Mahogany Town was, by its own definition, a suspicious place, and hell yeah damn sure it was. Denise and Mew (in the form of an Espeon so telepathy wouldn't look so weird) waited outside of the Pokémon Center after visiting the town's clinic as Aries took Henry inside, staring dejectedly at the Souvenir Shop. It would've been funny if she didn't feel so crappy and Henry wasn't so hurt.

"Are we really safe standing in the enemy's city like this?" Denise asked Mew quietly.

They are occupied at the moment, she replied, although she seemed highly on edge too. Oddly, Silver isn't in the city, even though I can feel some of his malevolent spirit in the air.

"Maybe he found another town to terrorize?"

Perhaps. There was a pause. Please, Denise; Valentine will be fine, and I believe Theophilus could use the opportunity to talk, as they are brothers. Legendaries, we don't have physical families as you all do, but Arceus was somewhat of a father to me; if I could speak to him once more… Her little shoulders slumped; Denise patted her paw awkwardly.

"'s alright." Then she looked up, seeing somebody walk out of the Souvenir Shop. "Mew, who's that?"

Don't use my name here where we have so many listeners, Mew warned.

"Sorry, sorry, but look." She gestured to the crimson-haired man that was standing in the middle of the town and looking around. In the darkness, she couldn't see his face well and panicked. "We have to go!"

It's not Silver, Mew sighed. I can read his mind; that is the Elite Four's Lance, although… Hmm, it appeared he had met Silver a while ago—recently, actually. They battled, but Silver seems to be crying in the memory…

"Excuse me," Lance suddenly said, turning to Denise and crossing the distance between them. She noticed he was being followed by a large and slightly-wary Dragonite. "What are you doing out here so late?"

"Sulking, I guess," she mumbled. Lance stared at her for a while before sitting next to her, his red cape falling over his regal black clothes. He looked younger and friendlier than he did on T.V. and random corner store merchandise, but at the same time distant.

"Can I sulk with you?"

"Well… Sure, but…" She watched Mew trot into the Pokémon Center and waited until the doors shut, staring at the square of light they made on the grass. "Don't you have Pokémon League-ish duties to attend to?"

"More than you know," he sighed. "But I was here trying to find a certain Trainer… It seems he's already left."

"A Trainer with red hair and a lot of attitude, I'm assuming?"

"You know him?"

"Sort of," she muttered. "Why are you looking for him?"

"I fought him a while ago, you see," he explained. "I saw the way he treated his Pokémon—like tools, just means to reach an end—and it hurt and sickened me, so I sought to battle him to teach him a lesson. As powerful as they were, they weren't a match for our friendship—isn't that right, Dragonite?"

"Drag," his Dragonite grinned.

"Anyhow, I've been trying to see if my lesson took root, but I haven't been able to find him," he said, scratching his neck.

"That's good; he's not exactly the guy people go lookin' for, if you catch my drift," Denise said, scratching the bandage patch on her cheek.

"Then how do you know him?" Lance asked.

"Messed with some of my friends, the jerk."

"He is a jerk," he agreed. "But not totally—I can tell. He seemed to learn something from our battle, at the very least, so I believe he's not completely dark."

"He's a deceitful person; I wouldn't place my hopes on that."

Lance just shrugged, standing up and checking his Xtransceiver. "It seems my free time is over," he said, turning to Denise. "It was nice talking to you…?"

"Denise," she supplied.

"Denise," he smiled, climbing onto his Dragonite. Denise watched them go up into the sky until he took off, disappearing over the horizon. She heard the doors open and close again, then someone else sat next to her.

"Henry will be fine by sunrise," Aries said blandly. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye; he was staring at the stars, his face still blank. She let her eyes drop to his missing hand, the arm of which was buried in his cloak, and started grinding her teeth. "Please don't do that; you'll loosen a filling."

"What are you, my dentist? Why are you even still worrying about me?" she asked, burying her face in her raised knees. "'Cause of me…"

"None of this was your fault Denise, damn it!" he suddenly exclaimed, causing her to snap her head towards him. "Damn it—if you have to put blame, put it on all of us, alright? Just…stop…feeling bad…"

"Aries?" she asked warily. He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I apologize for acting so distant," he said quietly. "But it really had nothing to do with you; instead, I was thinking about a certain visitor I had in the hospital."

"Who? But I thought you were unconscious the whole time?"

"Perhaps, but my subconscious remained very awake and aware." She felt her face burn at the begging she'd done at his bedside. Don't die…please don't die…please…don't bleed out…Aries, I'm sorry… He smirked, showing he was still enough of a bastard to read her thoughts. "Red," he said.

"Like, Pokémon Master Red? You're kidding me."

"Oho, I'm not," he said with an odd expression; it wasn't really smug, but he didn't seem particularly sad either. "He had a message."

"Which is…?"

"Oak is alive," he said, his voice becoming rough with sadness.

"Like, the Pokémon Professor Oak?"

"The very same, and he's in there." He pointed at the Souvenir Shop.

"What? How? Why? Wasn't he in Pallet Town when—you know?"

