But yes, there are better undercover agents than yourself, obviously. However, our youngest agent is in her early twenties. This target has been reported to exhibit some paranoia. If we want an agent to gain his trust, they'll need to be close to him in age. A grown adult wanting to spend time with a teenager is suspicious. This is why we need somebody your age." She glanced back at the paper. "He's fifteen. Almost your age."

"Fifteen? Let me see that dossier." When Brooke looked at the paper, Michelle saw the girl's eyebrows raise. "Who is… who is Cody Storm… He's just a kid. The Brotherhood wants me to spy on a kid?"

"Keep reading. He's actually been a small thorn in the side of the Brotherhood. To make things worse, he was offered information about our organization in order to gain his trust, but he turned us down. His report says that he's a good battler; I guess the Father wanted him to start an apprenticeship or something." She shook her head. "I agree, I don't understand why the Father chose to reveal himself to this boy. And I don't think that the kid is a major enough threat to expend and resources on if they're not just going to eliminate him. But I guess one person following him is more economic than various members keeping tabs on him as he travels. And you know how we are. Pacifistic and all. We would never kill somebody." She stopped herself there. Differing opinions and discussion on the Brotherhood's actions were welcomed, but nobody wanted to seem like they were too contrary. It didn't do well for morale. She also hoped that Brooke wouldn't pick up on the lie about killing. The Brotherhood was pacifistic as a whole, but MIchelle wasn't that naive. "I was alerted that there are… other reasons as to why the Father wants us to keep tabs on this trainer, but these reasons are blacked out on the sheets. Apparently, there's information that's above our pay-grade. Perhaps we will know more in the future." Michelle herself was even curious about said reasons, but she knew better than to worry.

"Additionally, you might be called on to do other work, but you'll be briefed accordingly." She looked Brooke in the eyes again. "So, will you consider this? We'll need an answer soon. We already tracked his debit card to a motel that he booked ahead in Moss Creek, so we'll need to know soon if you're interested or not, so we can train you in time."

"Honestly…" Brooke looked conflicted. "I'm glad I'm getting this offer, but I don't know. When you mentioned the espionage, I was hoping for something a little more glamorous."

"Well, this isn't about glamor." She was a bit annoyed that Brooke would look at the job from that perspective, but she was just a kid herself. "However, there is a certain amount of freedom in the work. You'll still be receiving instruction, but you'll be given the opportunity to act on your own discretion. As long as we receive clear reports on Mr. Storm, you're free to carry out this mission as you see fit." The option of freedom seemed to perk the girl up, as expected. "But I'll give you a day to mull it over. If you can pull this off, there may be better-paying, "juicier" jobs down the line. Consider this mission a training run. Sound good?"

"Yeah… I'll get back to you… I can hold onto this dossier, right? I need to read this over."

"Initiative: I Like that." Michelle smiled. "Those are classified documents though, so I need all of those back by tomorrow. All of them. Or we'll both be in trouble."

"Okay, thanks Michelle. I'll look them over, but I am interested. It would nice to get out of the kitchen for awhile. I miss being out there. Goro does too, really."

"Good, think it over. Take care!"

When Michelle was alone again, she sighed, feeling that envy cross her mind again. Here, this young, pretty girl would be involved in undercover work. Even if the job itself wasn't all that interesting, it was far more exciting than what the older woman was involved with. However, she knew her place. She was good at what she did, and perhaps if Brooke was successful, maybe she'd get a promotion for her judgement; or at least a raise. Time would tell, but she was confident in her decision.

Cody knew he was a good trainer. Though he had moments where he was full of himself, he knew that recognizing his skill wasn't arrogant or prideful. He had surpassed the plateau that many trainers got stuck on and continued to succeed in battles, improving every day. There were many reasons for his success, but he had a simple philosophy that he believed was key to his victories: battle everybody.

That was such a simple concept, but Cody knew that many trainers didn't didn't to that. Even Heather and Jared didn't completely adhere to this. For the most part, they aimed to fight trainers at their skill levels, give or take a few levels. But he fought everybody: not just trainers at his level, but trainers below his level as well. Sure, he'd make the matches as fair as possible via handicaps and the like, but it was good experience for both him and his pokémon. Would his pokémon overcome wave after wave of weaker monsters? It was a test of endurance. And sometimes, he would learn a lot from these battles. Trainers with less experience were sometimes diamonds in the rough.

But he also fought trainers who were much better, and not just the gym leaders, who would use pokémon at certain tiers of power and experience to make the fights fair. A few days previously, he ran into a trainer with twelve badges, and he challenged her to a six vs. one battle, as her Greninja outclassed each member of his team by a high degree. It was quite the experience. Rather than using one pokémon to counter his opponent's options, each one of his monsters went into battle with a particular goal of whittling down the enemy in one way or another. He still lost, but the fact that he almost managed to beat the Greninja was still a victory in itself, as it taught his pokémon to battle in a different manner, and this made them stronger and wiser in the end. Other high level battles were with less intense conditions. Sometimes he'd fight on a handicap, such as his six versus another trainer's three. Sometimes he didn't, such as whenever he practiced with Jared, who he wanted to defeat in an evenly matched fight. But the experience was always worth the money he lost, which was often the case with a more experienced battler.

