Please be okay please be okay-

He was able to safely track his target from a safe distance despite feeling uneasy about it. He had brushed it off and chalked it up to him doing such work for the first time in a foreign land. That was not the first time he had been doing covert ops and he was one of ACE's finest operatives. He had faced worse.

That uneasy feeling in his gut only grew when he suddenly lost track of his target after that man made a turn around the corner. He had immediately raised his guard, fully expecting an ambush but that worry was slowly dispelled when none of that happened. All that greeted him was the silence of the dark alley and the cold whispers of the wind.

He spent some time doing a quick check of his surroundings with the aid of his pokemon and they still came up with nothing. He doesn't know how, but that man had mysteriously vanished with the little girl he had bidded and won from the auction. He never even heard the typical crack of a Teleport being used. Their disappearance was so sudden and thorough as if they had never been here all along.

It's a complete mystery to him how that man just up and literally disappeared into thin air. The uneasiness within his gut only grew even more.

Something was definitely wrong. He had never felt so uneasy before, as if his instincts were trying to tell him that something really bad was going to happen. His thoughts suddenly returned to his little sister who he had safely left behind a fair distance away from his current location before he started on his tracking mission.

Logically, he knew his sister would be safe. Velda will always be safe with Rena and those overly protective ghosts that are always by her side and there's no way that man would be able to locate her.

But that uneasiness he felt suddenly grew.

So, he decided to head back. He had lost track of his target with no clues to follow, that is a fact. Very likely, the target had simply teleported away from here, somehow, to ensure that he will not be followed, that is all. His sister will be safe, she's not weak, that was what he kept repeating over and over again in his mind to reassure himself.

He returned back to where he had left his little sister, only to receive one of the biggest shocks in his life. The last time that happened was when he saw his sister drenched in blood when he arrived on the scene halfway into the Lilycove Invasion.

"VEL!"

Lying face down motionlessly on the floor was his beloved sister. Her face was in full view, the masquerade mask she was wearing before he left lying just a few feet away. Rena was also unconscious, lying close to the nearby wall where she was obviously slammed into, the large cracks on it the only telltale sign that Velda had tried putting up a resistance only to be quickly overwhelmed. She had been taken down by the element of surprise.

He had immediately ran up to her, kneeling down to bring her into his arms and he thought his heart had stopped when he spotted the thin line of blood trickling down her neck. No, she couldn't be dead, she couldn't be-

The slow rise and fall of her chest was the only thing that prevented him from experiencing an outright panic attack. It had to be the man he was tracking. He was the only possible person to have done this. He had no idea just what on earth he had done to his sister and he prayed with all his heart that it wasn't too late.

"GALLADE!"

His gallade knew what had to be done the moment it was released. They were being teleported back to their residence in the next instance. Despite his inner panic Vance had not yet lost all control of his thought processes. Bringing Vel to a hospital would be preferred, but there's just simply too much he doesn't know about the man who he highly suspects to be the culprit of this aggression. That man was able to sneak up to Vel despite the protection of Rena's empathic powers and her ghosts' ability to sense negative and hostile emotions. Vel's ghosts were also nowhere to be seen and neither were there any signs that they were around.

That man is not just powerful, he is dangerous, and the only place left he knew of in Unova that could possibly guarantee his sister's safety is where the interpol is at. It is where Looker had gathered the best trainers he found from all over the world.

They were teleported right back to their residence in Nimbasa and Vance's first action was to yell for Looker and Sebastian, uncaring if the din woke up everyone else in the dead of the night. His father had warned him about the mysteries surrounding the man before he made his trip here but right now, Looker is the only one who he can reliably depend on with such a threat on the loose and had targeted his beloved sister.

Looker was the first to arrive through Shadow Sneak. The shock in his eyes was plainly obvious and he immediately got to where Vance had gently laid his injured and unconscious sister on the large sofa. Sebastian came running in shortly, followed by the rest of the occupants in the building who trickled in one after the other after hearing the commotion.

"Vance, allow me."

It wasn't much of a question, more like a statement when Looker said that. Vance made way for Looker despite the distrust he had for him because right now, his sister's wellbeing takes priority.

Looker had taken Velda's right hand and placed two fingers on her wrist to examine her pulse and Vance recognised his actions for what it was. Such an ancient art had been mostly forgotten but Vance knew that there are still practitioners of it in modern times, even if their numbers are small. What Looker was doing is an ancient art of pulse reading that was once popularly practised before modern medicine revolutionised medicine and healthcare. That ancient art had since quickly dwindled because very few practitioners could reach the level of expertise, quickness, and accuracy that machines used in hospitals can now easily provide within seconds.

Looker had seemingly already come to a conclusion himself, but he turned to look at the mismagius who had also appeared almost at the same time Looker did. Its purplish yellow eyes shone briefly while looking at Velda before turning to Looker and shaking its head.

