A/N: Apologies for not having the preview chapter up last week. I was at a family vacation with limited access to my computer as a result. However, now that I'm back, there should be no issues. This chapter should hopefully be interesting...

As always, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, but I do own my ideas.

"I finally figured out that not every crisis can be managed. As much as we want to keep ourselves safe, we can't protect ourselves from everything. If we want to embrace life, we also have to embrace chaos." ― Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Chapter 16: An Intriguing Encounter

Serena and Alice flew at a breakneck pace through the sky. Volc was very fast… much faster than Serena anticipated. He traversed the sky so expertly. Before long, Alice and Serena stopped seeing forests below and saw water underneath them instead. The water seemed to be sparkling more than normal. The moon was present in the sky and it seemed to be more pronounced.

Alice and Serena said nothing to each other during the trip. Alice was focusing on what was in front of her, still feeling too guilty to say anything to Serena. Serena was hoping that Alice wouldn't strand her somewhere. She couldn't believe she was trusting the old lady, but she was curious to see if she could really gift someone a partner Pokémon. Serena focused on that thought to put her at ease. Since Alice was flying over the ocean, she doubted Alice was planning on dropping her here. The girl knew that Alice cared too much about Ash to do that.

The trip between the two was awkward. Instead of looking ahead, Serena kept looking to her side. She was trying not to hold on to Alice, but only did so she wouldn't fall off. Alice kept looking on ahead with no signs of acknowledgment of the previous day. Her brown eyes seemed to glisten with the water. She was enjoying riding on her Volcarona, but the tense atmosphere made her sad. She wasn't sure what to say to make things less tense.

Serena had been tempted to ask her more about this breeding place they were going to, but was too nervous to say much. Though she acknowledged that Alice was much easier to approach than her husband, she also knew that their relationship was a bit complicated. The girl was afraid of how cold and distant she would be without Ash. She decided to keep looking on to her side in boredom instead.

Eventually, after a couple of hours of riding, Serena noticed a mysterious shroud of gas up ahead. It was an eerie purple that compassed the middle of an otherwise verdant area. She could see several berry trees and bushes in the distance as well. Alice frowned at the gas, but was slightly surprised not to hear any sort of reaction to the gas from Serena. Alice narrowed her eyes in observation. They passed by Shingetsu Town. Alice looked at her house wistfully as they passed. She missed it.

Within a few moments, Volc managed to pass through Yousei City. Serena was astonished at how different it appeared compared to Shingetsu Town. Yousei appeared like a more modernized version of Shingetsu with all of its buildings mixed with berry trees at the end of its sidewalks. They then flew over a small town built within a wide field. Serena noticed there was a gym in this town. Serena also noticed that they were headed toward a large grassy field north of the town since Volc was beginning to descend.

As they passed by, two Dendo civilians noticed the large moth-like Pokémon passing through the city and noted the unusual occurrence. If something was in the sky, it would normally be Igor's Dragalia roaming the sky. They looked at the sight of the Volcarona, puzzled.

The first civilian was a young man in his twenties with small glasses. He had short, curly auburn hair with bright green eyes, a beige collared and buttoned shirt with jeans. The other person was a tall lady with long platinum blond hair that went up to her upper waist. She was wearing a simple uncollared black shirt with a male Pyroar in the middle and red shorts. The main had a beige small backpack while the lady had a small black purse. The two decided to move into an empty alleyway to discuss. The man was the first to respond.

"Hey…." The red-haired man said.

"You saw what I saw, right?" The woman asked. The man nodded.

"Yeah. A Volcarona was roaming the sky. How peculiar." The woman noted.

"Volcarona isn't indigenous to Hokori, though. It's a rare Pokémon to even have in Unova." The man said and noted as well. They began to think about what they just saw more closely.

"Exactly. There were two people on it, too. One of them was clearly the Champion's mother. Alison is her name, if memory serves. I know she owns a Volcorona. No one else in the region has long greying black hair like that and wears something so… old. The other person looked like some girl, but I don't recognize her." The woman stated.

