Flashback #6: Bored And Extremely Dangerous

An annoying, singsongy voice reached Sabrina's ears as she walked, instantly giving her a headache.

"Oh Sabrinaaa~ "

"Ugh."

Azure threw his hand over her shoulder, hanging lazily off Sabrina's and forcing her to drag him along with every step, to her great irritation.

Following her previous fight, Sabrina had chosen to wake up uncharacteristically early in order to train in the outskirts of Saffron, and was in the process of returning to the Gym with slow, tired steps, ready to face any new challengers. Not that she'd gotten many lately.

She hadn't expected to run into her boss on the way back though. It almost felt wrong, to see Azure out in the open, under the sunlight, a part of her imagining him melting under it like some kind of vampire

"Azure," she greeted him with a smile like salt on a wound. "What an unfortunate coincidence."

"I heard about yesterday's battle," he said, ignoring her. "Very impressive. Though I was surprised to hear your opponent left the Gym still walking. You're not going soft on me, are you?"

"Tch. Don't tell me how to do my job."

And she threw his arm off of her brusquely. Azure stumbled back a step, making an expression as though he were about to cry.

"You're always sooo cold," he whimpered, lower lip shaking. "I thought after all this time, we'd finally become good friends!"

Sabrina winced. In truth, theirs was a pretty unusual relationship. The distrust she felt toward Azure was still there, somewhere in the back of her mind, but it had slowly been giving up ground, becoming little more than a memory.

Truth was, she'd become accustomed to him, to his dark sense of humor, his cryptic ways and the always-present scent of blood whenever he'd return from a mission. She couldn't complain. After all, wasn't she hemmed in the same scent? It would be too far to say they were friends, but still…

They finally reached the Gym, in between snide comments and bad jokes, though this time they decided to enter through the front door, since it was too early for anyone else to have arrived. Sabrina unlocked the padlock, and as she pushed against the heavy steel doors, she was surprised at what was waiting for her in the blood-soaked arena.

"Finally!" A familiar, annoying voice reached her ears. "I'd almost gotten tired of waiting! Were you planning on running away from our duel!? I wouldn't expect any less from a coward like you."

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the arena, Sabrina saw two gleams. First that of a Pokeball being drawn, and second that of the silver crucifix hanging from the man's neck, swaying back and forth.

"En garde!"

As the raid sirens and the sounds of combat echoed through the streets of Viridian, many citizens raised their eyes toward the sky, where a green and silver blur flew west with desperate speed, followed by a number of smaller flying creatures. Each of them carried at least one person, tattered and copiously covered in their own blood.

Sabrina held onto her Scyther's back for dear life, eyes closed tight due to the strong air currents. She and the rest of her companions heard the echo of screams and other distressing sounds behind them, but paid them no mind. They'd find out soon enough how many of them had survived that disaster.

Finally, a dozen or so miles off of the walls of the city, they came upon the rest of the group which had teleported out early. Ñako and Siegfried lay collapsed next to each other atop a grassy hill overlooking a small lake, accompanied by Mercer, who seemed to be heating up a tea kettle, and Muffin, who was doing her best to tend to their wounds with what little experience she had.

"T-there…" Sabrina coughed out, tasting the metal of her own blood. "C-Carrie…"

The Scyther didn't so much land as crash face-first onto the soft grass and soil, both her and Sabrina hitting the ground hard and not moving for a good few seconds afterward, every muscle in their bodies burning with pain. The rest soon followed. Mycroft and Vard were deposited softly atop the hill by their Hoothoot and Murkrow, although both birds collapsed soon after, not suited for lifting so much weight. Silver was the last to arrive, he and Ryan being the only two of the group who could still stand.

There was silence for the shortest of moments, as every one of them tried to come to terms with how terribly that had gone.

"A-aghh… Cool, I'm d-discovering new places that can hurt…" Ñako spluttered a handful of blood onto his shirt. "Silver? I could use my favorite nurse right about now."

Siegfried raised a polite hand, though he couldn't stop it from shaking. "I'd… hate to impose, but I could use some patching up as well. I won't… say we came as close to death as during our fight with the Elite Four, but this is… agh, definitely a close second."

"...Wait a moment," Vard whispered, then started looking all around in a daze. "Wasn't there someone else with us before? Wolfswift or something? Agh, I believe your great leader is seeing double again…"

"Yo'! Sure, leave it to me!" Silver got to work more enthusiastically than a man in his condition ought to, whistling to himself as he pulled a first-aid kit from his backpack. "Vard gets priority, but I'll get to y'all eventually so just sit still. 'Cept for Ryan, I dunno what the fuck you're doing here, but you're on your own."

The man with the sword scoffed at Silver's comment, then proceeded to sheathe his weapon and let himself sit atop a nearby rock, hands resting on his knees as he looked at the pitiful group before him.

"Well, since I wasn't expecting a thanks anyway," he muttered to himself before addressing them. "Could you at least tell me what the hell you were doing picking a fight with the highest-ranking members of the government? Not that seeing you throw your lives away surprises me anymore, but I thought you were working on something else."

Irritating though Ryan's words were, he wasn't exactly off the mark. Mycroft glared, but he said nothing as his butler began to tend to his wounds. The rest weren't in any position to answer either, too busy trying not to fall unconscious. So as usual, it fell to Sabrina to be the sociable one.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself so she could sit against a nearby tree and returned Carrie to her Pokeball, only now getting a good glimpse at the surrounding greenery. The large, crystalline lake was all that stood between them and the patch of burnt grass leading toward Viridian, and she didn't need to turn around to know that there were mountains behind them, their shadow falling on them, blocking some of the harsh sunlight.

"Ah… it's a long story, death and taxes and all that," Sabrina spat out, searching her backpack for something to gnaw on. "More importantly though… Not that I don't appreciate you saving us, Curly, but where the fuck did you come from?"

On the opposite side of the small hill, Mycroft scoffed derisively. "Isn't it obvious? He's been following us."

Ryan didn't confirm his suspicions, though he didn't deny them either, looking away for a moment. Thankfully, Siegfried broke the silence.

"I believe this would be a fortuitous moment to chat, since we can't move until we recover some of our strength," he said. "Ryan, do you have any information on-?"