"She's fine," Looker concluded with an obvious sigh of relief. "She's been hit in the head, probably will suffer from a minor case of concussion but that can be easily recovered from. We just need to wait for her to wake up, but it will take a while. The oddity in her pulse suggests external interference from a sleep-inducing move, most likely the work of Hypnosis. Not only that, the slight irregularity I felt indicated that she was probably very afraid of whoever or whatever she had met before becoming like this. What happened?"

"I… We… I…" don't know, but those words couldn't even manifest from Vance's mouth even if he tried. He could not help but feel so angry at himself. He's her older brother and he was there with her, yet he had no idea just what on earth had happened to her. Just thinking about his failure made him feel so mad and useless at the same time.

By some stroke of luck, Velda only suffered light injuries. If she was any less fortunate, if he came back much later, if anything irreversible were to happen today and she…

He wouldn't forgive himself, ever.

His gallade gently closed the light wound on his sister's neck with Heal Pulse while carrying the injured and unconscious Rena with an arm. Looker's mismagius had taken a tissue from somewhere and with its wispy tendrils, gently wiped off the thin trail of blood on Velda's neck, displaying her sister's flawless smooth skin once more now that the cut was properly healed. Her sister's red blood on the tissue seemed so glaring, as though mocking Vance for his incompetence in protecting his sister and inability to exact vengeance.

"Sorry to cut in, I know there is a lot going on right now, but if Velda is fine now, Velda's espeon is in need of treatment, and I think Velda could rest better if she could change out of her clothes. Those don't look too comfortable to sleep in, us girls can help with that," Mary interrupted the conversation with a soft yet firm voice. Looker and Vance shared a quick look before Vance gave a silent and resigned nod of agreement. Skye managed to identify Rena's pokeball after searching through Velda's handbag, recalling the loyal psychic back into its pokeball before handing it over to Sebastian.

Sebastian wordlessly took over possession of Velda's belongings before taking his leave to send Rena for treatment. Vance, on the other hand, gently carried his sister in his arms again and headed towards her room. She still felt so light and he couldn't bear to let her go, afraid that she might really disappear this time the moment he turned elsewhere. It wasn't until the ladies shooed him out of her room so that they could help Velda change out of her dress and into something comfortable to rest in did he reluctantly leave.

Looker was waiting outside with his back against the wall, arms folded across his chest. Vance would have mistook the man for not having felt anything but he did notice the slight tightening of the man's fingers on his biceps, showing that the man was not as emotionless as he previously thought.

Looker fell silent for a short moment after Vance told him what had gone on in the underground auction they had attended to gather information about Team Plasma. The girls were done helping Velda change out of her clothes by the time Vance had informed Looker what he knew of and they regrouped in his sister's room, because he cannot bring himself to be anywhere else as of this moment. He can only feel assured if he is there to personally look after her.

"Assuming that he was the aggressor, he must have noticed that he was being tailed right from the very beginning," Looker kept his voice low and so did everyone else while they discussed the things that had happened tonight, not wanting to disturb Velda's rest. "I agree with you that Vel must have been taken out by the element of surprise. Like you said, there were barely any signs of combat with Rena being the only one present when you arrived."

"But… her ghosts, they are always with her," Skye pointed out and that is another mystery Vance was unable to understand. Even putting the untrained wild ghosts aside, how had his sister come to harm with Dolly and Wacky always being there for her in her shadow? Where are they?

"That means that he must have also realised all along that there were ghosts hiding there and he took preventive measures. For people who are familiar with ghosts, it's not hard to pick up on the signs. In fact, I think I know where they are, let me show you," Looker explained and his sableye appeared with a wordless signal from his hand.

The sableye waded its way into Velda's shadow before disappearing entirely. It reemerged a few seconds later, its long lanky arms carrying a bunch of unconscious ghosts and Vance immediately identified Wacky thanks to its unique colouration. The sableye made a few more trips as more and more unconscious ghosts of various varieties started to pile up in a corner of Velda's room, showing them just how many of them were accompanying her all along. The only factor that was common and applicable to them is that all of the ghosts were injured and unconscious.

"I take it that none of you here faced a bona fide Ghost Specialist before?" Looker asked and received a collective shake of the heads currently in the room, because Ghost Specialists are rare to come by and even if they were to meet one, most would think twice before trying to get on their bad side. Not many know about them and even fewer were able to glimpse into their secrets.

Looker simply carried on explaining his deduction on what he thought had happened based on the few facts they knew.

"Whoever the attacker may be, that person prevented the ghosts from protecting Vel by defeating them even before they could leave her shadow. It is a very simple trick. All you have to do is to direct a powerful surge of ghost or dark type energy right into the shadow itself before the ghosts within could exit."

