Steven's head was throbbing, the cause of which was entirely obvious.
He had stayed in the hospital for a while with Wallace and Flannery but left abruptly outside after seething members of the regional council stormed into the waiting area and initiated a storm of complaints and rants. Wallace and the chair of the council exchanged scalding comments, arguing very loudly about the extent of damage outside and who was going to pay for it.
Steven decided to let Wallace handle it and walked away towards the center of town, heading for the pokemon center, where he was going to pick up Riven's team. Upon actually seeing the place, he had to pause and note just how bad it actually looked. As one of the officials put it, it looked like someone unleashed a herd of rampaging Tauros through the area, and set off multiple crates of dynamite while simultaneously smashing windows with a large baseball bat. Pretty accurate summation actually.
Broken pieces of debris and wood were scattered everywhere, windows were shattered, and glass littered the floor beneath them. One shop window in particular had dried blood all over the window sill and even on the glass shards both inside and outside. The interiors of some stores were charred and damaged goods from stray attacks were spilled all over the floor. Shopkeepers and employees ranted and cried, demanding explanations from the officials that were sent to calm them down. Blood remained on the floor, but the bodies were absent. Not to mention the ground had several blackened craters and kicked up dirt everywhere; the result of missed thunderbolts, flame bursts, and hyper beams.
Luckily, the center was only a few minutes away from the hospital. The only reason for going there was because of the insistence of Meta, who wanted to speak with the trainer's Kirlia about psychic matters involving a certain issue with said trainer's mental state. Steven would question him later, he didn't feel like doing much at the moment honestly, he just wanted to rest and forget about this. Stepping through the automatic doors, both Nurse Joy and the other trainers in the center gasped. Steven didn't care, he only asked how Riven's pokemon were doing, ignoring the gazes of all the other trainers.
Nurse Joy removed the pokeballs from the machine behind her, albeit a bit nervously. It wasn't everyday that a legendary trainer such as Steven Stone stopped in little old Lavaridge."T-they're doing fine mostly. The Combusken won't be battle ready for a month, her leg is broken. And the Kirlia also won't be able to battle until his shoulder fully heals. Two weeks at most, it was badly torn and mangled, it might scar over but evolution should fix it." Nurse Joy examined the former champion up and down, dubiously. "You're taking them back to their trainer, right Mr. Stone?"
Steven clenched his jaw. "Yes, I am." Nurse Joy minimized the three pokeballs and handed them to him, which he then fit into Riven's pokeball belt. He stepped outside the center and opened the Kirlia's ball. "Meta, he's all yours." Steven eyed the suddenly intimidated Kirlia- who appeared to be horrified- then turned to his Metagross. "When you're done, teleport to me and bring him with you. I'm going to go talk to Wallace, need to find out what he and the council chair talked about." The larger psychic's eyes flashed blue, indicating he understood. Steven rubbed his face and power-walked back in the direction of the hospital.
This was going to suck more than just a little.
Riven awoke to a room that smelled like disinfectant and was colored much too white for his liking. The constant beeping of machines made his head pound something fierce. He tried to sit up, only to groan when his sides stung sharply. "Hospital. Again." He figured a couple broken ribs weren't too bad until he realized he couldn't close his right hand. He lifted it out from under his blanket to see it covered in a mitt, which meant broken wrist and fingers. The string of curses and angry grunts woke up Will, who was snoozing in the chair across from Riven's bed.
"You're finally awake, dumbass," he said, rubbing sleepiness out of his eyes.
Riven stared back at him, lost. "Will. Why are you here? And how long have I been out? Where are my pokemon? Tell me!" He tried grabbing Will but the mitt just made it look quite ridiculous, he frowned when he couldn't even grab the hem of his shirt. The effect fell flat really quickly.
