The Eon Academy [S.S. Wishmaker Side-Story]

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Yes I did read the summary while I was waiting for my second covid vax yesterday haha. It was a good distraction!!

[[Desolate Divine]]

The last episode of Season 2 before the Epilogues is finished, and it turned into a 20,000 word monster...

But actually crazy keen to start writing the Epilogues, though think I may take a break for a few days, since this was a hell of a write haha

[[Desolate Divine]]

What gargantuan epilogue?

I really can't help myself...

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 2 Episode 11: Politics

Spoiler:

Charlotte and Dylan watched in horror as something emerged from the flaming wreck that was the Mossdeep Space Center. Floating in the air through telekinesis, levitating higher and higher, was a humanoid shaped Pokemon, with one of its arms split into a pair of tentacles. Whilst it was hard to see at the distance, Dylan thought he saw the flicker of light on the stone that Charlotte had found at the start of the summer.

“Deoxys?” Dylan asked.

“It’s what the researchers called it,” Charlotte explained. “It must have been projecting its thoughts to me when I was sleeping. And when it grew a body, I could see and hear what it did…”

“What’s going on?” Alyssa asked, as she carefully ran towards the pair, holding Amelia, the toddler crying at the loud noises. Before anyone could respond, Deoxys charged up another attack, launching a beam or purple light from itself, hitting a house a few kilometres from the Academy, before panning the attack across, which seemed to cut through the earth, and anything else that it happened to intersect with. There was another explosion in the distance, which seemed to shake the ground beneath them, as all the safety lights surrounding the lodges turned off.

“Its hit the power substation…” Dylan muttered, before turning to Alyssa. “Something happened at the Space Center, and they’ve p**sed off a Pokemon. A psychic stronger than Latios…”

Alyssa looked to where Deoxys floated in the distance, as it dawned on her just how dangerous of a situation they were in.

“Why now?” Dylan muttered, as Abbee emerged from her cabin, arriving shortly before Justin and Chris, who had seen the last attack, and realized what was going on. “Why the one night both Jon and Steven are gone?”

“Dylan, focus…” Alyssa said, before handing him a black Pokeball that he and Chris recognized, and Abbee was able to guess quickly what it contained. “I might be older and a little wiser, but I am hopeless at handling Pokemon.”

Dylan accepted the black Pokeball, shocked at the implication. He hadn’t wanted to accept it, but he was worried that they’d need to use Rayquaza if they wanted to keep the students safe. And using it would mean a lot of really difficult questions being asked.

“What’s in that?” Justin asked, recognizing it as an unregistered Pokeball.

“Our absolute last resort…” Dylan answered, pocketing it. “One that I will do everything I can to avoid using, and if we are that lucky, you need to not tell a soul of…”

The group's attention was drawn back to the sky by the sound of a birdlike Pokemon crying out, before launching an attack at Deoxys.

“Who else on the island would be game enough to take that thing on?!” Chris asked, as the Pokemon narrowly avoided one of Deoxys attacks. “Is that a Xatu?”

Hearing about the Xatu, Dylan realized who was attacking Deoxys.

“Tate and Liza,” Dylan explained, before spotting a Claydol approaching Deoxys. “The Mossdeep Gym Leaders…”

“Thank God Mossdeep is the one gym with two of them…” Abbee muttered, before Alyssa spoke.

“Dylan, you’re Jon’s second in command in the Academy. He’d want you to figure out what to do…” Alyssa said soberly. “I know it’s not fair, but with him gone, the safety of all the kids here is on your shoulders. What do you want us to do…?”

Dylan looked between Alyssa, and Deoxys, as he tried to come up with some sort of plan…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was a little before 1am when Steven was asked to leave his room to speak with Mark Hill, Hoenn’s Minister for Defence. Really, he was ordered to, only complying knowing that he would be dragged out by force if he didn’t leave what was really a cell. Granted, he had been waiting for this. The whole reason he came to Slateport, asking questions that illuminated some of Hill’s less honest practises, was to both get more information, and trap the less than desirable minister. Two hours before, as planned, Steven had been sitting in his room, waiting for that now familiar feeling of a telepathic psychic Pokemon brushing their consciousness against his. As per the plan he and Jon made, Jon had arrived in Slateport early that evening, and Latios had managed to make contact, with Steven’s captors none the wiser.

When Latios had made contact, Steven made a point of recalling the place where he hid the USB flash drive containing the documents that painted Hill in a less than pleasant light, as well as a document containing Steven’s own testimony, in the event that he were to go missing. Whilst Jon’s original plan was to confirm Steven had been captured, get the evidence, then leave, the fact that Hill hadn’t spoken to Steven yet put Jon’s returning to Mossdeep on hold, as Steven wanted to make sure that if there was anything particularly nefarious that he found out, at least one other person knew, so there wasn’t another incident like the one with Rayquaza, where Steven had all the information, but couldn’t share it easily with those who needed to know.

Jon was supposed to check in at 2am, so the timing was going to work out. Though Steven had wondered what took Hill so long to see him.

He was escorted into a large corner office, where Mark Hill, sat behind a laptop at a desk, looking as if he had been there since the morning before. His grey-streaked black hair was starting to move out of place, and his sleeves were roughly rolled up, with his tie loosened and sitting limply over his now creased shirt. Meanwhile Steven wore a pair of navy-blue track pants, and a grey Hoenn Military hoodie that had been provided when he asked for a change of clothes, realizing he was probably going to be here for a few days...

“Have a seat Steven…” Hill said, trying to sound hospitable, but fatigue worming its way into his tone, leaving him sounding irritable. “I apologize for the delay in our meeting…”

“That’s what you apologize for?” Steven asked irritably, sitting down on the seat opposite him. “Not the fact that when I came here wanting to talk like grown-ups, you had your men lock me in the same office you did eighteen months ago…”

“It’s standard procedure Steven…” Hill said, sounding bored by the discussion. “You showed up out of nowhere, requesting a meeting with me via my receptionist, and referencing classified material. I wasn’t able to see you at that point, and until I knew what you wanted to talk with me about, I couldn’t have you running amok until I was ready…”

“Standard procedure my a**...” Steven muttered, before focusing on Hill, and pulling his hood over his head. “What took you so long anyway? What was so important that you locked up the Hoenn Champion for six hours just to deal with first? And why is it so damn cold?”

“Our server room is in this section of the building, and generates a lot of heat, so the air conditioning is turned up high. It spills over. I apologize,” Hill answered, trying to remain professional, even though the last thing he wanted to be doing at this time of night was appeasing Steven’s demand for a meeting. “As for why it took so long, and why I am here so late, certain research projects have yielded results and I had some reports I needed to read over as soon as I possibly could for research to continue…”

Normally Steven would have dismissed this as lies, however knowing what he knew, he had a hunch Hill was telling the truth.

“What sort of research?”

“Classified research,” Hill answered quickly. “None that the Champion need both himself with…”

“So it has nothing to do with that transfer application you filled in and approved yourself?” Steven asked. “To transfer that meteorite I brought to the Mossdeep Space Center to another facility in Unova?”

“Nothing at all,” Hill answered. “If you must know, it’s research into ways of preventing our aircraft from disturbing Pokemon in the area. Looking into ways of keeping them hidden so we don’t wind up with another Rayquaza…”

Steven smirked at Hill’s attempt to cover himself. He was definitely skilled at it. Whilst Steven had no doubt that Hill still stood by his original plan to deal with Rayquaza, even though Rayquaza had migrated and was last seen in Unova, Hill knew Steven was against it, and if he could convince Steven that he had seen the light even a little, Steven may be more likely to believe him.

“Can you cut the bulls**t already?” Steven asked, before sighing.

“Steven, it’s 1am, and I would like nothing more than to go home now that there is a break in me being needed, and try and get some sleep before I am back here tomorrow morning,” Hill replied, sounding more and more like a high school teacher. “I have little enough time on my hands without giving you time to make snide remarks. So why don’t you start by telling me what’s bulls**t in your eyes?”

“Don’t patronize me Mark…” Steven said. “If you have that little time on your hands, why did you go to the effort of filling in that transfer application yourself, when anyone four ranks below you could do it just as easily, and then approve and process it yourself? Sure, you have the authority to do it, but nobody in your position ever has, because that is below their paygrade, and a waste of their time…”

“I try not to put myself on a pedestal Steven,” Hill retorted. “I’m fully capable of filling in my own paperwork, and won’t belittle those below me by palming it off onto them…”

“That’s the bulls**t Mark. You’ve never had that attitude before…” Steven shouted back. “Here’s what I think is going on. You’re doing something with that meteorite that you don’t want on the records. So whilst you’re doing whatever you’re doing with it, you’ve gone and written a transfer application, then processed and approved it yourself, so on paper, that meteorite is out of your hands, and not your responsibility, and if something bad does happen, it is that much easier to cover up…”

“Steven, I think the stress of your job might be getting to you…” Hill said. “Can you hear yourself? These sound like the paranoid delusions of someone who has snapped? And even if that were the case, what bad could come from a meteorite?”

“You know it’s not just a meteorite,” Steven answered. “It’s more likely than not, a Pokemon.”

“That’s a guess,” Hill said. “I saw the note on the file that you thought that was the case. Which is why it’s in better hands in Unova where they’re better equipped to figure this out.”

“It’s not a guess,” Steven explained. “Jon Drake’s Latios could see the consciousness within it, and showed us what it saw…”

“You’re hinging scientific work on the perspective of the same Latios that put more holes in the S.S. Wishmaker than I have medals…”

Before Steven could respond, he heard voices arguing outside the door, before it swung open and someone entered in a hurry.

“I’m sorry for the interruption sir, but I need to report!” Said the voice behind Steven, who didn’t take his glaring eyes off the Minister of Defence. “There was a change in the test subject. It transformed, and destroyed the Space Centre! We have lost contact with the facility, and since then have lost contact with the entire island…”

“Get the f**k out!” Hill shouted at the man, before looking at Steven, glaring. Steven realized that the hood he was wearing prevented the new arrival from recognizing him, and holding his tongue…

The man fled the room, as Steven spoke up.

“What the hell were you doing at the Space Centre?!” Steven shouted at Hill who glared at him.

“Take Steven back to his room!” Hill called out to the men who escorted Steven to the office. “And get me a damn line onto Mossdeep!”

One of the men grabbed Steven by the forearm, before Steven shoved him off.

“I can walk there myself a**hole…” Steven sneered, before looking back at Hill. “You’re going down for this…”

“Get out!”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Jon ordered another beer as he sat in a harbour-side bar. Being a Saturday evening, it was going to be open until 3am, and Jon hoped Steven would have news for Latios before then. Otherwise it would be either waiting in the streets, or booking a last minute hotel room.

“Hey, I know you…”

Jon was pulled from his thoughts as he realized the voice was talking to him. He turned to see the other bartender who hadn’t been serving him that evening looking towards him.

“You’re Jon Drake aren’t you?” he asked, “I was right here when you won the High Seas Tournament, watching the match on my phone when my boss wasn’t looking…”

Jon laughed hearing that comment, before looking over at the bartender.

“Guilty…” Jon answered.

“Aren’t you running a summer school these days?” the bartender asked. “What brings you to Mossdeep?”

“A friend needed help with something, so I’m here for a night to help out with that,” Jon answered. “Though do me a favour and keep the fact I’m here between us. Most of the people back in Mossdeep think I’m still there…”

“I’ve been asked to keep much worse secrets than that, so no worries…” the bartender answered. “Is Latios with you?”

“He’s around somewhere,” Jon answered. “My friend needed to borrow him for a few hours. Right now, I’m just waiting for him to be done, so we can head home.”

“Wait, Latios is flying you back?” he asked. “How long will that take?”

“If Latios were to fly at top speed, about twenty minutes…” Jon answered, as the bartender's mouth dropped. “But that’s too risky, since if Latios had to slow down quickly to dodge a plane or something, I’d be killed. So Latios tends to slow down and take about an hour and a half...”

“Goddamn…”

”Jon, I checked in with Steven…”

Focusing his thoughts, and hoping the bartender would give him a minute, he replied to Latios.

”What’s the go?”

”It’s bad…” Latios answered. ”The Space Centre has been destroyed, and not long after, they lost contact with Mossdeep Island. Steven reckons that it has something to do with that meteorite.”

”Meet me at the harbour. We’re going back now.”

“Thanks for the chat,” Jon said, pulling a banknote out of his wallet and leaving it with the bartender as he stood. “Just remember, I was never here...”

“Of course.”

Jon left the bar, trying to remain composed, however found himself freaking out. The one night that he and Steven are gone, and things go to s**t on the island…

A few minutes later, Jon found himself at the empty harbour, and a few moments after that, Latios materialized, worry etched across his face. Without saying a word, Jon climbed onto Latios’ back who took off, gaining speed as fast as he could without causing Jon harm.

“Latios, slow down…” Jon said, realizing Latios was planning on flying at top speed.

Latios cried out, and Jon understood thanks to his brief stint as an Altaria. A talent he rarely used these days as he didn’t want questions being asked.

“Things are bad there! They need our help!” Latios said verbally.

“I know, I’m freaking out…” Jon answered. “But we’re both tired, and our reaction time will suffer for that. We’re no use to them dead…”

“But what if we’re too late?”

“We need to trust they can handle themselves…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Looking over at the sky, where Xatu and Claydol battled against Deoxys, Dylan finalized the last few thoughts. He really didn’t want to use Rayquaza, but was willing to if no other options presented themselves.

“Tate and Liza are buying us time, so let’s make the most of it,” Dylan explained, before turning to Chris. “Do you know how to drive?”

Chris’ eyes widened, having made jokes about driving Dylan’s car a few days earlier, but only because he knew Dylan wouldn’t let him.

“I mean, I have my learners permit… And I don’t need much supervision these days…”

“You, myself and Alyssa will try and take as many of the kids as possible,” Dylan answered. “I’ll take my car, and put a few in the tray, Alyssa can take her car, and put a few extra in the cargo area, and you can take Jon’s car…”

Alyssa drove a midsize SUV which could comfortably fit two people in the boot if the parcel shelf was removed, and Jon drove a small sedan, and whilst Dylan didn’t say this, figured that Chris would be taking the fewest of the students, and therefore putting the fewest amount of them at risk.

“Why me?” Chris asked. “Surely Charlotte or Justin are better drivers than I am?”

“Because you’ve got two flying Pokemon who can help evacuate,” Dylan answered, that being the other half of the reason for asking Chris. “We evacuate to the beach, and from there, send the flying Pokemon out to try and signal a boat. Communications are down here, but if a boat can get close enough to Lilycove they might be able to send out a distress signal…”

“What about us?” Charlotte asked, though having a hunch she knew what the answer was.

“Tate and Liza are doing well enough keeping Deoxys away from here, but those two Pokemon can’t last much longer…” Dylan answered. “Deoxys is closer to here than the beach, so when Deoxys isn’t distracted by them anymore, you need to lure it here, and keep it here until Chris, Justin and I get back to help…”

“Wait, why am I not here?” Justin asked, “I can help fight! Regieleki might stand a chance against it!”

