Chapter 57: Coming Clean

The gathering was a strange one. Me, Ajia, and Starr inside the office of the ranger chief. Head of the Indigo branch. And also, Ajia's dad. The energy was simultaneously one where I felt like we'd done something wrong, and one where we were here to share news of some big achievement or whatever. I guess it was both, in a way.

The chief sat at his desk, looking increasingly tired as Ajia's story went on, but overall not reacting as much as I'd expected. He didn't interrupt at all, just asked the occasional question whenever there was a pause. And his questions were mostly the detail-clarifying sort rather than the "what on earth is any of this" sort.

The only time he looked truly taken aback was when Mew transformed right in front of him. His mouth hung open as if he were about to speak, but he didn't. He just sat staring at her in quiet reverence as she explained her role in all this. And then came the explanation of what the chosen pact was, and how Ajia wasn't just helping the legends, she was bonded with one. And that she wasn't the only one.

"All three of you?" Chief Tenning asked helplessly.

"Unfortunately," Starr just said.

He let out a deep sigh, removing his glasses. "I always knew there had to be more going on, I just figured that you'd tell me when you were ready," he said, giving Ajia a weary look. "This is a little more than I had bet on, though."

"Sorry," Ajia said sheepishly, lowering her head. "I just didn't want you to worry."

He gazed at her, as if he had a dozen thoughts that he couldn't say all at once. "You know that I'm not a fan of telling you what you can and can't do. You're nearly an adult; you're old enough to be making your own decisions. And, well… obviously Mew thought you were responsible enough for this."

Mew bowed deeply. «She has been indispensable.»

The chief stared at Mew for a long moment, obviously still getting used to having a legend here, in the flesh, in his office. His gaze slid back to Ajia. "I don't want to make you feel like you can't tell me things. But, Ajia… I saw the broadcast. More and more people don't trust the guardians anymore."

"There's still plenty of people who do," she said earnestly.

The chief sighed, glancing out the window. "That's all well and good, but the people in charge don't, and they're the ones that need to be convinced that the guardians aren't dangerous. Especially when several of them have been at the center of these incidents lately."

"It's not their fault," Ajia said quickly.

Her dad sighed. "I know."

Ajia clasped her hands in front of herself. "It's not something we're going to stop. I'm sorry."

"I didn't expect that it was something that you could stop, but…" He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. Then, rather unexpectedly, he glanced toward me and Starr and said, "Do you mind giving us a moment?"

Starr just shrugged before getting up from her seat. I gave Ajia what hopefully looked like a reassuring face before following.

"That means you too," he added in a mock-stern voice.

A little yellow-and-black furball emerged from under the chairs, looking disgruntled. Pichu followed us out of the office before sticking her tongue out at the door and scampering off down the hall.

Starr crossed her arms behind her head as we wandered toward the lobby. "Dunno what we needed to be there for," she said once we were out of earshot.

"Moral support, I guess."

Starr shrugged. "Eh, Ajia handled it fine on her own."

I rubbed my arm. "I think us being there helped, if only a little."

I squinted against the late morning sun as we exited the station, where Kari was chatting with her Pidgeot on the porch while scrubbing the dirt from some riding gear. It made me want to find Swift and go for a soar, just to burn some anxious energy. Just to remind myself that it was something that I could still do, even after the bizarre way that everything had been reversed.

"Soooo, how'd it go?" a voice asked.

"Ajia's still in there with—" I replied automatically before realizing I didn't know who had asked. I spun around to see a blonde-haired girl perched on the edge of the wooden fence around the Ranger HQ, presently leering at me like something was deeply amusing. Something about her face had an… uncanny familiarity.

"Isn't your squad supposed to be helping relocate those Ursaring?" Kari piped up, giving the girl a skeptical glare.

"Finished early," she replied in a singsong tone.

An enthusiastic reptilian head popped up behind her with an affirmative chitter. I'd seen that purple-leaved Grovyle before. And its trainer too. Well over a year ago, in the depths of the Celadon hideout…

"…Wait. Wait wait wait." I put a hand to my temple, suddenly disoriented. "Stracion? What are you doing here?"

She grinned. "I work here."

I stared at her, utterly bewildered. "I… wh… why."