Will slapped the mitt away. "Calm down, your pokemon are ok. Steven went to go get them. He'll be back soon, he's talking to the champion right now. The champion. Can you believe that? Wallace! Actually, lots of big fishes came here. There was a bunch of screaming and now there's officials literally everywhere." As Will said that, men marched past the door, manectric following them closely behind. A Zangoose with deadly looking claws passed by, making Riven glad he wasn't at the receiving end of those. "As for how long you've been out, only a couple hours. It's not that bad actually, and the chips downstairs are-"
"Whoa, slow down. Why are you here anyway? It's night time now, shouldn't you be in the center?" The kid started shifting his eyes around the room at the mention of pokemon center. Riven grinned wryly. "I know that look."
"What look?" Will tried his best to don a neutral expression but was much worse at it than Riven, who was a master of the iron mask of death glares. After all, there was a reason people challenged Will and not his traveling partner, despite being around the same level.
"That one." He pointed the ridiculous mitt at Will's face, which was currently a mix of oh-shit and I-screwed-up-badly. "That was my face when Nurse Joy manhandled me back in Dewford for falling through a cave and trying to play it off. She shook me until I spilled it, then dumped rubbing alcohol all over my arms. What did you do?"
Will's face flushed and matched the color of his eyes. "N-nothing! Nothing much…" Riven was smirking while raising a brow, waiting for the kid to spill the beans. "Ok, maybe I did something. Well, not me but you know…"
"The infamous Quilava struck again didn't he." He should've known. When in doubt, blame the pyromaniac, it never didn't work. Fool proof scapegoat. Those were always fun.
Will slumped into his chair in defeat. "He tried to show off to Rika." It was a seemingly harmless display of fire, barring the fact that the very same harmless lick of flame kept going, hit the carpet and well…it didn't exactly agree with it. Neither did everything else in the room, apparently.
Riven made an explosion noise with his mouth, lifting his arms, mimicking rising smoke. He snickered but quickly learned why it was a bad idea. "Ah, ribs. Laughing. Bad." As the snickers settled down, he asked, "What did he set on fire this time?"
"The carpet, then the beds. Smoke detectors went off and Nurse Joy came running in. She nearly shouted me into the floor until a Chansey slapped Quil and chased me out." The kid took off his hat and scratched his head in embarrassment.
The older trainer started into hysterical laughter, which proved to be torture for his ribs. "Stop making me laugh, you're destroying my ribs here," he said, holding his sides.
"It's not my fault you find other people's bad luck hilarious, even though yours is probably the worst."
"I guess not, but the irony is the best part." Riven looked up at the white ceiling, counting the little square patterns. One was a random triangle. It made his eye twitch, whoever did that deserved to burn. He tore his sight away from the little abomination, it would drive him insane if he looked at it any longer. "So you got kicked from the center and are leeching off my hospital stay?"
"Is there another way to say that I pretended to be your brother again so I could sleep in here?"
The little bastard."Keep lying like that and it's going to bite you in the ass," Riven warned.
"Says the one who gives fake names to everyone."
Riven sputtered and couldn't think of a retort, so he spouted random gibberish under his breath instead.
The little boy grinned devilishly, leaning back on his chair. "But the seats aren't comfortable, they make my back ache."
"This bed isn't comfortable either." Well, at least it wasn't a park bench. That had made his back ache for days, sometimes it still did. Not eager to try that again. The floor was more comfortable than that bench.
"You can get up already, but you might as well stay, since it's dark out. And I know you don't want to stay here any longer, no one does. Hospitals suck, you're either sick, hurt, dying or dead."
"Yeah."
They talked about a few pointless things before Riven decided to ask about the more…serious matters. "Will, what happened, you know…after?" The older teen was certainly curious, the last thing he felt was being handcuffed, yet he wasn't. He couldn't help but wonder why. Not that being handcuffed appealed to him in any sort of way but still, it made a guy wonder.
"Officials came in and locked the place down, cuffed you then threw you in the hospital once the doctors found out you had broken ribs. Right now though, most of the trainers are still stuck in the center. They haven't notified the media yet either. And I hope they don't, all they do is just cause more problems. This made the big guys freak, that's pretty serious if you ask me," Will explained.
