After her rather draining morning, Sera had been guilty of spending the rest of the day indulging in distractions. The energy and bustle of the city had certainly helped her feel better, as had Mudkip and Flash's consolations once she felt up to letting them out. Later in the afternoon, she'd decided to drop by the Trainer's School and troll whatever students and teachers were still hanging around. Being the Professor's daughter was not without its perks. Some of those perks just happened to be a little less mature than others.

But now, after a day spent improving her mental state and getting a good night's sleep, Sera was up bright and early. The Gym wasn't quite open when she got there, which was perfect for Sera, as it gave her time to swing by Route 116 first to see if she couldn't get another useful Pokemon beforehand. In anticipation of this capture, she kept only five spots in her party filled.

Thanks to her DexNav and stealth experience, she was able to be pretty selective about it. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, but expected she'd know it when she-

Suddenly, her Nav lit up like Christmas, alerting her of an extremely special Pokemon nearby. A Taillow that not only knew Boomburst, but that the Nav estimated to be Level 16! Even Flash wasn't quite there yet, and if Sera was being honest, he might have been just a little higher level than a starter ideally should have been when she'd left Littleroot.

She had no trouble finding him, as the aggressive bird soon divebombed her and Mudkip. "Shit. Water Gun!" she cried. But the speedy swallow swooped out of the way. Sera groaned. "Foresight then." That should help Mudkip key in on its movements.

Mudkip fought well, but that Boomburst was devastating, particularly from so powerful an opponent. It looked like Taillow was slowing down tho-SHIT. A sudden Quick Attack made up for his failing energy and sent Mudkip flying.

Sera's heart stopped, but a quick glance at her Nav as she scrambled for his PokeBall confirmed hers was the only one, thank the gods. "Mudkip, return!"

She didn't have a lot of time to choose a replacement as he turned his sights on her, hissing something about human filth, but Sera's Slakoth was sent out soon enough to subvert his gaze. "Koaf, Yawn," Sera commanded. Koaf did just that, and it quickly caught on.

The Taillow was visibly drowsy, but still had some fight left in him. A Wing Attack flipped Koaf over on her back, and she rolled her eyes as she let out an exasperated sigh. This is definitely going to end well, she droned.

Sera bit her lip, red eyes dashing between Slakoth and Taillow. "Y-you can do it, just hang in there."

Koaf tried for a moment to push herself up, but as she saw the Taillow rocketing skyward in preparation, she shifted her effort instead to slowly raising her hand.

The Taillow plummeted to reach literally supersonic speed until it created a thunderous burst of force, great enough to send Koaf tumbling, her body going limp as it settled. While no longer upheld, her hand retained its previous pose. Sera may never know if Koaf died flipping off her or the Taillow.

Fortunately, the Taillow at last fluttered to the ground asleep after that. Such an extraordinary Pokemon definitely deserved a special PokeBall, so Sera brought out the singular Premier Ball she'd obtained during her first shopping trip. One shake… two… The ball dinged!

Sera breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. She looked down at the nickname option presented on her Nav. Since "Death on Wings" was a little too long for the field, she settled for simply "Wings" as his on-paper name. Hot damn was this one going to be a handful- but also what an asset.

It was definitely a shame about Koaf, though. Once she finally turned her attention to the little Slakoth, she let herself sigh and feel a bit guilty she hadn't recalled her sooner. She gave herself just a moment to reflect as she knelt down and pet the soft sloth one last time, then ordered her Nav to beam the body away.

Sera really had thought she'd be able to take a little more, or that the Taillow would succumb to slumber sooner. Had it used any of its other moves, Koaf probably could have pulled through.

Still, she found this death didn't affect her as badly as Spitfire's, which admittedly made Sera feel a little odd. Then again, after her entire childhood spent watching the Games, she hadn't expected to get as upset as she had over a death, either. With that, she told herself it was reasonable that it felt different when it was personal, but now…? Maybe she was still a little numb from yesterday, or maybe this death felt more meaningful, earning her a powerful new ally as opposed to just-... Well, a combination of accident and a certain Zigzagoon being a spiteful little shit. Sera was admittedly still bitter, and certainly wouldn't be using Zuma again until she had a badge.

