Chapter 49: Snapshots of life and work

One week later, mid-morning

Unova

Undella Town

Undella could be described as picturesque port town boarded by a rippling sea on one side and a low lying valley on the other. The town attracted tourists every summer and as the temperature dipped lower, the vacationists left and the overall population dwindled. Boasting beautiful beaches, elegantly constructed villas, the marine tube connecting Undella and Humilau as well as the famous bay with ancient ruins sunk in the sea; it became a popular holiday destination. Most of the buildings were crafted with unique designs and the interior designed with luxury in mind. Rooftop pools, game rooms and entertainment lounges were not uncommon. As tempting as it was to remain indoors, one could not resist the cream foamed, salty waves of the sea and beach goers were a frequent sight. Even if they remained wary of a giant ship anchored in the middle of Undella bay, the tourists pointedly ignored the menacing flag, bearing two crossed swords, fluttering atop the ship's mast and gleefully went about their holiday. Today, the caramel sands of the beach were filled with people sunbathing, swimming in the crystal blue waters or just lying around trying to appreciate outdoor life. A small crowd congregated around two people. These two males, a brown haired teenager with a bandanna on his head and a smirking amber eyed adolescent, amused the circle of beach goers with a pokemon duel. The fight's intensity rolled off in waves; nonetheless it presented an adrenaline pumping sight.

"Costa...NO!" Black hollered as his senior stood over him and leered. How Gold managed to win the battle when he had crippling type disadvantage was the question dancing in the Unova native's head. The older male grinned, ran a hand through his partially wet hair and winked; half of the females ringing the impromptu battle nearly fainted from delight. Muttering lowly, Black heaved his ancient tortoise-esque beast and proceeded to throw himself into the sea. The rest of the crowd congregated around Gold, thanking him, asking for a date or to pose for a picture before another tight voice forced the group to hastily part and let a teenage girl through. Gold showed another mouthful of teeth when Saph shouldered her way past the throng and challenged him to a battle. He had to admit she looked positively stunning in her powder pink swimsuit, although if he ever mentioned it aloud, he'd lose his brains for sure. Her calves were littered with coarse sand grains and she pushed her hair back away from her face. The winds picked up and rendered her effort for naught as her brown mane tangled and blew everywhere. She threw a pokeball in the air and amongst a shower of light and a growl; gallade appeared and took a stance. To her senior's horror, she also dropped into a fighting positing and smirked, two little fangs poking teasingly from beneath her top lip.

"Get ready to have your flimsy plank smashed into pieces." The girl declared and sprung, "Kirly...Use close combat!" Both trainer and tamed beast rushed to the opponent who stood there calm as a clam. In the next instant, Saph and her partner split apart and went for their respective targets. To the crowd's amusement, she jumped into the air and drop kicked Gold's sudowoodo, the imitation pokemon suffered a crushing blow and retaliated with a counter. Sapphire, a trickle of blood dribbling past her lips, flew through the air, back flipped and touched down, rubbing the blood stain off, she launched herself again and slammed two fists into her target. The tree-like pokemon splintered, another upper cut flung the rock type in the air and the human whistled. Immediately, gallade paused in pummeling Gold and jumped, it drew level with the flailing sudowoodo and hit it with a brick break, two fists crossed over each other and punched into the bark. The brown beast fell with a crash and threw up sand. A few more cracks spread across its body and with a low moan it fainted. Gallade and its master high fived each other whilst her senior got up and rubbed his bruised arms.