Riven's face returned to its normal expression as he thought about what Will said. "What about us?" The officials had to say something about the trainers involved.
"I don't know. They didn't throw you in jail so I think you might be good. As for the rest of us, I guess we'll see?"
Two hours later, the door opened and Steven entered, along with Riven's pokemon. White Queen went up to him and bit his mitt, a sign of affection perhaps. He scratched her head and she closed her eyes, obviously enjoying the attention. "Spoiled girl." Then he looked down at his Kirlia. He had a bandage wrapped over his left shoulder but otherwise was still his grinning little self. Although, when he saw Aine limp into the room, he nearly freaked. "Aine! What happened to you? How did…"
"Her leg is broken. She'll be fine in a month," Steven answered, oddly cold. What bit him in the ass? Riven returned them all after receiving his belt from him. He glanced to the side where Will was pretty much frothing at the mouth.
Will was a nervous wreck, he couldn't form words in front of the former champion. Steven was his damn idol, since before he was a trainer and now the boy was shaking like a leaf, unable to say anything. But Steven paid no attention to him, only staring at Riven in what seemed like contempt. He tossed a small black stone to him, who caught it with his left hand.
"Where's the stone?"
"Which one?"
"The blue one you talked about."
"Bag." Riven pointed to the trainer bag on a table in the corner of the room.
Steven put on his gloves and walked over to the bag, picking up the sphere and placing it in a pouch in his own. He didn't leave, however, staying firmly in place. Riven noticed the venomous look Steven was giving him. "What do you want to tell me, Stone? You've been staring at me like that since you came in."
Steven turned to Will, eyes softening for the boy. "Can you step out? I need to speak with him in private." The little boy nodded and was about to step out when Riven held him back with his mitt.
"He stays here. If it's about what happened, I want him to listen too. Don't pretend he wasn't involved." People always treated children like they shouldn't hear what they were talking about. His parents did it all the time, it pissed him off. Because of that very reason, he had no idea what the hell was happening to him, no one ever told him anything. This was not going to happen to Will too.
"Fine. But he won't like it," Steven replied. His eyes narrowed, leveling a vicious glare at Riven. "You. Are. Unbelievably. Fucking. Stupid."
"Why is that?" Riven questioned, unable to see why what he did was stupid.
Steven's voice rose in anger, "Why? You attacked three men out on the street in a public area and started a god damned brawl in the middle of town!" He threw his hands up in the air. "Not only that but do you have any conceivable idea how much property damage that little fiasco caused? Hundreds of thousands! Four destroyed shops, six pulverized homes, and eleven other damaged buildings, not including goods!"
"You're getting upset over some structural damage?" It seemed like something so trivial. Things got destroyed. So what? Just build it again. Buildings could be replaced, lives not so much.
"Yes! Do you have to pay for repairs? No! Trainers never do! That's why we specifically banned pokemon battles in public squares and plazas! Every single time one of you irresponsible idiots destroys a building, the League has to pay it back because trainers can't and won't! There's rules!"
Riven's brow furrowed."Why do you care? You're not part of the League, you're the CEO of a company. You have no obligation to care about the government's problems." Steven was in no position to lecture him, he wasn't an official.
"But I was a champion once! I know what it's like. And having the council breathing down your neck is never a pleasant experience. Wallace is knee deep in problems with them as it is, if this got out to the public, his approval rating would plummet. All because one trainer decided he would take the law into his own hands! It's a huge problem."
Riven shot a glare of his own at him. "What did you want me to do? Stay there and let them come kill me? Oh, because that certainly works out for everyone right? Forget about trainers dying! But heavens forbid some buildings get destroyed!" He spat furiously.
"You could have called someone for help!"
"Call who? Flannery? There are no police forces in Lavaridge. If I did call her, then they'd kill her! Then when the officials finally do come and rescue me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself because I ran like a bitch! She's one girl, how could I sacrifice her life for mine? I don't want people to die for me, Steven."