And on that note, she supposed it was about time to get back and do that- once Mudkip was all healed, of course.

She brought out Flash as her new companion-slash-bodyguard and turned to head back to town… when a nearby flash of brown caught her eye.

It was just a Zigzagoon; she knew that without double-taking, but something caught her eye anyway. A glint of light? It wasn't Shiny, it wouldn't have been so dull. So what-

Sera eyes grew wide. "Flash, Ember!" she quickly ordered, pointing out the Zigzagoon.

The Pokemon panicked as it was hit and tried to run, but to Sera's chagrin she found she had to pursue. "Don't let it get away. Hey! You, Zigzagoon!"

Flash's Speed Boost kicked in, and he sped ahead to cut off the foe. Going somewhere? He smirked.

"I don't want to hurt you, just give me that crystal!"

The Zigzagoon backed a step away from Flash only to realize Sera was coming up from the other side, then turned to look up at her quizzically. She knew that while she understood wild Pokemon fine, many had a harder time understanding her without PokeBall technology. "T h e. Crys. Tal," she repeated slowly, trying to make hand gestures to show what she meant.

The Pokemon looked at its prize, then barked a Treasure! as it tried to run again, earning a Peck from Flash. The Zigzagoon spun to Tail Whip him in the face as it tried to run perpendicular to Torchic and trainer, but Flash wasn't having it. Faster still, he again cut off his prey, this time using a less orthodox attack method and spinning around to deliver a surprisingly powerful kick to the head.

In the momentum of this, he began to glow, and Sera's face lit nearly as bright. Her partner began to change and grow, and soon before them stood a Combusken!

That was far more than the injured Zigzagoon was willing to deal with. At last it dropped the crystal and scurried off. When Sera noticed Flash's gaze follow, she held up a hand. "It's okay, we got what we want." As she knelt to claim her reward, Flash crossed his newly formed arms and mumbled something, sulking. Sera grinned. "No sense in going overboard. You're way too big and strong now to waste time on such silly little things anyway."

That earned a smile as he puffed up with pride. Good point. I am pretty great…

"Yes you are~" Sera teased with a laugh. She hugged her precious partner, then stood and turned her attention back to the object in hand. "Now let's get going. There's someone I'd be willing to bet will be happy to see you!"


Morgan awoke at a surprisingly decent hour (or perhaps not-so-surprising given she awoke by her now-usual method…), but her body wasn't happy about it. "Note to self: no more late night cartoons."

She suspected her Nav- or rather, those watching it- would not recognize her Exp Share if, as Scardee had said, it really was a one-of-a-kind prototype; but she made sure not to take it out of her bag anyway as she made sure it was switched to On. After triple-checking her supplies and party, she set out for the Rustboro Gym.

It was too early for most leisure activities, yet later than the morning work rush, so the streets were rather more peaceful and quiet than last night. It was actually kind of relaxing, even with the air feeling a little sticky and a low din of distant activity perpetually playing in the background.

Not long after the Gym came into view, though, her mood fell as a familiar face rounded the corner behind it. Morgan wished she had room to pretend she was wrong, but there was no mistaking that pink hair and Red Riding Hood cloak.

Sera soon saw her as well and somehow managed to become even more perky than she'd probably already been. "Morgan?! Hey! Come look at this!" she called. May as well.

Only then did Morgan notice the- "Oh wow!" The Pokemon beside her was probably bigger- or, well, taller- than anything Morgan had caught thus far. She guessed Dunsparce was actually pretty long, but it felt less impressive to look at due to all being flat on the ground. Looking at the coloration and feathers, she asked, "Is… that Flash?"