"That sniveling, backstabbing bitch of an ex you got?" Sabrina finished his sentence, poison in her every word. "You know, where we might go and say hi to her?"

And as she proceeded to take out a piece of bread and bite a good chunk of it in one go, everyone's stomachs grumbled loudly. They hadn't had much to eat since last night at the bar. Ryan followed Sabrina's example, taking a carefully-wrapped bundle of dried meat from his backpack, and the rest followed soon after. Mercer even put down a large picnic blanket for Mycroft, Muffin and Ñako to sit on while the former two enjoyed some tea and biscuits, and the latter chomped down on a soggy sandwich he'd hidden god knows where.

"Well…" Ryan swallowed what was in his mouth before continuing. "I was actually waiting for her to show up and try to steal Princey Boy's feather," he said, looking over his shoulder at Mycroft. "But apparently, she's not stupid enough to try when I'm around."

Mycroft grit his teeth and protectively placed a hand over one of his suit pockets, which only made Ryan laugh before he took another bite out of his dried meat.

"Anyway, only info I could get on her these past few days is that she's on her way to Johto," he said. "Or at least that's what the people who saw someone who looked like her told me. And seeing as you're all heading west too, I doubt it's a coincidence."

At the mention of Johto, Mycroft perked up halfway into taking a sip of his tea, and frowned. He'd stopped himself from being rude to Ryan, considering he'd saved their lives only minutes prior, but considering he was that wench's ex, and with him holding onto one of the feathers…

To think I'd almost forgotten about it, he thought bitterly, looking down at his pocket. I never cared much for it, even after learning about its true value. That night, when Samantha and I spoke, if she'd asked for the feather outright… Would I have given it to her?

For some reason, the thought made him angry. He shook his head, standing up suddenly and interrupting Sabrina before she could answer Ryan's statement.

"No, it's obviously not a coincidence, as you so simply put it," he spat back, a sudden irritation rising to his voice. "I'd ask you what you know about her and Ho-oh's feathers, but I'm not sure you'd even answer or do anything that might jeopardize Samantha. After all, that useless thing inside your chest, that irrational lump of flesh you call a heart, must still hold some degree of influence over your easily manipulated brain, urging you to protect her even after all that's happened." There was a moment of silence, after which Mycroft realized what he'd said, and his cheeks grew red with embarrassment. "In any case, since none of my idiotic companions have thanked you yet for aiding in our escape, I will. Now… feel free to keep talking."

Everyone stared in stunned silence at Mycroft, who only became more aware of how out of left field his anger had come across as. Yet it wasn't in him to back down. He folded his arms, tried not to let the blush show on his face, and waited for Ryan's answer. Eventually, it came.

"...Right." The man with the sword rubbed his eyes tiredly with the back of his hand. "I see your lack of experience isn't just in battle, but in life too. 'Cause if you'd ever felt… that , for someone, you'd know that you can have your heart stomped on only once before learning your lesson." He sighed bitterly. "Don't worry; if I were to see that lying bastard again, I'd have a few things to say to her. Not necessarily with words…" As he said that, he caressed the pommel of his sword. "But I'm on your side, at least as far as Sammy goes."

Mycroft scoffed at that.

"Feel… what, exactly?" he demanded. "Irrational and fictitious emotions? Senseless, valueless poetry that only serves to turn you weak, dependent and submissive? No…" He looked away, and his next words were but a whisper. "I've already had enough of that."

Another tingle of self-awareness tried to climb up his chest, but he promptly cleared his throat and swallowed it down.

"Regardless, it wasn't in my plans to share my worldview with you, certainly too complex for a weak-willed, insignificant gnat who's more than happy to live in his own world of imaginary emotions to understand, so…" He scoffed and shook his head, sitting back down beside his worried butler. "I'll let the destitute girl continue to talk to you, so as to not bring myself further down to your level. Mercer, please fill another cup for me, s'il te plaît."

The silence that followed was about as awkward as Mycroft's outburst had been. Ryan genuinely didn't know what to say, glancing toward Sabrina for help, who simply shrugged as though saying 'Dunno, don't ask me'.

Thankfully, as with most situations, Ñako was there to break the tension.

"Ghahhh, there we go. That's my favorite nurse right there!"

His wounds now tended to by Silver's expert hand, Ñako shot to his feet and threw his arms up, stretching, before turning around and giving the man with the scythe a kiss on the cheek. Then, headed straight for the little tea party they were having, stealing a handful of biscuits and chomping down on them hungrily. It wasn't pleasant to look at.

"Alright, so to sum it up," he said, still in the process of swallowing. "Sammy's a bitch and neither of you got enough hugs growing up, so…" He knelt down to hug Mycroft, then slipped away before he could even show his disgust, sneaking up behind Ryan and doing the same to them. "Life's hard, what can you do? Meowth! Let's fish!"

And with that out of the way, he produced a fishing rod from Mew knows where, and plopped down a bit further down the small hill, casting a line over the crystalline water below them. His Meowth looked at the clear surface, angry at his own reflection. That image, as well as Ñako's sudden interruption, was enough to ease the tension slightly, even making Sabrina laugh, though she disguised it as a cough.

"Ah, my dear ninja…" Vard spluttered out, still weak, although now sufficiently bandaged. "Your diplomatic skills are truly beyond compare."

"Hey, he's got a point," Sabrina pointed out. "That attitude's not good for your mental health, Princey Boy. You should let it out if you're feeling-"

She'd absentmindedly raised a hand to give the boy a pat on the shoulder, but before it could connect, she felt as though an iron vice had closed around her wrist. It was the butler's hand.

"I implore you not to touch master Mycroft with those hands," he said, looking at Sabrina derisively. It was clear he was about to say filthy , but stopped himself just in time.

Sabrina froze for a moment, looking past the old man and at her own palm, seeing in it…

With a Tsk , she tore away from his grip and turned around, placing her hands back in her pockets.

"Right," she whispered, then said with a tone as scathing as acid. "My apologies, monsieur ." Sabrina took a deep breath before continuing. "Anyway, doesn't matter which fancy words you use to disguise it, Princey Boy. The reality is that you and Curly are the same; pitiable idiots who got their hearts stomped on."