"Cave gal, this is cheating. Only you are capable of going tooth and nail with a pokemon and surviving...Aibo, time to shine buddy." The monkey came out and bounded over to one of the swimmers; it wrapped one of its appendages around the waist of young lady and grinned. His trainer did not appreciate his actions. "Get back here you monkey! First defeat Cave gal then I'll reward you with all the poffins and pokeblocks you want! My rep as a senior is at stake here...Ouch, my jaw hurts." Rubbing his aching jaw and arms, he commanded "oi, do your job. Use dual chop." Its expression morphed from devious to serious and with a giant leap, it landed over to gallade and began to hit the pokemon with its twin tails. The attacks came fast and brutal, each whack echoing loudly on the beach. Without further instructions, the long tail pokemon gathered an orb of shadows and pounded the psychic type with it. Three balls of swirling darkness were flung in rapid succession followed by a shower of stars. Saph couldn't get a word in as she tried her best to fend the mauve monkey off, unfortunately the creature was agile and every time she ventured near, it would nimbly leap away and continue to assault her Kirly. Panting heavily, the blade pokemon knelt down on one knee and passed out.

"Return!"

"Man seriously...Let's stop, I don't think my body can take another of your punches." Gold plopped down on the ground and Aibo jumped on his head. "Good work though, you've improved so much, it's frightening. You pass with flying colors Saph, I see you still haven't lost your touch...And brutality" he whispered the last part.

"I'm still no match for you..." she intoned and kicked up a quantity of sand, "you went easy on me. I bet Red asked you to."

"He didn't ask me to do anything. Commander only said that I should gauge our team's abilities, that's all to it and I just gave you my honest opinion. Besides, in a real battle, there is a possibility of you surviving more than me because of your whole train the body and pokemon philosophy."

"I suppose..." her face fell and Gold punched her lightly on the shoulder. "Thank you for battling with me today. It was thrilling experience." Beaming, she uttered a war cry and dove into the sea.

Half submerged in the salty waves, N resolutely stared at the giant ship anchored in the horizon. Team Plasma's former ship stood tall and proud in the distant ocean and it made him sick to see it. He knew the watercraft did not belong to the maniacal group any longer but beholding it gave off a nasty, choking feeling. It was a beautiful day with a shining sun and cloudless skies...Even though summer had ended, the days remained marginally hot. Soon, winter would set in and Undella would become a ghost town. N looked forward for a day of fun on the beach, however the huge vessel, bobbing up and down in the waves, managed to sour his mood. Trying to ignore it, he turned around and came face to face with Black, the teenager playfully sprayed water in his face.

"Why the long face? It's summer so cheer up will you! Take pictures so White can also share our experiences." The overly determined male climbed on carracosta's back and retrieved his phone, enthusiastically, he began clicking away. For his part, N simply tried to sink beneath the waves, he was in no spirit to celebrate. The pale adolescent drifted lazily allowing the squawking of gulls, duckletts and swanna to wash over him. His only problem happened to be the form of a screeching Black, who shunned his photography session and decided to scream his goals out to the vast ocean. People stared and N went under. He did not want to be caught up in the chocolate haired teenager's shenanigans again.

Back in Undella's fancy base, Diamond watched as his commander sat before a large, polished oak desk. Floor to ceiling length windows dominated one side of the room giving an impeccable view of the beach and sea. The table top was strewn with papers, clippings; a laptop and Red twirled a fountain pen and swiveled in the leather office chair he currently occupied. Sneakers squeaking over the white ash floor, the Sinnoh native eyed the dead fireplace and wondered if he should get a fire going...But it was too hot for a fire. Bypassing several stone colored couches, he went to the back of the room and put a plate before Red. Tearing his eyes off the ceiling, the man smiled and reached out to pinch Dia's cheeks.

"I'm really goi-ng to lose weight one day you know." the boy deadpanned and stuffed a cookie in his mouth.

"Ahahaha, please no Dia, I like you the way you are."

"Please stop pinching my cheeks...and are you wor-king?" Indolent irises peered at the mass of documents Red scribbled on, the older man hummed in affirmative and Diamond pulled up a chair and sat next to him. He grabbed a few of the papers and read their contents, most of them were filled with text and he glimpsed names of legendary pokemon and their functions. Other papers held complicated diagrams and here, the cobalt eyed child smiled at his superior's doodles. Another set of papers held the blue prints of what looked like a ship and Red held the documents up and scowled furiously. He had no idea what he was looking at. Uttering a moan, the ex-champion started rotating in his seat again; he stopped abruptly, grabbed a remote and switched the ridiculously oversized television on. A few minutes later, he switched if off and stared at his work again.

