4

"Hi, have you heard about Team Plasma?"

She stood like an island in the middle of a stream, the lunch crowds of people flowing around her. The man she'd been speaking to was swept away within seconds, and Dana turned to the next person she saw. "Hi, do you have a minute to talk about Pokemon Liberation?"

The trainer shook his head and ducked away from her.

"Hi, have you heard about…"

And the process repeated itself.

She was nearly screaming to make herself over the hustle and bustle, and her throat was beginning to ache with the effort. But it didn't matter how loud she called. The crowd's eyes crossed her and kept going. It had taken her a while to realize that they were ignoring her. They could hear her; they just didn't want to stop.

After a few, frustrating minutes where everyone who passed pretended she was invisible, she changed tactics.

"Pokemon Rights are everyone's rights!" she yelled, waving her stack of pamphlets over her head. "Pokemon Rights are everyone's rights!"

Someone stumbled out of the crowd and nearly knocked into her. Dana jumped back reflexively. Too many hard elbows had come her way already.

The person who had emerged was a blue-haired woman balancing a baby on her hip. Both of them were red-faced in the sun. The woman smiled sheepishly at Dana.

"Sorry, sweetie, are you alright?"

Dana smiled back. "It's okay, really. Would you like a pamphlet?"

She held one out. The baby seized it in one tiny fist, and the mother had to tug it away before she could look at it. Dana could see her mouth the words as she read the cover.

'End Pokemon Slavery! – The Team Plasma Initiative'

"We're a Pokemon Liberation group," Dana said. "And we're working to expand legal rights for Pokemon and um- change the dynamic between Human and Pokemon to eliminate the unequal hierarchy." The last part was cribbed directly out of the pamphlet, but it had sounded so good that she couldn't resist.

The mother blinked at her. "That's… that's certainly ambitious. Is this a school project, darling?"

Dana wilted. "No, ma'am. We're a national organization."

"Oh." The woman looked at her. At the pamphlet. She read the cover again, her brow furrowing as she did. "Well… thanks. Have a nice day."

Mother and child departed, fading back into the crowd.

Dana sighed and wiped her forehead. The sun was just cresting the sky, and the plaza in the center of Striaton was blazing hot. Stores ringed the plaza, turning it into an open-air mall, though there was little air today, no breeze to break the oppressive humidity. The hordes of shoppers milled back and forth, everyone hurrying on toward shade and air-conditioning.

"Pokemon Rights are-" Dana started coughing mid-yell. She was parched, and her throat burned. She sighed again and returned to the spiel she'd been using all day, rasping out the words through dry lips. "Have you heard of Team Plasma?"

The mother hadn't been the first to take a pamphlet, but it had been a while. Most people just waved a hand in refusal without even looking at her. She got a little thrill whenever someone actually took a handout, but the disappointments were far more common. The worst- and there had been a few, were the people who took pamphlets, only to crumple them up and discard them like trash within ten feet.

She managed to hand out eight more pamphlets before she was interrupted again.

"Kid!" Harlan called, waving to her from his spot across the plaza. "We're taking a break now, c'mon back."

Dana hefted her stack and hurried over to him. Harlan was sitting on a bench in front of a shoe store, well-shaded by an awning. She slumped down beside him with a groan. After three hours in the plaza, her feet hurt, she was drenched in sweat, and she was pretty sure the stiffness in her neck was sunburn.

Harlan shouted out again. "Hey, Piper, lunch break!"

Their third was speaking to a young man, offering him a pamphlet. After a moment, the man shook his head and walked away. Piper glared at his back before stomping over to the bench.

Piper Adeline was another Plasma Squire. It was the first day Dana had worked with her; the day before had seen her passing out pamphlets alongside Harlan and a stocky Squire named Brad.

She hadn't really had a chance to talk to Piper yet. The woman had given Harlan an extremely dirty look when they met, and then situated herself on the far side of the plaza from him.

Piper approached close enough to stand in the shade, but didn't sit. She was around Harlan's age, with glasses and short, curly blonde hair.

"So, uh- any luck?" Dana ventured.