"Think Aurora had more than one child? Alison and the girl looked close." The man pondered. The blond woman immediately shook her head.

"No… and that's what makes this sighting intriguing. They looked like they were heading to Dendo Town's Breeding Sanctuary. Let's investigate, shall we?" The woman said with a devious smile. The man suddenly grew a bit fearful.

"What about that crazy old woman who runs the place? I heard tales of how she can knock someone out with a single swing of her cane when she's angry enough." The man said while shuddering. The woman rolled her eyes.

"That woman is old as dirt and blind. There's no way she could do anything about us. We're guardians like her. We outnumber her and we have younger blood. This can be our chance to move up on the food chain. Why don't you want to take it?" The woman said eagerly.

"I…" The man didn't know how to respond to her.

"Come on, Jacob. What other chance do we have to gather info on the Ketchums?" The woman urged.

"That's not why I'm concerned. I'm more concerned about Alison. She's a scary guardian duelist known to make you question if you even hit her in a fight. I don't think we can take on both Alison and the crazy breeder lady, Kat." Jacob said.

"That doesn't matter me. I know they're stronger than us, but we have the element of surprise on our side." Kat continued.

"Ever the ambitious one…" Jacob sighed.

"We have to at least try. I don't want to stay at the bottom of the totem pole forever. It's not completely unheard of for guardians to move up in the team. Let's at least eavesdrop and try to take a small video of what they say. If we can do that undetected, we'd have done our part. Maybe Mr. Doku can give us a promotion!" Kat said excitedly. Jacob shook his head, but agreed with her.

"One can hope. Let's do this… discreetly." Jacob said. Kat happily hugged her partner before moving on north toward the fields. Jacob quickly moved to catch up.

A few moments after the hopeful guardians left, a shroud of dark aura appeared with a person inside. Her normally sad grey eyes were filled with determination. Raven was frowning, but thought, "I knew scum would be hiding here. They're not getting a video on my watch…"

Once they were above Mufasa Fields, Alice had Volc fly in place as she tried to look for Marge's Breeding Sanctuary. Mufasa Fields was such a large area that it was hard to find anything. However, Alice soon spotted the breeding center in the middle of the field. It had a bit of a rustic look and although it was getting close to dawn, the place seemed just as lively as it was during the middle of the day. A few paces near the breeding center was a small wooden house.

Serena found herself amazed at the sight. She could see a good amount of small Pokémon, especially Pikachu, coming toward someone behind the house. The person in question was an old dark-skinned lady with long white hair in rags. She was feeding them Oran Berries while sitting down on a stump. There was a green and white staff right next to her. Alice took a small peek behind her to see if Serena's expression had changed and she noticed the excitement in her eyes. She had to hide a chuckle as she directed Volc down toward the old lady.

As they landed, the Pikachu and other Pokémon suddenly became frightened and ran off. The old lady wondered where their unease came from as she could not sense anything on the ground. She then sensed the air and found something familiar. The woman had her eyes closed, but she had a great understanding of her surroundings. She had a peaceful smile.

Alice helped Serena off her Volcarona. Serena appreciated it. Serena then inspected the old lady. Serena had met this lady once before, a few days after she and Ash had moved in with Aurora. Marge had decided to visit now that Ash had reunited with Aurora and decided to show him more about sensing his surroundings. Serena didn't see too much of the lesson as Aurora had decided to help her with her performances that day. Serena wasn't sure if the old lady remembered her, though.

"Well, if it isn't the shy girl from the Tree! Serena, was it?" Marge said.

"You… remember me?" Serena blinked her eyes in surprise. Marge seemed tickled at how surprised she was.

"Hahaha… of course I do. Your aura is radiant. It's so unique, I had to ask Aurora who you were." Marge described. Serena found herself blushing at her description. She never thought of her aura appearing radiant to people. It felt like high praise. The old lady continued, "Speaking of the Pokémon Lady, she's been taking quite a few names the past day from what I heard some visitors say. She doesn't seem to be holding back as much, which surprises me and a lot of others."

