Shadow Skill: Silence. Prevents opponent from using moves such as Roar or Intimidate

From the moment they evolve, Gyarados are struck by a desire to destroy. They will not calm until nothing is left. Shadows, however, seem incapable of such ferociousness.

Angel sat down at one of the little tables that overlooked the ocean and wondered if Melody would still be alive had she chosen to turn down the mission for Team Rocket. Probably should have to begin with, when one considered the fact that she'd both succeeded and failed in the mission. But at least everyone had gotten what they wanted. The meddlesome goody two-shoes out of the way so they could actually get things done. Part of her felt like she could have done more good if she continued to work for them after the organization had revealed the truth of themselves to her.

But one thing she'd chosen to live her life by was the fact that things happened for a reason. And her father now had some of that glowy liquid from the Silph Co. So regardless, if they could figure out its purpose, they could use it against Team Rocket. Possibly even become as much of a thorn in their side as Ash Ketchum and his friends were. Perhaps it was for the better, too. She doubted she would have been able to play Team Rocket from the inside, what with how easy she was to read and the fact she wasn't able to lie. At least, not very well. Not to mention, it was unlikely they would have believed her anyways. Do-gooders didn't just up and change overnight. Horrible things had to happen to them to set them on a different path.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced up to see Faolan. It was only then that she realized she'd been quiet for far too long, and she blushed. "Sorry. I was just wondering if…" Angel trailed off, shook her head, and looked back to the ocean. Though she barely knew Faolan, she knew he would be just like every normal person in the world and tried to convince her that she was not at fault. And honestly, that wasn't something she could deal with now. No matter how badly she tried to deny it, Melody would not have been docked that day had Angel not pushed for a bit of speed.

After a little while longer, her gaze went to the shrunken pokéballs in her hand. She pressed the buttons to enlarge them and released her friends. Out popped Sylvie the Sylveon, Rosie the Leafeon, Dreamer the Absol, Anya the Litten, and Aleu the Midday Lycanroc. Who all instantly began to shower her with questions and demands for attention. Anya was surprisingly quite upset that she hadn't been invited. Something along the lines of it being rude not to include her. Of course, she didn't care that the others weren't invited, either. Just herself. All in all, it made her laugh. Even Faolan seemed to be amused, for she heard a soft chuckle.

Anya began to look around for Ebony, but when she didn't smell him on her, she just jumped atop Angel's head and curled up. Angel choked up at that, for she knew that, now, the little one merely thought Ebony was off to himself. As soon as Anya found out the truth, she would be devastated. Hopefully, Angel could keep it from her, and she would never have to know. Ebony was Anya's best friend. Aside from her, that is.

When she looked at Faolan, she saw that he was focused on Sylvie, Rosie, and Dreamer. Sylvie didn't seem too interested in, which made sense because, although rare, Shiny Pokémon weren't quite that rare. If that made sense. Angel pointed at each Pokémon as she introduced them, then went into details about Rosie and Dreamer. She explained how the young Eevee had evolved beneath a Cherry Tree, which was why she was shades of pink instead of green and brown. And how she was certain Absol's reverse-colored coat made him a bearer of creation, purity, and good luck.

"Do you only have five?"

"Yes and no. My sixth member, Ebony, is a Sableye with Melanism. Don't know if you've ever heard of that, but basically, his skin is black as night. He carries around a topaz-colored gem with him, big as the one you would see a Mega holding, but he can't Mega-volve. But a Team," she paused to draw an 'R' on the table, "uh, borrowed him. I tried to make a deal to get him back, and almost did, but a Murkrow decided that it would…be easier if Ebony stayed with him."

"'Team Rocket took him'," she mouthed when she realized that he seemed confused. Angel then pointed to Anya, and then placed a finger to her lips. At least he understood the points and shushes meant that she didn't want Anya to know yet.

"What did you do to the Murkrow for it to not want to cooperate with you?"

Angel shrugged. "You could say that it was a consequence of my naïveté. Back when I thought I thought I was doing good by being a member of Team Rocket, they told me that a Murkrow was taken from their facility. They said that he was a beloved partner to one who knew Giovanni. I was sent to retrieve him. Didn't realize I was returning him to a life of torture and servitude."