"Not much," Piper said, frowning. Her voice was dry, and Dana recognized the note of frustration there. "How about you? I couldn't really see you through the crowd."

Dana's frown mirrored Piper's. "Everyone ignores me. And everyone who doesn't thinks I'm a Girl Scout."

Harlan snickered, and Piper gave him a furious look. "Shut up, Harlan."

"I want my stupid uniform to be ready," Dana muttered. "Things would be different if I had it."

She had the feeling that people would still think she was a Girl Scout, but at least she would fit in with Piper and Harlan. Sitting here, the odd one out in their trio, when both of them looked crisp and professional in their surcoats, made her feel like an intruder. She wasn't just younger than they were, but also a newbie, a greenhorn, someone who couldn't be trusted.

Harlan dragged a hand through his hair, glancing around the plaza. "We'll try again after lunch. I'm thinking… Santini's has pretty good food, doesn't it?"

Dana cringed. "It's too hot for Santini's, Harlan, and we ate there on Monday. I was standing in front of that Kanton Kitchen place all day, and it smelled pretty good."

"Is that what that was?" Harlan asked. "I'm fine if you're in. Piper?"

The blonde gave him an incredulous stare, and then turned away without answering. "Dana, you wanna eat with me?"

"Uh…" Dana bit her lip. She glanced between the two adults. "I actually needed to talk to Harlan about something. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"With Harlan?" Piper laughed derisively. She turned and pointed to a store across the plaza. "I'm going to Panchetta's. They have good salads and sandwiches, and besides- Kanton Kitchen doesn't practice humane meat practices."

"Oh. So… you're like vegan?" Dana asked.

"No, I just try to be aware of what I eat and where it came from," Piper explained, her voice proud. "Did you know that Kanton Kitchen is one of six local businesses chains that-"

"Oh, for the love of- tell her later," Harlan grumbled, rising to his feet. "I'm sure Dana will be happy to hear all about it at lunch."

"Shut up, Harlan, she has a right to know!"

Before Dana could interject, Harlan set off without her. He strode away into the throng, a full head taller than anyone around him, and didn't look back.

"He is such a dick!" Piper growled, glaring at Harlan's retreating back.

Dana sighed heavily. Did he have to be so difficult?

"Sorry, Piper," she said. "But I really do have to talk to him. If we're together tomorrow, do you still want to eat with me?"

Piper jerked her shoulders in a shrug. "Smoothies are on me, Dana." She paused. "Try not to let Harlan bore you too badly."

Dana only nodded in reply. She turned away from Piper and took off through the crowd, fighting the tide to catch up to Harlan.

XXX

The inside of the Kanton Kitchen was small and crowded, decorated in a style that felt more like imitation Kantonese than the actual thing. The menu was similar; a mishmash of foods from three different nations co-existing alongside Unovan fare, all under the cheery banner of 'Kanton Kuisine.'

They had to wait in line behind a crowd of other lunchtime shoppers, and Dana did not mind a bit. The air-conditioning was on full-blast, filling the restaurant with cool air and the scent of fried noodles. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply and just absorbing the chill.

"This is paradise," she moaned. "Can we pass out manifestos in here from now on?"

Harlan chuckled, not looking up from where he was checking his phone.

They ordered, and received their food in paper cartons- stir-fry beef with noodles for Harlan, bourbon chicken and rice for her. Harlan led her over to a table by the window, stepping carefully through the jumble of tables and diners.

They sat. The world outside seemed blindingly bright compared to the restaurant; the people struggling and sweating through the heat with like sleepwalkers.

Dana opened her carton, but didn't dig in. "Purrloin, lunchtime!"

She cracked his Pokeball over the side of the table. Her partner emerged, stretched, and lifted his head, sniffing intently at the air.

Dana grinned at him. "First time in a restaurant?"

He leapt into her lap and immediately started trying to scarf down her chicken.

"Down, down! We'll share." She said, laughing. She pushed him away before setting out a separate dish for him. "I got extra meat just for you."

Purrloin gave her an appraising look before nodding. She parceled out his portion and barely got her hands away before he buried his face in the dish, eating feverishly.

