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 19:Meeting

When Ash had said he'd get them tickets, Max hadn't expected to be seated in one of the stadium's luxurious sky boxes. It seated about 30 people, and Max didn't even recognise half the people in there. Those he did recognise were really important people, like some high-up politician, Phoebe, or Cory, Hoenn's Steel-type Gym Leader.

He also felt ridiculously underdressed. Their clothing was nice enough, but everyone else was wearing suits and evening dresses. They certainly got a few weird looks, mostly aimed at him. Danny had, apparently – and how had Max not known this – taken a sports jacket with him, which he'd put on for the occasion.

Strong arms enveloped him from behind, squeezing him tight as someone leant into him. "Hey little brother," May greeted, and when Max turned around, he saw his sister, dressed appropriately in a deep blue, sparkly, dress – probably something she'd bought for a Contest – alongside a woman he'd seen more than a few times, yet met only twice or so.

"Oh, you still look the same as a year ago, Max," Delia Ketchum, wearing a reddish-pink dress, said, "but you also look so much more mature. Being on a journey is great, isn't it?" She held out a hand, and Max shook it. "And you must be Professor Birch's nephew. Danny, wasn't it? I'm Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am."

"Oh, call me Delia. Ma'am makes me feel old and I always have to check twice to see if someone's talking to me." She looked around, eyeing the refreshment bar and the seats. "Nice of Ash to get us these seats, wasn't it?"

"Someone wasn't expecting it," May added in a teasing tone, grinning when Max glowered in her direction. "You're waaaay underdressed, Max."

"Kind of short notice, May. Only found out Ash was in this two days back, and I wasn't expecting… this." Max gestured with his hand. "I was expecting some regular seats lower down."

"And I'm fairly sure your fancy clothing is with Mum and Dad."

Max tried to resist the urge to glare at his sister, but certain things in life were inevitable. This was one of them. "That too." There was general movement in the direction of the chairs. "Welp, it's starting."

The next hour was amazing. Max had been up close with Legendaries, seen Ash fight Brandon at equal footing more than once, and he'd watched a ton of battles in the months between coming home and leaving, but this was on a different level entirely, reminding Max of Glacia's recent battle with Steven Stone. There was no holding back, no mercy given. Strategies were formed, changed, dismissed in the time Max took to understand them. Orders were just simple words, half a word, transmitted into the box via radio, but those words held so much meaning to trainer and Pokémon.

Max got shivers all over when Ash led with pikachu and called for a Thunder attack that outright stopped a dragonite's Hyper Beam. Heracross brawled with a haxorus, and the brawling continued as torterra and druddigon took the field. Weavile darted over the field, agilely avoiding tyrantrum's powerful attacks, and the best was saved for last. First, they were treated to an aerial dogfight as swellow and a flygon clashed, and then to a battle in air and on land as Drake's starter Salamence faced off against charizard.

The final score was a well-deserved tie.

The applause was thunderous as the two trainers walked to the middle of the very damaged arena and shook hands, and as the applause continued, the lights gradually dimmed, until all that was left was background lighting and a spotlight on the two trainers.

Drake launched into a speech about why he'd chosen this charity, and how thankful he was for everyone coming, watching, donating to a cause so near to his heart. He spoke of seeing children in hospitals, covered in wires, electrodes, dwarfed by even the smallest hospital beds, and the feeling of helplessness their parents felt when their children were going through a bad seizure. It was a side Max hadn't expected to see in the rough man. Ash too, shared a story, about a girl in his class when he was nine, something that caused Delia to mutter something Max didn't catch.

The lights dimmed as both trainers bowed deeply, and when they came back on, amidst another round of thunderous applause, neither of them were on the field any longer.

Max flexed his hands as people started filing out of the box. He'd been clapping a ton, and his hands hurt, but it was worth it. So worth it. What he'd seen had been amazing, and from the mutters he heard, most people agreed with that. He turned to the exit, only to not see the rest of his group. "Over here Max," May called, standing near the… bar? What? Max walked over to them, and May practically shoved a drink into his hands. The cold glass was very soothing, almost painfully so. "We need to wait a bit."

Max's question of why went unanswered, and a shared look with Danny told him that his friend was just as confused. Most people filed out, then some people filed in from the other exit, proceeding to file out again moments later. Max thought they came from the other sky box. A few of them stayed behind, and Max saw Sidney in that group, joining Phoebe as they talked about something over a drink.

