Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 12: Home

"You went too far, Roxanne!" the youngest person in the room exclaimed the moment Juan had formally called for the extraordinary Gym Leader meeting to start. Seventeen people sat in a comfortable hotel room, just outside Mauville – a friend of Wattson's owned it, and was always happy to host the Gym Leaders on their occasional meet ups. "Apologise!"

Reginald, Dragon-type Gym Leader and member of the Hoenn Gym Leader council, eyed Tate. Though Tate was filled with the impetuousness of youth, Reginald couldn't help but think that this was slightly out of character. It'd been a week to the day since Roxanne's interview first aired, and Tate'd sounded civil enough in email communications even the day before.

Ah. Liza. A double act, then. "Forgive my brother's tone, Roxanne. He's rather easily angered, as you well know." A smirk was visible on her face. "However, he's got a point. We're Gym Leaders. The guidelines say we're supposed to be neutral regarding other types than our own."

"Tate, Liza, I've mentioned before that this is simply data. I did not disparage Pokémon. I merely called for research." Roxanne, as ever, was polite in tone, but Reginald had the feeling she didn't particularly like being singled out. Then again, nobody ever did.

"Aye, that much is true," spoke Casper, the Ghost-type Gym Leader, a man close to Wattson in age, though rather thinner and frail-looking. "Ye called for research, but ye had a leading question to begin with."

"I was asked my opinion. Someone with the proper scientific background will apply proper rigour to it, I am certain."

"And in giving yer opinion, ye poisoned the well." Casper shook his head, scoffing. "Bad practice, lass. Leave science to scientists and teach yer children that too."

"Perhaps," Juan interjected smoothly from Reginald's left, "we should seek opinions of those not involved directly." The Senior Gym Leader – though actually only second in actual seniority due to a brief hiatus in his mid-40s, which had allowed Wattson to grab that title – looked around the room. "Norman?"

Ah, Norman. He usually spoke sense. "Well, I don't think Roxanne actually meant to disparage any Ghost, Dark, or Psychic-types. But," he said, holding up a hand to forestall interruptions, not that it was needed, "that doesn't mean that no disparaging happened."

An argument Reginald could find himself agreeing with, though he wasn't so sure about Roxanne's disparaging being unintentional. He'd heard from someone at the original protest – a cousin's best friend working at Rustboro Park security – that Roxanne had been one of the more vocal members there.

The arguments raged for a while, and Reginald kept quiet. He'd like to join in the debate, but he knew that, as a member of the council, he would add undue weight to either side he joined in on. Instead, he quietly kept tabs on the debate.

A reprimand was a given. Roxanne had overstepped her boundaries as a Gym Leader in the interview by speaking negatively. Juan shared this view as well, as far as Reginald knew, and even though none of the Gym Leaders involved – Roxanne, Tate & Liza, Casper, and Umbra – would vote, he couldn't see enough opposition to the reprimand.

The real question was whether or not censure would follow. An alliance of Flannery, Winona, and LeeAnn was arguing in favour of it – a strange alliance if ever Reginald had seen one. The three women were disparate In age: Flannery in her early twenties; LeeAnn close to his own forty-six; and Winona just past thirty, and Flannery traditionally sided with Roxanne.

Then again, she knew a tiny bit more than others.

Cap and Cory were leading the defence. Mostly Cory. Despite opposite types – Poison and Steel – the two had gone through their qualification process together, and had been good friends since. Their argument seemed to revolve around freedom of speech, and if there was going to be someone voting against the reprimand, it'd be them. Cory also held Brawly's vote for this session, though Reginald was unsure the surfer would agree with the exact argument. Laid back he may be, the Dewford Leader had boundaries that Roxanne came close to crossing.

Ten to three for the reprimand then, including the council votes, and probably an undecided outcome for the censure, excluding council votes. Reginald thought it over. Juan was impassive, but irked with Roxanne's overstepping of the boundaries. The third member of the council, David, the Bug-type Gym Leader, appeared swayed by Cory's oration. Reginald had to hand it to him: it was a good delivery.

