Tearing the Heavens

by Cepel

A young soldier from a once great family is thrust into the future and ends up in an unfamiliar and bizarre world, where his presence can cause complications both ancient and modern. He inadvertently becomes a trainer through mere misunderstanding and sets off in a journey to discover his own self and where he stands in a world that isn't his own.

62. Entertainment

This took five weeks to get out. Sorry about that, editing and tailoring this chapter was very time consuming. I also had finals and papers galore. Organic chem beat my ass but I got it done. Made it longer to make up for the wait time so I hope you enjoy it. Hell will ensue.

---

Riven stood hunched over the railings of the ship's open air terrace, a pensive furrow on his brow. He watched the vast stretch of sea in the distance, catching glimpses of Sharpedo and the sparking of Lanterns in the water.

Right after the broadcast, he'd called Steven and calmly informed him of what it was he was going to do. As expected, Steven advised not to act without any prior information, making sure that there wasn't any form of tea or liquid substance in his mouth that could be susceptible to forceful ejection. He knew Riven wasn't an idiot but one never knew.

And seeing as how Riven was a good boy, he'd assured Steven he'd take his words into consideration. Then immediately disregarded that and bought a ticket from Slateport to Castelia City. The price was pretty extraordinary, but with the funds he'd received from working on certain… jobs, he'd amassed a sizable bank balance. With the speed of the cruise ship he was on, the estimated arrival time was several days, roughly.

Normally he'd enjoy the scenery of a long day of cruising with the weather this good, but his thoughts were pervaded by worries of several days worth of time spent doing nothing but twiddling his fingers while getting to Unova and hoping he didn't arrive to a flaming trainwreck raining shit en masse.

Time was really working against them here. Well, when did it not?What was just a human concept really wasn't just human at all, they just believed it was.

Silly, puny, petty, little humans, thinking they were so important.

The Legendaries and fate didn't seem to care about their importance, seeing as how they'd thrown Riven half a million years into the future, got fed up with the human everything, and metaphorically flipped the species table just to sweeten the deal—a deal which ultimately told all mankind to go screw itself for a good one hundred thousand years and for an added bonus, made them weaker than Linoone piss.

From the state of his world though, he couldn't argue it didn't deserve it though. Things were screwed to hell but it was still his world. When he was still living in it. Certainly couldn't complain about it now. Loopholes were a funny thing.

"You know it's bad when even gods can't fix it." He broke out into a stupid little grin as he gazed into the sky. When he noticed people staring, he straightened with a clearing of the throat.

Now, irony aside… where to start?

Back in Slateport, he guessed that Singularity's next target would be Nimbasa—at least partially based off his previous encounters with them on different occasions back in Kalos along with Isole's information. All of the times he'd run into them had been in populated locations with plenty of camera coverage and large groups of onlookers. They wanted some sort of message to be sent out, so doing it in a place like a dusty old town or the business heavy Castelia didn't make much sense. Castelia could be a target, but Nimbasa had plenty of children and tourists.

And when children get threatened, the entire world seems to stop, bating its breath while the terrorists grip it by the balls. A savage grin as he clenched a fist. And squeeze.

All conjectures and assumptions though. Evidence was lacking something fierce and considering there were no clues of any kind, he hadn't the faintest what to do when they got there.

Asking around for a suspicious group of people operating in the shadows would just earn him judgmental looks and murmurs of crazy while getting him none closer to grabbing any sort of useful leads.

Lucia might-

No. Wouldn't work. Officials mostly likely wouldn't know a damn thing either. Their response would probably be something along the lines of "what" and "oh fuck". Hopefully one or the other and merciful universe not both. In case it was both, it'd be an absolutely horrendous day.

And these guys were intelligent. Giving law enforcement and special forces units a kick in their collective testicles was what they did for shits and giggles.

Hell, he didn't know three-fourths of the members on the damn mercenary group. A few names, but that was about it, which said quite a lot from all the fingers he broke to get that information.

Their operations were bundles of misdirection and cleverly disguised scapegoating and cover-ups. Trying to catch them preemptively was sort of like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. Using a badge to question people would undoubtedly tip someone off too. Crime in Unova was well-entrenched and when someone from another region came snooping… well- let's just say lips that were normally very sealed got prone to loosening up considerably. Seemed like that renowned Unovan hospitality of throwing foreigners under the bus was well supported after all.

He bit his lip, shifting in place to rest his right foot on one of the railings.

The news broadcast was yesterday, so I'd give it about a week or two before anything major happens. At least.

And that was the best case scenario haphazardly based on the double-edged nature of being a careful planner; organizing sophisticated operations took time and planning. Lots of it. Mobilizing your men, anticipating police movements, the arrival time of the Elite Four, their pokemon composition, any psychics in the area, nearby trainer strength, and location—of which had twenty other factors tied in with it alone. In an urbanized area like the huge cities in Unova or Kalos, that made planning for unknowns that much harder.

Of course they could be hasty and half-ass an attempt, which would royally fuck his plans over considerably, but Unova was as tame as Hoenn about as much as a Skitty was a Luxray. They were both felines, yes, but one of them could tear your damn throat out and literally make your heart explode. And the Unovan Field Operatives were the Luxrays; they did not fuck around. UFOs were armed and more than capable of putting people down, be it with pistols or their pokemon. The region had a long history of war, and Unovans weren't above violence to take down threats, if that botched meeting with the Sinnohan representatives a few months ago was anything to go by.

Taking that into consideration, Riven figured that the bigshots would think things through before rushing in blindly. Assuming the mercs already did reconnaissance in the area-which they should have if they weren't garbage at their job-then that would mean he had a time window of two weeks, maybe three depending on how they were managing the scouting and if they wanted to throw the police or anyone on their tail off—all of which was also conjecture, because if they had performed the preliminary scouting, then they would have already acted by the time he arrived in Castelia. Or within a timeframe that still left him in a position where damage control would be a priority rather than a last resort. They still needed to get to Nimbasa from Castelia, which was no small stretch either.

Bloody distances. Sometimes he wished he could teleport. He really freaking did. Disadvantages sucked.

On the flip side, and with luck-if he dared for once count on that sorry excuse for a boon- they'd be held up by travel time like he was. The jump from Hoenn to Unova, and even worse, Kalos to Unova, was one that even a Metagross couldn't take and a Garchomp couldn't fly to without dropping out of the sky of exhaustion, meaning more conventional forms of travel as opposed to remarkably convenient teleports or long distance flying.

Miles of sea separated the regions, and a long stretch of continent blocked off the region from a direct route by water, and the northern winds found near Unova and Sinnoh iced over the wings of planes and airships, making air travel dangerous at best in the winter. Weather wasn't really an issue in Hoenn, being in the tropics, but it was a harsh reality in the northern hemisphere and to a lesser extent, the southern.

He leaned an elbow on the railing, still mulling it over. "Unovan cities have large buildings, perfect for surveillance… lots of windows-"

A jolting wind of cold touched his fingers and he recoiled back, easing up when he saw who was responsible. White Queen blew some cold air into his face with an evil cackle, Boagrius smiling happily on her back in his sun form.

Moving from her back, the cloud pokemon perched himself atop Riven's head, a strangely warm blob of squishy matter. It made Riven look ridiculous but he didn't really mind. "CAST!"

"Nice to see you too, Boag. Take it easy on the shouts, you made the glass on the windows vibrate just now," Riven chided lightly, bobbing his head sideways. The Castform didn't budge, still smiling brightly.

Haona grunted, motioning to the translator hanging on the strap of his pack with a claw. She twirled the bang of fur on the side of her head. "Sooool."

"And you. Stop insulting me, I'm your trainer, brat. Need something?" Riven asked. He'd gotten better at understanding them without it lately, but he didn't quite get everything they said. Turning it on with the push of a button, he settled the translator around his ears, moving Boagrius' very light body with a hand to make way for the headset.

"Not really," Haona said listlessly, the electronic voice of a young woman replacing her growls and low hisses. "I've already seen a ship already. I'm really bored of walking around."

"Did you try the lower decks where all the other pokemon are?"

"You try walking around alone being me," she shot back sourly. She growled again, coming out as a half whine of frustration with the synthetic voice. "The sailors looked at me once and started praying. Pfft. Humans."

Ah, that's right. Sailors were as paranoid as they were vulgar. An Absol was a grim sign on land. On the sea? Better bet they prayed. Not that it would help, you know, given the implications of what his permanent vacation into the future entailed.

A fleeting thought came to Riven, a random tidbit of information he'd picked up in the Lumiose library. Apparently an Absol was sighted uncharacteristically near the S.S Cactus shortly before it departed, hit a giant iceberg and went under; and well- needless to say, no one survived that. The caution was warranted.

"Where's Aine and Baron?" Riven wondered instead, deciding not to disagree with her or entertain the thought that he could potentially die of exposure in Jellicent inhabited waters. The water near Unova was damn cold, being up north. "We can head down there if we get everyone together. That way the sailors won't start blaring the alarms and people will reasonably keep their shit intact and not lose it."

Haona nodded, checking off Boagrius-who was still firmly planted on Riven's head- while trying to recall where the others were."Baron's with Gale, practicing or something. I don't know. Aine is-"

She seemed to think about it for a moment, then paused as her eyes traced a blur of red and beige feathers, the cheerful cry of a child floating into her ears shortly after a familiar Blaziken shot up into the air like a bullet.

"-giving children nightmares," she finished blankly as she gestured with her horn.

Riven caught sight of the energetic Blaziken coming down from her jump, who looked positively enthralled with entertaining the children via building high jumps. That couldn't be healthy for the poor floor though. Metal was sunken in already. As far as he was concerned, he didn't know that Blaziken if the captain told him he had to pay for repairs.

"Kids are having fun it seems." He leaned his back toward the railing, his dour expression shifting into a mischievous grin. "But… if they somehow die, let's pretend she's not our teammate, return her, then sneak off. They'll never see it coming. We can leave dear William though, and Quil's crazy ass. Cut our losses. Just don't tell Gale, she'll skin me. Then chew me out. Not sure what's worse."

Haona snorted very loudly, sitting on her paws beside him. She scratched a claw on the polished marble of the floor, signaling for attention until her trainer finally obliged and ruffled the fur on her head. The three of them stared out at the waves in equivocal boredom. A few minutes that felt like hours droned on and Haona finally voiced her concerns.

"It's hot," she said, a slight bit irritable. Even though her white fur reflected most of the infrared rays and blinded just about everyone else, the sun bore down on them with its heat."And dull. Did I mention hot? Because it's hot."

"I'm aware that it's hot, White Queen. Be glad your fur is white."