This got Steven even more enraged. "Because you're so afraid of people dying, is that it? YOU KILLED THREE MEN WITHOUT BLINKING!" He roared, recalling the sight of the bodies being carried off by the officials. "What the hell were you thinking?! That you'd kill three men and things will be nice and peachy again? There are rules, Riven. You follow them. That's how society works. You better get used to it, jail isn't a nice experience for anyone."
Riven released a low snarl. "Look, I took care of the problem. I was there, the officials were not. If I didn't, they would have killed more people, innocent people Steven. I did what I had to do to minimize casualties and eliminate the enemy." You don't bargain with criminals. You get rid of them.
"Don't talk like a soldier because you're not, you're a trainer!"
If only you knew, Riven thought, fiercely holding back a wry smirk. The irony of the situation nearly made him burst into hysteric laughter.
"Trainers aren't supposed to kill people damn it! That's the very reason why Sinnoh is such a god damned mess right now! Because a trainer went insane and threw the region into chaos!" The fervor of support for him was still incredibly strong, both in Sinnoh and from recent reports, Unova as well. They had been agitating officials everywhere and instilling paranoia in more regions than just those two. He didn't want to think about the incident in Mossdeep.
"I don't give a flying shit what happens in other regions, that's their problem. Besides, the criminals deserved it. Or did you forget about the two trainers who got turned into human firewood? Did they deserve to die? Lives cut short by walking pieces of fecal matter? No. I wasn't going to let them get away with it, I made them pay." His ribs prevented him from getting up and driving his mitt into the blue haired asshole's face. You're lucky I can't smash your face into a table this time, Riven thought darkly. I've seen too many die in front of me, I don't want to see more.
Will was surprised they weren't beating each other's faces in yet. They looked about ready to. Doctors were standing outside the door, trying to see what the commotion was about. Some officials had also gathered around the door, he motioned for them to go away.
"Two wrongs don't make a right. In fact, all you did was make things worse. By involving your friend and two other trainers, you could have had all of your trainers licenses revoked. Then the League would confiscate all of your pokemon, possibly even put them down. Would you like that?"
"What."...That wouldn't be just.
"What would your friend do if because of you, they took his Quilava and banned him from training? Or that other boy's Swampert? A pokemon he's been traveling with for more than five years? His best friend? Oh, but you didn't think about that did you? Of course not."
His fists clenched, nearly cutting off circulation. "As for your pokemon, where do I start? You just left them to fight while you took your 'justice'. If it weren't for Will or the two other trainers there, your entire team would be dead! Do you love your pokemon? Then take care of them! Your Combusken nearly died being electrocuted and your Kirlia almost bled to death. Your Absol was about to get megahorned by a Rhydon had Flannery's Rapidash not saved her. It's good that you fight with your pokemon, but it isn't ok to abandon them. EVER! You fight as a team, that's what being a trainer is about."
Riven remembered Aine's limp and his anger evaporated away like water. A massive wave of guilt slapped him in the face.
"You were fortunate you had at least four badges and had the right to use lethal force, otherwise you'd have had all of your licenses revoked immediately." As Steven said that, he swept his gaze over to Will, who was still shaking like a leaf in the wind. "But with the amount of destruction caused, Wallace-the champion- had to go out of his way to calm the council down and treat this as a trainer issue, that way every trainer involved doesn't get tossed into jail for destruction of property. Believe me when I tell you that the council has no qualms about throwing trainers in jail, they love doing it. The fact that the dead men were part of a terrorist organization certainly helped your case too, you narrowly escaped with your licenses intact," Steven hissed. "But make no mistake. Next time, if there is a next time, Wallace isn't pulling any favors. The collateral damage that you and the rest of those trainers caused is going to take hundreds of thousands in tax payer money to repair. They won't be happy about that. It might possibly take weeks if not months to fully smoothen all the ruffled feathers you inadvertently dragged through a political sandstorm along with you. The League has enough problems as of now. Don't. Add. More."
