"Ingo, sir! The Super Single train will be departing in five minutes!" a Depot Agent reported, with the sharp intonation and military-like rigidness that was characteristic of every Battle Subway employee.
"Oh my, I'm nearly behind schedule," Ingo sighed, setting his papers aside in a neat stack. "Thank you, Hank."
"And there's someone here to see you," the Depot Agent added. "I don't think I've seen them around before, but they were insistent on meeting with you."
Ingo didn't say anything else to Hank before thanking him again and giving him a nod. There seemed to be a silent understanding between the employees and their bosses that, every so often, someone in a black suit and tie would show up, and it was because of Morai. Morai was the biggest and perhaps only blemish on the subway's record, and the Subway Bosses felt great shame for it. But, they also understood that Morai committed no crime under their watch and was responsible for the entire place not crumbling to ash.
When the door opened, Ingo greeted first as he quickly gathered his things. He hadn't yet taken part in the meeting concerning Morai's escape attempt in Alola.
"My deepest apologies, but I must board my train, and my brother most board his," he said, not looking up from his things until the last moment, which drew him to stop dead in his tracks. "Ah, it's you. I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"I'll board your train with you," Arthur said in his gruff voice, toothpick protruding from his mouth.
"Very well then. It takes passengers quite a bit of time to make it through the cars leading up to mine, if any do manage. We should have some time."
"I watched Morai's...escapades unfold on the TV until the evacuation," Ingo said, setting his things aside to focus on Arthur. He always brought his work with him on the train. Not many passengers made it to the end, and he tried to be as productive as possible while he waited. "How is she doing?" he asked. "I fear there's a lot I don't know."
Arthur sat down across from Ingo on the other side of the train, hands on his knees. "Well," he said with a sigh as he rested one leg across the other, "one of ours caught her. There was only one because Team Rocket took the rest of 'em out. She got away again and ended up face to face with Giovanni, where she allegedly fought his Persian with her bare hands...and teeth."
"Oh my," Ingo said. "Is she alright?"
"She's doing just fine," Arthur lied. "Right where she belongs."
The latter part of the man's answer made Ingo furrow his eyebrows.
"I'm here today," Arthur continued with another sigh, pulling his knife out and beginning to sharpen it, "because there's a mole in our midst. Out of all the visitors that leave that damned place, you and your brother are the most frequent."
"Are...you accusing me of betraying my friend?" Ingo asked. "The one we're all so desperately trying to help?"
"No, no, not at all," Arthur said, slowly shifting his eyes from his knife to the Subway Boss at the last moment. "But someone has."
"I can assure you that I've done no such thing," Ingo said, something like anger rising in his voice. He and Arthur weren't exactly best friends, and he knew from past experiences that the man liked to get a rise out of people.
"And your brother?"
"Emmet, just like me, would never," Ingo said. "Surely you think we have more integrity than that."
"Oh, I don't doubt it. But there are other motivations for trading information to Team Rocket, ones that aren't malicious. Morai is your friend, after all, and I'll admit that the International Police hasn't done the best job of keeping her in check, let alone turning her around. Maybe, just maybe, if Giovanni, with his unlimited scientific resources, offered to push her back into the light..."
"He wouldn't do that," Ingo answered.
"Maybe not, but he's smart. He could make anything sound like a good deal. Hell, he did it with her."
Ingo remained stone-faced while Arthur chuckled at his last sentence, hiding his rising annoyance.
"As much as I'd like for Morai to change, I wouldn't agree to anything with those that destroyed her. I'd like to think I'm smarter than that, and so is my brother. I spend all of my time here, and if I'm not here I'm with Morai, trying to slowly help her remember her own humanity."
"Alright," Arthur said, sheathing his knife and taking the toothpick from his mouth. "I guess we'll see. There's a meeting to discuss your friend later this afternoon. You can't visit the prison, so you and your brother will have to attend virtually on a secure device I'm going to give you."
"Wait, why can't I visit the—"
"Have a good day, Ingo," Arthur interrupted, standing as the train came to a timely halt and opened its doors.
Ingo shook the gesture off as the train began to move again, deciding to wonder instead if any challengers were boarding and whether they'd make it to him.
Later that day, after their video call, the brothers closed the strange laptop with a collective sigh.
"Is this what it feels like to lose a friend?" Emmet asked.
"I...don't want to think about it," Ingo answered. "We'd best get going. We have work to do."
As they both got up and began to gather their things, Emmet stopped.
