The interrogation room door flew open, and the three detectives all but rushed inside with a sense of urgency Riven had only seen on maniacs or someone in deep, deep shit. The female detective sat down and looked at him straight in the eyes, again.

Here we go.

"Who are you working for? Tell us. Now," she demanded, holding out a pokeball. "If you don't, I'm going to go through your mind and get the answer. Telepathic takeovers are illegal, but in this case, and with your threat level, the higher ups can excuse this one."

What threat level? They cleared him just fine in Petalburg, only to then deem him dangerous. Probably one huge misunderstanding. Not that they'd listen anyway. Riven glanced her over, probably guessing that her telepathic takeover trick would bounce right off. If Baron couldn't even use telepathy on him, he very much doubted her psychic could. Not only that, but she seemed very by the book; the most probable assumption was that she was bluffing, trying to scare him into compliance. Playing along wouldn't hurt, but in all honesty, he had no idea what she was talking about. He weighed upsides and downsides.

On one hand, if he agreed to spill what he didn't know, he could come up with another pile of steaming bullshit. Which one, could cover his tracks, and two, establish the fact that Riven Cerul wasn't, in fact, his real name. They seemed to think it wasn't already; it was only logical to have them keep thinking that, giving him ample opportunity to slip in another alias and potentially… disappear, as it were. Getting accustomed to all the record keeping of modern times was mentally vexing, but it was good he started learning now, considering he attracted shitstorms like honey attracted Beedrill.

Internally smirking, Riven swallowed, feigning worry. "I… don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play the fool, it stopped working already. You know far too much that you aren't telling us. Like the name of your employer. Who. Is. It?"

"I'm not telling you anything," Riven said, eyeing the pokeball with disdain. He purposely added a little discomfort in his voice, so as to make it much more credible. To bullshit was an art- an art that had to be very well done to be believable, especially with people like detectives, who practically waded into seas of it for a living. He wasn't the best liar, that was certain, but he could manage a halfway decent fib.

"Do you know what a telepathic takeover is, Gray?" Maller asked sweetly, like silk over steel.

Riven had a vague idea, from what Will described, but his takeover seemed very benign. Interrogation with one would probably be significantly less so. "No?"

"Let me give you an idea. Imagine losing control of your body- hands, feet, toes, arms. But worst of all, imagine losing control of your mind, rendered completely at the whim of a psychic. They probe your brain and all of your deepest, darkest secrets are unraveled before you, and there isn't a thing you can do about it," Maller described, inching closer with every second, until she was right in his face, radiating intensity. "You're at the mercy of your captor. Complete and absolute control. Imagine what they can do with just one, simple… command."

A shiver crawled up Riven's spine. Being unable to teleport and hold telepathic conversation with his own pokemon seemed like some sort of blessing now, even despite its overall tendency to suck rather than be beneficial. If that was what telepathic takeovers were like, then he hoped he could never experience it. At least he'd been fully asleep with the memory visualizer.

Still, he needed to keep the ruse up. Spin the bullshit it was. And spin it hard.

"Fine! Just don't get that psychic out of its ball. I'll cooperate damn it. It's…" the captive sighed, slouching in his seat. Now to pick a name. Maybe something ominous or… awesome? I think I like awesome better. As for what they do… maybe rare items would work? Steven does collect stones, he mused to himself, taking a moment of hesitation to appear uncomfortable.

"It's a group of rare item collectors. The Edge of Dawn. They just send me on jobs. Pay in cash. Do the job and get out, wait for further orders. That's how it's been ever since they picked me up in Orre."

"They picked you up from there?"

"Actually it was from the sun."

"Funny. Enough with the sarcasm. Keep talking."

Spreading his hands, he continued, "they smuggle me out, I don't ask any questions, and I do what I'm told. That was the deal they gave. Naturally, I said yes. Why wouldn't I? That place is nothing but desert and wasteland-not to mention it's crawling with assholes. I'd do anything to get out of that shithole."

"What kind of jobs did they make you do?" Maller asked, eyes narrowing.

"Mostly… physical?"

"Did that include murder?" She pounced.

"Don't ask me questions you already know the answers to. I get things. Meaningless things to me really- items, stones, whatever. If the person doesn't want to hand them over, I break a few legs- get what I want, disappear. But if people get in the way… I make sure they aren't."

"Is that right? Then it must have really went south in Petalburg didn't it? You got a lot of unwanted attention and they burned you. Getting sucker punched like that must have stung," she said, almost sneering.

Riven swallowed, clenching a fist. Part of it was genuine anger, considering he had to part with his team and the others just to end up in a cell answering a detective's inane questions.

"So if you got burned then why are you here?" Maller went over the details again. The explanation didn't make sense. If this organization had burned him, why did he come back? Unless of course they did have some sort of blackmail over him. She guessed that was the only reason. Or maybe he was an idiot.

Riven shrugged, grinding his teeth. "I don't have a damn clue. They found me, told me to come here and said if I didn't cooperate, I'd get stuck in jail. If I did, well, I still don't know, they did call you on me, didn't they? I'm as lost as you are."

The detective refocused her gaze on him. "I don't believe you."

"Fan-fucking-tastic. I told you everything I know, and if you think I'm lying, which I probably am according to you, then that's your damn problem. I'm done." Riven crossed his arms and shut his mouth. With luck, they'd take the bait and eat the lies.

Maller narrowed her eyes and grasped the pokeball again."Don't make me resort t-"

The detective was cut off as part of the precinct exploded, the deafening sound piercing the air and rocking the building. The blast tore open a gigantic hole in the wall, taking out several offices. The force of the explosion sent a cloud of dust and debris down the entire floor, as well as knocking several people and pokemon off their feet and into walls. Hard.

