Interlude Pt. 4

The skies above Olivine City felt alive with a frenetic sort of fury as yet another unexpected battle waged its way across the town. Cold, fat raindrops began to fall out of darkened skies, as if the world itself was lamenting the outbreak of more senseless violence, the clouds crackling with thunder and outrage at the same.

Kris hunkered down on the back of her Salamence, buffeted by the wind and rain but unwilling to land. Most of the police officers were down on the ground, battling Team Plasma in the streets, which left many of the aerial pokemon unchecked as they assaulted buildings, smashing water towers or severing power lines and generally causing mayhem.

This attack was pointless. Just like all of the others, though this was the first time Kris was actually there in person getting to participate in one. Most of the other incidents she'd only heard about on the news or through second-hand accounts from Ethan or Hilda, but this… She'd thought they'd be more thrilling, more exciting. Actually seeing it first-hand just made her nauseous.

A blast from a Noivern sent echoing sound waves rippling down a street, blowing out the windows on multiple buildings, raining dangerous shards of glass down on the fleeing citizens below.

Without needing an order, her Salamence angled his wings downward and swooped in low, letting out a vicious Dragon Pulse straight into the Noivern's unsuspecting back, blasting it clear out of the air. A Swoobat turned and tried to defend itself, but her Mismagius who had been silently gliding beside them let out a wail and her Hex seized the Swoobat in its icy grip before it could get off its Psybeam, and it, too, faltered and fell from the sky.

Two beams of light from down below recalled the pokemon before they hit the ground and could take serious injury, and the Team Plasma grunts turned tail and fled. She considered giving chase, but they were running straight in the direction of a police barricade, so she let them go and nudged Salamence to continue his patrol of the skies.

This might be a battle, technically - but it wasn't the battle she was used to. There was no challenge here, no finesse; no artful competition between teams of well-trained expert combatants, facing off on a stage with your pride on the line. This was just violence, pure and simple. These Plasma goons wouldn't last five seconds in the ring with an actual trainer.

It had been about nine days since the attack in Goldenrod, and since then, the entire world seemed to have gone mad. Multiple villainous organizations long thought dead and buried had risen from their graves to attack the Alliance, and it seemed like there was a new assault somewhere two to three times a day.

For Johto, it had started in Goldenrod, and while thankfully none had been nearly quite as large as that first, they'd had repeated incidents all over the country, from Blackthorn to Ekruteak, Cianwood to Azalea. Seemingly, any settlement even remotely close to a story or a sighting of a legendary pokemon was a target - which was probably why they were here in Olivine now, given how close it was to the Whirl Islands, where legends claimed Lugia slept peacefully beneath the sea.

Something about that just wasn't adding up to Kris, but she pushed the thought away. There was a battle happening right now; there would be time for thinking later.

As Salamence rounded a building, angling south-east, the Olivine Lighthouse came into view. The iconic alabaster obelisk, the heart of the city, was currently the focal point of the assault, with the streets around it flooded with Team Plasma grunts and police officers, their pokemon trading blows and tearing the pavement to pieces while the skies above crackled and groaned.

The trainers of the Olivine Gym had taken up defending the lighthouse directly, with many of them stationed either right outside the entrance or throughout the building proper, their pokemon firing attacks from out of windows to keep Team Plasma at bay. Kris had left her Feraligatr at the entrance, and she could see him now as she drew closer, his hulking blue form picking up a Watchog overhead and hurling it straight out into the sea while Jasmine's own Steelix let out an Iron Tail that took down three pokemon simultaneously.

The lighthouse itself was being orbited by multiple Magnemite and Magneton, who floated around the central spire forming a protective barrier of electricity, using Thunderbots and Flash Cannons to defend the lighthouse from projectile attacks. All the while, Jasmine herself remained in the top alongside her Ampharos, the Guardian of the Waves, who kept the lighthouse powered and guided ships safely to port. Only now, her Ampharos was busy shooting massive bolts of lightning from the top of the tower, blasting down anything that came too close.

From her position overhead, it seemed clear to Kris - even having never fought in a pitched battle quite like this before - that Team Plasma was losing handily. They'd only had around twenty to thirty grunts in the first place, but while they'd managed to do a considerable amount of damage in very little time, the combination of the police and gym trainers was clearly more than enough to deal with them. The police moving through town had managed to herd most of them back towards the lighthouse, and while they were now grouped together with their friends, they were also caught in a vice grip with no way out other than to take to the sea.

Which is exactly what they began doing. Noticing they were trapped, several of them began calling out water or flying types to try to escape, while others made for the docks and tried to commandeer the boats left in the harbor.