He'd vote against it, he decided. Better the devil he knew, and this allowed for easier tracking.

As expected, the reprimand passed, and the censure did not, though with a mere one vote difference. The margin wouldn't be a factor for Roxanne. A victory was a victory, especially for the impassioned; the fervent.

The rest of the meeting – they were there anyway – was standard, though much welcome, as there were several minor issues with the budget that could now be cleared up. The gossip afterwards was, as always, both unimportant and intriguing. Notes on interesting trainers were swapped, as were rumours about who'd be replacing Drake after the League, and many a glance was sent around the room, until everyone realised that the ones they were looking for had left already.

Perhaps, Reginald reflected as he climbed on his dragonite, off to fly to the south, where his Gym was, he ought to contact his old mentor for something.

~~§~~§~~

"Echoed Voice!" Danny called, for the third time that fight, and the wave of energy that rippled forth was slow, but absolutely massive. Both boys took a step back, even though the patch of grass whismur and grovyle were fighting on was already nearly thirty feet in front of them.

"Jump over it!" Max countered, using the same method that grovyle had used to dodge the first two Echoed Voices. The Grass-type mistimed the jump, however, and his leg was struck by the energy, which promptly caused him to tumble in mid-air. He tried to stick the landing, but that ended up as a belly flop, and whismur jumped on grovyle's back a moment later. "Well, that's a match. Guess you can't dodge over it easily."

Whismur jumped off grovyle's back, and both Pokémon ambled back to their trainers. "The side can work. Wonder if she can make it wider, not taller." Whismur tittered something affirmative. "You think you can?"

"Not now," Max said, putting a stop to any experimenting. "Dinner first, and it's your turn to cook. I'll go get some firewood."

They were camping in the hills north of Petalburg, skipping the normal routes and Petalburg Forest. This location was one Max knew: it was one of his mother's favourite places to have a picnic. It still looked the same as it did last September, just after Max had returned home from Kanto: a small lake, a grassy field, and a tiny stream nearby, about five miles out from Petalburg.

They could have made it to Petalburg that day. Easily. But Danny's parents only expected them tomorrow, and it wasn't like camping here was a chore or anything.

When Max returned with his arms full of firewood, he saw Danny looking at their map of Hoenn. Again. Danny wasn't sure where to go for the eighth badge. Max wasn't either, but it was going to be nearly two weeks until they reached Mauville, even if they left today without going to Petalburg. They had time.

Wait. Why was his pack open? He swore he closed it. "Danny? Did you take something from my pack?"

Danny looked up. "No?" He took a look at Max's obviously open pack. "What?"

Max dropped the branches he'd been carrying, and his hand went to his belt, fingering manectric's pokéball. Danny's hand also went to his belt, and the two boys approached the open pack with care. A Pokémon had probably managed to open it.

Just as Max was about to poke his pack with a large branch, a Pokémon emerged from it. Blue and white, with innocent-looking eyes that looked like they had no care at all, the poliwag took a look at the boys before jumping out of the pack and running towards them.

Or, well, that was its plan. It fell over halfway through, though it got up immediately,. Once it reached Max, who was closer, it started running circles around him.

Max relaxed as he saw the poliwag's expression up close: it just wanted to play. "Hey, Danny, toss me those small balls you use for marshtomp." It took a minute, but he got them. "Hey, poliwag? Want to juggle these?" he said, holding one of the small blue balls where the wide-eyed Water-type could see it.

"Poli!"

One, then two, then three balls made it into the air without too much issue as the poliwag alternated bursts of water to keep them up. When Max tried to add a fourth, however, it couldn't keep up, and one ball fell on its head, followed by the other three in rapid succession. That only got more laughter, though.

"Someone's having fun," Danny said, about ten minutes later, while poliwag was still trying to keep four balls up in the air, and failing, though it hadn't been hit in the head after that first time. Max was sitting next to it, adding balls when he felt like it. "Energetic little guy. Seems to like you too." He gave Max a significant look.

