A/N: Happy New Year! Uploading this while watching the fireworks out the window. XD

After Being Blue
Poke-Ball 29: Consequence

They fled the island quickly, even Lorelei who'd been a smug calm until Moltres' cackle. And abob in a huddle of water and flying pokemon, they watched the island smoke on the horizon, and blow.

Erika covered her mouth, out of the loop but horrified. Blaine wore only a sad resignation. Blue pursed his lips. 'Is that it?'

'I doubt it.' Red glared at the red horizon. 'The way Moltres laughed... A volcano can't take out a legendary firebird.'

'Of course not,' Lorelei replied. 'Moltres regain energy through lava. If the volcano's been blessed by an Entei, then all the more.'

Blue stared at her. It had sounded like she'd known about the Moltres on the island, and now about Entei, one of the Johto legendary beasts, as well. Why?

'Why?' she repeated. 'You go from careless to unduly cautious, do you? I'm from the Sevii Islands.'

That explained nothing.

Lorelei sighed as her Lapras bobbed in the water. 'The Sevii Islands,' she repeated. 'The roosting place for the legendary birds of Kanto. I grew up on the legends and they were majestic birds, island dieties who observed and maintained the balance of nature. But then the war with Johto happened, and Moltres remained on Cinnabar island to quell the phantoms. And now...'

'The others?' Red guessed, and he was right. Blue looked up, and the red and black sky was cackling with electricity. Zapdos was approaching. Perhaps Articuno too, dusting the black clouds white so that snow fell instead of soot.

'Of course.' She laughed at them, at their ignorance. 'Kanto has lots of buried secrets. The phantoms of Cinnabar Island is one of them. The legendary birds are another. And then there's the monster inside Cerulean Cave. The rare who dwell inside the trecharous Mount Silver. Any of those peak your interest?' She shook her head and frowned. 'I'm sick of it, honestly. The Sevii Islands had the legendary birds but they stayed out the rest of the world's affairs, otherwise. There was peace there. The league is a hornet's nest and if you want to make any changes to it at all, you have to play with the hornets.'

'So you're stepping down?' Blue surmised. 'So what? There's an Elite Four spot opening up?'

'Why?' she asked. 'You interested? Being the puppet Elite Four member to a puppet Champion?'

'Then what?' Red snapped. 'Everyone's so quick to call me a puppet, so quick to point out I can't change things no matter how radical I be, but it took Agatha brainwashing Erika to get even Sabrina here.'

'And me?' Lorelei raised an eyebrow. 'Though you're right. I didn't come from the goodness of my heart. You're not going to find many people like your friend Blue.'

'I realise that.' Red sighed. 'Some people want change. Some people don't. But a few people who want change isn't enough to cause change, not when the league is so entrenched, and not when they won't let a kid into its many secrets. And I guess I see their point. Who really trusts a kid to run a government? Before, we thought it just never came up before, but now we know... But still, I'm going to rip the league into shreds.'

'Are you?' Lorelei asked dryly. 'At least you sound more grown-up about it now. But what's the plan? If you're going to expose the ugly side of the league, I don't mind helping out when the time comes... so long as you're fighting a winning battle, of course.'

'Like Lance,' Blue muttered. 'Any other secret dissenters we should know about?'

'I'll save that for when you need to know.'