"Wake up Philip," Jack's voice said as he shook the mute man awake. "It's almost time to go. I figured I'd wake you a few minutes early."

For a moment, Philip seemed highly confused as to where he was before he realized that he was in a safe spot with Jack. Groaning as he got up, he panicked for a second, looking for the rainbow wing before spotting it on the end table. Giving a sigh of relief, Philip once again grabbed it and his notebook before getting up. Following Jack back downstairs, the mute man hesitated as the alleyway was so much darker than it had been earlier.

'The alleyway is frightening,' he finally wrote. 'I won't be able to see.'

"Let me hold your book with one hand and I'll hold your hand with the other," Jack said as he slithered out of the door.

Having no other option, Philip handed Jack the notebook before being guided through the alleyway once again. He was able to breathe again once they finally made it out and in front of The Blazing Quilava.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Jack said and it was met with a snort from Philip.

That was easy for him to say as they entered the bar. It was relatively empty as there were very few people milling about. However, there was no sign of Glade and the two had to look at each other in confusion. Was she late?

"How may I help you two?" a waitress asked as she came up to them, giving a wary eye to Jack.

"We're supposed to meet up with someone," Jack explained. "Uh, someone called Glade."

"Ah, Glade told me to tell you to meet her upstairs," the waitress said, pointing over to the stairs.

Jack didn't say anything as he turned and headed that way, though Philip dipped his head politely before following the thief. As they made their way up, they would soon realize that Glade was not alone. Sitting next to the cipher peon was a silver haired woman wearing a blue trench coat and black sunglasses.

"Well it's about time," the woman grumbled as she crossed her arms.

"Hush Cora!" Glade scolded. "They're right on time. I apologize about her attitude. Come on over and take a seat."

Glancing at each other, both Philip and Jack looked wary before Philip walked forward and sat down on the free couch opposite of Glade and Cora. Jack was more hesitant to trust them.

"I can tell you're both hesitant," Glade commented. "If I wanted you both to be captured, I would have done so on the train."

'Why didn't you?' Philip jotted down for the two to read.

"Oh great, he's mute," Cora snarked, receiving a smack on the arm and a glare from Glade.

"Cora, let me handle this," Glade spoke before turning back to Philip. "I felt like you were in there for far too long. You took me by surprise when we were on the train, I'm guessing that was the thief's doing in setting you free. Why are you even here to begin with Jack? You're a thief, that's not an honorable position to find yourself in."

Philip glanced back at Jack who now had his arms crossed. The short man shifted uncomfortably as Glade acknowledged him and he wasn't sure what to do once again.

"You're part of Cipher," Jack frowned. "Don't you talk to me about honor when you're working for the most corrupt people in power."

"Only because I have to be," Glade sighed with a flinch. "I can't give away too much information about myself but do know that I'm not as loyal to Cipher as I- we may seem."

'I'm guessing Bandit and Jet are in on this?' Philip asked.

"...Yes," Glade answered. "It was Bandit who… had ideas, Jet just improved upon them. Royce had a very stupid way of appointing admins and picked Bandit as one all because he was close enough to a battle fought long ago. We thought our friend was stupid for accepting but once we heard what he had planned, we agreed to follow him- even if it ends in our deaths if we're discovered."

'How much intel do you have on Cipher?'

"We have quite a bit honestly," Glade answered. "But we really can't do anything in our current position. However, I feel like everyone in Cipher is about to be questioned. Your escape hasn't gone unnoticed by now. Devin is probably furious about it."

'He has only himself to blame,' Philip wrote down. 'He decided to try to taunt me by putting a window in my cell. Jack came by and helped free me.'

"Ah, undone by his own flaunting," Glade said in an amused voice. "I'm honestly surprised that he didn't throw you into Citadark Isle after a year of not complying. That man is very calculating but has a fuse shorter than most. You should have seen him nearly explode when Bandit brought us to him. Jet had to calm him down by talking about sending unruly people to Iron Island."

'I think he wanted control over me and Johto,' Philip wrote. 'He mentioned Cynthia a bunch of times during his rants and I think they don't have full control until they get the more powerful people on their side.'

"You make a good point there," Glade commented.

"So, why am I here exactly?" Cora asked, finally speaking up and cutting into the conversation.

"I need you to transport them into one of the three free regions," Glade answered, earning a hard stare from Cora.

"And why would I want to help a thief and a Cipher prison escapee?" she challenged.

"Because deep down, you're just as tired of Cipher as the rest of us," Glade said. "Besides, now that Philip is out, Cipher is going to do everything possible to get him back."

"Why him? What could Cipher do with a mute man?" Cora asked, frowning at Glade.

"I'm sure he's not the first, but Philip is the only one who took down a Negative Pokemon on live tv," Glade explained. "If he can get an army from the Kalarea forces, then we can have a shot at beating Cipher. I figured you'd be willing to help since you kind of lost your job."

For a small moment, Cora looked a bit stunned at the words before going back to her usual scowling. For a moment, Philip's heart thrummed in his chest, wondering if the woman would take up the offer to fly them over there before she shook her head.

"Even if we do have an army behind us," Cora said dryly. "There's no way of freeing Shadow Pokemon. You guys would just be wasting resources. I suppose… I can try to bring them over to Kalarea and see what we can do. Though, I did leave my ship in a remote area in Unova so we'd have to go there first."

"Without a solid plan, what's the point of even doing this?" Jack asked. "If there's no way of forcing Cipher to give up their Shadow and Negative Pokemon, then why bother at all?"

'Do you know anything about an O.B.N.S?' Philip finally wrote, making Glade raise an interesting eyebrow.