"Would that be harmful to Vel?" Vance asked in concern and Looker shook his head in response.

"That person's method may be brutal, but I don't think he really meant to put Vel's life in danger. Case in point, her ghosts are all still alive when they should be dead, even the much weaker ones that from my judgement, are newly born and had only recently joined Vel's company. Missy did not sense any other effects on her mind other than the signs that Vel was forcefully put to sleep. That was it. There were no malign mind interferences, so she's fine other than the mild concussion she suffered. She was definitely hit in the head more than once but like I said, that can be easily recovered from after a good rest. She didn't suffer from any long-lasting injuries."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because I am Looker, and the last thing I wish is for the people under my command to come to harm. If you really want to know the specifics, Missy had briefly connected herself to Vel via Destiny Bond, temporarily linking their lives together and that was how she was so sure that Vel would be fine. If she isn't, the first thing I would have done is to teleport her to the hospital. Trust me."

"Destiny Bond? Something like that is… possible with Destiny Bond?" Nova's disbelief was shared with everyone present, not expecting that Destiny Bond could be used to conduct an accurate diagnosis on a patient. Destiny Bond is one of the most notorious suicide moves a pokemon could ever use and learn. Nobody would ever associate that move for one that could be used for medical purposes.

"Only if the ghost in question knows what they are doing with it. I wouldn't recommend using it like Missy did unless the ghost using Destiny Bond in question has complete mastery of the move," Looker elaborated before turning to Vance. "If you are still concerned about your sister's well-being and have doubts about my diagnosis, you are free to move her to the nearest hospital, but as Vel's superior I must remind you that the security there will not be as good as where we are now, and we cannot be sure if the perpetrator will strike back to finish the job."

"It's fine, I trust you on this," Vance sagged and finally felt the large weight being lifted from his shoulders. His sister is fine now and that is all that matters.

"The girl on auction that you told me about… If that man is really working for the Plasmas, and if he really was the one who attacked Vel, then this is worrying. I will compile what we know about him, as little as that is at the moment, and see if the Dandolos can help us uncover any leads about this mysterious person. If there's anybody in Unova who could conduct such a search, it would be the Dandolos. If that girl's ability is similar to the Mad Conqueror and is now with the Plasmas we cannot afford to sit still and do nothing. The Dandolos wouldn't ignore such a potential threat either."

With the assurance that Velda is going to be alright and considering how late into the night it already is, people started to leave her room after giving her one last worried glance and telling Vance to feel free to wake them up if he needs any help. Once left alone, the only thing Vance could do was to helplessly sit by his sister's bedside and hold onto her hand, hoping that she would wake up soon.

The last time he felt so helpless was right after the Lilycove Invasion where his sister fell into a brief coma. He had done the exact same thing, keeping a constant vigil by her side and was unable to do anything but pray and hope that she will be fine and trying to reassure himself that she will eventually wake up. He had sworn that such a thing would never ever happen again and look at him now. History had repeated itself.

Nothing has changed.

He still wasn't there when his sister needed him most.

Velda woke up more than twelve hours later. It was a slow and agonising wait despite Looker's reassurance and guarantee that his sister is alright and will eventually wake up. Vance was almost tempted to have his gallade try coaxing Velda's mind to wake up and open her eyes only for Looker to sternly warn him about the hundred and one ways that might go wrong.

Looker's argument was that in the end, Velda only suffered minor physical injuries that could be easily healed. This was the very reason why Looker thought that there was no reason in bringing Velda to a hospital once he confirmed that her life was in no danger. Looker even brought out the highly confidential file titled "Project Illusion" to prove his point about the possible side effects of Hypnosis on the human brain if something goes awry. The human brain is a powerful yet delicate thing. Trying to intervene in its workings in any way, shape, or form is dangerous. Just one misstep is all that is needed to bring about irreversible consequences.

And so, Vance reluctantly stayed his hand.

Sebastian dropped by a few times and it was after much persuading on his part did Vance temporarily leave Velda's room to wash himself up and have a quick meal. It was back to keeping a vigil over his sister's side right thereafter, a tortuously long wait that reminded him of his failure as the older brother with each passing second.

It was somewhere around the afternoon the next day when Velda started to rouse. He spotted the slight twitching of her fingers and the furrowing of her eyebrows as though she was experiencing a nightmare. Then, her eyelids started to flutter open, the look in her eyes blank and unfocused.

"Vel? Vel, can you hear me? Vel?"

"... Vance?" Her voice was hoarse and dry. Vance almost wanted to cry in joy but he knows that he has to at least appear strong for his sister right now. His sister blinked her eyes a few times and tried to sit up, only to fail and remain lying on her bed with an uncomfortable groan escaping her lips.

