Chapter 82: Mental and physical shackles

A code red emergency forced him to pause all his investigations and board an airplane from Striation City. He found Skyla waiting for him and without further ado, the single passenger buckled up and the aircraft sped over Unova's sunny skies and landed in the overcast city of Jubilife City. His mind spun with a cyclone of thoughts. When Chief Anabel sent the message, she refused to divulge additional information, instead, she impressed upon the importance of flying to Sinnoh and arriving there before evening. Against all odds, he managed to land at a private area in Jubilife airport and another unmarked vehicle waited for him. The lower ranked personnel saluted and then, tires squealing, tore out of the airport at breakneck speeds and deposited him on the doorsteps of a shady cafe in Hearthome City. Head spinning from the momentum, he smoothed his chocolate brown hair away from his forehead, adjusted the visor and entered the cafe. The interior diffused dread and when he saw the other superintendents sitting in the otherwise empty coffee shop, he immediately knew something grave occurred. Silently, he pulled out a chair, sat in it and resisted the urge to tug out his inhaler and use it.

The information Chief Anabel and Lt. Surge provided him proved too good to be true. For a while, he slouched, balancing a cup of hot tea in his hands and ruminated over their discoveries. Due to Falkner being unable to attend this impromptu meeting, the chief once again assigned him to be the leader of this mission.

Lack-2 almost asphyxiated.

However, the expectant gazes of the higher ranked officers pressured him into taking up the offer. Cynthia's vacuous expression hardened when she was teamed up with him. He knew, it had less to do with her working under a brat and more with the league closing down only a month after it opened. More than half of the registered trainers who participated in the challenge, went missing on trying to cross the various lakes, forests and other rural areas across Sinnoh. The decisions for the official league pathways to be re-routed were met with various criticisms and ridicule. Unfortunately, investigation teams sent out to find the trainers either turned up empty handed, or they disappeared themselves. For safety reasons, the league closed down and since then, the Pokemon Association placed the Champion under heavy scrutiny.

People died. He reminded himself.

Freak weather conditions occurred since the legendary monsters broke out.

Hoenn currently faced a severe drought.

Unova suffered from unstable weather phenomena. All four seasons cycled through one day and the hospitals overflowed with people and pokemon unable to cope with harsh environments. The delicate balance of the weather ruptured and the authorities were tied down in trying to capture and subdue the Tao trio. Apparently, locating the mischievous weather titans gave rise to more trouble than simply letting them wreak havoc.

And amongst all this chaos, the Chief suddenly revealed to him the Dex Criminals base was situated in Sinnoh. Under Mount Coronet. Why didn't he suspect that place? He wondered.

Oh, his mind jibed, you suspected it alright, you just did not want to inform the police about them, lest they round up all your friends and throw them in jail. Then you'll have to visit and watch the wretched misery on their faces.

Lies, he argued back.

He truly did not know the location.

The chair scraped against worn tiles as he got up. "I suppose putting the ambush off till tomorrow morning will alert them to danger. I don't have Looker with me." Lack-2 said, dug out a notepad from his high collared tweed coat and scribbled a few words on it. "Get me a map of the terrain and it better be detailed, the last thing I want is for nature to surprise me, I'm sick of it. Also, Keldeo and genesect are in my private quarters, I left them behind at home. Someone should transfer them over via a PC." He tore out the page and handed it to Anabel. "I need high resolution binoculars and my crossbow. I am not commencing the mission until I have my items." The detailed map of Sinnoh's mount Coronet was procured immediately, clamming up, he snatched the map and waded through a sea of tables and chairs, locating a secluded spot near one of the windows, he unfurled the map on the bare table and studied it. The police chief watched him, anger warping her normally mellow features. They needed to apprehend the Dex Criminals as soon as possible and the de-facto leader of the operation hefted some unreasonable demands on her and went off to brood on his own. If Lack-2 wanted his battle items, then by Arceus she would manage a way to get them before the sun's rays turned orange. Clenching her jaw, she urged an irate Cynthia to join the Unovian superintendent. The champion combed slender fingers through her platinum blonde hair and reluctantly dragged herself over to Lack-2. Anabel observed them, sighing, she fished out her Holo Caster. Time to make some calls.