Oh, why not. Max snatched the two balls currently in the air, getting a gentle jet of water on his hand for his trouble every time. "Hey, poliwag? We're trainers. You know what those are, right?" That got him more happy chirping. "Want to come with us?"

The reply was a slippery Pokémon jumping into Max's chest. He didn't fall over, thanks to recent practice at being tackled by heavier Pokémon, but he did have to put one hand to the ground to stay sitting. "I guess that's a yes," Danny said, and Max could hear the smirk. "Guess you got your Water-type."

"Yeah."

~~§~~§~~

Danny laid motionless on his mattress, listening as his father, who'd just woken the two boys up, went down the stairs, in the same loud manner as always. He heard a creak, meaning that his father was a landing below them, and turned towards his right, where Max was trying to wake up properly. "Morning."

"Mo-ooo-rning," Max replied. "So comfy."

Danny smirked as his foot lashed out, jostling Max. "Grab a shower and wake up. Stuff to do."

"Fine." Max got up, grabbed a towel, and made to walk downstairs. He paused to shoot Danny a glare when he was at the door, but a yawn ruined that effect, and Max hastily padded down the stairs, leaving Danny in his room.

Around him, nothing had changed. His room was still the same as it had been seven months ago. Posters advertising the Hoenn League, or a tournament, still adorned the walls. His CDs were still lined up above his desk. From the half-open window, he could hear taillow tittering, their growlithe barking at something, cajoling and talking as children walked to school; all the sounds that made home… home.

It was familiar and weird at the same time: to come back and find that nothing, yet everything, had changed.

Different kids now sat in their classroom, in their last months at school. His music wasn't the best new music he liked any more. The taillow probably were different. The posters were out of date. Everything here was just… old.

Not bad old, though. He'd missed listening to his favourite albums, and his own mattress was still the best.

It was nearly nine by the time the two boys sat at the breakfast table, with Danny's Dad providing all their favourite foods, including pancakes. He did stop Danny from taking two at once, which was unfair.. "Any plans today?"

"Train," Max replied. "Going to use some of Dad's Pokémon."

"A wise decision," Danny's father said, nodding with a grave look on his face. It was almost enough to make Danny roll his eyes. "Different Pokémon lead to different training regimes. Versatility is important as a trainer." The adult in the room took the last pancake from the plate, layering it with more whipped cream than even Danny did. "Any other plans?"

"We thought we'd drop by school." They'd seen older kids do that in the past. "Sometime in the afternoon."

His father nodded. "Just call ahead first. Maybe they don't want you, because they're doing something."

"Oh." Danny hadn't even thought of that. "Thanks Dad."

"Glad I'm of use for something still. Along with my breakfast, apparently." He eyed the empty plates, and the boys. "Will this tide you until lunch, my lords?"

"It'll do," Danny replied as haughtily as he could. He could only hold the expression for about five seconds, bursting into sniggers after. "Thanks Dad. It was great." Beside him, Max voiced agreement. "Does growlithe need a walk?"

"Do ursaring go potty in the woods?" That was Dad-speak for 'Yes'. "Just take him with you to the Gym. He's not going to say no to that."

Growlithe was happy to go with Danny and Max, jumping around the boys until Danny half-threatened to put the leash on. Max made a quick call, found that they could swing by after 2pm, and after giving some of their Pokémon breakfast, the boys left for the Petalburg City Gym.

Once in the Gym, Max gave Danny one of his father's slakoth to work with snorunt on Blizzard, and Max went to the other side of the Gym arena to work with a girafarig. Danny saw both manectric and baltoy out. On a whim, Danny sent his marshtomp out, remembering that they could learn Ice-type moves, and told him to watch and listen.

They rotated Pokémon around after half an hour or so, Danny's whismur starting some work with a loudred, and Max's poliwag working with a bibarel. Danny was happy he'd picked up some earplugs, even with the girafarig now throwing up Light Screens around the whismur and loudred. It was still loud up close.