“Justin, I don’t want you here because-” Dylan began, before Justin cut him off.

“I can help!” Justin shouted. “I’m not the same idiot kid whose door you knocked in, so let me help!”

“Justin!” Dylan yelled, getting his attention. “That’s not why I don’t want you here! I know you aren’t the same person, which is why I’m giving you this job…”

Dylan looked over to the flaming wreck in the distance that once was the electrical substation.

“If we can’t take down Deoxys, then the evacuation won’t mean s**t, because we can’t call for help from the mainland. The way it is now, Deoxys would wipe us out, then the rest of the island…” Dylan explained. “I need you to go to the substation. That powers all the equipment we use to communicate with the mainland. Greninja should be able to help clear a path through the fires, and Regieleki should absorb any electricity contained in damaged equipment and keep you safe. If you can get Regieleki giving the island power, and send out an SOS, that could be the difference between this being a scare or a massacre…”

“So Charlotte and I are taking on that thing…” Abbee said, as she held Victini in her arms, looking towards Deoxys, as Xatu got knocked out of the sky by what they suspected to be a Zap Cannon.

“You’re not trying to knock it out, though if the opportunity presents itself, take it…” Dylan answered. “Just keep it busy until we get back and can help…”

Abbee shuddered, before taking a breath, and looking at Dylan with renewed determination.

“We’ll keep it from getting to the beach…” Abbee said. “But get back as soon as you can…”

Dylan nodded before looking at the others there.

“You guys all know what to do…” Dylan said. “Don’t take any unnecessary risks. Charlotte and Abbee, you guys round up the others and send them to the cars. I’ll take care of things from there...”

Dylan and Alyssa left, and Chris went to follow, before hesitating, while Justin made his way towards the burning substation. He turned to face Abbee.

“In case things go even more to s**t…” Chris said, before kissing her, only for a few moments, before leaving.

“Romantic…” Charlotte said sarcastically, though Abbee didn’t seem to care.

“Take care of her Victini!” Chris called out, as he ran to catch up to Dylan and Alyssa.

Victini was quiet, shocked at everything that was going on, and now that.

”I guess he does have some backbone…” Victini said, telepathically to Abbee, Charlotte and Chris, before Abbee and Charlotte began trying to round up the other students, Charlotte moving towards the boys lodge, and Abbee remaining at the girls.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Chris said a few minutes later, when Alyssa handed him the keys to Jon’s car. “Stealing Jon’s car, filling it up with way too many passengers, driving without a license…”

“It’ll make quite the story…” Alyssa said, trying to sound calm, to keep Chris from freaking out.

Alyssa began doing a headcount on all the students who had been arriving, making sure nobody was forgotten in the rush, as Dylan sorted them in terms of size. The six smallest students, he grouped into pairs, assigning a pair each to his Flygon, and Chris’ Charizard and Dragonite, before doing the same thing with the next six, and assigning each of them to share a front seat of each of the three cars. The next twelve were grouped into four, squashing into the back seats of each of the cars, with another four finding themselves in the tray of Dylan’s ute, and two finding themselves in the cargo area of Alyssa’s car. This left five students, however they were able to find another five large flying Pokemon capable of carrying people.

“We have everyone!” Alyssa called out.

“Get going!” Dylan said, as he ran into the house. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Alyssa nodded, before climbing into her car, and started it, driving slowly down the long driveway to the edge of the property, partially because she knew Chris was following her and wasn’t an experienced driver, not wanting him to try and go too fast to keep up and risk crashing.

Dylan emerged from the house half a minute later with a notepad and a pen, handing it to Hope, who sat in half of the passenger seat.

“I need you to write as many copies as you can of an SOS note.” Dylan explained, as he started the engine. “A Legendary Psychic type Pokemon is attacking Mossdeep, and we need help…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Whilst the Eon Academy was on the rocky coast of Mossdeep Island, every other direction was empty farmland for a while, where the bulk of the island’s produce was grown. To the south was the beach, to the east, the ruins of the Space Centre, and to the north, the burning electrical substation.

Justin had run as hard as he could for the last ten minutes, and whilst he was making a reasonable distance, every minute that passed was a minute that his friends had to survive more. Whilst Regieleki was fast, it didn’t have the physical strength to pull him like it did Victini a few days earlier.

Justin continued to run, struggling to see anything in his path, and hoping there weren’t any holes in the ground that served as a home for wild Pokemon, and a potential method of a broken ankle. The first obstacle however was a large wire fence, which he ran into at quite a speed.

“S**t…” Justin muttered, before climbing over it. He looked around for a moment, trying to take in his surroundings. He could still see the burning substation in the distance, however could see the outline of something a little to his right. Whilst he first thought it was a farmhouse, he realized quickly it was too large and cubic to be a house, and that it was most likely a machinery shed. As he had this realization, a thought came to mind.

He made his way to the machinery shed, turning on the torch on his phone, where he found what he hoped for. A few older and beaten up dirt bikes. Passing the torch over the ignition, he saw what he was after. The keys. This section of the property was kilometres from the road, and getting to these bikes to steal them would normally be too risky for any would-be thieves.

It had been many years since Justin had ridden a dirt bike, riding a friend's one four years ago when they went camping, however he was thankful he remembered how to start it. He turned the key, causing the fuel pump to whir to life, before finding the kick-starter, and pushing down on that with as much weight as he could.

Contrary to their old and dishevelled appearances, the bike roared to life, before Justin called out his Alakazam. Alakazam watched with confusion as Justin climbed on and beckoned him to sit between Justin and the handlebars.

“We gotta get somewhere in record time, and I can’t see what’s coming up in the dark…” Justin explained, as he helped lift the Pokemon up. “Use your telekinesis like a radar, and if there is anything we are going to hit, like a fence, blast it out of our way…”

When Justin was content Alakazam was stable and not going to fall off, he fiddled with the gearshift, trying to remember how he did it on his friend's bike, before taking off, leaving a plume of black smoke behind him…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Fifteen minutes had passed since the Eon Academy was evacuated, leaving Abbee and Charlotte watching carefully as Tate and Liza’s Claydol attempted to fight off Deoxys in the distance. As much as they hated letting Claydol handle it on its own, their task wasn’t to beat Deoxys, as it seemed far too powerful, but instead, buy time until backup arrived, or the island was evacuated, whether that be in the next hour, or sometime later that morning. As they watched, they quickly devised a plan, with Victini as the trigger. The only flying Pokemon the pair had between them was Charlotte’s Drifblim, who tended to float more than it did fly, so there was only one way for them to lure it towards them.

“It doesn’t understand speech, but emotions,” Charlotte said to Victini. “So let your emotions speak more than your words…”

Before Victini could answer, Claydol took a direct hit from Deoxys power Psychic Type beam, being knocked out of the sky. Victini, who had been telepathically communicating with the two girls suddenly began emanating indignant rage at the sight.

”Easy…” Victni said before directing his telepathy towards Deoxys.

”Hey, ugly!” Victini shouted telepathically. ”Come get some, if you’re not too scared to face a real Legendary!”

The girls saw Deoxys’ head snap around towards Victini, and seemed to feel it’s cold eyes staring straight through them. As if to create a beacon, Victini darted forward, before using a Flame Charge, rocketing itself lightly into the air. Deoxys responded by adjusting it’s for tentacles, charging up the ever familiar laser-like psychic attack it had used before.

“You sure you can block this?” Charlotte asked Victini, Abbee thankful she had, not wanting Victini to think she didn’t have faith in him.

”Ugly over there has spent the quarter hour showing us exactly how he fights, even down to the timing…” Victini remarked. ”He won’t know what him him…”

Victini readied a Protect barrier in front of himself, Charlotte and Abbee, and with the time he had to plan, extended it outwards, and curving it towards Deoxys with a telekinetic barrier, almost like a psychic satellite dish. Deoxys launched the attack which hit the Protect barrier, and instead of being dispersed around it, was caught in the telekinetic field.

”Now!” Victini shouted, at the precise moment when the last of the beam hit the barrier, pushing the telekinetic field he had created outwards, and blasting the contained attack back at Deoxys, with higher speed than it had originally struck.

Not expecting retaliation of that sort, Deoxys took the full force of its own attack, hitting it in the shoulder and blasting it’s left arm clean off.

“Great job!” Abbee said to Victini, who instead of responding to Abbee, sent another telepathic message to Deoxys.

”Is that really the best you can do? I’m so far away, and you’re already crippled…” Victini antagonized. ”Pathetic…”

“Goddamn…” Charlotte said, feeling a little sorry for Deoxys, knowing what it had gone through, and how viciously Victini was antagonizing it, though knew exactly why he had to do it. Her moment of sympathy however was short-lived, when she thought she noticed something, and Abbee confirmed it.

“It’s arm…”

In the space of a few seconds, Deoxys' arm had regrown, showing no sign of the limb being lost at all, as Charlotte remembered what the researchers said about Deoxys DNA, and how effective and efficient it was at creating proteins.

“It can regenerate…”

Before anything else could be said, Deoxys appeared to shift, as the flesh that made the bulk of its body seemed to turn into dough, moving around, leaving it much thinner, and seemingly more aerodynamic.

“S**t…” Charlotte said, as she realized what this meant. “It’s coming!”

With a speed she had only seen eclipsed by Regieleki, Deoxys darted forward, encasing itself in a light purple forcefield. Before they could react, Victini used his telekinesis to throw Charlotte and Abbee to either side of himself, before encasing himself in a telekinetic force field more relative to his smaller stature.

”Give us some space!” Victini shouted into their minds. ”I can’t keep him busy and keep you guys from getting killed at the same time!”

“Sorry!” Abbee called out, as Charlotte grabbed a Pokeball.

“Go, Luxray!”

The electric type Pokemon appeared, seeing Deoxys and the vicious battle it was having with Victini, and roared at the Legendary Pokemon.

“Thunder!”

Luxray roared before unleashing a powerful electric attack on Deoxys, whose attention shifted towards Luxray, blocking the electric attack, before its form began to shift, now becoming denser and bulkier to absorb a Searing Shot from Victini that it couldn’t block alongside the Thunder.

“For f**k’s sake!” Charlotte yelled, seeing how Deoxys was unaffected, before it launched a telekinetic blast at Luxray. However, she was shocked to realize that Luxray didn’t seem too hurt by the blast, having taken heavier hits from Justin’s Alakazam. It took her a second to realize before she shouted out. “It’s attack power is weak in this form! And I’m willing to bet its resilience is low when it’s in that form it was in when it attacks!”

“So what, we try and keep it in this form?!” Abbee called out amidst the noise of the battle.

“Exactly!” Charlotte shouted. “Keep an eye on what it’s focusing on, and when it is focused on Luxray, Victini needs to hit it hard! Hard enough that it needs to stay in that form, and can’t attack!”

“Wear the b*****d down!” Abbee confirmed, as Luxray retaliated with a Wild Charge attack, which Deoxys blocked before Victini unleashed his first V-Create, striking Deoxys with enough force to throw a lesser Pokemon across the battlefield, and whilst Deoxys did seem taken aback by the hit, it was still far from defeated.

“We have eight more Pokemon between us!” Charlotte called out to Abbee. “We can win this! Just need to hold out!”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Goddamn, everyone’s here…” Chris muttered, as he and the carload of students he had driven illegally in the evacuation joined the groups that had arrived in Dylan and Alyssa’s car as well as on the collective group of flying Pokemon. Chris called back his Charizard and Dragonite, whilst Dylan handed out SOS notes that Hope had written on the drive to the beach. It seemed most of the city was making their way there to avoid getting caught up in the battle with Deoxys.

“It’s at the Academy…” Alyssa said, looking back towards the Academy that was further inland on the island. “It descended a few minutes ago, and hasn’t emerged since, so I guess that’s a good sign…”

“Good signs or not, we’ll be getting back there soon…” Dylan said to Chris, who nodded in response, eager to join the fight.

Dylan gave Alyssa the pile of papers he held, with instructions for the students to give their Pokemon, to keep the island in sight at all times so that if Latios returns, he can communicate with them, before he and Chris made their way back towards Dylan’s car. Chris climbed into the passenger side, as Dylan started the engine, before putting his foot to the floor way too quickly, causing the ute to spin its wheels before it took off out of the car park.

“So what’s the plan for when we get there to take down Deoxys?” Chris asked, as Dylan drove above the speed limit down the main road, which was backed up in the opposite direction with citizens of Mossdeep fleeing towards the coast.

“We aren’t there to take down Deoxys, unless the opportunity presents itself on a silver platter, because we don’t know that we even stand a chance…” Dylan answered. “We will figure out what Abbee and Charlotte are doing to keep this thing occupied, and do whatever we can to contribute to that…”

The drive to the Academy was much quicker than normal, with the roads going back empty and Dylan having no regard for speed limits under the current circumstances. When the driveway came into sight, Dylan accelerated harder, hitting the gravel road up the property, before turning left halfway up, and driving across the grassy grounds towards where he could see flashes of psychic energy, fire and lightning.

Dylan stopped the car twenty meters away to keep it from getting in the way of the battle, it sliding to a halt, as he and Chris jumped out. In the distance, he saw Charlotte and Abbee standing by either of the two lodges, as Victini and Luxray battled Deoxys, who was now much bulkier than before, and seeming less affected by the attacks it was taking than it should be.

“Dragonite, Dragon Pulse!” Chris called out as he sent Dragonite out. The dragon Pokemon cried out, before unleashing a beam of draconic energy at Deoxys, who hadn’t anticipated the third attack, taking it directly.

“What’s the plan?!” Dylan called out as he readied Flygon’s Pokeball, knowing that Deoxys may take to the sky at a moment’s notice if the fight became too difficult on the ground.

“It changes form! This is the form that can absorb heaps of damage, but can’t attack too well!” Abbee yelled back. “It also has a form it uses before it uses its bigger attacks, and a form that is nearly as fast as Regieleki! We’re trying to keep it under enough pressure to keep it in this form, and on the defensive, and outlast it!”

Flygon launched its own Dragon Pulse, which Deoxys took, before its form shifted in an instant, back to its attack form, and it unleashed a psychic blast, powerful enough to knock all of its foes back, and buy itself time to shift again, into its streamlined speed form, and fly upwards into the sky, now darker as the flames burning the Space Center and electrical substation had begun to dindle.

“S**t…” Chris muttered, as Deoxys disappeared from sight. “Do you think it ran? To the beach?”

”It isn’t running…” Victini responded, sounding exhausted, but still determined. ”It’s too angry to think about its own self-preservation and we have put ourselves in its sights. It’s just getting out of range so it can fight on more even ground…”

“Good…” Dylan replied. “If it’s fighting us, it can’t hurt the people on the beach…”

Before anyone could respond, Luxray yelped, before being lifted off the ground, and thrown in the air towards Dragonite, colliding with the dragon, before falling.