Police scrambled, desperately drawing pokeballs and summoning their partners while screaming out orders. It was utter chaos as another explosion shook the buildings very foundation, this time on the opposite side, showering the ground with glass and other pieces of the walls that had been blown clear.

The three detectives in front of Riven ordered him to stay where he was, leaving the interrogation room to join the others outside, chucking pokeballs into the cloud of smoke and dust.

Riven wondered what the hell was happening, no- actually, he had a general but nonetheless very good idea of what was happening, and from that moment on, he knew life was about to get ten times shittier. If this is what that caller meant by "resolved in a few hours", then he was batshit crazy. Setting off explosives in a police building? And on the twelfth floor?

There was one word for that-insane.

That meant that everyone on all the other floors were most likely going to bum rush the floor, and going up against that many police with no way of escape meant very bad news for whatever nutcase decided blowing a hole in a police precinct was a good idea.

Still handcuffed, he stepped outside into the smoke cloud when a gale of overpowering whirlwinds blasted through the hallways, leaving a storm of papers and dust in their wake. Riven caught a glimpse of numerous detectives, officers, and pokemon being flung back into numerous walls and other flat surfaces, the force of the winds too strong for them to even stay on their feet. The dust and smoke from several burning objects obscured visibility and even made breathing difficult.

"HELLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!" A voice boomed down the hall. Riven poked his head around the corner, catching sight of a man standing in front of the gigantic hole in the wall, face obscured from view by the dim lighting and dust cloud. Something flapped behind him, like a… cape? "Lovely day for explosions. Nothing quite like it, eh?"

"Who the hell are you?" asked a recovering officer, stumbling to his feet. The Growlithe at his side bared its fangs, wisps of fire dancing around its mouth.

"Me? I'm, uh… Smith. Now if you'll excuse me officers, I believe it's sleepy time," the caped man said.

The Growlithe shot a stream of fire at him, only for the flame to be blown away by another whirlwind, knocking the staggering humans and pokemon back once more. The nutjob smirked as a Gengar emerged from his shadow, sporting a wicked grin.

Raising a finger, he gestured to all of them,"Now, that was a very good attempt, but a poorly thought out one. Sleepy-sleepy," he ordered, shooing motions with his hands.

The Gengar's eyes turned pink for a brief second, and a strange hum like sound was heard throughout the floor. Shouting, sparks, and gathering flames all but stopped as every person and pokemon thumped onto the floor, dead asleep. Everyone except for Riven of course, who stood there in the middle, dumbfounded.

Turning his attention to the caped lunatic, he stood in place, waiting. Not much else he could do anyway, his hands were cuffed and he had no pokemon of his own. This guy had a ghost and what looked like a yellow dragon behind him.

Riven groaned, his track record with dragons being- for lack of a better term- abysmal.

"And here I thought you were going to make this easy and go sleepy like them," the man said, walking forward a few steps with a drunken gait, but not unwarily. "Then again, should have expected it. Regardless, you're going to be comin' with me, boy."

"And if I say no?" Riven challenged, all but an empty threat. He flexed his feet, ready to use just kicks if he had to.

"Well then that's too bad isn't it," the man said ruefully, and pointed at the ground with a giant grin on his face. "Shadows mate."

Riven's eyes widened, and looked down at his shadow. It was far too large to be his own, shifting and changing in volume, almost as if something was emerging from it. Something big.

As he turned around the last thing he could remember was a glowing white fist connecting with his face.

Steven sat idly in his chair, glancing out at the sea of clouds below the airliner he was riding in. The setting sun's light reflected off their surfaces, giving them a warm orange glow.

The view was the one thing he missed out on while teleporting everywhere. Flying high above in the sky was breathtaking, and the feeling of freedom was unparalleled. He would do it of course, but too many a time he had lost precious stones or items because his Skarmory was too much of an enthusiastic flyer, and had a tendency to do fancy pirouettes and other unnecessary aerial maneuvers. His wings being razor sharp meant bad news if he ever fell too. For that reason alone he figured it was better to just rely on Meta to teleport. Although, he'd been pushing the psychic too much lately, so he wanted to give him a chance to rest.

Nearly closing his eyes to take a quick nap, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Reaching in, Steven sincerely hoped it wasn't Wallace again. That man grated on the nerves when he was stressed out, and Steven had enough on his mind to worry about at the moment, Wallace problems weren't needed too.

Gale being the caller genuinely surprised him.

"Hello?" he answered, a little curiosity evident in his voice.

"Hey, erm, Steven," Gale replied nervously. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course, what's on your mind?" A large intake of breath could be heard over the phone. She sounds distraught. "Gale? Are you okay? Did something happen?"

"Y-yeah. It did," she said solemnly. "Are you somewhere private?"

"I'm on a plane right now," Steven answered, looking around the area. "I can go to the bathroom if you'd like, nobody can hear me there." He stood up and opened the door to the restroom, switching on the occupied sign. "Okay, I'm here."

"Okay… Well… how should I say it? Riven ummm…"

"Riven what?"

"Riven got arrested," she said.

"What do you mean he got arrested? What did he do? Did he kill someone? Did he assault an official? Did he steal something? All three?"

"No! He did- well, nothing! But uh… he told us not to tell anyone else but, you know he's Gray right? The one everyone's looking for?"

"He never specifically mentioned it to me, but I had a feeling."

"Really?"