Not that they would get very far. She, Salamence, Mismagius, and Feraligatr would pursue, of course, as would the police, but some would likely still get away. A few usually did.

Still, the thought irritated her. It was cowardly. If you were gonna attack a civilian town like this, blowing things up, hurting people, then you didn't get to run off like a wuss when things turned against you. In a pokemon battle - in any kind of pokemon battle - you stood your ground until you won or you collapsed. There was no retreat.

Growling to herself, she ordered Salamence to pursue the ones trying to flee, leaving the lighthouse to Jasmine and the cops - only as she did, she noticed one grunt - no, not a grunt, an Admin - who was scowling up at the lighthouse in fury as though it had done her some personal affront.

Enraged, she snagged a ball off of her belt and called out a truly massive Hippowdon and cried, voice barely audible over the wind and rain, "Enough of this! If we fall, at least let us make it cost them! Hippowdon, Earth Power! Bring down that blasted lighthouse!"

Kris blanched. Was this lady crazy?! If she knocked that thing down, she'd destroy half the harbor - and likely kill half the people and pokemon battling around it! Including her own people!

She seized Salamence's neck and tried to physically turn him around, shouting at both him and Mismagius to stop the psycho Hippowdon, but Salamence was flying too fast and she was already out over the harbor now. She wouldn't get to turn fast enough, and Feraligatr was too far away to hear her commands.

As the Hippowdon slammed its heavy feet into the ground, fracturing the pavement, summoning the power of earth to rend the ground beneath the lighthouse, the waves in the harbor suddenly began frothing and churning with renewed vigor, growing to massive size.

As though in response to her desperation to stop them, the ocean itself seemed to be answering her call, the tides pulling back as though inhaling, one massive tidal wave rising from the sea, nearly a third the height of the lighthouse itself, rushing in at incredible speed, directly toward where Team Plasma was caught in the pincer trap.

As the water surged forward, those grunts trying to flee on the backs of water pokemon or in stolen boats were caught in its wake, pushed back toward the shore in a cacophony of terrified shouts. Those people on shore who saw the approaching wave panicked and tried to make a break for it, the Plasma Admin herself noticing too late, her Hippowdon able to do little more than turn and scream before the water hit them.

For a moment, Kris thought she was witnessing a miracle. Perhaps the mighty Lugia itself rising from the sea to save them.

But a moment before the wave made landfall, she a saw it - a pokemon bursting free from the water, the source of this massive Surf attack.

The Poliwrath hit land right as the wave did, the water sweeping away everything before it, knocking people and pokemon off their feet. Police and gym trainers were caught in the blast as well, though the Poliwrath had managed to contain most of the damage to the area where most of Team Plasma had been gathered.

Some of the water splashed up to the lighthouse proper, and as Jasmine's Steelix braced itself for the hit, her Feraligatr seized it in both hands and, in a feat of Superpower, lifted the beast clear overhead, just out of the way.

Showoff.

Some of the disoriented grunts tried to get back to their feet, to keep fighting, but Poliwrath was there, delivering quick chops and punches or else blasts of Hypnosis from its belly to keep them down.

And just like that - with one wave, the battle was over.

More ships were pulling into the harbor now, Kris could see as she directed Salamence to return to the base of the lighthouse. Ships bearing flags from the Cianwood Gym. So this must be Chuck's doing. He'd heard about the attack and raced to Jasmine's aid, sending his Poliwrath first as it could swim faster than their boats could sail.

It was clever. Team Plasma had never seen it coming. She was surprised to see he'd abandoned Cianwood to help, though; his island had been the victim of an attack only a few days prior and they were still in the middle of cleanup. Wasn't he worried?

Then again, maybe he felt like Kris did. As Salamence began lowering himself to the ground at the base of the lighthouse, she let her eyes sweep the damaged city and felt that same thought from before crop up into her head.

Something wasn't adding up here.

Ethan and the other Champions all thought these attacks had to do with finding legendary pokemon. And, yeah, on the surface, it sure looked that way. All of them, other than that first in Goldenrod, were centered around cities and towns closest to famous sightings of legendary pokemon, or at least the legends surrounding them. And after what had happened in Unova the other day, when Hilda's brother had his legendary pokemon stolen from him… Yeah, it seemed like direct confirmation that that was what was happening.