“Luxray!” Charlotte called out, as Victini used his telekinesis to catch the falling electric Pokemon, slowing its fall, however Luxray was unable to stand again, before Charlotte called it back to it’s Pokeball. She sent out Magmortar, the Pokemon in her team best suited for long ranged attacks.

“I can’t see a f**king thing?!” Chris called out. “Where is it?!”

“We need light!” Dylan answered. “But if we use one of our Pokemon, we’re just turning it into a target…”

Abbee began to speak, however noticed movement in the corner of her vision, somewhere in the sky. A brief flash of light…

“Victini! Look out!”

Victini looked to the sky, before quickly blocking a weaker version of the attack Deoxys had used to destroy the substation earlier.

“It’s attacking, but it’s not in its attack form!” Abbee called to the others. “I think it’s trying to keep up its speed, and dodge any attacks!”

Dylan swore under his breath, as he attempted to locate the incredibly fast Pokemon in the darkened night sky…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
”Fence!” Justin called out to Alakazam as he caught the flicker of the headlight reflecting off the wire on the fence in the distance. A moment later, Alakazam’s eyes flickered white, before there was a loud boom, and the fence was ripped out of the ground, and thrown to the side, as Justin accelerated, knowing that the path would be clear by the time he reached the obstacle.

In the distance, the fires at the substation had begun to die down, however it was growing closer, with the fence he had just passed being the last obstacle before it. A few minutes later, Justin applied the brake, slowing down the motorbike as he got closer to the power station. Whilst the fence surrounding it had been hit by Deoxys attack, they still stood in his way, and Justin didn’t trust the metal fences to not be live.

“Alakazam…” Justin said. “Mind making a path for me?”

Alakazam nodded, before telekinetically pulling the gate off its hinges, and throwing it aside to clear a path, as Justin called out Regieleki. Whilst Justin was still unsure of identifying its emotions, given the fact it lacked facial features that made that sort of empathy possible, he had a hunch the the Electric Type Pokemon was excited by the setting in front of it.

In the six months since catching Regieleki, Justin had visited Jubilife University twice, mostly for interviews regarding his special admission into their law degree, but Lauren had made a point of running whatever tests she could on Regieleki, to try and figure out the extent of its electrical power. The last test had involved her getting help from the electrical engineering department at the university to determine how exactly Regieleki’s power worked. Whilst nearly all Electric Rype Pokemon had organs that contained electricity, and were capable of storing it from external sources, or converting energy from food into electricity, Regieleki’s entire body seemed to be comprised of this organ, giving it an unspeakably high capacity. They discharge the electricity by controlling the amount of current they are exerting, forcing the current out of their bodies. The other thing that made Regieleki unique however was that in addition to being able to control the current it exerted, it was able to manipulate the resistance of its own body, effectively allowing it to increase the voltage, or force, as it had been explained to him, without necessarily using more electrical current. Lauren explained that Regieleki was capable of exerting the same amount of electrical current as a Pikachu, but hit twice as hard, because Regieleki’s body was able to provide double the resistance, or potentially even more, and hitting even harder.

Having found the science of Regieleki’s power fascinating, Justin had looked into electrical science himself in his own time, trying to determine himself the limits of Regieleki’s power.

“Go on ahead, and absorb as much as you possibly can,” Justin said to Regieleki, looking over at the substation, where various broken power lines and pieces of equipment sparked. Mossdeep, being so far from the mainland, and not wanting traditional fossil fuel power stations on the island, was powered itself by dozens of solar panels, with most residents having their own as well. All of the electricity captured by these panels was stored at the substation, which Justin understood to mean it was capable of running dry. He simply hoped Regieleki could absorb all of the amps stored in the batteries, so that he could approach and figure out his next steps without risking being electrocuted…

Regieleki moved forward, and as it did, Justin could see the electricity from the live wires and equipment, start to ark towards it, and before too long, moving at a faster rate, which Justin recognized as Regieleki lowering its resistance. After a few minutes, the wires stopped sparking, as the electricity had flowed down the path of least resistance. Justin approached cautiously, knowing Regieleki’s resistance had the potential to be extremely high, but unsure exactly whether it was high enough to contain the sheer amount of current the electric type had just absorbed, without it leaking out.

“Good work…” Justin said as he got closer, and found himself feeling more confident that he wasn’t going to die from mass electrocution. He pulled out his phone and began looking at the wires. The site was a mess. Some of the large power poles remained standing, however a few had been knocked over. Most notably, the ones on the eastern side of the site, where Deoxys attack had hit directly. The ones to the south and west however, were largely undamaged, with a few thick cords hanging limply, having been disconnected from what Justin guessed to be an extremely large battery, and scorch marks from the fires that had erupted there when one of the said batteries exploded.

Trying to think over what he needed to do, Justin’s first thought was to what Dylan had said. They needed to communicate off the island, and for that, they needed the phone towers, which were able to receive and repeat cellular signals from the Hoenn mainland. If he got the phone tower powered again, they could make and receive calls. He just hoped that the phone tower wasn’t to the east, where the lines were practically destroyed…

He considered at first having Regieleki power one of the two remaining sets of lines, and simply seeing whether he got phone service from the tower getting electricity again, however quickly dismissed that idea, knowing that during the night, Mossdeep was practically running on battery power, and with most of the batteries destroyed, and current leaking out of the damaged equipment, Regieleki may not be able to power parts of the island for too long. They may have only a minute to send a signal out, and he couldn’t waste that minute on trial and error methodology.

“Where have I seen the freaking phone towers…” Justin muttered to himself, wishing he had have been more attentive, but knowing that he had no reason to foresee himself in this position. He pulled out his phone, almost hoping looking at it would help him figure it out, and was surprised when another thought came to his mind. Something Dylan said earlier that week.

”Did you all download that hiking app I sent you?”

Dylan had asked them before their venture into the first of the regional parks they had entered. Justin had downloaded it the night before they left the Eon Academy, and to make sure the maps were downloading and truly offline, had downloaded a map of Mossdeep, before putting his phone into flight mode, to see if he could view it with no signal.

“Dylan, you beautiful, overprepared b*****d…” Justin muttered, as he unlocked his phone and found the app that he hadn’t touched since the day before, and scrolled through his downloaded maps to find the one he was looking for. The dummy one he downloaded to make sure it was working. “Yes!”

Quickly scrolling across the satellite view of the island, it took Justin a few minutes to find what he was looking for. The one phone tower that provided coverage for the entire island, in the near centre of it, due south.

Justin looked around, finding the cables that hung limply from the southern distribution tower.

“You sure these aren’t live?” Justin asked.

Regieleki cried out in approval, as Justin gently placed the back of his palm on the wire, knowing if it was live, and he touched it with the inside of his hand, the electrical shock could force his muscles to contract, grabbing it. He still half expected to be shocked, and was surprised when he felt the warm surface of the rubber insulation surrounding the wire on his skin. He grabbed it, and the other one that lead to the tower, handing them both to Regieleki.

“Start the voltage low, and slowly bring it up, until I tell you to stop…” Justin explained, as he pulled out his phone, watching the signal in the corner. “We can’t risk putting too much current through it, and blowing the phone tower up.”

Regieleki obliged, as Justin focused on his phone, stepping back a few steps to avoid the risk of electrocution, and noticed in his peripheral vision, lights in the distance beginning to light up, starting dim, but growing brighter. After a minute of the lights gradually increased, Justin saw what he was after. The No Signal icon in the top corner disappearing, and being replaced by three bars of signal.

Justin considered calling the emergency services number, however realized that would do little to help. Emergency services would currently be receiving more calls than they could handle, and on an isolated island such as Mossdeep, would have a centre based on the island. They needed help from off the island, which means that someone outside of Mossdeep needs to be the one to call emergency services to reach the centre on the mainland.

He tried calling Steven, then Jon, both of their phones dialing out and leaving Justin swearing as he reached voicemail, before he had an idea. One place in Lilycove that would be open all night…

”McDonald’s Lilycove, would you like to place an advance order?” said a tired employee who didn’t sound any older than him.

“This is not a practical joke!” Justin said, letting the panic in his voice seep through, hoping the employee would understand the severity of the situation. “A Legendary Pokemon is attacking Mossdeep City, and we need assistance! Please call emergency services, and tell them that you received an SOS from Mossdeep!”

“It’s two-thirty in the morning…” the person on the other end of the line said irritably. “How stupid or tired do you think I am? I call emergency services and get charged for a phoney call? Yeah right...”

“Listen a**hole, people will die if this Pokemon isn’t stopped!” Justin yelled into the phone, not realizing how much like Jon on the S.S. Wishmaker he was acting. “You have two options! One is you take what I’m saying seriously, and call emergency services! You tell them that you received a frantic SOS, and if I am telling the truth, you’ll be a hero. And if I’m lying, you were just a concerned citizen doing the right thing and forwarding an SOS!”

“And the second option?”

“The second option is that you write this off as a prank call, and do nothing, and when people die, that’s on you! And if I’m not one of those people, I will come to Lilycove and kick your a** myself! My name is Justin Collins so look me the f**k up if you don’t believe me!”

There was silence for a few moments, before the voice spoke again.

“This had better not be a load of s**t…” he said. “I’ll call now and let them know you need help…”

“Thank you…”

Justin hung up, before looking over the landscape of Mossdeep where in the sky, he spotted Dylan’s Flygon and Chris’ Dragonite battling Deoxys, before Dragonite was hit by a Zap Cannon attack, and knocked out of the sky.

Justin watched in two minds. If he and Regieleki remained here, they could provide electricity to part of the island, and give his friends enough light to see what was going on. However, he had no idea just how much power Regieleki was using doing that, and whilst the light was no doubt providing them with help, he wondered if Regieleki would be more help in this battle, now that an SOS had been made.

“F**k it…” Justin said, before calling Regieleki back to its Pokeball, causing the lights on the island to go out, as he ran back to his commandeered dirt bike. He got the bike running again, before taking off way too quickly south west, towards the Academy…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It had been ten minutes since Chris and Dylan’s return, and with Deoxys in the sky, the battle was becoming increasingly difficult. Charlotte had Magmortar on the ground, providing cover fire with Lava Plume, as Dragonite and Flygon both attempted to engage Deoxys in close quarters, however struggled due to Deoxys’ incredible speed, and the darkness of the island with no light. Meanwhile, Victini remained on the ground, partially to catch his breath, and also to protect the trainers from stray attacks that may hit them, though was vocal, or in this case, telepathic about his disapproval.

“Let me get up there!” Victini pleaded desperately with Abbee, whilst keeping his eyes on the sky, trying to spot any indication of an attack. “It’s a Legendary Pokemon! It has to be, given how strong it is! And as strong as these guys and their Pokemon are, they are at a severe disadvantage! They need me up there! I can track it with my telepathy!”

“No, Victini you’ve been battling it the longest!” Abbee replied, wishing her spirited Pokemon partner would see sense. “You’re exhausted, and are near your limit! Besides, we need a psychic type down here to protect everyone from any crossfire.”

”Why can’t Metagross stay down here and do that?!”

“Because Dylan already has Flygon out, and needs to focus on keeping it in the sky and keeping Deoxys here. We don’t know what it’s capable of, so we need to make sure we only bring out other Pokemon as we need them,” Abbee said. “Besides, even if you caught a ride up there, Deoxys is too quick to land a solid hit on, especially in the dark! Flygon and Dragonite stand just as much chance of keeping Deoxys occupied in this situation, even more, than you do right now! Your talents are better served here!”

Abbee hated having to tell Victini he wasn’t going to be much help, but it was true. He had used two V-Creates, reducing his own resilience and speed in order to unleash a heavy attack. He still was capable of going on the offensive and dealing some damage, however that was useless if he couldn’t catch Deoxys to land a hit. Abbee noticed a deep sadness enter Victini’s eyes, something she had never seen before.

”I could barely help my last trainer towards the end. I couldn’t stop her being harassed by some creep behind a phone. I couldn’t help her when the world rejected her. When they lived in fear of being attacked, or when Violet’s Pokemon, my own friends, were stolen, and nobody wanted to help…”

“Victini, it’s not like that…” Abbee began.

”How isn’t it?!” Victini shouted back in frustration. ”I stay down here until what, Deoxys finishes them off, and comes for us? When I’m exhausted from being a glorified goalie, and it knocks me out, or worse? What happens to you then?”

Abbee tried to answer, but was cut off by Victini.

”Jon and Latios aren’t here, and we don’t know if they will be back in time. Justin and Regieleki are doing what they need to do. I have the best chance of making a hit count out of everyone here!” Victini begged. ”Put me out there!”

Flygon took a hit from what was thankfully an ineffective Zap-Cannon, before Abbee noticed the lights in the buildings glowing dimly, and growing brighter by the second. The others began to notice as well, as the lights reached full strength on the property, as well as in the surrounding streets, bringing back the light pollution that they didn’t even realize was so prominent on Mossdeep, and making Deoxys suddenly much easier to follow as it dodged another attack from Dragonite.

”Regieleki has just done what he needs to!” Victini pleaded. ”Please, let me!”

Abbee sighed before turning to Dylan.

“I need you to bring Metagross out!” Abbee called out to Dylan who was focused on Flygon in the sky.

“Abbee, we need to use our Pokemon sparingly!” Dylan replied, trying not to lose his focus. “We could be doing this all night!”

“Just do it!” Abbee shouted back. “Victini is our best bet right now!”

Dylan swore to himself, before throwing Metagross’ Pokeball in front of him.

”I’ll give Metagross it’s orders…” Victini said to both Abbee and Dylan before quickly using his telepathy to explain to Metagross what he had been doing, and how to spot oncoming attacks. However he also transferred one other bit of information. A memory of the battle he watched from the rafters, where Jon beat Steven, by having Latios use a telekinetic barrier as an explosive springboard for Blaziken to launch off.

”Think you can pull it off big guy?” Victini asked Metagross. ”I need to get up there…”

Metagross grunted in approval, before focusing on the battle between Deoxys and the pair of Dragon Pokemon, watching Deoxys movements, as it’s four combined supercomputer-like brains attempted to predict where Deoxys would move, faster than Deoxys itself was capable of moving.

Understanding what Metagross was doing through their shared telepathy, Victini climbed onto the Pokemon, resting on the metal X that was mounted to its face.

After ten seconds, Metagross was ready. It cried out, as Victini readied a V-Create, before Metagross launched Victini with a pinpoint accurate telekinetic blast. At that moment, Dragonite was struck with a Zap Cannon before the lights suddenly went out again.

”Dodge this, a**hole!” Victini shouted, as he collided with Deoxys as it travelled through the air, knocking off its trajectory. Still engulfed in flames, acting as a weight to slow Deoxys down, and a beacon in the dark night sky, Victini’s flames began to expand, as Victini engulfed the pair in an Inferno attack. Taking the opportunity, Flygon darted forward, encased in draconic energy, slamming into Deoxys with a Dragon Rush attack.