Will backed up, even if he wasn't the champion anymore, Steven was still intimidating. He knew about his pokemons' power, they fought the magmas and aquas when they still had control of the region.
Riven was about to speak but Steven continued, tone capable of slicing through steel. "If this happens again, before you do anything stupid, think about the damage you can cause to others. If it's just you, do whatever the hell you want, but if someone else is involved, think." He left for the door. "If I find anything interesting, I'll notify you. And if I were you, I'd get out of Lavaridge, in case they come back for a round two." The door slammed shut with a loud thud, sending vibrations along the walls.
Riven lay motionless in his bed, thinking about the world. A tear of frustration leaked out of his eye, silent and angry.
Will noticed a droplet travel down Riven's cheek. "You alright?"
"…No." Nearly a growl, not quite human. After a verbal thrashing like that, who would be 'alright'?
Will didn't know what to say. What Steven said…wouldn't be easy for anyone to swallow. Much less after finding out that they were the reason their pokemon nearly died. "Hey, I know what he said was harsh but no one else is blaming you for what you did. They were bad guys right? You did it because you wanted to save lives. You're a good guy."
Riven looked back at the little boy, whose red eyes were so big and wide. Innocence. He smiled lightly and pulled the boy's hat down, shielding his eyes. "There are no good guys," he said sullenly.
A glint of crimson flashed.
And I'd never be one of them. Not here, not anywhere.
The following week, the gym leaders had convened in Lilycove, unanimously agreeing to skip the introductions and proceedings in order to get down to matters of dire importance. Every single one of the gym leaders was in an uproar after hearing what happened in Lavaridge. The sight of a very shaken Flannery didn't help. Wallace had difficulty controlling the order of the room as gym leaders argued over what to do.
"Everyone. Calm. Down. Right. NOW!" Wallace yelled, slamming both fists down on the round table they were all currently sitting at, unusual aggression startling the others. The bickering stopped and the noise died down as people returned to their seats. "Now that everyone is quiet, we will talk about this like civilized people, not savages who yell and argue like fools. We are not the council, we are better than this. And as such, we will begin the first order of business. Anyone who wishes to speak will raise a hand and will be allowed to speak uninterrupted until done," Wallace decreed, trying his best to prevent the discussion from being ruined by unruly behavior.
Winona was the first to raise a hand. Wallace nodded and acknowledged her. "I want to know what everyone else here wants to know. What happened in Lavaridge?" The other gym leaders exchanged nods of agreement.
"I can answer that," said a familiar voice as a figure walked into the room.
Everyone in the room turned to see who it was and saw the former champion walk in. Glacia's eyebrows climbed up to her hairline. "Wallace, he's not a gym leader you know that's not allo-"
"I do. And I will allow it if I please. He was a champion before and knows how this works. Steven also has more information about what happened than any of us and Flannery is a little too shaken at the moment. He's the reason we even got word of this, and prevented anything worse from happening." Steven sat beside him and was given the approval to speak.
Steven looked around the table, everyone was paying attention- usually, there would be people sleeping or bored out of their wits. Not this time. He moistened his lips and cleared his throat. "I'm going to tell you the general gist of it." He waited a moment. "What occurred in Lavaridge was a small scale skirmish that quickly devolved into a ruthless deathmatch between trainers and six men of unknown affiliation. Three of those men and several of their pokemon were killed. And substantial damage was done to the surrounding area, an incredible amount, judging by damage estimates. The council is furious, as you all know."
Brawly stood up. "But how did this happen man? Why Lavaridge and poor Flan? It doesn't have anything to harass, it's just like Dewford. It doesn't make any sense dude!" He punched the table, then breathed heavily, trying to keep his cool. Wallace mouthed for him to cool it, spreading his hands downward. The muscular surfer sat back down.