"Um...Senior...What are you trying to do?"

"Since I don't have Green and Blue here, I'm trying to draw up a schedule for the team members. Like who's going to do the shopping, clothes washing and other household chores...Can't live in a filthy place can we?" Next to cleaning duty, he hastily wrote down a name: Gold. "Also I have an ambitious project I want to do this year so I'm trying to figure out how to go about it." Red licked his lips and smirked, "since Green won't be able to tell me what to do...I'll be leading the expedition. And I'm wondering on how to dismantle the ship. You know the one Saph, Lack-2 and Gold captured last year? Yep that one, Blue sent me the blue prints but holy Uxie...I can't make head or tails of them!" The male scratched his head in an idiotic manner. Oh yes, Blue yelled at me for taking advantage of your cooking skills so for now on...we'll be buying food as well. Although I'd eat your cooking any day over the shop bought stuff. Did you check out the other rooms Dia? And the kitchen? Do they look good?" The boy bopped his head enthusiastically as he related:

"Yes, the kitchen has a rustic look to it. There is an island in the middle with seats and a wash basin." The teen's eyes sparkled, "most of the cabinets and cupboards are made of white ash wood but the counter tops are marble. There is an electrical oven and induction stoves and even a gas grill. And the cooking knives...from the tiniest fruit peeler to the one you can find in the butchery..." the rest of Diamond's ecstatic rambling flew over Red's head as he had no idea what his adorable underling talked about. The man nodded and waited patiently for his subordinate to finish.

Alas, it didn't look like Dia would be done today.

Evening

Hoenn

Mount Chimney

A group sat beneath the ambient lighting given off by a simple chandelier. The stone tiled floor was polished so thoroughly one could see their reflections on it. Green, wearing a form fitting trench coat, held up a sheet of paper and rattled off a list of jobs. His words were met with muted enthusiasm as the others were too busy enveloping themselves in the bucolic surroundings. Hands down this happened to be the most tastefully decorated place Strategy ever set foot into and thanks to Platina, the mountain lodge was theirs. The first day, the team had to get used to the ancient architecture, after a thorough dusting and cleaning, enforced by Crystal and Yellow, the band oohed and ahhed at the sheer sturdiness of the structure. The gigantic cottage was constructed entirely out of great slabs of slate stone and thick beams of ancient redwood. It exuded a wilderness feel and they loved it. Inside, the floors were polished and the rugs dusted and vacuumed out. Pearl reclined in a plush Maplewood couch and sighed in bliss. As to be expected, the house contained an innate chill thrown by the stones making up the walls. However, the team members gleefully put on jackets and set about to explore. Soon, to Green's chagrin, they selected the loudest, most exquisitely decorated room as their base of operations. Any qualms he had about the place were instantly shot down by his subordinates.

"This room is perfect." Rald drawled and proceeded to set up a local network, "I can smell the sophisticated scent of dried flowers and ancient wood..."

"I hope someone removes that vase from my desk...it's too big to be sitting there." Green cut in.

"The floor has beautiful rugs" Emerald ignored his superior and continued whilst typing furiously on his laptop, "the windows are large, this allows fresh mountain wind to come in. In case you accidently come close to suffering from brain hypoxia, those extra oxygen molecules will revive you right up!" The brunette's face remained blank at the obvious jibe, "then we have sofas and couches which will put Commander Blue's taste to shame. I mean have you sat in one of them?" You'll feel like you're sitting in a cloud. Lastly, I really like the color co-ordination in here. The orange, browns and peaches compliments well with the slate and grey walls." Finally done with setting up the computer, the miniscule blonde promptly shut up. "Okay people, this is my verdict, now leave me alone. I have a lot of work to do...Surveillance, security and what not."