She leaned back against a wooden support pillar. "Shit went south after the Mewtwo fiasco, figured I needed to get out while everything was upside-down."

That answered part of my question, but opened up several others at the same time. But before I could figure out how to word any of them, Stracion had sidled over and said, "Soo, spill the beans, you guys are paired up with Legendaries?"

I recoiled backward, suddenly tense. "What? How did—who told you?" I threw a hurried glance around, uselessly looking for an answer.

Kari met my eye and said, "Don't look at me; I'm not a snitch."

"*Didn't need to be told. You guys are loud,*" Grovyle provided helpfully.

"Eavesdropping, then," I amended tiredly.

Stracion held a finger up, looking entirely too self-satisfied. "This is what happens when you guys talk about Legendary business in broad daylight."

"It wasn't…" I began before realizing that it hardly mattered. If everything went well, we'd be allying with the rangers, and the chosen thing wouldn't even be a secret anymore. What did it matter if someone found out early?

Starr had been scrolling through something on her phone, not paying attention to the conversation. "Yeah, so fill me in, where have you two met, exactly?" she asked in a bored tone.

Stracion held out a hand. "Hiya. I don't think we ever properly met. Astrid, right?"

Starr lifted her eyes and gave the girl a deadpan stare for several seconds before slowly pivoting on her heels. "Nope. Don't have the energy for this. I'm getting coffee." She then marched off, heading away from the Ranger HQ building.

"There was a coffee pot in the lobby…?" I said hesitantly, gesturing over my shoulder.

"Good coffee," Starr clarified. She waved down her Rapidash, and the fire horse came trotting over. In one smooth motion, she swung a leg over his back, and the two went riding off down the dirt road. Given that the nearest convenience store was a few miles away, they'd likely be gone for a while.

Welp. Guess I was fielding this one by myself.

So, Stracion was here. Still wasn't sure how to feel about that. She'd gone back to walking along the outer fence, one foot in front of the other with her arms out. And she must have noticed my conflicted expression, because she flashed an innocent grin and said, "What's the problem? All I ever did was help you out."

She wasn't wrong. She'd helped me escape from Celadon base—twice. And the second time was… the one where I'd needed help more than any other in my life. But still…

"That was… you were just doing a favor for Stalker, right?" I said warily. "How do I know that he didn't send you to spy on us?"

She barked out a laugh. "C'monnnn, if he wanted to spy on you, he'd have a dozen better ways to do that. He's got a Legendary that can turn invisible."

"Two," I said shortly.

Stracion tilted her head for a moment, confused, but then shrugged. "Same deal."

I paused. Did she… not know about Latias? Maybe she really was telling the truth about not being in contact with him.

I paced slowly up the entry stairs, trying to get my thoughts in line. "So, you're definitely not with the Rockets anymore?"

"Duh."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "That wasn't obvious, okay? Like, have you seen the news?"

Stracion hummed. "Seen the news, what of it?"

I threw my arms up. "The Rockets are practically working with the League!"

"Yeah, exactly no one's impressed with that," Kari chimed in dryly. Pidgeot ruffled its feathers, looking similarly displeased.

"Dunno what that has to do with me," Stracion added as she pivoted to walk the opposite direction along the fence.

My brain attempted to piece together some sort of point about how the Rockets were operating in broad daylight now, but the more I thought about it, the less relevant it felt.

"Alright, fine, I guess it's not important here," I conceded, rubbing my eyes. "So like, why the rangers anyway? And, hang on, did you know about this?" I asked, throwing a glance at Kari.

She continued inspecting the straps on her riding gear without looking my way. "What, you two having some kinda history?"

"No, no—the Rocket thing."

Realization crossed her face and she set down her gear. "Riiight. So, this might come as a bit of a surprise, but a lot of rangers are ex-Rocket."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Most employers aren't gonna give you a second glance if you've ever had ties to Rockets. The Ranger Union doesn't care where you come from, so long as you're good with Pokémon and not a liability in the field."

"*We're good at helping,*" Grovyle chirped with a rather too self-satisfied grin.

"The chief says that working with wild 'mon makes people learn to appreciate them, and the pact, in a way they wouldn't normally get to," Kari explained, running a hand through Pidgeot's crest. "Gives 'em a chance to unlearn some of that Rocket propaganda."

