Chapter 19 – Recovery

How can I get away from here without being suspicious? Kimiko thought as she watched Alex dig into his rather sizable stack of pancakes. The ordeal with the gym leaders had left her with a massive headache – as promised – as well as a severe case of both dizziness and nausea, both of which were unwelcome surprises; she had thought the sickness from earlier that morning had gone away. Though she felt sick – not all of it, she suspected, having to do just with the mental exercise – she decided she still needed to eat something if she was going to survive this day. And so, she sat at her table, nibbling on a piece of burnt toast and lightly sipping from a glass of orange juice. She was vaguely aware of the feeling of enviousness hovering in her mind as she eyed her boyfriend's blueberry pancakes, but her stomach took great objection to the thought of stealing any for herself.

If there's one silver lining to this entire thing, she thought to herself, it's that we'll be in Xioria by nightfall and not several days from now. Which means less camping, and more importantly, proper meals.

The camping was rougher than she had imagined. Though she had stowed away her favorite outfit in favor of the low-cut pink V-neck and light blue jeans she now wore – and had been spared countless bug bites because of that – that did nothing to relieve the general discomfort of sleeping on dirt every night, or travel in general. Even worse, the nightly noodles or peanut butter sandwich was becoming unbearable. Even now, in her virtual depression, she relished the small comfort that was toasted bread. Even if it was a little burnt. There were only so much canned goods a girl could tolerate, and Kimiko was nearing her limit. She hoped the chance to have actual meals for a couple nights in a row would break up the monotony and help ease her restlessness.

Okay, they hadn't left Neutron that long ago, but the more often she got to sleep in a bed, the less she wanted to return to sleeping on dirt.

The pair sat in relative silence as they ate, personal thoughts aside. Kimiko couldn't tell if Alex was feeling ill effects of their psychic memory experience also or if he were simply trying to give her some space – or something else entirely – but she wasn't really in the mood to talk anyway, so she didn't bother prying. Instead, she began to wonder how Radar and Fantomé were doing.

As if right on cue, a musical tone began to play from somewhere in her bag. It was coming from her pokédex, she discovered as she removed it. She hadn't really used the device very much since she'd gotten it – Alex was usually the one doing battles and looking up information and maps and such – but the nurse on duty as they came down for breakfast this morning had informed her that she could be notified with it when there were updates regarding pokémon in the center's care.

Her heart sank when she saw the message, informing her that both her pokémon had been released from what they called "critical care" and were ready for pickup. She hadn't even known her team was in critical care. Not that she should be surprised, given the beating they had taken. Besides, the fact that they were out now meant that they were okay, right? Still, she felt the guilt returning in full force.

But at least this gave her an excuse to leave. Her team was ready to go, and she didn't want to wait any longer to check on them and get out of here. She caught her boyfriend's eye as she looked up; silent as he was, he at least wasn't completely ignoring her. It was both an immense relief, and in this moment, an extreme annoyance.

"My team's ready," she said, her voice cracking a little.

"So's mine," Alex replied, gesturing to the note on the table that had been delivered to their room earlier that morning, forgotten with the arrival of the gym leaders at their door. Kimiko wondered vaguely why Alex didn't get the digital notice instead. Perhaps he hadn't known about it either? Or maybe it was only offered for the more serious incidents, or just too early in the morning.

She realized instead that he'd be right behind her the second she stood up. And she knew at that point, there would be no getting out of his sight. So instead she forced herself to finish her toast, resigning herself to the fact that she was going to have to wait a little bit longer after all. She was going to need whatever strength she could get, anyway. Alex, for his part, didn't ask why she didn't immediately dash for her team, though she suspected that his curiosity had to be setting off red-alert sirens in his head, considering how much she'd complained about being separated from them earlier. She'd have to come up with some sort of excuse for that.

She finished her single piece of toast and waited – impatiently but silently – for Alex to finish the pancake he had been attacking, before standing up. "I'm going to hit the bathroom before I go get my team," she said.

Alex looked down at her half-finished orange juice. "You've barely eaten anything."

"Yeah, you know… girl stuff…" she replied, almost automatically. Alex just stared at her, cluelessly. "Y'know, it's that time of the month."

"Already? I thought that was… never mind," he said with a shrug. "Alright, let me know when you're ready to go."

"Right," she said in response before turning and leaving the cafeteria, heading directly for the front desk.

For the entire run, Kimiko regretted the rude departure she had given the nurse on duty, but she figured she could make up for it somehow later. She hadn't the time for the lecture on taking care of her team; she knew full well how to properly care for her pokémon, and besides, it's not like she had any control over the situation that got them injured to begin with. Well, okay, maybe she had asked Fantomé to battle the houndoom, but Radar's decision to protect her was his own.

Still, it was a thought to be dealt with later. Instead, she had arrived at her destination, having sprinted directly from Clairval.