"Ah… that's my girl. Ash likely had a hand in that. I feel like he rekindled her battling spirit, especially since I know she wants him to fight her for her Championship one day. This is probably her way of practicing." Alice said proudly.

"I see. Things will be exciting then! Hopefully, I can live long enough to sense that come to pass…" Marge said in a calm voice. Serena remembered that this woman was at least twenty years older than Alice, whom she already considered fairly old. She also knew Aurora to consider this lady as her unrelated grandma. Just as the girl began to wonder the woman's age, Marge had picked up on this. She responded to Serena's thought by saying, "I'm ninety, dear. I should be turning ninety-one later in May, but I'm just as active as ever!"

"Woah…" Serena said in shock. Marge didn't look that old to her, but Serena knew looks could be deceiving. Marge's clover-like mark on her head began to glow as she inspected Alice and Serena more closely.

"I sense a bit of awkwardness between you two, but less bad blood. That's good. I wonder what caused the change…" Marge now opened her eyes and showed how cloudy they were. Despite her blindness, she was looking directly at Alice with a serious expression. Her eyes seemed to scan Alice. Marge seemed to know the answer to her own observation, but wanted Alice to formally acknowledge it.

"Let's just say… Serena proved herself capable to me." Alice said. Marge began to laugh loudly. The old lady was hysterical. Serena wondered what was so funny. Alice sweatdropped. She didn't like the sound of that laugh. It was the type of laugh where she knew Marge was going to make her uncomfortable in some way. She'd been around the old lady long enough.

"If you think I'd accept that as the main reason, you have another thing coming. You were always a softie for your little one, though he isn't so little anymore." Marge continued to chuckle. Alice found herself somewhat embarrassed, but didn't deny the lady. Marge continued, "He proved his love to her, didn't he? I know you well, Miss Romantic. You're not one to give someone with psychic blood a chance otherwise."

"Miss Romantic?" Serena now looked at Alice curiously. For the first time ever, Serena noticed Alice blushing. Alice looked at Marge, highly irritated. Marge merely seemed tickled.

"Don't tell her that story! It's embarrassing enough that you mentioned that…" Alice hissed.

"Hahahaha! I'll respect your wish... for now." Marge said with a slight pout. Serena was beginning to like this oddball of a lady. She had to hide a chuckle. If they ever were alone, she wondered if she could get Marge to talk more about Ash's family in the past.

"I can't believe you read me…" Alice started with a facepalm, but Marge interrupted her to finish her statement.

"'…Like an open book.' Naturally, dear." Marge said with a chuckle. Marge then said in a much more serious tone, "Remember my mantra? Don't blind yourself in delusion. It has taken your family for you to begin to see that not all psychics are bad and I'm happy to see the clouds of hatred beginning to leave your mind. I was worried you'd be unwilling to change."

"…" Alice didn't know how to respond to that. Marge turned her attention to the honey blond teen.

"As for you, Serena, you hesitate to trust Alice from what I sense. Like Alice, Ash is what causes you to interact with her. If you two are to grow together, I feel like two need to talk things out without Ash being a major influence." Marge advised.

"…" Serena was now left silent. Alice and Serena looked at each other awkwardly, then looked away. Marge seemed to be enjoying every moment of their discomfort. She was grinning mischievously, but decided to close her eyes again. Serena felt like the grin was out of place on an otherwise tranquil looking old woman.

"Jeez, I haven't felt this exposed in a while. You are probably the only nice person that scares me because of how accurate you are with your aura sense." Alice said with a sigh.

"Aura sense?" Serena reiterated, unsure of what that meant.

"Aura sense is the ability to see all aura around you, external or internal. Since I've been blind my entire life, I've had to rely on being able to 'see' that way. I suppose ninety years of refinement gets you a bit of a reputation." Marge explained and ended with a bit of a cackle.