I blinked at her. "Huh… that's optimistic of him."

"Have you met the guy?" Kari replied with a snort.

Being surrounded by that worldview, it was no wonder that Ajia thought people could change.

"So like… what about you?" I asked Kari, suddenly curious.

"Mm, I'll keep that a secret," she said with a smirk.

Pidgeot suddenly glanced upward, and a few seconds later, the sound of heavy wingbeats caught my ear from overhead. I followed its gaze and—wait, what? The jagged silhouette of none other than Zapdos, slowly descending on the Ranger HQ. I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes, just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Nope, definitely Zapdos.

The thunderbird touched down on the gravel walkway in front of the building, folding its wings and looking around expectantly.

"Zapdos?" I asked, unable to keep the bewildered tone out of my voice. "What are you doing here?" I found myself automatically glancing hurriedly in all directions to see if anyone else was around. No other rangers outside besides Kari and Stracion. Pidgeot and Grovyle were here of course, not to mention tons of wild bird Pokémon chattering in the trees.

Zapdos tilted its head in confusion. "I had thought we planned to openly ally with these humans," he said, gesturing with his beak toward the Ranger HQ.

"Well, yeah, I just… I didn't expect it to be like this." I'd been imagining the chief letting everyone know behind the scenes, then having some kind of a formal introduction, maybe with Mew doing a demonstration to everyone…

Stracion let out a low whistle and hopped down from the fence. "Man, you weren't kidding—you guys really are teamed up with Legendaries. Nice one."

I heard the front door of the Ranger HQ open slightly behind us before immediately slamming shut as someone ran back inside. This was prooobably a bit jarring, yeah.

Stracion spun on her toes as she glanced between us, boots crunching on the gravel. "And there's more legends that gotta team up with people?"

I nodded. "That's the idea, yeah."

"So, what about you?" she asked, inclining her head toward Zapdos. "You got a human partner?"

The thunderbird straightened. "Ah, no. I will need to attain a human ally at some point."

Stracion tapped a fist to her palm. "Cool, cool. I'd be up for that."

I gaped at her, letting my arms fall limp. "Wha? That's not something you can just… say you're up for?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

While I was still struggling to force my brain to generate a coherent sentence, Zapdos raised a talon and said, "I believe I know why. There are certain requirements for the alliance. It cannot simply be anyone."

That wasn't exactly what I'd meant, but whatever. I gave Stracion a look and she just flashed an innocent grin.

"Whaaat, you guys need to do this thing, yeah? I'm just troubleshooting."

"Some pretty bold 'troubleshooting,'" Kari remarked dryly.

Stracion glanced at Kari over her shoulder. "You think you should go for it instead?"

Kari blinked. "What? Course not. Not if it involves fighting Rockets and nonsense like that."

Zapdos opened his beak as if he wished to say something, but remained silent.

"And 'sides," Kari went on, "if any of us were gonna work with the legends, shouldn't it be the chief?"

The chief? I hadn't ever considered it, but… it sort of made sense. Wasn't there also something about how the 'threads' were brighter with someone who was connected to the existing chosen? Would the decision to come clean to Ajia's dad inadvertently lead to him joining us in the pact?

"I must admit," Zapdos began, preening a few stray feathers, "I know very little about the humans that will be our allies. What is this organization?" The thunderbird tilted its head as it observed the Ranger HQ building, and the flag draped from the roof overhang.

Kari gestured to herself and Pidgeot. "We're the rangers. We help keep the peace between humans 'n Pokémon on mixed-use routes. Our main problems include being constantly short on funds, volunteers, and time." The last bit had something of a ironic smirk attached.

Zapdos gave a soft chuckle. "Keeping the peace sounds nice. Much nicer than fighting."

Kari leaned back against a support beam, arms folded. "Can't pretend like there's no fighting. It's how Pokémon understand each other and all, so sometimes it's the only way to communicate." She lifted her head to meet the legend's gaze. "But if you don't wanna fight, what about helping us protect people?"

It took me second to realize that she meant not just being allies with the rangers, but actually joining them. Helping them protect people rather than helping the rest of us fight the Rockets.