That day, however, the trainer he was fighting was not experienced. Though he would never say it to her face, Cody had assessed that Brooke was not a good trainer; not even in the slightest, even for her level. In fact, he was surprised that he had even managed to win the one badge she had, as he had met badgeless trainers who were much better than her. Having watched her battle a few times that week, he saw countless problems in her style: attack moves only, easily induced frustration and distraction, general indecision… on top of that, her pokémon were poorly trained for battle in general. Only Goro the Pancham showed promise, and even he was sloppy. So when Brooke asked for a practice battle, Cody obliged, though he knew that he'd have to be nice with his criticisms. The fact that this girl was interested to begin with was baffling, so he knew better than to screw that up. And even though he liked her, he wouldn't let her win though. That wouldn't be fair to his pokémon who had faith in him as their trainer.

"So, how about this?" Cody began, picking Reflet's pokeball from his belt. "I'll use my two weakest against your entire team. I'd say that's as fair as we're going to get." He knew Reflet wasn't good enough to fight her whole team yet. Mars had a better chance of that, but two versus three was far more balanced in his opinion. The battlefield was a small clearing in the woods they were traveling through, next to a few picnic tables that were set up near the path. It was small, but the pokémon that would be used were small, so it was situationally a good location. "If you want, I can shoot out a few pointers, but I can wait until the end for those if you want."

"Sound's good!" Brooke chirped, taking one of her pokeballs out. "I don't mind if you want to talk! I'm ready when you are!"

"Alright, let's begin!" He released his Eevee onto the field. Reflet immediately moved into an aggressive stance, letting out a soft bark. Cody had been working with her a lot in the past few weeks and while she was nowhere near to take on a fifth tier gym leader, she was improving rapidly.

Brooke's pokémon first pokémon entered into the battle was Sunny the Sunkern. The chipper, little, yellow and brown seed pokémon bounced about, letting out happy little yelps between hops. But this was how the pokémon always acted, battling or not.

"Alright, Tackle!" The seed pokémon bounced towards Reflet, but the pup dodged the attack easily. "Try again!"

"Growl!" Cody ordered. His Eevee's cute growl would unintimidating to most pokémon, but Sunny was even less threatening, so she was scared by the threat. She still tried to tackle the Eevee, but her momentum had slowed down, and that gave Reflet an opening to strike her with her own Tackle, knocking the seed on her back. "Now, Tail Whip!"

As expected, the taunt angered the Sunkern, and she made a reckless attempt at another Tackle, only to get hit at full power by a Quick Attack.

"Try something else!" Cody called out to Brooke. He could only assume that the only reason that Brooke wasn't trying other moves was because maybe she thought that Sunny wasn't fast enough to hit a move like Absorb, which would require the pokémon to be touching Reflet. Additionally, Sunny had other options: Grasswhistle, Leech Seed, Ingrain, Growth. Why wasn't Brooke calling for any of these moves?

"Right, um…" During Brooke's indecision, her Sunkern took another Tackle. Reflet circled around for another strike, and that was when Sunny struck. "Absorb!"

The seed pokémon sprouted a few roots from under the leaf atop her head and right before Reflet made contact, the roots snapped onto Reflets head, and the Sunkern glowed with a light-green aura. The tiny pokémon couldn't hold the move long though, so she let go and followed up with a Tackle, but Reflet shook out of her daze and retreated.

"Leech Seed!" Brooke finally directed for a move that wasn't an attack, but Eevee just narrowly dodged it.

She should have tried that earlier. Leeching Reflet at the beginning might have made this fight a little more even. Before the Sunkern could retaliate, his Eevee had ran a circle around the smaller pokémon and hit it in the back with a final Quick Attack.

"Return," a disheartened Brooke called out as she called Sunny back. Her smile was no longer present, so Cody decided to withhold his advice until after the battle.

"Okay, Kisses! You can do it!" The next pokémon was a Smoochum. The little blonde pokémon was a slightly better battler than Sunny, but not by that much. Cody knew Reflet could win this fight if she could keep her momentum up, although she still struggled with that. "Powder Snow!"

"Tail Qhip!" Cody ordered. His pokémon taunted the Smoochum, and like Sunny before her, Kisses fell for the rouse. Ignoring her trainer's order, she charged the Eevee, but Reflet gracefully left out of the way at the last second, quickly turned around, and struck her opponent from behind.

"Kisses, no!" Brooke scolded. "Try another Powder Snow!"

"Take Down into a Bite! Don't give her room to breathe!"

"Yip!" the Eevee barked confidently, zigzagging to avoid the foe's ice attack, leaping into the air, and striking the Smoochum headfirst. Shaking off the recoil, Reflet bit down into the opponent's shoulder, pinning her to the ground.

"Stop her! Use Confusion!" Brooke's monster sent out a weak psychic blast, but it Reflet seemed unaffected, refusing to let go, even after the forceful attack knocked both of them backwards. The Eevee kept gnawing on her foe, but she ended up putting herself too close.

"Sweet Kiss!" Brooke commanded, and through her pain, the Smoochum stretched her neck out and delivered a psychic-imbued kiss on the side of the Eevee's head. That caused Reflet to let go and back off in a stagger.

Good move. Maybe she can capitalize on that. But Cody was disappointed with Brooke's next move.

"Heart Stamp!"

Kisses started whaling on the disoriented Eevee, but while Reflet could not dodge or block the shots, she didn't seem to be hurt much by them. That made sense; Smoochum were gifted with special attacks, but physical blows were not their strongsuit. Why Brooke was resorting to Heart Stamp over Confusion or Powder Snow was beyond him. He figured that she would have known by then that those options were better.

"Shake it off, girl! Baby-Doll Eyes!"