"Because of this, people call Marge the best senser in the world. We just witnessed how terrifyingly accurate her ability is." Alice supplemented.

"I wouldn't call it terrifying, silly Zangoose," Marge said while picking up her staff like cane. Alice suddenly looked terrified.

"Oh no…" She knew the moment Marge had her cane what was about to happen. Marge immediately wacked her on the head with her staff. The force was so great that it knocked the elderly lady off balance. Alice screamed, "Ack!"

"I'd call it an… intriguing ability." Marge said casually. Alice was unable to get up for several moments.

"Ugggghh..." Alice groaned in pain. Serena suddenly looked at Marge terrified when she noticed an impish look come her way. She backed away slightly. Marge laughed.

"Please… don't do that to me." Serena requested. Marge's expression grew serious as she shook her head.

"Unfortunately, you're too delicate for me to wack you… for now. I don't want to actually cause permanent damage to your head." Marge said, slightly disappointed. Serena was grateful that she managed to avoid Marge's odd sense of affection temporarily. Marge continued, "Now… what can I do you for? I very much doubt you'd visit me at the crack of dawn when I'm making my first rounds if it wasn't for a good reason."

"I want to give Serena a gift for putting up with my nonsense. I feel like she deserves something special for her devotion to Ash." Alice said after recovering from the devastating blow. She was holding her head slightly still.

"I see. Another Happy incident, then?" Marge guessed.

"Yep," Alice confirmed.

"Sure. Let's go see what eggs I have that might become close to Serena when it hatches. Alice, be a dear and show her around where I keep the Pokémon eggs. I do want to make my morning rounds still, but once I'm back, I'll help you determine the perfect partner for her." Marge told the younger elderly woman.

"Got it," Alice said with a nod. Serena was surprised that Alice was willing to do this for her. She knew that Alice wanted to reward her, but Serena was shocked that she was going out of her way to do so. The girl was wondering if Alice was normally this generous or she felt so bad that she needed to do something extra special.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Enjoy roaming the fields!" Marge said as she got up and slowly walked away from the two. She closed her eyes and began sensing the entire field. She made a small frown momentarily, but then continued her impish smile from before. She decided to head south since she noticed something unusual in that direction.

Kat and Jacob ran through Mufasa Fields as fast as they could. The luscious grass was seemingly slowing them down, but the two hopefuls didn't care. Even if they got an idea of what Alice and Serena were doing, that was enough for them. Unfortunately for the two, Mufasa Fields was massive. Kat hated that Marge had decided to put her house and the breeding facility in the middle of the field. She had to wonder how the lady was able to walk all the way to the city and back.

A lot of Pokémon was still sleeping, so the two guardians were thankful that they couldn't be randomly encountered. Kat gasped as they were beginning to see Marge's wooden house in the distance. However, before the woman could process her excitement, Kat and Jacob both got stuck by aura spheres. The two were knocked back, both surprised and confused at the sudden hit.

"An ambush? At this hour?" Kat groaned.

"We know you are a guardian. Reveal yourself!" Jacob growled

Jacob's demand was met with another two aura spheres coming out of nowhere. This time, they both reacted in time. Kat and Jacob redirected the attack back at the direction it was sent, but sucked their teeth when it hit nothing. The two guardians looked around themselves and saw nothing. They both even resorted to using aura vision, but couldn't detect anything abnormal. The two was puzzled, but not deterred.

"Fine. Be that way. We have ways to reveal you." Jacob said. He knew he had to be going against a very experienced guardian, but also wasn't that scared.

Jacob went into his bag and took out a ball-like machine. It appeared similar to a Poké Ball, except it was silver in color with a red button in the middle. It formed clear smoke that only affected aura guardians. He pressed the button and then applied a clear patch on his skin. Kat did the same thing with her skin. The patch was absorbed into their skin.

The ambusher suddenly seemed much more in pain. She grunted as she finally revealed herself in front of them. Raven had small blue sparks entangling her body like it was suffocating to her. Kat and Jacob looked at their attacker in shock.