"Hm?" Sera blinked, then smiled brightly. "Yup! He actually just evolved maybe 20 minutes ago!"

Although very slightly disappointed Sera had beat her to that benchmark, Morgan had to admit it was pretty cool to see an up-close before and after, and smiled. "Huh, neat! Congratz."

"Thanks~" Sera chimed. "-Oh! But that's not what I wanted to show you!" Really? And what was with the urgency in her voice? Morgan watched as she pulled out a small off-white crystal, slightly rough and glittering so brightly it almost glowed. "Morgan," she said intently. "Do you know what this is?"

Blue eyes blinked, then moved between the crystal and Sera's face and back before squinting, but Morgan still came up with a "No, I don't think so. What is it?"

"This…" Sera was almost shaking. "This is a Revive."

Morgan deadpanned. "I swear if you're about to explain to me that this country has the power to bring back the dead…"

Sera was significantly more jarred by that than Morgan had expected. "I- Well I mean, sort of, yeah? It's not easy, it's not cheap, and it's not widely available… But the technology has technically existed for about 20 years now. With a specimen of high enough quality, they can even revive fossils- Pokemon that were literally extinct for hundreds of thousands, some even millions of years before science found a way to bring them back. I mean… It only works on Pokemon. People and animals don't have the right uh… whatever it is. But yeah."

A snarky response felt warranted, but Morgan was honestly far too fascinated by this right now. "... Go on."

"I don't really know the particulars, but I know that crystals like this one are a vital source of power." She stopped suddenly to look up at Morgan. "Have… you had any Pokemon die yet, by the way?"

"...No? Everything so far has been pretty easy to handle. I've just assumed the Pokemon around here are weak enough that it's sort of a 'training ground' for newbies."

Sera's lips pursed a bit and slight blush rose at that. ...Oh. Well, Morgan felt less bad about Sera evolving a Pokemon first, then. "Anyway… If or more-likely-when you do, you'll find an option on your Nav to teleport the body and assigned PokeBall back to the League, where they'll keep it safe for as long as you're on your journey. So if you can get lucky enough to find or get successful enough to afford a Revive, you can get a partner back!"

Morgan felt herself twitch as the term 'necromancy' flashed through her mind. "And… there are no side effects from that? They're just good as new?"

Sera blinked. "As.. far as I know? I've never heard anyone say anything to the contrary." She shrugged.

Morgan's mouth twisted; she didn't know how to feel about that. "Then there's not really any consequence to this whole thing? Like, if death is temporary does it even matter?" Cerberus turned slowly on his shoulder perch and raised a hand as he leered questioningly. Morgan sniffed what was almost a laugh. "Not that I'm not still gonna try to avoid it, don't worry Cer."

Sera twitched attentively a moment before realizing she meant Cerberus and returning to the topic at hand. Her eyes fell to the ground as she reached out to scratch Flash. "I mean... they're incredibly rare, since no one knows where they actually come from. There's no guarantee you'd find enough, and even with all the money in the world the League is only willing to sell so many. At most, one for every Gym Badge you've obtained. So it's more like a really thin safety net than an actual fix. ...That, and I'm sure it's still pretty unpleasant." She chuckled nervously.

"Hm." This place just kept dishing out surprises, it seemed. Hopefully, Morgan wouldn't have to test all this for herself, but she supposed it was some relief to know if something happened to Cerberus or Mithril, there'd at least be a chance of doing something about it. "So are you about to use that one, then?" Morgan asked. "Or saving it for later?"

Sera looked to the crystal again. "I guess it might be a little smarter to save it," she admitted. "But Spitfire- you remember when I caught her, right? I lost her yesterday to… a very stupid mistake." She frowned distantly, but shifted to a smile as her focus moved up to Morgan. "But I'm gonna fix it, and give her another chance." Morgan nodded in understanding. "And what about you? About to take on the Gym?"

"Yeah. From what I've been reading, it sounds like Cerberus will do great." Morgan smiled and idly reached up to pet the lizard in question.