It was a new move that Reflet had just learned, but it was a good move for that moment. Right before the Smoochum punched again, Reflet's eyes widened and she gave her opponent a big, cute stare. Kisses's punches slowed, as she was very confused.

"Now! Take Down!" Before the Smoochum could charge another punch, Eevee sucker punched her with a forceful headbutt to the chest. That was what ended Kisses.

Cody took his mental notes as he watched Reflet run in circles happily. The training was really paying off. He figured that he wouldn't use her in gym battles until she evolved, but at this level of battle, she was thriving.

"Okay…" Brooke had recalled Kisses and looked down at Goro, who was standing at her ankles. "Go get her!"

"Graaawww!" The little Pancham charged into the field and ran to punch Reflet, who was quick enough to dodge the obvious assault.

Let's see if we can go three for three. "Tail Whip!"

Reflet was about to taunt with her tail, but before she could even move to position, the Pancham rushed forward and smacked her with several open-palmed thrusts. Cody was reminded that moves like Tail Whip wouldn't work on pokémon that were too smart to fall for the taunt or those who were too aggressive to be distracted by such tricks. Goro fell into the latter category.

"Sand Attack!"

Reflet kicked up dirt into the little panda's eyes, but rather than swinging blindly, the cub started to work himself into a frenzy with a Work Up, even though his trainer didn't call for it. Any subsequent hits would hit hard.

"End it quickly! Quick Attack!" His Eevee struck the panda with a drive-by attack, running further to avoid any retaliation. She circled around and struck the cub again, but when she tried for a third hit, Goro stopped her, grabbing her head with just one paw. Wiping the last bit of dirt from his eyes, a bloodshot gaze was revealed. The bear mean business.

"Arm Thrust!" Goro began striking Reflet with his palms, taking a step forward with each strike. His strikes weren't rapid, but just long enough that the Eevee could not escape or retaliate. Cody was impressed with the little pokémon, as he seemed to keep up his rhythm so naturally. He knew Reflet wouldn't last much longer.

"Take Down!"

"Foul Play!"

Reflet took a step back after the thrusts ended and tried to go all out with the last of her power, but Goro was too quick. He reversed the move by catching her head, flipping her over his back into the earth, and finishing her with one strong chop.

Cody nodded, impressed. He called Reflet back, kissing the pokeball. He was proud of his Eevee for her impressive effort, but he knew she wouldn't have been able to beat Goro after battling two other pokémon, even if she was better than them in battle. But he knew the outcome of the next match-up. "You're up, Mars!"

He held the Diglett's pokeball in his hand, but he didn't even press the button before the mole burst onto the field. Mars was less than half the size of Goro, but as usual, the mole didn't give a damn about size. Not even waiting to assess his opponent, the mole disappeared below the surface, popped up behind the panda within seconds, struck him in the back with his claws, disappeared again, and kept repeating the process. Cut by cut, he began whittling down his foe, even throwing a Sand Attack into the cuts he left for extra pain. But finally, Goro hit back, dropping a hard elbow onto the mole's skull. Having figured out the pattern, every time Mars popped up, the panda cub would try to smack him, hitting his mark half of the time. Finally, when Mars went for another slash, Goro blocked it perfectly. For a few seconds, their paws and claws clashed like swords and despite being a younger, less experienced pokémon, the Pancham was keeping up with the Diglett.

Not gonna win this way. Time to fight dirty. "Back off and Mud Slap!" Between clashes, Mars went back underground before reemerging with a clot of mud. The Pancham wasn't expecting this and he failed to block the blinding soil. But Mars didn't follow this move up with a direct assault as he would have liked. Instead, he returned underground, reappeared nine feet away from his target, and used Magnitude. It was a strong tremor and it knocked the blinded panda off his feet and as he stumbled about as Mars manipulated the earth to keep throwing the target around.

"Goro, you have to focus! Pound!" Brooke shouted as she tried to keep her balance.

"Mars, keep the tremor up until…" He didn't need to say the rest, since Mars knew this routine. As Goro got close, the mole smacked him with a Bulldoze. That shook up Goro even more, and even though the cub had gotten the mud out of his eyes, he was moving even slower as he stumbled through the quaking earth. When he got close again, Mars smacked him with another earth charge.

"Okay, you did good, bud! Finish it!"

"Wiik wiik!" The Diglett squeaked, and once disappearing under the ground again, he reappeared with an eruption of earth. His Earth Power had improved vastly and it was enough to finish the fight as Goro crashed into the ground.

"Wiik, wiik!" Knowing the battle was done, Mars reemerged by his trainer's side and placed his paws on his trainer's shoe. Cody knelt to pet the mole, feeding him a piece of kibble for his efforts. But he rushed through his post-battle ritual so he could pay attention to Brooke, who knelt beside the fainted Goro.

"Hey, he's alright?" Cody asked as he knelt next to the blonde girl. The cub was still breathing normally and he was already coming to.

"He'll be fine. Just needs his rest and something to eat," Brooke said, stroking her pokémon's fur. She looked a bit upset in the battle's result, but she seemed to be trying to hide it.

"Here, give him this." Cody handed her a dried oran berry. "That should speed things up a little bit."

"Yeah…" Brooke turned her face back to his, her grey eyes flashing. A small smile emerged on her face. He loved that. "So… be honest. What do I need to work on."

Almost everything. But he didn't want to say that. "Um… You did good for… you-"

"You're lying," she replied, a slight giggle in her tone, breaking through her originally upset tone.

"What, no I'm-"

"Please, you have so many tells. Your eyes aren't steady, for one."