"Ach… what is this… contraption?" Raven hissed as she found herself stunned. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move. She was looking at them with a dangerous glare and barred her teeth slightly.

"Raven of Midnight City? What's she doing here?" Jacob wondered. Kat shook her head and pointed ahead.

"It doesn't matter. We need to go. Now! This video is even more important than I thought." Kat said. She knew that Raven usually didn't like to leave her town. Although she wondered why she was close to the Ketchums and how she knew they would be here, she didn't ponder on it too much.

"You will not escape my reach no matter what you do to me, grunts. The capsule has to be of recent Zurui tech. I would have been more discrete in your shoes if I had a target, but you led me right to you. Don't be so loud talking about your plans next time." Raven said tauntingly.

"Big talk of someone who can't move," Kat said with a bit of laugh. Raven's eyes began to glow and the marks on her hand the same color as her eyes. She began to shudder despite being affected by the capsule. Kat's smugness suddenly turned into a bit of fear.

"You underestimate me. I've always had several bags of tricks…" Raven said with a determined expression. It looked like it was taking her a lot of effort to resist the stunning properties of the tech the duo used against her, but she was doing it. She was scowling at them, but approaching them slowly.

"Kat, go!" Jacob said suddenly.

"What? I don't want to leave y-…" Kat started, but was pushed by her partner. Jacob shook his head and interrupted her.

"Go! I'll hold her off as best I can. Send what you record to the boss! Quickly!" Jacob stressed.

"Jacob!" Kat said to voice her objection, but the red-haired man wasn't having any of that.

"I'll… be fine! Go! You want this more than me." Jacob said. Kat seemed so conflicted, but decided not to fight him anymore. She started to run toward the breeding center. Jacob solemnly nodded to himself. He created a bone blub of aura and pointed at the slowly approaching Raven.

"I will come back for you…" Kat said to herself as she focused on her objective. Raven looked in slight frustration at the fleeing woman, but didn't visibly show it.

"Stand down! I will do what I must for my team!" Jacob said with a hint of nervousness in his tone. He pointed his weapon at Raven with narrowed eyes. Raven showed apathy in her outward features. She looked so unfazed, it alarmed the man.

Raven shook away any reservations she had about the guardian man trying to move up in the team. Though she could see herself in his shoes, she noted he looked much older than she was when she left the Zurui. He was more conscious of his choices. Raven thought, "Such an unfortunate dilemma. From how old he is, he doesn't appear naïve. This man will kill me if I try anything... or will he? I'll let him decide if I should kill him or not. Let's see if he strikes me down while I'm not actively attacking him."

Raven took a deep breath and relaxed her body. The small blue sparks entangling her slowly began to fade away as she decided not to fight the capsule's effect. She still felt a suffocating feeling in her aura, but it was much more manageable like this. Jacob wouldn't give her the chance to do anything more.

He swung his bone club at her stomach and knocked her into the ground. The black hair woman grunted at the hit, but decided not to fight back. She needed to be absolutely sure if this man was deserving of her full wrath. She slowly got up from the ground, but decided to form a bone club of aura in self-defense. Raven narrowed her eyes.

Jacob was determined not to let this woman pursue his partner. He was swift in his movement, carefully planning his attacking to hit Raven at lethal points on her abdomen. Raven found her movement stunted, but was still able to defend relatively well. Raven didn't know about the capsule used against her as it was new tech, but she also knew that this man didn't have honor. She would ambush people, sure, but she always would use her tricks and powers only. She never used outside sources to win anything. The grey-eyed woman made up her mind.

Jacob kicked her in her stomach when she was slow in blocking another swing. Raven rolled on the ground to avoid being impaled by the bone club he was thrusting at her. Raven knew she was running out of time. It was a matter of time before the other grunt found Serena. She had to prevent that if she could.