"Do you remember when we took her in that one night?" he asked.
"Of course. It's hard to forget," his brother answered.
"Do you think she was too far gone by then?"
"...I'd like to think there's still hope, even now. I thought I was the one with more pessimistic outlooks, brother."
"I know, I know," Emmet sighed. "This entire situation is just...strange."
Several months ago, not too long before Morai's capture
"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Ingo asked, anxiously running the bridge of his cap through his fingers.
"Well, our employees basically kicked us out of our own subway," Emmet sighed, nearly matching his brother's apprehension. The Depot Agents of the Battle Subway, after witnessing day after day of their bosses working themselves past the point of exhaustion, had banded together to insist that they get a weekend of relaxation and any amount of sleep above four hours. "Four cups of coffee won't make up for the four hours of sleep you're missing," they had said.
The Subway Bosses' destination had been set at Lacunosa town, a small town nestled in a valley between mountain ranges. Undella was often the most popular among tourists looking for a summer getaway, but summer had recently ended, and the Depot Agents wanted their bosses to be away from most of civilization, since they had been right in the heart of it every day for years. The twins also couldn't completely give up their strict schedules and methodical way of doing things, so they were sent to a town that shared their love of order for other reasons.
When the twins arrived, the sun was beginning to set.
"It's just a weekend, right?" Ingo asked as he took his things from the taxi.
"Just a weekend. They'll be just fine," his brother reassured him, though it was a reassurance to himself just as much.
"...Where is everyone?" they both asked in unison. The streets were empty, and it looked as though the entire town had been deserted. The building that caught their eye was the local tavern, its warm lights still visible where many other houses and buildings were not. As they walked, a figure on the upper level of the town waved them down.
"You gentlemen shouldn't be out this late!" the man called. The twins could see the glimmer of his badge on his uniform. "It's not safe!"
"May I ask why?" they both said.
"Er, yeah," he replied, a bit taken aback by their synced response. "There's a beast out there. It's just like the tales of old! If you two are visitors, which you look to be, I'd call another taxi to take you right back home."
"Thank you," they replied again. "We'll try our luck in the tavern."
They made their way inside and were surprised to find it quite lively. The brothers took a seat at the bar, Ingo on the right, Emmet on the left, each setting their small luggage to the side.
"Welcome! Haven't seen you around here before," the burly man behind the counter said. "You're lucky you made it here...without getting taken."
"About that," Ingo said.
"What exactly do you mean?" Emmet finished.
"Oh, you two don't know!" the man laughed. "They say a beast is on the loose," he whispered, taking on a serious tone as he leaned across the counter. "It waits in the shadows for pour souls to cross its path, and before they know it they've found themselves in an entirely different place, no idea as to how they got there or even what day it is! Its red eyes glow in the night, and it has sharp claws and teeth!"
Ingo and Emmet side-eyed each other.
"Has anyone seen this...beast?" Emmet asked.
"Oh, that's the funny thing!" the bartender answered. "No one can remember what it looks like! It's like it...curses them or something! A Ghost-type, maybe?"
"Or Psychic," Ingo muttered under his breath.
"People say the monster that supposedly plagued the town long ago has returned," the man continued, unaware of what Ingo had said.
"And that's why everyone is staying inside at night?" Emmet asked.
"Oh, yes. Those who've ventured out have gone missing. A lot of us like to meet here on Friday nights. We might as well do something while we wait for day to break!"
A woman hurried to the counter, urgently looking from side to side.
"Have you seen Geralt?" she asked. The bartender looked around, and as he scanned the room, he turned pale.
"If that fool went outside...it may have gotten him," he solemnly said.
"Ach! Your blood...it has a peculiar taste," Morai said, Geralt's blood dripping from her chin. "You must've had too much to drink, given how you were stumbling around. No matter. It's something new. An acquired taste, maybe."
The two were hidden in between the wall of the tavern and the base of the second level of the town. After Morai had gotten all she could from her victim, she found that he wasn't very fun to control and let him go. As she waited at the edge of the shadows for someone new, her eyes glowing in the dark, she began to feel a sort of malaise slowly wash over her. Her face began to flush, and things seemed to blur.
"Morai, you idiot," she whispered, which turned into a laugh that lasted longer than it should have. She laughed under her breath as she surveyed the empty street, her smile turning into a frown as she realized no one was there. It quickly returned when she saw the police officer patrolling the other side. She licked her teeth and let out a whispery laugh, sliding her mask down over her face. The hunt was on.