Everyone present felt a sharp pain in their heads, as a mind with thoughts so unfamiliar forced its way into their own. Within an instant, there was a boom as a large telekinetic pulse blasted from Deoxys in all directions, knocking Victini off the Pokemon who began to fall, being caught by Charizard, whom Chris had sent out to take Dragonite’s place.

There was another sharp pain, before Deoxys darted upwards, charging up a weaker version of the beam it used to destroy the substation, given it was in its weaker, speed-oriented form. The beam struck the ground in front of the four trainers, before moving towards them, being blocked by Metagross, and passing over them. The trainers only realized that Dylan’s car had been next in its trajectory when they heard it explode behind them.

“Oh my God…” Abbee said quietly, coming to terms with the fact that them being the centre of Deoxys’ attention was the only reason the Academy wasn’t in ruins.

Charlotte looked in horror at the flaming wreck of Dylan’s car, parked out of the way behind them, and looked back at Dylan, whose focus remained on Deoxys, but the sadness of what he had just lost present in his face. She remembered Jon and Alyssa talking about how hard Dylan had saved to get his license, and get a car, something he had originally thought would be near impossible for him given his messed up relationship with his stepdad.

“We need to end this…” Charlotte said weakly, looking at the sky, where Deoxys, under the cover of darkness, dodged nearly every attack that Flygon, Charizard, and Victini, who sat on Charizard’s back, threw at it. “We can’t do this until help arrives! We need to end this!”

Charlotte looked towards Dylan, who grimaced, having found himself at the same understanding, knowing that as impossible as it seemed, if they didn’t incapacitate Deoxys, and just kept buying time, the Academy wouldn’t survive, and there was no guarantee they or their Pokemon would either.

“That last resort?!” Charlotte called out, remembering the black Pokeball that Alyssa gave Dylan. “How bad are the consequences for using it?!”

“Jon will be made an enemy of the state!” Dylan called back, knowing Charlotte was the only one here who didn’t know about Rayquaza, and at this point, they had bigger issues than Jon’s illegally obtained second Legendary Pokemon. “Years in prison, even if this all works out!”

Charlotte’s stomach sank hearing this. Though she didn’t know what that Pokeball contained, she understood why Dylan was so hesitant. The consequences were not his own to bear, should he choose to make that call.

As she thought about the Pokeball, a whisper of an idea began to form in her mind. She considered giving Abbee one of her Pokeballs however she only had Drifblim, which was not up to such a high pace aerial battle, Roserade who would be restricted to the ground, and Miltoic who needed water to battle at her best.

“I have an idea!” Charlotte shouted. “If Magmortar keeps giving cover, can you survive without me for a few minutes?”

“We got this!” Chris called out, surprising everyone with his sheer determination, given how hopeless the situation was. “Do what you need to do!”

Charlotte nodded, before darting away from the battle, towards the empty lodge that only housed guests. The lodge that was her home last summer. She ran to the front door, before remembering that Jon had installed electronic locks after Lance made threats against the Academy the summer before, and that she couldn’t get in without power to the building.

“Sorry Jon…” Charlotte muttered, before making her way to one of the windows, scooping up a medium sized rock on the way there, and throwing it through the window. The sound of glass shattering was muffled by the sounds of the Pokemon doing battle in the sky above, as Charlotte carefully put her arm through the broken window, and unlocked the latch, holding it shut, before climbing through.

“What is she planning?” Chris called out, as he realized where she was going. “Does she think if we overrun it with all the Pokemon we caught, we can beat it?”

“No…” Dylan answered, realizing what she was thinking. “She’s actually thinking clearly…”

Charlotte sprinted towards the stairs, climbing them up to the second floor at a record pace, before turning a corner at the top of the staircase, nearly slipping on the carpet, and made her way to the room where Dylan had been working in the week before they travelled. The storage room. Unlike the front door, this one didn’t have an electronic lock, and unlike before, there was no window to break to get in. The door was locked and Charlotte had no idea where the key was.

“Goddamn it…” Charlotte muttered, remembering how Dylan knocked in Justin’s door the year before. Focusing on a section of the door as far away from the hinges as she could find, without being too close to the doorframe, she stood back, before running into it, slamming her left shoulder into the door.

The door barely budged. She felt it start to give ever so slightly, but it still seemed secure, as her shoulder stung from the impact. Taking a few steps back even further, she attempted again, and felt the door give a little more, and crack lightly under the pressure, however it still remained standing, as Charlotte’s shoulder stung even more.

“Break you b*****d!” Charlotte shouted, before attempting a third time to knock in the door, running harder towards it. There was a crunch from Charlotte’s shoulder as her arm fell limp, however she fell forward, as the door gave way, opening, before tripping forward and landing on her now broken shoulder.

Charlotte screamed in pain, before taking in a sharp, shallow breath, trying to focus on the room in front of her. On each wall were shelves from top to bottom, lined with Pokeballs containing the Pokemon they had caught earlier that week, however her attention was drawn instead to the small tub next to the computer, containing the unused Pokeballs from the trip.

Charlotte got her phone out, turning on the light, before placing the bottom of it in her mouth, so she could use her remaining arm to sift through the tub. With use of only one arm, and the pain in her other, it took her a few minutes to find what she was after. The five Master Balls that Jon had bought in the event that a Pokemon appeared that they absolutely had to capture and couldn’t let escape. Little did he know how true those words were ringing…

Charlotte turned off her phone, before pocketing the Master Balls, and making her way downstairs, slowly climbing through the window, given her freshly broken shoulder, and making her way towards the battle, where Flygon had now been grounded, and was being called back to its Pokeball, as Dylan sent out Dusknoir, seeing Charlotte return.

“Did you get them?” Dylan asked, as he realized that Charlotte had injured herself. “S**t, your arm!”

“It’s nothing!” Charlotte said through gritted teeth, before pulling out a Master Ball to show Dylan. Chris’ eyes widened.

“You f**king genius!” he said excitedly.

“It’s far from over…” Dylan said. “If we can’t get close enough to it, they won’t mean s**t…”

“Then we gotta bring it down!” Charlotte said. “Now or never!”

Chris nodded, before calling out towards Charizard.

“Fly above it, then hit it to the ground with Flare Blitz!” Chris called out, as Abbee realized he was going on the offensive.

“Use your telepathy Victini!” Abbee called out. “Help Charizard lock on to it, and give it hell!”

“Metagross, help them out!” Dylan added. “Dusknoir, Shadow Punch!”

Charizard flapped its large, ascending quickly with Victini on it’s back. Once it was above Deoxys, Victini felt Metagross in his mind, calculating Deoxys trajectory, before giving the instruction.

”Now!”

Charizard became encased in flames, diving downwards recklessly towards where Deoxys was predicted to be. Deoxys stopped in its tracks, before launching a Zap Cannon towards Charizard, who was far too close to avoid the attack.

“Now!”

The voice didn’t belong to any of the four trainers, and before they could recognize the voice that had called out, a large bolt of lightning shot out from behind them, colliding with the Zap Cannon attack Deoxys had just launched, before it hit Charizard. Upon making contact, Deoxys Zap Cannon curved, fusing with the oncoming lightning attack, joining Deoxys and its attacker by a thick thread of electricity.

“Do it Regieleki!” Justin called out. The tactic was one he hadn’t tried with Regieleki before, but wanted to figure out in order to help find a way to give it an edge against other Electric Type Pokemon, or in this case, an enraged Legendary Pokemon that also knows Zap Cannon.

When the bolts of lightning collided, Regieleki increased the electrical resistance of its own body, knowing that in this case, electricity would follow the path of least resistance, and the greater the difference, the greater the force of that impact.

A split second later, the thread of electricity between the two Pokemon rushed towards Deoxys, hitting it harder than it was expecting, before it took the Shadow Punch from Duksnoir who had materialized in front of it, and then Charizard’s Victini empowered Flare Blitz.

Deoxys fell from the sky, hitting the ground, as Charlotte lobbed the first Master Ball at Deoxys. As the Master Ball got within activation range however, Deoxys shifted, returning to its attack form, before blasting back with a telekinetic pulse, much stronger than the one it used to shake off Victini and Flygon. The trainers found themselves barely able to stand in the wake of the blast, as the glass of the windows on the two lodges either side of them shattered inwards from the impact. The Master Ball was blasted behind the group, well and truly out of sight, and under the current circumstances, now useless to them.

Deoxys rose to its feet, floating a few inches off the ground, staring them down with its cold and lifeless eyes. Slowly it began to rise, as it began preparing another attack…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Hey! A**holes!” Steven shouted as he banged on the door of the room he was locked in. He had only been placed in the room again an hour ago, after the shocking revelation that whilst he and Jon were here in Slateport, Mossdeep was in danger, as the result of a secret experiment that Hill had ordered. “Get your a**hole boss to come talk to me!”

“Shut up in there!” one of the soldiers outside of Steven’s door yelled back, growing tired of the yelling from the detained Hoenn Champion.

“Come in here and make me!” Steven retorted angrily. “Otherwise shut the hell up and get your boss!”

“And what if I don’t get him?” the soldier asked sarcastically.

“Then he is going to have a lot more to worry about than this if he doesn’t hear me out!” Steven yelled back.

There was silence for a few minutes, and Steven overheard them talking.

“Do you think he’s bluffing?” one soldier asked.

“He could be…” The other replied. “But if he isn't, do you want to be responsible for whatever happens to the minister?”

“I guess not…”

A few minutes later, Steven was dragged from his holding cell, back to Mark Hill’s office, where the Minister for Defence sat in the same place behind his desk, looking to have aged five years in the space of fifteen minutes.

“As you’re aware, I have little time at the moment, so make this quick…” Hill sneered as he typed away on the computer in front of him. This time, the guards didn’t even leave the room, still holding on to Steven, just in case he tried to attack their commanding officer.

“I’m just wanting to let you know that it’s within your best interest to let me leave here right now…” Steven answered. “Because otherwise you will be up to your neck in s**t, compared to just being up to your a** like you are right now…”

“And why is that?” he asked sarcastically, not looking away from his computer.

“Do you think I’m stupid, Mark? That after what happened with Rayquaza, I walked in here not expecting you to pull this s**t again?” Steven asked. “You think I wouldn’t be prepared for this?”

Hill stopped typing, looking up at Steven, as his expression shifted to a mixture of concern and rage.

“What did you do?”

“Before I came here, I hid a flash drive containing a copy of the transfer application, some footage of my last detainment, as well as a personally signed testimony to be used in the event that I go missing, and told an associate in the media where to find it, under instruction to go and get it if I were to disappear. Testifying that you have taken me into custody before, and that I anticipate that you will do the same when confronted about corruption that I have discovered,” Steven explained. “I thought it would take a few days of being here for my disappearance to be noted, but now the island that I supposedly live on is being destroyed as the result of some military experiment, and I’m not there defending it? They will know something is up by dawn. And at that point, in addition to having to deal with the s**t show that follows the fact that the military owned and operated Space Center is at the center of this disaster, you will have to answer hard questions about why that meteorite wasn’t in Unova like you said it was, and why I went missing right before this all happened, and wasn’t able to protect Mossdeep like I should have…”

Whilst Steven wasn’t planning on giving up the fact that he had left evidence to be found, current circumstances changed things, making it easier to accelerate the timeframe of his original plan. And with Latios having checked in before he started making a fuss back in his cell, and by extension, Jon being aware of the situation, and almost certainly heading back now, it made no sense for him to wait it out here for the pressure to be on Hill. It was going to be on him regardless…

“You’re bluffing…” Hill retorted, though seemed to lack the convocation in his voice that his words attempted to convey.

“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not,” Steven replied. “But are you willing to take that risk? I ask again, did you really think I’d come into this unprepared given how stupid you acted last time I opposed you and the military? If you’re right and I am bluffing, you still need to worm your way out of this mess. But if you’re wrong, you will have all of Hoenn demanding to know where I am, and if I truly have gone missing, how true all the other accusations I made are. Or you can let me go, and nobody will notice I was gone. And from there, you can deny any allegations, and actually have a snowball's chance in hell of convincing the public that the allegations are hearsay…”

Hill gritted his teeth, as his subordinates who held Steven where he was watched in anticipation, where their commander would fold under the pressure.

“Let him go…”

Steven felt the grip on his arms loosen, as Hill continued to speak.

“Get him his belongings, and get him out of here…”

As the two subordinates left, leaving Steven and his former captor, Hill spoke directly to Steven.

“You’ve made a powerful enemy Steven…”

Steven couldn’t help but laugh, causing Hill to seethe even more.

“Powerful? You’re gonna be struggling to keep your head above water from your own stupid decisions…” Steven said. “After this, I think the Diamond Ladies will be more popular in Hoenn than you…”

Steven was given a bag containing the change of clothes he got detained in, as well as his belongings, which included his Pokeballs. Steven left, checking his phone and feeling sick when he saw a missed call from Justin. He called back but got no answer.

Calling out his Skarmory, Steven climbed onto the Pokemon’s back, before it departed, with Steven encouraging it to fly at the highest speed it was capable of, praying for a tailwind, and hoping that whatever was happening on Mossdeep could be dealt with soon…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Magmortar and Dusknoir had both fallen unconscious, with Charizard and Victini attempting to sneak in their own attacks whilst Regieleki had engaged Deoxys, practically one on one, in the twenty minutes since Justin had arrived. Meanwhile Metagross and Alakazam both kept the five trainers protected from the crossfire with their psychic abilities, whilst also analysing the battle to try and find opportunities.

Given Regieleki’s incredible speed, and powerful offensive power when it came to electric type moves, and Justin’s specialized tactics that used Regieleki’s electrical properties to turn Deoxys’ Zap Cannon against it, the fight quickly changed pace, with Deoxys landing a few good hits to take down Magmortar and Dusknoir, before having to shift to its bulkier defensive form in order to keep taking the hits that Regieleki was attacking with, without falling. For a moment it had attempted to use its speed form to evade Regieleki, but learnt very quickly how futile that was.

And even though the battle was seeming more optimistic than it had the entire near hour that they had spent, relentlessly trying to keep this Pokemon from going on a rampage outside of the bounds of the Eon Academy, things were still looking bleak. Charlotte had attempted to use another two Master Balls, losing both, leaving her with only two left. With Deoxys on the defensive, she threw her fourth, however it was blasted away by the edge of a telekinetic blast that Deoxys had used to take the brunt of one of Reigleki’s powerful attacks.

“I don’t know what to do?!” Charlotte called out to the others. “When it’s moving, I can’t get the ball close enough! When it’s still, it uses its goddamn psychic powers to blast it away!”

“Just wait!” Dylan called back. “The right opportunity will present itself! It has to!”

Deoxys created another barrier, which absorbed and dispersed the bulk of Regieleki’s Zap Cannon, before it shattered, as Deoxys took the small remainder of the attack that penetrated the barrier.

“We need a Pokemon to break through the barrier, while carrying the Master Ball!” Charlotte explained. “It’s barriers aren’t indestructible, and if something hits it hard enough, they will break through!”