She was overcome by a wave of dizziness, the third time during the sprint; apparently one piece of toast did not provide enough energy for the long jog she just completed. It was necessary, though, to get her team and get out of the center before Alex realized she'd ditched him. He would know exactly where she'd gone to, and she needed to beat him here. At least she'd only managed to trip and fall once, though her burned foot felt like it was on fire now. She ignored it.

But after five minutes of inspecting the rock, she had to admit she was no closer to any answers than she had been. With a sigh, she let out her team to assist her.

Radar immediately dove at her, and she happily reached out for him in return. He knocked her flat over, but she didn't care. The marshtomp seemed perfectly healthy, as though the brutal attack had never hit him. She had to hold him back a bit, because she felt him crushing her in his arms, but she didn't resist hugging him tightly back. Meanwhile, Fantomé laughed gleefully above them, swooping through the air without a care in the world. He finally settled in her hair and wrapped some loose strands around himself.

"I'm so glad you both are okay," Kimiko said as she and her pokémon separated, trying to ignore the guilt she felt at not releasing and checking on them the second the nurse handed them over. She pat her marshtomp on the head. "And you, thank you. You really, really saved me."

"Mar," Radar replied, shaking his head with a smile.

"Yes, well, I'm still grateful and I'm still going to let you know it," she replied. "Anyway, listen. I'm trying to find clues about the guy who attacked us. Look around a bit and see if you can find anything strange. But don't go too far. We don't have a lot of time before Alex finds us."

Radar looked back at her quizzically, but Fantomé sped away without a second thought. She gave her marshtomp a pleading look, and that seemed to appease him. He turned and waddled away, beginning his own inspection of their former campsite.

Another five minutes passed with no results. Kimiko wasn't even sure her pokémon knew what they were doing; Radar seemed to just be walking in circles around the rock, while Fantomé kept darting in between different blades of grass several meters apart. He would stop at one, lick it, and then speed away to another random piece and repeat the process. Occasionally he did in fact stop and scrutinize a blade, but never for more than a few seconds before deciding it wasn't worth his attention.

And then her pokédex rang. Kimiko ignored it, instead changing her tactic. "Hm… well, if he had come up behind us… and was heading home for the night, as the gym leaders suspect…" She glanced nervously at the path leading into the forest and groaned. That forest was the last place in any universe that she wanted to be. But Ariel might be in there. Plus, Alex had likely caught on to what she had done and was probably closing in on her location. She had to move. "Well, if he makes his home there, it's gotta be a little safe, right? Besides, he can't be that far inside. …Right?"

"This is such a bad idea," Kimiko whispered to no one in particular. "This is beyond suicidal."

"Tomp," Radar croaked in agreement. Fantomé, at least, had been silent since entering only minutes ago. He seemed to catch on to the shift in mood in his trainer and the other pokémon, or so Kimiko guessed. If it got him to be more serious and alert, she wasn't going to complain. Still, she did order him not to leave their side, just in case.

As they walked, Kimiko took note of a foul stench in the air. She wondered if the forest smelled this awful the last time she was in here, or any time, for that matter. She had been too uncomfortable just about every other visit to take notice had it been there, but even then, she was rather confident it would have been unavoidable, if for no other reason than to add another item to the list of things she hated about this part of the region. In fact, no, she was positive she hadn't noticed it that first night when she and Alex went camping…

She noticed Radar below her walking with his arms over his face. She assumed it was because of that smell, though he could also just be afraid. As for Fantomé… she wasn't sure he could even smell at all. She was reassured at least that she wasn't imagining it.

The longer they walked, the better she liked the idea of turning around. She hadn't dared venture off the path, and if there was a secret hideout somewhere in the forest, it was unlikely she was going to find it just by following the main route, even if the route was mostly untraveled recently due to ghost activity. Surely, she thought, Alex couldn't have guessed she'd gone into the forest on her own, right? Or would he? Would she turn around to find him waiting for her back at the rock? Or right behind her on the trail? Maybe he'd still be waiting at the center?

A snapping twig in the distance in front of her made her freeze. Radar stopped moving also, looking up at his trainer. Kimiko likewise glanced down at her starter, feeling her hair flowing awkwardly in the air, the only sign telling her that Fantomé was still nestled in her hair. She thought briefly about how silent he had been during their short trip so far, but otherwise didn't dwell on it. Neither he nor her marshtomp could have made the noise. Unable to see anything noteworthy, she picked up Radar – slightly more easily now that she was aware of his heavier weight – and crept silently onward, more for comfort than anything, even knowing it would be safer for him to be able to move quickly if she'd left him down.

And then the source of the smell came into sight. On the path ahead of them, a raticate was watching their approach cautiously. Among the chaos that appeared to be the contents of someone's traveling pack, Kimiko noticed the decaying body.