"Yes. It wasn't hard to put two and two together, considering what I know about him and his history unfortunate violence. Wattson, Roxanne, and Brawly know too. They just haven't said anything to anyone else about it. The other gym leaders don't know yet though. We tried keeping it secretive but…"

"Someone found out," Gale finished. "And they called Riven on his holocaster and told him they were going to report him to the police. They also told him to say goodbye to us. They weren't lying since the city practically shut down in five minutes after that. The police robots went nuts!"

That's bizarre, Steven noted. "Did they mention why they wanted him to say goodbye, by any chance?"

"No, Riven never said. He just shoved all his things and his pokemon into my hands and said goodbye. He even let me hug him- he never does that. Right now I don't even know if I can handle telling his pokemon about it… Lucia and Will are tearing their heads up in knots and-"

"Gale, breathe," Steven advised. "If Riven hadn't given his pokemon to you, the police would have separated his team. That would have destroyed them- I've seen it happen. It's not pleasant, for either trainer or pokemon. I'm sure you can handle them just fine. Riven wouldn't place them in the care of someone he didn't trust. He doesn't do that with just anyone."

"H-he… he said he would come back for them."

"I'm sure he will," Steven said. "If he's anything, it's determined."

"Why? If the police have him, they'll never let him go off on his own again. His pokemon may never see his face again. What do I tell them when that happens? I just don't know…"

"I'm sure he won't be in custody for a very long time."

"What makes you say that?"

Whoever's looking for him must have watched the battle at the tower, it's broadcasted everywhere throughout LaRousse, it'd be impossible to miss it."The caller was clearly interested in him, right? If they called the police on him, there must be a reason, and I doubt it was to collect a bounty. If they called him Gray, then it must have something to do with the Petalburg incident, and whatever it was May had that's so important."

But Steven had to consider other possibilities.

"Maybe it might just be the blue sphere he gave me, if they can trace Riven to Lavaridge and the desert too. And because they told him to say goodbye to you three, that must mean they don't want you getting involved either, which is a good thing. It means they aren't after you three, and Riven would rather them go after him than any of you, trust me when I say that."

"I guess…" she said sadly, worry coloring her voice.

"Gale."

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." He's been through worse. Much worse.

"I hope so, for his pokemons' sake…"

"Stay calm, get some rest, and you'll be fine. Where are you three now?"

"We're flying over the ocean right now, near Lilycove I think."

"Good. My flight should arrive in the airport shortly. I'll meet you three there and we can discuss things further on the ground and in private. There's been something I wanted to tell you three about Riven that I think you need to know. Especially Will."

"Oh… okay then. We'll see you there. Bye."

"Bye."

Ending the call, Steven let out a breath, feeling another weight come down on his shoulders. He wasn't sure in the slightest if Riven was going to get out or not, but Gale sounded extremely worried, he had to say something. The girl cared for the brash young man, as paranoid, hostile, and sarcastic as he was.

Trainer friendships were hard to break, and many of them often remained strong well into adulthood. Some trainers even got romantically involved and started families. Steven really didn't know whether it was just genuine concern over her friend or if it was because Gale saw Riven another way. The two did seem close, but the fact of the matter was that he was not in a good situation at the moment. Not even Wallace could break him out of this one. Far too risky. If the champion did use his power to release a wanted fugitive, he'd incur the wrath of the council and the entire region would turn against him. The results would be disastrous, for the league and for the region.

Checking the local LaRoussian news on his phone, he saw the headline: Police Precinct Attacked By Terrorist, Wanted Fugitive Escaped! Steven cursed under his breath. Riven… how do you even get into these kinds of messes?

Then his phone vibrated again. Wallace.

Steven sighed.

A loud groan filled the dark room Riven had awoken in. The room was scarcely decorated, the only thing present being the small mattress he was laying on, as well as a toilet, but other than that it was as barren as the desert. He picked himself up, bringing his hands up to grab his face, tracing the bruised portion of his right cheek. While his fingers examined the damage to the skin, a clink of metal was heard, and the cold sensation of steel registered in his brain.

He was still handcuffed. Wonderful. Extending his arms out, Riven struggled futilely with his restraints, waving his hands about like a madman while letting out the longest string of profanity he'd ever released up until that point. Sighing, he stopped fiddling with them and looked around the room. No lights, but that hardly fazed him, he could see just fine.

Hmmm. Looks like a glorified cell. Toilet but no paper? So they're sadistic too? What the hell did I get myself into?

Just as his thoughts ended, the door opened and light filtered in from outside. Two men with reddish-brown hair and identical faces stepped inside, but by that time, Riven's feet were already careening through the air. His flying kick collided against one man's face, sending him sprawling to the floor. Riven jumped back to his feet, letting loose a multitude of kicks at the second man. The bad thing was he didn't have the element of surprise this time.

The man dodged and blocked the blows, demonstrating that he was far more experienced in martial arts than anyone Riven had encountered previously. Riven's leg shot forward again, aiming for the knee, but his captor was already prepared, catching the foot and looping an arm around it. He placed another hand on Riven's quadricep, and swung him directly into a wall using his leg as a handle. The young man hit the wall hard enough to force air out of his lungs and create a small crack along its surface.

Riven tried getting up to attack again, trying for another kick, only to be interrupted by the flash of light from a pokeball. A Lucario materialized a moment later, wasting no time in effortlessly ducking under the attack and sending an extremely painful jab into the human's diaphragm. Riven staggered for a moment, but the Lucario closed in again, palms glowing blue with energy. The fighter brought both palms inward, blasting the human back with a powerful blast of ki.