Steven held up a hand. "I know. Part of the reason this got so out of hand was the lack of any official presence in the area. If I hadn't stumbled into the town on business, who knows what would have happened. Flannery couldn't take them by herself. They had fully evolved pokemon, and many of them. Some of which were water, ground, and rock types."
Tate intervened. "Steven, we've tried placing officials in Lavaridge and Dewford, but the council keeps vetoing the bills. We've been trying really hard but nothing gets through, it happens every single time. We just end up at square one every time we attempt it." Every gym leader huffed in response. They knew it was only a matter of time before places like Lavaridge, Dewford or any of the smaller towns got hit.
"Yes, that's true. From what Wallace has told me, gridlock has been the status quo within the regional government for a few months now. However, Lavaridge has been filled with officials, so things like that shouldn't occur again. For a while at least." It was no reassurance but it would help lessen the worry and hopefully provide some comfort for Flannery.
"But why did it happen? What would criminals gain from attacking random trainers in a small town like that?" Juan asked. Wallace's former mentor paid very fine attention to detail due to being an established coordinator, and things just didn't add up."Were they just thieves? Or?"
"They wore identical black clothes, and used ambush tactics, definitely not run of the mill scum," Wallace said, fully aware of what he was implying.
Everyone sucked in a breath, except for Norman, face grave. "Are you saying that we might have another team on our hands?" Roxanne inquired in disbelief. Half the room had the exact same expression.
"There's a high possibility," Steven mentioned. "After the Aquas and Magmas, it's understandable how much we don't want that part of history to repeat itself. They almost succeeded, had Brendan not convinced Rayquaza to help." Even then, it took a legendary whose wild behavior was known to all. It was a gamble to go to the sky pillar and seek its help, the boy risked a lot to save Hoenn, something everyone was grateful for. But the point was that the darkest hour had come for the region, and all seemed lost- until a green dragon descended from the sky and stopped the fighting. "We can't turn to the legendaries to solve our problems," Steven concluded. "Or children."
Norman stood up, leaning on his cane. Everyone grew silent. "What was it they attacked?" He had lost considerable weight after his hospital stay and would depend on that cane for quite some time until he fully recovered. The cane still made the other leaders uncomfortable.
"You remember the two who came out on television a week or so ago? The ones who survived the desert?" Steven reminded.
Everyone agreed, they had all seen the two boys, both of whom were sunburned and rough from the desert trek. "Yeah man, they looked like they got rolled around in a sand pit and left out to dry in the sun," Brawly described.
"But why attack two trainers randomly like that? Publicity? Making a statement by assaulting two people who appeared on television? What would they accomplish, this is highly erratic and very confusing."
Wattson scratched his beard. "No, Juan. I think it may be something else." Winona asked him to elaborate. "Well, around the same time they escaped the desert, some blue lights were seen hundreds of feet into the sky from Mauville. I was coming back from lunch when I saw them. They were coming from deep within the desert, I know that much."
"They were involved with those strange lights is what you're saying," Roxanne deduced.
"Maybe, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure riding Vibravas out of the desert makes for a good myth but a poor truth. They got out somehow. No pokemon can make those lights, and there isn't anything out there but Cacturne and sand." The jolly old man's infectious laugh was wholly absent today.
"Or so we think." Norman sat back down, tapping his cane lightly against the table. "There may be something hidden out there. Something they found in the desert that the supposed 'team' wanted information on. Badly. I think the Petalburg incident and this one are very much related." The room was deathly silent. Even Brawly and Wattson, the most rowdy of the gym leaders, were speechless. A cold chill ran down their spines.
"What makes you say that, Norman?" Wallace asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"When they attacked my daughter, the guard who saved her told her to keep the prize jewel safe. He didn't mention why. Two weeks later, someone broke into our house, left a large sum of money and a note. It said, 'we took the jewel, sorry for inconvenience'. I suspect that was what they were after. But it wasn't the same guys who tried to kill her. Third party perhaps."