Preposterous.

The Unova native did not expect Anabel to actually follow through his ridiculous requests. Merely an hour later, the fuchsia haired lady stomped back with all his items in a clear box. She dumped the plastic carton on the table and nodded to him. Biting back an insult, he reached into the box and retrieved his items. Once fully equipped, the chief guided him and Cynthia outside where a helicopter full of armored personnel waited for them. A brief soar through ominous clouds gave him a chilling glimpse of the dimensional scar hanging over the peak of Mount Coronet. Before his mind could start up the infernal arguing, the pilot dropped the squad on a hill and he watched the vehicle whisk away. The rotor blades scythed through the fiery sky and the copter melted into the horizon. Inhaling deeply, he trudged to the peak of the hills and gasped inaudibly. The base of Mount Coronet nestled into a valley surrounded by a range of smaller mountains on one side and a dense green forest on the other. A river snaked between these two boundaries and forked into two, gushing and tumbling over low lying hills. Screwing a pair of binoculars on his eyes, he held his breath and zoomed in. Set into the base of the gargantuan piece of rock, a white, metallic shutter closed up the entrance to an artificial building. By panning the magnification device sideways, he noted several cameras swiveling around the entrance. Lowering the binoculars, he felt a heavy weight settling in his chest. The surroundings were exactly the same as depicted on the map, not a tree or a blade of grass out of place. If he strolled up to the shutter and knocked, he doubted anyone would open the door and invite him in. Reaching to his belt, he peered down to select his Keldeo, however, the grinning pichu looking up innocently at him made him pause.

Gold.

Frantically, he dug his free hand into his coat pocket and grasped his inhaler. Cynthia watched him with mild concern as he clamped the device between his lips and pumped furiously, behind her, the soldiers straightened up, somehow trying to reassure their commander that if he failed, they would not. Waving her concerns away, he let loose his genesect and Keldeo, the water type pawed the ground impatiently and tossed its voluminous, blue mane. Lack-2 calculated his options; there was a fair distance between the hill and the entrance of the base. Signaling to his underlings, the group boarded their pokemon and careered down the ravine. The noise of falling rocks echoed through the crisp, evening air and the leading official hissed at his subordinates to keep down the racket. At the bottom of the valley, the door of the secluded headquarters loomed up, larger than life. Sliding off Keldeo, the male officer swallowed his apprehension and took a minute to study the entrance. The shutter consisted of sheets of metal, interleaved to make it sturdy, it would not matter to Keldeo and Virizion though, a dual sacred sword would render the door into dust. Uttering a sharp command, he watched with grim approval as the two legendary creatures cut through the air, Virizion, who was faster than her companion, reached the door first and a burst of light erupted from her forehead. Keldeo caught up to her and in tandem, the mythical creatures drew a jagged X shaped scar on the door. Instantaneously, the alarm blared deep within the base. The metallic door emitted steam and crumpled from the hinges. Uncurling from his squatted position, Lack-2 barked another series of orders to his underlings and watched them scurry to the base, cradling weapons in their arms and calling out to their pokemon partners. Cynthia spared him a glance before joining the fray herself. She whipped past him, her blonde hair swaying in the mountainous breeze and garchomp faithfully barreled after her. Momentarily stunned by her grace, he smacked himself back to reality and followed her.

Why did he have to do this again?

They are criminals and you are the police...How dare you shun your morality for your own selfish desires? His mind admonished him maliciously. Their work is taboo and it is your duty to stop them. They are murderers and felons, tampering with which that should not be tampered.