She sprinted across the street, her upper body nearly parallel to the ground. She took the man down from the side and covered his mouth with one hand, her claws digging into his skin.
"You're not prepared to protect this town," she growled. "You were as easy a target as the rest of them."
Morai lifted her mask and sunk her teeth into the man's neck, not caring that her claws were completely sunken in her victim's skin up to the tips of her fingers. Suddenly, something ripped her away and before she knew it, the trainer was being dragged through town and into the wooded area outside of it at an impressive speed. She grabbed and clawed at whatever she could, but her kidnapper wouldn't let go. Finally, her attacker stopped a ways into the woods, immediately climbing on top of her. She looked up with bared teeth to see Archeops looking at her with a sort of familiarity.
"You think that's enough to keep me down, stupid bird!" she snarled. "You're barely eighty pounds! I could—"
Something else pressed her into the ground, and it was heavy. The trainer turned her head to see Haxorus.
"It can't be," she groaned, letting her head fall to the ground after giving up.
"Hello, Morai," Ingo said as he emerged from the trees.
"How're you all the way out here?" Morai groaned, slurring her words. "This entire town was full of sitting Duckletts! If you'll call your big metal dragon off I'd like to get back, thank you very much."
To Morai's surprise, Ingo actually ordered both Pokémon to move aside. As the trainer jumped up and tried to attack, she stumbled.
"You...you!" she said, pointing a bloody finger up at him, blood dripping down her chin. "What'd you do?"
"I didn't do anything," Ingo calmly replied. "I think this one is on you."
"What d'you mean?"
"I believe the man you...attacked...earlier had a very high percentage of alcohol in his blood. A dangerous amount, even. You consumed it and are now experiencing its effects."
"Are...you saying I'm drunk?"
"You certainly don't have all your wits about you," Ingo answered. "You would've seen my brother's Pokémon coming right at you from a mile away."
"Oh, curse it all!" Morai yelled, whipping around to slash the tree behind her, which caused her to almost lose her footing.
"I'd be quiet," the man said. "The townspeople know you're close by and have had enough. They're armed."
"I'll take 'em all!" Morai answered. "There's no battle I couldn't survive."
Emmet appeared out of the woods, a smile still on his face despite the situation.
"The two men are being taken care of, but the citizens are on the hunt for the Beast of Lacunosa."
"Let them come!" Morai said again, beginning to march out of the woods. Emmet stepped in front of her, causing her to flash a threatening look.
"I can't fight you barehanded, so please don't harm me," he said, putting his hands up. "But if you'll listen, I'll tell you how walking out into that street might spell death for you."
"I look death in the face every day I take this," the trainer answered, pulling a small vial of the red serum from her belt and popping the cap off. Before she could turn it up to take a drink, something took it from her hand.
"No!" she screamed, diving after the Galvantula that took it and getting herself promptly electrocuted.
"Where are your Pokémon, Morai?" Ingo asked as she lay on the ground, stunned.
"I-I don't need them anymore," Morai groaned.
"What about right now?" Emmet asked with a smile.
"I-I'm doing just f-fine," Morai hoarsely stuttered, trying to post up on her arm and stand.
Emmet looked at his Pokémon and nodded, which resulted in Morai getting trapped by its webs. Ingo called his Chandelure out and commanded it to hypnotize her.
"Oh, you think that works on me? " she growled. "I could control the both of...you...if only...you had looked...me in...the eyes..."
"Alright," Emmet said, clapping his hands together. "Are you ready to commit the felony crime of kidnapping, brother?"
"Is it a crime to apprehend a fugitive?" Ingo asked.
"If we don't turn her into the authorities, it is," his brother replied. "You know that."
Ingo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"If we leave her here, she'll die. If we get her to safety, we'll have to either turn her in or commit a crime by housing her."
"Perhaps the right thing to do isn't always the legal thing," Emmet suggested. "I've found that people are more complicated than trains, and unfortunately can't always follow a predictable and safe path. Sometimes, I think, it's necessary to take a detour off of the track to avoid the troubles waiting at the end."
With a sigh, Ingo commanded his Chandelure to lift the unconscious trainer with its telekinesis and follow the pair a bit deeper into the woods. The voices of the searching mob were growing louder.
"We can't stay here. I'll call us a Charizard in," he said. "...Then I suppose we'll go right back home."