A long moment followed, silence punctuated only by the creaking of wood as Grovyle hung from the rafters. I spotted Nine perched on a nearby tree, quietly watching, ears and tail alert. Zapdos made eye contact with him before turning back to the rest of us.

"The idea of joining a human institution is… strange," it began, "but the legends are meant to keep the balance between human and Pokémon. Perhaps this is the best way for me to do that at this time."

I took a step forward, giving the legend a reassuring smile. "I think that'd be a good fit for—"

"Hi chief!" Stracion interjected with an eager wave, and I nearly tripped.

Sure enough, I spun around to see Ajia and her dad exiting the HQ front door, letting it swing shut behind them.

Zapdos perked up, turning its attention to the new arrivals. "Ah, you are the leader of this group of humans, yes? It is an honor to meet you," it said, bowing its head.

Ajia folded her arms, looking amused. I gave her an exaggerated shrug that would hopefully convey that this had been just as unexpected on my end.

Zapdos straightened itself once more and nodded to the chief before gesturing to Kari. "This one believes it may be worthwhile if I partner with you?"

Kari jumped to her feet, rapidly waving her palms out. "Whoa, whoa! Haaang on, that wasn't a serious proposal or anything!" she added hastily with a nervous laugh, glancing back at the chief.

"Ah, it seems that I misunderstood," Zapdos added, deflating slightly.

The chief sighed with a weary smile and put a hand on Ajia's shoulder, glancing at all of us. "I think we ought to sit down and… have a talk about what it means, exactly, that we'll be working together."

The chief took a half step like he was about to gesture for everyone to follow him inside, but then realized the obvious flaw in that thinking.

"I'll get chairs!" Stracion exclaimed, throwing an arm up before racing inside.

"*See? Helping,*" Grovyle added as he bounded up the stairs after her.

"So, I gotta admit, Zapdos joining the rangers wasn't on my bingo card for this month," Darren said, flopping onto a sunny patch of grass alongside Venusaur and gesturing for me to join them.

"Mine neither," I admitted, fumbling in my bag for a Pokéball while Firestorm circled overhead, waiting. Taking it easy sounded good while I was still recovering, but a bit of dive-catching practice couldn't hurt.

In the midst of all the weirdness, with all the shifts in the status quo, afternoon training in the park was the same as it ever was. Rudy was his usual infinite-energy self as he threw punches alongside Breloom. Jet tackled Ebony to the ground while Weavile and Raichu practiced their dodging, shards of ice and strings of lightning flying past each other in the dirt battling pitch. Away from the higher-energy fighters, Tyranitar had her eyes closed in concentration, claws slowly flexing as she manipulated the sand at her feet.

I drew back an arm, felt the strain in my back and shoulders, and hurled the Pokéball as high as I could, watching as Firestorm pitched his wings into a dive and caught it without any trouble. The downblast from his wings sent waves across the center pond, rocking a pair of wild Psyduck who quacked in objection.

A bit of soft snoring told me that Venusaur had dozed off. Darren had reclined against the napping grass-type's side, distracting himself with browsing something on his phone.

"So, uh… anything interesting?" I asked.

"Was just checking if there were any more Mewtwo sightings," Darren replied nonchalantly. "None since last week. Then I figured I'd take a look at the discourse around the League broadcast yesterday."

Firestorm tossed the Pokéball my way as he swooped past, and I caught it. "Huh… What are people saying?"

Darren made a face. "Trust me, you don't want to read the comments."

I blinked at him. All that did was make me more curious about what people were saying. I hurled the Pokéball for Firestorm and then leaned over to get a look at Darren's phone screen while he scrolled.

Monsters. Dangerous. No mercy.

"Wait, go back—what was that last one?"

Darren gave me a don't-say-I-didn't-warn-you look, but then sighed and tilted his phone toward me. I held a hand over the screen to block the sun's glare as I read.

DragonMaster_82
These things are literally destroying people's homes and businesses? How are people defending this? [2.4K likes]

ValidConcern
These "guardians" are just overgrown pokemon. And we all know what we do to dangerous pokemon that attack humans. Just saying. 😈 [4.5K likes]

TrueDefender876
Trainers working with legends are species traitors. Remember Viridian City. No mercy this time. [4.7K likes]

Viridian…

Firestorm tossed the Pokéball again, and I let it clatter to the dirt next to me. A sickly pool of dread had settled in my gut. "Is… is that really what everyone thinks?"