A League official rapped his knuckles on the door, silencing the talk of all eight people there. "If you would follow me," he said, stepping out the door.

Max followed, last in line, as the official led them past the exit, into the stadium catacombs. Bleak light reflected on light-green tiles and walls, and footsteps echoed while the sounds of people leaving the stadium filtered through from above.

It felt like an age before the official stopped in front of a door. Max could see there was a sign on the door, but he couldn't see what it said. Before he could move to be able to read it, the door opened, and the official waved them in.

They entered a large room with various chairs and tables, and a look out over Lilycove's harbour at the far end. In the centre of the room, Drake and Ash stood next to a table filled with drinks and snacks.

Delia stepped up to hug Ash first, and the Petalburg trio kept their distance, smiling fondly, as they watched the two interact. Besides them, Drake was talking to the two people Max didn't know by name. The man looked familiar, though, but Max couldn't place it until he heard Drake call the man his son.

Then, Delia waved them over, and they too joined Ash as the two groups moved apart a bit. "Hey guys," Ash said, hugging May and shaking Max and Danny's hands in turn. "Did ya like it?"

"It was amazing!" Max blurted out, loud enough that he saw Phoebe turn her head. Max's face started burning nearly immediately. "Uh, sorry."

Ash and May looked like they were trying not to laugh, while Danny didn't even try. It took a slug to the shoulder for him to stop. "Glad you enjoyed it," Ash said, ruffling Max's hair. "Training with Drake has really helped me."

"As training with you helped me," Drake interjected as he walked up. "Ms. Ketchum, Danny, Max, May," he greeted, nodding to them. "You are probably familiar with my colleagues, Phoebe and Sidney, but allow me to introduce my son and daughter in law, Aiden and Alicia. Their son, my grandson, Owen, is one of the children I spoke of."

"Father overstates it," Aiden said as he stepped forward to shake hands with everyone, starting with May. At a closer look, the man did look a lot like his father, only with black hair instead of grey. "Luckily, Owen's epilepsy has been limited until now, and the doctors have good hope that the seizures will fade as he ages."

"How old is your son now?" Delia asked. "He must be young not to be here. I'm not sure I could've kept Ash away from any of this from the age of five onwards."

Most of the room chuckled at Ash's expense, and even Drake couldn't resist a small grin. "He's nearly four now," Alicia said, "and yes, he really wanted to come and see his Papa battle. Unfortunately, we live in Fallarbor, and Teleport is discouraged for children with epilepsy. He's with my parents now, and I'm sure they let him watch everything."

"That they did," Drake confirmed. "They let Owen call me, just before you came in. I'm not sure I understood most of what he said. It was all rather fast, enthusiastic, and sleepy, all at the same time." That set off another round of chuckles. "In any event, one of my colleagues has been eyeing the refreshments for some time now. I suggest we help her, and partake in what Lilycove Stadium has brought here."

Phoebe, for her part, failed to blush at all at Drake's words, though she did stick her tongue out at her fellow Elite Four member, something that amused Max greatly. She was the youngest Elite Four member, but even then, she was nearly thirty.

Everyone just started mingling around the refreshment table, and Max quickly found that Sidney and Phoebe, while Elite Four members, were just as human as any other big name trainer he'd met, and they didn't care that he was twelve and a beginning trainer when he asked them about some stuff that was probably simple to them. Alicia, too, was easy to talk to, though he didn't talk to Aiden, who was always talking to someone else. It was just like a family gathering, only better because there was nearly no chance of someone bringing up something embarrassing.

Max was halfway through his second glass of some sweet, non-alcoholic he'd explicitly been told, drink when he saw Danny stand off to the side. May, Ash, and Delia were off talking to Aiden, with Drake and Sidney looking out the window. "Hey, I haven't seen your friend talk too much," Phoebe said as she stepped up beside him. "What's with him?" Before Max could answer, Phoebe spoke up again. "Oh, doesn't matter. Let's go!"

Max followed Phoebe, amused, as she walked straight to Danny, who was staring off at the outside, or maybe at Drake and Sidney. Max didn't know. The Elite Four member tapped Danny's right shoulder, and laughed when Danny fell for the old trick by looking right instead of left, where she was. "Hi. Danny Birch, wasn't it? I've heard of you. I heard you have a dusclops."

"Casper?" Max asked.