Crystal breathed in, the slightly sweet tang in the air driving off vestiges of sleep, "he's right. I really love this place...senior Green; don't you think we could all work in here like team Execution? I promise we won't make much noise." The commander sighed in defeat and stalked to his desk situated in one side of the room, near the windows. He grabbed the humungous vase, sneezed several times when flowers tickled his nose and set it down in one corner of the room. Thereafter he gave the cozy chamber a sweep with his jade irises.

"A fire place would be nice." he muttered and shrugged.

Off to one corner and curled up with Chuchu on her lap, Yellow studied Hoenn's map and made little markings. Crystal eyed the pendant around her neck and wondered who was the person bold enough to give the blonde an ornament when Green had his eye on her. Not Red, she mused, the obsidian haired commander wasn't the type to shower anyone with gifts. Finally, she gave way to her curiosity and blurted the question out. On the other side of the moderately large room, Oak, who had his arms full with several tomes, perked his ears. He wanted to know if there was a new competitor vying for Yellow's affections. Whoever the sorry human happened to be, he'll send Red after him. The thought of a black haired demon running after an unfortunate victim partially lifted his mood.

"This?" The female held the amulet up to and it sparkled wonderfully, "it's a present from my foster uncle...He gave it to me and told me to look after it. The necklace belonged to his wife."

Following her words, a strained atmosphere seized the room and Crys regretted her line of questioning. Everyone still battled with the pain of being torn apart from their best friends.

"Everyone get to work." Green's penetrating voice rallied his underlings. People dragged themselves off couches and set about their occupations. Emerald and Pearl paired off to set up cameras through the base. The two blonde males ambled their way down stone lined corridors and stopped several times to fix a device in niches or in the shadows cloaking the walls. They peered in rooms, long abandoned and forgotten, in hallways decorated by paintings of haughty men and the basement. Here, secrets once held by the wood mansion had long washed away in order to make place for new ones. The two teenagers passed the several tubes, reinforced glass encasements and gilded casements and went to the back of the room. Pearl used a ladder and climbed all the way to the ceiling, he fixed several cameras, laser lights and other security devices decreed by his underdeveloped senior. Emerald, his platform shoes tapping on the steel floor (why did all of the legendary holding cells have to look like they came out of a science fiction movie?) moved to the entrance and punched in a few code words and numbers on the digital keypad. Now the pneumatic door would only respond to those authorized by a key card and that meant Green and Crystal alone. A few minutes later, the indigo haired woman walked in with Yellow, they carried a basket filled with purple pokeballs.

"Pearl..." Yellow called, "Green wants you upstairs, when you get there, send White down, we need her to organize the legendary pokemon." The hyperactive teen nodded and hopped down the aluminum ladder, brushing past them, he broke into a run and moments later they could hear his breathless talking all the way from the third floor. "Emerald, could you please pause in your electrical engineering to help us? Even if they are in master balls, it is speculated that the legendries could break out anytime if their mood warrants it. So we need to put them back in their recreated environment." Sighing, the Hoenn native put down his palmtop computer and began to peer into the electronic screens set into the cages instead. Crystal summoned several of her pokemon and the beasts toiled together to place the lavish imprisonments into their respective places. At the far end of the room, two huge tanks were set up side by side. Yellow's omastar and Crys' arcanine were cloaked with a faint amber aura and the over leveled beasts pumped the tanks full of water and flames. Kyogre was released in one, the sea beast flapped its fins and a tidal wave surged up against the transparent confines. Rald hurriedly typed in a few characters and the legendary titan sunk into an artificial sleep. Groudon on the other hand seemed unpleased by its mediocre surroundings. Emitting a guttural roar (thank Mew the cage didn't shatter) the plated beast filled its place with vermillion lava and bathed in it. Seeing it somewhat content, the viridian eyed midget adjusted its stats and moved on to the next tube.

