CHAPTER 14 – WALLET, WATCH, KEYS

After being notified by the security guard on his way out that his last battle wasn't until sundown, Ash found himself with a surprising amount of free time on his hands. He had close to six hours to prepare for his do-or-die clash against Hope at Stadium 13.

Currently, the Kanto native was leaning against the smooth steel of Stadium 11's outside wall, wondering just what he was going to do with all that spare time. He could train, but he didn't want his Pokémon to be tired going into the match. However, that presented the problem of his Pokémon not being conditioned for his match, and that was also a mistake he couldn't afford to make. He tried to make up his mind as his unfocused eyes watched hundreds of people pass by, ignoring all they saw.

Bzzzt bzzzt!

A sharp buzzing snapped Ash to attention. And of all places, it seemed to be coming from… his pants?

Giving the source of the buzzing an incredulous stare, he disbelievingly reached into his pants pocket. Sure enough, he found a small, vibrating device at the bottom, no larger than the hand he closed around it.

I don't have a phone… Ash frowned, plucking the device from his pocket. It was indeed a phone, and he flipped it over to see that someone was trying to call him. 'Incoming call: Anabel' was depicted on the front's LCD display. Wondering how an earth he had a phone that had Anabel's number on caller ID, he answered.

"Anabel?" he asked tentatively.

"Who is this?" she replied, confusion and suspicion evident in her tone.

"Uh, this is Ash," he explained slowly. He was seriously out of his element.

"Ash?" she yelped, provoking a wince from Ash. "W-w-what are you doing with Ari's phone? Where is he?"

"I have no idea, actually," he said with a laugh. "Last time I saw him, I was heading off for my battle. He said he was going to go help you prepare for yours when he left. Why?"

"But… how did you get his phone…?"

Ash shrugged unhelpfully. "Beats me," he said, but something told him that wasn't what Anabel was looking for. "I didn't steal it, if that's what you're asking!" he added suddenly.

"I know you didn't; you're not that kind of person. It's just… Ari said he was going to help me prepare for my battle against… uh, my next battle, and he hasn't shown up yet. I'm a little – rather, very – worried about him, since it's really unlike him to not follow through on a promise like this…" she finished in a fluster, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself.

"I'm sure he's fine, even if he didn't show up," he reassured, not wanting Anabel to get upset. "Maybe he remembered he had a battle around the same as yours and went to prepare for it, instead?" he offered.

Anabel didn't answer for a long time, and the wait made Ash incredibly nervous. "Maybe that's it…" she muttered finally, but Ash knew she was far from convinced.

"Hey, from what I've seen of Ari, even if something's happened, he'll be perfectly fine. He's got some really powerful Pokémon with him and he's pretty smart, too. So don't worry about him; I'm sure he'll turn up for your battle, like he said," he rambled, hoping his words were helping to soothe the distressed Salon Maiden.

"Thanks, Ash," she said gratefully. This brought a smile to Ash's face, happy that he could help. Even if they hadn't seen each other for over a year, Ash still considered Anabel a good friend, and both his compassion and chivalrous nature always compelled him to come to people's aid, regardless of the nature of their distress.

Ash himself had to admit that none of this made any sense, though. A minute ago, he was minding his own business, then he finds of all things Ari's phone in his pocket. Before he could try to retrace his steps he sees Anabel calling him, and now he finds out that either Ari lied to him about helping Anabel, or he never made it to his training session with her. And to top it all off, Anabel sounded quite distraught over Ari's mysterious disappearing act, which in turn made Ash worried. Both for Ari, and Anabel.

"Hey," Anabel piped up suddenly, getting an idea and making Ash bring the phone back to his ear, "since you're in the area, why don't you swing by Stadium 18? I'm having my battle there in a few minutes and… yeah, I was hoping you could come along and watch," she rushed, her words tumbling over each other near the end.

"I don't see why not," Ash chuckled, pushing off Stadium 11 and looking around for a signpost that could help direct him. "My next battle's not until sundown, so it's not like I've got somewhere else to be. I'd be happy to tag along for your match."

"Great, great," Anabel said with a relieved sigh. "I'll see you there, then!"

"See you there, Anabel. Oh, and good luck with your match! I know you'll do great!" he grinned confidently, clicking the phone shut. "Well, that was somewhat convenient," he mused, staring at the silver phone with a questioning yet wondrous expression on his face. Maybe I can give this to Anabel after the match so she can return it to Ari, he thought, still clueless as to how he ended up with the phone in the first place. He could always ask Ari if he noticed the next time he saw him.

"I'm sure Pikachu could use the extra time in the Pokémon Center," he murmured to himself, finding a sign with Stadium 18 on the right-pointing arm.

He didn't feel particularly happy about the sudden schedule change, but he did honestly believe that the Pokémon he had used against Ari needed a longer recovery session than usual. Plus it'd give him a nice chance to catch up with Anabel. He hadn't seen or heard from her since he left the Battle Tower way back when he was challenging the Battle Frontier. Humming to himself, Ash turned right into the main street leading away from Stadium 11, keeping his eyes peeled for more directions to Anabel's match at Stadium 18.