Only… If they were after legendary pokemon, why attack Olivine and Cianwood? These were the closest settlements to where Lugia allegedly lived, sure, but… Lugia lived in the Whirl Islands, not in Olivine or Cianwood. All of the legends agreed on that. It's one thing to attack Ekruteak - that's where the towers were, that's where the legendary dogs or Ho-Oh supposedly hung out - but Olivine?

Why not just go straight to the Whirl Islands directly? It's not like it was a closed location - people went there all the time. Sure, you had to be an experienced cave diver to get to the deeper parts, but the caves were well trafficked. No one would blink an eye if you said you were going there. They could have easily snuck over and started wreaking havoc, and it would have been hours probably before news reached the mainland and the League could form a response. Plenty of time to search for Lugia or try to drive it out of hiding.

But instead, they attacked human settlements. And it didn't even seem like they were trying to get to the harbor. They were just trying to do as much damage as possible. But why? What did they gain from that?

Kris didn't know. She'd never admit this out loud, but… Well, she wasn't exactly the smartest cookie. Which was a weird expression because cookies weren't smart in the first place, but… Well, she knew where her strengths lay, and they weren't in being big brained.

She'd probably need to ask Ethan about this. Or Hilda, maybe. Actually, the best person would be Lyra - that girl was crazy smart - but she also seemed to kinda hate Kris for some reason, so maybe Ethan could ask her instead.

So as she dismounted, waiting for Jasmine to descend from the lighthouse and for the police to finish cleaning up, she pulled out her pokegear and gave Ethan a call.

Now that she'd been on the front lines of one of these attacks, he wasn't allowed to ghost her anymore. She was part of this too, now, and she was tired of being left out.

The skies above Goldenrod were considerably cheerier than those over Olivine, which Kris appreciated, dismounting her Salamence under the bright midafternoon sunlight and stretching her sore lower back. There was a time when a couple hours of flying on the back of a pokemon would have been nothing. She was only twenty-four. She can't be getting old yet.

The airport itself was all hustle and bustle, like always. Goldenrod was the only city in Johto large enough to warrant an airport of this size, which also meant it was the only airport in the country that serviced international flights. As Kris made her way through the air conditioned building towards the Arrivals section, she tried her best not to look like she was gawking. The truth was, however, that she'd never ridden an airplane before and for some reason she found the entire idea exciting.

She found Ethan and Hilda waiting near Arrival Gate D, both of them looking worse than the last time she'd seen them.

Ethan, for his part, was seated at the end of a row of stiff plastic chairs, staring intently at his pokegear and clutching a styrofoam cup of coffee in his other hand, the cup bearing the dark green circular logos from one of the popular chains from a nearby kiosk. His face looked pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. The poor guy clearly hadn't been sleeping.

Hilda, for her part, was up and pacing in tight, anxious circles. She, too, looked pale and worn, but where Ethan looked half-dead, she looked like she was bursting with nervous energy. It was her who noticed Kris's approach first, and she flashed her a brief, tight-lipped smile of recognition before turning away, never stopping her pacing.

"Don't all greet me at once," she joked, coming to a stop by Ethan's chair and nudging his leg with her knee. "Sup?"

"Kris!" he said, finally lowering his pokegear, though his enthusiasm at seeing her sounded a bit forced. "Are you alright? How's the situation in Olivine? I was reading the reports now, but-"

"It's fine," she said, plopping down into the seat right next to his and stealing the coffee cup out of his hand. She grimaced when she took a swig, however, and immediately handed it back. Not only was it cold, it was way too sweet. Boy needed to cut back on the sugar. "Chuck showed up at the end and we wrapped things up nicely. He and Jasmine are setting things back in order now, and the cops managed to catch a few of the grunts and at least one admin. Dunno if you're gonna get anything out of 'em, though."

"How bad was the damage?" Hilda asked, joining the conversation even as she continued to walk in circles. She kept glancing up at the gate, watching the stream of strangers pass them by.

Kris shrugged.

"I mean, it wasn't good, but… It was no Goldenrod, either. Lots of broken windows and ruined pavement, things set on fire… You know the drill. Like I said, though, Chuck showed up to help, and they got the situation under control in no time. Give 'em a couple a days to get things sorted, and you'd probably never even know there was an attack."

True, the damage looked bad, but it was mostly superficial. Windows could be replaced, roads repaved - and with pokemon helping, they could get it done in no time flat. It would probably cost the government an arm and a leg, but hey - that was a problem for someone else.

Olivine wasn't like Goldenrod. The attack here had been much more intense, and as she'd flown in, she could still see the signs of damage. The streets had been repaired by now, of course, and they'd managed to restore the emergency radio frequencies, but there were still blackened spots all across the city showing where the fires had burned the hottest, and many of the buildings around the Radio Tower itself were still partially destroyed.