A ring filtered through the earplugs, sounding very far away, and when Danny looked over, he saw Max walking to the Gym Entrance. "Take a break," he instructed his Pokémon, and after calming down the barking growlithe, he followed his best friend, who was already unlocking the door.

"Hey, I know the Gym is closed, but then I saw you and I wanted to ask if you were Gym Trainers or somethin' I can have a battle against to practice for fightin' the Gym Leader here," said a high-pitched voice, in one breath, as soon as Max opened the door. "If that's okay with you, I don't know if you do that here, it seems to be a bit of a rare thing in Hoenn." The speaker was a brown-haired, naturally-tanned girl, wearing a blue t-shirt, green shorts, and she had a small black bag slung over her shoulder. She looked like she was a year older than Danny, and she didn't sound like she was from the Home Regions.

"Nah, we're not Gym Trainers. Dad'll be back on Wednesday," Max said. Max's Dad had left yesterday, meeting the boys at Danny's home before using alakazam for travel. "But we can battle."

"Oh, wow, you're the Gym Leader's sons?" She paused. "But you don't look like each other at all."

"He is," Danny said, poking Max in the arm as he stepped up. "I'm just his friend." He held out his hand. "I'm Danny." The girl had a firm grip, and Danny nearly stumbled when she pulled him in for a quick hug.

"And I'm Max." He didn't stumble, but he did get the same hug. "The Gym Leader's son." He stepped out of the way, inviting her in. "Come on."

"Thank you so much!" the girl gushed as she stepped in. "I'm Linda, I'm from Castelia City in Unova, and this'll be my last Gym Badge for the Hoenn League if I win here." They reached the gym, the Pokémon in them watching them enter. "You're trainers, right? How many badges do you have? Are you even going for badges? You don't look like Coordinators, and I didn't see any fancy Contest moves or somethin' while I was watchin'."

"We got six badges," Danny answered, listing all of them for Linda. "Which ones you got?"

"Dynamo, Meadow, Mind, Frost, Rain, Toxic, Twister," Linda listed in turn. "Been an amazin' year. It's just great to be out here and travel with Pokémon all the time. And there's so much variety here! Unova's kinda isolated, so we only got migratin' Water and Flyin'-types in common with you."

"So you've been using Unova Pokémon to defeat our Gym Leaders?" Danny teased, but he saw Linda's face lose her smile. "Huh?"

"I started here," Linda stated quietly. "Unova ain't a good place for travellin' right now. Some guys callin' themselves Team Plasma are stealin' all sorts of Pokémon from trainers. Liberatin', they call it. Been goin' on for nearly two years now." She let out a sigh. "I know my parents are okay, but..."

"You can't help fearing for them and their Pokémon," Max finished softly.

"So. Battle?" Danny broke the very uncomfortable silence. Max gave him a weird look, but Danny ignored that with the ease of long practice. "Just a friendly spar. One on one, everyone fights everyone once."

"Okay," Linda agreed, still a bit downcast. "Max? You up for goin' first against me?"

"Always!"

Everyone won one battle. Max's manectric beat a Unovan Ghost-type – a yamask – in the same way that she used to fight duskull: launch Thunder Waves until one stuck and then get in close. Danny thought Max was going a little easy on the yamask, since he didn't see a Discharge, but it still worked. Linda then proceeded to beat Danny, as snorunt lost to another Ghost-type: a golett that just hit too hard with Drain Punch. Lastly, Max and Danny had one of their many, many spars, with skorupi overcoming poliwag through attrition and poison. Luckily, they had plenty of Pecha Berries on hand, even without their big first aid kit, which was in Danny's room.

"Ghost-types, huh?" Max asked when they were all done, enjoying a slice of cake – baked by Danny's father – on the benches. "That golett looked good."

