Chapter 34: Criminal sleuths
Morning
Sinnoh
Snowpoint City, Temple
The trio stared up at the temple with wonder. Their breaths formed a small cloud in front of them. Platina's ink blue eyes took in the ancient structure; it was worn and cracked in places. Unlike other temples, which were often grandiose and built high, Snowpoint temple was a single story, the building was constructed out of grey stone. Thick pillars held up a flat roof and several arches gave the sanctuary a sacrosanct look. With a trained eye, she scrutinized the architecture and nodded knowingly to herself. Despite its looks, the temple was not abandoned, there were no moss forming between the slate stones and the roof was relatively snow free. The team was dressed warmly, she wore a pink fur lined jacket and Diamond had put on so much clothing, he appeared fat, right now, the boy was adjusting a scarf around his neck. As for Pearl, he simply threw a green muffler and pulled the sleeves of his shirt down. It was a good day to infiltrate the temple, the heiress thought. Today, Snowpoint was blessed with diamond dust, a particular type of snow which glittered like gems. Thanks to the stunning snowfall, the rest of the city were celebrating, the guards near the temple were simply put to sleep via a hypnosis and the three trudged up to the building, their foot prints were slowly being covered by snow.
"Dia, now is really not the time to eat!" Pearl admonished. His best friend simply let go of his muffin and it fell at his feet. The other two grimaced at his actions, no matter how much they tried to convince themselves that he was back to normal, it was evident that Diamond next to them won't ever be the same.
"This is a sacred place Dia, please do not litter." Platinum's firm request had him picking up the discarded pastry; he put it into a disposable bag and stuffed it in his backpack.
"Sorry, I won't do it again" he apologized and grinned. The three of them shared looks and turned towards the structure looming before them. "Guess we have to go in and investigate huh? And try to capture the leader of the titans. We'll do it! All three of us!" Nodding, the trio entered the building together, darkness swallowing up their forms.
Close by, a figure sat on a bird pokemon and watched the criminals enter the temple, a smirk formed on his face as he watched the proceedings with interest through a pair of binoculars. A slowking levitated near him.
"Can't believe they told me to tail the Berlitz heiress and those brats..." he murmured to himself, "Boss wants them alive, apparently they are part of something big? Really? Those scrawny kids? Oh well, if they can't get out of a tiny avalanche...Then they are not worthy." Peeling the magnification device off his eyes, he eyed the slowking with distaste. "Eh, this thing is as dopey as its old man of a master, anyway, Slowking, use blizzard." Instantaneously a gale brewed. It spurred on the ice covering the mountains behind the temple and with an almighty groan; an avalanche of snow began descending. Cackling mirthfully and casting a nonchalant gaze at the jubilant citizens, the individual soared away. What happened to this city was none of his concern.
Inside the temple, Pearl and Diamond took great pleasure in skating on the icy floors; Platina's warnings fell on deaf ears. The interior walls of the temple depicted beautiful rock paintings. Leaving the playful duo to their devices, the noble stood before the carvings and studied them zealously. Enraptured, she moved slowly and took in the history. The titans which where four altogether, were responsible for breaking the giant landmass created by Groudon. A golem esque figure was depicted standing on a gigantic continent. This continent was split and the other, smaller titans attached mystical chains to the jagged masses and pulled them apart, scattering them across the face of the Poke-verse. Their toiling work done, the titans weakened, shrunk and went to sleep. Now she saw them periodically in specially made holding cages back at their base, the only one which hadn't been captured was the leader of the titans. From what her leader told her, it should be found in the lowest level of Snowpoint temple. As another thump and muffled laughter issued from behind her, she regally turned to give her two friends a piece of her mind, however, before anything could be said, the temple trembled and her ears could pick out a distant rumbling.
"Earthquake?" Diamond asked and indolently picked himself off the ice, he was the only one who was not panicking.
"No, it's an avalanche." the blonde of the group corrected, "...Great, we'll be buried under snow...I'm done with these missions where my life is constantly in danger!" he screeched and sat down on the floor. The grimness of their predicament slowly dawned on them. Soon, the mountain of snow will bury them and no one would know of three teenagers who illegally entered the building. They could die and their frozen, preserved corpses would take weeks to find.
"Pearl..." Diamond gently shook the depressed boy, "we'll make it out of here" he enunciated each world clearly, "once we capture Regigigas, we'll bust our way outta here." The orange eyed boy imparted a tired smile.