The force of the attack sent Riven through the cracked wall, shattering it and several of Riven's ribs like powder. He rolled along the ground, coughing up blood while gasping and wheezing for breath that couldn't seem to reach his lungs fast enough. He was hauled up to his feet by the two men, an immense stab of pain piercing his torso from the injury. The pain receded as the Lucario's palm lit up a bright pink, sending healing waves through Riven's body, repairing the damage he had sustained, his breathing growing more level with each passing moment. The man on his right shook him, bringing the captive out of his shock.

"Shit, just had to try and fight didn't you? Now a part of the wall is missing and Helio nearly killed you. I didn't think that would cause as much damage as it did. Ki attacks really mess you up, don't they? Word of advice, don't do that again," he warned. "Or I might just let Helio beat you up again and not heal the damage." He glanced at the guy on Riven's left. "Took you long enough to recover from that. Didn't hurt that much, did it?"

"Hey, you're not the one that got a flying kick to the face. I'm going to need a damn icepack after this," he complained. "Kid's handy with his feet, I'll give him that. Gah."

"You can go see Isole for that later. Come on."

The men took him down a long corridor in what looked like some kind of housing facility. The doors to the rooms were made of reinforced steel, with nothing but numbers painted at the top for identification. Actually, the place felt like more of a prison- a high tech prison, or some place used for detaining things that a normal jail cell couldn't.

"Where are you taking me?" Riven asked, not even bothering to put up resistance. That Lucario's attacks were no joke, those aura spheres practically destroyed his ribs with the difficulty of a knife cutting through butter. Had the fighter not healed him, he'd probably be dying from internal massive internal bleeding by now.

The two men responded by shoving Riven forward into a sparsely lit room. The sound of the thud echoing across the room meant that it definitely was no bedroom- more like a grand hall. Riven was lifted onto his knees, where the others' hands kept him firmly in place. He struggled slightly, but one look at the Lucario forced him to calm down.

Behind a table sat a hooded figure, calmly staring down at him. Riven felt his eye begin to sting, his nerves growing restless. He closed it, ignoring the sensation.

"Hello, Riven," the figure said warmly. It spoke with a woman's voice, the tone not deep enough to belong to a man.

Riven remained silent, glaring hostilely right back. Woman or not, he was in unknown territory, with people that had unknown intentions, he needed to expect anything and everything.

"I said hello," the woman repeated, sounding somewhat offended.

"And I chose not to answer," Riven bit out.

The hooded woman chuckled. "Rude and distrusting. Not very appealing qualities for a young man to have. They're not terribly popular with women, you know. "

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing really, just some friendly banter to ease the tension. I can feel your glare from here. You're quite frightening, but I wouldn't expect anything less from the infamous Gray. Or so they play you up to be."

"Infamous huh." What, were they going to start telling the children horror stories about him now?

"That's right. Made quite the impression too with that violent display of yours- not just among the officials, but other unruly groups as well. However, while not a very good one, it was considerable regardless. The police think you're unhinged and thus aren't trusted to remain at large, especially given no background. But that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about. That issue is none of my business. In fact, i think you're being wrongly persecuted."

"Then what am I here for? Or did you want to ask me how pretty the flowers grow in Littleroot?" Riven said flatly.

"You and I both know you're from nowhere near Littleroot. Cutting to the chase, I want to know something about a certain object of interest."

Riven rolled his eyes. "I told your asshole caller already, I don't have anything worth mentioning. Much less valuable. And can you tell him he's an asshole?"

"He knows that," she smiled. "As for having nothing of interest, I believe you. But what you do have is knowledge of it. I have very reliable sources that can confirm that."

A short hmph came from the kneeling captive. "Someone tried interrogating me about something like this before, I'll have you know." Riven grinned viciously, flashing teeth. "Let's just say it didn't end in their favor."

"They didn't have you captive though," the woman replied knowingly. Riven could almost hear the smirk behind the words, which only served to aggravate him further. "Gray, what did you find in Dewford?"

Dewford? How could they…?

It was possible they had been tracking him since then. But if they had, he would have noticed by now, especially in places like Lavaridge or the plains. And going by that logic, they'd have known that he was in contact with Steven, which would have rendered his own questioning completely unnecessary. Unless, of course, they weren't strong enough to take him on- he was a former champion after all, holding power few in the entire region could match. Fighting someone like that outside of a controlled situation was ill-advised and probably suicidal.

So that left him with the fact that he was here, of all places. Being actively questioned about his finding in Dewford meant that they must have acquired that information from some other place, and most likely didn't even know what it was they were truly looking for, or that he was even remotely affiliated with the former champion.

"Dewford? What does that have anything to do with me?"

"Everything?" The woman clicked her tongue, then starting tapping her fingers on the table, "we're not the police, Gray. They have jurisdictions, and rules. We don't."

"And who is we?" he shot back, not missing a beat.

Her finger tapping stopped."Tell you what, how about a question for a question? You want information, so do we. Then maybe you'll stop being a difficult little ass and we both win."

"I go first then."

"Very well. Ask whatever you like. I may answer it sincerely, I may not."

"Who are you?" Riven asked, gesturing not only to her, but the two others behind him. "You're not officials, or police. So what and who are you?"

"We're just… mercenaries- trying to find something that's been lost," she responded calmly. "Now you'll answer my question. What did you find in Dewford?"

Riven ignored the question, completely engrossed with just three words, sensing a link. Mercenaries. LaRousse. Dewford. He tried connecting the three, seeing how each could possibly involve one another. Nothing came at first, appearing to be totally unrelated at first glance, but then it hit him.

Benjamin Thern.

He almost laughed at the irony. Of course, it only made sense. Benjamin had been the one there at Dewford, waiting outside of the cave. He'd been the one that had insisted on staying in Slateport, despite mentioning being an extensive traveler. Benjamin had advised him about going to LaRousse and looking for mercenaries, even though a backpacker would otherwise have had no knowledge of the subject. But most importantly, he had Riven's phone number.