"Oh, no doubt!" Sera chimed. "I'm about to go send this off for Spitfire and heal up my team, but after that I'll be right behind you!" Ooh, so Morgan would actually be a little ahead in that regard? Very nice. "Wait for me if you finish before I get back?"

Morgan debated it a little, but… Eh. This was pretty enlightening, and she seemed more bearable than usual today. "Yeah. I think I can do that."

Sera grinned wide and grabbed Morgan's hands to squeeze them encouragingly. "Best of luck!" Morgan could have done without the unsolicited touching and was sure her forced smile was pretty transparent, but she did appreciate the intent, she guessed. As Sera and Flash sped off, the younger girl turned back to wave with a "See you then!"

The gym itself was a breathtaking sight, resembling a museum in a way but with far more flair. Morgan wondered if what looked to be fossils in various locations also had the potential to be revived, or if they were merely props. She'd hate to imagine some of these things alive; they were massive.

The battles within the gym, though, were surprisingly underwhelming. Or perhaps Cerberus was just a little too overwhelming. Each trainer employed by the gym fell quickly to his Absorbs, which kept him in absolute peak condition throughout. Morgan was becoming increasingly convinced she had, in fact, picked The Best Starter. And against the last trainer before Roxanne…

Cerberus let out a victory cry as he fell to one knee- not tired, of course, but to do a dramatic pose. Morgan rolled her eyes, but as they fell back to him, they saw he was beginning to glow, very differently from his absorption glow. "Cer?" As he began to grow, Morgan understood, and couldn't help smiling wide. When the glow faded, she looked to her Nav to see his species name was now Grovyle. Also, she looked to Cerberus himself to see that his Coolness Level had just gone up about a hundredfold. Holy shit he really was the Best Starter.

"Vyle~' He got to his feet and grinned back at her, offering a thumb's up.

After a small laugh, Morgan found her first thought was, "I just hope you know you're too big to jump on my face now." Cer's smile fell away, and Morgan laughed a little harder.

The Gym Leader herself was surprisingly young- maybe Sera's age at most. She also had some big speech, but Morgan found it so hard to take her seriously in that schoolgirl uniform that most of it went in one ear and out the other. She did manage to hear that she'd only need to beat two Pokemon to earn her badge.

The first one went down effortlessly, which was met with a cheer of, "Wow, great job! Looks like I got here just in time!" Morgan smiled at her rival before giving her final- … Oh wow that thing was bulkier than it looked. Morgan coughed slightly, then gave her actual final order.

"Oh wow, that's one impressive Pokemon!" Roxanne exclaimed. She then went on with her congratulatory speech, as well as presenting Morgan with something called a Technical Machine- technical as in technique- and explained how those worked. Between that and the explanation that her new badge would apparently all but force obedience from weaker Pokemon, Morgan was honestly beginning to wonder if Pokemon were even truly 'creatures' in the traditional sense or if they were more some sort of manufactured… something. The ways they interacted with technology were truly fascinating.

Sera offered her own elated congratulations, too, of course, after which she asked, "So I guess it's my turn, then?"

"Looks like it," agreed Morgan. She decided she may as well stick around to watch, especially after realizing Sera's Mudkip was sweeping the lesser trainers (all of whom had retrieved fresh Pokemon, of course) just as easily as Cerberus had. However, while he took hits extremely well when a foe managed to land one, by the time Sera got to Roxanne he was starting to look a little tired.

"Mudkip, Water Gun!"

The Geodude- or rather, Dudette, as opposed to the one Morgan had fought, Geode- managed to endure thanks to its special ability, and Roxanne commanded, "Dudette, Rock Tomb!"

Mudkip did his best to avoid the falling rocks, but speed was not his strong suit, and one landed on his tail, pinning him. As he struggled, nearing exhaustion, Sera shouted encouragingly- and he responded. Glowing brightly, he grew until the rock no longer seemed so heavy, his newly enlarged tail easily flipping it away. A glob of mud was then flung at high velocity at Dudette, leaving her down for the count.