She gave him a scowl. "Says the hairless Mankey. At least you can sweat."

"Ah right, sucks for you." She bit his leg. No reaction. "Well, we're still in the tropics but we should be going north soon. So it should get less hot. And if I'm right, it should get a little more interesting. A lot more, actually." He shrugged casually. "And we get to see a new region, that's a plus. I still need a sixth and I heard Unova has some unique pokemon. You've never been outside Hoenn, so it should be something for you."

The Absol perked her head up again. "A new teammate?"

"Eh, possibly," Riven muttered airily. "It's going to be a bit different training it if I'm not going to be doing gym battles anymore. At least not primarily."

"You mean training for more dangerous things? Like you do with Efrain?" She guessed, thinking back to Petalburg and how she didn't even think twice before bisecting that man like a fruit. "Are you sure that's a good idea? We're used to it but…"

"Yeah," he said solemnly. "I'll have to if I keep going with this. These assholes aren't the good kind of people you can leave walking around alive. Although… I would like to give it some pokemon battle experience also, so it doesn't accidentally kill something if I somehow get into a friendly spar. I've seen combat trained pokemon, and it's safe to say none of you are like that. They don't know remorse, or love. And saying you're sorry that you blew another pokemon's face off works very poorly."

"I agree, combining fighting, lethality, and the verge of death is something that should only be fun to our trainer!" Boagrius laughed boisterously, drawing the attention of the people around them. "I must say, however, that not having any life threatening event in our immediate proximity makes things dull. So dull!"

"I'd normally deny it since I usually end up in the hospital, but you're kind of right. Everything feels too… peaceful. To think I imagined this as an ideal life. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Funny how life turns out," Riven chuckled. He stood, taking one last look at the tranquility of the sea and deciding it could wait. There was still six more days of it left anyways. "Since you're both as bored as I am, let's go collect the others and head down, then find a couple of trainers for you to thrash into the floor. How does that sound?"

Haona's mood lit up and Riven felt Baogrius growing a bit warmer at the mention.

Ripping Aine away from the multitude of mini humans that wanted to go Blaziken bungie jumping, Riven and most of his team descended to the pokemon arena. The entire area was fortified with thick steel walls specially built for collateral damage from battles and could even house the largest of pokemon, judging from the Steelix he could see slamming its poor opponent face-first into the floor.

There were trainers and pokemon scattered just about everywhere, with explosions and shouts ringing throughout the entire arena. Several stands were erected on the edges of the arena, protected by what seemed to be a cutting edge forcefield that pulsed blue every few seconds, some kind of new technology developed by studying light screens and reflect. Curious, he ordered Haona to fire an ice beam at the crowd.

She did, much to their astonishment as the force field flared a bright blue as the beam made contact with it, nullifying it with only a few ice crystals dispersing throughout the air.

"Huh," Riven mused, pleasantly surprised. "That's interesting."

"You fucking asshole!" Came a voice from a man in the stands. "Are you insane?!"

Peering up at him and just as they made eye contact, Riven gave him a creepy, demented smile. The man seemed like he'd been hit by a paralyze wave. "Maybe we should try a hyper beam next."

This time not just the man turned milk white. Several other people seemed to brace, not trusting the barrier either.

"But I don't know hyper beam," Haona protested.

"He doesn't know that."

"Crazy nut job! You're a scourge on the trainer population!" The man got up and took what Riven presumed to be his son and left in a hurry, still cursing these "crazy ass trainers". The offending trainer let out a sardonic snort and shrugged when Haona regarded him with scrutiny.

"You shouldn't mess with people like that," she reprimanded.

"And yet you listened to me," he mentioned simply. White Queen was about to object but was confounded that she'd listened without a second thought, even despite knowing she shouldn't do it.

"I-I didn't think about it," she managed quietly. "Why did I do that?"

"Yeah, why did you?" He repeated, walking ahead. "That's the issue I'm seeing with trainers and their pokemon these days. Blind obedience isn't good for you. Just look where it got me. Don't listen to everything I say, sometimes I make bad decisions. At times I make terrible decisions. I wouldn't want any of you to do something you're not comfortable with. Think for yourselves sometimes, out of battle and in it. A soldier is part of a unit, but he's also his own man. Not that you are soldiers, though. If Gale heard me say that she'd definitely skin me."

He looked around just in case.

"Oh, so now you decide to give us your human trainer soldier wisdom? After you decided to do something you weren't supposed to?"

Riven held back a shitty smirk.

She scoffed. "Filthy hypocrite."

He chuckled and swayed his head to get Boagrius' attention. "Hey, will you check to see where Gale and Baron are? Look for that overgrown Pidgey and an annoying Fletchinder, eh… I'd say a giant crowd huddled around them should be a good indicator. Rare pokemon and girls attract guys like Beedrill honey attracts Teddiursas. Wish I had a water pokemon so I could spray them with a hydro pump, turn it into an experiment. How many hydro pumps does it take to sate that thirst?"

Within seconds, Boagrius had found the abnormality in an edge of the arena, where a bunch of trainers were gathered around a very nervous and frantic Gale, with Baron leering at all the older boys.

Riven made his way over, using Aine's arms to hold onto while she hopped across the arena in one leap, with Haona running ahead. The Blaziken, in a flashy display, rebounded off the wall and landed semi-gracefully beside Baron with little more than a hard step. Never mind the wall having a Blaziken's footprint embedded into it.

"Took you long enough," Baron hmphed as they touched down, "maybe now all the annoying trainers that don't care about how rare Vizi is can leave. I can read their thoughts and they make me very uncomfortable. Teenagers."

"Oh look, the pot is calling the kettle black. Maybe you should have listened to those same feelings before you went and had an egg to dump in my lap," Riven pointed out with an added hiss. "If anything, they remind me of a certain young Kirlia flipping up skirts on the beach."

"Hypooooocrites," Aine sang teasingly.

"Hey," Baron replied with a raised finger. "I learn from example. And don't you dare pull irresponsible on me, dear trainer. I will go there. And I'll give Will ideas to give you more crap. Don't make me do it. He's already asked me to give him dirt on you."

The Gallade crossed his arms and waited.

"You…" Riven stammered for words, growled when nothing came to him and flipped Baron the bird in a poor attempt to defy his defeat. "Enjoy this victory, I'll get you back, just wait. I'll smite you with the power of a thousand suns."

Aine stepped in, breaking the contest. "Help Gale first, go back to insulting each other later."

"Yes, Baron," Riven bit out. "Go back with the rest of the team you rowdy, disrespectful lecher. I'm the trainer, so I'm pulling rank. Bad pokemon. Shoo."

Flashing a smug grin, the Gallade turned around, heading back with the rest of the team.

"I still won."

"Fuck off."

Baron let out a boisterous laugh, his work was done here anyway. Riven's entrance had deterred some, but the few remaining were definitely sizing them up. Sufficiently unhappy with losing to his pokemon, Riven's scowl was intensified. Armed with his weapon, he turned to the crowd.

"Oh, it's a girl?"

"Her feathers are so glossy!"

"She's a fire and flying? Such an awesome combo!"

"You're so lucky to have a Fletchinder, when she evolves, she'll be unstoppable!"

The sight of Gale looking like she wanted to crawl away and die made Riven want to snicker. A commotion occurred at the other side of the crowd, with Haona pushing through trainers like a bowling ball. When she reached him, her fur was ruffled and unkempt, panting lightly.

With his entire team here, save for Efrain, whom he couldn't take out for safety reasons, he strode over to Gale and placed a hand on her shoulder, resulting in Riven almost getting a right cross to the mouth had he not had the foresight to back away before she reacted.

"Don't scare me like that!"

Seeing some of the more interested trainers lose a substantial amount of it once he arrived, Riven crossed his arms. "You can thank me later," he said, flicking his eyes towards the now dispersing crowd. "They're not so bold after seeing a Blaziken, Absol, and Gallade on one team. Being a guy helps too. These trainers are so desperate it's hilarious."

Gale blinked and got a wonderful idea. "Hug me," she ordered.

A brow shot up into Riven's hairline. "What?"

"Hug. Me," she whispered through clenched teeth. She just about had it with all the attention Vizi received from being a foreign pokemon, and with that attention came male gazes that wouldn't go away. "Please. I'm being smothered. Send help. And put your I'm-going-to-kill-you face on."

"Don't freeze up like a dead fish though." Riven said, hugging her tightly and mustering the greatest of death glares as she broke out into the most girly giggle he'd ever heard escape from her mouth. His face almost twisted and had half a mind not to fling her like a Banette doll.

The hug did its job though, as even more trainers suddenly lost all interest in the Fletchinder and walked away with a sour scowl on their faces. Gale exhaled in relief as they left. "Thanks."

"I said no dead fish, not spoiled Ever Grande brat." He shuddered. "That's… eugh. It was like hearing Isole laugh. Good god…"

"I had to sell it, or else they wouldn't think it was true," she reasoned, rolling her eyes. "Thug faces do keep away guys… It's like male bug spray! Brilliant! Nurse Joy's advice was sound. Thanks for the reminder."

"THUG FACE?" His growl died prematurely. "Wait, Nurse Joy told you that? Seriously?"

"Female trainer survival 102." Gale replied with a cheeky grin. "She said that befriending someone like that would keep other guys away. Solo female trainers get harassed quite a bit, and it's hardly safe. So a big, strong man scares the annoying ones away. I lucked out with you." She batted her eyelashes at him. "They think twice about trying something."

"Sometimes I wonder whether you're playing me deliberately."

She snickered as he squinted at her.

"Stop that. The innocent girl façade won't hold up with me. I'd rather you break them in half. They'll stop leering once that happens. Nothing kills their self confidence more than a woman who can kick their ass. Do what you did to that guy in Mauville, his balls fell off and he never got them back."

"I know you're only saying that because you thought it was funny."

"Exactly because I thought it was funny. Do it again."

"Yeah well, I also don't enjoy getting assault charges." She countered. "Why don't I do it to you then?"

"Hah. Train for a couple more years and you just might have a chance. By the way, where's-" A giant pillar of fire erupted on the other side of the arena, where a poor Hitmonlee was sent flying into the air, landing on the floor with a sickening crash. It writhed on the ground from its charred body, until one of the arena aides rushed over to it with a Blissey. "I'm assuming that's Will."

Couldn't be anyone else, with the molten slag covering most of that side of the arena. Howling laughter could faintly be heard as he saw black hair and a caped figure perched atop a wall of hardened lava. The blue Jolteon sparking beside him was just extra confirmation.

Riven's fingers were on the bridge of his nose before he knew it himself. Starting to become a habit around Will.