The flight back to Nimbasa was straightforward. Ingo and Emmet lived close to work and were lucky enough to have a humble house of their own where they resided together. It was an old Victorian-era home, with two small stories. The brothers had grown up there and had inherited it, but they had hardly redecorated, leaving it orderly but stuck in time.
There was no way to discreetly land a Charizard and carry a body into your home, but the two managed. There wasn't anyone awake to witness it at this hour, anyway. When Morai awoke, she was startled to find that she wasn't in the middle of the woods but instead on...a floor. Blood was a tough stain to get out of your couch, after all, and Morai had been drinking it like water all night. She had been given blankets, at least.
The Mask Maker scrambled to get up, turning to see the kitchen along with the people in it. She smelled food, and Ingo approached her with a plate. She stood still for a moment before lashing out and attempting to slap the dish out of his hands.
"Where am I?" she asked with bared teeth.
"You're in our home!" Emmet cheerfully answered. "We've technically kidnapped you, but it was a necessary evil."
Ingo shot his brother a look.
"They were intent on catching 'The Beast of Lacunosa,'" he explained. "You weren't exactly in fighting shape, at least not enough to take on an entire town. Had we left you there, you might've ended up in even worse shape and eventually handed over to the International Police."
"And you're not going to hand me over?" Morai asked in disbelief.
"Well..." Ingo stammered. They had discussed what to do about their friend-turned-serum-addled-vampiric-criminal, and a decision hadn't yet been reached. On one hand, every time they saw Morai it was clear she was headed down a dark path. Handing her over to Interpol might solve that problem and keep a violent criminal off the streets, but there was no telling what they'd do to her, either. The solution for the time being seemed to be to keep her away from everyone.
"We just think you need at least one night of peace," Emmet said. "A good meal and some rest, that's all. With all due respect, you look rough. Certainly not in any shape to be fighting police squads and angry mobs off."
"As long as you're here, you won't have to be fighting anyone," Ingo said. "We won't notify the International Police if it means you'll have some proper rest away from the streets. Is that a fair agreement?"
Morai looked around. Though she had drifted apart from the Subway twins after her change, she had to admit that their home was warm and whatever meal they had made smelled delicious. Ingo's promise didn't set her lie detector off, but he could always change his mind.
"Alright..." Morai sighed. "I'll at least eat, I suppose."
After wolfing down the curry dish, which was the first solid meal she had eaten in a while, Morai decided that staying in for the night was best, but not for her safety.
"You can get cleaned up in the washroom upstairs. We'll have your clothes washed for in the morning, and I'm sure we can find something for you to sleep in," Ingo said. "I imagine a suit would be uncomfortable, though I won't say I haven't slept in my uniform at the Subway."
Morai was shown to an extra room after she had showered and changed into a pair of extra black pajamas, courtesy of Ingo, who was nearly a foot taller than her despite her already being taller than average. She rolled her sleeves and pants up and made it work. She had opted to go to sleep then in hopes that her hosts would do the same, as her taste for blood had already returned. Her humanity had diminished greatly in this regard, but Morai figured that it was simply the way things were. If some Pokémon had to prey upon other Pokémon to live, she was becoming no different.
After lying in wait in the darkness of her room for a while, the beast overcame her. Morai slid out of bed, almost silently moving across the floor and opening the door to look around. Though at least one of the twins was still awake, his back was turned to her as he sat at a desk in the room across the hall. The distinct yet somehow pleasant smell that often accompanied old houses and books filled Morai's nose as she crept ever closer, crouching to diminish her chances of being seen. She couldn't tell which brother she was about to attack, but she didn't seem to mind either way. She was a mere foot away as she prepared to attack, eyes red with thirst.
"Ah, Morai! You're awake." Morai stopped in her tracks. She could see from the white pajama set he was wearing that it was Emmet, who hadn't looked away from his task. He had been fixing up a model train, at least as far as Morai could tell. As she looked around, she realized that the entirety of the room was home to a layout of model trains.
"They say you shouldn't bring your work home with you," Emmet joked. "Trains, trains, and more trains. They're everywhere! But I like it that way. This one is the model version of the train you sometimes see on the turntable in Anville Town. Care to have a seat?"
Morai's surprise at being casually caught with the intent to attack was overtaken by genuine interest.
"I think we've explained what makes these so neat on several occasions. You used to be quite interested in them. If you weren't on the Battle Subway, you were in Anville town listening to us or one of the workers explain them all in detail."
Morai listened as Emmet explained the elaborate layout he and his brother had created over the years, beginning when they were children. She had always liked trains but had never had the time to dive headfirst into their complex world.
