New room, new cell, Riven thought depressingly as walked around yet another room. Granted, this one was far nicer than the other one, with a bed, furnishings, and even a separate bathroom.

At least this time it has toilet paper.

The interior design appeared homely, like the bedroom in Irene's house, but without the inviting presence of a warm home. It was designed to look inviting. It was not.

There were no windows to speak of, no natural light to filter in and illuminate, no kitchen to cook in, and the door was made of thick, reinforced steel. Riven had tried opening it to no avail, being locked from the outside; he was very much a captive in an environment designed to comfort whoever was unfortunate to be trapped there. Maybe if he had a pokemon he could get out. But they were probably miles away with Gale and the others.

So he did the only thing he could do. He sat down.

Sitting in perfect silence, things felt eerie. He'd gotten used to the sounds of the city or the wild. Without them everything was just…off.

No sleep tonight, or maybe ever, Riven sighed, resting his head on the back wall. Mercenaries… And others from the past. I had a feeling there'd be more but… I didn't expect to meet them like this.

All of a sudden, there were others like him, living their lives and trying to adjust to the new world. Others he would have once considered enemies or neutral at best. Before, it was easy to identify who was an enemy and who wasn't.

Are they trying to kill you? Yes? Kill them. No? Wait for them to try. Then kill them.

But now… now was different. The line between friend and foe was blurred, and that was infuriating. You didn't know who to trust, or where allegiances lay, and people didn't regularly try killing each other. There were rules.

Hoenn- no, the world- was a melting pot, with different kinds of individuals, from scum like the poachers, to people like Gale, Will, Lucia, and the gym leaders. Riven couldn't place everyone into one group and go from there—doing something like that would be impossible. Everything was diversified. No clans of people ruling over each other, and most importantly, no armies. This world combined the small scale and the large scale into one, making things incredibly hard for a person so used to fighting against insurmountable odds and armies of men and pokemon. Easily identifiable. Easily seen.

And as such, things got confusing as all hell—his current predicament being a major case in point.

Here was his enemy, offering him a job with pay and the eventual promise of freedom. Any reasonable person would accept the deal. But deep seeded hatred twisted and pushed, making it an impossibly hard task of convincing himself that Nera wasn't an enemy. It was akin to holding acid in his bare hands. His brain told him that setting aside differences and accepting her offer was the logical thing to do, despite any feelings of resentment. After all, her offer seemed genuine at first glance. But if it wasn't…

Well…it didn't really matter, did it?

Genuine or not, the Rose was right. As much as he hated admitting it, he really had no choice in the matter, regardless of his ability to disappear or not. With his pokemon gone as well, and his trainer I.D., he'd effectively be no better off than a bum. Dodging the authorities with no method of transportation, money, or weapons to fight off pokemon that wanted a piece of him would be nonsensical and most likely result in him dying or getting locked up.

And I can't afford that. I have to get back to my team. Somehow. I just hope they don't hate me for this. They should be fine with Gale, I think. I hope.

As he went over multiple scenarios that all led to catastrophe, a loud beep came from the steel door. The lock made a loud clunk, allowing the door to slide open soundlessly. Riven remained seated, cracking open an eye, watching the twins from before standing at the foot of the room. They looked hesitant as they stared into the pitch black darkness. Helio was at their side, eyes glowing a slight blue. The fighter pointed in Riven's direction, locating him through some unknown means.

"Yo, you awake in there?" Aero called, staying safely behind the doorway in case any flying kicks or sudden attacks came his way.

"No," came a voice from the shadows.

The other twin snorted.

"Smartass. Well, least now we don't have to go in there. Why is this room so dark anyway?" Aero asked, squinting into the darkness. "You know there's lights right? There's a switch, you flip it, lights magically turn on? It's an amazing invention."

"Fascinating, I've finally attained enlightenment. What do you want?" Riven replied.

Aero spoke up. "Nera wants you to meet the others. She also told us to warn you not to do anything stupid while we're at it, either. I think you're smart enough to figure out that fighting isn't going to do you any good with Helio here, even if you're unrestrained. He'd kick your ass up, down, and sideways. Understand?"

"Yes. Blasting a hole through my leg made that perfectly clear," Riven said through grit teeth, glaring burning holes at the Lucario. Those blue energy blasts of his hurt more than anything he'd ever felt before, and that wasn't even mentioning how easily they tore his body apart either. If that Lucario wanted him dead, he would be.

"Good." Aero clapped his hands together. "Let's go make some introductions then."

The twins led Riven to the other side of the complex, where a collection of what looked like workshops and living quarters were located. Voices and the clanging of metal filled the air, contrasting with the eerie silence of the opposite side. Laughter could be made out amongst the noise, and shadows could be seen through the slits of the doors.

They led him to one of the open rooms. Even just approaching it, Riven could feel the chill coming from it, the metal along the outside of the hall frosted over in intricate patterns of snowflakes. Very artistic. Walking in, it looked like Riven's, except for the blue paint of the walls and the frigid temperature. Ice sculptures were held in what looked to be refrigerated display cases, with several medals and ribbons adorning the walls. Upon further inspection, it seemed that the room was originally made out of some kind of cold storage.

