Chapter Twelve: Ultimatum

Aaron returned home from work, tired as usual, but lit up when he saw a jubilant audino jump up and hug him. They were setting the table. Moments like this reminded him how fortunate he was to have such a loving team, willing to postpone dinner until such a time just so they could all eat together. They made the fourteen-hour shifts worth it.

"What about me?" Nora asked as he set down the audino.

"I don't know," he said, "what about you?" She rolled her eyes before he hugged her as well. "Thanks for dinner, Nora."

"You don't have to keep thanking me," she replied. "You bought the food."

"And without you, it'd be microwavable meals or takeout." Aaron changed into something more comfortable before joining them at the table. Everyone took their spots and began fixing their plates. It was nights like this that made him forget how much he hated his job and made him feel like everything was worth it.

After dinner, Aaron helped with the cleanup before showering up that night. Once he had changed, he took his usual spot on the couch and found that fresh sheets had been put in place. True to his word, the lucario had yet to remove the bracelet containing his mega stone despite the battle having been a week prior. He even wore it into the shower, which Aaron had made sure to tease him over. Among the three combative pokémon in this house, Marcus had taken the position of the team's ace in the absence of Pierce. Now, though, he could definitely hold his own in a battle against the krookodile.

Aaron laughed. That would be an interesting match. Nathan might still be out of his league, but maybe a battle against Sofia was on the table. It would be strange to be fighting against Pierce, though.

"Did you enjoy dinner?" Nora asked from behind him. "I found the recipe online. Thought I might try it out." Her hands firmly locked with one another.

"Yeah. I'm afraid you've spoiled all of us, now. I don't know how the hell we'd be able to go back…"

"I aim to please." Aaron smiled, then opened his arms wide. She took the invitation.

"You always do." Standing on her toes, the typhlosion was able to nuzzle under his chin, tickling Aaron's neck with her soft fur. He laughed. Well someone's a bit affectionate tonight. Not that he minded; he absolutely loved the fact that Nora had settled in so well considering the circumstances with her previous trainer.

"I… really don't like the idea of you sleeping on this couch…" she admitted once they released their embrace.

"Huh? Oh, it's really no problem. I fall asleep pretty quick, and Marcus is mindful of the spikes." Each of them taking an end, it was a somewhat snug fit, but fortunately neither of the two moved whatsoever in their sleep. It definitely helped that Aaron was often too tired to care at night.

"Yeah, but… I kinda feel like I kicked you out of your bedroom…"

"You did nothing of the sort. But I think it's sweet that you're concerned for me."

"O-of course."

"Oh! I almost forgot," Aaron said, changing the subject. "There's this big multicultural fair that Nimbasa has each year. They have all these stands with people and food from different countries."

"That sounds fun. Are you going to it?"

"Well, I've never really stuck around for it since it's always on Fridays – and I tended to just go home – but I thought it might be neat if the two of us went to this year's."

"I'd love to come with you!" the typhlosion said. "Oh, but what about your meeting with Nathan?"

"I already spoke with him about it, and he likes the idea just as much as I do. Besides, he has some work to catch up on, so this works out best for everyone."

"Okay… but what about the others?" she asked.

"Marcus and Aster will probably be battling in the park like usual. Krista, on the other hand… if I don't invite her, she'd probably beat me half to death."

"Mhm, food and all." Nora sported a wide grin and giggled. "That's a funny mental image…"

"Don't give her any ideas."

"…You weren't kidding about the crowd." Nora looked around at the various lines and clusters of people. They stood next to a table representing Sovenovsk; traditional dishes like borscht and beef stroganoff were being sold on paper plates. No vodka, though, for obvious reasons.

"Well, they certainly have something to be excited about," Krista said. "How come you haven't brought me to this before?"

"Because this is the first time I've come myself."

"Well, in that case you're dumb." The audino stuck her tongue out at him. "So, where to first?"