And so one by one the Perspex tubes and cages of different sizes, shapes and materials were all filled with hissing, incensed pokemon. And all their rebellious thoughts were quelled when their artificial environments were tweaked to perfection. Behind crystalline surfaces the motely group witnessed blizzards, a miniature dance of thunder and lightning. They watched as a forest of saplings grew, aged died and were reborn once more, liquid fire splashed in hypnotizing trails and a limpid ball of shadows writhed in a never ending vortex. White noted each and every minute detail down as she analyzed the creatures with a solemn gaze. Her brown eyes reflected the distant worlds shown in the prisons but the novelty of looking at such breath taking displays had long worn off. Stapling a few pages together, the Unovian handed the stack of papers to her senior and went upstairs. The shelves and documents were a haphazard mess and this gnawed on her organized mind. Hiking up to one of the metal bookshelves, she glared at the row of innocent books, huffed and took them down with a thump. Green glanced at her to see the teenager working up a sweat as she filed the books away. Hours later the rest of his team congregated and lay around akin to a pokemon drained of PP.

"Anyone want to accompany me to the hot springs?" Yellow sweetly enquired and unsurprisingly everyone's hands shot up.

Except for Green's.

He glared at his chattering group as they left with fluffy bath towels. Only his aide had the decency to say good bye as she shut the heavy door in his face. Running a hand through his hair, the professor picked up a pen and resumed his work. There was still a lot left to be done.

Afternoon of the same day

Sinnoh

Resort area, Constellate's base

"What am I? A mannequin?" Silver queried in an apathetic voice as Ruby slathered on another layer of foundation on his face. The redhead stood before a gold framed mirror with his hands outstretched. His unimpressed visage reflected back at him and Ruby hopped around his senior, completely absorbed in his work. The teenager retrieved a pair of scissors and snipped the split ends away, he forced the Johto native into a plush chair and began to experiment on his face. The result ended up with one half of Silver's face sporting fantastic eye make-up whilst the other held artificial scars and blood stains. Platina walked in the room a few minutes later followed by Whi-2 who carried an armful of scrolls, seeing Silver's bizarre face, she let out a yell and dropped her spoils. The noble turned, her expression masked into one of displeasure.

"Those are very valuable Whi-2" she intoned with a crisp voice, "please pick them up." Turning to the duo fooling in front of the mirror she continued, "seniors...We have much work to do. Our commander needs the chamber set up so she can ship the equipment and our fugitives in before sundown. Procuring a plane is not an easy matter so all the help will be highly appreciated." The blood eyed teen pushed Silver away and gathered the artifacts off Platina and tossed them on to the white divan set against the back wall. Smiling, he grabbed her hand and forced her in front of the mirror.

"Don't worry," he soothed her aghast mien, "by the time I'm done, you'll look better than the imperial court ladies." With a smirk, he held up a make-up brush.

"Excuse me..."

"No, no, no, you should listen to your senior..." Ruby shushed her, "besides, we are done with everything aren't we? Not like we had to do anything thanks to your body guards and maids. Blue will come back later in the afternoon and the chamber is set...So relax."

Silver shook his head and a lopsided grin tugged on his lips. He let his eyes roam around the room; it reminded him of the ravaged base in Kanto three years back. Their new base was a gracious gift from Platina's parents. A vintage styled holiday mansion. The room sported Victorian designs with modern furniture. Shades of white, pastel blue and gold made up most of the decor and gave off a rich, urbane feeling. The curtains bordering the large windows were charcoal silk and the walls sported prints and portraits of mythical pokemon and heroes of bygone ages.

"Come on Whi-2, don't stand and gape, let's get the red chain creation chamber ready." Silver dragged his feet across a velvet carpet and exited the room. His junior, still mesmerized by Platina, bumped her shin into a low, glass topped coffee table and sent the tiny candle holder atop the surface, crashing to the floor. Bowing and muttering a string of apologies, she picked up the elegant candelabra, thrust it on a wooden shelf and bolted.