"Mmmm. He's been challenging people left and right. The trainers here vary. Some of them are as strong as Will, but a lot of them seem to be around the middle of the gym circuit, in terms of team strength," Gale assessed. "I'm pretty sure Baron alone could sweep a team."

"Unless it's a bird, then he's fucked. But I don't think I'll be battling anyone right now. Need to draw up the plans in my skull." He framed a square on his forehead with his fingers. "Haona is up for it though, she's been itching to battle all day. Mind taking the reins? Get your frustrations out? Thinking about blue Jolteons give me brain-splitting migraines."

Haona trotted over, red eyes pleading. The brunette laughed and couldn't help but accept, scratching the back of her head. "Who to beat into the ground first, though? I'd hate to Growlithe-puppy kick newer trainers."

And definitely not with Riven's pokemon, who probably qualified as Victory road level from the amount of non-stop training they did for a three whole years. Haona was fast enough to run down herds of Tauros at full speed, and was even able to keep up with Flannery's Rapidash, who was a certified Elite level pokemon. Her razor winds alone shredded groups of trees and her night slash had the power to make an Aggron double over. Without sword's dance.

"Well…" Riven mused, "I suggest against that smug prick over there that's been undressing you with his eyes this entire time. Teach him a lesson about being a creepy bastard. Meanwhile I, will go observe from a distance, and break my mind trying to figure something out."

"Obsess over it and it'll just make you crazier than you already are. If that's possible," Gale mentioned idly, releasing most of her team and beckoning Vizi over from playing with a Pidgeotto about her age. "Go take a nap or something. And don't pace around, it makes people nervous. It makes me nervous. Relax for once, we're on a cruise, enjoy yourself! And try to ignore Seren's… odd color."

He grunted, but in fear of having her lecture him, was convinced to forget about the impending doom and retreated to the stands, taking Boagrius and Baron along with him. Aine preferred to stay in the arena, playing tag with some of the other pokemon scattered about.

Haona and Gale shined with excitement as they battled the creeper in a two on two match, with Vizi as the other participant on Gale's side.

Some members of the audience cheered, and Riven began to clap as well, not just for Gale, but for Haona. His team was powerful but-

Will it be enough?

Silly thought. It never was. And he had no idea.

---

Land. Finally.

The cruise ship had finally reached Unovan waters, with the land mass visible in the distance.

Approaching the region, Riven climbed up the flag pole, his worries alleviated slightly by the fascinating suspension bridge that connected Castelia to the southeastern part of Unova and the Pinwheel forest. Four support pillars bigger than those of the train system in LaRousse stood proudly out of the water, where descending cable-like supports curved downward to uphold the weight of the bridge below. Despite the distance, he could tell that it was massive, completely dwarfing any bridge he'd seen previously. Unova had a lot of impressive architecture from the brochure, and Black City was a wonder of technology and progress from what he'd heard.

And Castelia didn't disappoint either. Skyscrapers and huge office buildings towered in the background as they stepped onto the docks. Cars and people raced around in the streets, as if in a tremendous hurry. Lumiose was as large as Castelia, but didn't have nearly as many high-rise buildings. Made him wonder if Nimbasa had the same aura too.

Gale and Will were absolutely stupefied. Riven had to chuckle when his own pokemon looked like someone had slapped them with an iron plate. Felt good to finally be the one that didn't have to pick his jaw off the floor. While still immensely impressive, Lumiose had dulled the blow quite significantly.

"Center of commerce for an entire region, huh?" Riven mused as they passed by an entire street dedicated to stores and clothing outlets. Trainer accessories were on display, hanging from shop windows with various signs advertising prices and deals. Large, building size screens lined some of the skyscrapers, blaring out products and videos of Gym battles. On one of the screens, the Castelia City gym leader was trouncing his challenger as a group of people sat in the square, watching the battle with eager interest.

"The skyscrapers make the ones in Rustboro look like toys!" Gale gasped, trying to count how many windows and floors she could make out. "Is this what Lumiose is like? Everything is so… wow."

Riven rotated in a complete circle, quickly taking in the scenery around him. "Like Lumiose? No, not really. For one, the buildings are smaller in Lumiose but there's a lot more of them and it has a sort of… classy feel? Here you can feel the energy, the rush. Not as homely as Lumiose though, or as fancy. This is as urban as it gets. There's a reason people go to Lumiose for romantic escapades," he said, shaking his head with a wry smile. "Alleyways are similar though… Bet there are thugs everywhere hiding in them. Every city like this has its fair share of scum."

"Lucia wasn't lying," Will said, peering into a shop window. Seren mimicked him, cocking his head sideways at a figurine of a Jolteon, pawing at the glass. "There's all sorts of stuff here! It's like a bigger Slateport!"

"Only Slateport isn't so cold," Gale said, shivering. The air was chilly, being in the middle of winter. There wasn't any snow yet, but it was likely it would start soon enough. Riven and Gale were dressed in thicker clothing meant for the cold, while Will was walking around in shorts and a light sweater. He didn't appear at all bothered by the chill. And why would he? The guy was perfectly fine when Isole almost turned them into ice blocks.

"Castelia's impressive, but we can sight-see later." Riven scratched the side of his head with a finger. "We should find a pokemon center and link our pokedexes with the regional map first. We'll need it when we head to Nimbasa. And to be honest, I also want some Pignite ribs. I'll blame the port in Will's hometown for that." He looked around with a hum. "Think there's a restaurant around here? I'm damn hungry."

"Oh, that's right!" Will piped up, knowing exactly what shop Riven was referring to. He went to it often whenever he visited the port. The dish was Unovan in origin, so the food as a rule of thumb had to be better directly from the source. "We can get the original here—the pure Pignite ribs. But-"

The two boys focused their gaze on Gale, who returned a flat look. "You want to use my pokedex to find the restaurant, right?"

"Yes. It has nice 3D models. And directions that actually work in cities."

She sighed, not bothering to attempt dissuading the two. Pignite ribs did sound fairly delicious, especially after eating that ship food for a straight week. "To the pokemon center then… but you're buying," she said, addressing Riven. "Your idea, your treat."

Nodding, they found the pokemon center nearest to them several blocks east, syncing their pokedexes with the city and regional maps. Leaving their essentials there, they found the restaurant in a shopping mall and began to eat while planning their next move.

"So, when are Seab and Amy getting here?" Riven asked, holding up a rib. "If they're coming at all, that is. I hope Amy isn't too pissed about it. I assume you know how she gets. My mouth still remembers."

"She wasn't too bothered, actually," Gale replied, slipping Seren a piece of her food under the table. "They both said they wanted to visit Unova some time, but they weren't too thrilled about it coming from you."

"That definitely makes me feel better," he said dryly. "Mind I ask why, they would think such a thing of me? I'm the harbinger of peace and prosperity—the very symbol of tranquility and pacifism," he followed up with a perfect deadpan. A deadpan which couldn't contain the stupid grin that threatened to form on his mouth while Will gagged and almost sprayed his drink over the table.

"Symbol of tranquility. Hah! That's a nice joke. You know exactly why."

Images of explosions, Scyther, lightning, ruined city squares and getting shocked to the point of paralysis passed through his mind.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," he said innocently.

"And I'll believe that when the sky turns green," she huffed with a glint of humor. "I think they should be here already, they left for Unova around the same time we did. And there's way too many docks in the port to find them there so they said to meet up in the Central Plaza—it's a central location and anyone who goes there probably won't pay any mind to four trainers sitting around with their pokemon, so no worries about people overhearing. I'll call her after we finish up here."

"Who're Amy and Seab?" Will wondered, sufficiently recovered from his episode. "Friends of yours?" He held up a hand before Riven and Gale could utter a word. "Are they Riven's friends or your friends, Gale?"

She waited to finish chewing before answering. "Uhm… is that important?"

"Yes."

"Err, both? I-uh, met them through Riven but they've talked to me over the years so… I guess they're more my friends?" She didn't seem too sure.

"Okay. Because Riven's idea of friends are people that want to kill him." Of course, after his little test back in Mt. Pyre, he was one of them too now. Details, details.

Riven looked at him, mouth full of meat and sweet oran and honey sauce, "Amy punched me in the mouth then had her Grovyle hold a leaf blade to my neck. That's how I- no, that's not right… How they introduced themselves to Gale. Through me." Waggled a hand in the air, talking about it like it was the weather. "Sort of. If that makes any sense? Gale became friends with them after me and Amy nearly murdered each other in a public event. She's generally friendly though—most of the time at least. Think of it as intimate bonding, only with mutually assured hatred. Oh and that was right before the dragon festival, for extra trauma points."

Will was completely unsurprised. "See, this is what I mean." He pursed his lips and took out his phone. "I should call Lucia soon too. But how do I explain this to her and not have the rest of the Unovan Field Operative division breathing down my ass?"

"Welcome to my world," Riven remarked sarcastically. "Where you get screwed by anyone and anything while everything goes wrong. Where is she stationed? Assuming she's not part of the investigation divisions that roam around the place. That'd be easier for us- What?"

Will's face contorted, like he'd just bitten into an Iapapa berry. He set his phone gently down on the table and took a prolonged drink of water.

Riven shared a sigh with Gale as they both figured what he was about to say. "I'm hoping you're going to say Nimbasa for convenience purposes, but I guess I'll just pretend it is to make myself feel better." He just knew that she'd probably be somewhere halfway towards nowhere. And as the universe tended towards of a maximum of "fuck you", it obliged.

"She's in Iccirus city," Will said in a dispirited tone.

Glanced at the map.

"Shit."

"That's across the region," Gale pointed out, grimacing also. A holographic display of the region appeared before the table, with the location of Iccirus flashing in green. "Hundreds of miles away. Even flying it'd take weeks with rests. Riven, I really wish you could teleport."

He held up his cup of water in defeat.

Yup, perpetual fuck-you circle. Universe never disappoints.

"Well, that certainly screwed things," Riven deadpanned. "Even if she's in the frozen ass end of Unova, see what you can do with her, Will. I doubt she'll leave her post unless we stress the urgency of this and get her superiors to listen to us but if we want to use the UFOs and get them on our side, we'll have to be careful. Scratch that, Plan B. Get the UFOs to listen to us, preferably in their field office at Nimbasa. You and Gale could be just as you are, trainers from Hoenn. Since you know Lucia, that establishes some trust. Should be enough to get through the door at least. If they don't think you're in on it and stupidly arrest you first.

"Well, I have eight badges," Will stated simply. "Should make them think better."

"Never know. Still, it means you're a capable trainer that has the authority to get involved in large scale conflicts. Even if you're foreign. I know Unova dislikes foreigners, but I also don't think they'll turn a blind eye to that."