And she looked at Ryan, forcefully suppressing the pity in her expression. The change in his demeanor from before Sammy's betrayal was all the more apparent now, not even their insults moving him in the slightest. It was probably a good idea to change the subject. Mycroft didn't seem interested in continuing the discussion further anyhow, looking away, ashamed.

"...But. In the spirit of not wasting any more time… You were saying, Curly?"

Ryan sighed, all but forgetting about the meal he'd been having. "Sure, I've got no reason not to tell you, weird emotional outbursts aside." He glanced at Mycroft. "As far as I know, that night when we fought the Elite Four…"

"Ivonne?" Muffin asked.

"No, I meant… the one we faced with Sid and the others," he clarified. "We fought her at the peak of Mt. Silver. Back then, Sammy was with the group. Not for her skills as a trainer, more just… personal convenience." He whispered those last two words, ashamed. "What's important is that the Elite Four was much stronger than even Sid had anticipated. In a matter of minutes she'd taken out more than half our Pokemon, leaving us with one foot in the grave. Everything was smoke and fire, and in the heat of battle… A stray attack reached Samantha. At the same time, someone had gotten a lucky hit on the Elite Four, and both of them went down.

"We saw the same thing as in the prison. The moment she died, one of those feathers came out of her body… and then entered Samantha's. And just like that… she opened her eyes. She'd come back to life, you could say."

No one said anything for the second it took Ryan to take a breath. There was an air of disbelief among them, but he ignored it and kept talking.

"Before I left, I remember Nancy saying that there's six of those feathers. Six gifts given to humanity by Ho-oh, if the legend is true. And if one person were to gather all six in their body… it wouldn't be just life they'd get, but something more ."

Siegfried, who was still laying on the ground, one eye closed, cleared his throat and spoke. "If I may interject. Sammy looks more than alive enough with just one of those feathers."

Ryan nodded. "She's… somewhere in between life and death, I guess. That whole disappearing into a puff of smoke thing, she couldn't do that before. But that's as far as my intel goes. If you've got any more questions, sorry, but I probably can't answer them."

Another silence set in after his explanation. Everyone except Silver and Ñako had been listening intently. At some point, Sabrina had lit a cigarette, and was taking a drag before spitting the smoke out and speaking.

"After seeing you back at the prison, I find it hard not to believe you. In fact I'd say Black probably wants you as dead as he wants us, so we're in the same sinking ship, so to speak." Then, for just a moment, her eyes went deadly serious. "Just a warning though, the moment I see that bitch, I won't hesitate."

Most of them nodded enthusiastically at that, though it was Siegfried who elaborated. "Ryan, I understand if you still have some leftover feelings for Samantha, even after all that happened, but I mirror Sabrina's sentiment. When the time comes… I won't rest until I put her six feet under. It's what I owe my team."

"Sounds good to me," said Ryan. "Like I said, she'll have to appear eventually if she wants Princey Boy's feather. Not to worry though, I'll be there to protect you," he told Mycroft with a quirk of the lips. "So unless any of you have any complaints…"

He left the question hanging, but no one spoke up against the idea. Sabrina simply gave him a bored thumbs up, Muffin and Siegfried nodded, and Ñako was too busy fishing to pay attention to what was happening.

"Dunno why we'd need a waste of space like you in the team," Silver said dismissively. "But whatever, if the others want you around, it's no skin off my back."

"Bah," Mycroft spat out, shaking his head. "Who am I to decide? Et oui , you may come. And as for Sammy… Sure, she may be more powerful than I'd be able to deal with on my own, but I doubt even at her worst she'd be able to inflict a deeper scar than she did on your weak, naive person."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I'll take i-."

"Wait!"

More swiftly than a man in his physical condition should've been able to, Vard sprung to his feet and pointed at Ryan, his eyes wide behind his starry shades. His mouth opened, and it was as though he were in a trance, lost in thought.

"…However. There is someone in my group… a friend that might look more favorably upon that offer than myself. Someone who truly does not belong. Someone who… I would rather see doing good, if I must be honest."

"This friend of mine… is named Ryan. Please, look after him if you can."

With a wide, somewhat unsettling smile, Vard walked over to Ryan and slapped his hands down on the man's shoulders, looking up at the sky with what seemed like a tear in his eye.

"I don't know how," he whispered. "I don't know when, but I did it, Mike. I fulfilled my promise. May you rest in peace, my friend."

Ryan opened his mouth, then closed it. He sighed, deciding to overlook whatever this was, gently moving Vard's hands off his shoulders.

"If we're all done here then," said Mycroft, taking one last sip of his tea. "We should get a move on, yes? Unless we want Scarlet and that man with the Charizard finding us, after all the trouble we went through to escape Viridian."

Ryan nodded. "I don't expect you to be able to travel far in the condition you're in, but we should at least make it to the base of the mountain path leading to the Tohjo falls before setting up camp. It'd be better if we travel there while the sun is going d-"

"W-wait!"

Muffin stood up all of a sudden, looking around at everyone before facing Ryan again, worried.

"What about Rhin? Aren't we going to wait for him?"

There was an uncomfortable pause before anyone answered. Mycroft laughed derisively under his breath, and both Siegfried and Sabrina looked away, avoiding the question.

"You mean that dumbass who yelled Black's name at the top of his lungs?" Ryan raised an eyebrow. "If by some twist of fate he's still alive, then I'm sure he'll find his way to us. We can't hang around here any longer."

Silver scoffed at the tone with which Ryan had said that. "Who went and made you leader, dickhead?"

"I'm just saying what we're all thinking."

And just like that, the matter was settled. Muffin stared in disbelief as no one gave Rhin more than a passing thought, gathering all their stuff and looking west, toward the mountain range separating the two regions. Below, near the small lake, Siegfried was assisting Ñako in his fight against a desperate Magikarp.

"We should leave soon, Ñako," Siegfried said, releasing Itsuki. "I hope you'll forgive me for interfering in your fight."

"BIG FISH! KILL!" Ñako screamed as he moved the fishing pole from side to side, struggling with the Magikarp. "Don't piss on his tail, I'm gonna grab him from there!"