Around the same time

Johto

Mahogany Town

A woman, her hair styled into two loose ponytails pushed open an ice encrusted door. The moment Blue walked in, Cyrus' irises shrunk in distaste. What did the woman want now? Both he and Charon were doing remarkable progress; they didn't need an annoying female to command them around like lab rattata. Constellate's commander strode in, her jacket, hanging loosely over bare shoulders, fluttered about akin to a cape. Imparting an impish smile to the two convicts, she meandered over to the three mythical pokemon and peered. Behind her, the Galactic leader's probopass drifted about aimlessly. As it hovered right behind Blue, the man curled his fingers in.

Blue screamed. Her head going blank with brain boiling pain. Her jacket, made of shiny beige material, crackled and popped. Burns laced her legs, tearing through the fishnet stockings and her hair danced wildly. Thunderbolt. Even Red who got electrocuted on a daily basis fell into a coma if he got hit with that move. However Blue gritted her teeth and held on with all her might. Hissing irritably, she whipped around and winced, sparks of white lighting fizzled away from the ends of her fingers and body. One half of her face began to droop; the effects of paralysis taking hold and the brunette smacked herself hard and fished out a Cheri berry. Popping the fruit into her mouth she chewed and a sneer began forming on her twisted face. Charon stared; he'd never seen any person looking so grotesque. Half of her crafted face resembled melted wax and as he observed on, the skin and muscles pulled back, reshaping her visage.

"Taking advantage of my kindness are you?" she slurred, "you must be glad none of my friends are here to see this" Blue gingerly touched her face, "they would've SHRED you and your pokemon into pieces!" inhaling sharply, she ordered "Cleffy, Ditty...Show him what happens when they mess with us."

Two against one but they stood scant chance. Charon trembled as ditto brutally rendered his slowking apart. The transform pokemon jiggled and morphed into a bisharp. Uttering a metallic cry, it lunged after the psychic who rapidly fled away from the face of danger. Sinking one of its appendages in the soft flesh, ditto hacked off the elaborate headpiece, each strike creating spider web fissures. The hard shell splintered apart and slowking clutched its head and moaned. A blast of scalding liquid was cut apart and bisharp struck again, this time, it shredded the spiny ruff around the pink beast's neck and as it tottered around screeching and moaning, the tail was sliced off. Holding its prize up, the dark beast contemplated for a few minutes before dicing the delicate tail and gobbling it up.

Apparently slowking tails were a rare delicacy.

A loud bang on the dining pokemon's left spooked ditto and the beast deconstructed back into a pink blob. Cleffy and probopass went head to head and Cyrus' eyes narrowed in concentration. Despite her looks, the woman turned out to be a formidable adversary. The fairy pokemon flitted about in high speed and landed devastating punches on the main body of his metallic monster. Even if probopass layered the field with extra gravity, clefairy had no problem flying about with its tiny wings. Supporting herself by holding on to one of the pedestals, Blue observed the battle like a hawk and grinned devilishly.

"Cleffy is a rare species from the moon so it does not get affected by gravity." she slyly added.

"Liar" her opponent hissed. He lifted a finger and the mini-noses broke apart and went for the simpering woman. To his astonishment, all three were shot down by hyper beams...how did that pokemon fire beams of such power without tiring? He critically inspected the creature to see its velvet pink fur drenched with sweat and the pupils were slightly unfocused. The ashen man grinned, the clefairy ran short of energy and soon it would be unable to carry on with its hard hitting. Another nasty surprise waited for him as Blue recalled her partner and sent out another instead.

"Cheating..." Team Galactic's former leader accused in gravelly tones. He only had one pokemon; weavile was killed by Green because the sorry creature had the unfortunate luck of hacking Red's hair off.