"What about me?" Gale wondered, zipping down her jacket to reveal her badges. "I've got six."

"As long as you have more than five, you can get involved without repercussions. Although they might withhold information from you. Honestly though, I don't expect the UFOs to believe anything you two have to say, considering we have no concrete evidence, just here-say. And trainers are not officials. That's not even going to explaining how they know about this. They'll definitely try to question it out of you. We know these guys exist, but they don't. And they know even less about how dangerous they are."

"So basically, our story has to not sound full of shit. That'll be easy," Will remarked sarcastically, "so where do you come in then? You're the grand architect of the plan. Planning isn't an excuse to be a lazy ass."

"I'll think of something. Both of you might not agree with it though… They might not believe a couple of trainers barely out of their twenties, but with what I'm thinking of, heads will turn." I hope. "I'll wait for nighttime-that's when I'll start looking for information. Not now though, it's still daylight out," Riven replied, standing up. "Are we done? We need to meet Amy and Seab before it gets dark out."

Heading to the Central plaza in the middle of Castelia, one of the only places in the city with an abundance of trees and actual grass, the three sat on a bench, waiting.

Within twenty minutes, they noticed a Staraptor fly high into the air, where it signaled with a wing and loud cry. A blue-haired young man and a blonde girl with a spiky ponytail appeared a minute later, greeting them with a wave as Gale stood and returned the gesture. Riven and Will remained seated, the former indifferent and the latter a slight bit curious.

The blonde girl gave Gale a tight hug, and the other one simply smiled, directing his attention to Riven and Will instead. He raised a blue brow upon seeing Riven, then Will, who was equally as lost. A large, scowling Manectric and a Lucario flanked the guy, while an Ampharos and a Mawile could be seen behind the blonde.

"Oh crap, is that Riv?" Amy asked Gale, astonished to see him after the events of the Dragon Festival. Green eyes beamed as she stood over him. "You look so different! Last I heard you got arrested."

How does she even go from looks to getting arrested so easily? Oh wait, it's Amy.

"Briefly," Riven replied simply. "Then, uh, things happened."

"Ah-huh," she said, not convinced at all. She folded two fingers in the air repeatedly. "Things."

"Yes, things. Though it's nice to see you too, Amy. It's been what? Nearly five years now? Jak evolved and- a Mawile? Nice choice. I'd say you look different too, but that spiky ponytail is still there. And Seab… damn you grew. How old are you now?"

He held up a friendly hand. "Twenty. Almost twenty one. Also, I bloomed late." He took a glance at Gale and lowered his voice to a whisper, leaning in. "I'm not the only one, right?"

"That you're not."

"Anyway, who's this?" Seab asked, holding a hand out to Will. "I'm Seab."

"Will, Riven's friend."

They shook hands, and Seab sat down on the bench with them. Amy then introduced herself to Will, to which he absently shook her hand too. Quickly settling down, they got right down to business.

"So, skipping unnecessary stuff first, what's this about, Riven?" Amy asked. "Calling someone to another region is pretty serious."

"And strictly private, isn't it?" Seab deduced. He caught the subtle question in Riven's glance. "You're going to the authorities afterwards, and us first. It has to be serious, and partly outrageous."

Refuting that was pointless. Riven nodded, his expression growing grim. "Outrageous barely skims the surface, to be honest." Paused, searching for words. Start with the basics first, something generic. "That light in Driftveil. Did you two see it? It was on the news a week ago, before Gale called you. Even in Hoenn."

"So it does have something to do with that," Amy mused, fixing her ponytail. "We both had a feeling. How important?"

"I'm not going to tell you how important it is. I'm going to show you. And when we do-" he gestured to Will, "-it should be very clear to you why we're doing this."

Intrigued, Amy and Seab followed them to the rooftop of one of the abandoned buildings in a far off part of Castelia. Thugs roamed in corners and gave them looks, but one look at their pokemon turned them away instantly. Here they were away from prying eyes, and no one would take any mind to a skirmish or two on the streets. Especially not one atop a building in an area with telltale signs of battles in the past. It wasn't fixed yet so that must have meant the city cared little about this part of town. Quite depressing, but that's how things worked.

On the roof, Riven and Will backed away from the other three, with pokemon standing in between the space to use protect if needed. Grumpy, Ren, and Jak eyed both of them with the same scrutiny as their own trainers, clearly not expecting anything. Beside Gale, Riven's team smirked, along with Will's, who simply waited for the shock and dropping of jaws.

"What do they want to show us?" Amy asked Gale.

The brunette placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Just wait. But I suggest you prepare for a lot of questions. After the initial shock, that is."

"Shock?"

Gale directed her attention back in front with a hand, stepping back. The blonde nodded, believing Gale and turning back towards the other two. It was then she noticed Riven taking off what seemed to be a necklace made of shining pink stones from under his shirt. Seab's eyes widened, recognizing what they were.

"Diancie stones…" he muttered almost wordlessly.

Once they were off, Riven shared an almost sorrowful look with Amy, who was in turn perplexed.

"Amy," he started, shifting his body. He breathed in deeply, as if distracted by something. "Remember what happened back in Petalburg? What scared you away about me? That I didn't feel right?"

And suddenly she did, remembering that blood red eye and that horrible feeling of something wrong—something sinister that made her skin crawl and her spine tingle. For a fleeting moment, it was as if she'd seen a force of evil; a demon in human form. His words registered and she managed a frightful croak before that wave of negativity erupted from his body in blackish wisps of darkness, seemingly blacking out the light of the city.

The same eye glowed back at her, and a growl that could barely register as human came from Riven. Hunched over, he shook his head furiously. The aura of dread and hatred receded, still present but subdued, leaving only anxiety and the sensation of uneasiness. Ren had already placed his paws in the opening form of an aura sphere, compelled to extinguish the evil on sight. Grumpy crackled with electricity while Amy's Mawile began to visibly hiss, the fairy in her reacting towards the corruption.

"Seem familiar?" Riven asked, forcing it out with some difficulty. "Hard to control… too much negativity here. Lots of fuel here—in this part of the city, resentment. It's bad..." A sudden snarl and he pointed a finger at Amy and the others, darkness collecting at the tip. Their pokemon reacted instantly, forming protective barriers to shield their trainers.

"Riven, wait! Stop!" Seab called, unable to prevent Ren from firing. An aura sphere left the Lucario's palms, heading straight towards Riven. "Move! That aura sphere can kill you!"

Riven smiled savagely, and released.

A howling blast of concentrated darkness blackened the air and carved along the floor, colliding with the aura sphere momentarily before blowing past it, weakening the pulse but failing to stop it. The trainers braced but were left speechless when it never made it to the protective shields formed by the other pokemon.

Will stood before them, spewing a flamethrower of fire from both closed fists so hot it shimmered the air around them, lighting up the sparsely lit area in a flare of bright orange. They could feel the heat just standing behind him. His hands and feet were enveloped in flames, and his skin seemed to glow. His flamethrower evenly matched the pulse, dissipating it harmlessly into the air as darkness and fire clashed.

Riven followed with a night slash, sending a shockwave of condensed darkness with a deft movement of the wrist, which had formed a black protrusion of condensed… shadows? No, darkness? Whatever it was, the blade was devoid of light. The shockwave was met by a spinning kick laced with flames, producing its own traveling shockwave of fire.

The same as before occurred, with both attacks canceling each other harmlessly. Will's fire went out with a flick of his arms and legs, and he tossed Riven the Diancie necklace. As soon as Riven put it back on, the sinister aura around him was completely gone, his posture straightened, and the snarling stopped. Red returned to a deep blue and he shook his head out, groaning with a migraine.

"God, I hate doing that. And in cities… ugh. Thanks Will." Will went over and clapped him on the back, putting his shoes back on. "What?"

Seab, Amy, and their respective pokemon could only stare in flabbergasted shock, managing only stupid stammering and monosyllabic babbling.

Gale smiled at both of them, producing a bag of industrial grade adhesive from her trainer bag.

---

"How do you get up to this shit?" Amy incredulously demanded, furiously slamming down some cash to pay the poor cashier at the Castelia cone stand.

Licking his own cone, Riven chuckled in amusement. Seab mirrored the question, only with less intensity and more far-off looks. He hadn't even touched his cone yet. "Believe it or not, it gets better. Let's go somewhere where there isn't a huge line of people glaring at us. Getting dark soon too."

In the pokemon center rental room, the four trainers and a few of their smaller pokemon sat around on their beds, finishing up their Castelia cones.

"This cone is really good," Will said.

"It really is," Riven agreed.

"Unova is so wonderful!"

"Such a nice-"

"Cut the shit," Amy said. She pointed her cone at Will like a spear. "You just shot fire out of your fucking legs and arms-" Changed the direction towards Riven, "-and you went full edgelord and nearly blew us to hell with a dark pulse! What the hell do you mean, humans can evolve?! That's…" She swiveled her arms frantically, which Seren tried to mimic with his paws. "That's impossible."

Channeling the same playfulness at her incredulity as Birch did when he first met him, Riven clapped a hand on Will's shoulder. "Here's to your impossible then."

Will backed that statement by blowing out a breath of flame at her, melting some of her cone. He tried incredibly hard to keep a straight face when she bit into the cone as hard as she could, refusing to believe her eyes.

"Now I see why this is so important," Seab muttered, having surrendered his treat to Ren. The Lucario had no objections, stoically licking the cone like it was his destiny. "Riven, you mentioned you were born like this?"

He nodded. "I'm a time traveler. Well, less of a time traveler and more of a flung-through-time-because-legendary-bullshit sort of traveler. I come from a much different, and much shittier time. A time when humans were indistinguishable from pokemon. Again, kind of."

"Like those myth stories in Sinnoh," Seab recounted, brain racing. "They were true after all…"

"Half a million years…" Amy muttered in defeat, "that shouldn't even make sense. But somehow it does."

"That might be because it's Riven you're dealing with," Gale chimed in.

"Urk… I'm going to go see the Joy in the front," Amy groaned. "I feel sick. Seab fill me in later, I need some time to piece my head back together." She stumbled out of the room in a semi-drunken stupor, followed by her Mawile, Vanilla.

"Don't seem quite as surprised as her, Seab," Gale pointed out. "Hiding something?"

"Only my shock," Seab responded bluntly. "Trust me, I'm not okay after that display, mostly because thinking that this is possible scares the daylights out of me. I'm from Sinnoh, and I know how things get when they go catastrophically wrong. And this… this is far from good."

He gripped the bridge of his nose.