Siegfried sighed. "Itsuki, Brick Break."

"I TOLD YOU HE'S CALLED DICKMONCHAN! NOW USE BIG PUNCH ON THE FISH!"

Muffin couldn't bring herself to start moving, her eyes set on the city in the horizon, hoping she would see Rhin approaching. But he didn't come.

Rhin… had been the first one in the group to show her kindness, and he'd even gone as far as exchanging one of his Pokemon with her. All the stuff she'd read on the news, about him and Wolfswift murdering a family in cold blood… She didn't believe that for a second. Rhin was a good person.

Sighing, Muffin took a ball from her belt and released the Pokemon inside. Piña Colada the Growlithe began looking around as soon as he materialized, sniffing for his previous master. Muffin knelt in front of him and whispered so the others couldn't hear.

"Blaze-I mean, Piña Colada… You have a good nose, don't you?" The Growlithe barked affectionately, licking at her fingers once. "Listen, Rhin… We had a pretty tough fight, and he hasn't come back yet," she said, avoiding his eyes. "We're heading west, I'm sure you'd be able to find us no matter what. So would you mind going back to Viridian and checking if Rhin is still there? And if he is… would you guide him back to where we are? I'm sure he'll follow you. He used to be your master, after all.

"Please… bring him back to us, if you can."

Rhin had a hard time thinking of any situation he'd previously faced worse than the one he was in now, though he had little time to consider it, what with the massive Charizard biting at his heels as he desperately ran for his life.

The panicked screams of Viridian's citizens were either quickly snuffed out or simply absent, doors and windows slamming shut wherever Rhin went, not a soul willing to help. Not that he blamed them, seeing what Verdant and his Charizard did to those who didn't get out of the way in time.

He heard the creature inhale amidst the loud beat of its wings, followed by the deafening roar of flames as they fell upon him. Cursing, Rhin threw himself into an alleyway between houses, escaping the torrent of fire by a hair's breadth, slamming into the ground with his shoulder and panting for a moment before forcing himself to his feet, running once more. Stray bags and trash cans were thrown all around him as he made his way, and above him the beat of the Charizard's wings became distant as the creature had to fly above, unable to fit between the two buildings.

Dammit, dammit! He thought, realizing worryingly fast that his body was running out of energy. This stuff only happens to me! I have to get out of here, whether alive or dead. Wait… no, alive, only alive!

Unfortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel -or alleyway, in this case- was swiftly blocked by Charizard's massive form, the stomp of his feet as he landed sending a shockwave that stopped Rhin short. He winced through half-lidded yes, his eyes meeting that of the blood-thirsty beast blocking his escape.

"Shit, I-!"

But even before turning around, he felt eyes on his back. Steps approached from behind as well, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Scarlet, chuckling to himself, spinning a Pokeball on one finger.

"Enough running, pest." The voice of the man atop the Charizard sent a chill down Rhin's spine. "You'll pay for speaking Black's name with that filthy mouth of yours."

"You'll get to make it up to him, though. As soon as we drop your severed head at his feet…"

Rhin's breathing got faster, uneven, panic fueling his body, freezing him in place. He cursed, feet shuffling back and forth as three pairs of eyes were stuck on him.

I can't… die here! He thought, desperate. I can't! There's gotta be something-!

And for once, his cries were answered.

"Huh?" Scarlet stopped in place, frowning. "What's wrong with him?"

All Verdant and Scarlet saw was the boy they were chasing keel over with a grunt of pain, holding his chest. Then, when he straightened back up, there was something different about him. His hair had darkened, and the soft brown of his eyes was now a deep crimson.

"Agh. Fucking hell, Rhin, you can't keep bringing me out so often," the boy cursed at himself, momentarily stunning his foes. "Though I guess there's no helping it in this situation. I got you into this shit, I'll get you out. But you better let me rest once I'm done."

Fear now completely absent from the boy's face, he produced a Pokeball on his hand and opened it, releasing his Piplup with a powerful burst of light. The small creature almost froze completely at the sight of his opponent, but the lack of fear apparent on his trainer's face gave him the courage to at least stop shaking.

"Ha! I'm surprised none of my Pokemon squashed that thing back there!" Scarlet guffawed, dropping the Pokeball from the tip of his finger to his hand. "You wanna make this a fair fight? Fine, but I won't-!"

"Disable."

Just like before, with a simple order from his master the Piplup raised a finger toward Scarlet, enveloping the trainer with crackles of red light, stopping him from using that strange power from before. Scarlet groaned, frozen in place for just a moment, eye twitching with anger.

"Tsk, of course you'd fall for the same trick twice," his partner sighed. "Charizard, finish this."

Once again, the massive beast threw his head back and inhaled deep, molten heat and fire coalescing within his mouth, yet this time Rhin did not waver. He quickly grabbed his Piplup, threw him upwards into the air, and yelled.

"Flash!"

The boy was the only one who could close his eyes in time, before the blinding burst of light exploded throughout the alleyway. Both Scarlet and Verdant were taken aback, but it was Charizard who reacted the worst. Roaring in pain, he shook his head from side to side blindly, releasing a wall of fire that fell not upon Rhin, but upon Scarlet.

"Shit!"

And while the man was busy throwing himself to the ground to avoid the flames, Rhin ran past the massive beast, disappearing into the city behind them, running as fast as his legs would allow.

Don't worry, I'll come back for you two fuckers eventually , he thought bitterly, angry that Rhin had been humiliated. But for now… Goodbye.

By the time Rhin returned to his body, he was laying face-down on a rain puddle somewhere in the slums at the western edge of Viridian. He had no idea how he'd managed to escape his pursuers. All he remembered was coming back to himself, then all strength leaving him at once, his body collapsing unceremoniously, his consciousness leaving him.

He could've lay there for hours, for all he knew. But finally, something woke him from his stupor, a strange, uncomfortable feeling, that of a raspy Pokemon's tongue licking at his palm.

"H-huh?"

Lifting his chin up shakily, Rhin made out a mane of black and orange hair through his blurry vision, though he had to blink a few times to make sure. It couldn't be, could it? That looked like…

"...Blaze?"