"Shut up!" he hissed to himself and gathered his thoughts. Step one, arrest each and every member of the Dex Criminals. Step two, have two choppers ready to fly himself and the convicts back to Hearthome. Step three: Process the paper work required to send all of them back to Valora. Perhaps he should call Looker back from his mission in order to help with the paper work. Step four...Lack-2 did not want to think about step four. Growling, he furiously massaged his temples, muttered some more under his breath and briskly strode to the caved in door. The closer he got, the louder the sounds of carnage echoed. Bullet shots ricocheted off the stark, rocky walls, he heard people screaming threats, curses and in the midst of them all, his ears picked up a plaintive plea for mercy.

Evening

Sinnoh

Base of Mt Coronet

"How many cups of coffee did you drink now? You are still a teenager; too much coffee is not good for your health."

"Shut up." Green snapped at Gold and wrapped his hands around the steaming mug. "I'm older than you, so don't lecture me on what to do."

"Whatever you say half-pint." The golden eyed man sneered in return. "Talk big once you get to my size you puny teen." Blue huffed and watched the two banter through half lidded eyes. Picking at her ill-fitting t-shirt and jeans, she irritably fastened her long hair into a ponytail and exhaled audibly, resorting to drumming her nails on the table and glaring at Oak who slurped his hot beverage with careless abandon. Her internal senses tingled with danger. The entirety of the Dex Criminals banded together in the second chamber and waited for Ruby and Red to return. A while earlier, the inhabitants went into panic mode when they discovered the two were missing along with Charon. Luckily, Sapphire and Diamond fell upon the note scrawled by Ruby and thus opted to wait for the duo to come back. Meanwhile, the Kanto natives morphed into teenagers and their memory became fully intact. Yellow, instead of screeching and running away when she spied the spiky haired professor, sat next to Green and the latter gulped down almost a liter's worth of coffee right after he grew. A quick glance at the clock told Constellate's leader that it was evening and yet, Red and Ruby were nowhere to be seen. Getting off the chair, she hitched her jeans up her waist and paced through the circular chamber. Lined against one wall and exchanging stories, the Hoenn and Sinnoh natives snickered and giggled. Crystal sat between White and Whi-2, listening to the younger Unovian babble about a topic. Gold and surprisingly Silver, took turns poking fun at a teenaged Green, who's temper still betrayed him. Blue would've joined in the fun if the cold feeling of fear, currently gripping her heart, dissipated. Time seemed to stand still, holding its breath and anticipating something to go horribly wrong.

The change happened indiscernibly. Like ripples in a still pond. Sapphire perked up, her eyes going wide and glazing over with fear. Opposite her, Crystal picked up her distress and eyed Gold who snapped his head up in alarm. Just as the group moved, the siren blared. Against her instincts, Blue raced towards the outer corridor and Silver screamed at her to move away. His voice seemed to emanate from deep within a hollow cavern as she ignored him. The hot mug of coffee slipped from Green's fingers and splashed onto his thighs, she heard him curse. The sliding door separating the second chamber from the maze of tunnels leading to the entrance, imploded.

Time stopped.

Silver observed the events unfold akin to a horror movie. Blue ran towards the entrance and he shrieked at her. Without thinking, Gold hurtled after her, clasping a pokeball in his gloved palm. Green sprung from his chair and winced, the dark stain of coffee spread over his cargo pants and he hissed painfully as the liquid scalded his skin. He tried to hobble to the entrance, but Crystal and Yellow held him back and together, marshaled the other afflicted members deeper into the base. The door burst open, pieces of white shrapnel cannoned into the room and bounced off surfaces. A stoutland fired an energy ball and the projectile hit Blue square in her face. Rooted to his spot, the silver eyed Johto native watched his sister's head jerk back and a starburst of crimson blood erupted from her nose. Red filled his vision completely and his entire body quaked and became cold. Another masked operative aimed at Gold who scrambled past Blue and shielded her. The officer fired a gun and Gold uttered a groan of misery. He stumbled and eventually dropped to the floor, a large patch of scarlet blooming on the left side of his chest.

Arceus...Please no. Silver prayed. Please not him.