"You said you were born like this, and something gigantic happened that reverted everyone into watered down knock-offs, but what about Will? His trainer card says he was born in Slateport," Seab said, pulling up his ID on his pokedex. "I know your Kalosian ID is an incredibly well-made forgery, Riven, but his is authentic."

"And there's the problem," Riven said. "He was born here. But he was turned into a fire-type. Has all the weaknesses and strengths of them, able to withstand high temperatures and even below freezing. His skin doesn't burn and his idea of lukewarm is boiling. Also stronger and faster than an average human. Much more. Not a temporary power-up device, Seab, he really did evolve. Permanently."

"He looks normal at a glance, though."

"Evolution works differently for us. Just look at me. Sure, I have mismatched eyes but I'm told that's a genetic issue. Otherwise I look completely normal. That's where we differ from pokemon, while they change form, we don't. Regardless, what changed Will was something I've been following for years now, along with the help of Steven Stone, you might know him."

"You know the ex-champion?!" He looked towards Gale, who just smiled back- no, beamed even. "B-but-h-how?"

"Granted, I met him before I knew who he was," Riven explained. "But that's not important. What's important is that whatever happened to Will was caused by a human creation from a lost civilization that disappeared mysteriously over twenty thousand years ago. We've found artifacts and puzzles from them, spanning several different regions and remote locations. Global society and it just vanished. It's weird. They were able to create some sort… sphere that acts like an evolution stone for regular people. One touch and you evolve, like giving an Eevee a thunder stone or a fire stone."

Seren gave a happy yip.

"That light in Driftveil? It's the same as the one that shot into the air from the ruins me and Will were in when he evolved. The spheres are keys, but evolution stones as well. They have to be handled with gloves or from people who've already evolved, triggering some sort of stored flashbacks. Steven speculated that they did more than just evolve people."

"Hmmmm," Seab rubbed his chin. "Already evolved… You said that… No…"

Riven, Gale, and Will grinned as they saw the idea take root in the blunette's mind.

"These people that you're tracking, they want this power. Humans with the power of pokemon… Oh god shit."

"Yeah," Riven sighed. "We don't know what they want, but one of them spoke to me and what he said made me uneasy. He talked about freedom, and how everyone deserves it."

Seab froze. Memories of his parents distressing came to him, and sparse bits of the Sinnohan news filtered in from the recesses of his brain. "Unova… Sinnoh. The Sayre cult and the Plasmas. They both wanted freedom for something. Different and utterly twisted goals but the same concept. A collusion?"

"While that would be an unholy nightmare, it's unlikely," Riven said. "Their goals oppose each other. No, it's more like the two sides are being used by the bigger one, Singularity. They're up to some shit, crossing regional borders everywhere and stirring up trouble that just seems unrelated. They're nothing like the past teams, Seab. At least the past teams had belligerent idiots that allowed a single kid to defeat them. I'd have shot the kid and moved on."

"That's why you need the UFOs? You are planning to get them involved, right?"

"No other choice really. I wish I could say that we'd be enough and win through heart, spirit, and determination of the self, but that's not how real life works. They have numbers, planning, resources, and the preemptive strike advantage. We're reacting to them so it's going to take a lot more to fuck up their plans. And the UFOs are great for that. Or at least, they can salvage more should everything go up in flames."

"How exactly do you plan on telling them what's going to happen? You can't walk into the field office in the cities and definitely not the pokemon league HQ and suddenly get them on your side. Gym leaders are unaffiliated with them too, so that's out. And will you mention anything about the spheres?"

"I have some ideas." Riven slouched forward, elbows on his knees. "As for the spheres… I was hoping to keep that a secret, hopefully the threat of Sinnoh 2.0 and the revival of the more extreme Plasmas will get them to listen."

"And Will's sister is a field operative," Gale cut in. Will nodded. "She might get us a hearing."

"Sure, but-"

"The UFOs aren't the rangers, Seab," Riven said, recounting the reports he'd spent hours reading in the Kalos library. "Back a few months ago, they were able to calm the situation down when that plasma protest went awry. Quickly too. Rangers are good when it comes to pokemon and keeping order on the routes, but the UFOs are trained and precise. They'll be far more equipped to deal with this sort of thing. Hilbert and Hilda may have been the trainers that brought down the Plasma's higher ups, but the UFOs cleaned up the remnants and broke up their connections."

Seab peered down at the floor in deep thought. "So what are me and Amy going to do? Stay here in Castelia?"

"That was my intention, yes. Singularity has an infatuation with blitz attacks, and I don't doubt they'll be ready to divert attention by attacking Castelia in case Nimbasa gets tampered with. There's more valuable things here than in Nimbasa, so naturally the Elite Four would be inclined to protect this place first." Riven hmphed. "Question is what are they planning?"

He walked up to the window and opened the curtain, noting that it was dark out. Taking out a large bag from under the bed, he opened it to reveal dark clothes and a mask that covered everything but his face. It had a Sableye pattern but it was painted a solid black, with a dark grey visor that obscured the eyes from view.

"What's that?" Will asked. "A mask? With a visor? Visors are cool."

Riven ignored him. Hoisting the bag up to his shoulder, he started towards the bathroom.

"I need information. And I know generally where to find it. Kalosian smuggling routes often had Unovan partners, and I still remember some of the locations that I'd heard about," Riven said quickly, stepping into the bathroom. "Castelia is a port city, so smugglers have to have lookouts and watchers to notice any peculiar activity. I probably won't get any information about Singularity here, but it'll establish a base here in Unova for me to work with. Should take about a night or two."

Seab looked at Gale and Will with a face that begged for answers. The girl shrugged impassively. "You get used to it," she whispered. "He did some things in Kalos for three years. Hasn't told me the whole story yet either."

"Don't think we want to know," Will added. "Probably going to go stab someone right now."

Riven returned wearing a dark longcoat, hair pushed back with the mask hiding everything but his mouth. Efrain was behind his back, which Will imagined probably gave him a sinister silhouette in the dark.

"Ooooooh, you got a longcoat too," Will noticed. "Who're you supposed to be? Because this Riven has a much cooler fashion sense. Suits you better than those vests and hoodies, so lame."

Riven walked up to Will and stuck his middle finger into Will's forehead.

"Prime. The name I made for myself as a mercenary, and yes, the longcoat is very cool. I didn't wear it in Hoenn because it's stuffy as hell in the heat." He grunted, going back to the topic at hand before he backhanded Will with his other middle finger. "I think the Unovan smugglers here will definitely know who I am. I did screw up their business partners in Kalos; the Unovan trade routes and Kalosian ones are very acquainted."

"And you're just going to walk in there? They'll kill you on sight," Seab reasoned. "I know you can handle yourself given what you told us about your past, but seriously, they might have guns. Is that a good idea?"

"Not in the slightest!" Riven smirked wryly, drawing a long sigh from the Sinnohan. Will snorted. "I'll be back in a couple of hours. When I do, I'll let you all know the rest of the plan based on what I find out. In the meantime, Will, contact your sister before she goes to bed. Seab, go find Amy and bring her back to Earth. Gale… uh, how many hyper potions do you have? By any chance?"

"…Why?"

"Reasons?" He laughed nervously. The sight was incredibly odd, having a guy dressed in dark clothing with two swords behind his back and a mask laughing like that. Almost made him seem harmless. They all knew better.

"Are you trying to take my stockpile?" She accused, guarding her bag. "Go buy your own!"

"I used all mine on the ship and I forgot to buy more. If I went to go buy some dressed like this I'd get arrested. Can I? Please?"

Her glare had the intensity of a storm. She glowered and threw the bag at him. "I hope it's painful. And pay me back, you ass!" She huffed quietly, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Drives me nuts sometimes…"

"I don't think questioning insanity is a good idea for my mental health but why did he take hyper potions if he left most of his team here?" Seab blinked, pointing to the drawer after Riven jumped out of the window and disappeared.

Will and Gale snapped to the drawer, where Riven's entire team save Efrain, were safely inside their pokeballs. Not on him.

"That fucking idiot," Will bit out, slamming a hand on his forehead. Gale couldn't help but follow. "What was the point then?"

"Why does he do this… He's going to cheat. Just like Forina... he's insane," Gale replied languidly, climbing up the bunk to go to bed. "If you're wondering, it's like a video game character. Only this time it hurts, and you can still die of blood loss."

"I don't follow," Seab said. Cheat? How does that work?

"Basically… auh," she suddenly got very lethargic. "They don't just have pokemon abilities," Gale said, beginning to yawn. "Riven and people like him can use pokemon based medicines and items to heal themselves. It really is unfair. He cut into his arm and used a hyper potion back on Mt. Pyre, bled all over the place-healed right back up. I gave him the idea that gave him ideas. I've learned giving him ideas is a bad idea."

"You're now just realizing th-"

Seab and Will froze, one in thinking about the possibilities of such a thing, and the other in piecing together Riven's plan.

A savage grin spread over Will's face.

"Oh… ho-ho-ho..."

Seab's mouth hung agape. The two Gale traveled with seemed like evil master and evil protégé, with her being the only sensible one in the group; and even that was pushing it, she hardly seemed fazed by their antics.

"And another one falls," Gale snickered as she closed her eyes. "Good night, boys."

God, Seab thought to himself. I just thought I'd be a normal trainer…

But he half-figured that Riven had a way of taking everything normal and utterly destroying it. Never a dull moment with him—and by not dull he meant close to death. And now, now he was conspiring to work against a shadowy organization that had no compunctions about ending anyone, and he was in a far off region where everyone gave him a judgmental eye for being foreign. In over his head hardly seemed proper to describe the situation, a situation that was a bloody hurricane waiting to happen.

Getting a throb in his brain, Seab finally stood up to go find Amy. Or well, join her in being at a loss for words, his head was hazy enough as it is and his legs wobbled like a rundown house in a storm. He groaned, taking Ren and Grumpy with him to the mess hall, where Amy sat with a fist on her chin and an intense look of focus. He sat down beside the female Plato and sighed.

This is going to be like watching a trainwreck. Only from inside the train. Arceus, help me.

---

Riven returned at sunrise, clothes stained red and his hands bloodied. He looked unperturbed as he climbed into the window, nearly giving Gale and Amy a heart attack, calmly hopping inside. They were having tea with each other and Amy instinctively flung it at him, already reaching for her pokeballs. Luckily, Baron stopped the tea- liquid and all- with a light use of psychic and returned it to her hand once Gale reassured Amy that it was Riven and not a creep that had climbed through the window randomly.

The blonde then sat back down, holding her chest from the scare.

They noticed the blood on his hands and some trickling down his forehead after he removed the mask.