"We've found your clamperl," Vivian said as she, Alyssa, and Alex sprinted out of town. "Or, rather, we've found a record of an unusual trade this morning in Clairval, of a clamperl that matches Kimiko's trainer ID number in exchange for a venonat registered to someone named Bennett Clarkson. What is unusual about it, however, is that it was a one-way trade."

"What do you mean?" asked Alex. "Is that relevant?"

"As you know," continued Alyssa, "clamperl is a pokémon that evolves when traded, as long as it is holding the appropriate item. What you might not know is that trading pokémon has been less of a trend these days, ever since… well, let's just say it's been on the decline for the last few years."

Alex realized she must be talking about the Sayre incident. One of the resulting fallouts from the event was that people around the world had become more cautious around others, pokémon and human alike. People interacted less and were more careful around strangers when they did do so. By extension, people were catching less pokémon for the sole use of presenting them as bargaining chips on the global trading station – more often known as the GTS for short – instead favoring travel around the world to catch the rare or region exclusive pokémon they were after for themselves.

Alyssa continued her explanation. "Now, most trades these days are done with the intention of evolving a pokémon, and then returning it to the original trainer, because otherwise trying to evolve them could take a very long time. This trade, though, did not do that. It went one way."

"I'm not making the connection," Alex confessed. "There has to still be some people who do one-way trades."

"What I think it means," explained Alyssa, "is that whoever stole your clamperl has traded her away. Why, I'm not sure. It doesn't look like the clamperl was traded simply to cause evolution, or the thief would have done a trade-back as well. I mean, did he plan to simply trade it for this random venonat? That's unlikely, since venonat is a ridiculously common pokémon in most regions, so unless this one is special for some reason..."

"So where does that leave us?"

Vivian answered this time. "It's possible that he just wanted to make it look like Kimiko traded the clamperl away herself to this Bennett person, but thankfully you reported the theft quickly, so that option is ruled out. The thief knows it would be pointless if we were made aware of the situation before he was able to trade it. But here is what I believe is the situation. When you think about it, thieves likely won't care who the pokémon is registered to. So, my guess is that they did do a trade evolution, and simply didn't bother trading them back because to the thieves, the trainer ID attached to the pokémon is irrelevant information."

Alyssa chimed in, sounding embarrassed that she didn't come to that conclusion as well, "Oh, I guess that makes sense… but then, who is Bennett Clarkson? I doubt it's the name of our thief. I mean, why would he use his own name, ID, and pokémon to perform the trade with? That would mean either he has an accomplice, or he stole the venonat also, and maybe wanted to make it look like his two victims simply traded with each other. But we haven't had any reports of venonat thefts…"

"I don't know," Vivian admitted. "Sadly, because venonat are so common, it is significantly less likely to be reported missing even if one was stolen, especially if it were freshly caught. You are probably right in that it is not the name of our thief. But as for his real identity –"

She was cut off as Alyssa's elgyem, floating along ahead of the group, screeched, drawing the trio's attention away from their conversation.

"You were right," Alyssa said, looking in Alex's direction. "Kimiko is at the rock up ahead." She must have been talking to the pokémon telepathically.

They found the blonde knelt down and hunched over, with her back to them. Radar was next to her looking perfectly healthy, rubbing her back, while Fantomé the gastly hovered above them, looking uncharacteristically revolted. He was the only one that acknowledged their arrival, his expression changing to something like nervousness. His gaze constantly shifted between his trainer and the incoming party.

"Kimiko," Alex started, walking towards her, but she cut him off by sharply sticking out her hand behind her. She nodded slightly at her marshtomp, who gently soaked her face with water, before she turned around, wiping her face dry on her shirt.

"I'm sorry," she said. Then, standing and turning again – blushing and refusing to make eye contact – she pointed into the forest, and said simply, "Body".

Alex blinked at her in confusion. "…Excuse me?"

"Dead body. There. I-I can't…"

Vivian was already walking in the direction of the forest, and she now had a malamar out floating along behind her. Alyssa, meanwhile, guided her elgyem over to the couple. "Hey, don't worry about it, Viv will take care of that. Are you okay?"

"Ugh, no, it was disgusting! The smell, the sight, ugh… I'm going to be sick again." Fantomé floated over and nestled in her hair, levitating some stray strands out of the girl's face. Alex wondered if it was out of courtesy or simply habit.

"Well, don't think about it anymore," Alex said gently, sliding over next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders. He was a little startled at how relieved he felt when she leaned closer into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder. "I think I've got some news that will help cheer you up."

"Well, now we know who Bennett Clarkson is," Vivian said impassively.

Several hours had passed, and the party had moved to the Xioria gym to wait, by means of teleportation. The gym leader's analysis took a great deal more time than they anticipated, and the sun had gone down not too long ago. Alex spent most of that time divided between trying to calm down his girlfriend and trying to get her to eat something. She had been rather pale when he and the leaders found her, once her embarrassed blush faded, but now some color had finally returned to her face.