Please not my best friend.

The police officers poured in the circular chamber akin to black bodied durant. On the floor, Blue pressed one hand against her hemorrhaging nose and the other one clamped over Gold's bleeding chest. The inert male gasped in pain, his burnished gold eyes rolling uselessly around the sockets. When a policeman tried to separate them, the female venomously spat and kicked him away. Finally snapping to attention when a group of the enemies closed in on him, Silver let his feraligatr loose and blasted them away with a hydro pump. On the other end, Sapphire freed herself from Crystal's protective embrace and whaled in on the soldiers closing on the retreating group. Diamond and Pearl joined the battle. Unfortunately for them, their pokemon did not co-operate.

"Torterra!" Dia shouted, "use razor leaf. Now." The continental pokemon simply ignored him and thoughtfully grinded its teeth. Annoyed beyond words, the hyperactive teen danced around his sluggish pokemon and screeched at it to move. On the other end, Pearl ruminated on the scenes of destruction currently taking place before him. Near the entrance, seniors Blue and Silver kept the police men from hauling a gravely injured Gold away. Senior Crystal and Yellow, reigned in a fuming Green and soothed Whi-2 when the latter burst out crying. White went into shock, her mind unable to process the events happening in front of her. Sapphire stood next to a frazzled Diamond and dueled against the Champion of Sinnoh. Garchomp and blaziken dissolved into a blur of orange and indigo limbs. The sand shark brewed a sandstorm.

Wiping the vestiges of a cupcake from his chin, he peeked at infernape who eyed him scornfully. The fire monkey's eyes glittered intensely and Pearl wondered if it was impatient to join the battle. "Use flamethrower" The blonde sluggishly articulated and in response, the monkey breathed a stream of hell hot flames.

At his feet.

Jumping away from the dissipating flames and grunting at the searing heat, Pearl confusedly looked up to see his beast's visage twisted into one of disgust. Then it dawned on him. Due to the odd occurrences, he and Diamond switched personalities, his brain offered and the pieces clicked together. The sense of urgency he previously lacked, fogged his brain, alas, his neural networks were still too slow to fully comprehend everything. Rotating around, he witnessed Diamond furiously urging torterra to do something whilst next to them, garchomp tore up the room with its razor edged fins. "Dia!" the flame eyed teen howled at the top of the voice. "Dia! Let's switch pokemon; our beasts might listen to us if we exchanged places." Through the sea of blood, flailing limbs, gunshots and sand particles, he saw his friend nod. Dia expertly skirted around a soldier and roundhouse kicked one sailing down from the sky. Despite the circumstances, Pearl smiled; a speedier Diamond definitely knew how to impress people. Without pausing for breath, the ebony haired teen hollered:

"Infernape, flare blitz, let's go!" The fiery mane on the ape's head belted out a thick plume of flame, its limbs caught on fire and the monkey propelled itself off the floor and arced into the sky. The din inside the room dimmed as the individuals looked up to see a flaming ball of fire smack into a pack of barking stoutland. A stench of charred flesh filled the air and the barking promptly morphed into agonized howls and growls. The flame pokemon cartwheeled across the room, smashing its flaming fists accurately into the policemen's helmets and shattering them. From outside, a jet stream of water pummeled into infernape and slack jawed, the Sinnoh duo observed the flaming monkey hit the opposite wall. Bones crunched, skin tore and the water tinged red. By the time the horizontal deluge of water stopped, the ape limply slid down the rocky wall, painting the formerly white rock into a sickly shade of crimson.

Upon stepping into the second circular chamber, the first thing Lack-2 saw was Gold.

Lying in a pool of blood.

His golden irises barely visible behind hooded lids.

Blue frantically dragged him deeper into the base amidst the tornado of chaos erupting around them. Lack-2 briefly wondered why she looked so young...before remembering Surge muttering about a de-aged Red. Silver guarded the duo, his gaze cutting into anyone who dared to block their path. The pale man held his hair out of his face and an angry scowl twisted his visage into something resembling a monster. Silver irises glittered with hate and came to a rest on Lack-2. The Unovian swallowed rapidly, trying in vain to keep himself from hyperventilating and throwing up. Reshiram and Zekrom...he pondered. What on earth am I doing?