"Kinda curious about that stand over there," Aaron said, pointing to the large line in front of the Kalos display. As with each station, a few of the university students from the particular region were running it. A large poster had several pictures from the country, central of which, of course, was the Lumiose Tower. But he laughed as soon as he saw the food they were selling.

"Girls, this here is a great lesson in supply and demand," he said, motioning to the line. They were selling "crepes" between folded napkins. What brought him humor was how they were made. Thin pancakes, chocolate spread and whipped cream. "They've pretty much insulted their own country's cuisine with that cheap knockoff and yet their table has the biggest line."

"Then they might just be good after all," Krista stated. "I think I'll get in that one."

"You're kidding me right now…" Nora looked down at the audino, shaking her head. "You realize we could make those at home for almost nothing, right?"

"Don't make promises you don't intend on keeping." Krista clutched her share of the money and headed for the back of the line. Aaron shook his head.

"All this interesting food that comes around once a year and she picks that…"

"Some people aren't hard to please," the typhlosion said. "Well, since she'll be standing there for a while for knockoff crepes, what do you say we look around a bit?"

The two of them visited several stands. Nora took great interest in her home region and its traditional architecture. Pictures of statues of the local legendaries paled in comparison to the depictions they had seen in the illusion show. The food at this display, though, was nice, and both Nora and Aaron shared a plate before going to the next. Shansu, then Orre, finally finishing off with Kanoma. At that point, they were stuffed, though the same couldn't be said for the audino.

"I swear, I don't know how she does it," Aaron said. "If I ate as much as she did, it'd show. And she doesn't gain so much as a pound…"

"Some people are like that."

"Yeah, guess so…" They eventually found a bench in front of the university bookstore, barely covered by a planted tree. A trashcan wasn't too far away, and several pieces of garbage surrounded it from people too lazy to pick up a missed toss. Aaron grabbed the spot before anyone else could, soon feeling the familiar weight pressed against his side. He lowered his arm around the typhlosion, gently rubbing her shoulder.

"I do like the campus here," she said. "It's so lively. And there seems to be so much to do."

"Yeah."

"I have been wanting to ask you for some time," she began. "What hobbies do you have? You mentioned battling, but that one against Nathan is the first you've had as a group since I've been here."

"I really do like battling, but right now school comes first. That and work. The others can beat most trainers without my help, anyways."

"Anything else?"

"I work out."

"That isn't really a hobby…" He shrugged.

"I mean, I think it is."

"That's something you do to stay healthy. But what else? When you aren't at school or work…" Aaron paused for a moment, trying to think of an answer to that. He didn't play video games, wasn't much into outdoors stuff, and sports had been a thing of the past.

"I don't really do much anymore, come to think of it. I still love sports, though I didn't end up playing in college since I wanted to focus on the competitive scene. That and it'd conflict with work too much."

"That… doesn't sound very good for you," Nora said.

"Well, it isn't – unless you've got some other form of outlet. Mine is you all. That makes everything okay. Back during my first year… I was a bit active in the party scene. That was my escape then."

"Oh?"

"Mhm. The whole 'whiskey and wild women' thing. But I lost sight of what mattered and nearly failed out," Aaron said.

"Oh… I see." For a moment, she sounded disappointed about something. But the typhlosion shook her head. "What happened?"

"Nathan happened," he replied. "He was getting his PhD then, you see, and had been the TA of my chemistry class that semester. I didn't pay attention or do most of the work, and when I got my final grade… I ended up failing. Nathan and Adira found me in a bar that night."

"I thought they didn't drink."

"They were just eating. I, on the other hand… well, alcohol didn't drown out those fears. I was going to lose everything. Probably have to move back in with my parents, still owing on a degree that I'd never get. And… I let my team down. I quit our league campaign for college, then turned around and didn't take it seriously." Aaron swallowed. He didn't like to remember their faces during that time. "Went out with Darian that night, though he pretty quickly showed where his priorities were."

"And that's when you met Nathan and Adira?" she asked.

"Yep. There were four of them. A friend of theirs and Trina, but just Nathan and his wife came and sat with me."