They didn't even need to dig. They had it along. They were just waiting for the perfect moment.

God damn it.

"Gray… Here I thought we had a deal-"

"Benjamin Thern," Riven ground out, cutting the woman off mid sentence. "He's the one who told you didn't he? You sent him there, to Dewford, to find whatever it is you were looking for. Except he couldn't, could he? He would've recognized anyone who entered the cave, except he didn't see me ever go inside, only come outside- so he figured the only one who could have taken it was me. Then that call some time ago? Asking me if I'd found anything? Pointing me to mercenaries in LaRousse? There's no way in hell mercenaries would set up in a place like that. No- too noticeable. It was a trap. And LaRousse was the perfect place to spring it. You ruthless, cunning pieces of tauros shit. I'd applaud you if I could, but then I'd rather stab you in the spine."

The hooded woman drew in a breath and began to laugh. "Oh my! You really do catch on quick, Benjamin said you were sharp-witted, he never told me you had such great deductive capabilities. Or was it your rampant distrust of others? I told him that it was a risky move to prod you so forwardly to LaRousse, but things were dragging along very slowly. Besides, you didn't go there because of his advice, did you?"

"It's a beautiful city," Riven diverted.

"Indeed it is. But you didn't answer the question."

"Yes, I did. Like you said, I may answer sincerely, I may not."

"Listen, Riven," she said icily, losing patience, "you're a man with goals. You do things to fulfill those goals, it can be said that's the only reason you do things. And from what Benjamin told me of you, passing whims aren't one of your defining features. I've met so many others like you. Now, what would a goal driven person like you be doing sight-seeing in LaRousse?"

"And what do mercenaries want with some artifact in a dusty old cave so much that you had to set up an elaborate trap months into the making just to get a chance to question me? Either they must be paying you tons of money, or someone has one hell of hobby," Riven chuckled to himself, bemused. "I can do this all day."

"Cerul. Is that a name you picked randomly?" She began, shifting the conversation in a completely different direction.

"What does that have anything to-"

"Your last name. Where did you get it?"

My last name? What does she want with my last name. Unless she… no, she can't be… like me? "Who. Are. You?" He asked, gaze intensifying.

She smiled beneath the hood. "Someone you've probably heard of. Aero, Aere, hold him down. I'm getting tired of playing with your wit, Cerul. Certainly this might give you reason to act a little seriously." Their grip tightened on Riven, and the Lucario began charging an aura sphere. Bringing her hands up to her hood, she pulled it off, letting loose a wave of hair that burned like crimson flames. Her eyes were a bright orange, the color of the sky at sunset, burning just as intensely as her hair. She looked like a young woman, despite the fiery presence she radiated, both deadly but warm at the same time, just like the sun. "My name is Nera. Nera Rose, eighth daughter of Reklan and Theia Rose."

Steel chains all but snapped.

"Sir," a man in white came in, bowing his head slightly.

"Yun, how goes the interrogation of the Claydol?" the director responded, idly looking into a monitor.

"It's not breaking sir. We've tried everything. The normal way of interrogation doesn't work," he stated, gulping. A drop of cold sweat ran down his cheek. He'd seen the director shower a man with acid before, and ever since then, he'd been mortified of crossing him. Death by sulfuric acid wasn't a glorious way to go.

"Oh? Why is that?"

The man laughed nervously. "Well- it's hard to injure something made of rock… sir." He winced, waiting for an explosion of anger, but it didn't come.

"Hmph, I see your point." He waved a calming hand. "Yun, why so nervous? Don't worry, I won't pour a tank of acid over my men for something like that. That would be wasteful. The only reason that fool received that punishment was because he was wasteful, and not just with resources, but with the lives of men that could have been used elsewhere. I hate wastefulness."

Yun let out a breath of relief.

"Now then, do you have any other ideas for making the Claydol talk? We need to find the secrets of that machine quickly. There are things to be done. It's been delaying us significantly, and capturing that creature took no small amount of work."

"Ummm, we thought about bringing in another psychic and using a takeover- they usually work on humans so we thought that maybe…" Yun trailed off.

"You are aware you would need to find a psychic more powerful than the Claydol, yes? Who knows how old that Claydol is, such a thing could possibly require a psychic of a caliber equivalent to a champion level Alakazam, or even Mewtwo. Catching either one would likely require a tremendous effort, one we are simply unable to spare at the current moment. That Claydol is all we have," the director reminded, tracing a finger along the page he was reading.

Yun scratched his head, feeling a little stupid. "Ah, sorry." Glanced at the director, who looked far friendlier than he appeared. "I-I… don't know, sir. We've tried everything, but it's still defiant. We're at our wits end here."

"Hmmmm, bring in a ghost," the director said simply.

"Sorry, what? A ghost?" Ghosts usually frightened people, not make them talk. Past history showed that using ghosts as interrogation tools often fared extremely poorly, and most captives usually went insane from repeated interaction with one. You wanted intimidation, promise of grievous bodily harm, not unmitigated terror.

"Yes, a ghost. One with access to dream eater, preferably."

"But… why?"

"Psychics are strong beings. To attack with your mind requires control, precision, and most importantly, a strong will. They cannot be broken like lesser creatures and men. Their bodies can be tortured and abused, but their minds will fight and resist. So then, Yun, how do you make something like that talk? Think."

"You weaken their minds?"