"So now what?" Kimiko asked.

Alyssa shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I mean, it's pretty obvious that Bennett's been dead for a little while now, if wild pokémon were starting to… y'know. Anyways. He couldn't have been the person to do the trade, so I think it's obvious that the venonat was also stolen."

"Which means we're at a dead end," Vivian noted. "We're waiting to receive the security footage from Clairval's trading room, but it's unlikely that they went into this unprepared for security cameras."

Suddenly Alyssa's elgyem disappeared, and the small lounge the group was sitting in became occupied by a massive blue pokémon. Kimiko screamed, and Alex jumped out of his seat – or more accurately, was pushed – but neither of the gym leaders so much as flinched at the newcomer. Instead, Vivian turned to it thoughtfully, as the metagross's eyes found her and it began emitting a soft hum.

"Where did that thing come from?" Kimiko asked, hand over her chest, trying to steady her breathing.

The metagross shot her a look, offended.

"Ally switch," Alyssa responded, as her sister and the metagross resumed their staring contest. He figured they were probably communing telepathically, and wondered if the hum was related. "Metagross can't seem to learn how to teleport themselves, but they can learn how to swap places with someone else. That's why one of us always has a pokémon out of their ball."

"So that metagross belongs to her?" Alex asked. The first thought that went through his head was, am I going to have to battle that?

"Yes," Vivian answered, finally turning away from the massive pokémon, and Alex first thought she had read his mind, but then realized he'd also asked a question aloud. "And it is also one of the psychics keeping the shield over our city. Alyssa, there's been a breach."

The normally cheerful girl's expression turned serious. "How bad?"

"Not very, perhaps a single individual, but it was no ghost."

"I'm sorry, what's going on?" Kimiko asked.

Vivian turned to her, arms crossed. Clearly, she thought this was a waste of time, but she did not say so, explaining instead; "You know we keep a psychic shield over our city to ward off unwanted pests. Ghosts, thunderstorms, and such. People can travel through it willingly, and ghosts can actually pass through it with ease, but even invisible, we will still know about it. As can dark-types, although we can only tell that because of their nature. Well, psychics are much the same way. A moment ago, metagross detected a breach in the shield, only for a second. The most likely cause was a psychic teleporting into the city."

"Which means we're wasting time," Alyssa added, turning to her sister. "Where was it?"

"The diner on Starlight Road, the one across from Dino's," her sister responded. "Let's move." With a nod, the metagross disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, and the tiny green alien pokémon returned. Both sisters took one of his hands.

"Wait a sec, can we help?" Alex asked.

"I doubt this is related to your theft," Vivian replied, and then the three were gone.

"I'm going," Kimiko announced, already on her feet and walking towards the door.

Alex leapt up to chase after her. "What the hell for?" he asked, knowing exactly where she was going with this train of thought.

"I'm tired of doing nothing! I'm tired of the inaction! I'm so restless! Besides, the timing is way too suspicious. She wanted us to believe it's unrelated, but come on, I'm not that stupid. I need to do something, and if I can help somehow, then all the better."

"Thank you very much for meeting us tonight."

"Yeah, yeah," Biff snorted. So, they were those sorts of people, were they? Those rich, snotty, "follow protocol" sort of people. Biff hated them already. Them and their fancy, expensive diner. Still, they were his new best paying customers, so he had to play nice, for now.

He was back in his tuxedo suit, the only "nice" clothing he owned, having dried it best he could during the day. He had even tied his tie – and properly this time, at Alf's recommendation. He hadn't bothered to comb his hair, though, and just about every person in the building who noticed took great offense to it, if their snooty, disgusted expressions were any indication. Biff hated the lot of them. Still, this is where they requested to meet. They had revealed after he arrived that they wanted to "thank him for all his hard work" in obtaining the rare pokémon they had requested.

Of course, it was harder work than Biff had anticipated, and certainly not the "hard work" this couple obviously thought he had gone through. For all they knew, he was a breeder. They had no idea it was stolen, but once the transaction was done with, that was Biff's problem no longer. And who was he to refuse a free meal, especially at a place this expensive? He'd never get to taste food from anywhere this extravagant a second time in his life, and he knew it. He'd be a fool to pass up this luxury.

He wondered if they had any fireball whiskey.

Even so, Biff wanted to get his money and get out as quickly as possible. Alf had told him that a psychic teleporting into the city would be nothing out of the ordinary, considering the region's psychic gym was here, but Biff still couldn't help feeling disconcerted. Surely everyone in this city was looking for an elgyem, and he was sure that having one teleport directly into the heart of the city would be sure to draw the attention of every psychic this side of the region. Still, Alf assured him that no one would consider the teleportation suspicious, saying that since it was a city full of psychic pokémon and trainers, it was quite a common occurrence.