The hell does that even mean? "Okay… there's a few things. You um… you repeat strategies that don't work. You don't optimize your pokémon's strengths. I can go into detail later with each-"

"What about Goro? He did good, right? I didn't even command him half of the time."

"Yeah, Goro is good, but he still needs direction right now. Even I still need to give my pokémon prompts. Someday, well-trained monsters can battle without direction, but even then, they still need a bit of guidance." He saw that his advice garnered no reaction as Brooke just stared blankly into space. "Look, training is hard. But we all make mistakes and you just need-"

"Yeah, I know. I don't know if I'll ever get the hang of this though. I would have gone home by now, but… you know."

"Yeah, I get it." That got suddenly awkward. It was then that he noticed Heather sitting at one of the picnic tables with Nadine digging for roots nearby and Crescent floating behind her. He hadn't noticed them until then and he knew that they weren't there when the battle began. She must have shown up sometime during the fight. When she noticed that his attention had been drawn to her, she awkwardly looked away.

"Don't be like that, it was good. Good for me, good for them… hopefully good for you too?" Her lips formed a sneaky smile. She loved doing that; they had been hanging out all week and he still felt incredibly uncomfortable whenever she got close and flirtatious with him. And she knew it.

"Um… Yeah, yeah, good experience." He didn't move away. For a few seconds, their faces were only inches away and he could see every detail in her delicate face. She moved in, but she brought her lips to his ear instead.

"I'm going to go look for berries for tonight," she whispered Do you want to come with me?"

"Sure, I'll-"

"Skreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" He was cut off by the screech of his Skarmory, somewhere nearby. He almost forgot that he had let Antonia out to hunt. He never liked her being out of his sight for too long though, as he was afraid that she'd end up picking a fight with a wild pokémon that was much tougher than her.

"Actually, I better make sure she's not getting into trouble, if that's okay... Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's okay," she said, a small laugh in her voice. "I'll see you at dinner." Again, no kiss, but before she pulled away, she slowly slid her middle and index fingers across his cheek, smiling seductively. Once pulled away, she left the clearing with Goro in her arms.

Ooohhh boy. He let out a long, confused sigh. He had no idea what was going on with him and this girl sometimes. All this teasing even after that kiss. The blood was still rushing through his face.

"So that was awkward." Heather came up to where he was standing, Crescent floating behind her while Nadine continued to dig for roots by the tables.

"What, that battle or what just happened?" Cody asked, trying to make himself chuckle with a bit of humor.

"I meant the latter, but I guess both." She laughed lightly, shaking her head. "She really isn't good at battling, is she?"

"Not at all. I knew I was going to win, but still." He placed his middle and index fingers against his forehead. "I don't know if I can help her. Not saying she can't improve, but I'm not a good teacher. I just hope that she gets I'm no miracle worker… Don't tell her I said any of this."

"Wasn't planning on it. She doesn't really talk to me all that much anyway." She took a step to face him at an angle. "But about the "latter"-"

He simultaneously groaned and chuckled, cutting her off. "Oh God, if you're going to make fun of me-"

"No, that wasn't it," she said, cutting him off in turn with a small laugh. "I was just wondering about you two. Didn't your mom tell you that she didn't want you dating while you were out here?"

He shrugged. "What mom doesn't know won't hurt her. And given how things are back home, it's better that she doesn't know. Besides… I'm not dating her. Not really, anyway."

Heather frowned and cocked her head. "What, that night at the festival wasn't a date? Or the day after? Or when she went with us to dinner? You could call that a double da-"

"Yes, they were dates," he admitted in a groan. "But that doesn't mean that we're dating. Once we get to Ashlin, she's going to leave and I won't see her again." He shrugged, and the thought made him feel a bit sad. " Either way, I have no idea how she feels about me. Sometimes, she's just being friendly, sometimes she's being overly flirtatious, but she doesn't go any further than that."

"And… you want her to?"

"Want her to what?"

"Want her to go further?"

"Yes. Yeah, I'd like that…" he admitted. "I mean, even if it's only for a little bit, it would be fun. To be truthful, I'm more worried about other things right now. The next gym, that interview I landed with the Gracen Research Institute about keeping my pokémon there, getting Mars to evolve if we pass any Diglett colonies or Reflet if I find the right stones, training Reflet in general; I really don't have time for any of this." And that wasn't even including the occasional nightmares and lack of sleep. "But I want to, you know? I mean, if you and Jared can do it, why can't I?"

He was waiting for her to say something, but she just kept staring at him blankly. Was she thinking about what to say or did she not know where to begin?

"Are you okay with that?" he asked, his voice being the tiniest bit shaky.

"Okay?" She didn't seem to understand at first. "You mean am I okay with you liking this girl? Cody, whether you like her or not isn't my deci-"

"I know, but…" He found that he had cut her off, not knowing what to say next. "You're still my friend, and I value your opinion… and…" He felt a new embarrassment arising in him, this time fueled by guilt. "I know I should have said this earlier, but I'm sorry about those shitty things I said the other week when you said that you would be leaving with Jared. I was pissed, but that's no excuse. Brooke was right: friends can't get caught up in that Tauros shit and we have to look out for each other, you know?"

Heather smiled her soft smile. "Cody…" She gave him a quick hug before pulling back and saying, "you're right. And if you like this girl, you don't need my approval. You should do what makes you happy."

"Really? I mean, I'm glad you said that, but when I first asked you about her coming with us, you didn't seem all that thrilled." He hoped his honest observation didn't upset her. Judging by how her smile fell, he figured he might have.