"Nah," Darren replied immediately, and I felt myself relax a bit. "You know how it is with the angriest crowd being the loudest. Plenty of people are on the legends' side here." He scrolled through the feed a bit before tilting his phone toward me again.

WatcherOfMyth
The guardians have protected our regions for millennia. They deserve our respect, not judgment. [445 likes]

gallade_blade
calling it now - this wohle vid is CGI. nice try tho [92 likes]

LegendarySimp
divine beings don't need to explain themselves to us mortals 🙏✨ [1.2K likes]

"...Oh." Somehow, I wasn't sure if that was better or worse. Obviously, I wasn't gonna pretend like the Legendaries had never done anything wrong ever, but…

"Hang on… that last one can't be serious, right?" I asked, squinting.

"Huh?" Darren looked at it again. "Oh, duh. Well, it's making fun of other comments being like that for real, so."

I didn't have much inclination to read any more of them after that, so I just forced myself to look away from the screen and back at our Pokémon. Sparks crackled along Raichu's whiplike tail as she darted after Weavile. Stray leaves scattered through the air, kicked up by Stygian's claws as she raced Aros around the pond. Embers trailed behind Firestorm as he continued the dive-catching practice with rocks dropped by Swift.

"Anyway, it's not all on the far extremes," Darren went on, still scrolling. "We've got this one calling out the funky editing, and this one claiming to have seen the legends being provoked. I was thinking I'd make a throwaway account and try to do some damage control? Answer questions, offer some counterpoints while staying anonymous, that kinda thing."

I felt my heart lift. "Do you really think that could—"

"Are you guys even paying attention?" Rudy's irritated voice suddenly piped up.

I blinked, caught off-guard. "Huh? Er, yeah."

"Nope," Darren replied, ducking to avoid the dirt clod hurled his way even though it missed by four or five feet.

Rudy turned back to his training with a huff, motioning for Raichu and Ebony to join him for the next exercise.

"Prooobably enough internet for the day, anyway," Darren said, pocketing his phone and standing up. "Not much point in reading garbage if there's no Mewtwo updates."

Right, Mewtwo. I'd forgotten how we'd got on that topic to begin with.

Darren stretched widely and gave Venusaur a pat before having his attention grabbed by Sandslash popping out of the ground and gently tapping his leg.

"Would be easier to get a read on Mewtwo if you'd been able to meet with him, but oh well," he said, reaching for his backpack.

I rubbed the back of my head. "I mean… he wasn't asking to meet with me. The meeting was supposed to be with Lugia."

"Yeah, I know. Same difference, though."

Was it? I found myself wondering if I could reasonably expect that Lugia would have relayed everything from their conversation, and then immediately hated myself for wondering, because it meant Stalker was right to ask about our bond.

"Remind me—he was trying to get Lugia and Suicune to follow his cause, yeah?"

I felt myself tense up. "Yeah… but Lugia decided to stick with Mew."

Darren either didn't notice my sudden hesitation or brushed past it. "Right, right, and Suicune's obviously torn, so that could be a problem if it decides to follow Mewtwo."

That wasn't quite how I would have described it.

"It doesn't seem torn," Rudy said loudly before I could get the words out. "All it ever does is complain about how we suck at our jobs. I say it should just get lost." He punctuated that last bit by forcefully hurling a tree branch to the other end of the training pitch, prompting Ebony to bolt after it.

"We need it to stick around," I said, rubbing my temple. "Unfortunately."

Darren hummed as he fished something out of his bag, Sandslash waiting patiently next to him. "I have a few ideas for how to get it on-side. Just requires some other things to line up. And it depends on if Mewtwo shows up again—still surprised he didn't show up at Indigo the other day. Best guess is that he didn't need to get involved because the Rockets stirring up more anti-Legendary sentiment actually helps his argument. But he's gotta make a move sometime, so…"

I traded skeptical glances with Rudy. "You know, for someone who's not involved in this stuff, I feel like you're putting in more thought than most of us."