Raven decided to build her aura up just enough to get a quick burst of speed temporarily. She had to be careful not to breathe too quickly, lest she choked from the capsule's effect. Using Jacob's surprise as a weapon, she did a sweeping motion with her feet and quickly knocked him down. Then, she kept him pinned down in her aura. The process was causing her great pain, so she decided the next course of action was the destroy the device.

"How unfortunate you decided to seal your fate," Raven said sadly. She thought solemnly, "I know I promised not to do this again, but Serena's in danger. I must remain level headed for her sake. Think of care… and warmth. Don't… kill… anything… except for the two grunts. Don't lose myself to the dark abyss…"

Raven closed her eyes and relaxed her body. Once she opened her eyes, the marks on her hands were now on her eyes as two bloody moon shapes. She seemed to have a greater disconnect from the world than before. The blue suffocating sparks entangling her vanished. She immediately started to move normally despite being in the capsule's range. Raven then immediately picked up the capsule and crushed it with her bare hands. Raven could feel herself unrestricted completely. Jacob looked terrified at the woman.

"Wh-what are you? You're not a normal guardian! The way you dealt with the aura disruptor is unheard of!" Jacob screeched.

Raven said nothing as she approached the now terrified man. Now that the object weakening her was gone, she could focus on one of her actual targets. Jacob still couldn't move, but he felt shivers being trapped her Raven's aura. He couldn't feel any of Raven's emotions, which was unnerving. If anything, the only thing he could feel was something rotting on the inside.

"What are you… those eyes… they seem so ominous…" Jacob said in observation.

Raven continued to ignore him and was now was within a few feet of the man. She had her bone club in her hand and Jacob had an idea of what her intent was with it.

"St-stay stay away from me… you creep!" Jacob tried to move away, but Raven's influence was too strong. Her cold grey eyes judged his soul as they stared down at him. She made up her mind and her movement was swift.

"You're going to be much more tolerable as a corpse…" Raven murmured as she impaled the man through his heart.

"AHHHHHHHH!" That was the last thing Jacob could utter as he eyes rolled up gruesomely. With his heart impaled, the rest of his body could not go on further and he stopped moving. Raven's marks in her eyes seemed to appear slightly harsher than before. She held no sympathy for her actions, but she was beginning to feel more bloodlust. The guardian shook her head at that and took a few breaths to prevent herself from going out of control. She held her head slightly for a moment as she remembered why she put herself in this state: Serena.

Thinking of Serena made her calm down and focus on what she wanted. Raven made her weapon disappear and rushed off to follow Kat. Her objective was clear and she would stop at nothing to complete it.

As Raven went back north, an old lady with a cane had been sensing the entire thing. She frowned at not only the body, but the killer in question. She decided to cancel her rounds and see what Raven was up to. Floating slightly, she made her movement discreet, but followed Raven at her pace.

In the distance, Kat could hear a grown man screaming. Kat felt a shiver at what that implied, but forced herself not to think about it. She had to do this for both of their sakes. She increased her pace. She noticed the old lady was nowhere to be seen. Kat realized the lady was likely patrolling the area and smiled to herself. Everything seemed to be falling into place.

The patch she applied on herself not only was useful in not being affected by the aura disruptor, it was also useful in augmenting her natural abilities and hiding her aura more discreetly. She felt like she was moving faster than normal.

Kat managed to make it to the house and breeding facility. She made sure to make herself invisible, but couldn't make her camera invisible. She couldn't see any signs of anyone outside, so she got closer.

Kat had to stifle a gasp when she walked inside the facility and heard voices. She saw a short haired honey blond teen with bright blue eyes and a cute outfit. She thought the blue ribbon was peculiar on an otherwise mainly red and pink color scheme. She was listening to the old lady giving her a short rundown of the place. She recognized the old lady as Alison Ketchum and noted how screwed she'd be if she sensed her presence.

She began to record their conversation.

"So, how long Marge has been doing this?" Serena said, deciding it would be best to learn about the old lady she saw earlier. She didn't like Alice, but she figured it would be better to talk than look at the eggs in dead silence. Alice made a small smile when she heard Serena ask her something and was eager to answer.