"Yeah," his usually loud tone was subdued, "I'm just tired...Of being cooped up and scared." Inhaling deeply, he abruptly stood up and gave a shout. Slapping both of his cheeks, he psyched himself and led the charge downstairs. Dia giggled and marched after him whilst Platina shook her head and wiped the worried look off her face. Her head buzzed. It was time for an adventure.
Afternoon
Hoenn
Slateport
Instead of focusing on the map laid out before her, Whi-2 cast longing glances at her senior. The adolescent was wearing a long haired black wig, the ebony strands were pulled into a ponytail. Silver pigmented eyes stared intently at a few maps and after consulting another newspaper clipping, he took a marker and made another circle. Casting her cobalt gaze around the library and noting that there were the only ones in the quite building, she bravely whispered out the question which was gnawing on her mind for the past few days. Yes, their assignment of penetrating the two organized crime syndicates was important, but her queries were urgent.
"Senior Silver?" he hummed a response, "so...how did your date go?" She smiled innocently as smoldering eyes locked on to her. Closing his eyes briefly in irritation, he replied:
"You've been dying to ask me that weren't you?" His junior nodded unashamedly and a defeated sigh parted from his lips. "Fine, I'll keep it short and afterwards you focus on your work, this is your first solo mission and you need all the advice you can get. Understand?" her head bobbed and she eagerly pitched forward in her chair as Silver related from memory.
The two adolescents stood on the cobblestoned street in front a fancy cafe in Goldenrod city. Silver had never seen Gold look this nervous, the man was fidgeting and running his hands through his hair several times a minute. Crystal was running late, which was odd. Finally, unable to bear the silence between them, the flirtatious trainer took a look at his best friend and blurted out:
"Why is it that you always look better than me?" Gold irises swung up and down and took in his companion dressed in a purple sleeveless tunic and jeans, "did you dress up?"
"Arceus no Gold, why would I? It's just Crystal" He curbed the urge to walk away from this arrangement.
"Yeah," the trainer agreed, "it's just...Oh hey, there's super serious gal!" When the indigo haired female came before them, the two once again gaped at her. Never did Silver see his comrade wearing a dress. But here she was, wearing a floral printed one which fell just above her knees. Mechanically, he looked at her feet and was surprised by the shoes she wore, the heels were so thin and long, she could stab someone with it. Crystal's hair was loose, thick dark blue strands falling neatly over her shoulders. Inwardly, he admitted to himself that she looked nice.
"Whoa, looking good there strict gal!" Gold winked appreciatively and Crystal grinned. The three of them stood there and chatted awkwardly, a while later they seated themselves at a table inside the well decorated cafe. Crys was squirming; she preferred more casual places and this shop looked like it would cost a fortune to eat in. Ordering coffee and the most expensive cakes she could muster, the three of them ate to their fill. She looked at Gold who cheerfully (and suavely) paid for all their bills...His gambling funds were probably taking a dip. No matter, he owed both of them money anyway. On exiting the classy restaurant, Gold asked where she wanted to go.
"The safari park," she gleefully added and the mischievous glimmer faded from his eyes.
"Seriously? You wanna go to the zoo? Why not the amusement park, we can ride the roller coaster together and if you get scared, I'll be-"
"Silver, let's go, we can take the train to Cianwood city." she interjected into his nonsensical ramblings and the duo left. Gold followed forlornly, Aibo popped out of his pokeball and messed his hair up further. As he trailed behind, a few other females smiled and waved to him, his original purpose forgotten, he dropped out to have a cordial chat only stopping when he saw his friends boarding the train. When Crystal and Silver was about to take a seat together, he shoved himself between them. The red head snorted and moved to a different seat whilst he and Crystal sat together. She paid no attention to him; her eyes were glued to the scenery outside. Gold took another good look at her and his eyes trailed down her well-dressed form and halted at her hand. Her slim wrist was encircled by a bejeweled cuff and slowly, very slowly he reached out and tried to hold her hand. For some inexplicable reason, she had to grab her purse and fish her poke-gear out. Yellow was calling.