“But we can’t get close enough!” Chris yelled back. “Regieleki is the only Pokemon who can move fast enough to get the Master Ball to it, and activate it! But we need Regieleki to keep Deoxys occupied, and its physical attack power is pretty average! I don’t think it could break through like that!”

Suddenly, a sound echoed across the sky, managing to permeate through the chaos of the battle in front of them. A sound that all five trainers recognized. The cry of an Eon Pokemon.

“Thank God…” Justin said, sounding exhausted, before regaining his focus, and ordering another attack from Regieleki.

It was near impossible to spot the sixth trainer as he and his Latios flew overhead in the dark. Latios landed between the trainers and the burning remains of Dylan’s car, as Jon landed, running towards them.

“I’m so sorry!” Jon said frantically. “I should have been here!”

“Quit feeling sorry for yourself and give us a hand!” Chris yelled back, as Jon unclipped one of his own Pokeballs, letting Jolteon out, having seen how the Pokemon battling Deoxys were keeping their distance.

“What is this thing?!” Jon shouted over the noise, as Jolteon joined the assault, alongside Latios.

“Deoxys!” Charlotte called out. “Originally the meteorite that we found on the beach, having been experimented on at the Space Center, and now thoroughly p***ed off!”

“The others are safe!” Dylan called out to Jon, knowing his first concern was his family.

“I know! Latios spoke to Alyssa as we flew over! You’ve done well!”

“Jon, I have a Master Ball!” Charlotte yelled to her teacher. “I used the other four, but couldn’t get close to it, so we are down to one left!”

“You’re going to catch this thing?” Jon asked, realizing that he, like the others, hadn’t even considered catching the Legendary Pokemon, only incapacitating it, whatever that took.

“It’s our best bet!” Charlotte replied. “If I can get the Master Ball close enough to it! We need a plan!”

Jon realized that the five students were now staring at him, as if expecting him to have all the answers.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help!” Jon answered. “You five have all seen what this thing can do, and know what’s happening better than I do! You tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll do whatever I can!”

“We’re just a bunch of kids!” Chris called back. “Surely you can figure out something better than we can?!”

“Nobody’s been killed since you guys acted! That’s a pretty f**king good outcome already!” Jon retorted. “You can do it! Just think!”

Charlotte realized he was right. As great of a trainer as Jon was, they had nearly an hour of experience battling Deoxys and he had less than five minutes. And with one Master Ball left, they couldn’t take any chances. She began thinking over what was on her mind before. They needed a Pokemon to physically carry the Master Ball to Deoxys, breaking through it’s barriers in the process. That was their best bet. At the time she realized that, it just wasn’t viable. So she wondered if Jon joining them made any sort of difference? Whether the plan could be adjusted…

“I have an idea,” Charlotte said. “It’s crazy, but it’s our best bet. How fast can Latios fly?”

“Mach 2. 2500 kilometers an hour, give or take.”

“And how much time and distance does he need to reach top speed, if he isn’t carrying anyone?” Charlotte asked, remembering Dylan telling her about his conversation with Latios, and how Jon had crunched the numbers heavily before going on a high speed joyride.

“A little under a minute, and about eighteen kilometers of runway before he hits top speed,” Jon asked. “What are you thinking?”

“We need something holding the Master Ball to hit Deoxys barriers hard enough that it breaks through, and fast enough that it can’t respond before the Master Ball activates…” Charlotte explained. “Latios is going to be our Master Ball carrying missile…”

Charlotte took a few moments to explain her idea to the group, who seemed astonished at the plan.

“Would that hurt Latios?” Abbee asked, wondering what an impact at two and a half thousand kilometers per hour would do to Latios.

“If he weren’t Psychic, then yes…” Jon explained. “But if he keeps a telekinetic barrier in front of him, a small, concentrated one in front of his head to take the brunt of the force, Latios is more likely to go straight through Deoxys and tear it in half…”

“Deoxys can regenerate entire limbs in seconds…” Charlotte commented. “Besides, even if Latios does kill it, right now we have no other choice…”

With everyone agreeing to the plan, Charlotte handed Latios the Master Ball, making sure the Pokemon knew how to use it, before Jon gave him very specific instructions, whilst using his phone’s calculator app to figure out a few numbers. As Jon did this, whilst Regieleki, Jolteon and Charizard were keeping Deoxys occupied, Victini and Alakazam moved around the battlefield, creating a triangle around Deoxys with Metagross, who was still protecting the trainers. Once Jon was confident Latios knew his orders well, Latios left, at which point Jon began counting. He knew it would take a minute and a half for Latios to get far enough away to be able to return at top speed whilst also slowing down to not overshoot it, and then another minute for Latios to return at full speed. The timing had to be near perfect.

Roughly thirty seconds after Latios left was the first sonic boom, indicating Latios had exceeded the speed of sound, which he would travel at for roughly thirty seconds, before slowing down as fast as he could, which would take another thirty seconds. However Jon knew this was not an exact science, as the sound of the sonic boom would reach them well after Latios had reached that speed.

Metagross, Alakazam and Victini, all hearing the signal, began to push their barriers forward, attempting to trap Deoxys. They only had one shot at this, and Deoxys couldn’t be allowed to move a muscle. The three psychic types felt the push-back of Deoxys’ own telekinetic abilities, however it couldn’t resist the cage they were creating, whilst also dispersing the oncoming attacks, and with great struggle, the three psychic Pokemon managed to hold it in place, as Regieleki and Jolteon both halted their attacks, wanting their next onslaught to take all of its attention.

The three psychic types struggled to contain Deoxys, as it pushed against their own telekinetic might with its own psychic blows, now not being used to disperse oncoming attacks, however even for a Legendary, being outnumbered three to one, with one of those three being a legendary Pokemon itself made it near impossible for Deoxys to gain any ground.

“Everyone get ready!” Jon called out, waiting for the signal from Latios. At top speed, Jon estimated Latios had three seconds between entering telepathic range of them, and making contact.


The trainers were silent, as the Pokemon did their best to keep quiet as well, the three Psychic types focusing on keeping Deoxys restrained, whilst the two electric types quietly prepared their surprise attack.

One of Charlotte’s worries was relying on a telepathic message, and one of the six trainers and five Pokemon involved in this plan, jumping the gun on a stray thought of their own, or even worse, a telepathic attack by Deoxys, and throwing the plan into ruin. However when the call came to act, there was no mistaking it.

”NOW!”

Latios’ telepathic voice rumbled through the minds of all within range, including Deoxys. Reacting as quickly as they could, the three psychic types holding Deoxys let go, instead inverting their barriers to provide cover for them and the trainers behind them. Almost instantaneously, Reigleki, and Jolteon both launched Thunder attacks, taking Deoxys attention as it attempted to block with a telekinetic barrier. And a little under three seconds after Latios gave the command, Deoxys disappeared from sight, as Latios, activating the Pokeball, collided with Deoxys, who, faster than anyone could comprehend, was sucked into the Master Ball. Shortly after, there was a sonic boom in the distance, from when Latios had broken the speed of sound on his return trip nearly thirty seconds earlier...

“Did it work?” Chris asked, as he saw the empty space where Deoxys once was, like everyone else there, having not been able to see Latios fly past.

“We won’t know for a few minutes…” Jon explained. “It will take some time for him to slow down, turn around, and come back here at a speed where he can slow down easily…”

Charlotte felt the tension in the air, unsure whether it had worked.

“Fact remains, Deoxys isn’t here anymore, and if it takes Latios eighteen kilometers to slow down from that speed, if this didn’t work, Deoxys is probably somewhere in the ocean between here and Lilycove…” Chris explained. “Probably not in good shape either…”

Charlotte felt a slight sense of relief, not having thought of that. Their job was to protect the students at the Academy, and keep Mossdeep safe from Deoxys. And if Deoxys hadn’t been caught, and was simply somewhere else, potentially worse for wear, then that was a success, if not the one they were after. Charlotte looked over at Jon, who, whilst he tried to hide it, seemed worried. As much as they assured themselves that Latios would not be in too much danger, Latios himself was at the most risk, intentionally colliding with a psychic barrier, though weakened as it was, still incredibly hard to break through, at nearly two and half thousand kilometers per hour. Charlotte watched as Jon silently turned on the light of his phone, and walked towards the western side of the property. It took her a while to realize what he was looking for, only realizing when he found it. A hole in the western fence, similar to the ones that were famously put into the S.S. Wishmaker, right before Jon’s High Seas Tournament win. She anticipated that if they kept walking west, they would find the next fence with an identical, Latios shaped hole.

“His wings seem to be where they should be…” Charlotte said, trying to reassure Jon that his Pokemon partner was safe. “And if he got hurt, his angle would have probably dipped, and being that close to the ground, we would have heard the collision…”

“Yeah…” Jon said, though still not sounding convinced. “You’re right…”

There was silence for another two minutes, as everyone waited in great anticipation. Then finally, everyone felt the familiar presence in their mind, followed by four simple words.

”I need a beer…”

Jon breathed a heavy sigh of relief before collapsing onto his knees, thankful that Latios was okay enough to indulge in a drink. Chris cheered, before grabbing Abbee and hugging her, to her initial shock, as Charlotte hung her head back, looking up at the night sky, and thanking whatever was out there that this nightmare was over, before starting to notice just how much pain her broken left shoulder was giving her. Justin sat on the ground, before giving up all pretence of good manners, and laying down, sprawled like a starfish on the ground, whilst Regieleki wandered towards him curiously.

Dylan walked over to Jon, each step becoming more strained and less steady, before handing him the black Pokeball. When Jon realized what he was being given, he took it, quickly stashing it before Charlotte or Justin could see.

“You had it the entire time?” Jon asked. “Why didn’t you just use it?”

“It was a last resort, and I didn’t feel right making a decision which could ruin your life…” Dylan said quietly, as the fatigue hit him like a tonne of bricks, and he sat on the ground next to Jon. “Though if you hadn't shown up when you did, we might not have had a choice…”

“You did well…” Jon said, putting his arm around Dylan’s shoulder. “Honestly, I don’t think anyone could have handled this s**tshow better than you did…”

Dylan laughed, before letting out a few weak words.

“I need a raise…”

Latios arrived a few minutes later, exhausted, and asking Jon if he could spend the night in his Pokeball and rest there, but not before handing Charlotte the Master Ball that contained Deoxys.

”The force of the impact destroyed its body, leaving only the meteorite left, which is now in the Pokeball…”

Jon called Latios back, as Charlotte looked at the Pokeball, holding it at arm’s length, as if it might shock her. When she noticed Jon watching, she spoke to him.

“I’m not even sure that I should have Deoxys…” Charlotte said quietly. “It’s so dangerous, and I don’t know that I could even hope to train it. Or that I even deserve it. Latios did all the work…”

“Latios was able to catch it, because you were the only one who thought it was even an option. You tracked down the Master Balls, and it was your plan that ended this nightmare, and caught Deoxys…” Jon explained. “You were the one to find it on the beach, and you were the one it reached out to from the Space Center. There’s no question of whether you deserve it…”

“Still, it’s so dangerous, I don’t know that I should keep it…” Charlotte explained. “I haven’t got the first idea of how to train an aggressive Legendary Pokemon…”

“It’s incredibly dangerous. Which is why I think you should keep it…” Jon explained. “I can guarantee you, something this powerful will attract the worst sorts of people. I’ll explain more later, but I can say for now, it already has. That’s why Steven and I left Mossdeep. And I’d trust you more with this than the people who will volunteer to take it.”

Charlotte remained silent, before Jon said something else, this time quieter, though the only person now who wasn’t privy to this knowledge was Justin.

“And between us, you saw that black Pokeball right?”

“Dylan called it a last resort?” Charlotte answered. “The sort of thing that can wind you up in prison? What’s that about?”

Jon grinned as he answered.

“Let’s just say I have a bit more experience in training unruly Legendary Pokemon than people realize. I’ll help you, if you want to keep it. I’ll do everything I can to help you train Deoxys and give it a better future…”

Charlotte looked at the Pokeball, though her mind was already made up.

“Deal…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was shortly after sunrise when Steven arrived in Mossdeep City, and saw the extent of the damage. Whilst the students had returned from the beach where they had been evacuated, and attempted to return to sleep, granted, after cleaning broken glass from their rooms, and avoiding getting too close to Dylan’s burnt out car, Jon had remained awake, urging the interns, after having given him a brief explanation of what had happened before his arrival, to get some sleep as well, whilst Alyssa took Charlotte to the hospital to get her shoulder looked at. And even though Jon had encouraged Charlotte to keep Deoxys, he still made sure to get the Master Ball containing it from her.

“Hill is going to rot for this…” Steven muttered as he and Jon were on their fifth cup of coffee, neither of them having slept in nearly twenty-four hours. They sat in the lounge of the lodge, so as to not keep anyone else awake. “All of the damage, and the lives of the people in the Space Center that were lost, is all on him. There is no getting out of this…”

“So what now?” Jon asked.

“I’m going to war against him, and he knows it,” Steven explained. “I know he won’t go down easy though…”

“This whole mess isn’t damning enough?”

“He has one excuse that could buy him time. I’m willing to bet anything he had a very small team of researchers studying Deoxys. Less than five people, and all those who were in the Space Center when Deoxys transformed are dead. They were crushed when the building collapsed on them. Which means there is nobody to testify that he ordered the research. He can just turn around, and say that he ordered the meteorite be transferred, but his men disobeyed orders, and kept it there off the record to study it, and they aren’t alive anymore to defend themselves…” Steven explained. “It’s gonna get ugly. I’m going to go public against him, and drag his name through the mud. I will make sure that everyone knows that the Hoenn Champion is against the Minister of Defence, and that he is responsible for everything that happened here…”

Jon nodded, before remembering why he took Deoxys’ Pokeball.

“Do you think you can hold onto this for now? Keep it somewhere where Hill can’t bend the rules to get it himself?” Jon asked, handing it to Steven. “He will come for it, and I figure the Hoenn Champion has a better chance of convincing the government that Deoxys is secure enough with him than I do. If it came down to whether I should hold onto it or Hill, they’d probably order me to hand it over…”

“You’re not wrong…” Steven explained as he inspected the Pokeball. “If I throw a tantrum and refuse to hand it over, there is a lot less they can do to me. But if this is the way this is going to play out, I should hold onto Rayquaza too. I can guarantee they will search the property if they don’t believe you...”

“I’ll give you the Pokeball before you leave,” Jon answered. “Just hide it somewhere better than I can.”

As Jon sipped his coffee, Steven looked over at the window Charlotte had smashed to get into the lodge. One of many broken windows.

“What’s recovery going to be like? From this I mean?” Steven asked, as Jon sighed.

“Windows can be fixed enough. When Dylan wakes up, he and I will get some plastic sheeting to temporarily fix them, but I don’t know when I can get a glazier out to fix them all. Comes down to who pays for the damage. I’d love to see the repair bills for the island come out of the military budget, but I know that will not be easy…”

Steven nodded, taking another sip of his own coffee as Jon continued.

