Chapter 65

"Not a bad distance, really," the human Mienshao tittered, "but you can't play this game in the city very well. Too many buildings in the way…" He smiled down at Maple with a smug expression, as if trying to stop himself from laughing at his own joke. But the expression sobered as he looked at her.

"Hey…aren't you-GAH!"

His sentence was cut off when a figure crashed into the ground directly behind him. The Mienshao jumped a clean five feet into the air, spinning around at least twice in mid-air. Maple stared, open-mouthed as she recognized the new arrival.

The human Salamence folded her magnificent crimson wings against her back before turning to stare down the human Mienshao.

"Hey…Tempest…" the Mienshao stuttered, "uh…how's it going?"

"Is it him?" she asked, her voice devoid of patience or sympathy.

"Nah," the Mienshao shook his head, calmer now, "it's just a Houndoom. False alarm."

"Alright," Tempest nodded, "I'll let you take care of it, then." She eyed the Mienshao with suspicion, "Just be sure next time. Don't use this as an excuse to interfere in everyone else's battles. We're trying to do this quietly."

"'Quietly', riiight…" he grinned at the dragon-woman, "you mean like how you just quietly scared the shit out of every last person in the square?"

Maple looked around and saw it was true. It was as if the morning itself was taking a time-out to watch what was happening. Every pair of eyes in the square was on the two arguing human Pokémon.

"Quickstep…" Tempest snarled at the human Mienshao, "Don't test me."

"Hey, I'm just sayin' that maybe you should work on your social skills a little bit," Quickstep held up his hands. They were still concealed underneath the sleeves of his shirt. The lower half of each hung limply whenever he moved his arms. "You know…get outside, meet a few new people," he continued, "stop worrying about Sky for a little while…"

Tempest's hard scowl broke for a moment as she flinched at the mention of PureBlueSky.

It was all Quickstep needed to scare her off.

"Just keep looking," Tempest shook her head. She unfolded her wings and flapped them a few times to get airborne. Then she was gone, back into the sky as quickly as she had come.

Maple looked up to watch her go. After a few seconds even she couldn't see the Salamence-woman. But she had no doubt that Tempest could still see her.

"There," Quickstep bounced on his heels, swelling with pride all the while, "now that that's out of the way…" He turned back to Maple, who was still too scared to move from her spot on the ground. "Nice to meet you," he extended a hand and the floppy end of a sleeve, "my name's Quickstep, in case you missed it when the bitch was yelling at me." He said it all in an undeniably chipper tone.

"Maple," the Leafeon-girl answered, taking Quickstep's hand and rising to her feet, "thank you for helping me."

"Anytime," Quickstep inclined his head, "it's not every day I get to High Jump Kick somebody in the face to help out a pretty girl."

Maple blushed at the compliment. She was starting to like Quickstep already.

"Are you crazy?!" Kim came up next to Maple, "I'm supposed to be looking after you and you pick a fight with a fire-type?!"

"Whoa, hold on a second," Quickstep took a step back and held up his floppy sleeves again, "everything worked out alright. Even Doberman-boy will be just fine once his trainer comes looking for him." He nodded in the direction of Cereberus's unconscious body. Aside from Maple's Leaf Blade cut across his chest, he had no visible wounds. Still, without any medical attention it would be a few hours before he was on his feet again.

"Well," Quickstep clicked his heels together, "guess I better get back to work before the bitch comes back. Thus, I bid you, adieu." He bowed, draping his long sleeves across the ground.

"Uh…wait!" Maple managed to call as he turned away, "umm…are you…I mean is…is PureBlueSky your trainer?"

"Why, yes he is!" Quickstep seemed delighted that she realized it, but his tone turned dark in a moment, "though not by choice."

"Huh?" Maple tilted her head in confusion.

"We don't get along very well," Quickstep said with obvious distaste, "he's…what's the nicest way to say it? A coward, lazy, depressing to be around, selfish, stupid," he counted off on his fingers as he went, which was difficult beneath his sleeves, "moody, pathetic, high on himself, overrated aaand…there was a tenth one…ah, yes, broken."

Maple stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say.

"He seemed okay to me during the match," she shrugged. Maple had never met PureBlueSky, only heard about him and seen him battle. Still…did Quickstep really hate his own trainer that much?

"Believe me," Quickstep closed the matter, "he's awful in person."

"Maple, we really should get going," Kim urged the Leafeon-girl. They needed to catch up with Sprinkle and Volt, but if they stayed in the area too long, Tristan was likely to show up and take some revenge on whoever was handy at the time.

"In a minute," Maple brushed her off. There was still something that she needed answered. "So, do you know Flurry? We met her before."