"No senior, it's rather boring and I'm feeling uncomfortable in the shoes senior Blue forced me in. On the other hand, they make good weapons. I can stab Gold if he gets too annoying." she cast a sly look at him and smiled Taking no offence he showed a mouthful of teeth in return. Unfortunately, the gossip between the two girls continued for a good part of the short train ride and by the time she and Yellow were finished talking, they were stepping into the safari park. Here, Crystal lighted up and wasted no time dragging her two friends through the different zones and launching on a lecture on how to effectively capture them. At one time, her heels, not suitable for rough terrain caused her to trip over a rock and she went crashing into Gold. Seeing the two all flustered, Silver elected to bolt from there. When he turned, a hand shot out and grabbed on his clothes. It was Gold.
"You are not leaving" the black haired man gritted firmly, "stay with me and Crys." Mentally giving up, he tagged along. When the sun started setting, the indigo haired adolescent finally left the park. By now they were all tired and Gold complained clamorously:
"This was the worst date ever! Clearly you haven't been to one" he lightly admonished Crystal who rolled her eyes, "Listen up, when a guy and a gal goes on a date, the gal has to act all shy and sweet and let the guy handle the things. And you go to amusement parks, movies or the musicals, not the freaking zoo!" he stopped ranting when she started laughing.
"Yes, it was a bad date. I was feeling all awkward and formal, next time, let's just hangout okay? We can go to the theater or wherever. Wheew," she fanned herself and looked upwards, the other two followed suit and beheld the evening sky dotted with glittering stars. Some of them were so big; they were the size of fists. A white streak of light arced past the blue black heaven and she shouted "Quick, make a wish, Jirachi's awake, it's a shooting star!" Clasping their eyes shut, each of them prayed for a different thing. Gold voiced his one loudly:
"I wish the three of us can stay like this forever." Saying this, he engulfed the other two in a hug. Silver relented and threw his arms around him and Crystal huddled in the middle.
They stood there, underneath the stars.
"...That's it?" Whi-2's face was scrunched up in disbelief.
"Not really, Gold and Crystal were bickering throughout the day. And I fell asleep on the train."
"Your date was really unromantic." Her senior's gaze sharpened.
"And you have work to do" he quipped, "besides; the three of us are best friends, so obviously it would end up as a disaster, what did you expect? Fluff and rainbows?" Saying this he got up, the chair squeaked on the linoleum floor and he gathered his all his loose sheets, data and maps. "Whi-2" his tone was grave, "from here on out, you are on your own. We constellate members specialize in individual work, of course you can call me if you are in trouble and I'll try to help to the best of my abilities. Your mission is to find this team Aqua wherever they maybe. It may take days, it may take weeks, but you have to find them. Also, it will be in your best interest to remember to disguise yourself and be flexible in your task. One last thing," the more he talked, the more worried Whi-2 became, nonetheless she put up a brave front, "if you are in danger, abort the mission or call me. Do not attempt to carry your assignment out when you know you can't...Understand?" the girl wondered if she should salute, this sounded like a military drill.
"Yes sir" her eyes narrowed and Silver handed her several calling cards.
"Use them wisely; we do not want to leave unnecessary trails." Shouldering a bag, the adolescent threw her a comforting lopsided grin and walked out of the library, Whi-2 listened to the squeaking of his sneakers as it faded away and suddenly felt very alone.
Outside, the red headed male looked back at the entrance to the library and briefly contemplated if his junior would be okay. The realization amused him somewhat, he was worried about Whi-2 and the youngster had grown on him since she joined their ranks. Unlike Lack-2, who only opened up to his perverted mentor, this girl had made good friends with most of the Dex-holders in the base. Her personality morphed from overly shy to outgoing. Focusing his mind on the present, Silver let out his honchkrow and ordered the avian to take him to Mauville, his search would start at the hub city. The newspaper clippings he used to mark key points on the map were a few years old and news of the two criminal groups' actions were rather sporadic, however, the phantom thief knew the two were still operational. Some months earlier, they hijacked a rocket, their activities may seem bizarre but it was only a prelude of what was to come. Soaring through the cloudless skies of Hoenn, he touched down in the middle of the bustling city. Not disorientated in the least, his gaze was drawn to the Game Corner. It reminded him of Gold. Deciding to check the casino as a last resort, he went to the food court, hopefully he will be able to pick up some rumors and cross reference them with the information he gathered, it will aid him greatly. Once in the court, he eyed the advertised food hungrily and after an internal debate he relented and ordered a course. The moment he sat down at a table, a drove of people surged towards him and demanded a battle.
"NO" his frigid response chilled the demanding crowd, most of the children and school kids bolted after taking a look at him, unfortunately a brutish man stood his ground and leered.