"Wow," Harlan said. "He does that all the time?"

"It's because he was wild, I think." She jabbed her fork into her own food and lifted a mouthful of rice. "He's used to fighting for his food. The Pokemon Center said he's underweight, but that'll change now that he has a steady diet."

Harlan glanced at Purrloin before putting a hand to his belt. "Patrat, come on out." His Patrat joined them, its nose twitching as it took in their surroundings. Harlan bent down and offered it some of his noodles. Patrat cocked its head at him before snatching up a pawful of mixed vegetables out of his box. Instead of joining him though, it skittered away under the table, hiding beneath one of the unused chairs. Harlan looked at it, shrugged, and went back to eating.

Dana watched, her brow furrowed. It seemed like Harlan didn't know what to do with Patrat. "How long have you had it?"

"Only a few weeks," Harlan said. "It's… well, it's embarrassing, but I mostly got him for the pay raise."

"The what?"

Harlan rubbed his first three fingers together in the 'cash' gesture. "Trainers make more money in Plasma than non-trainers. It's payment for special skills. It's why you got such a crazy mission on your first day."

"Really…" Dana murmured pensively. She hadn't realized being a trainer made that much difference to Plasma. They were all fighting for the same cause, weren't they?

"It's one of the reasons Piper hates my guts," Harlan remarked, grinning. "She's got a serious hate-bone-" He coughed loudly. "Er- a real hate-on for trainers. It's one of the reasons I broke up with her."

Dana nodded, her mouth full of chicken and rice, her mind working through what he'd said.

Piper didn't have a single Pokemon? There were plenty of people who didn't- neither of her parents were trainers, but Team Plasma was a Pokemon rights group. It seemed logical that Plasma members would love Pokemon.

She swallowed. "She's not a trainer at all?"

"Nope. She's a separatist." Harlan paused. "Did Fay explain that to you?" When Dana shook her head, he explained. "Separatists are the people in Plasma who want to free all Pokemon."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"All of them. And then separate them from humans. And then overthrow the Pokemon League so nobody can control Pokemon again."

Dana paused with her fork half-way to her mouth. That was… that was certainly extreme. She wanted to liberate Pokemon, but segregating them from humans? Her Pokemon were her friends, her partners, her family. It was unthinkable.

As for overthrowing the League… she honestly hadn't thought about it. But she wasn't going to ask Harlan to elaborate and betray her ignorance. The League had always been something she wrote off as an adult matter, something beyond her scope, and it was biting her in the butt now. She knew enough though, that toppling it sounded just as extreme as total Pokemon separation.

"You're lucky you're in this district," Harlan said thickly through a mouthful of noodles. "Fay is an equalist- that's what you'd call me, and probably you, if I had to guess. And Bronius is pretty liberal also."

"Equalist?"

He shrugged. "Pokemon should be our equals. Liberation is… well… I don't see a need, you know? I don't like seeing Pokemon get hurt. We need to treat them better. But we don't need to get rid of them entirely."

Dana smiled at him. "I can agree with that."

There was a short lull in the conversation after that where they both focused on eating. Dana split more of her food with Purrloin. He ate for a moment, and then surprised her when he ripped a large hank of his chicken in half and offered it to her. She speared it with her fork, scooped up some rice, and ate it.

"Merci, Purrloin."

Harlan looked disgusted, but Dana ignored him. Purrloin was her partner, there was no reason she couldn't share his food like he shared hers. That's what equal meant.

She finished her portion and pushed the carton away. "Hey… Harlan. Changing the subject a little, but I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Mmf," Harlan said. He hurriedly swallowed his noodles before answering. "What's up?"

She glanced around before leaning in. "This stays between us, okay? You can't tell Fay."

His face turned grave. "What's wrong?"

"Don't tell Fay," she repeated. "But… I need your help."

"Don't beat around the bush, kid."

"I didn't know who else to turn to, but…" She leaned even closer, her voice barely a whisper. "I need to find an apartment."

Harlan spat out his drink.

XXX

As it turned out, Harlan had his own apartment in Striaton, and, after he mopped up his soda, could recommend a few housing websites.