"You're bleeding," Gale pointed out, examining him. He appeared to have received a clubbing to the head, most likely a pipe.

He backed away from Gale, muttering that he was fine. "Doesn't hurt. I'll just use a potion and wipe off the blood."

"What did you do, Riven?" They both asked. Amy was far more disturbed than Gale was, but she was withholding her judgment for the time being.

"Got some information," he replied vaguely. "Running around in Kalos for three years got me some names. Helps when you know where to look for scum. I didn't think it would be handy, but it was today. The guys I questioned were… uncooperative. Fixed that quite easily, but I did find something."

There was talk of another Plasma rally in Nimbasa two weeks from then; an event that likely would be used to capitalize on the panic and give Singularity another scapegoat to take the fall. Protests weren't exactly a secret thing, but plasma supporters hardly advertised their activities.

Within a day; Will, Riven, and Gale prepared their supplies to cross the desert route, while Seab and Amy stayed behind in Castelia in case they heard anything. Their role was to comb through pokemon centers and trainer circles for any suspicious behavior. The problematic thing about that was that many trainers did bizarre things on a whim, and it was hard to pinpoint any extremely worrying behavior.

Route 4 was similar to the Mauville desert in well, being a barren wasteland designed by nature to be an unforgiving bastard. Sandstorms raged constantly along the route, but with less intensity than Mauville's. Gale grimaced at the sight, but Will reassured them both with a nod.

Rika was a Flygon, which had saved them a considerable amount of time and potential disaster. Having had a close brush with the power of the desert before, Riven and Will doubled up on everything, not making the fatal mistake of underestimating the desert and its best friend, the law of Murphy.

Or its corollaries. Especially those.

They ended up not needing the extra water and supplies, since Rika could control sandstorms to even allow Emile and Kyne to fly safely through the small pocket of undisturbed air she created as she flew near them. They were able to get to Nimbasa in less than two days, stopping at a small settlement for rest and a meal.

Nimbasa was much like they'd been told. Bustling, with people smiling and dancing and awestruck; completely unaware of the danger they faced just being here. Riven's travel companions and their pokemon were equally concerned, a collection of frowns among a sea of smiles and grins. The happiness in the air felt like a blanket.

After all, if everything was going right, he obviously didn't know what the hell he was doing, and at that moment nothing had exploded, malfunctioned, or went up in metaphorical flames yet. This was worrying. Very worrying. The roof hadn't caved in from a coincidental sandstorm at the settlement, and the flight to Nimbasa afterwards was uneventful. And now—now he was here in the middle of the entertainment capital of the world, surrounded by enough happiness to give him cavities.

The first snag they hit was one they anticipated fully. Will had called Lucia, and the short of her response was, "hell no". Her posting had been relatively new and she neither had the clout nor the connections to do what Riven had planned. Coaxing the phone number from her, Gale and Will had found themselves calling the UFO office multiple times, to the point that an agent and his partner were dispatched to stop them from calling.

Two UFOs appeared out of thin air from beside a car, wearing deep scowls. Their presence instantly made people back off.

"Can you fucking quit calling? We traced your call, damn it. Is this a joke to you?" A field operative walked up to them and motioned for Gale and Will to hand over their phones. The other man stayed by the car, pissed but ready to back his partner up. "Foreign trainers too! Hoenn natives, I can tell. You can't come to Unova and spam the field office in the bloody League HQ for god's sake. What the hell do you want? And how did you get our headquarters' number?"

"Who're you?" Will asked instead.

"You answer me, kid."

"How do I know you're a field operative?" Will shot back, confident in his ability for annoying others. Answer all questions with another question until they're so pissed they finally start answering yours. Perfect plan.

"Are you- ugh. Fine. Quinlan Turner. A field operative, obviously," the black-clad man responded irritably, holding up a badge. Even the Reuniclus floating beside him was managing a glowering scowl, even if it had a friendly, squishy face.

"Clus!" It demanded, chattering.

"Exactly, Sherry. Now, you two, start talking before I have to write up a pain in the ass report for two troublemakers who just happened to stumble upon a number they shouldn't have. And I really don't want to do that. It's almost the weekend and I'm not in the mood for this crap."

"And if we say we won't talk until you take us to the field office here in Nimbasa? What then?" Gale suggested devilishly. "Going to arrest us, sir?" She held up her hands and smiled innocently, joining Will, in being the brattiest they could be, older trainers be damned.

The field operative looked back at his partner and clenched his jaw. He dialed a number and reported the disturbance to the office, complete with colorful language. Pocketing it, he held in his rage. "I can't fucking believe this. Sometimes I wish we could shoot people for this," he grumbled. "God damn reports…"

Riven snorted very loudly from the shop he was in, pretending to view the wares. When he saw them leave with the two operatives, he headed into an alleyway and changed into his costume.

Time to get into character.

---

Again, as expected, the operatives were skeptical of Gale and Will, giving them dubious looks and appearing more interested in how good the coffee was than what they were saying. Still, they both tried and made sure to leave out any mention of the spheres and Will's unique… condition, while emphasizing the threat, albeit a little vaguely. Knowing too much would cause the UFOs to be suspicious, and that was detrimental.

"I mean, the coincidences and such do make some sense if thought about very carefully, but do you have any proof?" A female operative with an Emboar asked, speaking for everyone else in the room. "And coming to us first, why not the local police?"

"Because local police are as useful as a couple of nunchucks made of two pieces of Mightyena shit tied together on a string," came a low, raspy voice from a corner of the room, covered in unnatural shadows. Gale and Will spotted Riven, no- Prime, and feigned concern, doing as told and pretending they didn't trust him. It took one step for all the operatives and pokemon in the room to draw their guns and get ready to fight.

The mercenary's mouth curved in a toothy grin. "Now, now, my friends, you asked them if they had any proof. Well here I am. I'm the one that can clarify their story, and I needed them to get the UFOs to hear me out, otherwise I'd get arrested, and I don't want that."

He grinned savagely again, his tone growing considerably deadlier, daring. "I think I could take about half the room down before you blink. Not something I haven't done before, really." A hand drew a sword with a sharp motion, pointing it downwards and causing the operatives to tighten up, with some muttering for him to drop it. He let go of the sword, but the sentient blade began to float in the air next to him.

The floating sword surprised the ones that didn't recognize it, while the ones that did furrowed their brows and gave subtle cues to their pokemon.

Underneath the bravado, Riven was sweating bullets. He was completely fucked if he did try anything. Sure, he was fast and could use shadow sneak to surprise opponents and he could use quick attack to blink towards them, but that would A: get him dead, or B: reveal to everyone that he wasn't normal. Cue, massive explaining/interrogation. If things went worse than he expected, both. Also, bullets were fast. Very fast. Speed or strength wouldn't get him out of this one, so… it was best to make them think he was a serious threat that only let them live because of his good nature, not because he couldn't do shit at the moment.

So the only option he had left was to shoot the bull the hardest he could, and play mindgames.

In a second he disappeared without a trace, suddenly appearing behind the group, tapping the woman with the Emboar. God pursuit was fun.

Everyone in the room whipped towards him in an instant, bewildered. The Emboar just a few steps away from him breathed fire from its nostrils menacingly, challenging him. Its trainer held it back with an arm. Riven simply grinned back.

"But… I didn't come here to turn you into corpses on your home turf, after all, I need your help. First, though, let's play a little game, shall we? I call it, 'what's my name'. So, you there," he gestured to an operative in the back. "What's my name?"

The operative's grip on his pistol tightened, but he managed a firm shake of the head, still utterly calm. Riven could see people maneuvering around the sides, no doubt trying to box him in should he try anything.

He ignored the anxiety he was feeling at being cornered, and the sweat under his clothes, but continued, still displaying confident arrogance. "Don't know? Call your boss. Ask him about the Unovan-Kalosian smuggling ring under the control of a Micheal Rosswick. Ask him how that ended. Go on. It's okay."

He waited, crossing his arms as the other's swallowed tensely, giving the man in question an apprehensive nod of approval. Picking up the phone, the operative did as Prime said. Placing his superior on speaker, the entire room sat in dead silence as a voice came through. It was calm and collected, smooth as ice.

"A break in? Hmmm, I see. Odd. Am I on speaker? I am, good. Operatives, hold your fire. The man you see before you, describe him to me."

Riven bowed playfully, shifting in a half-circle so they could get a good look at him.

"Sir, he's wearing a mask. He's armed too. I assume heavily, I can't tell if he has a gun."

"What is he armed with, then?"

"Two swords, a Doublade, I believe. The sword is floating in the air. Kalosian, but he doesn't have an accent."

"Hmmm. What color are the blades?" The superior asked, desperation evident in his voice. "Are they crimson?"

The single floating sword in the air spun, the sentient yellow eye probing deep into the operative's soul. "Yes, sir. They're red. He mentioned a Micheal Rosswick."

The superior's voice paused, and audibly clicked his tongue.

"Go on," Riven egged, cackling. "What's my name?"

"That is Prime, a Kalosian mercenary that dismantled several of the most problematic crime rings in Kalos. And made a show of it. A shiny Doublade was his signature, and he left murder scenes full of dead bodies, clean and efficiently killed. He's also responsible for taking down several Aberrant-class pokemon in Kalos, so the Kalos League has given him partial protection. He's also an irreverent jackass. If he claims to be on our side, I suggest you listen to what he has to say. Keep me posted, I'll notify the other divisions."

The line went dead and every operative in the room froze, then shared an awkward glance, refocusing back on Riven.

Who began clapping, half amused by the sudden shift in the situation, and because their discomfort was palpable and quite hilarious. "Hah. You do know my name! That's good. We can skip to the next stage, then. Now if you'd kindly-"

"Stay. Back."

Entering the room, an operative with a more sophisticated uniform emblazoned with a patch on the right shoulder, warned, "I don't care if you're the champion of bloody Unova, you do not come into our field office and start throwing your reputation around. You said you wanted our help, so put the Doublade away, and don't act like you're defenseless. I've heard of you too, and I damn well know some undercover agents in Kalos who've experienced your work."

Riven was almost flattered.

"That wasn't praise."

"No such thing as bad publicity," Riven added. The higher-ranked operative remained completely impassive.

"Come with us, and you will explain to us how and why a mercenary known for cutting criminals to pieces is using trainers with squeaky clean records to go out of his way and have a personal audience with the Unovan Field Operative force. Unless you know them already, which means that this is bigger than just some smuggling ring. The meeting room is a floor above us, now drop the swords, or I'll drop you. Then, and only then can we have a civilized discussion, if that's even possible for you."

This time, it was Riven's turn to be shocked.

Knows I need them, so he's trying to take advantage of that, and I have no way of refusing. Smart.