Darren shrugged sheepishly as he unwrapped a potato. "I dunno about that. It's just an interesting puzzle."

"Puzzle?"

"Yeah, you know, like…"—he waved a hand in midair—"how to get everything lined up right, what has to happen in what order. I'm not actually in the middle of it all, so it's easier for me to look at it as an extra, see the big picture, that sorta thing."

I blinked, processing it. "Alright, so what have you figured out?"

He handed the potato to Sandslash and wiped his hands on his jeans. "Well, Suicune's obviously not going to help unless you guys promise to free Raikou, so you should probably prioritize that. You can't expect it to come around unless you make it worth it."

I tilted my head. "But what about all the comments about how we're, like, 'abandoning Entei' because it's not a patron?"

Darren shook his head. "Doesn't matter. If you cut a deal, it'll work."

"But I don't even know if we can free Raikou."

"You need to convince it you'll try. No one's done that."

Really? Had we… not even tried? I mean, I sure hadn't, but I figured someone else must have. Ajia? Mew?

…I couldn't help feeling a bit idiotic.

"I could give it a shot if I get the chance," Darren went on, lifting his bag to prevent Weavile shredding it with her claws in search of jerky, "but I don't know if I'll get another opportunity."

It took several seconds for the implication to sink in. "Wait. You tried talking to Suicune?"

He shrugged. "Someone had to. Figured it might as well be someone it's not already pissed off at."

Rudy practically teleported to us, already mid-question by the time the words left my mouth.

"How'd it go—?"

"What did you say—?"

"When did you—?"

"What did Suicune say—?"

Darren took a step back, holding both hands out with an awkward smile. "Lotta insults and empty threats—nothing I'm not used to. I just told it that even if it doesn't believe in Mew's ideals, it could always just go along to get what it wants."

"How does that help?" Rudy asked incredulously.

Darren held up a finger. "Basically, it could just think of the chosen thing as using a human rather than teaming up with one. Don't know if the idea worked, though." He glanced at me. "Mew needs all eight or whatever for the chosen thing to work, right?"

"Seven," I corrected. "But yeah, something like that."

"Then, it shouldn't matter what the motivation is," Darren said with a shrug.

I rubbed my arm. "That wouldn't be a very strong bond, I don't think." Stalker's words echoed in my head: I'd recommend working on that before things get worse.

Darren hummed. "I figure it's still progress."

"I guess," Rudy said, not sounding very convinced. He turned back to his team. "Alright, let's try that combo one more time."

With a grunt of effort, Tyranitar slammed a foot into the ground, raising a wave of pointed stones from the earth and launching them at the others. Ebony and Raichu deftly swerved around each rock one after the other, then fired back—Ebony with a burst of flames, Raichu gathering blue energy between her paws before launching it. Tyranitar didn't move to dodge—she just swiped a paw upward and raised a wall of sand in its path, dampening the attacks.

It was a little unusual to see him testing Tyranitar against two attackers at once, but I supposed it couldn't hurt, even if the battles he'd been training for were all singles.

"So, uh… two more days until the finals, huh?" I said. Ebony perked up, tail wagging.

"Oh. Yeah…" Rudy said with a rather unenthused tone, like he'd just remembered a math test. Ebony immediately put on a sour face as if she'd just remembered that she was also supposed to be grumpy about it.

I furrowed my brow. "You guys have been nonstop hype about it for weeks; what changed?"

Rudy shoved his hands into his pockets. "It's just… the League's been getting involved more with the unofficial finals," he grumbled.

"Oh, yeah." I remembered him excitedly sharing that fact only just last week. It held more of a bitter taste now, though.

"It was supposed to be our own thing. Now they're acting like they had anything to do with it when we did all the hard work. And they're okay with Rockets. I wish they'd just butt out," he said firmly, hurling a rock into the pond with a heavy splash.

Rudy stood there for a few seconds, watching the ripples radiating outward before sharply turning to us. "I gotta do something."

"Do something?" I echoed.

He nodded forcefully. "I don't know what, but… something."

"Well, uh, I hope you figure out that something before Friday," Darren said, folding his arms behind his head.

Rudy stared out over the pond, arms at his sides. "Yeah."