"So, here it is," Biff said, pulling the pokéball out of the inside pocket of his suit. He prayed that they would just accept that their pokémon was inside and not ask him to prove it. Not because he was trying to dupe them – she really was in there, this time; the payout was far too high for him to risk trying to cheat them, in case he could sell to them again in the future – but rather because besides Alf, she was another pokémon that was being searched high and low for. Plus, there really wasn't space to let out a fish in the middle of a restaurant. Doing so after eating would take up valuable time. Biff had left both Alf and Lucifer confined to their balls due to their wanted status, so he had no quick escape if things turned sour. It made him extremely uncomfortable.

Or maybe it was just the suit.

"Ah, but that can wait until after the meal," the man said, waving him off dismissively, while the woman called for a waiter. "Pleasure before business, after all!"

While normally Biff would agree, this time he was in no mood for pleasure. Again, except maybe for some whiskey.

As the waiter approached, however, he decided to wait, and pocketed the ball again. The less witnesses to this transaction, the better, he thought.

After ordering – while Biff ordered a light meal, the couple across from him ordered enough food to fill a party of ten – Biff suffered through small talk as they waited for their food. Apparently, they wanted a good birthday gift for their daughter or something, who was apparently some hotshot trainer down in Unova… or something. Biff really didn't care. He was grateful, at least, that they were talking about themselves and their life, rather than forcing him to make something up about what he did for a living.

Then, it happened. As he turned to find their waiter, intending to demand speeding up their food, he instead caught sight of two woman by the restaurant's entrance – the two gym leaders of Xioria. He recognized them instantly – not only because of the shorter one's long, green hair, but because the pair of them had been a pain in the ass since he started working this part of the region. Of course, they had yet to catch him, but they had been close on numerous occasions, and caused far more difficulties than that. But few others would do work in this area of Vidiva, specifically because of the constant monitoring by psychics. That, plus his easier time of evading them with his psychic- and dark-types, made him rather successful where others had failed. Biff considered Xioria and the surrounding area his territory.

But tonight, they were here, in the very same diner he was in, only a day after pulling a job in the area – one that wasn't yet complete. Had they somehow tracked him, despite Alf's assurances that he could do it discreetly? Or were they perhaps simply out for a meal, and Biff was being overly paranoid? After all, as far as he could recall, they'd never directly interacted, and so they had never seen his face.

They sure are taking a long time to get seated, he thought, having watched the two women for several minutes now.

"Do you know them?"

Biff jumped, banging his knees on the underside of the table, when the woman seated with him spoke. He had forgotten they were even there. He bit his tongue, if only to keep from drawing attention to their table, although inwardly, his brain was screaming curses at the table, the woman, and the gym leaders alike.

The woman continued speaking, after waiting for a reply and getting none. "They're this city's gym leaders. The taller one –"

"I know who they are," Biff hissed, refusing to take his eyes off them. "Who is that that they're talking to now?" he asked, gesturing to the new man who just appeared on the scene.

"I believe his name is Maximillion," the man answered. "He is the manager and owner of this diner."

"Fuck." Biff heard his acquaintances gasp, probably in shock at his choice of words, but he didn't give them a second thought. He now knew for sure why the gym leaders had come, and he needed to get out of there, immediately. Somehow, they had found him. And, as if to puncture his point, he got his answer as to how; at that moment, the blonde child and her companion entered the diner and immediately began conversing with the leaders. It was dark that night, but he also used sunny day… Had the blonde seen his face? And if she had, and she had gotten the gym leaders to help her, the leaders would now easily know what he looked like too. And that could mean the end of his work in the area. Damned psychics.

"I need to go," he told the couple, pulling out Ariel's pokéball again. "Do we have a deal or what?" He kept glancing between the party at the door, and the couple sitting with him.

The couple exchanged a look, clearly mortified at this behavior, but the woman pulled something out of her purse anyway. The blonde girl was pointing in their direction now – She had recognized him, and was trying to show her companions. "Well, if you absolutely must… who should I make this out to?"

"A fucking check?!" Biff spat, turning fully back to the couple and seeing that yes, she did indeed have her checkbook out. "Who the fuck still uses checks? I don't have the time for that! I'll have to get back to you."

He pocketed the ball once again and withdrew another one as the gym leader's party started to make their way over. "Hey, you there! Don't move!" one of the women shouted. They didn't yet have any pokémon out with them, though, so Biff had the advantage.

He threw his ball, yelling, "Lucifer, burn it all!"

The gym leader's party dove to the ground for cover as a jet of fire incinerated the table they had just sprinted around. The restaurant erupted in noise as people screamed and scrambled to their feet, scraping chairs and dropping utensils and scrambling for the exits. The houndoom wasted no time in setting fire to the building, burning anything he could hit. Biff took that chance to dive out of his seat and around another table, making a mad dash for the door, beckoning his houndoom as he ran.