"I don't," Glade answered. "What organization is that?"

'I don't know,' Philip wrote. 'Devin mentioned that they were their biggest enemies but stopped himself in his ranting when he realized that he let that information slip and claimed that they were wiped out anyway. For some reason, I think Devin doesn't want this knowledge of this O.N.B.S to be leaked to the public.'

"I can have Jet to try to look around for information," Glade mused. "For now, you… are you going to join them Jack?"

Philip turned and looked at the thief who seemed to have looked away. Was Jack not coming? For some reason, it seemed that a twinge of disappointment ran through the mute man as Jack looked down at his shoes, shifting on his feet in a rather awkward manner. It made Philip aware of how young the thief was- he was still a teenager.

"I'm a thief," Jack muttered. "I belong on the streets."

Philip held up a hand to silence Glade before she could utter a word. 'That's not true and you know it,' he hurriedly wrote. 'You're young, Jack. Come with us.'

"Age is irrelevant," Jack said with a sigh. "You won't get me to change my mind on the matter. I won't tell anyone what's going on when I leave, I swear on it."

Philip got up and started scribbling something down. Jack remained where he was, looking down at his shoes like he just got scolded and was holding a rebellious look in his eyes. Once Philip was down writing, he tore the paper out and handed it to Jack. The thief looked a bit stunned before turning away this time. It would seem that the thief was uncertain as he held the note.

"You're really persistent," he finally said, sounding like he was trying to steady his voice. "Alright Philip, I'll come along for now."

"If you guys are done here, I don't want to waste anymore time staying here," Cora said standing up. "You two will do as I say or I will ditch you both here."

Now that they were finally going to be moving along, Philip wondered just what kind of job Cora had as she headed down the stairs with the two men in tow. She felt a quick tug on her sleeve and turned to glare at Philip who hesitantly held out a piece of paper to her.

"Of course we're going through the alleys," Cora snapped impatiently. "I'm not an idiot."

Philip flinched at her harshness, wondering if it was a good idea to follow through with this really shoddy plan. Jack was silent as they entered the alleys but took out his Moonball to stare sadly at it for a moment. There was no other way it seemed of escaping besides through Cora.

"You two stay here for a bit," Cora commanded as she stopped at a split. "I need to get my stuff. I'd buy some supplies for you but everything is still closed and by the time everything does open, we'd probably be in the middle of getting to Vermillion."

Without another word, Cora slipped out from the alleyways leaving Jack and Philip alone. Watching Jack sit down, staring at the Moonball, Philip wondered if the young teen was struggling with his thoughts.

"What was it like before?" Jack asked. "Like, before Cipher."

'Were you born during the takeovers?' Philip asked.

"I was born before them but… I don't remember much about it," Jack admitted, bowing his head. "I only remember them being present all the time."

'The world was a much livelier place,' Philip wrote, making Jack turn his head to read. 'You could have been anything you wanted out there, the world's a big place with lots of hidden treasures to discover. I miss the world before Cipher.'

"What made you become a trainer?" Jack asked.

'My mom was struggling for money after my dad passed. My first partner was the last thing I ever got from him.'

"And what was your partner?"

'Aron. It was one of the only three my dad could catch for my sisters and I. I miss them.'

Jack didn't say anything else, feeling like he shouldn't pry as he gazed up at the sky. Sorrow and loneliness had filled him along with longing. He had kept the note Philip gave to him and had put it in his pocket after folding it up. It made him wonder if Philip felt the same thing he was feeling.

"It's not fair," he finally said. "Why did Cipher take over the world? We can't even get Pokemon without signing up to them and even then…"

He suddenly flinched, feeling a hand gently ruffling his hair. Looking up, he saw a soft smile coming from Philip and Jack was quick to bat his hand away. "Don't do that," he scoffed, looking away from the mute man. Jack felt a bit bad, knowing that Philip was trying to be nice.

"Hope you two are ready," Cora's voice cut in. As she came back, Philip could almost see her through the darkness and got up. "We have a long way to go and I don't want to be wasting time."

Without another word, she turned and started to lead the way through the alleyways once again. She was fast, faster than Jack, Philip noticed as he had to sometimes sprint to catch up.

"Can you slow down?" Jack spoke up after a few minutes of this. "Philip and I can hardly keep up."

Cora gave an impatient sigh before slowing her pace slightly to where they two could keep up. After what seemed to be hours, they finally came along the street opposite of the fence separating the city from the route.

"This was an old Pokemon hunter's path before Pokemon ran dry," Cora commented rather casually.

A cold chill ran through Philip as the sudden realization of Cora being a Pokemon hunter came crashing down. Jack seemed a bit confused and was about to ask a question to Cora but she was already off and already crossing the street. Looking up and down the street for a moment, Philip hurriedly rushed after the huntress as she reached the gate. He turned, relaxing as Jack was now crossing and made it safely to them. At least Cora had stopped and waited for both of them to cross before she opened the gate.

As soon as they crossed into the route, Philip took a deep breath of fresh air. It had been too long since he had traveled or gone on an adventure. "Enjoy it while you can," Cora said, frowning at him. "You're not out until we reach my ship. It's only going to get dangerous from here until then."

"Castelia City is the largest city in Unova," Jack commented. "We'd practically be hard to find."

"Cipher has a bigger task force present there," Cora said, looking at Jack. "And most of them were employed by the former Team Plasma leader. Somehow, he managed to smoothly talk his way into being an admin for Cipher for some reason."

Team… Plasma? Cora didn't elaborate further as she turned back to the path and continued walking. The road to Vermillion was underway.