You are doing the right thing.

Your parents would be ashamed of you! Snarled his differing conscious. Go back. Quietly leave from this place while all your underlings are distracted. You do not belong here.

The sheer look of contempt Silver leveled at him surfaced a nightmare. And the thief looked exactly like Gold. Brimming with hatred, malice and spite for the traitor who sold them all. The red head articulated a noise which sounded like an amalgamation of a growl and a hiss. Animalistic. Screaming obscenities, he pointed a finger at the trembling Lack-2 and shouted for his kingdra to render that piece of scum into dust.

Murderers! The voice in his head cackled. He wants to kill you. They hate you.

Keldeo flashed out from behind him and absorbed the impact of a body slam. Holding himself upright, Lack-2 witnessed kingdra execute a dragon dance. Silver abandoned post and poured his efforts in commanding the water dragon to flay the Unovian. Inhaling deeply, Lack-2 steadied his nerves and bellowed into a mini-megaphone he managed to swipe from Lt. Surge: "Hurry up you imbeciles. I want this operation to be terminated before nightfall. How long does it take to arrest a bunch of criminals?" His amplified voice served as the final nail in the coffin. Gold twitched, briefly jerking back to life and clawing the air in order to catch the sound. A heavy blow rendered Blue dizzy and a masked official chained her wrists. By this time, Crystal let Emerald loose. The boy ran past Sapphire and grabbed on to a police officer's forearm. His fingers morphed into a multitude of vines which crept up the man's chest and promptly strangled him to a near death like state. The man fell, and the vines spread with alarming speed. A web of sinewy tendrils aimed for extinguishing the breath out of living things. Keldeo, genesect and Cynthia's garchomp switched their attention to the blonde boy whose form writhed in poisonous vines. The Sinnoh champion covered her nose and mouth. She felt light headed and woozy from the stench and powered venom lingering in the air.

Night

Sinnoh

Helicopter cabin

Whi-2 did not understand how things came to be like this. Words failed to describe the terror she experienced when those scary men burst into her home and did something horrible to big brother Gold. When she tried to reach out, Crystal pushed her backwards. Crystal...Normally she smiled with a gentle look in her eyes but now they were dull and dim. Like a black sky without stars. Whi-2 saw a red blossom on Gold's chest. It flowered beautifully against his pale pink shirt but for some reason, his face scrunched up like he was in a lot of pain. Blue went to help him and Silver just stood like a statue who forgot to close his mouth. Stupid Silver, why didn't he help when his best friend fell to the floor, gasping for air?

The chains bruised her wrists. She tried to force the metal circlets apart; however, they were too strong for her. Confused, Whi-2 longed to see her mother, longed to be safe in a warm, perfumed embrace. The noise in the flying cabin deafened her. A heli-copter right? She remembered reading about different aircraft back at the nursery. Whi-2 smiled and raised her face to see Silver bleeding from one eye. His face sent a shudder through her body and whimpering, she scooted close to Yellow and Blue. The brown haired teen stared vacantly at her brother, her lips twitching nonstop. Next to Silver, Gold leaned on him with an uncharacteristic weight, the latter's breath came in ragged blasts, signifying pain. Crystal supported him; the police handcuffed the Johto natives with each other. Brown eyes widening, the younger Unovian rotated her head to witness more of her friends crouched in miserable positions, before; they overflowed with life and confidence.

Now their bleak faces starved for hope and a way out of this mess.