"Oh, hell no!" Kimiko cried as she watched Biff sprint passed them. She pushed Alex – who had dived to cover her for protection from the first flamethrower – off her and stood up, only to shoot back down again as another fire attack whooshed overhead. The houndoom then leapt over where they had crouched down. As soon as it passed, she sprang up again and bolted for the door, pushing aside anyone and everyone to get there with little care to the fire all around them.

I've let him get away once. Not again. I am getting my pokémon back.

She looked quickly around as she reached the fresh air. People were everywhere, even at this time of night, both escaping from within the restaurant and from the street who had been passing by. Through the chaos, her eyes were drawn to the sight of the houndoom disappearing into red light – though there were several pokémon being released all around her, this was the only one being recalled. She followed the pokéball beam and found her thief, who was also in the process of releasing another pokémon. She made a beeline straight for him.

"Shit! Alf, Teleport! Now!"

No! Kimiko charged harder, putting her long since forgotten softball practice to use and ignoring the flare of pain in her right foot again, with her arm extended towards her target, knowing full well she was going to be a fraction of a second too late. The green pokémon put a hand on his trainer's shoulder.

But he didn't immediately disappear. The elgyem must have been talking telepathically, because the man instead looked at it and bellowed into the night, "I don't give a fuck where to, just go! Now!"

Kimiko tackled him just as they vanished.

Instead of landing on the city's cobbled pavement, Kimiko was thrown over and off of her target and hit dirt. She could feel a tingling pain in her cheek as she skidded along the ground, and knew it was going to hurt for some time, if she weren't already bleeding over it. Still, it didn't matter. Everything else was secondary until she recovered Ariel. She got to her hands and knees and looked over her shoulder. She saw that the man, in a tuxedo rather than a black cloak like the last time she saw him, had been separated by her attack from his pokémon, and they had also both hit the dirt. He was flat on his back, giving her the edge in speed.

Getting to her feet, Kimiko whipped out her pokéballs and released Radar and Fantomé, who appeared with matching scowls. Good, she thought. They knew this was coming. Even Fantomé is serious. As the man began to recover, and the elgyem floated protectively in front of his trainer, Kimiko said, "Now, give me back my clamperl!"

"Oh please," was the reply she got, and suddenly the houndoom had reappeared in a flash of light. Fantomé took that as a sign to start cackling, although it lacked his usual cheer. This time it sounded rather ominous.

The two trainers and their pokémon stood there, sizing each other up. Radar was visibly shaking, but that didn't stop him from staring down the houndoom that was dripping fire from its mouth in front of him. Fantomé, meanwhile, was bobbing up and down in the air, still having a giggling fit. The elgyem was impossible to read. Kimiko found herself shaking just as much as her marshtomp, already worrying about the outcome of this battle. She hadn't done any training whatsoever since their last encounter what felt like eons ago.

No, she told herself firmly, taking a deep breath to calm herself, eyes drifting over to her gastly. We're ready for him this time. We can do this. It's just a trainer battle. We can do this. If Fantomé can be this calm, so can I.

The man in front of her reached into his tuxedo. When he withdrew his hand, he was holding another pokéball. Kimiko inwardly began to panic again, expecting a third pokémon against her two. But he simply held it out towards her. "If you want this back, then come and get it."

That's Ariel's ball! she realized. And suddenly, she was angry.

"Then I will! Radar, water gun!"

"Heh," the man laughed. "Lucifer, sunny day. And Alf, psybeam!"

"Fantomé, night shade!"

The houndoom was fastest, and let loose a familiar brightly glowing ball of light. It floated high above their little dirt clearing, and now that she could see, Kimiko realized they were no longer in the city. In fact, she couldn't even see the city, with trees all around them. Are we back in that haunted forest again? We thought maybe that's where his hideout was… we can't be too far inside, though, I can see stars above.

While she was preoccupied, Radar launched a stream of water at the houndoom. He leapt out of the way easily enough, but the marshtomp simply shot another blast at him as he landed, and was pushed back a bit. It didn't seem to do much damage, though – the sunny day was evaporating the attack as it traveled.

Meanwhile, Fantomé and Alf were engaged in a battle of their own, neither side allowing their attack to lose any ground. The ghost's purple night shade was holding off the rainbow psybeam easily enough, perhaps even with an edge; the night shade wasn't traveling in a straight line, and a few stray shocks got around it that the elgyem was forced to avoid, adjusting his position in the air enough to move but not lose his focus.

"Lucifer, end that thing with solar beam!"

"Not this time," Kimiko countered. "Radar, use mud slap!"

Lucifer began to draw in energy from the ball of light he released a moment ago, but while he did that, Radar kicked up dirt into his face. It was more of a sand attack, since the ball of light was evaporating what little moisture was in the area, but it got the job done. The houndoom finished charging his attack, and tried to aim it through rapidly blinking eyes. Radar managed to jump out of the way easily enough. The solar beam demolished a tree behind Kimiko and she glanced back only for a moment to make sure she wasn't about to be crushed under it.