"This is an HO scale train, but there are—"
Someone was pounding on the front door, which was answered by an apprehensive Ingo. The voices were hard to hear from upstairs, but Morai had automatically jumped to the conclusion that they had called the police.
"You lied!" she growled, grabbing Emmet by the collar of his rather fancy pajama shirt and holding her claws threateningly close to his throat with her other hand.
"No, no, I promise you we didn't," Emmet said. "Please be careful in this room. If you're going to tear me up, do it away from here! Some of these are very old!"
A very different scene was playing out downstairs.
"Good evening, eh...Emmet?" Proton, the Team Rocket Executive, asked.
"Ingo," the Subway Boss corrected. "I know who you are and can tell you now that we can't help you."
"Dang it! How does anyone tell you two apart? Anyway, I know she's here," Proton said matter of factly. Ingo, in a show of extremely rare—almost nonexistent even—impoliteness, tried to close the door, but Proton stopped him. "I'm not here to cause trouble, but it just so happens that your kind gesture has lined up with Morai's next necessary dose of the serum. If she doesn't get it, she'll suffer."
"She seemed to be suffering more from spending days on the streets of a small town preying on its people to satisfy a bloodlust that gave her," Ingo said. "That is what she took the day the Battle Subway nearly fell, all because of Team Rocket, and she hasn't been the same since."
"Right, this is a touchy subject for you," Proton said with a sigh. "That may be true, but she likes it that way, and the withdrawal from it is dangerous. If you care about her in any capacity, you'd let me in. If you want proof I'll even wait and you can see for yourself."
"You can't leave it here?"
"For one, I don't trust you with it. Two, the immediate effects of the serum can be...painful. The scar on her neck is a testament to that, so we always have someone stick around to keep something like it from happening again."
"It's poison," Ingo argued. "Poison that you got her hooked on. I'd be remiss to just stand by and watch as you give it to her."
With a sigh and shake of his head, Proton shuffled past Ingo into his home despite the Subway Boss's attempt to stop him. He took the device containing the serum out of the case as he looked around.
"You're not getting it, are you?" he casually said with a wave of the gun, plopping down on the sofa. "We can sit here and debate all night about what it is or what it isn't, but the thing is, she needs it. Even if you wanted to stop it, it would have to be gradually in a medical setting, like what your friends at Interpol are probably going to do when they finally catch her. Would you really watch her suffer just to feel better about yourself?"
"Proton!" Morai greeted as she descended the stairs, followed by a confused Emmet. When the Executive stood up to return the greeting, Morai leapt from the bottom few stairs and tackled him, pinning him to the floor. She liked to do things like that every so often. Team Rocket sometimes made her feel like some sort of dog on a leash, something under their control...but she wasn't, of course, or at least she liked to believe otherwise. She liked to remind its members that she could tear them apart if she wanted, which somehow proved in her mind that she wasn't truly under their control. Still, out of all of the members, Proton had been more of a friend than anyone.
"Hey, hey, I've got precious cargo!" Proton exclaimed, holding the gun in the air in an attempt to save the vial of serum loaded in it from being smashed or cracked.
"Already?" Morai said, elbowing him in the side before standing up.
"You don't have a very good concept of time," Proton chuckled. Emmet looked to his brother.
"Are we going to let this happen? It seems very wrong," he asked in a whisper.
"I...don't know," Ingo answered, not taking his eyes of the pair of trainers. "We could probably take them both with our Pokémon, but according to him, she'll suffer if she goes without it for too long."
"Better that than taking it and staying the way she is, no?"
Emmet released Galvantula, Eelectross, and Archops from their balls. Without a belt to keep them, he had taken as many Pokéballs that could fit in his hand with him downstairs, which happened to be three. Ingo followed suit, throwing out the two he had grabbed before opening the door.
Proton and Morai stood frozen amidst the creatures, Morai trying to look any of them in the eye and steal their mind.
"Give me that, please," Ingo said, holding his hand out. "And go on your way."
The gun Proton was holding wasn't of the shooting variety. It had a rather long needle on the end of it and had to be more carefully handled. The Executive wasn't planning to give it up.
"If I wasn't ordered specifically to keep you both alive, I would have had a lot of fun cutting you up," he sighed. "But come on, we can work this o—"
Galvantula took the gun from him and Eelektross electrocuted him enough to render him briefly unconscious. After Ingo retrieved the contraption, Galvantula wrapped Proton up neatly in its webbing.