The Dex Criminals would never get caught. Whilst rounding them up, the police taunted them. Utterly bewildered, Whi-2 saw a young man stumble around and support himself by leaning against the walls. All of the other black clothed men answered to him, so he was probably the leader. Commander? She pondered and rolled the foreign word around her developing brain. When Viney (as Sapphire dubbed Emerald) strangled almost half of the police officers to death, the brown haired commander...leader brought out a little crossbow and shot him. The young girl never saw anything more wicked in her life. Two shots. Two blue tinted arrowheads whistled through the air and torpedoed through Emerald's palms. The vines contorted, writhing across the floor and doing little jumps before shriveling and dying altogether. A cascade of lime green blood poured out of his sleeves and a police strode over and tied his wrists behind his back. Emerald screamed, thrashed and bit the officer on his arm and Whi-2 felt Crystal's pain when she ignored him and tried to get them to safety. Green ducked from underneath Yellow's arms and aggressively marched into the heat of battle. The weird machines the police carried, lit up with a skull shattering sound and the spiky haired male jerked back; something slammed into him and he dropped uselessly to the floor.

Bullets...Yellow's breath hitched when Whi-2 asked her what those things were. Rubber bullets coming out of the machines called guns. Rubber bullets were not fatal...they will not kill you...Yellow said...So why was she crying like Green just died?

No one died. One of the men reported to the brown haired teenager when they were all handcuffed and sitting on the floor. The visor wearing leader gave off a troubled aura and Whi-2 wanted to ask him why he did this when he looked so sick. Before she worded out her question, he turned tail and strode through the conduit leading outdoors, his tweed coat flaring behind him. The slight drop of his shoulders told her more secrets than any other action of his.

Lack-2...Why?

Sapphire fought well, she did her best, pitting two of her monsters against Cynthia's legendary garchomp. By now, the sand shark gained a reputation bordering on infamous. Infamous for tearing through anything standing in its way. Heart hammering in her ribcage, Whi-2 watched, the scenes blurry through her tears as the dragon sent her older friend soaring through the air. The Hoenn native back flipped, rammed her bleeding leg into an official's stomach and placidly observed her best beasts being mowed down by a mixture of bullets, a dragon and a sword of justice. Deciding Toro was too exhausted for battle, the girl crouched into a fighting stance. The Unovian admired her bravery...But sadly, the image playing before her blurred again. The next clear picture she saw saddened her. Sapphire dropped to her knees, clutched her stomach and threw up, whilst Cynthia slipped a pair of cuffs on her thin wrists. Whi-2 thought life was unfair. Her friends did not deserve this. Pearl and Diamond continued arguing, their loud words sailing over Torterra's domed back. The huge, green monster did nothing to help and if it spouted moves, they were slow and bounced off harmlessly against the armored personnel. Unable to breathe through the fear clogging her throat, Whi-2 wailed loudly, the sudden loud sound caught the police off-guard. One of them promptly handcuffed her and dragged her to the helicopter. She screamed for Sapphire or Yellow...She screeched for Crystal and Blue. At the end, she whimpered for her mom, begging for her to be by her side in these troubling circumstances.

Whi-2 sobbed louder, wiped her tears on her tattered sleeve and one of the policemen sent a threatening gesture at Blue. The teenager scowled at him. How brainless was that moron? Could he not see that she suffered from a regressive problem? Squashed somewhere at the back, Diamond and Pearl resumed their asinine arguing and a sadistic hint of a smile crawled her smeared face. Those two proved to be a royal headache to the guards. And only after a man posted himself with his weapon shoved in their faces, did they stop with their banter.

"Where are you taking us?" Blue demanded and unsurprisingly, none answered, not even sparing her a glance. "Green and Gold need serious medical attention..." she pressed. "Tell me where are we going?"

"Blue." Silver rasped and she recoiled. "Shut up." His tone bled with rancor and she promptly silenced herself.

"You will reunite with old friends before being shipped off to Valora." Cynthia graciously informed her from the cockpit. "The world will rejoice...Your reign of terror is over."

Green laughed.