He expected them to be good, he hadn't expected them to be this good. Finding out that law enforcement wasn't completely useless was refreshing in more ways than one. Their rep lived up to its name and he suddenly felt better about going into this. Slightly.

Conceding, Riven took out a pokeball and returned Efrain, which prompted the operatives to lower their weapons and calm their pokemon. The more decorated operative, Yates, led them and practically the entire building to the meeting room, packing it in seconds.

Riven tapped his fingers impatiently against the desk, giving the ruse that he was bored, relaxing in his chair to draw the attention to himself. Gale and Will were doing a good job of not looking at him, and instead minded their own business, no doubt feeling pressured from the situation too. While Riven looked calm, he was fully ready to shadow sneak the hell out of there at the first sign of danger. That'd be difficult since his escape route had been cut off too—another good decision made by Yates.

Yates sat down across from Riven, composed and firm, a hallmark of experience behind his slightly graying hair. "Let's not beat around the bush. Prime, Gale Serna, Will Ethne, you wanted our attention. You have it. Not only did you have one of our operatives provide you a phone number, but a dangerous mercenary with a ruthless reputation broke in without permission and somehow evaded all of the psychics we have in this building. That will be examined later." He imparted a stern glance at Will, whose red eyes were uneasy but held firm. "Lucia Ethne will face repercussions based on the severity of the issue. Is this understood? She was recruited to be an operative because of her battling prowess, despite being from another region. Jail is a possibility for her. Ruining your sister's life would be unfortunate, wouldn't it?"

Will swallowed, nodding dimly. "Is she coming to Nimbasa at least?"

"Possibly. Depending on what you tell us here. If what you say is as urgent as you're implying, then she'll teleport over here in a manner of minutes. Getting down to business, however, we're all ears. Make your claim."

"Okay then…" Riven took a deep breath, twisting his body to crack his spine. His posture straightened, and his voice lost that playful savagery he'd displayed earlier. "You've heard of the protests in Hoenn and other regions, right? The ones similar to the Plasma protests-which went catastrophically wrong, by the damn way- and the Lumiose incident?"

Yates and the other higher ranked operatives were deathly silent.

Riven threw his hands up. "Oh come the fuck on. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, you've read the files. Every regional govenment read those files, and it's been about three years. I know what happened, I was there."

A female operative with the nametag, K. Allini, gasped. "An anonymous person was listed in the report that informed Viola of the events before it happened… That was you?"

"I have been doing this for a while," Riven shrugged, to which Gale almost snorted, but held it back. She probably thinks I'm showing off.

"Point is, the guys behind this tried to pin the attack on an unstable trainer who mega evolved a fucking Tyranitar in a city square, while using a robbery and local gangs to try and confuse the police. Their plan was a trap for the police while also using that trainer as a scapegoat to avoid blame and make off with dozens of mega evolution stones and some keystones too. Those were returned later by a very unfortunate crime lord. Against his will, if you know what I mean."

He tsked in contempt.

"Regardless, the situation went wrong. I was working with limited resources, but Viola managed to wise the police up and with some help from a few other 'coworkers', the plan fell flat. They still managed their objective though, and generated some mistrust of trainers in Kalos, and hurt tourism for quite a while. The bullshit mountain the League pulled was nearly the size of Mt. Coronet, and smelled worse than a Muk."

The mention of unstable trainers drew looks of concern. Good. That meant they weren't blowing him off.

"Who is this group you're speaking of?" Yates asked, taking notes in a little notebook.

"They're called Singularity, and they're well-connected, funded, and not above hiring professionals and killers. They're also behind the Dragon Festival's incident in Hoenn." He flicked his head towards Gale. "She was there too."

Gale confirmed it when everyone else looked at her. "A blonde man was there at the festival, he replaced the pokemon eggs they normally give out with Salamence eggs. A few of my friends helped drive out the Salamence until help came. Two of them are in Castelia right now, waiting for us. In case of anything."

"Anything?" Yates questioned. "Wouldn't Castelia be a better location for a terrorist attack? Not Nimbasa?"

"You'd think so if they were trying to break Unova economically, but backup plans of backup plans are Singularity's specialty and that's not what they're after." Riven's mouth fell into a thin line. "They aren't the teams that have roamed in the past. They're methodical and intelligent. They want to send a message and cause disorder of some sort. They want the whole world to see it; Unova's just a stepping stone that happened to present itself as a perfect opportunity—plenty of past conflict, and a history of tensions with the leftovers of a team with an ideology that was hard to disagree with. But what they plan on doing for whatever reason… It involves the shitfest in Sinnoh, and showing to everyone how they could recreate it."

Yates and several others muttered amongst themselves, voices grave. "Nimbasa does have cameras in just about every location and anything that happens here is probably filmed in some form. If they were trying to take advantage of the media, Nimbasa would be the ideal target."

Riven nodded, crossing his arms. A calendar was perched on the wall. "What happens on the twenty third of this month? Is there any special event going on? One that would draw a lot of attention? Carnival? Festival? I know this place is all about entertainment but-"

One of the greener operatives, a man in his early twenties, hardly older than Riven and Gale, instantly spoke up. "Elesa's battle and fan meetup tour is exactly on that day! It's the biggest day in Nimbasa city, Elesa does it every year and the people love it, Unovans come from all around the region to see her. She's a superstar! Why?"

"Because that's the day of the protest," Will responded. "When the Plasma guys are going to stage another protest, like the one a few months ago."

The agents' faces soured just remembering that fiasco.

"All the publicity that the tour gets will draw people in and they're hoping to get their message heard," Gale added, "Trainers are going to flood in too, so if Singularity wants to blame trainers for any mishaps, they won't have to work very hard."

"Castelia also has little incentive besides the gym for trainers to stay there for prolonged periods of time," Riven said. "Want to start another Sinnoh incident? All the factors are there, and I don't doubt that if they account for law enforcement like last time, they'll set a trap for them too. If innocent people die, and they make it seem like trainers did it... things will get worse. Much, much worse. Very, very fast."

In short, a shatterpoint. Drive a wedge in it and everything splinters into tiny pieces. Not a more perfect opportunity.

"How do you know there'd be a Plasma protest on that day?" Yates asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the three, mostly Riven. "They don't reveal their plans to just anyone. How, did you get this information?"

"Field operatives have laws, jurisdictions, and morals. I don't. I also happen to know how things work in the world of scum. Violence and a little know how gets you quite far. A sharp knife in the mouth and pliers tends to make people talk. And criminals aren't the bravest of them. They value their lives."

The field ops were noticeably disgusted.

Yates processed that, not happy accepting the turn of events but figured he had no choice. "And you're sure of all this? What do you have to gain by helping Unova if you're a Kalosian mercenary?"

"The Sinnoh incident didn't help anyone's business, Yates. And these guys… they have something I want. And no, I'm not going to tell you what it is, just that it's personal. Training needs to stay, or the entire world will fall apart. The training world isn't going to survive another incident like Sinnoh's. That affects me too, believe or not."

---

When Gale and Will finally got out of the Nimbasa UFO field office, they met up with Riven under a large tree, who was grooming Haona's fur with a brush, Boagrius perched on his head again. There was a lollipop in his mouth, and he looked unbelievably innocent compared to his little stunt as Prime.

Pretty disorienting.

When Riven looked up, he was caught off-guard when a tall woman dressed in a UFO uniform stared him down, familiar red eyes holding a knowing glint. Side by side, he could see the resemblance with Will, now that he'd gone through puberty. She was still taller than him, though.

"Lucia, you're here," Riven noted warmly, brush in hand. "Welcome to Nimbasa!"

"Stop that, Riven," she said, plopping down on the bench. She gave a heavy sigh of relief. "That stunt you pulled as Prime-god I didn't even know you were Prime-was insanely risky. My superior almost had my hide! Couldn't you have called beforehand, at least to let me brace? The entire field operative force is scrambling and I'm going to be here in Nimbasa because of it. Yates scares me, honestly. So does his Haxorus."

"He stared down a very super badass mercenary, so yeah," Riven joked cheekily. Gale and Will scoffed.

"Prime's different," Gale said, a little unsure if that was the right word. "Cocky bastard too. Maybe you should be an actor."

Riven frowned.

"How'd you know it'd go well?" Will asked. "Cuz you know, they really would have shot you. Don't tell me you were cool as ice, because I don't care if you're a hardass made of diamond, or that you fought in a war fuck knows how long ago, knowing you, I'm surprised you didn't collapse after that."

The older male was oddly silent, and gestured to his pants. They were quite new.

"Ahem, I'm glad things worked out without anyone losing their heads, in both senses. I figured they wouldn't believe anything you said, so I improvised and had to make an impression and, uh, impress upon the situation."

Haona bit his leg for the terrible joke.

"So you figured the best way to do that was flaunting your dick?" Will snorted. The two girls gave both of them a look of disapproval, Lucia especially. "Without even knowing whether you were famous enough to be recognized? How much of that was pure desperation?"

"I can one hundred percent confirm that it was pure desperation. Time constraints, I had to do something. Could've gotten me dead and all of you arrested, but hey, it worked, right? Truth be told, if I tried anything I'd be fucked in one way or another. I'm surprised they left me go easily enough."

"Shadow sneaking into a wall when no one is looking isn't 'letting you go'," Gale pointed out with a jab. "They also tried to psychic lock you about four separate times. The psychics in there were practically twitching."

"That must have gone over splendidly for them. Did you give them a gold star for trying?"

"I'm going to give you a gold star the next time you ditch us. Then maybe I'll tell them that Prime the badass nearly wet himself the first time he tried fly-"

Riven leaped at her and covered her mouth. "Shhh, shhh. I don't have any burn heals."

"Then don't do it," she advised sharply. "And don't dare pull your semantics crap on me, regret that you will. Greatly."

Riven's loophole idea deflated like a balloon. He tried to pout, but failed quite miserably when her scowl only deepened. "White Queen, she's being mean." The Absol sat on her hind legs and blew some frost into his hair. He glared, but noticed Lucia in his peripheral vision, staring at him like he was a giant crossword puzzle. "What?"

"Nothing- just… There's something different about you," she said. "Apart from the haircut." The raised finger in his hand slowly went down, disappointed. "You're calmer, less jumpy. There's a more… relaxed nature about you that wasn't there before. I always did think you were a Buneary with an attention problem." His eyelid twitched. "And I don't think you've ever brushed Haona's fur before. That's good. Actually, all of you look different now, aside from my brother. He's always been… you know."

"It's part of my charm," Will announced proudly.

"The only thing you can charm is ashes," Riven jabbed.