Sera was absolutely beside herself. "Amazing job, Mu-" She caught herself and laughed as she corrected, "Marshtomp!"

Marshtomp smiled sheepishly at the praise, but was visibly winded by the final effort, too. As such, Sera recalled him and sent in Flash for the last fight of the gym. A risky move, wasn't it? If Morgan recalled correctly, Fire was particularly vulnerable to Rock, and Nosepass was one of those Pokemon that wouldn't fall to a single hit. What could she-

"Double Kick!" … Well then. Morgan supposed a move employing two hits in rapid succession was one way around the problem… The Nosepass never got a chance to counter. Thinking back to her own first battle against Sera, Morgan couldn't help but smile in commiseration. Still, she offered her congratulations once Roxanne was done, and the girls decided to head out together.

"So next is… some island, right?"

Sera nodded. "The ferry service can be a little spotty sometimes, so we'll have to check on that and might even need to schedule an appointment. But if we end up having to wait a few days it's just that much time we can spend training to make sure we're ready for the next Gym." That didn't sound too bad. Smiling, Sera added, "Oh hey, you know? This is probably a great time for our next-"

The girls were nearly knocked down as a man in blue pushed past, followed by a familiar voice screaming, "STOP, THIEF!" ...Shit, was that another Team Aqua goon?

"...Or not," mumbled Sera.

Sure enough, Scardee soon came into view, struggling to catch his breath. As he caught a glimpse of Morgan, he sputtered, "Oh thank the gods, it's you. That man, he- Parts. You have to get the parts."

Of course, Sera hadn't met Scardee to Morgan's knowledge, but Morgan wasn't surprised when she quickly agreed to help. Together, they took off in pursuit of the thief.

Upon rounding the corner, they could still see him in the distance, and followed with such fleeting glimpses until he disappeared into the hills and scattered woods of Route 116. "Shit," hissed Morgan.

"It's okay… If he's headed this way our best bet is to try Rusturf Tunnel."

Morgan nodded. "All right, then." As long as they could- annnnd there was a bird swooping down trying to peck at them. "Oh c'mon." Cerberus tried an Absorb to counter, but it wasn't much use on the Taillow. "We don't have time for this…"

Sera opened her mouth to say something, then stopped and shifted before asking, "Wait, is this your first Pokemon out here?"

"..Shit, you're right."

Sera nodded. "In that case, you try to catch it and I'll go on ahead. If I get delayed by battle too, you can run ahead of me and we'll tag team it like that."

"Sounds better than nothing." As Sera and Flash ran off, Morgan recalled Cerberus and brought out Mithril.

They caught the Taillow quickly enough, and against her better judgment Morgan wonder traded it… for a Wurmple. Oh joy. ...Well, actually, they could do that uh- String Shot was the name, right? That might be useful right now. So this was surprisingly decent after all.

Sure enough, when Morgan caught sight of Sera ahead, she was fighting a Nincada, and signaled Morgan to go ahead. Twice more they traded off, and once Morgan had to tell a young trainer to shove it because recovering stolen property was more important. To her bitter amusement, the Nav had nothing to say about it this time. Seemed big brother really was watching closely…

At last, Morgan crested a hill to see a taller rockier one ahead bearing a large cavernous opening. Near the entrance, she saw a burly middle-aged man restraining a thinner elderly man who seemed hellbent on getting inside. As she approached, their shouts became more coherent. It seemed the old man- apparently named Briney- was trying to save someone named Peeko, while the younger one was concerned Briney would upset the wild Pokemon and make the- did he say cave-in? Apparently there'd been one and it was at risk of getting worse.

"Uhhh… 'scuse me?" Morgan called as she came upon them. "Did either of you see a guy in a blue pirate outfit run past here?"