"Flurry? Oh, sure, I know her," Quickstep nodded.

"How is she?" Maple asked. The last time Maple had seen the Glaceon-girl she had been screaming while engulfed in flames.

"Shaken," Quickstep admitted, "but she'll be alright. She's been through worse."

"Oh, good…" Maple breathed. It did her a lot of good to hear that.

"So, it really is you, then," Quickstep smirked at Maple, "I wasn't sure, honestly. I mean, there's only one human Leafeon on the island, but they told me you were some sort of peppy little cheerleader of a girl." Quickstep chuckled to himself, "call me crazy, but I'm not seein' it."

"You've heard about me?!" Maple asked in shock and disbelief. She had met Flurry, sure, but she didn't think she was special enough for PureBlueSky's human Pokémon to be talking about her.

"Absolutely," Quickstep said, "we've been keeping an eye on you ever since you became Katana's newest little apprentice." Quickstep chuckled again, "not everybody gets the privilege of being regularly stabbed by her."

"Oh, wow…" Maple marveled. They were watching her? Why?

"Yeah, yeah, that's great," Kim made herself heard again, "but, c'mon, we really need to go."

"Oh, right," Maple had almost forgotten that Kim was still standing there, "Uhh…Quickstep?"

"Yeah?"

"If it's not too much trouble…could we go see Flurry?"

"Well, it means going to see the asshole wizard, too…" Quickstep shrugged, "but other than that, I don't see why not."

"Wait," Kim halted them, "Maple…do you really want to go with this guy?"

"I just want to see Flurry," Maple told her, "you can go on to the beach without me. I'll be right back."

Kim looked from Quickstep, back to Maple, back to Quickstep. Something wasn't right about the human Mienshao. He seemed friendly enough but there was something else hidden behind it. What kind of human Pokémon hated their trainer as much as Quickstep hated PureBlueSky? Not even Tristan's human Pokémon really hated him.

"Alright, you can go," Kim heard herself say, "We'll meet up at the beach. Don't take too long or we'll start looking for you."

"Thank you, Kim," Maple hugged the older girl, but somehow that made Kim's decision feel like an even worse idea.

She watched the two leave, hoping that she had made the right choice.

It hadn't been easy to let Maple go. The Leafeon-girl was her responsibility and she didn't trust Quickstep at all. But something was wrong with Maple that Kim couldn't fix. She couldn't drag the girl around the island and hope that her problems would magically get better. Kim let her go because she couldn't think of a way to help Maple.

And that felt like a failure.

Every muscle in Tsunami's body ached when he awoke that morning. After a full day of getting slapped around by a human Ferrothorn dressed like a knight he found it hard to believe that Mark and Maple had been enduring day after day of this.

Training with Aurum was the most brutal experience of Tsunami's life. Fighting Billow and Mortem was tough enough, but Nails was in another league. At least, against the Drifblim and Jellicent, Tsunami could hold take a few hits and maybe return a few. But one Power Whip from Nails was enough to permanently knock him out of a battle.

As a human Swampert, he wasn't built to be quick and dodge those attacks. Most of his strength was built on taking damage, but not from a grass-type. One Ice Beam was the best he could do before they needed a Revive to bring him back.

When he showered, he found massive welts all over his body from where the Power Whip had hit him. He wouldn't tell Eric and Fernelia, they certainly had enough worries. And if he was taking this much of a beating, Fernelia was not likely to be in any better shape.

Maybe a day of rest would be the best thing for them.

Mark, Maple and Cherry had to be machines if they could train like that every day. Tsunami hadn't seen them train himself, though. They had disappeared into the woods with Aurum's Weavile-woman, Katana, and hadn't come out until after Tsunami had already been revived for what felt like the twentieth time.

The look on the Charmander-girl's face had been something else. Even after a full day of training she had been wide-eyed and half-crazed with the desire for more battling. She looked to be the same age as Eric, but to say that they were the same couldn't be more wrong.

Tsunami stared out of the hotel window as he waited for Fernelia and Eric to finish getting ready. They were all lined up for another day of the same, brutal training with Mark and Aurum. Those kids could go forever, but Tsunami was really starting to feel his age.

It was the first time in his life that he felt old. The nurses at the Pokémon Center had told him that he was twenty-nine in human years and Fernelia was just behind him at twenty-eight. They weren't even middle-aged by human standards, but already he was falling behind a younger generation.

That was the price to pay for staying in one spot with Eric. Most trainers had the freedom to move from place to place, seeking new battles and tougher opponents. Their Pokémon sky-rocketed in strength in a very short time. That was not the case for Tsunami and Fernelia, who couldn't go much further than the grounds of the mansion during Eric's boyhood.