"Yep," Phoebe said, popping the p. "We keep in touch, and Casper told me he'd seen a twelve-year-old with a dusclops. Evolved on Mt. Pyre no less. Symbolic." She smiled at Danny. "They're rare, you know. You'll probably be one of maybe three trainers at the Ever Grande conference to have one."

"Really? They're that rare?" Danny wondered.

"Yep. People read into the Pokédex entries too much. More fool they, I suppose." The Elite Four member lifted a wedge of savoury cake from the nearby table, taking a small bite. "Do you have dusclops on you? Can you show me?" Phoebe added when Danny nodded.

"Sure, go ahead."

Max saw a few people turn around at the distinctive sound of a Pokéball opening, but nobody approached them as Phoebe walked around the dusclops. "Newly evolved, bit uncomfortable still," Phoebe muttered. "That'll pass, don't worry." She put a hand on the Ghost's hand. "May I?"

"Sure?" Danny said, sounding confused at Phoebe's request.

Max didn't know what she meant with it either, but then he saw Phoebe close her eyes, a calm, focused expression coming over her face, one that reminded him of Anabel. "No way..."

His soft, amazed, words caused Phoebe to smile slightly, or maybe it was something she learnt from dusclops. Moments later, she opened her eyes again. "What did you do?" Danny asked.

"Communed," was Phoebe's one-word answer.

"Communed?" Danny echoed. "What's that?"

"She can talk to Pokémon," Max said softly, in awe. "I saw it before. In Kanto," he added when Danny and Phoebe looked at him, both surprised to some degree.

"Was that Anabel, or did you run into Sabrina while in Kanto with Ash?" Phoebe asked.

"Anabel," Max answered. "One of the Kanto Frontier Brains," he added for Danny. "She used telepathy to give orders to her Pokémon in battle, and to talk to them outside of battle."

"I'm not nearly as good," Phoebe admitted. "And it only works for Ghosts. But what I got from dusclops is that she respects, trusts, loves her trainer, and that she hopes she won't be forced to go against him." She turned to Danny. "Forced? I'm not sure I got that right. Translating is hard sometimes. Anyway, she's also hoping to meet another Ghost on the team soon." The Elite Four member cocked her head slightly. "If you want, I can point you to good locations for Ghosts that aren't Mt. Pyre, if you want to get more Ghosts on your team."

"No, no, it's not that," Danny hastily said. "It's just that Max gave me a Dawn Stone and –"

"You have a female snorunt," Phoebe finished for him, just before she finished off her slice of cake. "Great cake. You should try some." She offered the plate to the pre-teens, and Danny took a slice, looking very confused. Max refused: he'd tried it, and found it wasn't to his taste. "So, froslass. Not the easiest Ghost-type if you catch them, but evolving them with permission works better. Glacia has two: one evolved, one caught, and let me tell you, that's a night-and-day difference." She put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "You did ask snorunt what she wanted, right?"

Max remembered Danny asking that, and snorunt's reaction had been very positive, to the point of jumping onto the closed box. "Yeah. It's just… Stone evolutions are supposed to be hard to train," Danny admitted. "People complain about them all the time to my uncle."

"Ah, but most people your age do not ask," Phoebe told them. "They're just 'hey, I can make my Pokémon become stronger. Let's do that!' in their thoughts, and they don't think about what a Pokémon wants. I have a lampent that doesn't want to evolve, so I keep him away from all Fire Stones, and Ash has pikachu, of course. But I also have an aegislash – Kalos Pokémon, Ghost-Steel – and she jumped at the chance. Pokémon are just like humans: some of them want something, others don't." She smiled, doing a small shrug. "Sorry for the lecture. It's something I've thought a bit about."

Whatever Max wanted to say was interrupted by a phone ringing. The Lilycove Stadium employee, who'd been in the room all the time, took it, listening as everyone else watched him, before turning to Max, Danny, and Phoebe. "Ms. Phoebe? Officer Jenny, urgent."

"Phoebe." The Elite Four member tensed. "Are you certain? How many?" Another pause. "Giratina beyond… I'm in Lilycove. I can't make it to Oldale before it stops, if it's anything like Rinshin." She let out a harsh sigh. "Understood. I'll be there as soon as I can." She ended the call. "Drake, need one of your Pokémon for transport!"