"Hey!" Morai yelled, going after the Subway Boss and frantically reaching for the gun. Chandelure held her back with its psychic power. "What gives?"
Ingo continued to examine the gun before disassembling it and putting it back properly in the case Proton had brought it in. It really did look evil, with its long needle and blood-red serum, ready to be administered and continue to change and influence the one who hosted it.
"I need that!" Morai said, hints of desperation in her voice as she reached helplessly out into the air. "...I need it."
"Right," Ingo said. He motioned for Chandelure to hypnotize her again, putting her to sleep and carrying her to the guest bedroom. As Proton awoke, he realized that she was gone.
"Hey, what gives?" he asked. "I told you that she needed it."
"Exactly," the brothers replied. "We'd like to see it for ourselves."
"I only need one thing from you," Ingo said. "I need you to tell me what Team Rocket is planning to do with her."
"Oh, like I'd tell you anything of the sort!" he spat, literally. "They'll know that something's gone wrong and will send more people."
"Good!" Emmet said. "We can ask them too."
"You've given her experimental drugs and turned her into...that," Ingo said. "Giovanni is planning something, and I'd like to know what it is."
"Yeah, well so would I," Proton said. "Only he knows."
"You've blindly followed his orders without so much as asking for an explanation?" Ingo asked. "You and Morai seem to be friends. Or you get along, at least. You don't think you're hurting her by doing that?"
"Of course I didn't—"
"That's awful, if you ask me," the man interjected. "You accepted her, brought her in with open arms while stabbing her in the back. At this point you're probably the only people she can relate to, what with being a criminal condemned to hell and all. Knowing that, you're going to push her away so that she has no hope of escape from her eventual despair? Don't you think that's wrong, or do you even have a sense of morality?"
"Of course I do!" Proton yelled, wiggling in his web restraints. "We were—are—friends. But I've never defected from Team Rocket. I've hardly ever disagreed and I've always carried out my duties, always doing what I need to for the sake of Team Rocket. That's why I'm an Executive. This is the only life I know and the only one I have. I can't flush it all down the drain for one friendship and become a traitor. I'd probably die for it, knowing Giovanni. What's bad for her or me pales in comparison to the ultimate good of my organization."
"...Wow," Ingo whispered. "Is an organization whose leader would kill you at the drop of a hat really worth sacrificing so much for?"
Proton didn't answer.
"I don't know specifics," he said instead. "He's turning her into a weapon, obviously...but I can't tell you more than that."
Ingo looked at his brother, who shrugged. With a sigh, he asked Emmet to have his Archeops carry Proton and drop him far away.
"We can take turns keeping watch throughout the night," he said. "It's already late anyway."
A couple of hours passed and Morai stumbled as she reached the top of the staircase. Ingo, who had just started his turn of keeping watch, ran up to her before she tried descending it.
"I need it," she groggily whispered. "It hurts without it."
The Subway Boss found himself facing a dilemma.
"...Alright," he finally said. "You're hardly coherent. Go lie down and I'll get it."
He didn't. Instead, he sat on the sofa downstairs with his chin his hands. He had mostly stayed safely behind the line, like the yellow lines at the train station. Tonight, and in many encounters involving his old friend, he felt he was standing right on it.
"Chandelure," he called in a low voice. "If you wouldn't mind..."
The ghostly Pokémon floated upstairs to send Morai safely into sleep once again. This happened once more throughout the few remaining hours of the night. The brothers switched watch one more time, but Team Rocket never showed up. The next morning, Morai donned her usual suit, which had been folded and set out for her. She walked down the stairs to find Emmet asleep on the sofa with his chin resting on his hand, sitting as if he had been waiting there all night. Ingo was upstairs, it seemed. The trainer scoured the downstairs looking for the serum, but concluded that it must've been hidden.
I'll just have to go to Team Rocket for more if they don't ambush me as soon as I walk outside.
As Morai made her way to the door, Chandelure caught up to her.
"It's morning," she said in a hushed voice, trying not to wake anyone else up. "I'm in pain and I won't make it very far if I don't leave now to get more serum. Give the brothers my thanks."
She was gone for about half an hour before the Subway Bosses woke up to find her gone from their home.
"I hope she's alright," Emmet said.
"Maybe we should have turned her in," Ingo replied. "She would've been safer in their hands than in the hands of Team Rocket."
"At least she knows she can still trust our word...I hope."