"Why are we in a freezer?" Riven asked, rubbing his arms to generate some form of heat. The air inside was cold enough to frost his breath, and he didn't have a jacket or sweater to keep him warm. The twins didn't even bat an eyelash though. Damn their internal furnaces.

"Doesn't your head hurt?" Aere asked, tapping a finger against his temple.

Riven waggled a hand, feeling only minor discomfort compared to when he'd last woken up. The Lucario's tap had been light compared to getting a face full of focus punch. Still didn't know who or what slugged him that time either, only that it was freaking huge.

"Ah, well. We figured you'd want an ice pack," Aero said. "Helio did knock you upside the head again. Pretty hard too, from the looks of it."

His brother nodded enthusiastically, "Yup. Helio hits pretty hard, man. I remember this one time we were out on a job and I was hitting on this girl-"

"Aere," Aero said sternly, shaking his head.

The twin nervously rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling lamely."Not important, right… I'll go get Isole. She must be working on something in the back." He treaded off into the backroom, whistling a tune.

"Isole? I heard you mention the name before," Riven asked. "Is she a doctor?"

"Not really, but she'll give you an icepack for your head," Aero explained. "And she's a Raksa, if you must know. She was a trainer before, kinda like you. Few years ahead of course."

"Raksa? Ice clan. Huh. Explains this frost bitten cube at least—any regular person would be insane living here."

Aero shrugged, not even bothered by the cold.

"I've never seen a Raksa up close before. They were always neutral during the war. Basically told us to fuck off when we asked for refuge," Riven said, bringing up tidbits about their dealings with them. He inspected an ice sculpture of a Snorunt idly. "Can't blame them though, picking a fight with their type advantage would be stupid. It was the smart decision to do."

"That it was. Glad you understand practicality, but then again, your people were well versed in the more… practical methods. " He crossed his arms. "As for the Raksas, they usually never left their lands, or wanted anything to do with us. Guess whatever happened to all of us didn't give two shits though, since somehow Isole ended up here too."

Aero waved a hand, dismissing it. "Anyway, someone introduced her to training in Sinnoh and she went pretty far after that. They used to call her 'Permafrost' in some trainer circles because of her ice types but she quit after the Victory Road and decided to see the rest of the world instead. Nera picked her up in Snowpoint a while back. On far friendlier circumstances than yours, of course. Hah."

"Oh, I'm sure," Riven smiled acidly.

"Ah, here she is."

Riven stopped looking at the sculpture and turned his attention back to the doorway. The woman that walked in with Aere held herself just like some of the experienced trainers Riven had seen in the centers and in the battle tower. Confidence. Power. Pride. Strength. They always seemed magnetic, and in a way, she reminded him a lot of Lucia, except for the blue eyes and white hair. She looked just like he'd expected an ice obsessed Raksa to look.

Isole curiously looked Riven over, tilting her head slightly. "So this is the guy Nera was pumping so much time and resources into. A Cerul and a soldier from the Remnant army." She frowned, and looked at Aero. "From all the stories Nera talked about… I kind of expected someone a little-"

"Taller?" Riven guessed.

"Older," she said, mulling over the word choice. "And far more built. You don't exactly look like a kid but you're probably not even in your mid-twenties, are you?"

Riven's scowled, eyes completely focused on hers. "Terribly sorry I don't meet your little band's expectations. I've only been in and out of hospitals, an almost unbelievable amount of shitstorms and misfortunes, and I spend most of my time living on trainer food and tauros jerky when things aren't trying to wreck my shit something fierce," he said dryly, making no effort to conceal the disdain.

"Heh, definitely a trainer," she said, smirking. "With a whole slew of cynicism thrown in there too. You might even beat out Cormac, and he's one negative bastard, let me tell you. You'll fit just fine here," she said, smirk now a small smile.

"This isn't my home," Riven half-growled.

"You're a drifter. You don't have a home to begin with." She chuckled. "Well… I guess none of us did when we first came here. But Nera can offer you one."

"Think I'll pass," he scoffed.

"Then why are you here?"

"Blackmail," he replied angrily. "Nera's a ruthless bitch."

"That's what makes her effective," Isole said, drawing a synchronous nod from the wonder twins. "Have to be, for what we do."

Riven clenched his jaw and let out a small, almost inaudible growl, upper lip twitching.

Isole looked the young man over again. He reminded her of a feral Mightyena in more ways than one. Ticking him off wouldn't be a good idea; causing Nera more problems than Styx already had would be troubling. Not to mention earn her a slash in her pay. "I heard you're a trainer. Errr, were. How did that happen? Trainer isn't something many of us 'oldies' gravitate towards."

Riven's brows furrowed."Let's see…The first building I walked into was the pokemon lab in Littleroot. I had two wild pokemon following me from the forest, so when Birch saw them… He assumed that I was, uh, a trainer to be. Then he signed me up for the League without even letting me speak and sent me off. I had no idea what in the hell I was doing or what was happening, much less what trainers were supposed to do. But it was something to do so I guess it was fine."

"And you didn't kill him when he did that?" Isole asked, raising a white brow.

"To be honest I was too baffled by the sliding doors and the TVs to do anything," Riven shrugged. "At first I thought he poisoned me or something. But there's no way in hell that jolly bearded bastard would do anything of ill-intent. In fact, his energy was almost infectious. Reminds me of Wattson… sort of. And when he showed me how a pokeball worked…"

Are those two in the back giggling?