"See him!?" shouted Briney, rage renewed. "That cod-faced sorry blaggard stole! My! Peekoooo!"

Well. That was… oddly 'convenient', in a way. "Great." Morgan realized how that sounded even before both men gave her a bewildered look, and she quickly clarified, "Er, not great that he- That guy stole something else so it's great I didn't lose the trail." Hey how about instead of explaining she just- Morgan released Cerberus and Mithril, and both men's eyes were drawn to the shining silver specimen. "So uh.. How about I go in and try to get back both the stolen parts and your, uh, Peeko. And you watch the exit here in case he tries to get out." And calm down, she mentally added.

Fortunately, Briney began to do exactly that. "...All right. I'm trustin' ye, lassie." Morgan twitched a bit, but wasn't quite sure why.

"Just be incredibly careful and quiet. If you work up the wild Whismur- just, make sure you don't," the other man warned. Morgan nodded.

Inside, she found a much larger, more muscular man than had ambushed Scardee in the woods. He was currently trying and failing to scale a pile of rocks that nearly reached the ceiling, while a Poochyena- presumably his- kept a threatening gaze locked onto a Wingull- presumably not his- that cowered nearby.

"End of the line," Morgan called, raising her voice just enough to be heard.

The Aqua mook startled and spun around, but despite his aquatic theme, a fire burned in his eyes. "Not yet," he hissed. "Poochyena-"

"Fury Cutter, Take Down." Morgan preempted his orders with her own, making quick work of the mutt. Honestly, this was getting a little old. ...Oh, shit. She may have accidentally killed this one. That was unfortunate; it wasn't the Pokemon's fault its trainer was a dick. Ah well. Most of the wild deaths had been guilty of no more than being scared and defensive. No sense getting sappy now.

"You- you little-..." Both man and Wingull stared at Morgan in horror.

Her own gaze fell to the latter. "Are uh… Are you Peeko, by any chance? If so, Briney sent me. Sort of." Peeko perked right up, squawking in affirmation and rushing behind Morgan for safety.

"Oh- what's the point of a damned hostage.." the grunt grumbled. His mind raced for another way out before at last he grinned and whipped out some sort of amalgam of machine components. "How about this then," he spat. "You want the parts so bad? Take another step and no one gets them."

For the first time in quite a while, Morgan felt a flicker of fear. "...You wouldn't."

"Try me, girlie."

Morgan sneered. "... That doesn't help you, though. What would breaking them solve?"

The grunt barked a laugh. "We delay Devon a little longer, and my cohorts get another chance when they try to ship a replacement." … Oh. Okay that did seem like a decent plan then. Crap.

Taking a deep breath, she calmly implored, "All right, don't do anything rash. Maybe we can talk about-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a golden blur whooshed past so fast that Morgan felt a gust of wind. By the time her eyes caught up and settled, Flash stood holding the parts, and the grunt stood wondering what just happened.

"We'll just be taking those," came Sera's voice behind Morgan, and Flash was suddenly back there again too. If Morgan had to guess, she'd say that Speed Boost of his was running at full capacity right now.

The grunt growled loudly as he grabbed a handful of dirt and pebbles to fling at the girls and Pokemon, shouting "Screw this!" as he ran around them and made a break for the exit.

Flash quickly pursued- and ran right past him in his haste. Turning back with a clear 'whoops' expression, he then ended up tripping and barreling straight into a pair of wild Pokemon who were cowering against a far wall. "Shit not the Whismur," Sera squeaked. "We've gotta calm them." As Flash frantically apologized and Sera ran to help him, the Whismur's wails were already building enough to make Morgan's ears hurt and some of the smaller rocks vibrate.

The grunt had stopped stunned for a moment in the commotion, but now continued his escape. While Morgan knew the exit should be guarded, she didn't feel like taking any chances. So wha- AH!

As she tossed out a Pokeball, she called, "Wurmple, String Shot that guy!" The Wurmple hesitated just a moment, but quickly locked onto its unorthodox target, who soon found himself falling to the ground as his feet were bound together.