"Another Ghost rampage?" Drake asked as he fiddled with a Pokéball. "Here, take—"

"Father, she can use claydol," Aiden interrupted him, sending the evolved form of baltoy out. "We've been to Oldale before. Claydol can take you there."

"Aiden, if Alicia and Giacomo wouldn't kill me for it, I'd kiss you," Phoebe said as she walked up to the Psychic-type, catching a Pokéball as she did so. "Sidney?"

The Dark-type Master had also moved to the claydol, putting his hand on its head. "It's all Ghost types. You'd be a sitting ducklett if you want to commune. I can help you with that; give you time and space."

"Thank you," Phoebe said sincerely. "Drake, we'll return to this room. Can you stay here?"

"Go," Drake replied. "Don't hesitate to send claydol back for aid if you need it. It will be found here."

Two people and one Pokémon vanished, but the tense mood stayed. Off to the side, Max heard Ash quickly tell his mother what the problem was, and Drake had commandeered the phone the instant his colleagues had left, speaking quick, terse, words. He also heard the hum of a Pokémon returning to his right, and when he looked, Danny had returned dusclops. "Didn't seem appropriate, y'know."

"I hear ya."

"Listen up," Drake commanded, and everyone did. "I'm afraid this meeting will have to be cut short soon. Transportation to your lodgings will arrive in ten minutes, and someone will be here to escort you outside in five. You'll go out in groups of two," he added, looking at May and Delia. "It's safer for you to be in your hotel or in the Pokémon Center."

Max felt annoyance flare up. Sure, he understood why Drake wanted them out, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Danny and May seemed resigned to it, and for the sake of not making a scene, Max held his tongue, and few things were said until they went to bed in the Pokémon Center, half an hour after leaving the stadium in a taxi.

Sleep was okay, except Max inexplicably woke up at around two in the morning. He made to shift position and embrace sleep once more, but then, paper rustled.

They'd closed the windows because wind and heavy rain was supposed to come in overnight.

Opening his eyes, Max caught a glimpse of a moving dark patch near the door, but when he shone the Pokénav's display on the spot, he saw nothing except the door itself. As quiet as he could, he got out of bed. He couldn't shake the feeling that something had been there, but he couldn't see it.

Then, as he turned, he saw something on the desk. The previously completely empty desk.

It was a simple sheet of paper: the kind you'd find in a notebook. From the looks of it, it had been torn out of one. Max slipped his glasses on his nose, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and started reading it.

Danny Birch, Max Maple,

Pokémon Center lounge, 11:15am.

P+S.

Froslass.

The short message was written in a flowing script that Max didn't know, but even with his mind slowed by recent sleep, he knew whose it was. He wondered why, but that wonder was short as a yawn reminded him it was the middle of the night. He double-checked the alarm – it was still set for eight-fifteen – and crawled back in his bed.

~~§~~§~~

Phoebe thanked her lucky stars neither she nor Sidney had been accosted by fans en-route to the Center. It'd been a long and utterly confusing night, and one that had raised more questions than it had given answers. Questions she wanted answers to, but she wasn't sure where to start, except here, in the Lilycove Pokémon Center lounge. Nurse Joy had led them in via the rear entrance, and now they were waiting.

The clunk of a mug being set down in front of her jolted her out of her thoughts. Coffee with lots of milk, just the way she liked it, especially after four hours of sleep. If that. "You save lives, Sidney."

"I try," her fellow Elite Four member said as he sat his lanky frame down in one of the lazier chairs in the lounge, one of his absol by his side. Not the one on his challenger team, Phoebe thought. The tail was slightly off. "Why do you want to talk to them again? Y'think they know something about it all?"

Her haunter phased through her head, but a firm shake made him realise that now was not the time. "Maybe? I told you about the commune with Danny's dusclops. It didn't make sense, but after Oldale..." Ugh, that had been a nightmare. As soon as she'd sent out one of her Pokémon – a weaker gastly just for testing purposes – the Ghost had fallen victim to whatever madness possessed all the Ghosts in the area. Sidney had used most of his team to just stop people from getting hurt, while one of his mightyena had stayed with her, for her protection.

She hadn't been able to commune with her Pokémon while the madness was ongoing, but as soon as it lifted, about two hours after they got there, far, far past sundown, she had. She'd received many a scattered thought – apparently whatever happened scrambled whatever passed for Ghost brains – but the main idea was that it was against every Pokémon's will. She'd confirmed that with a boy's shuppet.