"It was just sudden, that's all. Besides, I invited Jared last year, so what, I'm going to say no?" She laughed at her last statement before continuing. "You're one of my best friends, so I'm always looking out for you. The moment I find out that she's some sort of evil, criminal mastermind, I'll let you know."

"I'll hold you to that part then!" he laughed.

[Two friends make amends, despite the vast uncertainty. The future is pleased.]

Both Heather and Cody looked at the Lunatone, who had begun circling the two of them halfway through the conversation like how the moon circled the earth. Those sudden and strange words gave Cody a heavy chill.

"That thing gives me the creeps," Cody muttered, mostly to himself. "Psychic types…" Just then, Antonia flew overhead, in pursuit of a lone, injured Mothim. "I better catch up with her. I'll see you at dinner. And if we break open the meatballs, save a few for me. I'm dying over here."

Heather laughed at that sad statement. "For the love of God, Cody, just tell Brooke that you're not a vegetarian and stop sneaking food! If she wants to hang out with you, she'll understand!"

"Nope, not gonna risk it!" He gave his friend another quick hug before running into the thicket with Mars trailing at his feet. "Good talk!"

Good talk. There was a lot he was uncertain of, but he was feeling much better about all of it.

Spending almost a year's worth of time in the same group of people had helped Jared come to the conclusion that he wasn't much of a socialite. It wasn't that he hated people or anything. He loved spending time with Heather and even Cody wasn't so bad on certain days, but those moments of solitude where he could be alone with his pokémon were wonderful.

He pulled out his phone and scowled at what he saw: no bars. He wanted to call his sister or even his mother if she was willing to pick up the phone, but he couldn't. He especially wanted to talk to Dina, given that he knew she wasn't happy with her current foster family, but it would have to wake. For the time being, he focused on his pokémon.

His Charmeleon was sleeping on a patch of dirt; a habit his pokémon had picked up in order to prevent burning the grass and subsequently, the surrounding forest. Nearby, his Feraligatr was sitting with his Servine under the shade of a towering oak. Just a Croconaw a few days before, the alligator had reached his final form. He was arguably Jared's strongest pokémon now and while he was content with his pokémon's evolution, he couldn't help but wonder when Charmeleon would evolve. His first pokémon had always been reliable, faithful, and kind to him; more so than what most people were anyway. He knelt down next to the fire-lizard and began cleaning him with a soft, scale-polishing towel. Usually, the Charmander line cleaned themselves by breathing fire onto the filth, burning it away, but Jared would do stuff like this from time to time. Little chores like this were a good downtime distraction.

"Keeping busy?" It was Heather, who arrived with Nadine and Crescent. Jared only caught a glimpse of them before turning back to his task.

"Yeah, just killing time before dinner." He was slightly upset that his alone time was over, but he had enough social graces to know that that was the kind of thing one should never say to his girlfriend. His Charmeleon grunted at the arrival, but with a gentle pat on the back, he fell back to sleep.

"I see." Heather knelt down next to him and looked at Charmeleon. "He looks happy."

"He's actually not to fond of being cleaned." Jared replied as he continued his work. "But he doesn't fuss when I do it when he's napping, so this is the best time." His pokémon wasn't that dirty that day, so he stopped and turned to face Heather while shifting into a sitting position. "I'm going to start dinner soon. Where are the others?"

"Cody went to find Antonia, and Brooke... I don't know, something about picking berries. Hopefully she knows which ones aren't poisonous, because I'd rather spend the night puking. Food poisoning is rough." She sounded somewhat disgruntled, but Jared didn't pick that up.

"Yeah, I'd hate that." A recent memory flashed in his mind. "Did you see Brooke the other day trying to light a match? She said she's traveled before, but if that's true, I have no idea how she would have survived out here without a fire pokémon. Skitrex is rough, especially once the leaves fall." He chuckled a bit, which he felt bad about. Laughing at somebody he barely knew seemed a bit cruel.

"Yeah, you got me," Heather replied, her voice trailing. "Look, can I talk to you about something?"

I know where this is going. "If it's about Cody, I don't want to talk about it. I will literally talk to you about anything else, and that's not a figurative statement."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Heather replied, rolling her eyes. "Actually, it's about something else. It's about Brooke."

Jared struggled not to let out a groan, only because he knew that talking about Brooke would circle around to talking about Cody, but he knew that Heather wasn't about to let it go, so he gave in. "Okay, what about Brooke?"

"Well..." His girlfriend stopped, scrunching her face as she was trying to figure out how she wanted to word her next statement. "Jared, what do you think of her?"

He shrugged. "Simple: I don't."

"You don't?" Her tone was very incredulous. "You were the one that brought up the matches thing."

"Only because I thought it was funny," he clarified, already feeling agitated by this line of questioning because he knew it would be ridiculous. "Look, she hasn't said much to me and I haven't said much to her, so I really don't have much opinion on her. I mean, she seems okay, I guess. She's another mouth to feed, but she hasn't been a problem. She's pretty, so I get why Cody likes-" He immediately stopped when he noticed Heather's frown. He might have made a mistake. "You're pretty too, Heather, so if you get mad at me about that-"

"No, that's not it," Heather interrupted impatiently, "nothing about her seems off to you?"

"Eh, not really. I have more important things to worry about." It was then when he caught that his answers were not helping at all. As much as he wished he could drop the subject, he knew he'd need to keep talking, because that was what she wanted. The whole relationship thing had its downsides at times. "You mind telling me what this is about?"