"Why you dirty cheating little-"

"Let's go ahead and fix that mouth, too," Morgan said with a smirk. Together, she and Cerberus helped pin and restrain the man while Wurmple wrapped him up neatly. To her pleasant surprise, once the task was complete, Wurmple used String Shot again- this time into the air as he began to glow. The threads wrapped him as he grew, and when the glow faded a- the Nav said Cascoon; Morgan was still having trouble telling those from Silcoon- sat before her. "Hey, not bad."

The Whismur seemed to be calming by this time as well. "Hey Morgan," Sera called, as loud as she dared while keeping her voice soft. "You know, there are two of these little guys, and they do seem to be the first wild Pokemon we've run into in the cave."

Morgan blinked. "Hm? Oh, good point. ...Though is battling them a good idea when…" She gestured around.

Sera shook her head. "No need. They don't really like living in the cave anymore either, as unstable as it's gotten- er, I'd assume…" Morgan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "I.. have a pretty strong feeling they'll come without a fight." To demonstrate, she knelt down and held out a Pokeball to one, who cautiously stepped forward to touch it. It barely wiggled before dinging.

"Well that's convenient." Morgan followed suit, then looked to Sera as she stood again. "...Do you think it would be, like, unkosher to Wonder Trade them?"

"Hm?" Sera thought a moment, but shrugged. "The impression I got was that anywhere is better than here, so probably not. Full disclosure, I'm probably not going to use or trade mine since I had a pet Whismur when I was really little." She grinned. "I used to have tea parties with him and pretend he was the March Hare."

Morgan fought a smile. That was almost adorable... "I guess I can think of worse things than getting a few pure pets out of this whole ordeal." Meanwhile, she loaded up the Nav interface, selected the new Whismur- "Annnnd Zigzagoon." Sera tried and failed to stifle her laugh. "Seriously, I'm starting to doubt the validity of this whole system."

"That is sort of the point of gambling," Sera teased. "You can't win every time."

Morgan sighed. "All right, that's fair. Anyway, I guess we should load up our-"

. . . . . "Did anyone see where the prisoner went."

How did they do that. How did two humans and five active Pokemon just lose a guy. A guy who was wrapped up in- there wasn't even any indication that he'd managed to ditch the webbing. Morgan rubbed her temples. They still had both the parts and Peeko, so screw it. Morgan recalled all her Pokemon and headed out.

Briney seemed a little sore that they'd let the kidnapper escape, but as soon as he was reunited with his darling Wingull everything else took a back seat. So, leaving them to their reunion, Morgan and Sera made their way back toward Rustboro.

Along the way, they took turns battling any aggressive Pokemon, this time sticking together just in case any more Aqua goons showed up. Through these battles, Sera's Seedot evolved into a Nuzleaf, and Morgan's Cas- really? "Hot damn, those kids weren't kidding about bug Pokemon evolving quickly." Dustox was pretty cool-looking, too, really.

Sera smiled. "Not all of them, but as a general rule. Congratz~"

When they got back to Devon, they found Scardee sitting on a bench in front of the building, a puddle of frantic nerves. His relief upon seeing them returning with parts in hand was all but contagious. Scrambling, he pulled out a small device to call his superior and share the good news. "Yes. Yes sir. … Are you sure? Er, n-no sir! Right away, sir." As he hung up, he turned to the trainers. "It uh… seems President Stone would like to have a word with the two of you."

"I… Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question to you locals, but. Am I gathering correctly that this President Stone is head of Devon, the company that seems to run everything in this entire country? Like, one of the most powerful men in said country?"

Sera turned to look at her, but Scardee answered first. "P-perhaps the most powerful, yes. Though there are certainly areas where the Pokemon League takes authority."