"So you think they found something of the sort? Like some kind of artifact?"The desert was highly untouched, due to its treacherous landscape and sudden onset of sandstorms, either natural or as a result of wild Flygon. Maybe there were other ruins in the desert, apart from Regirock's tomb. They'd have to search later.
Steven froze as bits and pieces came together, remembering Riven's vague words. Didn't think much of it but after what happened in the desert, let's just say it does a lot more than glow. The blue sphere. The one he had given him. It was back in the lab- he had to examine it more closely than he imagined, it could hold secrets to something much more powerful. But he said he found it in Dewford, not the desert, so it couldn't be that. Could it?
Sidney took a chance to speak, the elite four mainly sat back in most of the meetings but this time he couldn't. "Who are these guys? Even if the boys did find something in the desert, the grunts can't possibly know it now. They all got captured or killed. They messed with the wrong trainers, which means, they'll probably switch tactics rather than try it again if they possess half a brain. Else they're a bunch of idiots." He turned to Steven, "They didn't get a psychic lock on them did they? If they did, we need to get a psychic to break it quick."
Not on Riven at least, Steven thought. His Metagross had spoken to him about some peculiarities about the boy, notably the resistance to psychic influence. He heard some people naturally resisted psy-locks, but he never actually thought it would be true. "The men had no psychic pokemon, and all of the others were apprehended. It isn't possible."
"That doesn't mean there weren't others," said Drake, the strongest of the elite four. "I assume these men aren't like the other teams. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion. They're organized and far from stupid."
Steven nodded. "Yes. I touched upon this with Professor Birch following the Petalburg news report. These men are much more ruthless than the Magmas and Aquas on an individual scale. They latter tended to use scare tactics and theft to get what they wanted. These guys though…much worse."
Brawly was confused. "But didn't the other teams get taken down by a single kid? Shouldn't be super hard to mop these guys up then."
"Yes, but that's the problem. The other teams didn't specifically resort to killing trainers. These men are much more pragmatic than the others, and that's what's frightening. Think about it. If a gun killed said trainer- which it could easily do- would the Magmas and Aquas have failed? Team Plasma? Team Galactic? Team Flare? They target trainers because they don't want their plans getting ruined, they aren't interested in battles or worthy opponents. Also, they aren't uniformed for convenience, they had no special type of clothing. Many people wear black. It's hard to fight the enemy when you don't know who they are."
Steven's point was very solid. The other teams had many chances to kill the innocent young trainers, but they didn't. Because they didn't want to. The teams had gathered men and women under a philosophy. Suddenly, the reason why one child was able to do so much made a painful amount of sense. They fought young idealists that had never killed anyone in their lives, very much just newly recruited trainers. People like them.
Team Plasma was a perfect example. Their leader was a complete and total bastard but their grunts weren't as fanatical as him. Their initial philosophy was still being followed by a non violent Team Plasma group in Unova. At their best they were people who fought for ethical complaints inherent in the trainer environment. At their worst, they were...well, monsters. The higher up the totem pole, the more messed up things got.
"Do we have a name, at least?" Winona asked, worry evident in her features.
"Singularity," Norman said, drawing the attention of every person in the room. "That's what they're called."
"How do you know that?" Liza questioned. He wasn't in with them was he? Couldn't be, Norman was much too uptight for that.
"Because some time after the incident, men from that very organization broke into the Office of Contests and Events, killed three people and brutally assaulted Malcomn Van. They called themselves 'The Singularity'. The police told me about it after I recovered. The men they captured had colorful criminal pasts, including but not limited to poaching, murder, and assault. Some of their ledgers gushed enough red to paint entire walls with," he revealed, confirming the group's fears.
Winona swallowed. "If these men are as dangerous as you make them out to be, what can we do?"
Flannery's hopeless look made Wallace's next words hit even harder. "Nothing yet. We don't know what they want or where they operate. The best you can do is protect your areas. The officials have to take care of the rest. I'll order some men to be dispatched to protect the towns that don't have high populations, I don't care if I have to start punching council members to do it. I will get the security we need."