Without a command, the marshtomp proceeded to tackle Lucifer to the ground, and blast more water at him at point blank range. From that distance, the sunny day didn't have much time to weaken the water stream, and the houndoom wailed in pain from the nearly full-force attack.

"What the…? Lucifer, dark pulse!" the man demanded. Then, a sudden cry on his other side caused him to glance there, where Alf had finally been hit by a small jolt of the night shade and lost concentration. Fantomé shot him with a full-powered one, which he managed to block with a green protect bubble at the last second.

"You're a persistent one, I'll give you that," the thief said. Still trying to keep an eye on her two pokémon, Kimiko turned her attention to him. "Tell me how you found me so fast."

"You don't know about the shield?" Kimiko asked him. "It detects anything entering the city limits. How did you screw that up?"

"Really?" the man raged. "You told me you would be undetectable!"

The elgyem only glanced over at his trainer, so Kimiko could not hear any reply. But that momentary distraction was all Fantomé needed; the ghost launched another night shade attack that completely blindsided the psychic-type.

As Kimiko watched the elgyem go down and caught a glimpse of her marshtomp spraying more sand in the direction of the fire-type, the scene burst into a white light, and it wasn't coming from the sunny day. It was coming from the ghost shape beginning to change as he evolved. His round form shifted to something vaguely more triangular, and two hands took shape and actually appeared to separate from the body.

"Haunt!" Fantomé cried gleefully. "Hau hau hau!"

"I'm glad you're having fun," Kimiko told him, her tone serious. "But now isn't the time."

"You're absolutely right," the man across from her said, and Kimiko froze. "Alright, everyone freeze!"

"Radar, Fantomé, back off!" Kimiko ordered, terrified of the weapon now in the thief's hands. She only even saw the gun because it glinted in the light from the orb in the air.

The thief waved it in the direction of Radar, saying, "You heard her. Get away from my pokémon, or your trainer dies. You too, ghost."

Kimiko felt her bravado fading fast as her marshtomp cautiously retreated backwards towards his trainer. Her body relaxed without her willing it to. All she could do was stare at the man, which was difficult, as the sunny day orb still hung in the air between them bathing the area in bright light, although it was now beginning to fade. She felt Radar reach her knee, and she sunk down to the ground in defeat.

"That's right. Good girl. Now, ball 'em up and hand them both over."

"What? Absolutely not! You've already taken one from me, I will not lose anyone else!"

"I'm going to have them one way or the other," the thief deadpanned, his houndoom and elgyem now both at his side. "But you may as well get out of this with your life."

Kimiko put a hand on Radar's head, while Fantomé floated down just above hers. She felt the tears coming, but she willed them to let them fall, blinking them back. She looked down at her knees, letting her bangs fall in front of her eyes, just in case. She refused to show weakness, not now – or at least, as little as possible. At least she knew her team wouldn't be killed, regardless of what happened to her. Not if he planned to sell them off. If this was how it ended, she was going to go down fighting. "Over my dead body, then. I will not just abandon them."

"What the fuck?"

Huh? That was an odd reaction, she thought. She forced herself to look up, and found an equally peculiar sight in front of her. The man and both of his pokémon appeared to be swatting at the air, as though swarmed by invisible mosquitoes. In the fading light of the sunny day attack, she swore she could see a yellow glow in their eyes.

She looked down at Radar, who was equally astonished. Then, glancing up at Fantomé above her, she understood. Her ghost's eyes also had a fading yellow glow. When it was gone, he looked down at her, pointed towards their foes, and laughed.

"Hauhauhauhau!"

Confuse ray! She realized. He hid it using the light of that sunny day!

That wasn't the only surprise her evolved ghost had for her, though. The haunter winked at her, tears in his eyes, before his hands shot away from his body. One each pounded the elgyem and the houndoom hard, and as they were sent flying, both hands double-teamed the thief, punching him in the gut. He doubled over in pain from the unexpected assault.

Kimiko actually did start crying now, as she leapt to her feet and charged the thief again. With him on the ground and temporarily stunned, she was able to wrestle the gun from his hands rather effortlessly. The houndoom had recovered quickly though, and chomped down on her leg before she could retreat.

"Argh!" she screamed, falling backwards. One of her haunter's hands was immediately behind her, breaking her fall, while Radar sprang into action and blasted water into the fire-type's face. Lucifer whimpered and let go of her leg, retreating from the water, and Radar tackled him one final time into a tree. He collapsed, and the marshtomp proceeded to sit on him so he stayed down. Kimiko likewise hobbled backwards, now turning the thief's weapon back at him.