"What's up dude? Scared you gonna get beat down? Is it bad for the tough guy image?" he slung a beefy, hairy arm around Silver's stiff shoulders and pushed his face in, "the Mauville Food court ain't for wimps like you." Steaming with controlled rage, the trainer looked at the thug squarely in the eye and challenged.
"If I beat you, you tell me what I want to know, deal?"
The man guffawed and called his cronies to join in the fun, the gang failed to see how a cruel gleam took hold of their opponent's eyes. Silver suppressed a cold smirk which was threatening to break out on his face. The situation was hilarious, alas, he must exercise restraint, there were people watching. Flanking the combating duo, the other ruffians jeered at him. The two battlers sent out their pokemon, out popped a lickilicky and kingdra. Silver licked his lips, this was too easy. Without missing a heartbeat, the red head commanded first:
"Kingdra, use dragon dance and hydro pump." The opposing thug decided to attack from the get go, as kingdra swiveled around and bulked up, a long pink tongue lashed out and struck the water dragon, it wrapped around and soon kingdra slowed in its dance. Lickilicky, akin to its master who was cheering exuberantly, gained a victorious sparkle in its beady eyes. Grounding itself, it jerked backwards and hauled kingdra in, the moment the two monsters were a few feet apart, the blue dragonoid let hydro pump rip, the normal type squealed, let go of the water type and tottered backwards. The tiles in the complex were slick water, as the beast tried to put some distance, it slipped and fell. Mercilessly, an ice beam froze it into place. Mouth falling open, the gang watched as their boss' prized pokemon fainted helplessly in a block of translucent ice. The tension broke when kingdra was recalled and the waiter brought Silver's order over.
"Please enjoy and come again." he bowed respectfully.
The chaos returned to normal. Sitting opposite Silver, the man watched as the thief slurped his noodles loudly. True to their deal, he divulged all the information he knew about team magma.
"Heard they have a base of operations in the jagged pass near mount Chimney. Those people are bad news, you don't wanna mess with them buddy." Shifting closer, the rough tone dropped to a whisper, "I used to tangle with them back in the days but not anymore, at first they were like us normal thugs, doing low time things but then, they grew and things got more hectic. Apparently they want to expand the land mass to accommodate more people or somthin' like that. Their actions are very organized and ever since the rocket fuel stealing fiasco, they've hidden themselves...you wanna hear something good?" Silver, still busy with his noodles nodded and the man leaned so close that the red head could smell his breath...it smelt of stale smoke and was rather unpleasant, "there are rumors in the underground that Team Aqua and Magma joined forces, although they are rivals, they teamed up to complete their goals together. Dunno how much credibility a rumor has but that's all I got for you mate," he paused and then asked, "Hey...Are you like undercover or something? I mean you are interested bout these two criminal organizations right? What are you?"
Done with his noodles (finally) he set the bowl down with a heavy thump and stared into it, the food was good. "I'm part of the international police" he lied unblinkingly and watched as the informant's mouth fell open with awe, "Currently, my accomplice and I trying to find these two groups so thanks for the information, I should be going now." Silver got up and handed the man a card, thereafter he bolted. Alone, the person sighed and looked down at the paper in his hands, the smile he was wearing morphed into mild terror as he inspected the card critically, on one half there was a cluster of dark blue stars, on the other, a mug-shot of kingdra. Turning it over, he saw a single letter in a fancy script. The letter C. Looking around to see if anyone noticed him breaking out in a cold sweat, he crumpled the paper and thrust it into his pocket. His heart hammered into his chest. The person he taunted was part of the international crime syndicate. The Dex criminals, they were assumed to have disbanded until recently when they resurfaced and caused great casualties in Unova.
If they were here in Hoenn...his legs felt weak, perhaps, he should stop toying with the underground. The information he heard there was not good for any sane person's heart.
Several hours later
Hoenn
Near Mount Chimney
Silver held open his map and gazed at the area, the volcanic ash spewing forth from mount chimney was dusting his hair, clothes and boots. From the information he procured, team Magma should have a base of operations here. The jagged pass surely lived up to its name; compressed, reddish brown straits were punctuated by roughly hewn stairs of rock. There were very few trees for cover but the natural landscape already kept people away from the area. He spied a few hardy trainers and hikers, several rock pokemon peeked out from the sparse dry tall grass and trees. Taking out a pair of binoculars, he climbed into a tree, gave the area a sweep and came up with nothing. The straits were uneven, there were no evidence to suggest a large amount of people walked on these paths, on the slopes, he peered for an indentation in the rock face and found none. If those Magma people were still operational in the area, the pass would've looked much cleaner and there certainly wouldn't be civilians near the base. Shimmying down the tree trunk, he began hiking up the pass in order to inspect it more carefully. He questioned the local trainers and received negative replies after much searching he concluded that the team must have shifted their base somewhere else.