From her vantage point amongst the outer railings of Stadium 12, a black-clad woman shed her greatcoat and kept watch on the trainers milling around on the plaza far below. Taking a second to rummage through the coat's many pockets, she withdrew her trusty Zoom Lens and trained it on the ground. She wasn't worried about people spotting her so far up the stadium's wall, her position aided by the dominant shadows provided by the steel awning overhanging the rails. Before she could locate her target, however, a soft crackling erupted through her headset.

"Are you fucking serious?" she cursed under her breath, ripping the Zoom Lens away and pressing a button on the side of her headset. A voice easily as irritated as hers rang through.

"Care to explain to me what the meaning of your little stunt yesterday was?"

"What stunt?" she asked, regarding the call as unimportant and putting her Zoom Lens back over her eyes. In truth, she knew exactly what Samsara was calling about. A no-doubt incredulous silence followed her question, but she paid absolutely no heed to it as she scanned the plaza below for something.

"Please refrain from patronising me with your false denials," Samsara replied, his voice dangerously quiet. Remille smirked. It took a lot to get him riled up like this. Then again, pissing people off was one of Remille's strong suits, something that made her such an infamous figure to those in the right circles.

"Give it a rest with the pleasantries," she said, still annoyed by his interfering call. She was having trouble relocating her target. It had disappeared whilst she'd had to answer.

"Once you tell me why on earth you found it necessary to make a scene like that last night," he growled.

"You'll be waiting a long time for an answer," she tittered, adjusting the Zoom Lens to get a focus on those on the plaza's far side, "because I still have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"Russell Carter was admitted to hospital last night with a bullet wound through his hand!" he seethed, clearly making a grand effort to keep his voice both quiet and under control.

"You know, I'm amazed you'd be privy to information like that, considering the covert nature of his deployment here," Remille fired back smoothly, not missing a beat.

"I'm not," he replied simply. "But as per my assignment, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to figure out that I can make myself privy to that kind of information. Which leads me back to my original question; why did you shoot Carter?"

"I didn't," she said, sticking to her story. It's not like he has any idea about what's really going on here, anyways, she thought, eyes glinting as she finally found the person she was looking for. Keeping her lens trained on them, she reached an arm into her coat and began searching for another device, brushing aside a purple-and-white sphere to find the right pocket.

"Do you have any idea how much you've jeopardised our operation here?" he asked, really beginning to lose patience with the black-haired woman.

"Why should it matter? If shit like this is going down, it's just more pressure on the International Police to keep things under control here," she answered coolly. "If the agents suddenly find their own lives in danger, they'll start getting paranoid over even the slightest detail. If it happens frequently enough, they'll start suspecting a mole within their own ranks trying to set them up for the slaughter. And when they present that window of opportunity…"

Remille trailed off, her thin fingers closing around an object hidden inside a fold in the back of the greatcoat. Without a sound, the rifle slid effortlessly from its concealed compartment after a gentle tug. Remille swung it out in front of her, dropped the bipod, and steadied it on the railing. Not giving Samsara a chance to object to her logic or her plan, she switched off her headset and aimed the rifle at the young boy she'd been tracking for the last two days.

Unbeknown to the boy, she peered through the scope and lined him up in the crosshairs, fiddling with a knob on the sightings to bring his head into focus. Resisting the urge to switch on the laser pointer mounted on the frame – something that had been bred into her after decades of wielding these kinds of weapons – she followed the boy's progress as he passed by Stadium 14. His dark hair seemed quite messy, like he'd woken up with a bad case of bed hair. It made sense for him to try and disguise it with his usual choice of hat.

The same crackling as before permeated her hearing, but she tuned it out. I'm not going to listen to your bitching, Dorian, so you might as well stop trying, she silently told the headset, willing the crackling to cease and desist. True to her notoriously mechanical efficiency, her eyes refused to stray from their vigil or be distracted by the persistent sound. Once the crackling stopped, she ripped the headset off and tossed it unceremoniously into her coat.

Then she waited.

For almost a full minute, the only movement within fifty feet of her was the steady, gentle rotation of her rifle as she tracked the boy to his destination; Stadium 18. There we go… Good boy… she thought as he walked inside, disappearing from view under the trademark steel arch. Satisfied with her quick reconnaissance, she took the rifle off the railing, folded the bipod up and stowed it back in her coat. That'll give me at least an hour…

A quick consultation of her wristwatch confirmed the opening in her schedule, and she threw her coat back over her shoulders. She was done with business here. A sharp whistle of hers bounced off the metal awning, and a Pokémon appeared behind her in a swirl of cold wind. Next moment, they were both gone.

So it seems Remille's got her eyes on someone, but who? And how did Ash end up with Ari's phone?

I'm sure these questions and many more are burning away inside your heads, but as for the answers, I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait and see. Hopefully a few of you were attentive enough to pick up on the clues scattered throughout the chapters. Because I'm just a tricky bastard like that.

As a side note, I'm giving everyone who's ever read a Crown an internet high-five, since you guys (and gals) just pushed Crown over 10,000 hits during that last chapter. It's a small accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, but milestones are made to be celebrated. Give yourselves a pat on the back; you've earned it!

"Chapter 15 – Thunderous Inadvertence" will be released soon, and to make up for the shortness of this chapter here, it's going to feature another battle! And, for those of you playing at home, you may just find a familiar face hidden amongst the paragraphs. So I'll wish you happy hunting for when it gets posted.

As always, keep reading, and don't forget to review~