"Hold on. No offense, but you don't seem that naïve. How did you go so long without figuring out what everyone already knew?"

Tears welled in her eyes. It wasn't that his words had hurt her. More like she was angry with herself for having been so stupid to not pick up on the signs. To hear others point it out was like salt in the wound. They'd never allowed her contact with other members and limited her to certain areas of the facilities she'd visited. In hindsight, everything that was said and done screamed suspicious. But she'd grown up on the receiving end of misunderstood. Perhaps that was a trait Team Rocket used to manipulate her? If that was how they'd recruited her, did that make her empathy a weakness? Now too upset to speak, she moved her head to once again look at the water.

Faolan said nothing more, as if he knew he'd accidentally upset her. It wasn't his fault, and she wanted to tell him that. But if she did that, it would be akin to self-admittance that she was a monster. And since she already always felt bad enough about herself, it wasn't something that would be very helpful.

As she watched the water, something caught her eye. A purplish aura like the Shadows she'd found. "No way." The words were barely audible as she laughed inwardly at the fact her father had missed this by minutes. Something about her demeanor must have caught Faolan's attention, for he was now beside her as they both looked into the water.

With a mighty roar, a Gyarados leaped into the air from twenty feet below. Angel heard Faolan gasp as Anya noticed that she was above water and jumped onto the table with a hiss. "What is that?" Faolan had such a childlike tone of wonder in his voice that she couldn't help but smile.

At first, she didn't plan to tell him anything, but then she remembered the reason he'd been arrested. He'd tried to poach a poacher. There was a high chance that if he knew what to look for, he could become one of Giratina's Warriors of Light. Once they parted, he would do everything he could to find and protect the Shadows. Mind made up, she replied.

"It's a Shadow Pokémon. Team Rocket is after these oddities. They want to experiment on them. According to Giratina, who came to me in my dreams, wholly subservient Pokémon more powerful than the Ultra Beasts will be made if Team Rocket has their way. The vision of the future Giratina showed me revealed a world ran and oppressed by Team Rocket." Angel shook her head. "It's not something we can let happen."

"Do you have a plan to keep them out of not only Team Rocket's hands, but the hands of Magma, Aqua, Skull, and so on as well?"

"Not really. I mean, I do want to find a way to purify them or something. Make them worthless to anyone who wishes to use them for malicious purposes. But right now, I'm sending them to my father, Nanaki. He's a skilled scientist and inventor. He's going to provide them with a safe place to stay while he helps them to be better."

"Be better?" Faolan asked, but she shook her head again.

"More details can come later. For now, though, we need to find a way to convince that Gyarados to come with us before someone sees."

"Why not just capture it?"

Just the thought made her hands ball into fists at her side. Her whole body shook in anger, but she spoke calmly, for it wasn't him she was mad at. "I hate that concept. No matter how badly I want to help them, it's still their choice. If they decided to turn me down, I would give advice, but I would not go against their desires."

When she looked at him, it was clear she had once experienced a similar loss of choice at one point, which led to her firm belief in free will. He nodded, but she had no clue as to whether it was because he ceded to the wishes of a friend or if he felt the same way.

Angel returned Sylvie to his pokéball as she hopped atop the railing. For a few seconds, she hesitated. She felt a bit woozy at the combination of heights and the fact that she was about to leap into water when she couldn't swim. After a few deep breaths, she jumped forward into the ocean. Above and behind her, she heard Faolan call out her name with quite a bit of concern. Had he noticed her hesitation and placed two and two together? No. That wasn't something most people would even think of. His concern most likely regarded the height from which she'd jumped.

The moment she hit the water, she realized why he was worried. She'd barely managed to clear the shallow water. Once she'd shaken off the stupidity of her actions, she brought out Sylvie, who quickly noticed where they were and extended his ribbons to wrap around Angel's waist to keep her afloat. With Sylvie's help, Angel "swam" a bit farther out and began to talk to the Gyarados. "Hey, there. I saw you a few minutes ago. If you're scared, there's no need to be. We can help you if you give us a chance."