Isole grinned, muttering something about him being just like Gaelen. She looked at the twins."You taking him to meet the others? Hurry up if you are, Nera's going to fill us in on another job."

"Already? Where?"

"In region? Or…?"

"Don't know. Didn't say. I'm going over to the debriefing room right now. Better hurry." She stepped past them, pointing a finger behind her and at Riven as she walked away. "By the way, stop touching my sculptures. I worked extremely hard on those, don't ruin them. You break one and Yuvir will freeze your hand solid."

Riven immediately stopped touching the sculpture, setting his hands at his sides. "Who's Yuvir?" He whispered, waiting for her to leave the room first. Exactly like Haona. Maybe being a jerk was an ice thing.

"Her Glalie. Which has frozen people solid before, no fucking joke man. Don't mess with her unless you can live without a couple limbs, and possibly your balls. Frostbitten castration? Definite pass. Moving along though, I guess the introductions will have to wait," Aero said, "let's go get debriefed. Circuit must have gotten us a job already. Maybe it's another snatch assignment, those are fun…"

"Ain't excited?" The other twin asked Riven as they started down the hall. At the end of it was a large sign that read: Debriefing Room.

Glancing at it, Riven flatly replied, "My joy is caving in on itself. And Circuit? That's a strange name."

"More or less. He's our tech guy and the one who finds us assignments—also handles all the finances and clients. Fitting name since he's practically married to the damn computer. He's not from where we come from, but he's a workaholic, and a damn good one at that. Still not sure if the guy sleeps or not. It's a real mystery."

"I bet he's the asshole who called me—he was, wasn't he?" Riven asked, glaring at Aero.

He only chuckled nervously in response, focusing his sight elsewhere.

Definite yes. Fuck that guy. And his noodles.

Aero pushed open the door to the room, and held Riven back with a stiff arm. "No outbursts or anything, alright? Keep quiet until it's over, unless you want to exchange pleasantries with another focus punch."

"Do I look like a person who's prone to outbursts?" Riven huffed.

"Weeeellllll….You nearly went ballistic when you heard Nera say who she was, while snarling like a feral pokemon. Oh, and you snapped solid steel chains like paper then tried to kill her with your bare hands," Aere reminded. "Did I miss anything?" His brother shook his head and gave Riven a considering look. "You were saying?"

Riven bit the inside of his cheek, looking like he had just swallowed a pitcher of salt. He grumbled a few curses under his breath as he followed the twins inside.

Standing in the back, Riven absent-mindedly occupied himself with a particular piece of the wall, staring at it in a daze. The debriefing was mostly a bunch of babble and other things that he didn't care much about, discussing clients and objectives of the others' respective jobs. He kept his mouth shut, mostly because Helio was standing beside him, watching his every move, like a Staraptor tracking a fish.

The debriefing ended shortly, and every "merc" in the room with an assignment turned around, gleefully discussing their jobs. Riven's presence raised a few eyebrows and drew a couple of hushed whispers, probably because he was new and they hadn't seen him before. Helio gestured with a shaking of the head, signaling that everything was under control. The others simply shrugged and left the room.

Nera spotted him and beckoned him over with a hand, placing him next to Isole and a black-haired man, who looked about ready to keel over and fall asleep.

"What did you think of the debriefing, Riven?" Nera asked merrily.

"I almost fell asleep standing up-"

"Thank you," the other guy interrupted, lifting his hands. "Finally someone else acknowledges that your debriefings could put a hyperactive Buneary to sleep."

Nera looked heart-stricken, putting a hand over her chest. "Argh, fine. I'll try to spice it up next time. God, why is everyone so cynical around here?"

"That's an interesting question. Maybe because you blackmail people into working with you while simultaneously eviscerating their chances at living a normal life ever again?" Riven deadpanned. "I'm sure everyone really appreciates that."

"I like him already, heh," the black haired man sneered, twisting his body to let out a jarring crack from his back.

She frowned in response, rolling her eyes. "God, he's another you. One of you is enough to turn any situation into a cynical mess. I don't think this much negativity is good for group cohesion."

"Neither is blackmail," Riven fired again.

Nera grinded her teeth together, pointing an accusatory finger at the other guy. "Riven, this is Cormac. Or you can call him Sharpy." Cormac twitched. Nera held a sly grin, amused that she was pushing his buttons.

"Sharpy?" Riven cringed. "Poor bastard."

Cormac groaned loudly, raising his hands in defeat. "God damn it, Nera. Stop telling everyone to call me fucking Sharpy. It isn't my name. Don't listen to her. Call me Cor or Mac instead. Or just Cormac, I don't care- anything but Sharpy. These idiots just call me that stupid name because I was born with- Eh, screw it." He opened his mouth, revealing four incredibly pointy canine teeth, probably almost as sharp as a Mightyena's, or an Absol's. "The nickname stuck after I bit a guy in a fight, pierced a blood vessel and got blood everywhere. Getting that out of my clothes killed, let me tell you."

"I know that feeling, unfortunately," Riven agreed, remembering having to buy new clothes every time he got caught up in a shitstorm and got cut, stabbed, or blasted. So far three pairs of pants, shirts, and vests had met their untimely demise.