"Thanks! Actually, it's not Ghost-types. Those were just gifts from my family. See, all my grandparents really like Ghost-types, so they give all of their grandchildren Ghost-types to start out with, and I got two of those, but what I really like are Ground-type Pokémon. I got a numel, a swinub, and a trapinch. The swinub's in Unova, at Professor Juniper's place. Team Plasma won't dare stealin' there – lots of powerful Pokémon there, including some of the Gym Leader Pokémon." Linda'd gotten more animated as she talked, but she shrunk once Team Plasma came up again.

Max reached over, handing her another slice of cake. "Laboratories are always really safe. It'd be a fool who tried to steal there." Then, under his breath, so that only Danny, who sat in the middle, could hear it. "I know some of those."

"What other Pokémon do you have?" Danny asked after restraining his laughter from Max's remark. He'd heard plenty about that Team Rocket trio that dogged Ash and friends, and their ridiculous plots.

"A beautifly, a nidorino – he's in Unova too – and a hitmonchan. He taught golett a lot about punchin', like that Drain Punch that beat your snorunt," Linda told them. "Just eight Pokémon, but that's fine. It's hard enough to keep jugglin' all Pokémon around so they spend some time with me."

"I hear ya," Max said. "Seven's hard enough."

"Don't listen to him," Danny said in a stage whisper. "He's only had that poliwag for a few days, and that's his seventh."

Linda giggled for a second or so. "What Pokémon do you have then? Got anything from your family like I did?"

"Technically yes, for Danny here," Max said, while Danny shot him a mock-glare.

"My uncle's the local Professor," Danny admitted. "We each got one of the starter Pokémon."

"Really? You are so lucky! Which ones did you take? I really like mudkip, but they're so rare in the wild!"

"I have marshtomp, whismur, duskull, aron, gulpin – he's at my uncle's now – and you know about skorupi and snorunt," Danny said, sending out his starter. The marshtomp looked a bit surprised to be sent out, and tried to grab some cake, but Danny stopped him from grabbing some, before giving a slice to the marshtomp himself. "He's not exactly good at grabbing things," Danny said by way of explanation.

"He's a disaster at it," Max corrected, and Danny didn't even need to turn to know that he was grinning. "Worst motor skills I've ever seen in a marshtomp."

"You've seen all of three?" Danny ventured.

"Still true." Danny couldn't deny that. "I started with treecko, who's a grovyle now, and I caught a baltoy on—"

"A baltoy!?" Linda immediately got up and walked over to Max. "Where'd you get it? My uncle has a claydol and I think it's the best Pokémon ever!"

"Izabe Island, near Mossdeep," Max said as he sent the small Pokémon out. "I also have a ninjask who's at Professor Birch now, and a clefairy and a..." He trailed off, watching Linda coo over the baltoy. "Did you hear anything I said just now?"

"Maybe?" Linda said, giggling. "Sorry, it's just… They're really rare, aren't they? I never thought I'd meet one." She gently prodded baltoy to turn around, which it did. "You're so lucky you have one. Isn't it just amazing?" She turned, so she could look at baltoy and the boys on the bench at the same time. "Oh, sorry, you were tellin' me your other Pokémon? Can you repeat them?"

Max duly did that as Danny tried to remember exactly how rare baltoy were. He knew it had come up in one of their talks with his uncle at some point. Oh, it was on the tip of his tongue. "Route 111!" he burst out, causing Linda and Max, who were chatting about something else Danny hadn't caught, to look at him. "That's where my uncle says a lot of baltoy are." A blush crept into his face, which wasn't helped when Linda hugged him.

"Thank you! I'll go there right after defeatin' the Gym Leader. Will you be here for that too? Are you going to fight for a Balance Badge? It'd be amazin' if we could all do that."

"Er, no, sorry," Max said, and Danny saw Linda's face fall. "It's… kinda weird to fight your own Dad. Both of us didn't want to do that."