Ethan sighed, putting his cup of gross coffee down and rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes, leaning as far back in his chair as he could go, stretching out his back. He was rewarded with a staccato of loud cracks from his spine. Kris nodded appreciatively.

"Thank you for helping," he said, lowering his hands and sending her a sad, crooked smile. "I was about to head over myself, only it was over too soon. No doubt thanks to you."

Kris shrugged. She'd helped, sure, but as far as she was concerned, it was Chuck who had saved the day. She said as much, and Ethan sighed again. Every time he did, he seemed to deflate a little more.

"He shouldn't have left Cianwood," he grumbled, crossing his legs. "His city was just attacked a couple of days ago - what if they'd been attacked again right after he left? I could have been there - or Karen, she was close. His responsibility is Cianwood first. Not all of Johto."

"All of Johto is everyone's responsibility," Kris said, flicking him in the temple. "He had a right to jump in and help, just like I did, or any of the other random trainers who'd just happened to be there. Don't get pissy because someone did a good deed."

"I know," he grumbled, sinking lower into his seat and looking like a surly child. "I know, I just…"

"Yeah," she said, taking off his hat and ruffling his hair in a way she knew drove him insane. "I get it."

The poor guy was running himself ragged trying to put out all of the fires lately. With attacks happening nearly every other day it seemed, he was constantly flying up and down the country, responding to incidents, helping with the clean up, martialing the League, fending off reporters, suffering unjust criticism from politicians, and generally trying to keep the country from descending into chaos. He probably hadn't had a full night's sleep in over a week.

She wished he'd just rely on her a bit more. He had to know she could handle it - she'd made it to the finals of the League Tournament and he'd only just barely beaten her. Practically a fluke. On another day, it could be her sitting here wearing the hat of the Johto League Champion.

Then again, she also knew this wasn't entirely his fault. As the Champion, he had to keep up certain appearances for the media and the public at large, and that meant relying on the Elite Four and other Gym Leaders in times like these. It wasn't that they weren't capable, Kris just wanted to be included in the list of people Ethan knew he could count on. But she knew that the media would have very different reactions to him saying 'I'm sending the Elite Four out to assess the situation' and 'I'm sending a friend of mine without any notable achievements to her name, but don't worry, I can totally vouch for her.'

Suddenly, Ethan's eyes seemed to focus. He sat up, snatching back his cap and running a hand over his face as though to try and wake himself up, then crammed the hat back on his head and stood.

"They're here."

Hilda stopped pacing and turned.

There, emerging from the gate amidst the stream of strangers, were three people Kris had never met before.

She recognized the first immediately, however - her round, cheerful face was instantly recognizable anywhere in the Alliance. The brightness of her personality matched only by the brilliant princess pink of her dress - Unova's own Champion, Iris herself.

Despite the general direness of the Alliance's situation and her reason for being here, as well as the fact that she must have just emerged from a ten-hour flight all the way from Unova, the foreign Champion's face lit up in a genuine smile when she noticed Ethan and Hilda and she immediately began marching straight over to them.

Both Kris and Ethan smiled back on reflex - Ethan looking somewhat relieved that she'd finally arrived, though Kris's smile held that general sort of electric excitability she felt whenever she met a strong new trainer for the first time. Hilda, however, ignored Iris entirely, blowing right past the older woman and instead all but tackling one of the boys following behind her in a tight hug.

Kris didn't recognize the other two males following behind in Iris's wake. One was a taller man, maybe a couple years younger than her, with long, bright green hair that ran all the way to the middle of his back, with a black-and-white cap, a white button up over a black turtleneck, and khaki pants.

The other, the one currently being crushed to death in Hilda's embrace, was much shorter, still seemingly in his teens, wearing a blue jacket and black cargo pants and a bright red cap with the pokeball symbol on the front. It took a moment for Kris's memory to jog, but once it did, she realized she must be looking at Hilda's twin brother. His face was a confusing mixture of relief that his sister was there and embarrassment that she was hugging him in public.

Iris, who had looked mildly upset that Hilda had ignored her greeting, watched the two teens hug for a moment before shrugging and turning back to Ethan and Kris, her grin returning in earnest.

"Ethan! Heya, Golden Boy! Came to get me in person, eh? Give me the star treatment?"

Ethan laughed, managing to work up a genuine smile from under all of his exhaustion, and stepped forward to take Iris's hand, giving it a warm shake.