The director smiled slightly. "Precisely. Dreams are often said to reveal some of the deepest secrets of our minds, would it not be the same for a psychic, whose minds are far more advanced than ours? A journey to the center of the mind to retrieve an idea, no- information, from a psychic's mind? A ghost can do it, for you see, psychics are terrified of them and of the darkness. Their subconscious walls and defenses will erode away from a ghostly touch. It is the only thing that scares them, because they cannot comprehend them. It's hard to be defiant when you're petrified in fear, even more so when you are at your most vulnerable."

"Yes. That's it! Thank you, sir! We're going to uncover that machine's secrets, one way or another!" Yun exclaimed, heading off excitedly back to the lab.

The director turned back to the monitor, smile settling into a grimace. What are you hiding, ancient ones? What are the purpose of the Claydol? I will uncover your secrets, and then, so will the world.

The handcuff's chains clanged off the floor, and Riven brought his elbows up, driving them into the twins' midsections. They doubled over, releasing him. He launched himself up, hand already reaching for Nera's neck. The Lucario- Helio- shot a small, concentrated lance of ki at his leg, easily passing through flesh and bone. Riven toppled over, where the Lucario held him down with a glowing palm. Face flat against the cold surface of the table, he glared up at Nera, expression cold and hateful.

Helio grabbed Riven by the collar and flung him back. After the blood settled in his veins for a brief moment, the pain from the wound in his leg began to register. It was extremely painful, the ki attack had hurt more than an arrow ever could. Blood flowed out of the injury, creating a small pool of crimson fluid beneath his leg. He winced as he moved his pant leg up to inspect it, having already stained most of his pants a deep red below the knee.

"I thought you would try to kill me as soon as you saw me." Brought her hands down, telling everyone to calm down. Riven flicked his eyes towards the back of the room. "You saw the others hiding in the dark the moment you walked in, right? I should have remembered you have amazing eyesight in the dark," Nera mentioned, motioning for the twins to hold Riven down again as he struggled. The four others hiding in the darker corners of the hall relaxed, pocketing pokeballs and weapons. "Riven, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this. I'm not your enemy. I don't want to hurt people like you, people like us."

"The hell you aren't. I'm not telling you shit," he snapped, baring teeth. "And us? What do you mean, us? Don't lump me together with monsters like you."

Nera walked out from behind the desk, stopping in front of Riven. After his outburst, he breathed out, outwardly calm, the only thing betraying that image were eyes that simmered with hatred and pain he'd presumably been holding for years. With everything she knew of his people and their horrific destruction, she couldn't bring herself to refute what he was feeling.

"I didn't kill your family, Riven," she said sadly, reaching out to touch his face.

He whipped his head back, snarling like a cornered Mightyena. "But your father did."

"Yes. My father- he… was a sick man. War twisted his heart and corrupted his mind. Not everyone agreed to what he did. Some were even appalled. The other clans abhorred us, called us monstrous, just like you said we are."And maybe we were. "But I wasn't there Riven. You can't blame me for my father's mistakes! I may be a Rose, but I'm not your enemy. Please believe me."

He glanced away. Here was his enemy, a Rose, and one of that bastard's daughters. For all intents and purposes, Riven would have loved nothing more than to choke her and watch her die, just like he'd seen so many of his own. But at the same time, he had to look past his own hatred and see the facts, the logical side of his brain overpowering his emotions. It was a vortex of focused effort, and it took every ounce of mental strength he had to prevent himself from lashing out.

"Nera… eighth daughter," he muttered, then looked back at her, wincing as the twins' grip on him tightened. His body was shaking, and something inside kept nagging at him, pushing violent thoughts into his mind.

"That's right," she said, forming a weak smile. "I was the youngest, and when I was old enough to understand what happened…I couldn't even look at my father in the eyes anymore."

"Old enough?"

She chuckled, looking down at the floor. "When I came here- to this world just like you, I was only sixteen. It's been eighteen years since then."

Surprise came over the young Cerul's face. "Eighteen? That would have made you…"

"Six when my father committed genocide against your kind."

Riven clenched his jaw, hatred slowly draining away as he realized that she could have only been a little girl at the time. As much as he hated her people, he had to accept the fact that she was just a child that had been cursed to live as the daughter of a tyrannical and genocidal monster. "If I'm not your enemy…then why?"

"Why what?"

"Why go through all this trouble? Why trap me? Why the cocky hooded captor play?"

She hesitated, grimacing. "I-I didn't know how you'd react. Or if you'd see reason. When I saw you at the battle tower, I couldn't believe it. You looked so calm… There was no way to tell if you had any sort of resentment towards me and my clan, but I should have guessed. Still. I couldn't believe that there was another one of us out there, and someone like you as well. You're even rarer than a shiny pokemon. I thought…"

"All the Ceruls were dead?" Riven guessed, in what came out as a half-snarl. "Everyone thought the same thing. Surprise, surprise."

"Not just them, but everyone else. Your entire civilization was gone. To think even just one of you made it here was… unbelievable. But those eyes of yours, they're cold. Staring at them right now, I can see your pain."

There was no life in them. So young and already his eyes spoke volumes of what he'd lost, what he'd experienced. It was like looking at an empty husk, one that refused to die, refused to give up, despite losing everything. In a way, such determination was fascinating, but on the other hand, it was the saddest thing she'd ever seen.

"You fought with the Remnant army, didn't you?"

Riven paused, thinking it over. Gave a brisk nod. "Frontlines until I was sixteen. Then I switched to scouting after Nimva plains. I assume you heard about it in your city, considering the losses your army sustained."