It was around eight in the morning when the group of trainers managed to drag themselves away from the hill they'd landed on, led further west by Ryan. Unfortunately, it became rapidly apparent that no one had enough energy to keep it up for long. Their legs ached, their bodies hurt and their energy was all but bottomed out, so in the end they did as the swordsman had suggested and looked for a somewhat-hidden spot near the base of the mountains to plop down and rest a little.

Vard was the first to plop down, the puffiness of his hair cushioning his fall. The rest soon followed, laying down wherever they could and falling asleep almost instantly. Mycroft, however, was more than happy to sleep inside the small tent Mercer had produced for him, emblazoned on the side with the flower of his family.

Hours passed in relative peace and silence, only broken up by a few stray snores. Until sometime around six p.m. when a couple of them started to stir, the scent of roasted meat reaching their noses and waking them from their slumber.

Sabrina and Vard were the first to notice the small bonfire not far from where they'd been sleeping, as well as Ryan, who sat on top of a small rock and dangled a piece of meat from a stick atop the flames, slowly cooking it. The dark red staining his blade told them he'd probably hunted the meat down recently.

The sun had started to go down, longer shadows being cast by the light of the flames.

"You guys snore a lot, anyone ever tell you that? Especially you and the ninja, Beanie."

Once everyone had woken up, they spent the next half hour eating mostly in silence -Vard and Ñako always being the exception- before gathering their supplies and continuing on.

The further northwest they went, the less green met them, the frondous grassy fields west of Viridian drying like autumn leaves as the mountainous sediment swallowed the path. It became narrower and more elevated as they traveled, providing a steeper drop into the barren valley at their right and a multitude of small lakes at their left, fed by the waterfalls spouting out of the openings in the string of mountains.

A few of them noticed an actual cement path under their feet, and that combined with the few stray stone columns they found littering the sides of the mountain path, broken and covered in dust, gave them an idea of what this place might've been in the past.

"This is the path trainers used to walk on their way to the Indigo League," Ryan muttered under his breath, saying what they were all thinking. "That was a long time ago, though."

Only Mycroft noticed that Muffin seemed affected by those words, lowering her head and biting her lip, though he stayed silent, unsure of what he could even say.

After a few minutes, the path led them to a narrow opening in between two of the mountains, and as they made their way through they found themselves within a much larger space, a flat depression in between the large ring of mountains, like the empty space inside of a crown made of rock and nature. A multitude of grassy fields and bodies of water extended toward the horizon, and once again they found that the path split itself into four, each rising further up through the valley and into one of the many mountains surrounding them.

"Um." Muffin's voice was thin as she spoke up, entranced by the sight before her. "Did Mullac say which path…?"

Mycroft sighed in annoyance. "We'll be traversing caves all day unless we know which way the Tohjo falls are."

"It should be easy if we take logic into account," Siegfried offered. "The more lakes and bodies of water we see, the closer we'll be to the previous entrance to-"

"H-HEY!"

Even Ryan was caught off guard by the sudden, unexpected voice, having momentarily dropped his guard. He was the first to turn around, sword in hand, closely followed by the rest of the trainers, each one of them producing a Pokeball with alarm. Yet they froze in place all the same, at the sight of the man slowly approaching them, limping and panting heavily.

Muffin was the only one to react, dropping the ball to the ground and forming a huge smile.

"Rhin!"

Rhin almost collapsed as he stopped in front of the group, his own heartbeat deafening him, every muscle in his body pulsing with exhaustion. Muffin's Growlithe stood next to him, looking in between his two owners worriedly.

It had taken him a while, but he'd finally found them. Now the question was, how many times were they going to kill him before his body touched the ground? The looks of irritation and hatred were almost immediate, especially from Mycroft, whose finger was hovering the button of his Pokeball dangerously. Rhin gulped; he had to act fast, think of something to say.

"W-wait, wait! Time out!" he yelled, lifting both hands in a sign of surrender. "L-look, I know what happened in Viridian was my fault…"

As one would with a frightened Pokemon, he slowly, almost imperceptibly approached the group as he talked, showing that he was no threat.

"I'm really, really sorry. I let my emotions get the better of me and I ended up putting all of your lives in unnecessary danger. Siegfried, Muffin, Sabrina, Ñako, Vard and Silver…" He looked at every one of them as he talked, trying to imbue his voice with as much honesty as he could. "And especially you, Mycroft. I don't expect you to forgive me right away, but I'm willing to work towards that, and I'll do my best during this mission to convince you that I won't fuck up like that again.

"Please, let me keep accompanying you."

No one spoke for a good while. Throughout his short speech, he'd noticed a couple of them -Sabrina and the guy with the sword mostly- slowly placing a hand over their foreheads and sighing like they desperately needed a smoke. Only Muffin seemed happy, giving the boy a thumbs up covered in the sleeve of her sweatshirt, though the tension in the air convinced her to keep her mouth shut.

Until finally, it was Sabrina who broke the ice.

"...Are you fucking stupid, or what?"

Sabrina truly didn't get it. What was wrong with this guy? Had he gotten tired of living? Was he in terrible need of a new handful of neurons? Whatever the case, the right solution would've been to get rid of him before his stupidity could get any of them killed.

Though then again… He'd been the one to tend to her wounds back in the Pewter museum, following her fight with Brock. The thought settled uncomfortably heavy in her mind, making her bite her lower lip with irritation.

Thankfully, before she could make the decision for everyone else, Silver piped up, as usual getting rid of all the tension just by the sound of his laughter.

"Ha! The hell are you apologizing for?" he asked, moving his scythe from one shoulder to the other. "Flaco, look. You insulted a guy that attacked us out of nowhere, and he got all huffy and called his pals to bail him out. Where I'm from, that's how a coward fights. Sure as fuck doesn't bother me; it even made the fight more fun! Dunno, it's just personal taste, but I got no problem with you."

That was just the opportunity Muffin needed to speak up. "Y-yes, that's right! None of us could've known how Scarlet would react to Black being mentioned."

"...I suppose," Siegfried muttered, unable to hide some of his anger, but now aware of how misplaced it was.

"Ah, Wolfswift, you finally return to your leader's generous bosom!" Vard exclaimed, raising his arms as though inviting Rhin to a hug. "You needn't apologize for coming back from the dead! That's even how some religions start, my friend."