"You don't think this is suspicious?" she asked, her voice rising somewhat.

"What... you're serious?" He didn't get it. "What about her is suspicious?"

"Because... I don't know, she asked Cody if she could travel with us after one day. You don't find that weird?"

He wanted to bring up that she invited him after a week, but there was no way that she would admit that that situation was similar. "Heather, that's not that weird. I know you've only traveled with Cody and I, but before I met you, I tagged along with a few groups for short periods of time. It's a trainer thing; some people just don't like traveling alone. Considering how many kids die out here, it makes sense." He knew Heather well enough to know this answer wouldn't satisfy her, but he kept talking regardless. "Besides, she's only coming with us to Ashlin. That's not very far. It's not a big deal."

"Yeah, but..." For a moment, she was at a loss for words. Jared secretly hoped that he had defused whatever fears she had, but he had hoped for too much. "Jared, this whole thing... it's weird. I mean, she runs into us, immediately takes an interest in Cody, goes on one date with him, then asks to travel with us. It seems so-"

"You're right, it's pretty darn weird that anybody would like Cody enough to travel with him on a whim... barring certain exceptions," he added at the last second, remembering how Cody and Heather started out together. "For whatever reason, she likes him. I don't get it, but again, I really do not care."

"Of course, of course you don't," she said, annoyed and glum with his responses as a whole. "I'm just worried. None of this sits right with me and I'm afraid of her intentions."

"What?" he asked, baffled.

"Jared, sometimes... Sometimes, certain people will do shitty things, just because they can. And this girl, I just know something is up with her. Call it intuition, but it bothers me."

"Yeah, and right now, you're the only one who's bothered by my count," Jared replied, shaking his head. Conversations like these were more exhausting than a whole day of hiking for him.

"I'm sorry," she answered, clearly frustrated. "I thought I could talk to you about this without-"

"Heather, what could this girl possibly be doing? Are you expecting some sort of Carrie moment where Cody gets Grumpig blood spilled on him?"

"Yes! No... I don't know." She shook her head as she searched her brain for possible answers. "Maybe not on that level... maybe she wants money?"

Jared snickered at that answer. "What money?"

"Us. We make money! We win money! Regularly!" she said, almost shouting.

"Yes, we make money. What we don't make is profit. While we win most of our battles, most of the money we make ends up cycling back into food, supplies, motel fees, pokémon care and the like. If she wants money, she's not going to find it here."

"Yeah, but she doesn't know that. Tell me Jared, where does she get money for all those nice things she has? The clothes, the makeup, that obvious dye job? That stuff's not cheap, and that's not even including pokémon care, food, et cetera. She probably needs money, because Arceus knows, she's a terrible battler. I haven't seen her win once this week."

"Hmm..." Jared actually hadn't thought about that. While Heather had no proof, she did bring up some points that he hadn't considered. Where did this girl get money from if she couldn't earn it. "She has family, right? I mean, I know she mentioned earlier this week that she has no parents, but-"

"No,that's not it," Heather answered, interrupting his thought. "She has family in Ashlin, but she said that she's not on good terms with them, remember? I mean, she could have a stacked bank account, but-"

"Heather, anybody who wants to "gold dig" a trainer would look elsewhere than somebody like Cody Storm," he interrupted. "There are actual professional trainers with sponsors who make more than you could imagine. There are those rich kids at the classical trainer schools who live off their trust funds. And there are people with non-pokémon related jobs who make better money than us. It doesn't make sense for her to hang out with us if it's about money."

He thought he had done it; that he had finally addressed Heather's concerns. But he had gotten his hopes up when she opened her mouth again.

"Okay, maybe not money. But maybe it's something else. Maybe she's toying with him or-"

"How about we let Cody make his own decisions and live with the consequences, rather than trying to be his mom and dad? What the heck are you even worried about?"

"Her, Jared. What if it's worse than what I suggested? What if she's..." She stopped for a moment and looked around her, like she was afraid somebody was listening before looking back at him and whispering. "Jared, what if she's with the Brotherhood?"

By then, Jared's exhaustion with this topic was making him feel delirious, and combined with this suggestion, he almost started laughing hysterically. Or he would have if he wasn't grounded by Heather's serious expression.

"You're serious? Are you being serious right now? Because that's crazy. You think she's a Brotherhood spy or something?"

"No, I don't know. It's unlikely, but I was thinking about it," Heather admitted. "Hear me out on this one: they recruit people our age, right? That Casper guy told Cody that while they're no longer considering him a threat, they were going to keep eyes on him, so-"

"So... they sent a spy to act like his girlfriend?" Jared incredulously questioned, raising his eyebrow so high that it almost left his face. He couldn't take this seriously anymore. "That sounds like a waste of manpower if you ask me, unless they have surplus recruits. Do you really think Cody worth that much to them?"

"Who knows, but one person watching him is easier than a bunch of people, right?"

Yup, she's serious. Why was he even having this conversation. "Heather, I have no idea where this is coming from, but I think you need to relax. There is no way that this ditzy girl who can't win battles or even light a match properly is some sort of spy. The whole thing about money is more likely. Or maybe she just actually likes Cody? I know it sounds weird, but hey, truth is stranger than fiction, right?"