Dana only had one more day in the Pokemon Center before she started having to pay like it was a hotel, and her anxiety was becoming a palpable weight. She'd lived outside when she was first journeying, but she hadn't enjoyed it, and it seemed a little embarrassing now. Plasma operatives shouldn't live in a tent like some kind of hobo.

Trainers had certain privileges that normal people didn't- she could legally get an apartment, but finding someone who would actually rent to a teenager was a different story.

Beyond that, most of the places she'd checked online the night before had either been way out of her price range- she still didn't know how much she made in Plasma, or had made specific notes about "No Pokemon/Pets."

"Don't worry about it," Harlan said. "I'll talk to my landlord and see what he says. And…" he paused, thinking. "I can ask around at HQ and see if anyone has any ideas."

Dana's palm hit the table with a crash. "No!" A few of the other diners looked over, and she blushed and lowered her voice. "Please don't. I don't want Fay to know… it's the kind of thing that would worry her."

Harlan gave her a flat look. "Give me a little credit, Dana."

"Please?"

He sighed. "I'll make sure Fay doesn't hear about it."

Dana bookmarked the websites he recommended on her phone, and the meal drew to a close with them discussing Striaton's layout, and whether she cared about North-side traffic or South-side shopping.

XXX

Returning to the plaza after an hour in the chilly Kanton Kitchen was like stepping into an oven. Dana gave an involuntary groan, and Harlan made a similar noise beside her. He returned his Patrat, but Dana, after a moment of deliberation, left Purrloin free. He could stretch his legs before she returned him, but she was going to keep an eye on him. She didn't need to deal with another pick-pocketing. Purrloin seemed to be too sleepy after eating to get into much trouble anyway. He leapt onto her shoulders and settled around her neck like a fur collar, purring softly.

Harlan shoved his way through the crowd, now somewhat diminished, and they returned to the bench by the shoe store. Piper was already there, sitting with her legs crossed, and poking away at her phone.

She looked up as they approached. "How was lunch, Dana, did you-" Piper hesitated, her mouth twisting into a frown. "Is that your Purrloin?"

Dana glanced at Harlan. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she turned away. "Purrloin is mine," she said resolutely.

"Ah." Piper's frown grew a little deeper. She opened her mouth to speak again, paused, and said, her voice icily calm, "I didn't realize you were a trainer."

"Yup," Dana said. Purrloin went still and stopped purring, his body tensing as he sensed her agitation. She didn't miss the look Piper gave him, or the way Piper's eyes swept over to Harlan, narrowing knowingly at him.

Finally, Piper sighed deeply and shook her head. "I should have figured. I- it's too fucking hot for this shit…" She stood, wiped her brow, and nodded to Dana. "We'll talk tomorrow at lunch, okay?"

She walked away without another word. Dana frowned as Piper took up position on the far end of the plaza and returned to pamphleting. She'd half-expected Piper to yell at her, to do something, but it seemed more like Piper had been disappointed in her.

"Told you," Harlan muttered. "Total separatist."

"Should I say something to her?" She wasn't sure what to do, or what to say; Piper's rejection was just so bizarre. She wasn't going to apologize for Purrloin- there was nothing to apologize for, but she hated the way Piper had looked at her, like Dana had let her down. It felt like she'd failed somehow.

"I wouldn't bother," Harlan said with a grimace. "I told you we dated, right? We argued about this kind of sh- thing all the time. She's pretty set in her ways. You'd probably just make it worse."

"Maybe." Dana's eyes found Piper again. Piper handed a manifesto to a young couple, smiling at them. They laughed at something she said, and walked away.

Silently, Dana resolved to get to the bottom of it. There had to be some way she could talk to Piper. They were both Plasma, both fighting for Pokemon, there had to be common ground they could find.

She didn't want another Gracia.

XXX

"Have you heard of Team Plasma? We're a Pokemon Rights group that…"

It felt awkward to start passing out pamphlets again, but Dana quickly fell back into the rhythm. She had a different position now, at the center of one of the thoroughfares leading into the plaza. It was a better choice, one she'd remember for the next time she did this. A men's clothing store stood just tall enough to block out of the sun and leave her in shadow.