"Welcome to the dysfunctional little family though," Cormac shrugged, scratching the side of his head vigorously. "But... from what I know about your situation? You probably want to stab anything in the vicinity with a fork, and I wouldn't blame you. Being babysitted by Helio must suck some incredible ass," he said, leaning back on his chair, a smug grin plastered on his face.

The Lucario took that moment of disregard to kick the chair leg and send him sprawling to the floor.

"Well, now that you two are finished with introductions… Wait, you've met Isole right?" Nera asked Riven. "I wouldn't want to leave her out of anything."

"She threatened to freeze my hand solid," he deadpanned again, face flat. "Very friendly."

Isole cracked a small smile.

"…Oh. That's… great? Let's jump straight in then," Nera announced, her voice losing all semblance of cheer. "Isole. Sharpy. Circuit located something of interest in another region, and we need to check it out. We also have plenty of jobs available there, mostly protection detail and investigations of more than a few reported attacks in the area. The rangers also need some help quelling wild pokemon. They've gotten increasingly hostile lately, in more than a few regions, not just where we're going."

"Argh," Isole and Mac groaned loudly. "Protection detail. How exciting," they both sighed.

"Isole, you and Mac are going to go after the object of interest, you can accept the wild pokemon assignments later. The item takes precedence. You guys are going to be there for a while, presumably err…. six months to a year? Give or take."

"What about the investigations?" Isole asked, tilting her head, a white brow raised. "And just us two? The foolish twins aren't coming?"

"Hey!" They both snapped.

Nera shook her head. "I might send others in case any thing happens. Gealen if it's bad enough. But for the most part, you two are going to act as handlers for a certain someone." She flicked a quick glance at Riven, just enough to get the message across.

Riven stood idly for a moment, taking a few moments to process what she was saying. "Wait, what?"

"You're going with them," she said bluntly. "And you're going to wear this." She pulled out some sort of contraption, handing it over to Aero.

"What the hell is that?" Riven asked. It looked like an ankle brace with a tiny red blinking light on it.

"It's a tracker."

"A what?"

"It's so we can monitor your position at all times. Psy locks don't work on you, for erm, various reasons, so we'll have to settle for trackers. Goes on your foot and only comes off with a key. And if you destroy it, we'll know."

"I'm not putting on your fucking tracker, nor am I leaving the region. Especially not for a damn year." He snarled in response, fists curled white. "You could leave me there and then what? I'd have to find some way to come back to Hoenn? If you want me to go to another region to do menial, shitty jobs that not even your own people want to do, then you can take your tracker and shove it in your asshole. Should end up in about the same place as your head."

"Riven… please don't make this difficult," Nera pleaded, trying to diffuse the situation. Guy looked about ready to implode.

"Don't make this difficult? Oh, I'm so fucking sorry! I'm only being held here against my will, away from her and my team, and now you want to treat me like I'm some Growlithe on a leash? What's next, I'm going to have to ask for permission to take a piss too?"

"I know you're upset but-"

"Just do what she says, Riv," came a familiar voice from the back. "Nera wouldn't do something like that to one of her own."

Riven turned around, rage filled eyes locking with the voice's owner. "Benjamin Thern." His tone was ice. His body was shaking, so eager to beat the traitor's face in with his fists, the only thing holding him back being the twins and Helio. "Let. Me. Go," he snapped, resisting against the ones attempting to restrain him.

"They will, but you will not hurt Ben. If you do, I promise that Helio won't be as lenient as he was last time. I know you don't want a repeat of what happened earlier," Nera warned.

The angry young man's growling only intensified. "I didn't ask for this."

"I know. And for that I'm sorry, Riven. I truly am," Ben apologized. "Separating you from your team was a cruel thing to do, but it was the only way. You were too dangerous to approach while you were armed with weapons, pokemon, and accompanied by a Victory Road trainer. "

"You lied to me," Riven shot back acidly. "About Slateport, about everything. You pretended you knew nothing about me or about any mercenaries so I'd suspect nothing. Even your little 'smile' comments were fake."

"Yes, I did lie!" Ben countered. "But you're the one that lied to me first, then you lied when I asked you if you'd found anything in Dewford. Gray. Even though we both know that isn't your name. For someone claiming to be the victim here, you're awfully prone to be loose with the truth. So who was really the dishonest one here? You didn't trust me. This was a result of your own rampant paranoia."

Riven bared his teeth, hissing like a beast.

The others backed away slightly. The twins and even Helio were having a hard time holding Riven down. Black wisps began to dance along his feet, and his eye slowly darkened, losing its blue tinge, turning red.

Cormac whispered into Nera's ear, drawing a knife. "Uh-oh, you better calm him down quick, or we'll have one dead Cerul. And if it goes badly… we'll be the dead ones instead."

Nera cursed and nodded at Ben. He acknowledged it with a quick glance.

"Riven, I made Nera promise me that no harm or actions of ill-intent would come to you. You'd be treated like the rest of us, with all the benefits. You're not my enemy. I-I still consider you a friend, that won't change. If you do this assignment, we'll let you contact this girl you speak of. Is she the one holding your team?"

Riven said nothing, but he visibly calmed down. If growling like a wild pokemon rather than the feral snarling of a Mightyena could be even considered calm. Relatively speaking.