"Looks like you have a tarotist god up there somewhere," Ñako chuckled to himself, holding the Magikarp he'd caught over his shoulder.

"..."

Sabrina noticed that Princey Boy was the only one not to say anything. He kept looking at Rhin as though he intended to melt him with just his glare, then scoffed and turned around, completely ignoring him.

She could only sigh, tired of all this fucking melodrama.

"Well, whatever," she said, returning the Pokeball to her belt. "I hope you at least had enough common sense not to let those guys follow y-"

That's when they heard another set of footsteps behind them. For the briefest moment, Sabrina was about to curse Mr. Tarot as well as fate itself, but no, it didn't come from behind him, but from the shrubbery to their right.

"What's wrong, boy scouts? Problems in paradise?"

The whole group turned with hesitation and alarm to face the two people that emerged out of the greenery toward them, just as familiar as their presence was worrying. The first was a tall, unnaturally skinny man with long, azure hair reaching down to his ankles. A rolled-up whip rested on his hip. The other was a cheery young woman, her messy blonde hair highlighted with strokes of pink, the scent of bubblegum emanating from the gum she was chewing on.

Sid lit a cigarette as he approached them, taking a drag from it before speaking.

"You lot sure love attracting unwanted attention, huh?"

Contrary to what Sid was probably expecting, his presence didn't cause a widespread panic, at least not on anyone but Rhin and Muffin, but instead turned the faces of his enemies even sourer.

Sabrina rubbed her eyelids tiredly, whispering 'Fuck' under her breath, while Ryan scoffed as he raised his blade.

" Nobu ," Siegfried muttered under his breath. "This day just keeps getting longer, it seems."

Sabrina laughed, thumb and index finger still rubbing her closed eyelids. "Look, Curly, your old pals came to pick you up," she said as she produced Rokon's Pokeball with her free hand. "It's not too late to switch sides, you know?"

Her gesture urged the rest to produce Pokeballs of their own, save for Vard who was still trying to give a very disgruntled Rhin a welcome hug. In truth, Sabrina really didn't want to have another battle to the death so soon after the last one, but if that's how these fuckers wanted to play it…

"If you're here for a fight, then just say so. We're busy folk," she told Sid. "Though I don't see what's exactly preventing us from jumping you all at once and watering the grass with your filthy blood."

Unnatural as it looked on his skeletal face, Sid threw his head back and laughed, one hand on his whip and the other on an Ultraball.

"How about the fact that you're all at death's door already, and I could kill you with a single Surf from my Poliwrath?" he asked, to which Sabrina had no answer. "Oh, and hello, Ryan, I see you're still hiding behind a… Well, I wouldn't say pretty face, exactly, but you get my point. And you, boy-scout…" He looked toward Siegfried, his knife-sharp smile exacerbating. "Have you made any progress with the waste of space, or have you wisened up to the fact he'd serve best as breakfast for one of your stronger Pokemon?"

Before he'd even finished speaking, Ryan was already stomping his feet toward him with grit teeth, and Siegfried was the same. Behind them, Silver grabbed onto his scythe with a smile, smelling a fight in the making.

Thankfully, someone intervened before things could get ugly.

"Hey-hey! Easy, boy… I mean, boys."

Ñako materialized between the two groups out of an actual, honest-to-god puff of ninja smoke, and raised one hand toward Ryan and Siegfried, stopping them in their tracks.

"Get out of my-!" Ryan was in the middle of snarling, when Ñako cut him off.

"Trust me, eager though we all might be to kill and drink the blood of our opponents, I've got a better idea," Ñako said, winking at him. "How about… We let each other go for now, and later when we reach the Tohjo falls we can start discussing what the saucy pairings will look like this time around?" He looked back at Sid. "If your drummer friend were here, I'd be raising and lowering my eyebrows seductively, I hope you know that."

Sid raised a curious eyebrow, his smile giving way to a sudden, amused chuckle.

"So you're the guy Travis is so flustered over," he laughed.

"For real, he's like, sooo obsessed with you!" Caroline placed a hand over her mouth and giggled. "He's always talking about how much he hates you! Keep it up and you'll become my new OTP for sure!"

While Ñako was too busy processing that revelation, everyone behind him was thankfully calming down, his intervention managing to cool some heads. Muffin let out a sigh of relief, as did Rhin.

"In any case," said Sid, letting go of his whip, taking a drag of his cigarette before continuing. "I don't see why I should waste time giving you the coup de grace when you've already got one foot in the grave."

"Keep talking shit and I'll have one foot up your ass instead, pretty boy," Silver piped up, moving his scythe from one hand to the other, seemingly antsy. "And Where's Dexter? Don't tell me he saw us and hid like a bitch."

"Pfft. Dexter would have you for breakfast, dipshit," Sid spat out, alongside a mouthful of smoke. "We're all in groups of two at the moment, though you don't need to know w-"

"Yeah!" Caroline jumped in excitedly, one hand raised like she was answering a question in school. "We gotta go look for these weird marbles that are like, on fire y'know? They're super chic, I wanted one for m-Ah, shoot… I'm always fucking up the plan, haha…"

The moment Caroline realized what she'd said, she shrunk herself and looked nervously over her shoulder at Sid, who was glaring at her with indescribable irritation.

"You said too much," he spat, voice full of poison. "Let's go."

He turned around and disappeared once again into the tall grass behind him, heading northeast toward one of the small lakes. Caroline stood there for a moment, head hung low like a kid who'd been scolded by their parents.

Siegfried, who still seemed pretty miffed by Sid's words -not to mention Rhin's idiotic apology from before- clicked his tongue and started walking as well, starting to take the left path.

"Well, it was nice to meet you again, I suppose. Though seeing as we each have our own missions to attend to, we should really part ways," he said bitterly.

"I…" Caroline looked even more distraught. "Yeah, I guess-"

"W-wait!"

Elated though Mycroft was that for once they'd managed to avoid a bloodbath -and thanks to the ninja too, a real miracle- he still couldn't help but scoff at the rudeness of his companions. He saw all of them turn around and leave, just like that, without even bothering to say goodbye to Caroline.