"All's fair in love and war." Blue quipped in return, she massaged her face vigorously, trying to get rid of the pins and needles sensation, "Blasty withdraw" the shellfish pokemon drew its cannons and limbs inside the enormous shell on its back. Only a small bald head poked out and blastoise eyed the world with shiny onyx irises. Its master clapped once and it flew off like a cannon. The brown, pockmarked shell skidded heavily against the slick floor as probopass rained down electricity and enforced gravity to slow it down. Arcing around, the live cannonball wrecked into the compass pokemon crumpling its metallic body. Unfolding from its defensive state, the water type trained its cannons and let a pressurized torrent of water rip. Probopass gurgled, drowned and eventually became still. Cyrus simply stared, a ball of depression sunk into his stomach. He had the compass pokemon ever since he was a child and till date, the beast remained undefeatable. Azure irises grew wide with disbelief and agony as Blasty reared back and formed its scaly claw into a fist. Unable to witness any longer, Cyrus screwed his eyes shut as a pained squeal rung out of his companion when the dynamic punch hit. The tortoise heaved back and readied another punch and the man trembled, he was sorry for ever trying to trifle with these people. Please, he prayed silently to Arceus, please, don't let my probopass die.

"Blasty...Enough darling, please return." Short of sending the steel type to an early grave, the water type hobbled back to his trainer and disappeared in a flash of light. Legs trembling, Cyrus rushed to his comatose beast and knelt down. A shadow fell across him and he looked up, alarm and the slightest hint of appreciation ringing his bright blue irises. "Let this serve as a warning. The next time you try to harm one of us. Both you and your underling will be serving a sentence for Giratina. I'll personally see to it! Get up...we need to transport the contents of the room into a truck waiting outside. I'm shipping this place to Sinnoh." Silently, Charon and Cyrus obeyed her orders. They learnt a harsh lesson.

Never mess with the Dex-criminals.

Hours later, Blue thanked the blushing truck driver and eased out of the van. The man drove away in a blissful haze. He failed to see a white card next to him; the front showed a cluster of dark blue stars.

Red tried to ignore the babble of voices issuing from the other side of the room. His subordinates lay around on leather couches and rugs, warming themselves before a roaring fire. It was late at night and everyone busied themselves with staring at screens and calling their friends. He peered into the poke-gear and winced on seeing Blue.

"Electrocuted by thunderbolt huh?" Green blinked and she nodded hesitantly, "massage the area well or else you risk losing feeling in it. Don't worry about your appearance, by tomorrow you will be back to your normal, beautiful self." He smiled goofily and the tension eased from Oak's expression.

"Thanks Red...It is still numb though. Can't chew or smile properly." she intoned and he nodded knowingly. "Did you manage to read the prints I sent you?" A pause hung between the three of them as Red's eyes glazed over.

"Hahahaha, nope!" he cheerfully declared whilst scratching the back of his head and his best friends sighed.

"Hand them over to me...I'll take a look and decipher them for you."

"Thanks a ton Green...By the way, when are you leaving for Kalos?" The male brunette's lips pressed into a thin line on hearing the question. If he didn't know any better, he could've sworn that he heard a mocking undertone in his black haired comrade's voice.

"...Two weeks from now."

"I see...Have a safe trip. I gotta go now. Have to evaluate my team's strength and draw up battle plans. Keep cozy guys." Red opted out of the three way call with a wave and his screen went blank.

"Thank goodness you two are back being best buds." Blue expressed with an exhale, "I'll sleep much better from now on." she winked and Green managed a lopsided smile, "see you soon prof, I'll call you again later in this week!"

In Execution's room, Black waved his Xtransciever wildly across the windows and pointed to the distant sea which appeared as an inky smudge in the dark of the night. He related his experience on the beach and roped N into a conversation. The two males talked about the wondrous ruins lying beneath the crystal waves of Undella Bay. Cracked stone arches, pyramidal temples with tiny entrances acted as homes to local marine life. White laughed and talked about herself. Once Team Strategy finished with work, Yellow took them down to the famous hot springs in Lavaridge Town. The mineral rich water, heated directly by veins of magma buried in Mount Coronet, worked wonders for her skin and mind. Zorua, miffed because its master engrossed himself with someone else, clambered on N's lap and barked playfully at White. In response, the brown haired male talked louder till Gold and Lack-2 whacked him simultaneously. The two glared at him in tandem and then slinked away. Near them, Dia's eyes were fixed to his smart phone, his mouth opening and closing akin to a feebas. In Sinnoh, Pearl mirrored his facial expression as two pairs of irises tried glued on to their female companion. Platina remained stoic faced as usual.