"He was out of town at the time, actually, and Red stated that Team Rocket got him within their grubby hands when he returned to the remains of Pallet to investigate. They were using his expertise on Pokémon for their genetic experiments all of this time, Denise," he answered, shaking his head. "Creating more things like Mewtwo and Deoxys." She felt a chill go down her spine. "He—Red—wanted to intervene, but he only has his six Pokémon, which cannot challenge a team as expansive and powerful as Team Rocket."

"But we're just sitting here chatting about it all instead of goin' in there and knockin' heads?"

"What can we do without Henry and Theo?" he sighed. "Not much, especially with an idea of Team Rocket's power and labyrinthine base."

"What about Mew?" Denise asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Be careful, I said," he warned. "And it's still too preoccupied holding the world together, may I remind you."

"Yeah, because the Legendaries are just spirit energy familiars or whatever, right?"

"Close enough."

"Can't you—oh, I don't know how this psychic stuff works—thank Arceus that I don't have to worry about that bullcrap in my everyday life—" he actually looked a little affronted by that, "—but can't you speed up their revival or convince them to come back sooner or something? I mean, it's been eleven years, if all of you are telling the truth—those bastards have slept in enough."

Aries laughed out of disbelief and general amusement. "It's not that simple."

"Fine! Tell me why," she challenged. Aries worked his jaw, looking a little irritated, but then his face fell.

"I have no idea why, actually."

"Then get to it, because Me—you-know-who is more than a valuable asset to this and against you-know-what."

"I'll have to tell it," he said. "It knows the Legendaries better and has more psychic experience, but if it does work…" His face lit up for the first time since they reached Mahogany Town. "Denise, it might work!" he suddenly exclaimed, throwing his arms around her and hugging her tightly. She gasped at the contact and was stiff before melting a little, patting his shoulder.

"Dude…I mean, like…don't."

"Hah," he coughed, pulling away and crossing his arms over his chest. "I am sorry." Something about his voice sounded strange, like it went up a half step.

"Dude…?"

"What?"

"Nothing." She punched his shoulder, causing him to groan, but he smiled a little. He stood up, offering a hand.

"There's a room inside for us. I'm sorry I couldn't get two, but the Pokémon Center isn't large enough to separate boys and girls."

"'s alright," she said, taking his hand and getting to her feet. "I wanted to talk to you anyway."

"Talk? Did we not just talk? About what?"

"Just talk," she said. "Like friends do."


"You're serious?" Denise laughed, mashing the pillow down on top of her crossed legs. Aries nodded from the other bed, practicing on floating his pillow telepathically without dislocating his joints. "The famous freaking Gary Oak was a goofball?"

"Him and his friend Ash…Ketchum," he said thoughtfully. "Those two would go on all kinds of misadventures together, I swear. Hm… And at my Pokémon School, they were the most excitable students."

"Wait, you went to school?"

"Affirmative, chief."

"I thought you learned everything from books?" she said, confused.

"I did learn a lot from books, however I attended daycare and preschool just the same. I spent one year in primary school before…" He paused thoughtfully, then smiled. "I just went on my own after that."

"Before what?" she pressed. His expression changed.

"Please, Denise—"

"Remember from a long while ago, back in Cerulean? You still owe me a thought, Aristotle."

"Very well," he sighed, letting the pillow fall to the sheets. "Remember the Pokérus epidemic that took thousands of lives around Kanto, Pokémon and human?"

"Ye—crap, don't tell me—you're kidding—"

"My parents, Denise," he interrupted, rubbing his jaw. "Some of us, as you know from school, had that certain gene that made us immune; others didn't."

"Damn, well, I'm sorry," she said, trying to imagine a life without her parents since age six and failing. He sighed, waving her off.

You're referring to the Pokérus epidemic? Mew said suddenly, standing up from the foot of Aries' bed. Denise gasped a little; she thought that Mew had been sleeping the whole time.

"Y-Yes," Aries said, surprised as well. Mew scratched her nose anxiously, which both of them picked up.

"There a problem?" Denise asked, leaning forward. Mew looked around the room psychically (Denise learned how to tell after spending so much time with those psychic weirdos) before turning into its original form, curling up into a wad of bubblegum-pink fur.

The fact that you lived…and not Melanie and James…the fault for that lies with me, she murmured, her mental voice weak. Every noise-making object in the world managed to be quiet for ten seconds as they all exchanged looks.

"What?" Aries exhaled, looking like somebody had scraped all of his insides out. Mew quickly jumped into the air, grasping her tail nervously.

I'm sorry, Aries, but this was a long while ago—I myself had even forgotten about it, what with Deoxys' attack and Rayquaza and the fact that you were a child with no guardians getting harassed daily—although the fault of no guardians lies with me—

"Mew." That was probably the angriest he'd ever been at Mew, who squeaked in response. Tears built in her large eyes as she told him, except she didn't include Denise in her telepathy—thank Arceus for that, actually, because by Aries' shattered expression, she probably didn't want to know.

Suddenly Aries clenched his fists, and in that second Mew shot backwards by Psychic, crashing against the wall with a loud thud! and hitting the ground with a moan. Aries' eyes widened and he jumped to his feet at the sight of her. He swallowed, then yelped, then he ran out of the room. Denise almost chased after him but stopped, sensing he needed some alone time, although she wished it wasn't so close to the enemy's HQ.