Not that he hadn't acted similarly before, but he'd taken a liking to Caroline specifically after their time together in that trial. And seeing Nancy die before…

"Tsk." He stayed behind alongside Mercer as the rest of the group left, and approached Caroline with a smile. "Please, forgive Siegfried's rudeness, he isn't always like that. Ah, alors , you said you were here on a mission? Would it be a stretch to assume it's the same we're-"

"Crofty! Oh my gosh, I didn't notice you back there!"

The girl's face lit up with a big, elated smile and she threw herself at Mycroft before he could finish speaking, almost sending him to the ground. He froze in place, eyes wide, while Mercer failed to suppress a chuckle behind him.

"Like, without that old duster and the beret I barely recognized you!" Caroline stepped back to give him a look-over, though still holding onto his shoulders. "Oomfie, you look so much better now! Really digging the earthy colors and the tie!"

Mycroft wasn't used to being flustered. Especially combined with how boastful he'd been before regarding his views against Ryan, Caroline's closeness should've angered him. Instead, he found himself smiling, laughing at her enthusiasm. It was strange. He simply couldn't be mad at someone as refreshingly honest as her.

"I'm glad you've made such wonderful friends on your journey, Master Mycroft," he heard Mercer say. Whether he was being sarcastic or not, it was hard to say.

He'd rationalized being nice to Caroline in his head by telling himself he was only looking to extract information out of her. But now… he couldn't bring himself to deceive her like that. Instead, he gently pulled back from her grasp and grabbed his backpack from over his shoulder, a thought coming to him.

"Indeed. Unfortunately, most of my clothes were torn beyond repair back in Pewter," he said. "Not all of them, though. I remember you saying you liked it a lot the first time we met and… Well, I figured I could let you have it, seeing as I've found myself new headwear already. Voilá ."

"Whaaaaaaa!?" Caroline's mouth did its best impression of a Quagsire's, her eyes sparkling with giddiness. "Crofty, oh my gosh!"

The moment Mycroft produced his old white beret, Caroline took it off his hands and raised it up toward the sky, staring at it like someone opening a long-awaited present before finally placing it atop her head. Not wasting time, she then grabbed the Pokegear in her pocket and turned on the camera on the front, looking at herself and taking one picture after the other.

"Crofty, this is Top Ten looks of all time for sure!" she giggled, adjusting the beret with her free hand. "You're such a dear! Oh, I know! Here, come here! Let's take a selfie and I'll upload it later so everyone can see!"

Mycroft had no idea where she was planning to 'upload' these, and under normal circumstances he would've been horrified at the thought. But there was little one could do against such enthusiasm. So with a nervous smile, he let himself be dragged under the eye of the camera, showing it a peace sign while Caroline closed one eye and stuck her tongue out.

"Ahh, I can't even right now!" Caroline giggled to herself. "Thank you so much, gorr!"

"H-haha, yes well-"

In that moment, Sid's voice resounded from somewhere in the distance, faint.

"Caroline! Hurry up or I'm leaving you behind!"

The chill that ran down the girl's spine was enough to startle her back to reality. She jumped back, looking halfway between nervous and scared.

"A-anyway, I gotta go, but let's meet up later!" she said as she slowly stepped away toward the tall grass. "You'll go to the castle too, right?"

Feeling like he was being yanked back and forth over and over, all Mycroft could say to that was: "H-huh? Castle?"

"Oh? You didn't know?" Caroline tilted her head to the side. "There's a big castle behind those falls, where the Elite is! We just gotta find these super cute orbs he hid all over so we can open the big door! It's like a game, y'know?"

Mycroft straightened up at the sound of that, feeling a shiver run up his spine. "I… I see." He gulped, looking toward the path northwest that everyone else had taken. "If… If you don't mind, mademoiselle , would you please elaborate about these… orbs?"

Not five minutes after parting with Sid and Caroline, and already they were being attacked by a horde of wild Pokemon.

At first they'd only felt something small brushing past their ankles, then small nibbles and tugs against their shoes, but every time they turned around they saw only darkness, the little buggers being small and inconspicuous enough to disappear back into the shrubbery. But now they were in full force, jumping at them from every direction before disappearing again, trying to slice at them with their sharp fangs.

"Rattata!" Rhin screamed as one of them flew past his ear, almost taking a big nibble out of it. "Ah! Not my ears, my mom always said I had nice ones!"

Siegfried and Muffin joined back to back, each staring at the left and right of the path they were on. "If I'm not mistaken," said the former, "last time we encountered wild Pokemon this agitated…"

"This is Dick's doing for sure," Ryan sighed, unsheathing his blade from his back. "At least they're small. One hit and they should go down."

"D-Dick!?" Muffin jumped, startled. She looked all around, unfortunately unable to make anything out in this darkness. "Is that nerd here? Milkshake, come out! Icy Wind!"

The flash of light as Dratini emerged briefly illuminated the dozen or so creatures scuttling about the darkness, but only for a moment. And the cold, frigid wind that followed did little more than irritate them. It honestly affected Muffin's teammates more than the Rattata, making them shiver violently for a few seconds.

Sabrina, who up to that point had been calmly smoking a cigarette, let what little of it remained fall to the ground and stomped on it with a sigh. Amateurs , her lips formed the word. She quickly produced Rokon's Pokeball and opened it, revealing the small, feral creature with an equally illuminating burst of light.

"Attack where I tell you to," she said, lifting her finger. "Alright, here g-"

"Nameless Meowth, use Flash!"

Just as the psionic flame behind Sabrina's eyes flared to life and she managed to see through the darkness, the smelly ninja's even smellier Meowth jumped high into the air and illuminated their entire patch of road regardless, once again making that Skill completely useless.

"Did you say Skill?" Ñako turned to ask her.

"No."

"She did," Vard confirmed.

"Whatever," she sighed. "Rokon, light'em up!"

And while the rest of the group proceeded to face the Rattata in -mildly- brutal combat, Silver instead hung back, completely unconcerned, kneeling in front of the Sandshrew he'd caught a while back. Conversing with him.

"So, Facha, you're like gonna… fight against the Elite, right?"