Of course, Tsunami did not blame Eric nor regret any of the time spent at the mansion. It was where he belonged, watching over the boy that would become his adopted son. Their time together was worth the trade-off in power.

Tsunami only wanted more power because for the first time in his life, he felt like he truly needed it. Somewhere down there, Team Deus was stalking them. They had escaped before, but Mark and Silver had insisted that it was deliberate. The next time they might not be so lucky.

There had been no sign of them since the match against Farin. The big boss, who was only the fourth in command himself, had shown his face topside and once again Tsunami was powerless.

Was training with Aurum the answer? Thus far all Tsunami had to show for it was a collection of bruises. He needed more than that. He needed a victory. Some forward momentum against their enemy.

But his hands were tied. He couldn't leave Eric and Fernelia to find someone that could help. Not without convincing them. And what would that take?

As if in answer, there was a knock on the door.

Stunned into disbelief, Tsunami turned around to look at Eric, who was in the middle of eating his breakfast. The two stared at each other quizzically, waiting for the other to move. Fernelia was in the bathroom, combing her hair.

The knock came again.

"I'll get it," Tsunami announced. It seemed meant for him, anyway.

When he opened the door, a brunette-haired girl with square-framed glasses was looking up at him. She was a little on the short side, which made her look younger than what she was. Tsunami towered over her. She was flanked by a human Jynx and a sleepy-eyed Honchkrow-woman.

"Umm…good morning," the young woman greeted, "uh, you don't know me. But I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."

"Oh, sure," Tsunami started, "come in." He stepped to the side to let the women through. They walked into the center of the room, stopping only to look at Fernelia and Eric.

"Uh…" the woman wearing the glasses looked around, unsure of who to address, "you're the trainer, right?" She settled on Eric.

"Yes, I am," Eric stood up and shook the woman's hand. Very polite, very professional, just the way that his real father had taught him. "How can I help you?"

"Well, I'm not sure…" the woman admitted, "I'm not really sure what I'm asking."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Fernelia offered, emerging from the bathroom to join their guests.

"Well, it's about the man you fought in the tournament," the woman began, "Edwards?"

"What about him?" Tsunami asked. Maybe this really was the answer to his problems.

"I'm not sure if he's…"

"A good guy?" Eric finished, smirking slightly.

"Right," the woman sighed as her human Honchkrow stifled a yawn, "I think he might be a criminal of some sort."

"Believe me," Tsunami spoke up, "you're in the right place."

"Wait, then you've…" the eyes of the glasses-woman lit up.

"We've fought him before," Eric nodded, "yeah…he's not a good guy, that's for sure."

"Wait," Tsunami stopped him before he could say more, "what about you? Before we tell you anything, tell us who you are."

"Alright," the woman nodded, "my name's Cara. I met that man about a week before the tournament. I could tell that there was something strange about him, but I didn't know what it was and…I didn't know who to ask. But…you know who he is?"

"Why do you want to know?" Eric took up Tsunami's game.

"Something's wrong with Alex," Cara burst out, "he won't talk to me and he won't tell me what's wrong!"

"Wait, slow down," Tsunami tried to calm Cara, "who's Alex?"

"He's a friend of mine," Cara inhaled and exhaled, the human Jynx patted her shoulder, helping to calm her, "he had a…Zoroark that got away…"

"Got away?" Eric asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It…wasn't a good guy either," Cara shrugged, "he didn't tell me about it, but I know it's dangerous. But Alex said he had help getting away. A trainer, or somebody, helped him."

"And you think it was that 'Edwards' guy?" Eric asked.

"I don't know…" Cara admitted, "Alex didn't know either. But you've heard about the human Pokémon kidnappers, right?"

"We have," Eric didn't want to relive any of those details, but he wasn't starting to fear that he might have to.

"And Edwards?"

"He's one of them," Eric told her the truth, "you'd better sit down. This is going to take a while."

AN: so, somewhere along the line, something weird happened…

the story passed 200 reviews!

Now, I believe the last time I got 100 reviews I busted my ass to post three chapters in one week. Can I do it again? Sadly, I probably can't. I don't have any back-up chapters ready.

Still, I don't want to go without celebrating in some way…so, I will TRY my absolute best to get at least a second one done before next weekend.

Anyways, thank you VERY MUCH to everybody that has supported me and this story throughout the year and a half that I've been working on it. Without your support, I likely would have stopped a very long time ago and I am very, very, VERY happy that I can feel confident enough to keep going.

As always, thank you for reading, reviewing and for all of your support!