Cormac looked at Isole, then gestured in Riven's direction with a dip of the head. Isole gulped, not at all delighted with the task of cheering up a very unhappy Cerul. She went over and stood in front of him, putting a sort of friendly hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry! We're going to be your handlers, we promise that we won't leave you in region. Just uh, look for the silver lining! After this assignment, you'll get a hefty paycheck! Which means no trainer money problems! You might even be able to afford a permanent residence for you and your umm… woman."

"She's not my 'woman', she's just a friend," Riven replied, somehow more convinced of Isole's words than any of Ben's or the ruthless bitch's. "I'm more concerned about my pokemon. She can handle herself."

He was let go after he sufficiently stopped snapping and hissing, turning around to look at Nera. "I'll take the assignment then, and I'll wear your anklet." He pushed past her, stopping to level a menacing glare at Ben. "Friends don't betray each other over stupid rocks. Find a dictionary and look up the word friendship, you might fucking learn something." He shoved Ben back a step with a forceful palm and stalked off.

As soon as he left the room with the twins and Helio trailing behind him, the others let out a collective sigh of relief. The tension in the air could have been stabbed with a pitchfork, then cut up and served on a plate.

"Jeez. Only two years and he's already raised this much hell," Ben said, shaking himself. "When you said Ceruls were harbingers of disaster, you really weren't kidding. Ends up here and he ignites Sinnoh's leftover trainer fallout, starts a region wide manhunt for him, almost gets killed by dragons, and with the added issues of increasing trainer related property damage, he's managed to steer most of the non-trainer population into full protest. And he stumbled upon what we were looking for in the first place too? All by being in the wrong place at the worst possible time? Fucking hell. I would understand if this was done on purpose, but by accident? Good lord how isn't he dead yet?"

"I'd say luck, but if I called that luck, then I'd hate to know what he considers bad luck." Nera said, watching the doorway. "And to call that boy trouble incarnate would be like calling a Gyarados just another fish. Let's just pray to whatever higher power we can that he doesn't raise more hell somewhere else. Which isn't factoring in his volatile state at the current moment, either. He's going to make things extremely difficult for us if he continues on like this. Hopefully he can mellow out in time."

But why did she seriously doubt that prospect?

"How much time being the primary concern. Whatever he found was important, and you can't wait that long."

" Yeah." She sighed deeply. "Isole. Cormac. You have one week to get ready. Can you stop by the armory and pick up something for our bad tempered friend? We got him something he may like, based on what Ben told me, as compensation for losing his team. We can't have him defenseless out there now can we?"

They both agreed wordlessly, turning on their heels and leaving the room to go to the armory.

Ben scoffed. "Bad tempered? Hah, even when he didn't want to rip my entrails out he was terrifying. Threatened to throw me into Sharpedo filled waters for entertainment value. Did you know that? Other trainers are even scared of looking him in the eyes. And you know them, a ten year old will stare down a street thug to have a battle. You should have seen him at the beach. He's a damned mess."

"If you lived through all the things he has, you would be too. And we're making it worse. Way to leave an impression on someone, right? Blackmail them, take away what little they have, and then force them to work for you? I'm not sure he'll ever trust me or us. Oh god, just listen to me. I'm feeling guilty."

"…You? Guilty? Get that checked immediately. If you do it fast enough, they might find out you have a heart," Ben joked briefly. "Seriously though, he'll come around if he sticks around long enough." …Maybe. "He may have horrifying trust issues and paranoia to the nth degree, but he wants to have people that can have his back, so he doesn't have to watch it all the time. Circuit told me he looked happy around those other three."

"That's a bad comparison," Nera sighed again. "I saw them at the battle tower. Two attractive girls and a kid versus mercenaries who lie, cheat, steal, and kill for a living? Who would you trust?" She held up a finger. "If you say the mercs, I'm going to slap you."

"On second thought, that's… a fair point," Ben acknowledged, rubbing his chin. "Still. Don't beat yourself up over this. Playing the villain must be hard- but he understands practicality. He's only furious because he feels he has no control over what he can do. When he's over there, just let him wander a bit. Hmmm… he likes the wild so… maybe he can take the ranger jobs?"

"And fight pokemon? On his own?"

Ben shrugged. "We can lend him some. We have plenty of extra pokemon that have been anxious to go back into the field."

"Have you met a trainer, Ben? They're too damn proud to use lent pokemon. It'd be like betraying their teams. I remember trying to do the same thing with Isole. She said she'd rather get into a fistfight with an Ursaring than not use her team."

"But Isole's scary." Nera gave him a flat look. "I was joking. I guess you're right though. Well, time will tell. Good luck with him, I'm going back to my room to get some rest."

"Rest. Why don't I believe that for a second? Just to give you a heads up, Ben, these walls are not soundproof." Nera crossed her arms, giving him a disapproving look. "Madelyne has a strong set of lungs. She should use them for something like singing, not disturbing peoples' sleeping habits."

"Ah, ha-ha. Sorry." He laughed nervously.

"Just go already. And be glad no one's used a blacklight in there."

"Heh. Oh, by the way, how much prep time are you giving them?"

"About a week. We'll have Riven in the practice room tomorrow. See what he's got. Should be fun."