"Probably before I was born. She's very passionate about her work. Marge is the glue for people to want to keep journeying in Hokori." Alice replied.

"Why do you say that?" Serena asked curiously.

"Once people lose to the first gym leader, he directs them to go to past Yousei City to Dendo Town up north and then head through Mufasa Fields. Usually, Igor, the Yousei City Gym Leader, demotivates a lot of people because of how tough he is. This is done on purpose to weed out the persistent from the weak. Marge encourages the persistent to keep training and even may give people pointers, but that's only if you find her and if she senses that you're worth her time." Alice explained.

"Wow. Marge seems amazing." Serena noted.

"She has an amazing arm, I'll give her that…" Alice said while rubbing her head slightly. She did it in a slightly exaggerated manner. Serena chuckled slightly. She liked seeing Alice loosen up around her. Alice continued, "… but I agree with you that she's amazing. She's always been a bit of an oddball, but she will do what she feels is right. Otherwise, I doubt she would give people eggs."

"You think she thinks I'm deserving?" Serena questioned. Alice immediately nodded.

"Of course. She would have made us do more otherwise. You have a presence that's alluring to people. Perhaps… that's why she was quick to say you can have an egg." Alice responded.

Alice looked toward Kat's direction and narrowed her eyes. The elderly lady felt something off in the area, but couldn't place where. Not wanting to alarm Serena, she decided not to voice her suspicions. She decided if something bad happened, she would react to protect both of them. Instead, she continued to explain a bit more about Mufasa Fields and the Breeding Sanctuary to Serena.

The hopeful grunt forced herself to relax when Alice looked in her direction. She breathed a sigh of relief when Alice focused her attention on Serena again. So far, the Zurui tech was working perfectly to where an esteemed guardian couldn't sense her being right there. She just needed to show that they were there and what they were doing.

Once she made sure she had enough footage, she said quietly into the recording, "Seems like the girl is being gifted an egg. She's with the Champion's mother, but this girl seems to be a pure psychic, which is peculiar. I thought the Ketchum elderly hated psychics. The girl is likely the girlfriend of the Champion's son, too. I am recording this message in case I don't get to report more. I'm being pursued by…"

"I'm going to haunt your soul once I kill you…" Raven whispered chillingly in her witch-like voice right behind Kat.

"Wah! End recording!" Kat said in a panic. She quickly sent her recording to the headquarters before Raven was able to grab her. She was happy she did her job, but was scared about the guardian behind her.

Kat didn't dare move, but her eyes were widened and her heart was beating out of her chest. Raven's presence felt overwhelming. Raven immediately grabbed her and dragged her out of the facility without causing that too much noise.

Alice, frowning, looked where Kat and Raven had been hiding and found nothing. She sensed something off, but was disturbed by not finding anything. Perplexed at the mixed messages her aura sense was giving her and growing slightly irritated at herself, she decided not to pursue this further. Serena noticed how distracted Alice seemed.

"Is… there something wrong?" Serena asked innocently.

"I feel like…" Alice sighed. She wasn't sure where to begin. She said instead, "No. I guess I was just imagining things because I thought I sensed something that wasn't here. Let's continue browsing, okay?"

Serena noticed the worried look on Alice's face, but decided not to press her. She continued to go along with the elderly Ketchum.

A/N: An eventful chapter, no? What will the repercussions be about that video being sent? You'll find out soon.

Seems like when Raven is determined to protect something, she'll resort to some... unsavory methods if she doesn't have a voice of reason to keep her from being radical. Seems like her time in the Zurui still can influence how she acts.

As for Serena and Alice, they aren't too buddy-buddy, but at least they are being more civil. That's a start, right? Don't be mistaken, though. Serena doesn't trust Alice in the slightest.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will be just as eventful as this one. Happy reading!

Next Chapter: Race Against Time

~SPG123~