Winona wasn't convinced. "Wallace, the officials are being swamped with reports of wild pokemon attacks everywhere. Many rangers have been killed, we can't depend on them, especially not with the stronger pokemon. The most recent attack was in Fallarbor, a Skarmory. Apparently two trainers stopped it but not without it managing to murder three people." Steven winced at the mention of a Skarmory.
"I know, I've been quelling angry pokemon more than I've been battling challengers. We had to put down that Tyranitar near route 112 and several Ariados near Fortree. We're busy enough as it is with these random wild pokemon attacks and disasters." The regular appearances and sightings of the rare mountain Absols was very disconcerting. Seeing just one was enough to set a person on edge. Fortree had seen five of them in the last six months, all followed by vicious pokemon attacks, freak lightning storms, and floods. Coincidence? Highly unlikely.
There was also the trainer rampages. The officials killed two trainers who claimed to be 'true trainers' and started attacking people in Mossdeep a few months ago. Both were highly experienced trainers with eight badges; electric types were called in to subdue them immediately. They wasted no time in using lethal charge beams to take them out. It pained Wallace because he knew that such a hasty order wouldn't come without repercussions, and boy did the trainer support groups have a field day with that. They neglected to comment on why deadly force was authorized, not wanting the region to think that Sinnoh's problems had spread. Mass hysteria was preferable never.
Wallace's migraine seemed progressively worse now, he clapped two hands together after finally getting fed up. "Well, that concludes today's discussion. You know what time to meet up again tomorrow, we'll continue this then, I'm sure all of you have a whopping headache and just want to relax. I certainly do, now shoo." The gym leaders stood up to leave. Winona and Flannery left first, the former no doubt trying to talk to the redhead, who looked out of it the entire meeting. Brawly, Wattson and Sidney bickered about something while Tat and Liza walked alongside each other, speaking to Juan. The remaining three elite four members and Roxanne gave Wallace a nod and took their leave as well. The room emptied quickly until only Steven and Wallace remained seated.
"Frustrating, isn't it?" The champion muttered, placing a hand on Steven's shoulder.
Steel blue eyes met exhausted sea-green."You're not talking about me, are you?"
Wallace sighed wearily, looking down at the floor. "No, I'm not." These were troubled times indeed, but he couldn't quit now. "It's just so much to take in. I don't know how I'm supposed to handle it. I try to act cheery while my brain is tearing itself to pieces, Steven. I can't take much more of this, the government's inability to do anything at the moment without tripping over itself is making the region worse. I just hope we can get a break until some of this gets sorted out." He reclined on the chair, closing his eyes for a moment.
"This is the League's responsibility. I'll try my best to help you, I don't want more Magmas or Aquas running around in Hoenn again. No one does. We just have to see how this plays out. I don't expect a magical trainer to appear and save the day. I want to do something this time and prevent another disaster."
Wallace nodded ruefully. "Same here. You going to return tomorrow?"
Steven shook his head. "No. I need to go to a cave near Littleroot, there's something there that should prove to be very interesting. And I also need to examine a stone one of my err...contacts gave me."
The champion snorted, what did he expect? "You and your rocks. Sure, have fun with your weird hobby while I die slowly in here. Some hardcore I-got-your-back going on there."
"Sorry," Steven apologized, feeling a little guilty for bailing on his friend.
Wallace shook his head, smiling. "Don't worry about it. I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining here. You're not part of the League anyway, remember? You aren't forced to be here." He stood up, waved a hand and walked out the door. "Good luck cave exploring, Stevey! I'm going to go take a nice long nap!" Wallace's voice echoed in.
The door closed, leaving the stone collector alone. Steven stood up and summoned his metagross. The blue psychic materialized and anchored himself on the ground, giving his trainer a quizzical stare. "Meta, take me to Devon. I need to gather some things, then we head to Littleroot. We need to see that cave."
A pink flash and he was gone.