Fucking snakes… get the chance I'll cut his throat and hers… Shouldn't trust… Riven thought to himself, punching his fists raw into the steel walls of his was interrupted by the door, light shining in from outside, followed by a light knock on the metal door frame. Two people."Fuck off wonder twins. You and your Lucario."

Is that what he calls those two? "We're not the wonder twins," Cormac replied, stifling a giggle and flicking on the light switch. Too damn dark in there.

"Cormac and Isole. What did she send you to do? Convince me that she isn't a bitch? Because trust me, that isn't happening," he said, continuing with the wall smashing.

"That's not what we're here for," Isole said firmly.

"Then what are you here for?"

"Catch." She tossed something towards Riven, who turned and caught it in mid air, the weight of the object feeling familiar to him. He held it up, incredulously gazing at it like a child in a candy store.

"It-it's a sword," he stuttered, noting the freshly polished steel and razor sharp edge. He twirled it in the air, testing its balance. It was longer and heavier than he was used to, but the design itself meant that the blade probably had no difficulty cleaving through armor, at least conventional human armor. A pokemon could be a different story. "I don't recognize the design."

"That's because it's based on a sword design from around here. These types of sword were used in the Sahra region a long time ago. You may know it as Orre now though. It may not be the same weight and size as the one-handed blades you and your army used, so it may be a bit off for you."

"No, it's fine," Riven said, slashing the air, the zing of sharp metal being music to his ears. "They taught us to use two handed swords too. I like it, nice and balanced. Edge is razor sharp too. Wonder how long that'll last. What I'm truly curious about is why you're giving me this. I could easily kill both of you at this distance if I wanted to."

"But you won't," Isole grinned. "You're not stupid enough to do that when you don't know the layout of this place and have no pokemon. The others would kill you within a minute."

"Heh," Riven clicked his tongue, feeling far better now that he could swing around a sharp piece of metal. Swords made him feel safe. Or anything that qualified as a sharp piece of metal. You could depend on a blade, they didn't betray you or fail to deliver as long as they were well taken care of.

"Got something else for you too," Cormac mentioned. He took out a knife from one of his pockets, handing it to Riven.

"Nice knife," he noted, unsheathing the blade and admiring its design. Not black steel, but that was a minor detail, a blade was a blade. Viciously curved too, just like Yanine's, but shorter with an insignia engraved near the handle. "What's this represent?" He asked, pointing to it.

"Our group insignia. Ben had Nera order those two made. He said you'd like them, since your other ones fell into the sea."

"Hmmm, so that bastard is the one responsible for these. Can I stab him in the spine as thanks?" Riven sheathed both knife and sword, strapping them onto his person with belt buckles. "Or just lightly slash him from balls to mouth?"

"I don't think so," Isole said, exchanging an uncomfortable glance with Cormac. "Anyway, have some fun with those later. You need to get something to eat. Tomorrow we're going to put you into the simulation room, where you can test what you got. Should help you get all of that anger out of your system."

"I get to kill something?" Riven looked almost ecstatic. When Ben mentioned the kid was scary, he wasn't lying, no one looked that happy about getting to stab something with a blade nearly as long as their body.

"Slow down there buddy, holograms, not people," Cormac corrected. "Disappointing, I know."

"Very," Riven frowned. "But better than nothing I guess."

Sure enough, the next day he was put into the simulator, where he got to cut holograms apart, reveling in almost maniacal joy as he weaved past attacks and struck them down with skill gained only through years of combat experience. Nera and the others observed from the viewing deck, watching the crazed frenzy.

At first they didn't believe Nera's seemingly far-fetched stories about the skill of the Remnants, and how they were absolute monsters with blade, shield, spear, and bow. Skilled enough to even fight other soldiers and pokemon with just weapons and a few Mightyena, and still hold their own, let alone win battles.

But seeing Riven cut, slash, and tear through holograms in the most effective way possible made them believe, as well as unnerve them a little. He severed limbs and targeted critical areas, the face and neck, without missing a beat, no doubt being taught to kill the enemy quickly. There were no unnecessary movements in his style, everything he did serving a purpose- to kill or incapacitate. Not many people knew how to use a blade in this day and age, maybe the Kanto practitioners, but they were far more focused on style and finesse than Riven's kill-them-fast-and-make-sure-they're-dead.

Riven passed the combat test easily, breathing a sigh of relief after letting out his frustrations. He couldn't really place why he felt so thrilled to sink a blade into something, even if it was just a projection. Intoxicating, but hell if it wasn't fun.

As he left the training room, Cormac and Isole greeted him outside, commenting on his performance.

"Remind me not to fight you while you have a sword," Cormac said jokingly. "Feel better now?"

"Loads," Riven said, still catching his breath from the exertion. "Felt good. Really good."

"We noticed, you savage," Isole laughed. "You had this crazy smile on your face, like you were having a blast. It's been a while since you've had a fight hasn't it?"

"Since Petalburg, but those were batons, not lethal weapons. Training is more of a test of mental ability, which is nice, but I don't actually get to fight much," Riven replied, comparing training to real battle. "I guess… I kind of miss it. Somehow? Maybe not killing people-holograms aren't people, so don't start- but sparring is always fun. Pokemon shouldn't be the only ones training."

"Yeah, some trainers say the same thing. Although, they're usually the fighting type trainers, so it makes sense. I agree though, trainers should be able to defend themselves too, or take a life if needed. " Isole paused. "Regardless, we have to get ready to go on our assignment. I hope you are too, since you're coming with us."