"Of course. Wouldn't do to keep a fellow Champion waiting, now would it?"

"Meh," she said, placing her hands on her hips and squinting up at him shrewdly. "You're just saying that so that I have to pull out all the stops the next time you come visit Unova, aren't you?"

"You caught me," he joked back, and the two laughed.

Kris kept up a fixed, awkward smile, but said nothing. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a little out of place here. All of this 'people' stuff… It wasn't really her forte. She was actually sort of in awe of Ethan at the moment - he was clearly exhausted, yet still managed to pull a polite and professional face. He even sounded genuinely friendly. Kris wasn't sure she could manage that consistently even on her best of days.

Not for the first time since Ethan made Champion instead of her, Kris found herself silently wondering if, had she won the match that day and their roles had been reversed, she'd actually have been able to hack it. She was convinced she was their equal when it came to battling - the thing she used to believe mattered most if one was to be the Champion - but when it came to every other aspect; the fame, the constant attention, having to stand up and lead others… Those weren't her strong suits. She didn't enjoy that sort of thing the same way that Ethan did. She just wanted to battle.

Maybe it was a good thing she'd lost. And maybe that was also why she hadn't exactly been chomping at the bit to battle her way through the Elite Four to challenge Ethan for his title. Oh, the battles sounded great, but she could battle Ethan any time. He could keep the title. She would keep adventuring.

"Thank you for coming," Ethan was saying, "but are you sure it was ok? I mean, is Unova going to manage without you?"

"Bah, it's fine," Iris said, waving a hand through the air. "Old man Alder has come out of retirement to help out with the crisis, so if anything, Unova's got manpower to spare. Besides, someone had to tag along to bodyguard the boys, and anyway, there's a certain someone here who I wanted to catch before she ran off again."

With that, she turned and stared rather pointedly at Hilda, who was still talking to her brother, though she'd finally pulled back a bit and was now saying something to him while he nodded along, looking like he was trying not to cry.

Kris thought he heard her say, "We're going to get him back - I promise," before the silence behind her seemed to grab her attention and she turned to look at them for the first time.

Finding all eyes on her, she blinked in surprise, then stepped away from her brother awkwardly.

"Um…" she said awkwardly, then seemingly noticed the second boy who'd come with Iris for the first time, and her jaw dropped open.

For a moment, Hilda looked torn between who to greet first. It was obvious to Kris that she wanted to go to the tall green boy - and he looked just as eager to speak with her, honestly, given the hopeless puppy-dog look on his face - and from the guilty looks she was shooting Iris, she clearly wanted to avoid talking to her entirely. Eventually, however, and with an apologetic look to the boy, she walked hesitantly over to Iris and offered up a weak grin.

"Hey there, Iris. Long time no… see…"

"Yeah," Iris replied, her tone clipped. "Long time. Very long time."

If you didn't know any better, you'd almost think Iris was Hilda's very disappointed mother.

The silence stretched on for a moment as Iris stared pointedly at Hilda and Hilda kept her eyes glued to her shoes.

Finally, with an exaggerated sigh, Iris stepped closer to the younger ex-champion and reached out, grabbing the bill of her cap and tilting it upward so she could see her face.

"You been ok?" she asked, and Hilda nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah."

"Good."

Then she reached out and gave her a quick hug. After a moment, Hilda returned it.

"We should probably get going," Ethan said, gazing at his pokegear again and checking his notifications. "Our ride is waiting, and it's a long trip to League Headquarters."

"Oh, shoot!" Iris exclaimed, releasing Hilda and looking panicked. "We haven't grabbed our bags yet and I still have to pee!"

"I can get your stuff," Ethan said with a rueful smile. "You go take care of business."

With a grateful smile, Iris, Dragon Master and Champion of Unova, turned and immediately fled in the direction of the nearest restroom.

As the rest of the group made their way down to the baggage claim area, Kris grabbed Ethan by the arm and dragged him forward to separate themselves a bit from Hilda and the boys.

"Listen," she hissed, trying to sound firm while also keeping her voice down so they weren't overheard by random passers by, "you're not going to blow me off today like you did last time, alright?"

"Excuse me?" Ethan asked, looking genuinely confused.

Kris huffed. How dare he try to play innocent?

"Last time," she said impatiently, "y'know, when you and Hilda and Lyra got to go up to League Headquarters and have a big, important meeting and you left me out? Well, this time, I was involved in an attack, which means if Hilda and her posse get to be involved, so do I!"

Ethan scratched at the back of his head, looking discomfited.