But where?
Somewhere close by or further away?
He consulted his map and found another isolated little island on the west side of the jagged pass; however, the sheer mountain loomed up to him. Slightly confounded, he questioned one of the trainers and was informed that the place does not exist.
"It doesn't exist dude" a lass drawled, "they say if you can soar past this mountain, you'd be able to find it...Of course no one has, Mount Chimney is the highest point in Hoenn, if pokemon goes that high, they might suffocate or something. Ya'know, the air is thinner up there. It's bad for the lungs..." she continued to prattle and Silver walked to the edge, he put a gloved hand on the rock face and looked up, sure enough, it seemed to stretch to the clouds. Not deterred in the slightest, he let his honchkrow out.
"Let's do this," he muttered, "Sis is counting on us." With an almighty heave of its midnight tinted wings, the pokemon rose in the air. It soared higher and after considerable amount of time, the trainer began to worry. They were very high up in the air, amongst the clouds and he wondered how his partner was doing, surely the amount of flying they did was going to take a toll on the bird's health. Gently urging it, he began circling and flying in and out of the clouds. To his dismay, the only thing he could see was the mountain. Inhaling deeply, he tried again, this time he peered intently through the magnification device and combed the area. He needed to find the fabled Gnarled den, most likely the people he was searching for will be there.
But what if this was all for naught?
The tiny irresolution gnawed at his mind, it grew bigger, trying to blow out of proportion. Honchkrow was tired, this was evident by how the large bird was dipping ever so slightly, still, it tried to maintain a steady pace for its trainer. Through his lenses, the view was rather picturesque, miles and miles of blue ocean and cream foamed waves. Panning, his eyes locked on to an indiscernible landmass and he peered at it to reassure himself that it was not a mirage. With renewed vigor, he urged his companion to go further. The sorry beast nearly made it. Wings, fatigued and bruised, honchkrow have a pathetic cry and tumbled with Silver on its back. The normally reserved trainer screamed when he fell through the air, his mind blanked as the sandy beach rushed up to him. Closing his eyes firmly his body hit the ground with a hard thump and he passed out.
Evening
Hoenn
Sootopolis
Wallace gave an exaggerated twirl and the audience gave off an ear shattering cheer. In the seats, Whi-2 contemplated on how she got herself into this predicament. After senior Silver had left, she studied her map and intelligence for a while and set off for Mossdeep to investigate further. The locals mainly spoke about a group of people who managed to hijack a rocket launch and steal its fuel. According to them, they were dressed in maroon and blue. Her search took her everywhere and since she was disguised, the girl had no qualms about approaching people and asking. Touring through the city eventually got her to the gym, standing at the threshold, she changed her mind and was about to walk away when she bumped into a man who reminded her of Ruby. Tall and lean, his outfit made her blush (no decent man is supposed to have the sides of his pants cut that low) and he sported a white beret resting on teal hair. Stammering an apology, she tried to move past him but the man bent to her level and asked if she was in trouble. Thinking fast, she told him that she was doing an investigation on Team Aqua for a school project; the stranger looked a bit doubtful but agreed to help her. Now, she was sitting in a front row seat in one of the contest halls in Sootopolis and trying hard not to look at the way Wallace and his water pokemon was waltzing around the gaudy stage. Maybe if his outfit covered up what's supposed to be covered, she'd enjoy the show more.
"And thank you for coming to watch my show! Stay tuned for more~" he bowed deeply as the curtains closed. The viewers got up and Whi-2 tried to shoulder past the members to get to the backstage. As she shoved through throngs of women (he seemed to be especially popular amongst them) she overheard something that stopped her cold in her tracks.
"...Yeah, even with his gym leader duties...contests and now he's doing volunteer work for the police..."
POLICE.
She rooted on the spot and her mind reeled.