"How long until we…?" He flicked a finger at the air.

"Less than a week. You can just sit tight and relax for a few days, Cormac and I will sort things out," she said, smiling at him. Giving Cormac a nod, they turned around to go iron out some kinks with Circuit.

"You didn't say where we were going." Riven's eyes narrowed, suspicious.

Isole stopped, pivoting her body slightly to look at him with a knowing eye, a wide grin on her face. "Why, we're going to the beauty capital of the world."

"And what's that?"

"The five pointed star, Kalos."

A key twisted in a lock, unlocking it with a brief clunk.

Gale shuffled inside her darkened home, setting her things down. She ran a finger on the table, looking down at it in the dim lighting of the quiet house. The inside had remained just as she left it. She'd been away from home for months; she nearly forgot she had one. Going through what little rooms the home offered, she stopped at her bed and sat down.

Will and Lucia wanted to return to Slateport, suggesting laying low for a bit to stay out of trouble for the time being. And so, here Gale was, back in the plains.

Head in her hands, she thought about what Steven had told her, Lucia, and Will. It sounded ludicrous, and so unlikely that no one would have believed it. Only it was crazy enough that they started to believe it. Steven had also presented numerous pieces of evidence, and had revealed what he'd seen from the memory visualizer, to further solidify the explanation.

After hearing about everything the former champion had said, after hearing about Riven's story, and after the cave, she didn't know what to believe or feel. Lucia was much the same, baffled, but at the same time, a little annoyed. Annoyed that Riven had lied to her… by telling the truth. She had called him a sly bastard more than a few times before she sat down and made herself breathe. Will had looked conflicted, having had no idea that his new fire tricks were very similar to the ones that- well, the ones the destroyed everything.

He's a resilient guy, Steven had said. He'd never hurt you just because you can shoot fire out of your hands. You didn't ask for it. He knows that.

Which reminded Gale of something she'd been dreading all this time. She took a deep, steadying breath of air and took Riven's trainer belt out of his trainer bag, removing the pokeballs from their magnetic clips. Staring at the four minimized pokeballs, she found herself unable to start. What would she tell them? And who would she tell first?

I have to do this. Better sooner than later.

Gale put Riven's translator around her ears, maximizing the pokeballs and throwing them outward to release his team. A large flash of light followed, and four very confused pokemon emerged, wondering where they were.

"Huh? Where are we?" Baron asked, looking at the unfamiliar walls of the house.

Aine hopped on a foot, looking out the window and at the sun-lit plains of green grass outside. She pointed a claw at the door. "We're back in the plains!" she cried, more excited than she should be.

"Why?" Haona questioned. Weren't we in a huge city?

"I SENSE THE PECULIARITY AS WELL!" Boagrius decreed. The floating cloud of grey shot around the house, making impossibly loud statements about the strangeness of human houses. "SO VERY PECULIAR! EXPLANATION PLEASE, GALE HUMAN." He demanded, voice bellowing throughout the house.

Gale remained seated, expression tired and solemn. She looked down at the floor, shaking her head.

Baron's spike lit a bright pink, connecting with her feelings. He had to put in extra work to do it, ever since he had evolved, which had somehow complicated the process. Gale felt all kinds of uncertain, worried, depressed, and angry. "Gale, what's wrong?"

"You're not hurt, are you?" Haona sniffed her, noting nothing out of place from her scent.

Aine walked up and sat down next to her, a fuzzy storm of feathers and warmth. "Did something happen?" The Combusken did a sweep of the room, noticing something important. "Where's our trainer anyway?"

Gale shook, dragging in a breath. She refused to cry. And she wouldn't, not today. "That's the thing. He's not here. He's gone."

"What do you mean- gone? Explain," Haona demanded, shocked. He better not be dead, he better not be dead…

"Gone?" Baron repeated. "Gone how?"

"Did he… perish?" The Castform asked grimly, voice lowering. "Or is he…?"

Gale hesitated, not sure how to put this. "He, um, I don't know whether you understand human laws or not but… he got into trouble with the authorities and they caught him. They were going to lock him up for a long time, but someone must have broken him out. I don't know where he is right now. Or when he's coming back. I'm sorry."

"Why didn't he let us fight?" Haona growled, red eyes flaring with anger. "That idiot! He always does this! Always getting hurt, always getting blamed, always getting in trouble! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Doesn't he realize that? We're supposed to be the ones protecting him! Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Right, Aine?"

"Y-yeah," the fire-type confirmed. "The others at the lab told us that if we protected out trainers, they would protect us, and care for us."

"He was protecting you," Gale clarified sadly. "He still is."

Baron and Boagrius remained silent. Human laws were strange, finicky things. Some of them made no sense, and they didn't understand why humans followed them, yet they did it without question.

"If he had used you to fight," Gale continued, "the police would have been authorized to use lethal force, and all of you would have died. Or get sent off somewhere individually. That's what they do to pokemon that belong to a criminal, or someone… dangerous. So he took you all and asked me to take care of you instead. He didn't want to risk you all getting caught."

"So he left us?" Aine asked somberly, looking dejected.

Gale put a hand on her head, stroking her feathers. "No, no! He didn't leave you. He's coming back, he promised."