“I feel for Dylan though. He coordinated getting all the younger students to the beach, getting Justin to get power back on for long enough to send an SOS, and even had the students flying Pokemon carrying SOS notes, looking for ships not too far out on the coast. There were ships on their way to Mossdeep to try and take people off the island, and if Deoxys had overpowered us, that may have actually been the difference between the death toll being fifty or a thousand…” Jon answered. “And what does he get for it? The car he worked his a** off all year to pay for is f**king blown up…”

Steven grimaced, before choosing his next words carefully.

“Hill is going to approach you. To try and do whatever he can to avoid taking responsibility for this. Fact is, you, your Latios and your students were the ones who saved the island. The publicity is going to be insane, in a good way. And Hill will try and get his way into your good graces to try and win some favour,” Steven explained. “And when he does, I need you to be extremely careful with what you say…”

“Why’s that?”

“I’ve made myself an enemy of him, and am now on his radar. He won’t underestimate me. You on the other hand, I already know he underestimates you. He is an arrogant son of a b***h. He won’t be as guarded around you, or as openly hostile as he will with me,” Steven explained. “He is an idiot who acts out of arrogance, and winds up making stupid decisions like the ones that lead to this. And chances are, if you play your cards right, and don’t do what you did with Lance, you may be able to catch him out when he does get sloppy…”

Jon sighed, hearing Steven reference Lance. It took the attack on the Academy the year before for him to really understand how badly he handled the situation. How excessive he was, both in his actions, and in his words. The fact that Jon antagonized Lance so much, and went to such effort to rub salt in his wounds that a year later, Lance would openly solicit violence against Jon, knowing it would do him no favours in his sentence.

“I can’t make you do anything. Your antics on the S.S. Wishmaker made that painfully obvious,” Steven explained. “And with the exception of things with Lance, your judgement has been near perfect, so I will just say, make sure you think through everything you say to Hill when he does reach out. You can tell him whatever you like. Just make sure that it’s thought through…”

“You’re right…” Jon said with another sigh. “I could have handled Lance much better. Both when he attacked Violet and Jarena, and then the next day when I went out of my way to antagonize him. So yeah, I’ll think a bit more about how I deal with Hill.”

“Good…”


************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The following days at the Academy deviated from the timetable that had run the summer camp the past eight or so weeks. It took another few days before all of the interns were in the same place, as all of them found themselves in different sleep cycles. It was shortly before dawn when Charlotte returned from the hospital, and even under the effect of the painkillers she was under, it took hours before her exhaustion was enough for her to sleep regardless of the pain. Abbee and Chris only managed to get a few hours sleep, waking up again shortly after Jon and Steven’s conversation in the lodge, and Dylan and Justin both slept for eighteen hours, waking up in the late hours of the next night, from the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of what they had accomplished. Jon realized how exhausted Dylan was, so Abbee joined him in a trip to the hardware store to buy what they needed to temporarily seal all the broken windows, until they could be repaired properly.

After communication was reestablished permanently to the island, Jon received numerous calls from parents, wishing to pick up their children early in the wake of the disaster. However, with the ferries being restricted to emergency workers and relief for the island, it was impossible for parents to actually get to Mossdeep for nearly a week after, and Jon was not willing to let students with flying Pokemon fly unassisted to Lilycove. Given the sheer amount of students, in addition to the amount of work he had to do, much to the initial annoyance of the parents, he told them they had to stay until the ferry was unrestricted in who it takes as passengers, and they can come to Mossdeep and collect their children themselves.

It was Wednesday, when Steven’s prediction came to pass. All the students were gathered in the stadium, where Jon had the five interns sharing their recollection of the events on the Saturday night, going into detail of their reasoning for the decisions they made, leaving out any mention of Rayquaza, with Jon figuring it could be a good way to teach the other students how to handle themselves in an emergency. During this time however, Jon received a notification on his phone from the video-doorbell at the gate of the property. Sneaking a glance at his phone, he recognized the uniforms of three men in the Hoenn Military. Two soldiers acting as an escort for Hoenn’s Minister for Defence, Mark Hill.

Jon crept out of the stadium, making his way past Dylan’s destroyed car, which he hadn’t gotten around to removing yet, and walking towards the gate.

“Mr. Drake,” Hill called out. “Mark Hill. Minister for Defence. I was wondering if you had a moment to speak?”

Ten minutes later, the two men found themselves in Jon’s kitchen, whilst Hill’s men waited outside the back door.

“I apologize for not calling ahead, however, given communications are still down, I didn’t really have much of a choice in that regard…”

“It’ll take a long time before things are even remotely normal here…” Jon retorted solemnly. Hill nodded before his tone shifted.

“I’ve heard a lot about what happened here. What you and your workers managed to pull off during this disaster…” Hill explained. “The evacuation of the Academy, engaging Deoxys, and the SOS messages. Your people handled the situation exceptionally.”

Whilst Jon’s first instinct was to make sure that it was understood how little he had actually done, and how it was the interns who deserved the praise, he held his tongue. If he were to mention that, it would raise questions as to why, and by extension where he was, and knowing that Steven had given away some information in order to scare Hill into letting him free, it was imperative that Hill didn’t realize that Jon was not in Mossdeep during the majority of the catastrophe, and by extension, realizing that Jon was just as deep in conspiring against him as Steven was.

“Deoxys?” Jon asked. “Is that what it was called?”

“Yes. I had ordered the meteorite be transferred to a facility in Unova, but the researchers involved in transferring it disobeyed orders, and continued researching it here on Mossdeep, which triggered the reaction that created that monster…” Hill answered. “I believe that was the name they coined for the species during their research…”

Whilst Jon thought he had a chance of asking the right questions, and getting Hill to say something incriminating, he didn’t follow this lead. Steven was right. Hill looked down on Jon, and didn’t see him as a threat. He wasn’t guarded enough, and if Jon played his cards right, he could get more out of Hill if the minister continued to look down on him.

“If military researchers, disobeying orders as they were, were the ones responsible for this, does this mean the military will be reimbursing myself and other property owners for damages?” Jon asked, intentionally curbing any sense of hostility or implication, trying to come across as sincere. “I have thousands of dollars worth of damage to the property from the fight, and one of my workers had his car destroyed, and we don’t have that sort of money sitting around to cover that until the government can figure out exactly who needs to cover the bill…”

“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Whilst the researchers were employed by the Hoenn military, they were not acting under orders, which makes them as individuals responsible. However, all of those who disobeyed orders were killed, and whilst there is the option of liquidating their assets to reimburse those who were financially put out by their actions, that raises a lot of ethical questions in and of itself. For example, if their assets cannot cover the amount of damage, would the remaining balance be forgotten? If not, one would expect the debt would be given to the next of kin, which is hardly fair as it wasn’t their actions that caused the damage…” Hill explained, as Jon felt himself grow angry, knowing that Hill was responsible for all of the damage around them. “Additionally, whether it would even be right to liquidate the guilty parties remaining assets, as some have families who now need to survive on significantly less income, and would need that to get by…”

Hill stopped, seeming to think over his next words, before speaking again.

“However, I do have a proposition, but first I need to take care of the business that is the majority of the reason I came here,” Hill explained. “I am under the impression that you captured Deoxys in a Pokeball?”

“One of my workers had the idea that using a Master Ball might be a quicker and safer way to end the fight than incapacitating it…”

“You’ve definitely taught them well,” Hill commended, as Jon felt himself growing angry, knowing that this was the same man who refused any sort of solution to the issues with Rayquaza short of killing it. “However, civilians being in possession of such a powerful and dangerous Pokemon is not in anyone’s best interest, so I’ve come to take the Pokeball containing Deoxys into military custody…”

Jon looked Hill in the eye, for no other reason than wanting to see the look on his face when he heard Jon’s response.

“I agree. Which is why I gave it to Steven Stone to keep safe…” Jon explained casually. “I figured nobody in Hoenn is better suited to keep an eye on a dangerous Pokemon than the Hoenn League Champion himself. So when I saw him shortly after the attack, I figured it best to give it to him. Wouldn’t you agree?”


Jon noticed Hill’s eyes widened for a moment, as he took in a sharp breath, before composing himself.

“Normally, yes, however Steven is only one man, with many responsibilities to the entire region,” Hill said, trying to remain calm. “I can assign teams of people to keep Deoxys secure, and potentially learn more about it in a safer manner.”

“That sounds great, but I can’t do anything at this point…” Jon said, sounding resigned, knowing this would be driving Hill up the wall. “But Steven is a reasonable person. I’m sure if you explained all this to him, he would understand…”

“I will get in touch with Steven then…”

“So you mentioned a proposition that may help cover the cost of damages until more finalized measures are in place?” Jon asked, wanting to see what Hill was thinking he could do.

“Yes, actually, I think you will find this very interesting…” Hill began.

“Between what happened last night, and how your workers, teenagers as they are, were able to prevent a disaster with the meteor at the start of the summer, as well as your history with League operations, it is clear that you have a talent for taking action during high-risk and unforeseen circumstances, as well as training people to take the right course of action, and handling situations like this well. If I’m being honest, I think your talents are being slightly wasted running a mere Trainer School in a remote part of Hoenn…”

Jon’s jaw nearly dropped as he realized that Hill was trying to recruit him.

“I see the property you have here, and what you have created from it, and think that given the appropriate training to fill any gaps in military knowledge, the Hoenn Military could turn this place into a Military Training Facility, with you acting as an advisor and key figure in the training of military personnel,” Hill explained, before pulling out a notepad and writing a figure on it. “In addition to high paying work, and still living on-site with your family, the Hoenn government would purchase the property for this amount…”

Jon took the slip of paper, reading the figure. The value of the property had doubled since Jon had bought it, given the vast improvements he had made to it, and the potential to generate more income that they gave it. The figure that Hill had proposed was double the value the property was given during its last insurance evaluation.

“So you want to buy this place from me, and have me run it as a training center instead?” Jon asked.

“Exactly. I think you’ll find the amount offered to be generous enough…”

“Mr. Hill, if I may be candid-” Jon began, thinking he found the right compromise of standing his ground, without causing the same problems he did with Lance.

“Please, Jon. Call me Mark…”

“Okay, Mark, if I may be frank,” Jon said. “Go f**k yourself. And it’s Mr. Drake to you…”

Jon stood up and made his way to the door, and opened it.

“Now please leave. We’ve already had one unwanted guest the last few days, and I really don’t feel like having another, worse guest…”

Hill stood up, making his way towards Jon.

“There isn’t need for such hostility Jon- Mr. Drake!” Hill said. “Please, see reason here!”

“I’m seeing reason,” Jon explained. “My property, as well as many others, were damaged by the actions of people under your command. If one of my interns broke the window of your car parked out the front, I’d be held responsible even if I personally had nothing to do with it. And instead of taking responsibility, you refuse to cover the damages, and instead, go and offer me more than enough to cover damage to most of the island to buy my property from me. I’m seeing that you’re a disgusting excuse for a human being, and I would rather hand over my property for the cost of half a f**king cheeseburger to anyone else, than accept that money from you.”

Jon gestured out the door.

“Now leave, Mark...”

Hill scowled, as he walked out, his escorts looking at him confused, as the trio left the property. Jon sighed, knowing that no matter what he had said, Hill had his eyes on the Eon Academy, and would be back.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It took two weeks before the ferry was open for unrestricted travel between Mossdeep and the Hoenn mainland. The decision was made with no notice, taking everyone by surprise. At which point, the summer program only had two weeks remaining, causing Jon to make the call to end it a week early. That gave parents a week to organize or reschedule flights to come pick up students. The interns found themselves surprised at how sad they were to see the other students go, growing attached to their own groups, and invested in their growth as trainers. However, generally speaking, the consensus was that most of the students would be back the next year, and Jon anticipated their numbers would double with the publicity on the Eon Academy after the Deoxys incident. He had lost count of how many times he found reporters at the gate, begging for another interview from Jon or one of the interns. Justin found himself shocked when all of a sudden his followers on Twitter skyrocketed into the thousands…

It was the day after the other students had returned home, when Jon found himself squished into the small kitchen of he and Alyssa’s house with himself, Alyssa, Amelia and the five interns, as well as Steven, who by this point had filled the interns in on what he had been investigating. In Jon’s hand was a letter that he had called them together to discuss.

”Dear Mr. Mason,” Jon began to read, before scowling slightly.

”We are writing to inform you that under Section 51 of the Hoenn Constitution, your property under the address of 381 Arcadia Drive, formally known as The Eon Academy, is being compulsorily acquired by the Department of Defence, due to its isolated and secure location for future projects.

An offer for the property will be forwarded to you within the next fourteen days. If you wish to appeal this decision, you have twenty-eight days from the date of this letter to submit your appeal. Please note that if the appeal is unsuccessful any cost of legal representation and court fees will be your responsibility.

After receiving this letter, you are forbidden from making improvements to the property, or selling the property to a third party. This order will be valid for nine months, in which time the Department of Defence will acquire the property. If this order expires and the property has not been acquired, the order will be null and void, and the Department of Defence will be responsible for any losses on the property due to the order.

Additionally, the Hoenn Department of Defence requires you to sign over ownership of the Pokemon registered to the Eon Academy known as Deoxys to the Department of Defence. Whilst the Pokemon may be under the care of Steven Stone, the Pokemon is too dangerous to be allowed to be registered to a civilian or civilian corporation, and once ownership is transferred, Mr. Stone will be required to hand the Pokeball containing Deoxys over…”

“The rest is all legal crap they put in there to pretend they actually give a damn about my opinion. Numbers to call if I have questions and such…” Jon said. “But you guys know enough.”

“No way,” Chris muttered angrily, before raising his voice. “This is f**king s**t! Tell them to f**k off!”

“Chris…” Abbee muttered from where she stood under his um, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow and nodding towards Alyssa who sat with Amelia on her lap.

“If her first word is f**k,” Alyssa said to Chris, mouthing the expletive. “Both you and Jon will have me to answer to…”

“Sorry…” Chris said, composing himself, but looking towards Jon who was responding.

“This is because I told them to f**k off…” Jon said, mouthing the expletive like Alyssa did with Amelia in the room and being near the age where she would start talking. “More specifically, I told the Minister for Defence to go f**k himself, that I’m Mr. Drake to him, not Jon, and that I’d sell this place to someone else for the price of half a f**king cheeseburger before I’d sell it to him…”

Chris snorted at the comment, but the mood was somber amidst the room.

“So what? Surely we aren’t rolling over?” Justin asked. “There are so many remote places in Hoenn they could set up some sort of training center. Any idiot could see that…”

“It helps their cause that the military owned and operated the Space Center. Having them near one another makes this place ideal, and it’s already connected to power, and has enough accommodation to house whatever people are needed to transition it into what they want…” Steven explained. “Really, on paper it makes sense…”

“You didn’t answer the question,” Justin said to Steven. “Does this mean we roll over?”

“No…” Steven replied, as Justin sighed a breath of relief. “What it means is that appealing this is going to be incredibly difficult. Most appeals under normal circumstances are denied. If we appeal this in the same way that we would under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t stand a chance…”

“So what do we do?” Abbee asked, wondering how Steven’s explanation makes sense with his no answer.