For the next three minutes, she went back and forth between silence and soothing words. When it seemed like she would have her first—well, she wouldn't really say loss or failure—disappointment, for lack of a better word, Dreamer called out from above her, and when she glanced at him, she noticed that his gaze was past her. Angel turned her attention that way to see the Gyarados, male from the looks of it, slowly approach her. He seemed so peaceful and calm. It was his behavior that helped her realize how she could help.

"Poor thing. You must feel horrible. Having the desire to go on a rampage and destroy stuff but being unable to do so." Angel reached out a hand to stroke his face. "I know of someone who can help you." She began to reach into her pouch, only to remember that it, along with her backpack were on the table. In order not to startle him, she continued to speak to the Gyarados. "My father can come up with a way to make you once again able to destroy at will. But you must trust me. Can you do that?"

There was no response for quite some time, and she opened her mouth to tell him that it was okay if he didn't want to trust her. But she said nothing. Just as with Ally, she recognized this as a silent moment. Where choices could make or break a person. It was a really important decision to make, and the Gyarados needed to do it without any of her influence. At last, he nodded.

She half turned, looked up at her Pokémon, and raised her hand. Rosie was the first to figure out what she wanted and used Razor Leaf to toss an empty pokéball to her. Angel of course missed it due to her eye-hand coordination being pathetic. Thankfully, it was a ball, and balls, unlike her, could float without help. Rosie's ears laid back, and Angel gave her a smile to let her know that it wasn't her fault. When she turned her attention back to Gyarados, she could have sworn that he laughed at her.

Before he touched his head to the pokéball, he leaned forward and nuzzled against her neck. Angel was near certain that he even purred, but that was wholly impossible. The Gyarados wasn't a catfish like Whiscash. She had to frown and tilt her head at that. Was Whiscash a catfish or a whale? And come to think of it, did catfish even purr?

Sylvie's voice drew her out of her thoughts, and she held onto the pokéball while they "swam" to a spot where she could climb out of the water. By this time, Faolan and the others had reached them. Beside her, Sylvie did the shaking thing, and Angel couldn't help but wonder why humans couldn't shake their bodies like that, as it looked fun to do.

As Faolan helped her to her feet, an idea came to her. Giratina had told her that she was to be the first of the Warriors of Light. Perhaps Faolan was to be the second? She scoffed inwardly, for, for all she knew, he could be like the fiftieth by now. No. That wasn't possible. There was no way Giratina could or would trust that many people in this. Then again, there were millions of people in the world. But still. Could Giratina trust that many? It just didn't seem possible, no matter how much she looked at it.

When she realized that Faolan looked at her weirdly, she spoke. "If we split up, we can protect more of these Shadows than if we were together. We can also obtain the aid of more like-minded individuals." She held out her hand after she placed the now shrunken pokéball in the backpack he'd brought with him. "With your agreement, I will give you my father's contact information. But you aren't to share it with anyone else without my explicit face to face permission just to be confident the approval came from me."

Without a second's hesitation, he handed over his Pokénav. Truth be told, she felt bad for the lack of complete honesty, but it wasn't as if she wanted to tell the truth. That she would rather be alone than risk the problems that came from misunderstandings because no matter how hard people tried to convince her that they would always be there for her, they always lied. The only person she trusted absolutely was her own father—despite the way he treated her—because she knew that if it came down to it, he would drop and/or risk everything for her.

"I uh. Also gave you my contact info. Just in case you ever needed my help with something or find yourself in trouble." Angel returned the Pokénav, then stretched her arms above her head and leaned back until her back popped. "Well. I should probably be going now," she turned and began to walk off, then paused and looked back. "Thank you."

"Whatever for?"

"For being there for me while I was locked up. It's as if…" She trailed off, unable to say what was on her mind. As if he knew she was the type of person who could easily drive herself crazy with her thoughts if left alone. Even though she did her best to ignore him most of the time, he'd kept her sane. Kept her from being overwhelmed with thoughts of worthlessness and loneliness.

"Anytime, Alexandria."

"Call me Angel." And then, she truly walked off, though, to be honest, she had no clue what she planned to do next.