Additionally, and Dana felt a little guilty for thinking of it, but her spot meant that she had her back to Piper. Just looking at the woman made her itch. There had to be something she could do…

She returned Purrloin after a half hour. He went with a grateful meow, and she kept on passing out manifestos, but his absence was a greater drain than the summer heat.

"Hi, have you heard of Team Plasma?"

Harlan sidled over to her after a while. Dana squinted up at the big clock overlooking the plaza. The bronze hands read 2:30, the clock face a giant mirror in the sunlight.

"I'm heading back," Harlan said.

Dana nodded, and handed a pamphlet to a girl trainer even smaller than she was. "I'm going to stay for a while."

"It's not getting any cooler out here, kid." He rubbed the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. "And besides… Fay will string me up if you get heat stroke or something."

A hot flush of embarrassment went through her. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Harlan said, shrugging. "It's Fay's orders. She said that two near-death experiences in two days were enough for her."

Her flush turned molten. Fay did what?

"I-… thanks, Harlan." Dana paused, unable to look him in the eye. There was an awkward beat where neither of them said anything.

Dana's thoughts raced into overdrive. How was she supposed to prove herself with Fay limiting her? Her usual method of going above and beyond would just make Fay think she was over-doing it again.

Someone passed her by and she handed them a pamphlet, the motion automatic by now. "Pokemon Rights are everyone's rights."

Dana stopped. Pamphlets. "How about this? I've got… three… four… six more." She showed Harlan her stack. "I'll pass those out and go home."

He thought for a moment, and then shrugged again. "Deal. But you stay hydrated, okay?"

Great Arceus, if he kept this up she was going to die of shame.

"Bye, Harlan."

"Cya, kid." He smirked at her before departing with a wave.

Dana returned to her task, chewing her lip as she stewed over what he'd said.

Had Fay seriously ordered him to watch out for her? It was mortifying. She wasn't a child. It was more was the fact that Fay had taken action than what she'd actually done. Really, it was gratifying that Fay cared enough to look out for her. The Captain had done a lot for her so far, and Dana felt her debts to the woman growing by the day. But she hated, hated, hated being a burden on Fay; that Fay felt that she needed to be looked after like a little kid.

"Pokemon Rights are- oh, thanks anyway," she said, withdrawing her hand as an older man waved her off.

The wind picked up a few minutes later, but it brought no relief. It was like standing in front of a sauna; waves of steamy, sweaty heat buffeted her.

Dana hissed and turned her face away from the gale. Her nose and cheeks felt raw and tender - definitely sunburnt - when the wind hit them. A bead of sweat on her brow chose that moment to drip straight down into her scar. The new skin stung and itched, and Dana rubbed it with a sleeve, only serving to irritate her sunburnt face more.

She wasn't going to say it aloud, but this sucked. She only had four pamphlets left to go though, and she wasn't walking away unless she was empty-handed. Her pride demanded it.

"Hi, have you heard…?"

Three.

"Pokemon are our equals, not our possessions."

Two.

"Pokemon Rights are everyone's rights."

A teenage boy a little older than her stopped. He had dark hair and glasses, and was somehow unruffled by the humid heat. It took her a moment of him staring at her for her to realize that he was waiting for her to continue.

"Oh- ah- hi, have you heard of Team Plasma?"

"Yes."

Dana perked up. "Really?" The people who had so far were far in the minority. "So um… what have you heard?"

The boy's even, unflinching gaze made her squirm a little. "I saw a rally in Accumula Town," he said coolly. "I find myself a little skeptical about the whole thing. How are you supporting Pokemon?"

Hastily, she unfolded a pamphlet, pointing to the relevant section. "We have numerous donations to Pokemon shelters, and last year we spear-headed a-"

"No," the boy interrupted. "How are you supporting Pokemon by making trainers free them? That doesn't make any sense to me. Pokemon only get stronger by being with humans and battling."

That gave her pause. She squinted at the boy. "What do you mean?"