"And did you hear...Those Aqua members are at it again...I don't know who is worse, those Dex-criminals or Team Aqua..." As she strained to hear the two gossiping women, some other person shoved her out of the way, desperately; she tailed the duo amongst the jostling crowds hoping to find a lead. Wallace was not an option anymore. "...yeah, something is astir at the cave...Ori" The people surged out through the door and dispersed. Dumfounded, Whi-2 kept on staring absentmindedly, the last words uttered made no sense. Cave? Ori? Quickly she cast another frightful look and with forced calm, evacuated the place. Stumbling into a pokemon center, she located a vacant bench and feverishly pulled the map out. Her eyes roamed the area around Sootopolis and zeroed in on a cave situated some miles away from the cratered city.
Cave of Origin, her destination. A determined glimmer took hold of her eyes. She found the place, now she simply had to make her way there, worm into the organization and bring it down from the inside out.
"I suppose she's already figured out by now" Staring at a vanity mirror, Wallace eyed Steven's reflection, the young champion was sitting in a corner of the dressing room amidst two mannequins and had a contemplative look on his face. "The girl was young; around twelve or thirteen I think and told me she was investigating Team Aqua for a school project. Lamest excuse I heard so I immediately had my suspicions since you told me the organization uses children. Well Stevie?" the young man flinched, "don't look so down, we are not sure what they'll do with Team Aqua but once those water lovers crawls out of their dens we can get them will one fell swoop eh?" The gym leader flipped his hair and swiveled to face the steel gray haired man.
"I understand, thanks for informing me, I'll keep a look out. Currently Team Aqua is in the Cave of Origin and in hiding. I don't have orders from the superiors to go after them. The threat of them using Kyogre to cause a flood looms in our faces so therefore the higher ups deemed to leave them alone." Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and left the room with a troubled expression.
Evening
Hoenn
Gnarled den's beach
"He's so handsome, can we keep him?" A woman with lilac hair shoved her cherubic face into Silver's personal space, somehow she looked really familiar, where did he see her again? Slowly, he pushed himself up and the gathering around him widened their circle. His head hurt as if he'd taken a blow from woodhammer and everything was fuzzy. Where was he? And why were these maroon clothed personnel surrounding him?
"Who the hell are you?" Another rotund male demanded harshly and poked a metal rod in his chest. It hurt.
"Who am I?" he asked stupidly and looked up. These people sported mean, twisted expressions, perhaps if he smiled, they'd be easy on him. A fresh wave of pain rolled through his head and he clutched it and curled, a whimper parted from his lips. "My head, it really hurts!" Sucking in a breath, he rocked to and fro.
"Oi," the man growled, "stop playing and tell us who you are?" Slowly, Silver looked up to him and squinted, the surroundings were blurry.
"Ah...I don't know where I am? Who are you people and where am I?" the questions kept on coming in a small voice, behind the dangerous looking posse, several fire type pokemon snarled and stamped their feet on the sand.
"Tabitha, he's got memory loss!" Courtney stood protectively in front of the curled up adolescent, "we have to take care of him."
"You are only saying that because you want to keep him" the man roared, "can't you perceive him as an active threat? People don't randomly crash into this beach here, we specifically chose this place because it's difficult to get into! All of a sudden a stray dude ends up here with no recollection of how he got here. I find it fishy!u
"He fell from a considerable height" A blonde crouched near Silver and examined him, "makes sense if he can't remember anything. It's getting late, let's take him in and keep an eye on him. It'll be Courtney's responsibility." Said female squealed delightfully and looped her arm around the newcomer. With a groan he got up and limped alongside her.
"Thanks..." a small smile bloomed on his face and Courtney blushed furiously, this person was going to be a refreshing addition to her disgusting and rather ugly looking co-workers.
A/N: Okay people, my laptop decided to die on me and so it went for repairs (Not sure if it's gonna make it though)To make things worse, my sister's laptop also decided to go into a coma on the same day and we had to re-install windows and everything. As of now, Mindy's laptop is still not fully functional but she's graciously lending it to me. At Silver: I'm so happy to see you again! Loved your summary as usual, Silver and Gold's exchange that Crys is not dumb was the funniest. At Jack54311: Eh, I guess I'm not really sure what a shipping fic is...thanks for pointing it out. At Eevee: I literally posted this chap for you, keep up with the long reviews, it keeps me going! As for your question, Blue would most likely defect. Sorry for not being able to respond properly, as I said, the laptop is not fully working. Please keep on reading and reviewing!