"Yeah..." She sighed, looking deflated. "I don't know, I'm just feeling a bit guilty, you know? About us leaving soon and all. I just have that gut feeling and all... I just can't shake it. It just all makes sense to me. I know I don't have proof, but something is up with this girl. Maybe the spy thing is unlikely, but-"

"Well, look at it this way," Jared interrupted, trying one more time to end the ridiculous discussion. "Let's say that you're right. Let's say that this girl is a spy." He shrugged his shoulders. "Would that even be a problem?"

For a moment, she just gaped at him as her mouth slowly fell open. "What do you mean 'would that even be a problem?' Do you NOT remember us getting attacked or, Cody getting kidnapped, or-"

"Yes, I do remember those things," he cut in, getting irritated. "But remember what Cody told us that they supposedly said? That if we mind our own business, they'll leave us alone and eventually forget about us? In case you've forgotten, none of us want anything to do with them. If we continue not getting involved, they'll eventually stop bothering us, right?"

"Jared, that's insane!"

"So is assuming that some random girl who wants to travel with us for a few weeks is a mole," he pointed out. "I really don't want to talk about this anymore. If you find any actual reasons to suspect that this girl is bad other than a gut feeling, come find me, but until then, I don't care about Cody or Brooke. I'm keeping my nose out of this."

There was a long silence. If Jared could put a name to the glare that Heather was giving him, it would be "you're sleeping on the couch tonight." Thankfully, that wasn't a literal issue he'd have to deal with. He stood up and stretched. "I'm going to start dinner. If you see the other two, tell them that it'll be ready soon."

She didn't say anything, though she still looked sour. Alone with his pokémon again, Jared walked over to his pack and began digging for the beans. She's probably pissed with me, but hopefully she gets over whatever it is she's upset with. Was it female jealousy? He hadn't brought that up for fear that she'd accuse him of being sexist. It was so much easier traveling without this baggage. The sooner I get that Inferno Badge, the better. Having found the can he was looking for, he stood up again and almost had a heart attack, as Crescent was floating right at his eye-level.

"Oh! It's just you. Don't do that!" He waved at it with the back of his hand at the Lunatone. "Shoo! Go back to Heather!"

[Frustration, jealousy, doubt. If only the boy could know the truth he seeks.] The moon-shaped pokémon then turned and floated into the thicket to find his trainer.

Jared scowled as he collected himself. I really hate that thing.

Maybe he's right. No, he IS right. There's no way.

Jared's words had echoed in her head all week, and the more she remembered them, the more she found herself agreeing with him that Brooke was not a spy. The notion itself seemed ridiculous the more she thought about it. That being said, she still had a hunch that something about this girl wasn't right. While Brooke was seemingly honest in her conversations, Heather still was still curious about the girl's money situation. Even if she did have money from her parents, the way she spent it ,combined with all the money that she lost in battles… it was suspicious. Of course, she knew that asking her directly would not only be rude, but it would also make her look like she couldn't mind her own business (granted, she already wasn't, but at least she was good at hiding it).

Sighing, Heather sat down on one of the beds in the pokémon center's community dorms. The town they had arrived in for the night was small and because trainers rarely passed through it, the pokémon center's bunk rooms were vacant. She had to hand it to Cody for his mapping; he planned the route just right so that they arrived in the tiny town on the night of the final Diamond Beach match. The championship match-up was supposedly generating a lot of buzz, though she didn't experience it personally, given her general disconnect from social media while on the road.

"Hey, you're still in here?" It was Brooke, who approached her, smiling and smelling faintly of lilac shampoo. Like Heather (and most female trainers for that matter), Brooke liked an extra long shower following several days on the road, where methods for keeping clean were restricted. But Brooke had been in one of the bathrooms much longer than Heather. Nearly twice as long by her estimation.

"Yeah, where else would I be?" She was afraid she'd sound like she was harboring animosity, but luckily, Brooke didn't take it that way.

"I figured you'd be with the guys. You know, since that battle is on tonight?" She sat down on her bed, pulling out her phone and beginning to scroll through it with her fingers.

"Yeah, I forgot for a moment," Heather lied. "I'm going in a moment. I just have to…" She paused, her mind racing. There was no rule against just sitting in the dormitory, but it would have made more sense for her to have been with the guys. Wait, why am I even lying in the first place? "I just wanted a moment to myself." That wasn't it, and Heather could tell that Brooke knew it as the blonde girl's eyes narrowed. Oh crap. To her relief, Brooke's eyes softened as quickly as they had narrowed.

"We should talk more. I don't think we've said all that much to each other this past week. It would be nice to have some girl talk, you know? I don't have a whole lot of female friends."

I wouldn't doubt it. But she actually found herself smiling. "Girl talk, huh?" Admittedly, she missed having girls to talk with, though it was something she never expressed to either Cody or Jared.

"Yeah, it would be nice. I know this town is pretty small, but Ashlin has a big mall. We can go shopping, maybe get you new outfit; something Jared would like."

Is she trying to be nice or insulting my wardrobe? She suddenly remembered the upsides to traveling with guys. "That would be nice, yeah," she answered cautiously.

"That's great." She tapped the screen of her phone for another few seconds before looking up. Brooke was now eyeing her as if she were trying to use Baby Doll Eyes on her. If she were Cody, she would have melted like an ice cube, but Heather was immune to stuff like this.

"Look, this is going to sound pretty awkward," Brooke began, "but I really want you to like me. I know that you mean a lot to Cody and vice versa, so I figured I'd just be honest with you about this."

Heather was taken by surprised by these words. Is this… genuine? Regardless, she wasn't going to be rude to her. "Sure… but I don't get it. I thought you said you were just going with us to Ashlin."

