It took some work, but Colress managed to convince an unduly exasperated Cheren to go with him to a more secluded space, where he could explain his secret plan, as well as Bianca's situation, without any risk of intruding ears. There only he and the trees around them would have to deal with Cheren's horrid smell; he obviously had not showered in days. Colress proceeded to explain the current developments as well as the intentions behind them, how he had sent Bianca to Grimsley's lair with the objective of finding more about him, and what the remnants of team plasma were planning to do, and if they were in fact under his command. Because, to even suspect such a mischievous ploy from an elite 4 member, even if it was Grimsley, was not a light subject, and they all would be better off if nobody else found out about it, at least before they were certain of Grimsley's cryptic objectives.
Colress thought Cheren would understand- and hopefully calm down- once he learned of his and Bianca's plan, but he was wrong, and before Colress could finish his explanation Cheren furiously grabbed him by the collar and tried to lift him up. He failed, since not only was Colress much taller than him, but he was also too heavy for the out of shape, frail, and tired Cheren, who was then forced to communicate his anger with words,
"why the hell did you think that was a good idea?! Furthermore, why didn't you go yourself?"
"I certainly thought about it, albeit only for a fraction of a second," Colress replied coldly, and did nothing to move Cheren's hands away from his collar. Then he continued, "when I remembered that he, allegedly, has part of the remnants of team plasma with him, and seeing as I used to be their boss, a part of me inexplicably sensed something wrong with that otherwise brilliant idea, and I started harboring the slight suspicion that they might recognize me, and then act accordingly to my intrusion...but you're right I should have gone there myself, to see what those freaks were planning to do with my own eyes."
Cheren caught on his sarcasm, he inhaled violently and then let go of him, pushing Colress back, "keep joking you fool, I just escaped from his lair! He held me captive for days!"
"For how many?"
"Why do you care?"
"It is important for my investigation," Colress answered coldly, and Cheren directed a stare filled with scorn at him, but he did not seem to care too much.
"Who else knows about this?"
"who else knows about this? Who else? Who? Nobody! Nobody noticed I was gone, who really cares? I'll tell you who, Bianca, I knew she'd care, that's why I sent her a letter explaining my situation,"
"so that's why she needed to go..." Colress said as he adjusted his coat, he purposefully omitted telling Cheren that he had in fact read Bianca's letter, just as he omitted telling him about a few other things, that he would reveal later. At the moment he was very keen on finding out everything he could about Grimsley,
"I didn't mean for Bianca go in there just like that! you don't know what Grimsley is capable of, he'll lure you in, give you a false sense of security and get you to lower your guard so you won't be expecting his malicious strike,"
"what did he do to you?"
"He starved me, offered me only the grossest of meals and the nastiest of drinks and forced me to stay around his uncouth, physically coarse minions, luckily I was able to escape before he could finish me,"
"and how would he have done that exactly?"
"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me so I could only imagine what awaited me, probably the worst of fates, nothing good can come from a man's silence, that much I know, what other reason would he have to keep that kind of people there with him?...I need to get Bianca out of there right now and stop him, and you must help me since it was you who sent her there in the first place, I guess I am not without blame either,"
"I'm way ahead of you." Colress smiled faintly and adjusted his glasses, "I wanted her to find out if the remnants were specifically working under his command, and what he was planning to do with them, I guess with you here that issue is resolved and I can continue with the plan, to be honest with you I'm just not comfortable knowing that that group of people is still operating in some capacity, like you said, nothing good can come from them,"
"fair enough, what's next?"
"I need to get in contact with someone first, so that gives you enough time to shower..."
Meanwhile, Bianca was getting a little too comfortable hanging around the remnants, in such a small amount of time no less. But a part of her, which she could not deny or dismiss as a fantasy, urged her to give her new friends a chance; it was as much a rational decision as it was a visceral desire of hers, to stay. No less important was the fact that she enjoyed very much hanging out with Lucia and company, with whom she headed to meet on victory road, just outside the cave's entrance. There, Lucia, Helma, and Jonny stood right next to an impromptu snack stand made out of white cardboard, with some food on top, and poorly made money signs at the front,
"hey Colette!" Jonny shouted to Bianca as soon as he saw her approaching, "would you like some cheese? I'll give you a ten percent discount,"
"don't listen to him," Helma quickly added, "there's plenty of cheese in the hideout, err, I mean the...house, sorry...this is for the trainers and their Pokemon,"
"for both?" Bianca asked,
"well, I eat it," continued Helma, "so yes for both, anyway this is what we do sometimes to get some honest cash,"
"huh, that's great,"
"shut up someone is coming," Helma dismissed her and moved to attend the customer.
Just as she announced, a cool trainer with a blue colored bowl haircut, a black and orange ensemble, and a wide, kind of douchy smile on his face approached them. He put his hands on his hips without losing his smile,
"do you sell potions?" He asked, wasting no time,
"uhh...no sir," Helma replied, "but we do sell cheese which may or may not have the same revitalizing effect on your pokemon, and why not on you as well,"
"thanks but no thanks, I don't do cheese," the trainer rebuffed her,
"what do you mean you don't do cheese what does that even mean?"
"It means exactly that, did you know that pokemon, unlike humans, do not consume dairy products after the lactation period is over? There are recent studies which shed light on the fact that dairy products do not have any nutritional value to humans, or adult pokemon for that matter." The cool trainer rambled on about dairy products while Helma's ever present rage increased every time he uttered a word.
She turned her back on the trainer and looked directly at the guys, "I'mma kill this dude," she whispered to them not exactly in a low voice, and then turned back again to face the trainer. And right when she looked at him again she completely lost her cool.