"And we're planning to go to Mauville soon," Danny added. "We're leaving on Monday, and Max's Dad doesn't return until Wednesday." Then, he had an idea. "You know what you could do, Linda? After getting your badge here and getting a baltoy."

"Hm?"

"Go to Coral Cape. That's all the way to the north-west of Hoenn. The Ground Gym is there, and there's a boat that'll get you to Lilycove when you want to leave for the Ever Grande Conference."

For the third time in less than an hour, Danny received a hug from the Unovan girl. "Oh, thank you so much! You've helped me a ton today. I wasn't sure what to do until the Lea… the Ever Grande Conference, but now I know. Thank you!"

The clock struck twelve, reminding Danny that they'd be having lunch with his father. "Max?" he said, tilting his head towards the clock.

"Ah, yeah." Max returned baltoy, to Linda's disappointment, and Danny did the same to marshtomp, before taking the plastic plate to growlithe, who gladly devoured the cake crumbs. "We need to run now, but wanna hang out tomorrow? See something of Petalburg?"

Wait, did he hear that correctly?

"Sure!" Linda said as she slung the strap of her bag over her left shoulder. "Meet here?"

"At 1pm?"

"Okay!" Linda said. The three walked out, and when they were outside, Linda turned around, hugging Max, and Danny, one last time. "See you tomorrow!"

She walked off, going left towards the city centre. Danny, in the mean time, just turned to look at Max, who was closing the Gym behind them. "Max?"

"What?"

"Max and Linda..." Danny began in a singsong voice, and the instant blush on Max's cheeks felt so good to see. It completely ruined the glare. "Oh, come on. Admit it."

"I don't! I just get what she's afraid of."

Danny thought about that for a second. "True, but still..."

"Not. A. Word." Max started walking, and Danny and growlithe had to hurry to catch up. "Besides, wouldn't you want some help in an unfamiliar city?"

"Fine," Danny drawled, resolving to take a small camera with him tomorrow. Max's parents had to see this. As did Danny's uncle. And his parents. And Ash. And May.

~~§~~§~~

Monday morning was overcast as Danny, his parents, Max, the Birch family growlithe, and an alakazam stood in a crowded living room. "Last chance lads. She could take you to Mauville proper, no problem," said Danny's Dad as he put a hand on his alakazam's back.

"Twenty miles out is fine," Max replied politely. "Gives us some time to train before taking on Wattson."

"Do be careful, boys, and stay away from that Cycling Road. All sorts of hoodlums are on there." That was the third time Danny's Mum had said that, as if they hadn't heard it the first two times. "Go make us even prouder than we already are."

"Will do Mum. Alakazam?" Danny said as he gently grabbed the Pokémon's wrist. Max did the same on the opposite arm. "Take us away."

The world vanished into nothingness, reappearing a moment later on an empty hill overlooking route 110. Part of Cycling Road was visible in the distance, as were the Mauville outskirts. The air was incredibly fresh; a big difference from Petalburg, and the only sound they heard was the warm wind rustling the long grass as clouds flew by overhead.

Alakazam left after they'd thanked her, and Danny took a deep breath. Home had been great, but this… This was great too. "To Mauville?"

"To Mauville."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

The Hoenn Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to Unova due to risk of insurgent conflict and potential theft of Pokémon.

All Hoenn nationals in Unova are advised to leave the country, unless they have Pokémon capable of holding off a sustained assault from several mid-level Pokémon at once. These Pokémon should additionally ideally include a Psychic or large Flying-type to allow for rapid removal from the situation.

The insurgents known as Team Plasma are capable of striking throughout the entire region, though the West quadrant, including Driftveil and Mistralton, and the North quadrant, including Icirrus and Opelucid, are particularly at risk. Government and League efforts to contain the insurgency are limited to the capital Castelia, the seat of government in Nimbasa, and the Pokémon League in Vertress.

From: Hoenn Foreign Office Travel Advisory for Unova.

Author's Note: A calmer chapter, because it's not all enraged Pokémon, Gyms, and dangerous weather.