Nera closed her eyes in acknowledgement. "You drove our forces back, and killed one of our commanders, as well as the Liran mercenaries my father hired. The men came back with horror stories of the fury and sheer skill of the Remnants. But many of them talked about the young soldier that killed Commander Saroq." She smiled, eyes dancing. "The one with two differently colored eyes, whose unit cut through men like a whirlwind, and the woman he fell alongside with, but not before shooting Saroq dead with an arrow. That was you, wasn't it? I never could forget that story. Always left me breathless."

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't," Riven shrugged, " I don't remember. Wars are only glorious to those who've never fought in them. We lost half our people that day. There was nothing amazing about it. Good people died- people I cared about, people I'd risk my life ten times over for."

He fell silent.

"Aero, Aere let him go," Nera ordered calmly.

"What? He'll kill you!" They protested.

"Helio wouldn't let that happen, right?" She said, putting a hand on the Lucario's head. The fighter kept his stance stoically, but he briefly felt his face flush. "He will break your legs if you try anything, Riven. Oh, that reminds me. Helio, can you heal his leg? His face is looking a little pale and there's a blood puddle on the floor now."

The Aura pokemon did as he was told, healing back the hole in Riven's leg, propping him up onto his feet again before pushing him forward. Riven sat down across from Nera, stone-faced but glad his leg wasn't causing him grief anymore. The air was tense for a moment, but Riven didn't feel angry anymore, just tired. "What do you want with me?" He asked, gripping the bridge of his nose with two fingers, feeling conflicted.

"I just want to know what you found in Dewford."

"Don't lie to me Rose, you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble if you just wanted to know that."

"Nothing slips past you it seems." She drew in a breath. "Riven… this world- it's… different. People like us, we need to stick together. We come from a different place- a horrible place. We-"

"Don't quite fit?" He replied tersely. I'm still wondering when that feeling will go away.

"Yeah. And no one would believe us if we told the truth, I'm sure you realized that by now. That's why… that's why I've been working all this time to find others like us. We may have come from different places in the past, but that's all gone now. We can start new."

"Some of us can," Riven said quietly. "If you and the wonder twins there are like me, then you must have come here the same way I did."

"A roar that seemed to split the earth in two?" He nodded. "Sudden unconsciousness?" Another nod. "Then yes, it seems universal. We're not the first either. And I don't mean the people I've collected so far."

Riven raised a brow. "You mean there were more? In the past?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. Some of us came a long time ago, and others just recently. There'll be more in the future, I'm sure."

Riven just eyed her, keeping quiet.

"How long have you been here, anyway?" she asked eagerly, orange eyes alight with curiosity. The twins behind her both groaned, muttering something unintelligible amongst themselves. She always did this with the others- questioned them down to the very bone, but she never looked this intrigued.

"About two years?" Riven answered, backing away from a suddenly delighted redhead. She looked like those rookie trainers that had just gotten their first pokemon, anxious and eager to see the world.

Wincing, she let out a small "oh". The twins behind her nodded vigorously, sporting identical grins."Nevermind, trying to explain it to you would require me to sacrifice some of my brain cells. Let's just call it wizardry at this point," she deadpanned. "It'd make more sense. Riven, did you ever wonder why you healed so quickly, after the Dragon Festival? Those wounds would have killed a regular person easily."

"How do you know about that?"

"The guy who brought you here is the one who used shadow sneak to get you to safety. He works for me, so naturally, I'd know."

"You mean that nutcase who blew up the precinct?" Yeah, Riven remembered him pretty well, even before that focus punch called it lights out. Hard not to remember half the building being blown to bits and being caught right in the middle.

Nera sat in place for a few moments, the gears of realization turning in her brain. Suddenly, she turned her neck around so fast that Riven swore that if she did it any harder it'd snap. "He did WHAT?" She roared at the twins.

Paling, they raised their hands in defense. "W-we didn't know! Swear!"

"Did he tell you to get explosives?"

"Uh…."

"DID. HE. TELL. YOU. TO. GET. EXPLOSIVES?"

"Maybe couple blocks of it…?" they answered sheepishly, praying she would be merciful.

"My god. Get Styx in here!" Nera huffed, furious. She looked down at Riven strangely, who simply sat in place with a nonplussed look on his face. "You're so calm about this. You're not even bothered by it in the slightest? Isn't it weird? I mean, you did get captured, assaulted, and now you're listening to me lecture my idiots. Not only that but the whole 'other time displaced' people thing only got dull surprise from you. Usually, other people go catatonic for a while."

"I've seen some shit," he snorted. "After seeing a dragon pop out of a ball the size of your fist, a Castform with a voice strong enough to cause auditory suicide, and a ten year old brat with a Tyranitar named Terry, you tend to stop asking why and just accept the weird shit as it comes along. Less stressful that way."

"Agreed."

A few minutes later, the same lunatic from before was shoved in, ass first. He stood up and dusted himself off, about to give a pretend bow.

"STYX!" Nera shouted. He jumped, giving a little hop."WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID YOU BLOW UP PART OF THE PRECINCT? WE TRY TO AVOID COLLATERAL DAMAGE! NOT CAUSE IT, YOU IDIOT!"

He raised a finger, then put it down. "I, um, well- I actually meant to blow up the front door and get my effects like a proper gentleman but then I figured it wouldn't be as fun." He spotted Riven and went over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Ah, you there. Sorry about the face, had to make sure you weren't going to do something incredibly… stupid."

"Maybe you're the one that needs to apply himself that logic," Riven said flatly, brushing the man's hand off. He smelled like alcohol too, and the way he walked was just utterly ridiculous. It looked like a drunkard and a clown had combined into a single being. Probably not the most healthy of combinations…

"Welcome to the club. By the way, I saved your sorry ass back at the festival. You should thank your friends Mr. Blues and Blondie for that."

Seab? Amy?