His guffaws were punctuated by hisses and sighs of pain; and the noise sounded so out of character, that everyone, save for the pilot, swerved to face him. The champion demanded what he found funny and he spoke. Each word spat out with pure loathing: "Perhaps...But good luck on trying to figure out how to close the dimensional scar." His lips tugged into a humorous slash of a smile. "And well done on the raid." His emerald green eyes sparkled vindictively, "today, I realized that we are not so different after all." His last word dipped into a whisper, he slouched over and resumed his former comatose position.

Could they bargain their freedom in return for information? Blue wondered; and more importantly, since when was Green so adept at lying? After the legendary pokemon burst out from the reverse world, they were stuck as children. Obviously he had no time to conduct research on the dimensional scar. The lazuline eyed teenager heaved and a seed of content buried itself in her heart. Good to know Green was okay...

Good to know...that they might come out of this stronger than ever.

Mid-afternoon

Hearthome City

Police station

Two full days passed. During this time, the convicts were holed up together and the police provided them with medical attention. Apparently, this came as an anonymous request from one of the higher ups. Blue and Green retained their teenaged forms and they waited impatiently to meet Red. Emerald rid himself of the curse and his hands were bandaged. Each palm held a scar dead in the middle from where Lack-2's arrows pierced him.

In a dim cell, Ruby slumped on his bunk and squinted at the splatter of sunlight dancing teasingly out of reach. Red was already at work, cracking odd jokes with the warden posted outside the jail cell. When the Hoenn native moved and rubbed his eyes, the teenaged man rotated around, abandoned his pastime, shuffled closer to Ruby and sat on the bed. "Did you have nightmares again?" The ex-champion asked softly and noticed the shadows growing darker around his comrade's eyes. The fashionista nodded, he did not trust himself to speak lest he whimper uncontrollably. "It's fine...Don't worry about it." The older man soothed, "there seems to be some commotion taking place at this police station. Something about fresh recruits...Which is their way of saying, more jailbirds...Huh...I wonder what Blue and the others are up to. Do I dare hope they fled somewhere safe? Maybe the police delayed in raiding our base..." Red trailed off and his eyes dimmed in anxiety, on seeing Ruby's visage collapse further into an expression of utter depression, the fighter forcibly smiled. "Hey...Don't blame yourself Ruby. You saved my life alright?" The Hoenn adolescent's irises briefly flickered upwards, where a gauze of white wrapped around his senior's throat. He screwed his eyes shut. Images of Red with a slit throat plagued his nightmares. He envisioned himself at home...With Norman welcoming him back on a job well done. Lt. Surge's last words echoed like a broken record in his head. His father would be proud. Ruby snorted in disgust and a small part of him fully agreed with the ruthless soldier. "Come on," the older man's wrist chains rattled as he reached up to fluff Ruby's hair, "stop brooding, if you have any problems or nightmares to relate, I'm all ears. I know I'm not Sapphire or Emerald...But...I'm here so you can depend on me a bit more okay?"

The Hoenn native thought Red would hate him for disclosing a secret he'd gladly guard with his life. Instead, when Surge left, the ex-commander picked himself up and slunk towards Ruby. For a split, frightening moment, the fashionista thought the Kanto native might kill him. However, the only thing Red did was totter dangerously close and envelope him in a hug. Instantaneously, Ruby stopped crying and curled up for a period of self-loathing. Each morning, he'd be greeted by Red's grinning face and an enquiry about his health.

Ruby appreciated the gesture, even if he never thanked the older man.

A few shouts prompted the ex-champion to leave his side and swagger back to the bars. Outside, the warden shouted at Red to halt at his position and the door clanged open. In stepped two teenagers and Ruby's jaw dropped to the floor. The ebony haired man mirrored his shock, but the newcomers, simply gazed at him with dulled miens.

"Yo." Green greeted and trained his eyes on the dark grey floor of the cell. Next to him, Blue shifted uncomfortably and mumbled a greeting which, judging by her best friend's expression, did not reach his ears.