"At least I can charm something."

"Boys… knock it off." Lucia scolded, then readily deflected. "Gale, you're a trainer now too, awesome!" She faced Riven who was still having a growl match with her brother. "Although, I'm surprised she didn't tear you apart for being away so long when you came back."

Riven's face fell, and Gale focused her attention on the ground, swaying on her feet.

Lucia held up her hands, waving them with a stutter. "O-oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"That's alright, Lucia. I-we're past this. We worked it out months ago," Gale explained. "It's done with, I'm-I'm… just glad it's over now. Anyway, what a way to meet up again, right?" Her smile was forced, clearly trying not to remember those agonizing three years.

"Yeah," the older woman agreed. She knew Gale was deflecting, but didn't press the matter. "How did my brother meet you two again? Or did you find him?"

"Found him," Riven answered, with a hint of acid. "He nearly incinerated me and you were really close to losing a brother. Sword in chest close."

Will whistled innocently, shifting his eyes everywhere except at his sister. Lucia reached over and flicked him on the forehead. Reprimanding, she held him by the collar. "Do you want me to get a heart attack? First this whole UFO thing and now you're prodding the metaphorical dragon with a stick? I want my brother alive. What am I supposed to tell mom and Connor when you turn up dead because you provoked a guy that'd kill you without a second thought? Sorry, Riven."

He shrugged. "Still tempted to kill him, actually…"

"But it was fun," Will whined, dodging another flick. "At least until he went full edgelord," he said, deliberately being infuriating.

"Know what, you little piss drinker? You want to go right now?"

"I'm good with that, then everyone can see me beat your ass."

Gale held back both boys with a sigh as they growled at each other, one nearly spitting sparks while the other started reaching for sharp metal.

Ever observant, Lucia instantly turned to Riven. Considering she was a UFO, there was no surprise she wouldn't miss something like that; it was part of the job.

"What does he mean by that? I know what the word means, I want to know what it means means."

"Uhhhhhhh…" Riven trailed off, paused, and had to laugh. "Before I answer that, let's go get something with preferably lots of sugar."

"Why?"

"Because this is the third time this week I'm going to tell this story, and the sugar helps a lot."

She began to lose color in her face. "Oh god. I'm going to wish I never asked, right?"

"You reap what you sow. Come on, Skitty."

---

The next two weeks leading up to Elesa's city-wide tour were spent in preparation, organizing operatives in different look-out points and any fallbacks in case anything major occurred. Seab and Amy had also notified them that the UFOs had sent operatives there too. Many of the UFOs were dressed in civilian clothing, hidden among the enormous crowds gathering on the streets of Nimbasa. Lucia and Will were on the ground as well, keeping their eyes open for any suspicious behavior. Gale stood atop a building with several other UFOs, using binoculars to keep tabs on the crowd. Riven watched Elesa directly, surveying her tour platform from a nearby building.

The amount of trainers and non-trainers flooding in from outside the city was mind-boggling, and the sheer size of the crowds made it a difficult task to keep track of everyone. Elesa was going to begin accepting challengers in roughly an hour, so that's when they expected the protest to happen.

Riven's paranoia was at critical levels, reminding him of the times when he'd lay in wait to spring an ambush, hoping, praying that the enemy was unaware. This time he was completely sure that the enemy did know, and had established countermeasures already. What those were remained to be seen, but he specifically warned everyone that if Tesla, Loberia, Aliac, or a Silphos appeared, they should group up or wait for back-up. He only knew what Tesla looked like, and there were so many blondes running around that trying to find him amongst the crowd would be impossible.

The other members of Charaph were completely unknown, not even going into the Singularity grunts and people working for them. If the Plasmas got involved too… well, shit.

He waited, forcing himself to pay attention once the challenges started. Elesa's voice carried over across the city center, connected to every microphone in the city. Every television screen displayed her, a beautiful brunette waving at the crowds as the challenger stepped up to the podium.

Riven noted the simplistic appearance of the trainer, a kid in his teens dressed in common trainer attire with messy hair and a hat. He didn't look particularly thrilled.

"State your name, challenger!" Elesa said, her red visor opening up to reveal bright blue eyes.

"Leo Jennings, from Striaton City, ma'am!" He responded, releasing a Ferrothorn. "I-I'm e-excited to meet you! I'm a big fan!"

Elesa turned on her charm as the crowd went wild, knowing what she was about to say next. "Well then, Leo, I see you and your pokemon are daring to battle! Give me some excitement and we'll see whose star shines brightest!"

Nearing the end of the match, there was movement in the now stationary crowds. The kid from Striaton was on his last legs, his Excavalier horribly burnt by the gym leader's Zebstrika. She probably got tired of getting steamrolled by grass types and electric resistant pokemon, teaching the electric equine flame charge.

They're early. And that kid is making beginner mistakes, that's odd.

Eyes narrowing, Riven gestured to Baron to try and focus in on the people moving. The Gallade focused for a brief moment, a light blue tinge glowing around his body. Thoughts seeped into his mind, a cascade of differing feelings and ideas. He had to stop, the flood was too strong with how many people there were. A twitch of two green fingers and Riven radioed Yates, who also observed the tour on the ground, unable to see the movement from his position but warned just the same.

"Watch the people moving among the crowd, psychics can't pick up anything with all the people, but they're suspicious."

"Keep it in your pants, mercenary," Yates warned lowly. "We don't want to turn this into a bloodbath."

"That doesn't mean they won't. As soon as someone dies, the gloves come off. That's my rule."

"Let's see if you stick with it."

"Heads up, movement on the stage."

Everyone froze as several adult trainers, well into their twenties and thirties, climbed onto the stage. The kid facing Elesa barely turned around before he was shoved forward into the arena. Immediately halting the match, Elesa's gaze turned steely, beckoning the boy over.

"What do you think you're doing? Interrupting a gym battle? Who do you think you are?"

One of the men in the group stepped forward, raising a hand and pointing at her. "You know who we are, and what we want. We want pokemon to be liberated! And you, you host public events where they go to get hurt, turning it into a spectacle for everyone else to see!"

Bodyguards emerged from the crowd as the kid made his way over to Elesa, sufficiently terrified.

"Get off my stage," Elesa warned, her demeanor changing instantly. She sent one of the bodyguards to escort the boy out. "Your Plasma protests in Castelia made a mess of everything and frightened the entire region. I will not allow this in Nimbasa. Move or I will forcibly remove you. If you leave now, we can continue the show and everything will be fine, and none of you will be persecuted. Please leave."

Her threat was further enforced by her Zebstrika sparking menacingly beside her, electricity jolting beneath its hooves.

"And if we say no?" One of the female protestors challenged. "We have the right to protest, and if we're not using violence to do it, it's fine, isn't it? Just because you're a gym leader doesn't mean you can break the rules your League established! Removing us by force? You're just a bully, using pokemon as a means of getting your way, just like those trainers!"

Elesa's glare didn't reduce in intensity, but a twitch was visible on her lip- infinitesimally small from her strict control, but it was there. Riven grimaced when he saw reporters already dialing their bosses to get in on the new scoop. They were the first wave of movement, something they'd anticipated. Next would be escalation of threats, then violence, and finally, chaos.

The Plasma's refused to budge, advancing towards the Gym leader, whose bodyguards stood formidably in front of her, releasing fighting, electric, and ice types, specially tailored for crowd control. More Plasma supporters revealed themselves in the crowd, chanting about the atrocities of humans against pokemon.

That's when the crowd got angry. Shoving and shouting followed, mainly aimed at the ones interrupting Elesa on her battle platform.

"Get off the stage, punks!"

"Let Elesa continue the show!"

"You Plasma bastards!"

"Get out of Unova! You've done enough!"

Arguing followed for several minutes, the anger growing steadily. Riven could feel it, stirring something up inside. The UFOs hidden among the crowd and in several buildings were tensing, jaws clenched and weapons and pokeballs ready when the projectiles started getting flung. Riven had to give them some due respect for holding, the police would have gone in by now and wrecked everything.

Of course, that didn't account for something else going in and fucking everything.

At that precise moment, Riven knew just what kind of countermeasures his Singularity friends had set up. And so did the entire region.

The televisions displaying Elesa's face abruptly changed to an image of a newscaster, his throat cut, face first on his desk, blood spilling onto the counter. Holding a knife, a boy with a lanky frame and coal black unkempt hair smiled widely at the camera—a spine chilling smile. There was a girl next to him, already moving the body of the newscaster. She had flowing red hair and green eyes, wiping herself of the blood with a disgusted scowl.

In Castelia, Seab went limp, watching the scene unfold as many of the trainers around him donned pokemon masks, and terrified blue eyes wide. No… not again, he pleaded.

"Hello, Unova! I'm Jynx!" The girl announced cheerily, flashing teeth.

"And I'm Shuppet," the other one chimed in. His happy demeanor was completely fake, coming out completely flat, and fully unnerving. Psychopathic tendencies, for sure.

Synchronized, they grinned sadistically. Shuppet twirled the blade in his hands, licking the blood off the edge.

"We're your hosts from here on in, and we're going to finish the work our predecessors, Houndoom and Stantler, didn't finish. You might remember them, well, not you, but we do."

Jynx held herself in her arms, displaying grief. A twisted sort of grief.

"They sacrificed themselves to our savior, but they fulfilled their purpose valiantly. And bravery is to be applauded."

"Much applauded," Shuppet emphasized. "Just like all those trainers who were relieved of their pokemon the last time, right? Oh, what am I saying? Those trainers? Cowards. Weak. Only trainers that deserve their pokemon can be remembered."

The girl clapped her hands together, giggling. "Exactly, Shupp! Weed out the weak and undeserving; the Plasmas, the UFOs and then all of Unova. Although, I wouldn't just worry about sweet old Unova. I've heard the tropics are nice, the people are relaxed and soft there. They don't deserve their pokemon either."

Riven, Gale, Will, Lucia, and Amy went rigid.

"Can you feel the excitement? Can't all of you see the world we want to create? This is just the start. We have partners, and they've given us power you can't imagine! Power that will let us go further than before, to collect the trainers we'll lead into this new tomorrow. And on this excellent day, we proudly announce the Tournament 2.0! More news later! But first, we need to satisfy our gracious sponsors."

They took out a slip of paper, turning their heads at the words.

Jynx laughed mirthfully, pointing a finger at the screen while reading off the paper, "remember that every light ceases to burn-"

Leo Jennings turned to Elesa, terror shifting into a mask of indifference, his eyes turning lifeless. He took out a pistol and put the barrel to her Zebstrika's head.

"-even the brightest of stars'," he recited.

History did have a way of repeating itself.