"He promises a lot of things," Haona said harshly, "that doesn't mean he's going to keep them. He does it all the time!"

"Haona, please don't hate him," Gale pleaded. "I know I'm not a good substitute for him, and I'll never be your original trainer, but I'll try my best. Please understand. This was the best he could do given his situation."

"I am trying to understand but- human laws are… confusing," Boagrius said, still swirling above them. "BUT I HAVE FAITH! FAITH THAT MY MASTER WILL RETURN AND LEAD US TO RIGHTEOUS GREATNESS! AND THUS, I SHALL WAIT, EVEN FOR ETERNITY IF NEED BE. FOR GLORY AND FAME ARE ETERNAL, AND NEVER DYING. SO, I SHALL LEND YOU, GALE HUMAN, MY STRENGTH UNTIL MY MASTER RETURNS! I AM AT YOUR SERVICE!"

The Castform's enthusiastic speech drew a small giggle from the human girl. Humor turned into surprise when a green blade flicked outward. Baron stood in front of her, arm bent in a salute, with one blade extended.

"Boagrius is right. There's no sense moping about it, Gale. If you said he's going to come back, then I- we-have no choice but to believe it, and hope for the day he returns. And even if it doesn't come-" He extended his hand. "I'd be glad to help you in any way I can. Riven respects you, and because of that, so do I."

"Me too!" Cried Aine, puffing out flames. "But when he comes back, I'm gonna punch 'em!"

"And you, Haona?" Gale asked, wondering if the Absol would be okay with this.

"I still think our trainer's a supreme idiot." The dark type hesitated for a moment, red eyes focusing on the small black stone that hung around her neck. "Just had to open your mouth though, didn't you, Bib?"She sighed. "Unfortunately, where he goes, I go, that's how it is. And I'm not about to walk off without giving our stupid human an ice beam lecture. And you're a girl too, maybe we can think of something to punish him with."

Gale smiled widely. "Thank you. Thank you for understanding. I'm grateful. I really am."

"Good, because I'm hungry," Haona said, holding up a claw. "Do you have any food?"

Baron brought a palm to his face.

The brunette let out a silent "oh" of realization. "I don't have any fresh food. Whatever I did have probably went bad weeks ago, sorry. Unless you can take down a Tauros?"

"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem," Haona said, licking her lips. Her horn flashed green as she looked at Baron and Aine. "You ready?"

"Pssh, I can take them all by myself now that I'm a handsome and powerful Gallade," Baron boasted, puffing out his chest.

"And if Baron gets whooped, I'll just burn them to a crisp!" Aine exclaimed. "But the meat might not taste good…"

Haona smirked at Gale. "See? We'll be right back. Bib, open the door, you have hands."

Gale shook her head as the three practically leapt out into the plains, eager to hunt down some juicy Tauros meat. They're just like him, hiding what they really feel to save face... Looks like you passed that onto them too. You have such wonderful pokemon, Riven. Don't you dare die on them.

"WOULD YOU LIKE ME ACCOMPANY YOU, GALE HUMAN?" The Castform boomed once again.

Cupping her ears, Gale smiled once again.

"Sure. Why not?"

Sorry this got delayed, finals and work ate my time more than usual.

Wulfrye: I see your concern, and while you do raise a valid point, it also raises a very important question.

What exactly is evil, truly? And what exactly classifies as actions of ill-intent. Both of these are subjective, and depend highly on the person observing them. What we may classify as evil may not necessarily be the same as what a pokemon classifies as evil. If it all.

A Lucario may hurt a person and be considered evil by us, but to it, it sees itself only as defending its trainer/master. Which is what sort of occurred last chapter, Helio wasn't going to stand there and let Riven kick his masters to death.

Still, pokemon would have a sort of blue and orange morality compared to a human, if they were raised in a non-trainer/ non-laboratory environment. Trained pokemon are slightly different. An individual's morality is a result of their social upbringing, as well as the beliefs they have been exposed to by other people. Considering that pokemon are already very intelligent creatures, the same can be applied for them. The pokemons'owners would probably have the biggest influence on their sense of right or wrong, being sort of like parents. An amoral trainer would probably have amoral pokemon(like a merc), and a heroic trainer who doesn't want to kill anybody would most likely have pokemon that reflect these views.

And next comes crime. Crime- a socioeconomic construct that directly depends on the existence of laws- is inherently neither evil nor good. It is simply the breaking of these laws. Being primarily human laws, the Lucario wouldn't have a very tight grasp of them, as most of these laws and regulations don't necessarily apply to pokemon. Yes, a Lucario is intelligent enough to potentially have a good grasp of human laws(Lucario and the mystery of mew), but for the most part, pokemon are seldom concerned about them, if it all. Crime and evil are also not synonymous, although they often coincide more than they should.

For example, a person who steals from the rich and gives to the poor has committed a crime, but can they be considered evil?

Looking at this, we can see that a Lucario not doing evil things becomes very loose in practice, and what a particular individual does depends on its own morality and beliefs. A shitty upbringing would only increase the chances of the pokemon being more amoral than say, a Lucario raised from a Riolu in a loving household. Nonetheless, when it comes to morality, there are very loose lines of black and white, and often it is very subjective. This makes a lot of room for different streaks of gray…