She looked around for the psychic, but Fantomé had been on top of that, too. She found Alf restrained by Fantomé's other hand, and he appeared to be unconscious. Kimiko had her ghost make sure, all too wary of a trick. "Shadow punch it again."

"Hau hau hau!" the haunter laughed in reply. He tossed Alf up into the air, and spiked the psychic-type into the ground like a volleyball. The creature didn't stir, not even a twitch.

The thief, however, was back on his feet, looking directly at her with venom in his eyes. He reached his arm out and Kimiko raised her weapon at him, but he simply raised a pokéball in his hand. "Alright, bitch. You want this back so badly? Fine. I'll trade you for the gun. That's my favorite gun."

"You must think I'm pretty stupid, huh?"

"Yeah, kinda." He shrugged. "If you're going to shoot me, you'd better shoot my pokémon, too. They're not going to let you live if I die."

Kimiko hesitated at that, looking at each of them in turn, tentatively lowering the gun. She didn't want to kill him, just get Ariel back. And maybe scare him enough to make him think twice about ever coming after her again. She looked down at her marshtomp. Radar looked back up at her, worry in his eyes.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," the man laughed. "You're too soft. You couldn't shoot my pokémon. You can't even shoot me, and I'm the one who stole from you. Go ahead. Try it. You don't even have to kill me. Shoot us in the legs, immobilize us. I'm not a gambling man, but I bet you can't even do that. In fact, I bet you've never even held a gun before."

Kimiko felt her resolve wavering. The elgyem was out cold, so she didn't have to fear any psychic assaults. The houndoom was barely stirring, but Radar had it pinned anyway. And the thief was unarmed. She was in control now, so why didn't she feel like she'd won?

But then she spotted Ariel's ball still in the thief's grip and understood. She hadn't won yet, and he was taunting her with his price for that victory. He held on to the ball tightly, and she realized she would probably have to pry it out of his hands one way or another. And that's what all of this had been about. She wanted her pokémon back. She didn't want to shoot anyone, but if that's what it took to get her pokémon back, she found she didn't really care about the consequences.

She raised the gun again, holding onto it with two shaking hands. "I just want my clamperl back."

Again, the thief shrugged. "Catch."

"No!" Kimiko screamed. She hadn't been expecting that. The thief stopped with the ball held above his head. "No tricks. Set it down and roll it to me." She had seen similar tricks in movies, and she wasn't about to let go of her best advantage.

He rolled his eyes, but slowly set down the pokéball, kicking it in her direction. His aim was poor, but Fantomé's hands seemed to be all over tonight, and he managed to collect it.

Keeping her weapon trained on him, Kimiko addressed her haunter. "Fantomé, open it." She wasn't going to be comfortable unless she saw Ariel. She had to be sure her pokémon was actually inside. The ghost laughed again, but looked at her curiously and held out the ball to her. Right… She tapped the button, and Ariel emerged.

"What is… you evolved her?!"

The pink gorebyss flopped pathetically in the dirt, looking none too happy about the situation. "Byss!" she hissed, firing a water gun at the thief.

"Oi, shit, call her off!"

Kimiko just stood there, staring at the fish. She had known this was a possibility – an extremely likely possibility, given how rare clamperl's evolutions were and the fact that Vivian had found a recorded trade under her ID number – but she never quite believed it until she saw the pink fish flopping in the dirt in front of her. She quietly addressed her pokémon. "Ariel, no. Stop."

And to her surprise, the pink fish obeyed. Still, that didn't answer for sure whether or not this was her pokémon. Really, the very fact that she obeyed was better evidence to the contrary, if she were being honest with herself.

"Are… Ariel, is that really you?"

"Gore!" the fish shouted, slapping her tail on the ground.

Then, suddenly, a puff of purple smoke drew Kimiko's attention. Before she knew it, Radar had fallen on his back, looking confused. The houndoom was nowhere in sight.

Before she could even register what had happened, the dark-type reappeared in front of the thief, collected the fainted elgyem in his mouth, and vanished again, this time dragging his trainer with him. As the last wisps of purple began to fade, she heard a voice that was unusually distant and muffled, but somehow clear at the same time; "You got lucky this time."

All at once she was on edge again, anxiety spiking. Her body tensed, looking left and right for any signs of attack. She saw both Radar and Fantomé doing the same, although Fantomé continued laughing as though everyone was playing a game. Several minutes passed before Ariel finally got tired of flopping around uselessly and hissed at her trainer.

"Bysssss!"

A/N: Last update: August 2, 2017 This update: Feb 23, 2019.

Ouch.

All I can say is that I'm glad to be done with this arc. I wanted to do it, but I don't feel that I did it very well at all, and I've honestly hated writing it. There are parts that were good, but overall, that's the main reason this took so long. I wanted to have it in the story, I just could not write it in a way that made me happy with the result. This is about as close as I've gotten, so it's good enough. I'll probably flesh this out when the story is over and I revamp it all with finer details and such.