"Yo?!" Red sputtered. "Yo? You walk in here and all you can manage is Yo?" His eyes narrowed predatorily. "Aren't you gonna chew me out for what happened?" the raven haired meekly whined. In spite of the entire mess surrounding them, Blue and Green erupted into light hearted laughter and Ruby found a smile tugging at his chapped lips, he licked them. Yuck...If Sapphire was here...Then she better have lip balm or something similar, his skin needs some serious attention. "Jeez...Here I'm having nightmares about Green skinning me alive and roasting me over a spit. So..." Red queried cautiously, "are all of you here...Or?"

Blue replied in affirmative and he sighed in defeat. The pervious light of hope burned into nothingness. Blinking away tears collecting at the edge of her eyes, she put her arms around Red and hugged him tightly. He leaned in the warmth, forcing Green to join in the huddle. The trio stayed like that formation for quite some time and Ruby, slightly uncomfortable and wishing to be with his own gang of friends, simply observed them with sadness tinting his eyes. The top three did not speak, not even a hushed whisper. Their presence comforted each other and he contemplated on what will happen next. "I figured blaming you won't change anything." The spiky haired brunette whispered, "Besides, Charon would snitch on us sooner or later. Your throat Red...Did you injure..." Green broke off and stared harder at the swathe of bandages on his co-companion's neck. "...They hurt you?" His voice rose an octave. "They sliced your throat because you refused to give them information? How dumb are you?!" By now, the strategy leader's voice grew into a high pitched shriek. "If they threaten you to spill the beans...You should just do so! Arceus Red...What is wrong with you?!" His tone dipped back into a hoarse whisper when Blue gently brushed her fingers over the scratchy material.

"Yeah...Ruby saved my life actually." The fighter sheepishly admitted. "I'm sorry for making you worry Green...Blue." Any snappy comeback Oak wanted to articulate, simply died in his throat and the teenaged professor grunted. "Now what do we do? I doubt having a mass jailbreak is an option." Red traced his finger along the cold floor. "By the way, where are the others? And more importantly, is everyone okay? I figured we might be suffering from anomalies. I can't recall what I did in the recent months. All I remember is waking up next to Gold and staring at the mess on his bedroom floor...And dragging Charon to the police station which ultimately resulted in this fiasco."

"Genius." Muttered Green sarcastically and shook his head. "We were de-aged to children and thus wholly dependent on the Johto natives to help us around. And Gold had a blast of a time acting as a foster father to you." A strange emotion passed Red's scarlet irises and before Blue deciphered the longing behind it, he smiled and shook his head amiably, motioning for his friend to continue speaking. "And apparently, I was a pompous-"

"No surprises there" Red and Blue cut in.

"-selfish moron who only thought about myself and regarded others as trash..." The jade eyed male confessed in a small voice. "Crystal lectured me on my behavior as soon as I grew back into a teenager. During that time, she had no idea I regained my adult memories...how mortifying." His two best friends chuckled and on one of the narrow beds bolted against the wall, Ruby straightened up and let a giggle loose. The door set into the jail cell swung open again and this time, the Hoenn natives tumbled into the room. Sapphire glanced at Ruby and flew over to him; her sobs rebounded off the walls whilst Emerald first dipped his head at Red and joined his friends on the bed. After two days of seeing the fashionista flounder around like a living corpse, it was refreshing to see the wide, sunny smile stretching across his pallid face. Red grinned wider and Green scowled. "I hate that conniving expression of yours..." he complained, "but it beats seeing your face screwed up like a sour prune...So...You have any other plans for how to bust out of Valora?"

"Valora?" Blood drained from Red's face.

"Yeah." Blue chimed in. "Because that's where they are taking us."

A/N: The Dex Criminals have turned back to normal and unfortunately Lack-2 doomed them all. Much thanks to BewareTheShadows and skrubboi For following and favoriting and to all those who read and reviewed. Virtual Devil's food cake to all.

At Jack54311: I sorta ship Blue and Ruby. Apart from the Manga, Blue and Silver don't really have a sibling relationship so it works I guess. Poor Ruby, though.