"What happened then?"

"He paid for me to retake the class and keep my scholarship, that's what."

"Wow…"

"Even though I was the lazy kid who deserved to fail, he gave me a second chance on the condition that I do better. And I did. I haven't gotten blackout drunk since then, or woken up in some random girl's bed, or failed another class…"

"Well… like I said before, you can't change what happened then, only what happens now."

"Yeah."

"And I'm glad you did. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here with me now, would you?" The typhlosion gave him a genuine smile.

"No, I suppose I wouldn't." She nuzzled him affectionately. The audino was finally making her way towards them, carefully balancing two plates. Aaron felt that, despite all that was going on in the world right now, everything might just be alright.

The following Sunday – the fourth of February – proved that tensions had built up over decades. That all the hatred and violence and radicalism had penetrated every nook and cranny of society.

That a few bullets was all it took to start a war.

Aaron had pushed the last of the carts in for his shift. Soon, the doors would close and the few overnight employees would stock the shelves again. How long they'd have a job before losing it to automation was beyond him. Maybe the same could even be said for his own position, but with any luck, Aaron's own retail experience would be long finished before that happened.

A security guard had to break up a fight towards the other end of the store. Nothing especially unique, though such skirmishes tended not to happen directly before closing. He finished the last pallet before clocking out, leaving the store and walking to his stop. Very few people tended to be on the bus at this time of night. The driver never said anything, listening to his music throughout his shift.

A crescent moon stared back at him among the stars. The city was alive tonight. Far brighter than it usually was. In the distance he could see the Ferris wheel they were known for, halted to a stop. Once the bus rounded a corner, Aaron was able to determine something was wrong. Very wrong.

Humans and pokémon were storming the streets, and there was fire everywhere.

"What the hell?" he asked himself, clenching the headrest in front of him. The bus driver made a diversion, concerned about something for the first time since Aaron had been acquainted with him. Sometimes this stuff happened from time to time between the two major political teams.

As they headed south, away from the center of Nimbasa, the commotion died down. Aaron nodded before getting off at his stop, assuming a brisk pace back to the apartments. The second he opened the door it became clear that he wasn't the only one worried. His four pokémon weren't happy to greet him for once.

They were terrified.

"Guys? What's going on?" he said, inserting the nearly-dead translators.

"Guess you haven't heard the news, then," Marcus said. "A senator was just killed…"

"Fuck." Aaron sighed, knowing this was the last thing the world needed right now. "What happened?"

"They're saying it was a robbery, but… I'm not so sure about that. Alpha's ready to go to war."

"They always say that," Aaron replied. "It's all bullshit."

"Not this time." The lucario brought him the laptop. He sat on the couch, not bothering to take off his uniform, and opened a tab. Several news stories spoke of the same event. The first one read:

Senator Hawkins Dead in Attempted Robbery; Alpha Calls for Violence

But all of them only had snippets of the full video, labeling it misinformation and terrorist cries for war. All of them were opinion pieces. Only a single prominent source – a far-right news organization at that – actually showed the full video. Aaron clicked on it.

The former gym leader stood in front of a podium as flashes surrounded him. He seemed to be within Kanoma at the time of recording. His brow was hardened, and amidst the cleanly-trimmed white beard, a stoic frown had set in on his face. The felt cowboy hat on his head had a black band stretched around it, but the most prominent feature was the red "A" in the middle. His infamous excadrill stood by his side and sported an equally serious look.

"I'm not in much a mood to beat around the bush tonight. I know y'all got questions, but I won't be takin' any. Right now, the world's gonna shut up and listen. I know what the media's sayin' right about now. That this was a robbery. Well, unfortunately for us, we've got proof of the contrary. We knew something like this was bound to happen eventually, so Alpha made sure to get us a guy inside the coroner's office." He pulled out a vanilla folder from his coat, providing several photos from within and holding them up for the cameras.