"Hey ass wipe, you don't like cheese? Well guess what, cheese doesn't like you either, want some proof of that? Here!"
Helma grabbed a perfectly curated, tasty looking ball of cheese from the counter and raised her arm, while the cool trainer recoiled expecting the hit, but, before she could throw it at him Lucia grabbed her by the arm, and then took the cheese ball off her hand and gently placed it back on the counter with her free hand. Lucia then walked up to the startled trainer at the same time she blinked slowly, showcasing her long eyelashes and her big hazel eyes at the same time,
"you'll have to forgive my friend," she said, "she's very passionate about the products that we sell, as am I, isn't it hot today?" She stroke her long red hair and then took off her bowtie,
"not so much, no, but maybe, kind of," the trainer moved his collar with his index finger, "I would have caught the cheese ball just so you know, my dexterity is only rivaled by my ability to train pokemon, and I gotta tell you, I have very good eye to hand coordination,"
"I don't doubt it, tell me more," Lucia continued, trying to contain the urge to roll her eyes,
"alright shut it down!" An enraged Jonny moved between Lucia and the trainer, he put his hand right on Lucia's face and then pushed her away,
"what the hell dude!" Lucia cried in protest,
"shut up," answered Jonny, then he pointed to Helma while he addressed the trainer, "listen guy, this one wants to sell you cheese through violence, and this other one," he then pointed at Lucia, "is using her female...uhhh...femininity or whatever, that's not right and it ain't the reason why I got into this business, I'm just here to sell you cheese,"
"but I don't want cheese my friend," the trainer coolly replied,
"I'm not your friend, I don't even like you," Jonny replied back, "not only that but I also hate you, but we still can do each other a favor,"
"yeah, I doubt that mate,"
"I'm not your mate either, look, as I was saying before you rudely interrupted me, what we can do for each other is this, you obviously did not pack enough potions and are in dire need of some, and I am here selling cheese, so why don't you buy a few cheese balls from me, feed them to your pokemon, complete the faux maze that even a blindfolded toddler with his small and chubby hands tied behind his back could complete, go to the pokemon league, lose miserably, and then go cry to your mommy, how about that?...Tell me you don't need them."
Jonny's speech had erased the smile off the trainer's face and he was now gazing sadly at the ground. He sorrowfully reached for his pocket, took some coins out, and handed them to Jonny without looking at him, now with a frown on his face. Jonny took his money and turned around with a victorious flare, then with his head held high and without looking at the girls he grabbed a plastic bag with a smiley face from behind the counter and put some cheese balls inside it, then handed it to the trainer.
"Do you have any pokemon so I can crush you?" The trainer asked as he grabbed the bag,
"no, beat it," Jonny replied, and the trainer obeyed him and went into the cave with his head down.
"that's how you sell cheese," Jonny said triumphant,
"wow, I never thought it would be this complicated," Bianca openly rejoiced over him, quite impressed,
"It's a cutthroat business," Jonny finalized as his put his hands on his hips. Lucia and Helma on the other hand seemed to be done with him.
Colress, for his part, continued his covert activities with the ultimate goal of stopping Grimsley's clandestine operation, now with Cheren as an unexpected but certainly welcomed aid. He stayed in Nuvema town, where professor Juniper's lab was located, and stopped by a small restaurant to grab a cup of coffee, and to meditate about his next move. He sat at the counter by himself, buried deep in his thoughts. Immediately afterwards he was served a cup of coffee which released an alluring scent, perfectly concentrated, which then caught his attention, and he started taking sips whilst ignoring the stares from the curious locals mostly directed at his outfit. Suddenly, while he was again on a deep state of thought, Sabrina, the Saffron city gym leader from Kanto walked in and, after noticing her, a shocked Colress couldn't help but take a breath full of surprise at the same time some coffee ran down his larynx, effectively choking himself.
"you made the right choice by calling me," Sabrina said as she sat right next to him, not minding his current state of distress at all,
"how is it that you are here!? I spoke with you mere hours ago," Colress exclaimed after reincorporating,
"I have a place in Unova," Sabrina replied,
"but when I talked to you you were in Kanto!"
"Dude, drop it, I used my power to get here, remember who you are talking to, anyway as I was saying thank you for alerting me of this Grimsley fellow, whatever he's planning to do won't end well, of that I am certain,"
"I could've told you that," Colress said as he tried to clean some fresh stains off his coat, "I called you because...well...I had no one else to call, and as you know we've crossed paths before," he nervously adjusted his glasses and swallowed saliva, "obviously you do know, because...why wouldn't you remember? I mean you do have a memory...like everyone else...probably an even better memory than most people, you know, because of your focus on the power of the mind...anyway, more importantly I need someone with enough respect and public trust, obviously not me, to bring some gravity and seriousness to the revelation that Grimsley is indeed a serious threat,"
"well if that's the case I can do that but I'll need some hard evidence,"
"I already have it, he kept a local gym leader as his prisoner for a couple of days, he escaped and is more than willing to help,"
"ha, if that's the case then what makes you think that the locals will be able to stop him?"
"I just need a reason to take an elite 4 member down, then I'll do it myself,"
"nonsense, it will be me,"
"...why?"
"Because I've seen the future,"
Colress looked at her with a gaze equally confused and tired,
"I've seen them bring forth evil and destruction just like the last time, just like the time before that, and I've seen myself stopping them and causing Grimsley's downfall. This foretold revelation is as certain as this moment, and I will see it through…"