"Well yes, that's the plan, but…" she smiled, blushing somewhat with her embarrassed smile. "You never know." She stood up, stretching her back and arms. "I'll see you in the common room. Just don't tell Cody about this. It might make things a bit weird. I don't want that."

"Yeah… see you there…" she said, smiling the realest looking smile she could muster and nodding along with it. Brooke seemed to accept this response and turned to leave. Heather eyed the blonde until she left through the door. Jesus…

She wanted to believe that that whole conversation was genuine. Something about the way Brooke talked made everything she said sound legitimate. But that whole thing also seemed like a performance. A good performance, sure, but a misplaced performance nonetheless. The way she was acting all cutesy when talking about Cody was something that Cody would have eaten up, had he have heard it, but she wasn't swayed.

Something is up… Maybe this is just a game to her? She had no idea how to handle the scenario. But then, as the universe was answering her, she saw Brooke's phone vibrating; the phone she never seemed to let out of her sight. In those first few second, a thought came to her: maybe Brooke had something on her phone. Something, anything incriminating. She didn't care what. All I need is something to run with. Without thinking over it any further, she stood up and walked over to the adjacent bed to pick up the loose phone. To her surprise, the password screen hadn't activated since she left it there. She lifted her finger to open her texts, but before she pressed the button, something stopped her.

"What the hell am I doing?" she said to herself, cringing at the whole situation. What am I thinking? It had caught up to her how crazy this was. There was the obvious breach of privacy, for one. But beyond that, what was her endgame? Even if she did find something incriminating, which was slim to begin with, how would she even tell Cody or confront Brooke without coming off as a snoop? Anything she'd find would probably not help her in that regard unless it was extremely incriminating.

This isn't the way to do it. She pulled her finger away from the phone. Her paranoia regarding this girl was already ridiculous, but if she wanted to come off as sane, she'd need to get this evidence some other way. Assuming there was anything to begin with.

[Be wary, for the mistrusted one draws near.]

"Jesus!" She nearly had a heart attack and dropped the phone when Crescet's voice rang in her head. The moon-shaped pokémon had floated up behind her during her moment of conflict. "Don't do that! How did you even get here?"

[The healers completed their duties, so I returned to you,] the Lunatone answered in its monotone, telepathic voice as it stared at her with its big, red eyes. [I came to warn you that-]

"You can't just leave the nurses without getting checked out! They get really pissy about-"

[She draws near, human.]

Instead of arguing with the Lunatone any longer, she dropped the phone back where she found it as Brooke came back into the dorm. Heather collected her composure and smiled. She just hoped that her smile didn't look as fake as it felt.

"Oops, forgot this," Brooke giggled as she reached down for her phone. "It's so bad how much I need this thing. I go crazy if I don't have it with me at all times."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Heather replied, silently sighing in relief. All was good. "I'll be down in a minute. I just have to give Crescent a talking to for leaving the nursing stations without permission."

Brooke shrugged, still smiling. "Okay, I'll let the guys know. See you soon!"

In a few seconds, Brooke was gone again and Heather was left with her newest pokémon. "Crescent, can you help me?"

The moon shaped pokémon tilted its body as if it was bowing. [Human, you have bested me in combat and have given me the opportunity to strengthen myself. I am in your ser-]

"Okay, save the speech, I appreciate it," Heather said briskly. The prospect of owning a pokémon she could talk with was amazing, although its constant babbling was draining. "Look, you seem pretty perceptive. Do you sense anything wrong with this girl? Like, do you think she's being truthful?"

"Hoorooooh." The expressionless pokémon hummed for a moment before answering, as if it was processing said answer. [Sincerity is sensed in her words, but underneath lies secrets. Of course, all humans carry secrets, so in comparison to you and your brethren, it is difficult to say.]

"But you can't read her mind? You're a psychic pok-"

[While I can sense emotions, I lack the capacity to look into the mind of another unless it has been opened to me.] The pokémon orbited her once in a perfect circle before continuing. [But I am still willing to help you, human.]

"Please don't call me that, you know my name." Heather thought for a moment about what she could do next if her pokémon couldn't read minds as she had hoped. She figured moon-pokémon could, considering its uncanny ability to guess what she was thinking. "Look, Crescent, I don't trust this girl, but I can't say anything about it. Jared thinks I'm being paranoid and Cody… I'm his friend. I need to support his decisions until I can find proof that something is up… Proof that I have no idea if it even exists in the first place. My other pokémon don't have the capacity to do this, so I need you. All I want you to do is keep an eye on her. If you see or hear anything suspicious, you tell me and only me. And be discrete! It would look pretty bad if people think I'm using you to snoop. Understand?"

The Lunatone bobbed up and down as if it was nodding. [As you wish. I must say, being captured was one of the most interesting things to have happened to me. My kind does not scheme or plot against our own. Humans are fascinating.]

"This isn't scheming or plotting. We're… observing. Yeah, that's it," she corrected, though Crescent's choice of words concerned her. Was she a schemer? No, I just need to be sure. Cody is my friend. Like he said, we need to look out for each other. She leaned forward and gave Crescent a kiss on the top part of its pointed beak. It was as cold as a rock in the shade. "Come on, we better get out there. The grand final match should be starting soon."

[Very well, Heather.]

Her mind continued to buzz as the girl and her new recruit made their way to the common room. If she wants my friendship, I'll give it to her. Hopefully, I can clear her from my conscious in the next few weeks I'm with her. Though in the deepest corner of her mind, there was a part of her that sincerely wished that her paranoia was justified.