They were blurred out, but several murmurs were heard from those present. "I've no doubt the media will try to censor all this, so I'll go ahead and fill y'all in on what you're missing. These are clearly exit wounds in his chest. He was shot in the back. As for an attempted robbery, it ain't exactly hard to see the Rolex on his left wrist. His wallet was found, as were his car keys. If you have even half a brain, it's clear as day that this weren't no robbery attempt."

"Mr. Clay, you're saying that someone targeted Senator Hawkins?" one reporter managed to ask over the others.

"Didn't I say I wasn't answering any questions?" the old team leader snapped. "But yeah, obviously this was the work of the Delta. Funny how one of the two conservative senators in all of Unova gets killed, and the leftist media wastes no time in covering their tracks and lyin' about the whole damn thing. I got a call about an hour ago from Elesa. She swears up and down they had nothin' to do with it. That's a buncha bullshit." His jaw clenched shut, and with wild eyes, Clay retrieved a cigar from his shirt pocket and a lighter from another. He ignored more questions as he lit it.

"Hawkins was one of my closest friends. A good, hardworking family man. Three things those Delta cowards aren't. Well, four. No piece of shit who slips up behind someone and shoots 'em in the back is a real man. But then again, I ain't surprised – all this coming from the same degenerates who've never contributed anything worthwhile to society. Who've never done anything worthwhile in their lives." Several voices were heard from the crowd. "They wanted to send a message. So I think it's about time we send one of our own." Aaron looked at his pokémon, who were similarly horrified. Clay inhaled, then released a heavy puff of smoke. The retired gym leader made eye contact with the camera.

"They think they can do whatever they want and not suffer the consequences. Not surprising coming from a bunch of entitled, good-for-nothing brats. They wanna march into our towns, our churches and our workplaces and tell us how to live. Alpha's always played the defense against these dregs of society. We've taken hit after hit, both in the legal and social atmospheres, from their corruption. And the Unovan government, being in bed with Delta, has been all the willing to help. Everyone knows damn well the media would've reacted differently had it been one of their senators. And it's funny how we're labeled a terrorist organization when Delta has caused far more destruction than those attributed to Alpha ever have – even though our own stats of that sort are overreported. These double standards and crooked fucks – we've grown mighty damn tired of it.

"So to every single one of my friends in Alpha… this is it. They drew first blood. They've wanted this war for years, and now they're gonna get it. No doubt they'll do what they always do – riot and mug and burn their way through everything in the name of 'justice.' Like a bunch of degenerate fucks know a damn thing about justice. If we don't stand up to them now, then we'll never stand again. They're comin' for our very way of life, and with Almighty Arceus as my witness, that's worth protectin' to the last breath. So, Delta, when you come in your mobs, taking to the streets to strike us down, just know that they'll be carrying you out in body bags." With a final puff of his cigar, Clay dropped it onto the ground and stomped it, twisting his foot to the side before walking off, ignoring the swarm of questions that were fired off.

Aaron shut the laptop, blankly staring ahead. He managed to utter two words. "Holy shit…" Maybe Delta had killed Senator Hawkins despite what the media had said. They certainly hadn't refrained from blaming the recent activist's death on Alpha, whether it had been a direct action or incited by their rhetoric. But one thing was certain: this was the spark. The straw that broke the camel's back. He had hoped that he would at least be out of college before the world went to hell. Apparently, that had been hoping for too much.

Despite the combined power of his team, they all felt scared. Uncertain of a world engulfed in violence and hatred. Already police sirens and gunfire sang throughout the night. Aaron fearfully closed his blinds and locked the apartment door, trying to drown out the chorus of yelling and fighting. Trying to blot out the sight from his mind.

The sight of flames throughout Nimbasa.

A/N: Special thanks to FuryWrites for beta reading this chapter.

If you've made it this far, then you're used to a certain amount of politics in the story. I just want it to be clear that nothing stated, particularly by Alpha or Delta, are indicative of any personal opinions. It's fairly obvious that neither of the two main characters are very fond of them for a reason.

Other than that, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. We've now left the semi-peaceful time of the story.