"Pokemon want to grow strong. It's how they evolve and grow. It's their nature to battle each other." The boy put a hand to his chin, thinking, before he said. "So really, if we let them go, we're forcing them to keep battling, but without our support."

Dana's mouth fell open. "Are you joking?"

"Are you?" he countered.

She made to speak again, but he pointed to her belt; at the Pokeball hanging there. "If trainers are so bad, then why do you have a Pokemon?"

Dana tugged the ball free and held it up before her. "Because he chose to be mine."

"So you own him?"

Is that your Purrloin? I didn't realize you were a trainer.

She shook her head, forcing the thought away. "You can't own a Pokemon. I don't have a problem with all trainers; I just think Pokemon should have a choice."

It was the boy who hesitated this time, his eyes sharp behind his glasses. "I see… I… hadn't thought of it that way."

Dana licked her lips and took a deep breath, steeling herself to say what she knew she had to. Piper's words kept echoing through her, fueling a desire to prove the woman wrong, to prove that she was looking out for Pokemon, to prove that she wasn't like that anymore.

"Test it."

The boy cocked his head. "Pardon?"

Her heart jittered, beginning to pound now with the weight of the moment. "You should test it. You can't own Pokemon. So you should give yours a choice- let them choose if they want to stay with you. If they stay, it means they're happy, and I have no problem with them. If they leave, it means they were suffering."

He stared at her for a long minute, the two of them a little knot of silence in the center of the footpath.

Finally, he spoke, a note of uncertainty in his voice. "Did you do that? Did you… make yours choose?"

Dana's hand tightened around Purrloin's ball.

Their faces flashed through her mind's eye.

Simon-Menchi-Rose-Purrloin- no- not Purrloin. Never Purrloin. It was different now. She was different.

Slowly, Dana nodded, whispering her words. "They left."

The boy went very still, only his eyes moving, flicking from her face to her belt, back and forth.

"I- I see," he murmured. "I… you've given me a lot to think about."

He turned away stiffly, and started to walk away.

"Wait!"

She stepped forward and held out a pamphlet to him. The cover caught the sun, bouncing the light off his glasses and turning them into opaque squares, hiding his gaze from her.

"I was in the same place you were," she said, her words coming breathless, high and fast now; sharing the secret she'd never told anyone. "I had this same conversation with someone else. And it changed my entire life."

He took the manifesto and examined it.

"Just… just think about it, okay?" Dana pled. She'd imagined this moment, but she'd never realized how brittle it would make her feel. It was like reliving that time, watching herself break all over again.

The boy was quiet, reading the pamphlet cover and not looking at her. Would he break as well?

"I'll think about it," he said. "Thank you for your time." He turned away again.

"What's your name?" The question came without thought, but as she said it, she found she wanted desperately to know.

The boy didn't turn this time. He stopped and looked back over his shoulder at her.

"Cheren."

"I'm Dana. I- I'm glad I met you."

Cheren walked away without another word. Dana watched until he disappeared around a corner, and then stared at the place where he'd gone for another long moment, her clothes rippling in the summer wind.

The feelings inside her swirled together; happy, sad, glad, proud, triumphant, despairing, and though she knew how she should feel, she couldn't quite manage it.

Dana sighed and rubbed sweat out of her scar again. Give her another go at the Dreamyard, or Round Two with Gracia… anything would be easier than what she'd just done.

Did you make yours choose?

She smiled sadly, and then forced herself to return to her task anyway.

Duty was duty. And doing the right thing was never easy.

Even if it made her remember- (Rose) -that time, and how stupid and fragile she'd been. Every pamphlet was a chance, a turning point. Just as a Plasma Squire in Castelia had handed her a brochure- (have you heard of Team Plasma, darling?), she did now. If one person, just one found their way because of Plasma, then she had done the right thing.

She stayed until she passed out the final pamphlet.

XXX

Not 100% happy with this... I really need to block out the story in better detail, but I'm back on 70+ hour work weeks and just can't find the energy.

Meant to get more into Dana's personal life and habits here, but the chapter was running a little long already. Next time.