"Well, I mean… It's not exactly the same situation-"

The growl that came out of her throat could have rivaled a Liepard.

"Fine," he said, making a placating motion with his hands and sounding even more tired than he looked. "You can come. I'll make up some excuse. Just… Try not to embarrass me, alright? These meetings are serious."

"E-embarrass you?!" she spluttered, suddenly incensed. "Excuse me?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know what it means," he grumbled, not making eye contact. "Do not, under any circumstances, run up to Lance and demand a battle. Or Iris, or anyone from the Elite 4, or any one else who may be there-"

"Oh please," she snorted, annoyed. "Do you really think I would-?"

She cut off as he turned and gave her the most deadpanned look imaginable.

Well, alright. Maybe he had a point. It's possible that she might maybe have been thinking of perhaps working in a challenge request - if there was time. But if he was gonna be such a big baby about it, then fine. She'd reel it in. Or try to.

Before she could respond to him, however, she realized they had an unexpected guest.

There, walking at Ethan's side, was Hilda's brother, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Oh - hey," Ethan said, looking around in surprise.

"Hey," the boy - Nate, Kris thought his name was? - said, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Sorry for… I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I just needed to… escape for a bit."

"Escape?" Ethan asked, and Nate made a subtle gesture behind him.

"Yeah. From that."

Curious, Kris glanced over her shoulder in the direction he was pointing and saw that Hilda and the taller green-haired boy had fallen behind the rest of the group. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but their bashful faces and awkward body language was a pretty clear indication of what was going on.

"Oh, to be a teenager again," she quipped, nudging Ethan with her elbow.

"Not for all the money in the world," he replied, shaking his head ruefully.

"Tell me about it," Nate finished bitterly.

The summit meeting of Alliance Champions was one of the most brutal forms of torture Kris had ever been subjected to.

As she sat in a stiff chair at Ethan's side around a round table in some meeting room tucked away in the armpit of League Headquarters, she felt her brain actually begin to liquify from how unbelievably boring the entire proceeding had turned out to be.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. This was a meeting of Champions! It should be… dynamic, or flashy, or… anything, honestly, would be fine at this point. Anything other than monotonous tedium would be wonderful. Wasn't someone going to battle? Well, maybe not - she knew that wasn't what they were there for, but come on, let a woman dream a little. It didn't even have to be a pokemon battle - let someone shout at someone, maybe have a fist fight, call their mother a Wailord, anything!

Sure - getting to see Cynthia, her idol, up on the big screen with her familiar slanted grin, her usual black humor, was great. Leon, too - his confidence came across as a little overbearing, but the dude had earned the right to boast, and she wasn't too proud to admit that he was hot, which was also definitely great. Seeing all of the Champions in all of their HD glory was great. Having them all together, talking to each other, seeing Ethan be included as one of them - all great.

…for about thirty seconds. It was around then that Kris realized that seeing them all on a tv screen really wasn't much different from just catching an interview with them on the news, even if it was in some privileged meeting that most people would never see, and much of her excitement began to wear off. Sure, she got to see Lance in person - that was cool - but she'd seen him in person before, so it wasn't as exciting. Plus, Ethan wouldn't let her challenge him to a battle.

Once the glow of seeing all of the Champions together had worn off, Kris was left with nothing to do but sit and fidget as the most exciting and powerful trainers in all of the Alliance read statistics off of spreadsheets at each other and recounted events that everyone already knew about from the news for like, an hour.

What was even the point of this? Just to keep in touch? To foster solidarity or team building or… whatever dumb corporations parrotted to brainwash their employees? Sure, getting Nate and N - the green-haired guy Hilda had been all flustered around - to share their story of when N's Zekrom had been targeted by Team Rocket only for Nate's Victini to be kidnapped instead had been both important and interesting, but it was also all junk they'd known for days now. Was it really necessary to bring them into the meeting and make them go over it all again?

But the rest of the news - attacks in various places, damage reports, costs of repairs, poll numbers reflecting public sentiment, etc. - all of it was exceedingly dull. And Kris had rapidly come to regret asking to be invited along.

If she'd known it would be this dull, she'd have asked to go bum around Victory Road instead.

The worst part was the one crusty old detective guy - Looker or whatever his name was, with the salt-and-pepper hair and no clue what he was doing. He talked at length about what they'd been able to discover about the various crime syndicates and what their motives were from investigations and interrogations, but from the sounds of it, it was a whole lot of nothing. Just a whole bunch of words that tallied up to 'We still have no idea what's going on and we're no closer to stopping this'. Which meant Ethan's exhausted days were only going to grow longer.