"Oh, and Nera, I am so sorry about the police building, it was so pretty. But I like to make dynamic entrances. They're incredibly fun."

"No more dynamic entrances, Styx. And no more explosives! Remember what happened in Viridian City?" Nera pointed out, slightly irritated. He grinned stupidly at that, in a way that reminded Riven all too much of a certain Quilava with a thirst for explosions and arson. Oh shit, it was Quil in human form. If that wasn't a sign of impending disaster, Riven didn't know what was.

"Shenanigans aside, Riven- I really need you to tell me what you found in that cave."

"I'm afraid I can't do that just yet," he refused bluntly.

"Why not?"

"You did call the police on me."

"He has a point there," Styx interjected, only to be silenced by a disapproving look from his boss. "Sorry."

"We needed to make sure you wouldn't go anywhere, and… wouldn't be in a position to argue with our demands if you refused."

"And that makes me trust you more how?" Riven chuckled. "Just because you came here from the same world I did doesn't mean I have to trust you. For all I know, you're planning to get rid of me after I tell you what you want to know."

"That'd be in poor taste, mate. She doesn't want you to kill you."

"And why wouldn't she do that?" Riven asked, confused. Not kill him? That didn't make any sense, it's what he'd do if he was in her position. It only made sense.

"Because she wants to recruit you, get it?" Styx said, amusingly looking at his nails.

"Wait , W-what?" Riven sputtered, looking like he'd been slapped.

"I could use someone with your combat skills," Nera stated. "Well, I don't think you have a choice anyway." She raised a hand as Riven was about to interject. "Let me explain. In order for our plan to work and get you on our side- with or without your approval-, we kind of had to… delete your trainer record in the League databases. We also wiped your hospital records in Lavaridge. And you've only been here two years, I doubt you have any friends in high places or any kind of relevant connections. Going back out there would only get you caught again. With no pokemon, you can't defend yourself either. It's either us, or jail. Take your pick. The former involves money and eventually, your freedom. Who knows? You might even like it!" She beamed at him, the true face of evil.

Riven blinked, then silently adjusted his head six inches above the table. What followed could best be described as a montage of self-abuse.

Styx looked at him, then back at Nera, before whispering, "I think you broke him. Might be worse than Gealen when you first showed him what a pokeball did. Poor bastard's mind nearly broke in two. Still don't think he's recovered from that actually."

"Shut up Styx."

The young man stood up, face red from the repeated face to table abuse. "Now I do want to murder you," he hissed. "Not only did you fuck me over once, but you fucked me over AGAIN? PERMANENTLY? And you dare ask me to trust you? You evil, manipulating bi-"

Helio hit him on the back of the head, dropping the outraged human like a brick before his anger got the best of him. The Lucario snorted and left the hall.

Nera sighed once again. "Aero, Aere, take him to his room please," she ordered, massaging away an inbound migraine. "And introduce him to the others will you? When he wakes up at least. Make sure he doesn't piss anyone off, ok?" The twins nodded and hauled Riven off.

Exhausted, Nera rested her head on her palm, closing her eyes for a few seconds. Styx nudged her, oddly serious.

"Why didn't you tell him?" He asked.

"Tell him what?" She replied, eyes still closed.

"About what you people are? His damn hair's already turning fuckin' white, Nera, it's only a matter of time before his mind goes to pot. What'll you do then? That kid erupts and a lot of our own are going to get hurt. Those damn Ceruls are no joke to put down, you've read the scripts."

"We'll deal with that when it comes. If he has to be taken care of, I'll do it myself. But for now, as long as he keeps me in the dark about what we want, I'm not going to tell him anything. He doesn't realize what's happening to him yet. After the reaction he had when he saw me, I wouldn't be surprised if it pushes harder at him. I just hope it's not too late for him to recover."

"If he can," Styx said ominously.

"Yeah… If."

Sorry for the long wait time, had stuff to do.

To all the people asking why he doesn't just tell them about Steven, consider how bad of an idea that would be. Steven is an extremely influential person, both in the business world, and in the trainer world. Not only that, but he's the only reason Riven hasn't ended up in jail because of his friendship with Wallace. Add that onto the fact that Riven can count his connections on two hands, and narrow his friends down to one?

Yeah, no.

Burning the only bridge he has would be the stupidest thing he could do, and if anything, he wants to avoid bringing up Steven. As long as his captors don't know the whereabouts of the sphere, Riven has some degree of leverage over them, which practically saves him from being entirely screwed and turned into a lapdog, or end up in a bodybag and thrown into the sea.

Also, I'm just going back to specify this. Yes, it may not seem like what he did in Petalburg warrants a region wide wanted order, and that he was let go for it already so he's completely unexcused. However, given how public the event was and what actually happened there, it'd leave more than a few people worried, especially given the setting this is taken in. If you read the story this one is loosely based on, you'd understand why an unhinged trainer with a possible criminal past would raise red flags. A metric fuckton of them.

There's also a trope called "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" and while doing seemingly good actions should theoretically clear you of any repercussions of the law, you'd be wrong. Often when killing someone in self-defense and going overkill, they definitely can put you away even if you didn't necessarily do anything wrong. Being a hero blows, even more so when you use lethal force to do it. Look at Edward Snowden and how he's treated. Add in public fervor and fear, combined with no past records and penchant for violent behavior-while adding the fact that his tact was terrible back in the precinct, yeah. They might want him, not necessarily because he's a criminal, but because he's dangerous the same way a suspected terrorist is regarded today. He looks suspiciously like a criminal, having all the signs of one yet not being exactly one due to his circumstances. But does everyone else know that?

Welcome to the modern day. Feel like a hero yet?