"What was I…" He heard his sister mutter before noticing the subsequent panic in her voice, her eyes widening slightly when she remembered just what had happened to her before he found her. She turned back to look at him, eyes wide, and he watched, almost in slow motion, how her lips began to quiver uncontrollably, how her eyes started to water, and how she was trying to hold herself back.

"It's fine now, I'm here. Your pokemon are all fine too, Sebastian had them checked. Are you alright? Do I need to call a doctor over? I…"

It was like an emotional dam had broken within his sister. He could only watch as his sister started to cry. It's almost an exact repeat of the time his sister just woke up from her long coma after the Lilycove Invasion and the only thing he could do back then and right now is to hold her close, hugging her, rubbing soothing circles on her back and whispering assurances into her ear that she is alright now.

Nothing has changed. It hurts to realise that nothing has changed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" His sister kept repeating those words in a near inaudible whisper, her head buried into his chest and her tears staining his shirt wet. He hates himself, hates the fact that his sister has to undergo all of this because of his incompetence and hates that the only thing that he can do right now is to hold her tighter in hopes that it might calm her down.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one-"

"My last words to you were just shut up and go," Her volume was soft, yet her words weren't. "I… I was so scared. I really thought I was going to die, and I… I really regret that those were my last words to you and I-"

"It's fine, it's fine. It's fine," it took all of his willpower to prevent his voice from cracking entirely. He could feel how tightly Velda's fists were clenched and holding onto his shirt, not wanting to let him go. They stayed like this for a while. For how long exactly, he does not know, but his sister calmed down eventually.

"Vel?"

"Mm?" Vel made a soft grunt in reply, still burying her face in his chest. He knows that she doesn't want him to see her in her current state. Ever since young she hates being seen as weak and defenceless. He could count the number of times he had seen her cry with the fingers on a single hand because if she does cry, she often does it behind everyone's backs when she's sure nobody was looking, because her pride does not allow her to easily show her tears. So, he let her be, even if he wants nothing more than to personally help dry her tears with his own hands.

"Do you… still want to stay here? I mean, in the interpol? After… all this?"

If this is the kind of danger that being a member of interpol entails, Vance wished for nothing more than to pull his sister out of it with immediate effect. However, he also knows that Velda would not agree to it. This stubborn sister of his has her own pride and she would not budge an inch once she had set her mind on something. She had always been too headstrong.

Still, he has to try, because he does not want to experience something like this ever again.

Velda shook her head and remained silent, her head still buried in his chest and adamant about not showing him her crying face. The only sounds occasionally puncturing the silence were her uncontrollable sobs that were gradually dying down. Eventually, she spoke up.

"You know something? I thought… I thought I was indifferent to the idea of my death. Ever since the doctors told me that I would not live past fifteen I thought I was fine with the idea that I might die anytime soon. I thought I had made my peace long ago."

His hold on her tightened. He can never bring himself to tolerate the very notion of that idea.

"But this encounter made me realise that I am not as brave as I thought myself to be. I was so scared, so scared of dying. The idea of my life just… disappearing, it scared me. When I genuinely thought I was going to die I recalled my last words to you, my unfulfilled dreams, I… I never felt such a strong desire to live until then. I was praying for someone to come save me, praying that you might come back, but all I received was a knife to my neck and my head being slammed against the floor and nobody to my rescue and-"

Velda stopped herself from continuing when she became increasingly agitated as she continued to speak. Even so, it was enough to make the guilt Vance felt grew large enough to swallow him whole.

This is all his fault.

"I'm sorry."

"I should be the one saying sorry," Vance replied, his voice going hoarse as well. He was so lucky that his sister came out unscathed as it is. He could have lost her forever.

"Rena? Tell me she is alright."

"She will be fine. She just needs time to recover, Sebastian will make sure of it," He reassured her and will continue to do so as many times as he needed to.

"Stay with me? Like this?" She whispered, her small frame still seeking shelter in his arms. Her sister had rarely asked for anything from anyone and he will never reject a request from her. She is his one and only little sister.

"As long as you need, sister dear. I will be here for you, as long as you want me to."

This time, he will be there for her.

Character and pokemon list:

Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Member of the International Police

Pokemon on hand:

1) Rapidash (Flamel), male

2) Swampert (Bigblue), male

3) Banette (Dolly), female

4) Flygon (Snap), male

5) Absol (Kelsa), female

6) Charizard (Toothless), male

7) Cradily (Lily), female

8) Espeon (Rena), female

9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male

10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male

11) Clefairy (Joy), female

12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female

13) Pangoro (Hulk), male

14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless

15) Scizor (Archer), male

16) Lapras (Chill), female

17) Gengar (Wacky), male

Vance Vera, Age: 20, Male, Heir to the Vera Family

Pokemon on hand:

1) Gengar (Macky), male

2) Sceptile

3) Salamence

4) Metagross

5) Gallade

6) Walrein

7) Electivire

8) Weavile

9) Magmortar