Too bad most politicians thought she was… best not to go there. Politics incensed her, and that wasn't something she needed right now. She wanted answers, not fights.

A knock on the door, and in walked the two boys. Neither of them appeared too surprised to see them, and Phoebe figured that one of them had realised who'd left the note. Either was an option; while she had spoken more with Max than with Danny, she couldn't shake the feeling both of them were pretty smart. "Morning Danny, Max. Punctual, I see," she said, eyeing the clock above the door they'd entered through. 11:15 on the dot.

"When the Elite Four calls, you answer," Max answered drily, to Phoebe's internal amusement. Smart-aleck comments were great. Both of them sat down, taking the two comfortable armchairs Sidney had put right in front of where Phoebe was sitting. "How'd it go?"

"Couple wounded, nothing serious. Not a lot of Ghosts in Oldale; a lot fewer than Rinshin's reports said," Sidney answered for them. "Fuel to the fire of some; second of its kind in a week."

"Yeah..." Danny said, and he looked a bit sad. "Uncle didn't have any answers either, and he looked like he was up all night."

"He probably was," Phoebe replied. "He was in the wake of Rinshin, and last night could've been as bad, and it's close to his lab." She shuddered, and wasn't surprised to see the boys make uncomfortable faces. If whatever did this happened at the laboratory, there'd be trouble. "But you're probably wondering why we wanted to talk to you. Well," she said, giving them no chance to reply, "it has to do with what I got from Danny's dusclops. She didn't want to be forced." Her eyes moved between the boys. "Before last night, I had no idea it was forced. So, how do two twelve year olds know more than two Elite Four members?"

Neither of them seemed overly inclined to answer, with Max sending uncomfortable looks Phoebe's way. Danny seemed more resigned. They turned to each other, and there was some non-verbal communication going on there for a moment or two. "Just tell them, Max."

"Everything?"

"Probably better."

The story that followed was obviously not one Max liked to share, not that Phoebe could blame him in any way for that, but it answered more than a few of her questions, even ones she didn't know she had had. It also reaffirmed her idea that the boys were pretty smart, or at least had a good memory. She remained silent, listening to them right up until the end, when her surprise overcame her need to listen. "Ninetales? The Mt. Pyre ninetales?"

"Probably. Made me catch a vulpix and everything." Max sent out the vulpine Pokémon onto the table. It looked a bit surprised to be sent out here, but it was soon distracted by fingers going through its fur. "Heard of them?"

Oh had she ever. Wisps and bits of tales her grandmother had told her shot through her mind, as did tales Casper had told her over the years. They weren't the stories everyone with half a minute on search engines would know of. They were the myths, legends, factoids that spoke of the ninetales pair appearing to ask trainers a boon. Willing trainers. "Yep. Sorry about interrupting."

"It's okay. I'm done anyway. Hope it's enough."

"Enough?" Sidney echoed, reminding everyone he was still there. "Y'told us more than anyone else did. Want a drink? Chocolate?" Nods saw Sidney leave the room, though absol stayed.

They lapsed into silence, Max drawing comfort from his vulpix, Danny being distracted by haunter, and Phoebe sought to corral her thoughts, and to correct her assessment of the boys in front of her, again, for the second time inside fifteen hours, when she'd first learned who Ash's two last-minute invitees were.

She should really make a point of visiting their matches in the League. Actually… "Where are you off to now? Collecting badges? Only two months to the League."

"We're done already," Danny told her, and something must've shown on her face, because he grinned. "Yeah, it's fast. Still did it."

"Six months and eight badges?" She whistled, impressed. "That's mighty fast. I'll be sure to try and visit your matches, then, see what you can do." Sidney entered at that point. "Hey, Sidney, guess how many badges they have."

"Eight," her colleague and closest friend on the Elite Four replied as he put two mugs of hot chocolate and a mug of coffee down on the table. He went for an unmarked bottle of clear liquid himself. Probably water, but Phoebe never knew with him. "Looked it up. You were telling gengar where to go last night. I did that."

"Your gengar delivered the note?" Max asked. "I knew I saw something."

"Did she wake you?" It had been two when Phoebe had sent her off, and two-thirty when she'd returned. "I'm sorry if that happened."

"Eh. No need. I sleep light."

"A useful skill for any trainer," said Sidney. "Though some here don't quite see it that way."