“Two things. First we gather as much support as we can from the public, which will be the easier part. We reveal to them that the Department of Defence, specifically Mark Hill, is going against the wishes of the Hoenn Champion, and compulsorily acquiring the Eon Academy. We remain above reproach in how we do this. Nothing legally or morally ambiguous. No slander, no soliciting violence, no illegally obtaining evidence. We need it to be clear to the public that he is completely in the wrong and we are being unfairly targeted,” Jon explained. “Secondly, we need to destroy his credibility and public image.”

“Destroy his credibility and public image without doing anything that will reflect negatively on us?” Charlotte asked, pulling her hair back with her right hand, seeing as her left arm was in a sling as her shoulder recovered. “That’s an extremely fine line.”

“It is, but thankfully, when it comes to that section of the plan, we have a significant advantage…” Steven explained.

“And that is?” Charlotte asked.

“That he’s a f**kwit…” Jon retorted, forgetting that Amelia was there, before gasping for a second, and looking over at Alyssa who shot him a look.

“What Jon is so carelessly trying to say, is that Hill has become cocky and overconfident. He has acted in ways that he shouldn’t because he is certain he will be able to get away with it all. He is arrogant, and that makes him more likely to say something that will bite him later…” Steven explained. “Even this is something that isn’t well thought out. He has taken a massive risk sending it now instead of waiting a year…”

“Because it’s right after the Deoxys incident?” Dylan asked, curious, as Jon began to grin.

“Partly, but more because there is an election next May…” Steven explained. “The current party in government was looking very likely to get re-elected come May. Even with the Deoxys incident, if they handled it well, it wouldn’t hurt their chances enough for them losing power to be a real possibility. If he had waited a year, he could have been reelected, and the public have time to forget a little about the Deoxys incident, and the Eon Academy’s role in its resolution. And in which case, he could have more time to get his way.”

“But now, if we play our cards right, we can fight back,” Jon explained. “Either get as much publicity about this, so that when voters make their decisions, they are voting knowing just how corrupt their Minister for Defence is, or if the government realizes Mark Hill’s position could cost them the election, they may overthrow and replace him to buy back some voter confidence…”

“So what do you want us to do?” Dylan asked.

“The five of you can handle the first half of the plan. Rallying support for the Eon Academy, so that the public are putting pressure on the government to not follow through with the order,” Jon explained. “But make sure you’re beyond reproach, and that all you are doing is making the public aware of what is happening. Tell them that the Department of Defence is attempting to forcibly acquire the Eon Academy. Tell them that the Eon Academy saved Mossdeep twice this summer. Make them aware. Don’t try and go after Hill. Don’t go and post about how Deoxys came from the Space Center, or anything like that.”

“Jon and I will handle Hill,” Steven explained. “The first thing we’re going to do is make sure that any decision made about this is put off for as long as possible. The closer to the election, the better. That puts more pressure on the government to save face. The thing that’s important is that Hill isn’t aware of how we are going to go after him. If he knows six months earlier that we are going to use something against him, it gives him time to prepare a counter argument, or even do something to cover it up.”

“Talk to nobody about this,” Jon explained. “Nothing more than what we are telling the public already. Nothing about Deoxys, Steven being detained, nothing...”

“And what about next summer?” Abbee asked. “The order ends about three weeks before summer is due to start, but if I’m understanding this correctly, you can’t even fix the broken windows without violating the order? Even if the order expires, can we really get a summer program together in three weeks?”

“I’ll look into how much we can do to plan ahead, but at this point I don’t know…” Jon said, before looking over at Abbee directly. “But let me worry about that. You five all have your own lives to live between now and next summer. Go and live them.”

“But we’ll be back here next summer?”

“I’ll make sure of it…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 2 Epilogue 1: Evil

Spoiler:

Chapter 1
Jon had hoped to never be sitting in this room again. The last time was shortly before the New Year’s Eve before last, where Daniel, his father, asked him to advocate for release on parole.

The visitors room at the Johto Regional Medium Security Prison was still cold, even though the spring weather was starting to warm up as April came. In the corner of the room was a TV, muted with captions so people could follow along. Jon noticed on screen footage of a reporter speaking to the camera outside of the Eon Academy gates, recognizing it as a replay of the news the evening before, when it was made public that the hearing that would decide the fate of the Eon Academy would take place on the 30th of April, four weeks from now.

The months since the acquisition letter arrived in the mail had been stressful to say the least. Naturally, Jon appealed the order, and with some favours from Steven, had the hearing date pushed back as late as they could push it. The closer to the regional election in Hoenn, the more pressure it would put on their opposition, and the better their chances were. On the flip side, the more time it took, the more time their opposition had to build a case and cover their own tracks. It was risky, however trying to rush the process was even riskier.

One of the effects of the acquisition order was that improvements to the property were not allowed to be made whilst the order was in effect. This was to prevent Jon from taking measures to drive up the value of it, and get more money out of the Department of Defence, seeing as normally he’d have no choice. However given the circumstances, this had taken a large toll on the property. Given the fact that only a few weeks earlier, there was the incident with Deoxys, the property had received moderate damage. Most notably, Dylan’s car being destroyed, half of the windows of the lodges being smashed in by a telekinetic blast, a window to the guest lodge being smashed by Charlotte to get in, as well as the door to the Pokemon store-room being knocked in, in addition to a Latios shaped hole in Jon’s western fence, as well as seven other fences in the properties west of the Eon Academy, breaking Latios’ S.S. Wishmaker record.

Due to Jon not having the finances to get all the windows fixed immediately, without leaving themselves short on cash in the event of an emergency, and the debate about who should be responsible for funding repairs, the windows were still broken when the order came through, only sealed with thick plastic taped to the frames, and Jon forbidden by the acquisition order from getting them repaired. Because of this, moisture had gotten into most of the rooms during winter, leaving the carpets damp and causing mould to grow in them, meaning that all of them needed to be replaced. It took days of angry phone calls for Jon to even be allowed to remove the burnt out wreck of Dylan’s car from the property without violating the order, resulting in Jon letting the government worker know he was recording the call himself, so that when someone injures themself as a result of the wreck, the government can take responsibility.

On the brighter side, the half of their plan that relied on rallying support for the Eon Academy was going better than expected. Abbee had the most social media influence by far, given her late father’s battling fame, with Chris and Charlotte tied behind her, both having dominated the junior battling circuits for years, and Justin having reached followers in the thousands due to he and Regieleki’s involvement in stopping both the meteor and Deoxys last summer. #SaveTheEonAcademy had been trending, even by those who were vocal about their dislike for Jon online, having to admit that if not for his Academy and training, Mossdeep would have had its fair share of disaster last summer.

Contrary to this attention though, Jon, as well as his five interns, had been avoiding TV and radio interviews, as well as most print media, citing the hearing as the reason for privacy, however accepting the odd digital interview, where they were emailed a set of questions that they could take time to answer, making sure not to do any harm to their cause with what they say, compared to answering a question asked on the spot, and accidentally saying too much.

Jon was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a metal door sliding open, which indicated an inmate was being brought into the visitors area. Jon looked up, and saw for the first time since the infirmary on the S.S. Wishmaker, the disgraced ex-Indigo League Champion, Lance.

Lance’s fall from grace stemmed from a sense of pride, which was shattered at the defeat by Jarena Farrell, who was relatively unknown at the time, in the years prior to the S.S. Wishmaker incident. Upon it coming to light that the Diamond Ladies had been using witchcraft to cheat, and them handing themselves in, Lance wanted to see them punished as much as the law would allow, whilst Jon, who convinced Steven and Cynthia of this, wanted their crimes to remain hidden from the public, as to avoid others attempting the same thing, which resulted in a short, unbeknownst to the public, ban, masquerading as a hiatus or retirement and no other consequences as to not raise questions. After an argument with Jon, Lance took action himself, attempting to kill Violet Radcliffe and Jarena Farrell during Cassandra Silvers’ battle against Avery Miller, with the plan being to frame Jon and Latios for the attack.

Jon had gotten wind of the conspiracy and intervened, beating Lance, however losing his cool and hospitalizing the Indigo Champion. The next day when Jon’s proposed cover-up plan was ruined by Lance leaking information, Jon had sought him out in the infirmary, antagonizing him and rubbing salt in his wounds. Which other than a brief visit to confirm he hadn’t made use of an unforeseen opportunity to escape, was the last time Jon had seen him, a little under three years earlier.

In his first year running the Eon Academy, Christopher Kingswood, now one of Jon’s interns, and a legendary battler for his age, attended, and after an attack on the Academy, solicited by Lance from prison, using his own Pokemon, revealed to Jon that Lance was in fact Chris’ cousin.

Jon didn’t think he’d ever find himself making the effort to see Lance in prison. He knew if the Diamond Ladies knew that he was doing this, they wouldn’t approve, and he didn’t blame them. However, since the attack, Jon found himself understanding two things. The first was that he went too far with how he handled Lance on the S.S. Wishmaker. Between brutalizing Lance when he intervened, instead of simply incapacitating him, and going out of his way to mock a deranged man with a shattered ego, Jon had acted in a way he wasn’t proud of. The second being that he told the Diamond Ladies he believed in giving people the chance to try and make amends for their crimes, and moving past them. That was the reason for not handing them over to the League and wiping his hands of the matter like was expected to, instead deciding to get personally involved to help them move forward. And as deranged as Lance was, Jon couldn’t say he honestly believed his own reasoning, if Lance wasn’t given the opportunity to try and get it together as well.

Lance was walked to the metal table where Jon sat, wearing orange prison overalls and cuffed at both his wrists and ankles. Once he sat down, the handcuffs binding his wrists were secured to the table, so he couldn’t attempt anything dangerous.

He sat, staring at Jon, who stared back, neither of the proud men wanting to be the first to speak. Eventually, Lance spoke first.

“Why the hell are you here Jon?” Lance asked, sounding irritated and mildly exasperated.

“You make it sound like you have better options for your time…” Jon retorted. “What, are you making license plates today?”

Whilst Jon regretted the excessiveness of his past actions, he wasn’t going to let Lance think that his backbone had gone.

“If I were, I would have sharpened one in the bathroom after I got told you were here, and brought it with me…” Lance said, as a nearby guard heard the comment, and started walking towards them, causing Lance to call out to him. “It’s a joke, a**hole! What the f**k am I going to be able to do, with my hands chained anyway?”

“It’s fine…” Jon said to the guard before turning back to Lance, who stared venom into Jon.

“You didn’t answer the question…” Lance said intently, not taking his eyes off Jon. “Why are you here?”

“I came here to apologize for how I treated you back on the S.S. Wishmaker…”

Lance was silent, though his expression shifted ever so slightly, showing the shock at hearing that.

“I’m not apologizing for going against you after the Diamond Ladies were apprehended, or stopping you from hurting Violet and Jarena. And I haven’t forgiven you for trying to kill them, and frame Latios and I for it…” Jon explained. “But I was wrong to go as far as I did when I stopped you. I could have done it without landing you in the infirmary. And showing up there the next day, just to gloat, and rub your face in the dirt, was f**ked up. So for that, I am sorry…”

Lance didn’t move a muscle, though it was obvious that the rage was building in his eyes.

“You think I want your pity, a**hole?” Lance asked, before spitting on Jon. The guard made his way towards them, though Jon lifted a hand to stop him, unsure if the guard would have actually obliged had Jon not been somewhat famous, or the fact that most people had seen the video of Jon beating Lance senseless. “You sit in your little school, your ivory f**king tower, and you think to yourself ’Hey, I might go grace that insect Lance with my presence?’ Do your good deed for the day?”

Lance expected some wise-crack answer from Jon, however was taken aback by the seriousness of his tone.

“Did you know Chris was at the Academy when you sent those guys to attack?” he asked as he wiped the spit from his face. “That the threats that were made to me, my family and my students, were made to him as well?”

“I didn’t, but if he were willing to associate with you, he’s a lost cause…”

“And when your family found out Chris was put in danger to feed your appetite for revenge, they probably thought the same about you…”

“Shut the f**k up!” Lance shouted, however Jon shouted back.

“No, you shut up and listen for once!”

Jon took a breath, making sure that his words were purely for doing what he knew was right, not stroking his own ego.

“Seriously, what did you think would happen when you sent those idiots after me? We knew from the start it was you, and I know you aren’t that stupid to think we wouldn’t pin this on you from the get-go…” Jon said loudly. “You stood nothing to gain, except more years to your sentence, and if I decided to go public with that, more shame. It was the same on the S.S. Wishmaker. We had a plan that wasn’t perfect, but would have ended up with you getting your title back, and things going back to the way they were. But that wasn’t enough, because you couldn’t get revenge! So you threw away everything just to get even with them! ’Lance may be a murderer, but at least he didn’t lose a fair fight to Jarena’!”

“Go f**k yourself!” Lance yelled, pulling at his handcuffs as the guard came over, and began unlocking his handcuffs from the table to escort him away.

“You used to be great, Lance. One of the strongest. Adored by fans all over the world. And now, for the sake of your pride, you’re rotting in here,” Jon said, as Lance calmed himself, knowing that the walk back to his cell would be less than comfortable if his guard thought he was likely to cause problems. “I really hope that you can actually make a life for yourself. Even with their s**ty pasts, the Diamond Ladies tried, and now they’re dead. It’s a shame really. All this potential between the four of you, now gone.”

“Focus on not losing that f**king school of yours,” Lance called out antagonistically as the guard started to walk away. “I don’t need your f**king sympathy!”

“I’ve never lost a damn thing Lance…”

Jon left the building, where Dylan waited out the front from him, minding he and Jon’s bags.

“How’d it go?” Dylan asked when Jon returned.

“About as s**t as anyone would expect…” Jon retorted with a sigh. “I don’t know what I expected to be honest. I sure as hell didn’t think he’d take kindly to me showing up. But beyond that, it was all unknown…”

Jon recalled his thoughts, before turning to Dylan.

“Any luck finding this burger joint that Chris was talking about?” Jon asked, remembering Dylan was trying to figure out where the six of them would be meeting.

“After a while, yeah. He conveniently didn’t realize that Chrissy’s Burger House is actually a franchise, and there are like six of them in Goldenrod City…” Dylan answered. “Then he wouldn’t answer his damn phone. Ended up calling Abbee to get a hold of him.”

Jon scoffed a little at Dylan’s adventure to find out where they were meeting. Chris and Abbee weren’t exactly a pair he had seen coming, but he had noticed them getting close during the last summer, so wasn’t all that surprised when it became obvious they were an item.

“Do me a favour though, don’t mention to Chris that we came here…” Jon said. “He still can barely look me in the eye whenever the topic of Lance comes up, and he’s worked pretty hard to pull this together…”

Dylan nodded, as the pair made their way to the nearby bus-stop that would take them from the outskirts of the prison on Route 35, south into Goldenrod City. It wasn’t too long before the bus arrived, and the pair found themselves seeing the Goldenrod cityscape growing larger in their vision.