Making the closest approximation his species could to a scoff, the Sandshrew looked away and did a gesture with his tiny hand as though he were glamorously moving his nonexistent hair out of his face. Silver nodded, deep in thought.

"Mhm, mhm. Then it's time you make good on your name and show off your full potential," he said, producing a couple of items from his backpack. "Here…"

He wrapped a red and yellow thread of cloth he'd found back at the museum -a Focus Band, the true nature of which Silver was woefully ignorant to- around the Sandshrew's head, making him look just as fierce as he was glamorous. And then he proceeded to put one of those clip-on earrings on his left ear. For good measure.

"There we go!" Silver grabbed Facha and lifted him high in the air, a huge smile on his face. "Now, let's show everyone what you can d-Oh…"

Unfortunately, in the time it'd taken him to do that, most of the Rattata had already been dispatched of, their unconscious bodies littered all over the road and the surrounding patches of shrubbery and tall grass. Only Siegfried and Ñako were still battling theirs, probably because the ninja kept bugging the other trainer.

"Murphy, come back!" Siegfried returned his newly-born Poliwag to its ball, a hint of irritation in his voice. "Itsuki, use-!"

Ñako immediately started to say something as the Hitmonchan materialized, but Siegfried cut him off.

"YES I KNOW HE'S ALSO CALLED DICKMONCHAN, ÑAKO!"

"I… was just gonna say that it's a nice night out," the ninja lied, looking away sheepishly.

"Ugh. Itsuki, Brick Break."

With the last of them taken care of, Sabrina grabbed another cigarette out of the endless supply she seemed to have, and lit it up with a tired look on her face, taking a deep drag.

"'S a lot easier now than it was before," she whispered to herself. "But we should probably avoid fighting any more of these pests. We wanna conserve our energy for the Elite Four."

Rhin returned his Charmander back to its ball and chimed in. "Do you think the other group already found the entrance to the falls?"

"You should probably pay more attention to what people say," Siegfried replied, unable to keep the anger from his voice. "It slipped off Caroline's tongue, didn't it? They're looking for something specific in this giant valley."

Ryan nodded. "She said something about an orb. I really hope they glow or something, 'cause otherwise this is going to take all f-"

Before he could finish his expletive, something pulsing and shiny caught his attention off the corner of his eye, and as he turned to look he found the ninja's Meowth rolling around like one would with a ball of yarn, only with… something else. A glassy orb the size of his palm, glimmering hypnotically with a purple flame trapped inside it.

"...Huh."

"Oh cool," said Ñako. "He found a Dragon Ball."

"I-I saw him take it from one of the Rattata," Muffin chimed in. "Do you think it's…"

They didn't need to wonder for long. Behind them, Mercer and Mycroft's hurried steps echoed in the air as they ran toward them, a look of alarm on the latter's face.

"E-everyone! Those are the objects the other group are… phah, looking for!" He said, breathless, as he stopped behind them, hands on his knees. "They… need them to open the door that l-leads to the Elite Four… I h-heard Caroline speak on the matter…"

And then he plopped down on the ground, atop which Mercer had already placed a picnic blanket, so fast that no one had noticed. For that matter, the butler didn't seem nearly as breathless as his young master.

"Huh," Sabrina muttered. "Good job, Princey Boy. Looks like your flirting paid off in the end."

Ñako giggled. "Not like yours, I assume."

"Shut the fuck up."

Trying to hide the red rising up her neck to her face, Sabrina stomped her way toward the Meowth, who was still playing with the glassy orb, and extended a hand, expecting him to give it over.

Instead, the feline Pokemon got on all fours and lowered his back, hissing at her. Sabrina clicked her tongue.

"Alright you little shit."

Sabrina inhaled deeply for a moment, then made the scariest, most off-putting face she could think of and made a sound that put the Meowth's hissing to shame.

" HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS !"

Once the Meowth ran off to hide behind his master's leg, Sabrina relaxed her expression and whispered a 'There we go' before picking up the sphere and lifting it toward the night sky, looking at it under the faint moonlight.

"Hmm…" She spun it between her fingers, narrowing her eyes. "Doesn't look like m-"

She didn't finish her sentence. Couldn't, as the fire behind her eyes burst to life with such intensity that she was immediately blinded, and the sphere responded by doing the same, bursting like a miniature star in her hand. In the span of a single blink, a forceful torrent of memories stabbed into her brain like an arrow. A storm of voices, all familiar, spoke to her.

"No! W-wait, you're not allowed to kill, right!? T-that's the rules of the Gym!"

"Who, me? You can just call me Azure."

"What's… hah, with that face? Are you sad?"

"And to think you're the famous Sabrina. The original being so striking and beautiful, I didn't expect her copycat to be a short, emaciated brat."

"This place is killing you!"

"PLEASE, STOP!"

The sphere rolled from Sabrina's fingers, hitting the ground at her feet.

"W-wh… What just happened?" she spluttered, face peppered with sweat and eyes wide with horror. She was breathing fast, not enough air making it into her lungs. "W-what the fuck was that!?"

No one spoke or answered. While Sabrina stood there, pale and shaking like a leaf, a silence fell onto the group, heavier than any they'd experienced since the moment Sammy took Ho-oh's feather from them. Only the scuttling of the Rattata could be heard for a good few seconds.

And then, a voice. A feminine, cheery hum coming from the tall grass at Sabrina's right. Yet everyone was so taken aback that they didn't even think to grab their Pokeballs.

" Hmm-mmh-hmmhm !" It was a slow, melodious hum, like a lullaby. "Few can withstand what their inner eye has to show them, mhm!"

From the tall grass emerged a girl, surely no older than twenty, wearing a strange brown tunic woven with very thick fabric, as well as a number of garish necklaces and bracelets, all lined with countless precious stones. Her hair was long and messy, the same color as her dress.

As though she'd barely noticed their presence, she headed straight for Sabrina and bent to pick down the orb she'd dropped. As she lifted it up, her eyes finally opened, and once again Sabrina felt a prick of pain in the back of her brain, and a shiver run down her spine. The girl's eyes were a black, bottomless abyss, yet she could almost make out distant sparkles like stars in their depth.

"The voice of the stars is often unpleasant to hear, is it not, my friends?"