"You look like one of those court ladies I see in movies." Diamond blurted out and swiped a berry from Lax. Pearl agreed and shooed Chahiko away when the parrot started spouting nonsense about his cheeks tinting red. The teenager girl tucked her curtain of hair away from her face and angled her face away. Thank Palkia they couldn't see the rest of her. Clad in a kimono of pale green silk, she almost lost her temper when her over enthusiastic senior grabbed her around the waist and forced an elaborate banded obi on. Her hair was allowed to flow loose and she stood still as a statue and furious as Ruby gaily twirled around her and fixed her clothing. To be fair, the Hoenn native had exquisite taste, the furisode she wore had a pattern of falling leaves and it exuded finesse.

"We were busy practicing our disguising skills." She lied and a few feet away from her Silver and Ruby smirked. "Constellate are spies, we have to be on our guard."

Friends talked deep into the night, swapping stories and secrets. Red, who tried to tackle his work, ended up drooling on the papers instead. One by one, the members shut off their cellphones, bid goodnight to their partners and wandered off to lavishly decorated bedrooms. Lack-2 yawned, trying to fight off sleep and when Gold, his amber eyes reflecting the dim glow of his poke-gear, gently told him to go to bed, the child first refused, hung out a bit longer then scooped Pibo up and left. The Johto native was the only one talking in the dead of the night.

"Hi mom...I'm so sorry to call you after such a long time and at this hour...Although it wouldn't have made any difference would it?" Senior Red is still taking very good care of me...Oh yeah! I have an apprentice now, his name is Lack-2 and he is a perverted little monkey. Just like me. I really miss you mom. I hope you take care of yourself; Crys and Silver are doing fine. We are all doing fine...See you later...I'll call back again, sometime in the future." Recording the voice message, he filed it away in the device's memory along, adding it to the hundreds of voice messages he never sent to his mother.

"You... should visit her grave Gold." A tired voice echoed from the gloom and Gold nodded. "Go to bed I'll clean up here." The adolescent didn't move and Red took his time filing away documents. "...Fine...I'll accompany you to Johto...For Cresselia's sake go to sleep now will you...And you better not end up in Saph's room!" The amber eyed individual buried his hands in his pockets and strolled out of the room, his irises burdened with sorrow.

A/N: So all the departments scattered and now settled down to their respective places. Much thanks to all those who read and reviewed, virtual Kuwaiti dark chocolate to you (man that stuff tastes good!) At: TheSilverHunt3r, you got the Silver part right and that's all I'm saying :) Yellow's amulet huh…nice idea. And Execution's adventures…look forward to that! At Miniwolfy2: You are welcome. Unfortunately, due to the un-technological advanced country I live in…I don't own a 3DS and I've never played the newer generations *weeps* so no X and Y arc I'm afraid, but there is mega evolution so you could count on that. At AceTrainerLeaf: Blue has a crush on the actor dude…sorry for not making it clear enough (IDK what I was thinking when writing the chapter but it sort of happened and I thought…well why not?) Yellow blushing…she gets flustered easily and when the dude she crushed on for so long asks if he's handsome…her heart started doing things she didn't want it to do :P At HeyYouYaYou: I enjoy writing and plotting. I'm glad you liked my portrayal of Green; hope this story continues to be a pleasant read. At Jack54311: Daisy would probably be in denial…and live blissfully after that. Or storm over and whack her brother senseless. I think the first one makes much more sense, she's an older sister/mother figure to Green.

Once again, thanks for reading. Reviews are coveted :D and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.