After a while, the topic of conversation shifted to where the various Leagues had spread out their man power, stationing members of the Elite 4 and what retired Champions had offered to help throughout the countries so they could quickly respond to incidents. They'd displayed maps of their countries, with markers showing where they were stationed, colors displaying probable targets, notes detailing how they planned to proceed in the event of the seemingly-inevitable next attack.

But it wasn't until Lance was up talking about Kanto that Kris finally began to wake up from her stupor.

Finally, after days of nothing, after everyone in the Alliance had come to believe that Kanto had seemingly been spared from the chaos - they'd been attacked.

There'd been a raid in Cerulean, and another out on the Sevii Islands. Elite 4 member Misty Waterflower - AJ's mother - had responded to the first, having been in town at the time, and the second had been handled by the renowned ice-master Lorelei, who had retired to the Orange Island archipelago a few years back and had been just a skip and a jump away.

Just two attacks - nothing at all compared to the other nations - but Kanto had sent off half of its Elite 4 to back up Alola and was now under intense scrutiny from the media and the government, with public sentiment seemingly indicating that they had left themselves open to attack and that they needed to recall Koga and Bruno immediately - a move that would leave the already struggling Alola in dire straights.

"We're still not sure why they targeted Cerulean," Professor Oak was saying, idly scrolling through documents on the screen inlaid on the circular table before him. He and Lance were Kanto's only representatives today, though the table still felt crowded with the addition of herself, Ethan, Iris, Hilda, Nate, N, and Lyra, who had tagged along in place of Professor Elm.

"There have been rumors for some time about some fearsome legendary pokemon living deep within Cerulean Caves, so I suppose that might have been the cause… but there has never been any sightings of anything. Not even rumors of sightings. Most of the locals believe the stories to be folk tales created to scare children away from the caves because they're dangerous - not because anything was actually there. But I suppose Team Galactic may not have known that."

Kris frowned, thinking back to the attack in Olivine that morning. From the sounds of it, Team Galactic had attacked Cerulean City possibly because there were rumors that maybe there was a legendary pokemon in the cave - but once again, they attacked the city, not the cave. Why? Why not just go straight to the source? Why waste time with the city where they knew there was both a strong police presence and a gym leader, and where a member of the Elite 4 was widely known to live?

Everyone was acting like targeting legendary pokemon was the goal, but… was it? They'd only found one so far - Nate's Victini - but from what she understood of the story, it had been a total fluke. Sure, they'd been targeting N for his Zekrom, but even that had been more or less an accident. Team Rocket hadn't known N was in the city until he'd literally run into a grunt on the street. They weren't in Castelia for N or Nate - they were there for something else. But what?

Kris frowned, scowling up at the screen. It was moments like these that made her wish she was smarter. They were missing something - something obvious. She could feel it in her bones. Something… Something to do with… She didn't know, honestly, but she wanted to say it had to do with the attack on Goldenrod. Something about the attack there that was different. Something… Maybe something Ethan had said? She'd have to ask him later.

Then again, she could just be wrong. She was in a room full of brilliant people, and if none of them thought they were wrong, well… Maybe she was seeing things. Maybe she just felt out of place and wanted to feel useful. She wasn't used to being dead weight, but in terms of this meeting, she absolutely was. She really didn't belong here.

"At this point, I'm afraid we can't put it off any longer," Lance was saying. "We'll have to send a search party into the mountains to find AJ. Kanto needs its new Champion - that should appease public sentiment at least a bit, and if we can get her back, we should be able to keep Koga and Bruno in Alola, at least for the time being. The attacks there have been some of the most severe; we can't abandon them."

Lance let out a sigh that had his shoulder's slumping. For the first time, Kris found herself noticing his age. He'd always appeared so impossibly tough on tv, but now, he looked like a weary, weathered old man who just needed to put down his burdens and finally rest.

"I can only hope that the Rangers can find her in a timely manner…"

But the mountains were huge, Kris knew. Untracked, barely mapped, and without internet connection or radio signals thanks to the mountain range's bizarre electromagnetic interference, communication between search parties would be difficult - basically impossible. They could walk right past AJ's party and never know it. They'd have to rely on pokemon to track them down, but it would still require multiple search teams - which would mean a lot of money and a lot of man power being wasted. Not a good look for Kanto's new Champion.

"I've been up there before, just a few years ago," Ethan said slowly. "If necessary, I… might be able to help with the search."

Kris whipped her head around in shock. Ethan was volunteering to go up the mountain? How? Why? He was Johto's Champion, he had too much on his plate as it was to disappear potentially for days, and he was already exhausted enough as it was.