Oh, that infuriating smirk on his face. "My ghosts kept me safer than a bank vault at night," Phoebe retorted. "At least I have an actual sleeping schedule. You just sleep whenever."

"Sleep is sleep. It happens when it happens. No need to force myself into regularity." He took another sip of water. "But when I was your age, I slept regularly. It's much easier and better for growing bodies," he added for Max and Danny, to Phoebe's internal relief. At least he wasn't going to infest them with his insomniac bug. She wasn't even sure he'd slept at all.

"Moving on," Phoebe said as she stirred her coffee. "Froslass. Danny, did you have time to think after the interruption last night?" Hah, interruption. Understatement of the year, that. "I think you'd be fine."

"I did, actually," Danny said, addressing Max with the last bit. The younger – Phoebe thought – boy replied with a stuck-out tongue. "I'll do it."

"Great! Send her out and we'll do it right here." Danny looked a bit sheepish at that. "Oh, go get the Dawn Stone first. It's kind of essential."

One retrieved evolutionary stone, a moved table and chairs, and three returned Pokémon later, Danny re-entered the room. "Whatcha do that for?"

"Safety, and a better look at it," Phoebe replied. She felt a bit giddy: watching a Pokémon evolve was always great to see, and it was even better when it involved one of her type. "Come on, send her out already!"

The snorunt was plain adorable. She really should get on with catching one, or maybe beg an Egg off of Glacia. She watched as Danny explained – clearly, concisely, and with obvious respect and love for his Pokémon – that yes, he was going to use the Dawn Stone on her, which caused the Ice-type to hug Danny's leg tightly, fondly, for just a moment. "Wait for me to step back, then go for it."

He put the Dawn Stone down in the middle of the empty floor space, and barely made it three steps back before the snorunt jumped on the Stone with a joyous cry. Immediately, the white of an evolutionary glow enveloped her.

As the bubble of energy grew larger, Phoebe felt the heavy, ethereal presence of a nearby Ghost emerge, concurrent with a vague, but insistent wailing sound, though not from sorrow or misery. Pain, perhaps, but pain mixed with joy; a symphony Phoebe could gladly dance to as the feeling she was so familiar with, of a Ghost nearby, fully settled in the room, even if the evolution was still ongoing.

A shape appeared. First came the mask-like head, topped with the two icy crystals that differed from froslass to froslass. Then the arms attained shape, held almost perpendicular to the head and soon-to-be body, which coalesced moments later, ending in the footless bottom as she rose into the air, still glowing for a moment more.

The evolution stopped, and motes of light burst outwards as the froslass was fully visible. She floated easily, her head at eye-level with her trainer for a moment before she, and he, carefully hugged to the best of their ability, and Phoebe had no need of communing to divine the feelings Pokémon and trainer shared. The joy was palpable.

With thanks, and mugs of chocolate in hand, the boys left, off to do whatever. Phoebe and Sidney spent a few minutes rearranging the room back to its former self in silence, but that wasn't to last. "Got your answers?"

"Plenty," Phoebe replied. "And ideas of where to get more of them." And maybe chew them out. If that head of the local G-men hadn't played the cards so close to their chest, Phoebe and Sidney could've been a lot more prepared. Then again, that secrecy thing was the main reason Phoebe never much liked them in the first place, so maybe she was biased. "I think we'll have to get Ash to tell us where to get them. Don't want to go all the way to the top."

"Lance'd probably listen," Sidney replied with a shrug, taking a swig out of a hip flask that definitely held something alcoholic. If he noticed her glare, he elected to ignore it with long-standing ease. "I always wondered who the local head was. Lay a bet?"

"Terms?"

"A reasonably priced gift of the winner's choice at the loser's expenses."

Sounded reasonable enough. "Deal. Two guesses?"

Eight hours later, Phoebe graciously accepted a beautiful glass-blown statuette of a froslass.

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

[…] I am not at all confident in our government, which is gratuitously and gleefully ignoring the hurt and harm done by the attacks around the country. Twenty-eight wounded, three seriously, in Rinshin, and mere luck left Oldale standing. I applaud my friends in the Centrist party for tabling this motion of no confidence, regardless of its result.

-Lord Cavendish, former member of Hoenn's parliament, October 3rd.

Author's Note: Even Elite Four members can't do without sheer dumb luck. Ask anyone who's been on the wrong end of a crucial critical before.