A slight chill ran down Morgan's spine. "I'm a little afraid to ask what we've gotten into…" She didn't technically ask, though, and no one answered either. Instead, Scardee just led them inside. This time, Morgan was sure to secure her Nav before stepping through the door.

As they rode the elevator to the top, Sera hesitantly asked, "Um… Mister Doctor, sir. If you don't mind my asking, what uh.. What was that device you used to call a minute ago? It doesn't look like any Nav I've ever seen."

Morgan blinked in disbelief. "Are you kidding?" Sera's sudden stung expression said no. "It… It was just a cell phone, wasn't it?"

Scardee nodded, though he too was looking at Morgan somewhat oddly. "That's right. We use them within the company."

Sera's confusion only grew. "I… They make things that are… just… phones? Why though? Isn't that such a downgrade from a full Nav?"

Morgan couldn't have held herself back if she'd tried. Not that she was trying. "It's for security purposes," she asserted, tone a little too sweet. "Didn't you know~?" Sera's burning face and silence made all the early condescending remarks worthwhile.

When the door opened, Scardee insisted he'd wait there while they went on ahead. Morgan couldn't say she blamed him. The office itself was imposing and ostentatious.

A massive chair spun around slowly (...really? That cliché?) to reveal a man fitting his name. His features were weathered and angular, his gaze fierce, yet light in an unsettling way. … His hair, on the other hand, was… it was stone-like all right. Like a few stalagmites glued to his head. It was all Morgan could do not to laugh, even as fear flashed in Sera's eyes as she noticed.

If President Stone did as well, he did not react. "Good evening, girls. I understand I have the two of you to thank for stopping that thief from making off with some very precious cargo."

"About that," piped Morgan. "How does such a technological superpower with so many precautions taken get infiltrated by such an amateur criminal, anyway?"

Stone's smile did not diminish, yet all the levity left his face as he answered, "That isn't important, but you can rest assured it will not happen again." Morgan couldn't seem to find her voice as she nodded. So Stone went on. "The reason I've called you here is that you both seem to have proven yourselves quite capable, and it seems your designated route lines up quite well to mutually beneficial ends. Which is to say, I'd like to ask you a favor- or rather, two favors."

Both girls nodded, and he went on. "First, there's the issue of those parts. Since certain members of my own staff have proven… incompetent… and the company has, shall we say, limited access to our normal muscle at the moment for confidential reasons, as I'm sure it goes without saying you are to repeat to no one… I believe it might be in everyone's best interest to have you complete delivery of those parts to Slateport." He looked between them carefully for a few moments before deciding, "Miss Birch, I believe I'll assign that task to you."

Sera bowed graciously. "Yes sir. I'll do my absolute best, Mr. Stone." Morgan fought not to roll her eyes.

Stone's eyes fell on her next. "As for… Miss Fayel. Is it 'Miss Fayel'?"

Morgan perked somewhat. "It's fay-ELL actually. Thank you for asking, I was starting to think no one in this region cared they were mispro-"

"Ah," he interrupted. "I was actually asking if you went by 'miss', but duly noted."

"...Oh." Why was that the question? What, did he think she might be married? Ahahaha, no. "Yeah, I guess?" she shrugged.

"Mm." She couldn't quite read his reaction, but he'd soon shifted back into his normal demeanor anyway. "I'd like you to deliver something of a more personal nature. A letter, to a… young man who should be on Dewford Island. Can I trust you to get it to him discreetly?"

Really? Sera was delivering super secret science stuff and Morgan was passing notes? Eh, whatever. She'd tell herself the letter was definitely just as confidential and important. That was definitely why it needed to be hand-delivered. There was zero chance the guy just didn't have or wasn't answering his Nav, or his phone, or whatever. Total optimism over here. "Yeah, that sounds doable." Sera's attempts at subtle-yet-urgent looks made Morgan suspect she was supposed to be more formal about this, but she couldn't really be bothered.

And it seemed to work fine, as one corner of Stone's mouth lifted a little higher. "Excellent. I'm counting on you both."