But she could see the resignation on his face and the determination already setting in over it. This is just what it meant to be a Champion. It wasn't all about the fun of high-level battles, the pride that came from everyone knowing you were the very best. It was about stepping up and doing what was needed when no one else could.

But this time, he wasn't the only one who could.

"No," Kris said, speaking up for the first time. "I'll go. Just give me clearance and I can go find them."

"Kris," Ethan began, adopting a tone that seemed to imply that the big kids were talking and she needed to butt out, but she ran him over.

"Yeah, I'm not a Champion, or in the Elite 4, or a Gym Leader, or anything like that - but that's why I'm the best option. The rest of you are needed here, protecting people - you can't afford to disappear for who knows how long looking for AJ who's lost somewhere on Johto's frozen butt crack. But I can. Ethan, you know I'm a good enough trainer to handle the wild pokemon up there, and I've explored more than my fair share of icy mountains. I can do this. Let me help."

He stared at her in silence for a moment, but she could see the gears turning in his head. He knew she was right. Why was he stalling?

"If Champion Ethan vouches for you," Lance chimed in, "then I see no reason not to ask for your help. We'll still want to send the Rangers, of course, but Mt. Silver is particularly vast and dangerous. The more hands, the better - but I'd rather not send you alone if we can help it."

Professor Oak cleared his throat.

"I've got some Aides back at my lab who are retired trainers. They're not tournament champion level, of course, but they're experienced trackers, so if one of them partners with you-"

"No, I'll go! Let me do it!"

Kris had to stop herself from actually gawking. Lyra had stood up, raising her hand like she was attending a lecture, looking determined.

"I'm an expert tracker - I do it all the time for research! Plus, I've met AJ and the others before, and I know Kris. If she's going, I should go with her!"

Lyra was volunteering? To go with her? Why?

To be fair, this was good news. If Kris had to have a partner and it couldn't be Ethan, then she'd rather it be someone she knew - and she knew Lyra, after a fashion. It was just… Didn't Lyra hate her? Why would she willingly volunteer to spend an extended amount of time with her, alone on a mountain?

Unless she was planning to push her off a cliff.

Professor Oak was nodding approvingly, however, and the sight of it made Lyra seem to glow with pride. Oh - maybe that was why she was volunteering, for recognition from 'the' Professor Oak. Maybe she didn't want to dispose of Kris after all.

Or maybe this was a 'two birds, one stone' situation.

"Thank you, Miss Lyra," Lance said, smiling kindly. "I'm all for giving these two young women permission to enter - but I'll leave the decision up to Champion Ethan. Mt. Silver is technically in Johto, after all, and they are your friends. It should be your call."

Both Kris and Lyra turned to stare at Ethan. He blinked at the sudden attention, then sighed, running a hand down his face.

"I…" he began, then stopped, reconsidering. "Yeah… Yes, they can handle it. Lyra spends most of her time tracking pokemon through the wilderness for her research, and Kris is both a talented battler and an expert mountain climber. If you two can take care of this for us, that would be a huge help."

"Of course!" Lyra exclaimed, just as cloyingly sweet as Dipplin syrup.

"We'll find them quick," Kris promised, feeling a rush of excitement flowing through her. Adventure! In a restricted, forbidden, mysterious mountain! And best of all - she was helping! She was actually contributing! Being a team player never felt so good!

And it was probably that that surprised Kris the most. As excited as she was for a new adventure in a land that was practically uncharted, it was the knowledge that taking on this responsibility removed a weight from Ethan's shoulders that made her the most excited.

Huh. Maybe she still had some growing to do after all. Go figure.

There we have it, folks. The fourth - and final - Interlude chapter, and also the reason for why I left on a six-month hiatus, because holy cheese whiz, this chapter turned into a monster that did not want to be written. Actually, all of the Interlude chapters have been pains to write and have been the main causes of my hiatuses, so let's all celebrate together that they're done now and we'll have no more moving forward.

That doesn't mean we're done with Ethan or Hilda or the others; it just means that, next time we see them, it'll be part of the main story with AJ and the others and not in their own isolated bubbles.

In other news, next week's chapter is a milestone for this story, as it's the last of the chapters that I'd already had written years ago before I started working on the story in earnest, and it's a chapter I'm very much looking forward to, as, much like the chapter where AJ battled Ash, it marks a drastic change in the direction of the story and will set us moving into the endgame. Here's hoping you like it!

Keep it Zesty!

ZC