“I’ve come here that many times since I was a kid, and it still feels weird…” Jon said, before looking out the other window. “I wonder if I’d even be able to find my old house, if I wanted to…”

It was easy for Dylan to forget that Jon grew up in Goldenrod City. Considering how vocal Jon was about his love for Hoenn, and how involved he was with Steven, one would think he spent his entire life there.

“Abbee lives around here somewhere,” Dylan commented, having visited her the New Year’s Eve before last. “Couldn’t tell you where though. It’s all just familiar…”

It was another half hour before they got off the bus, and walked for fifteen minutes, following the instructions on Dylan’s phone, before finding the retro style diner. Through the window, they saw Charlotte, Justin, Chris and Abbee all sitting at a table. Abbee was the first to notice them, before waving, as they rounded the building, finding the front door.

“Now if we rocked up late to a class or something…” Chris began, before Jon called back.

“I would differentiate between the six different classrooms, smarta**,” Jon retorted, causing Justin to laugh. Charlotte and Justin moved aside in their booth, allowing Jon to sit on the end, whilst Dylan sat on the other side when Abbee and Chris made space.

“Well it’s no big deal,” Chris explained. “I picked up the keys on my way here, and it’ll be waiting for us once we finish our lunch.”

Jon was about to ask what sort of rental company would hand over keys to a seventeen year old, regardless of whether they were licensed or not, before Justin answered his question.

“You mean you tagged along while I picked up the keys…” Justin remarked, having turned eighteen towards the end of last year, with Charlotte’s eighteenth birthday being a week or so before the hearing.

“Whatever,” Chris said. “Point is, we have it…”

It was Chris’ idea to get together at least once before the trial. He had said at the end of last summer that he didn’t want the next time everyone saw each other to be whatever trial the Eon Academy had to sit through in order for the property to not be seized by the Department of Defence. And upon realizing that rental companies change their prices based on the time of year and how busy they are, he realized that between the six of them, a unique weekend away was actually quite affordable. Especially during April, between the New Year and Summer rushes, when nobody wants to rent a houseboat for a weekend…

“So where are we going this weekend?” Jon asked, knowing only that Chris wanted the group to rent a houseboat, but not exactly what he wanted to do with it.

“Taking a tour of the Whirl Islands, due west of Goldenrod.”

“You want to rent a houseboat that is costing each of us a day's wages to borrow for three nights, and sail it right into whirlpools?” Charlotte noted. “Am I the only one who sees a problem here?”

“Cut me some slack, I’m not that clueless…” Chris explained. “It’s a common tour for people renting from this company. The islands are largely connected by land bridges. Really, it’s a single island, and the south side of it is clear of any whirlpools. So really, you can dock on the south side of the island, and explore all of it on foot.”

“So why the boat?” Dylan asked. “I’m sure it’ll be great, but couldn’t we have just rented a cheap boat to get there, and stayed in tents?”

“Because then we’d be carrying our weight worth of camping gear to the hire depot, and having to set up camp. Plus, it gets freezing there, and the houseboat is heated. I don’t know if any of you have nearly died of hypothermia, but I have, and honestly, I don’t recommend it…”

“Yeah, I camped in the cold enough when I caught Regieleki,” Justin added. “I’m all for the houseboat…”

“And you’ve got a boat license?” Jon asked Chris.

“The Dragon’s Den that my family maintains has a boat so you don’t freeze your a** off in winter having a Pokemon carry you over, and I’ve been operating it since I was a kid. I only got my license so that the insurance company wouldn’t have a fit,” Chris explained, before ending the discussion before more questions came. “Seriously, it’s all good! Can we please just enjoy ourselves? Next time we see each other, we might not be able to as much…”

The mood darkened a little at the mention of the hearing. Whilst the interns wanted to have faith they could win, and the Eon Academy survives, they didn’t want to get their hopes up ridiculously high either. Sensing the awkwardness, Jon changed the subject.

“So why the Whirl Islands?”

“I’ve never been, and I take it none of you have?” Chris asked. “Clair told me they are pretty incredible, and…”

Chris looked around making sure nobody on nearby tables could overhear.

“They say that Lugia occasionally live in the caves there…”

Charlotte groaned.

“We barely survived one fight with a Legendary Pokemon, and you want to track down another?”

“Abbee has Victini, Justin has Regieleki, and once Jon convinces the courts that the military are a**holes, you will probably have Deoxys,” Chris said mouthing the last word in case someone was listening in. “Dylan doesn’t care too much about battling, so I don’t expect him to go chasing after a Legendary Pokemon. Just leaves me…”

There was a collective groan, before Chris spoke up again.

“I’m kidding, Lugia hasn’t been sighted in the area in years, and considering the size of it, they’d be pretty hard to miss…” Chris said, before continuing when he realized the others were unconvinced. “Besides, I’d rather catch a Dragon instead…”


Chapter 2
“I swear to God, if you hit an iceberg…” Justin said to Chris, as he captained the houseboat they had picked up a few hours earlier.

“I’m not going to sink the ship,” Chris retorted, rolling his eyes. “I’ve been driving these things since I was a kid…”

“Last time I was on a boat that wasn’t the ferry, I had to try and not get turned into a Dunsparce,” Jon laughed, as Victini rolled his eyes at him. “So far this is perfect.”

Jon lounged on the couch, as Chris stood by the ship’s wheel and engine controls, operating the boat, as Justin watched, somewhat curious about how he did it, and also making sure Chris wasn’t going to steer the boat into the side of an island. Dylan, Abbee and Charlotte sat at the dining table, playing cards with Victini, whom they had to keep an eye on, with his telepathy giving him a massive edge in whatever game they were playing.

“Justin, relax,” Jon said, before making his way to the fridge, grabbing himself a beer. “Want a beer?”

Slightly surprised at the offer, Justin accepted, before Jon tossed a can across the room to him, before grabbing three more, handing one to Dylan, and letting Latios out of his Pokeball to have one, much to Abbee’s amusement. As he opened one for himself, Chris spoke up.

“After we dock, can I have one?” Chris asked.

“Are you eighteen yet?” Jon asked, knowing the answer.

“No…”

“There’s your answer…” Jon said with a smug grin. “You can have one when you’re eighteen.”

“I can captain a rented boat, but I can’t have a single can of beer?” Chris retorted.

“I don’t write the rules,” Jon answered. “I just make the most of them. Now focus on the road, or the water. Whatever lingo you boat people use…”

Justin laughed at the exchange, as he sipped the beer, before realizing how much he disliked the taste, and noticing Latios, who had already finished his, looking towards him the same way his Houndoom used to when he was eating dinner.

“All yours,” Justin said, passing Latios the can.

“Last one,” Jon said sternly to Latios. “I counted how many are in the fridge, and know exactly how many there are. If any are unaccounted for, I will assume it’s you…”

Latios cried out, sounding irritated at Jon’s lecturing, as Abbee snorted in laughter at the exchange.

”Does Latios not have any self-respect?” Victini asked Abbee telepathically.

”As much as you do when ice-cream is involved…” Abbee thought back to her Legendary partner, who took the point, and didn’t argue further...

Before they picked up the boat, the group had bought groceries for the trip, planning on arriving in the late afternoon and early evening, and having a small party between them during the evening, before beginning their exploration of the Whirl Islands in the morning.

“How’s uni been Justin?” Jon asked, before adding jokingly. “Think you could represent me in the hearing?”

Chris barked out in laughter as Justin’s face turned white.

“I’m kidding…” Jon confirmed. “But how’s it going?”

“It’s going well,” Justin explained. “Classes are over for the year, I just have a couple of assignments to hand in during May, but I don’t think it’ll be too difficult.”

“Is that a humble-brag?” Charlotte asked, before attempting to impersonate Justin. “’I’m doing a Law Degree at one of the best universities in the world, and have assignments due, but I don’t think it’ll be too difficult…’”

“Well I got into one of the best Law programs in the world, partially because I helped discover an undiscovered Legendary Pokemon,” Justin began. “So if I can’t brag a little, nobody can…”

“He’s got a point,” Jon said to Charlotte, before taking another sip of his beer, enjoying stirring the pot a little. “Any response to this Charlotte?”

“No response,” Charlotte replied. “Just wanted clarification.”

“I mean, I understand. It’s not like you’re in one of the best Law Programs in the world,” Justin retorted with a grin. “You know, like I am…?”

Jon burst into laughter, as Charlotte made a face at Justin.

“Careful, you don’t know anyone else in Jubilife, and if I get sick of you, you might find yourself stuck at home every weekend…” Charlotte commented.

“What’s Charlotte like at home?” Chris called out. “Any different?”

“Well…” Justin began.

“Watch it!” Charlotte said sharply to Justin.

“She’s pretty much the same. Maybe a bit less uptight without you there to keep from saying something stupid,” Justin said to Chris, earning a grin from Charlotte.

“I can relate to that…” Abbee said, jokingly exasperated.

Dylan accidentally spat out his beer at the comment, causing everyone to laugh, as Dylan tried to clean up the mess.

“How’s Candice doing?” Jon asked. “I saw her #SaveTheEonAcademy posts…”

“She’s doing well. The Gym’s quieter now that she is the eighth badge,” Justin explained. “So I’ve been able to see her a bit. A lot easier for her to make a trip to Jubilife for a day, than coming out to Kalos. I was at Snowpoint City with her last Christmas, which was nice.”

“When you weren’t avoiding paparazzi?” Abbee asked, remembering seeing one of the gossip magazine’s posting a photo of Justin, who now had his own fame, seen holding hands in Snowpoint City during Christmas with Candice.

Justin groaned.

“You guys remember what you did to my inbox when I mentioned a Gym Leader?” Justin asked. “Imagine that, but with four and a half thousand followers?! I swear, I got another five hundred followers after that picture got published, all from Candice fan-pages…”

Jon laughed, as Abbee tried to console him.

“It was a really sweet photo,” Abbee remarked.

“You see this is why I avoided the media for as long as I did,” Jon explained. “Or at least part of it. Then I had to go and win a goddamn High Seas Tournament…”

“It’s so hard being famous, isn’t it?” Dylan said sarcastically, shocking the other four teenagers, though Jon didn’t seem surprised.

“Oh totally,” Jon answered equally sarcastically. “I get more and more people signing up for the Academy every year! You know how many more rooms I am gonna have to build at this rate?”


The Whirl Islands came into view as the sun began setting in the west, and when it did, Chris called the rest of them over. The islands themselves were a mix of pale-blue and grey, illuminated by the orange and pinks of the sun setting over the horizon behind them.

“I gotta say Chris, I think you’ve done well…” Jon said, as he took in the view. “I’d be lying if I said we didn’t need something like before things get intense…”

“Is it looking that bad?” Chris asked, talking about the situation with the Academy. The others didn’t speak, as it was what was on everyone’s mind. Public support was certainly on their side, however public opinion very rarely had much sway.

“It depends on how confident the government is that they can get re-elected. If they are confident they can do that without sacking Hill, then it depends on whether they get back in or not,” Jon explained. “We need to come up with an attack on Hill that’s heavy enough that it’s going to stick. He’s been doing dodgy s**t for years, but it’s always been in small amounts, and he’s been able to bulls**t his way out of it. Even what happened with Deoxys. We’re finding out what we can about Hill, and poking around, but we gotta find something that will stick. Once that sticks, and people see the truth about him, everything else should stick as well…”

“What does your lawyer think of it all?” Justin asked.

“What lawyer?” Jon asked. “Seriously, nobody is willing to touch this case. Appealing acquisition orders is almost a guaranteed loss anyway, but throw in the fact that the amount of money I owe on the property, and the fact that it’s value has dropped since I can’t fix the damage from the attack, and the property is deteriorating, and I might as well be walking into a lawyers office with a danger sign. They’re worried that I will lose the case, be forced to sell the property significantly under-value, and not be able to pay them when I pay off the debt on the property itself…”

“Won’t the court appoint you a lawyer if you ask?” Charlotte asked.

“Sure, but a lawyer forced into a case is more likely than not going to half a** it, and settle for less,” Jon explained. “Their idea of a good outcome would be the property being sold based on the value it had before the attack…”

Dylan sighed, before Jon figured enough was enough.

“Steven and I are working on it. And we’ll figure it out,” Jon reassured. “Hill is an arrogant son of a b***h, and until recently he has been sloppy. We will catch him out…”

It was shortly after when the boat arrived by the wooden pier on the southernmost of the Whirl Islands, and after a few more attempts than Chris would have liked for, he managed to throw the rope from the boat onto one of the large wooden poles, securing it loosely, before taking better measures to secure it properly. As he did, he noticed something in his peripheral vision. A light from a boat in the darkening distance around the west side of the islands. Thinking nothing of it, he continued securing the boat, before climbing back aboard the boardwalk.

“So Alyssa was fine with you two leaving to go gallivanting across Johto for a weekend?” Chris asked Jon and Dylan, as everyone ate dinner, which was a curry prepared by Dylan.

“Not sure why you’re including me in this?” Dylan retorted. “She’s not my wife? I was coming regardless...”

“I’ll let her know how much you value her opinion then,” Jon commented jokingly, as Dylan rolled his eyes. “Alyssa was fine with it. I’ve barely had a weekend off since the Deoxys incident, and she pretty much forced me out the door when the opportunity for a few days off came up…”

“Other than the obvious, what’s been keeping you busy?” Charlotte asked. “Are you still able to do the normal stuff the Academy does during the year?”

“Only a small amount,” Jon explained. “A few local schools have come in for day trips, but with the site being in the state it’s in, we can’t have people staying on site. So I’ve been doing a bit of work at the gym, filling in as a Gym Trainer there. Dylan’s also working at the Pokefood shop he used to work at when he was younger, since things are quiet right now…”

“It’s good you’ve got work,” Justin said. “But isn’t being a Gym Trainer a bit beneath you?”

Chris shot Justin a glare, which he noticed.

“What? It’s the truth…” Justin said, exasperatedly. “Jon should be filling in for an Elite Four member at his skill level…”

“It’s fine Justin,” Abbee answered, before turning to Chris and repeating herself to make sure he understood. “It’s fine…”

“What’s going on?” Justin asked, realizing Abbee was the reason for Chris’ reaction, though not knowing why…

“I’ve got a job lined up for after this summer,” Abbee said. “Now that I’ve finished high school, I applied for a Gym Trainer position, thanks to Candice’s advice last year, and found out a few days back that I got the job…”

“Congratulations!” Jon said, suddenly sounding a bit more upbeat, thankful for some good news. “Which gym?”

“Nimbasa City, under Elesa,” Abbee explained. “So I’ll be moving to Unova in September, and need to catch myself another electric Pokemon and get it ready before then. Preferably something native to Unova. I’m thinking maybe an Electabuzz…”

“And all of this is so you can eventually replace Elesa?” Justin asked, having heard from Candice the advice she gave Abbee. Abbee went red, before stuttering slightly.

“I mean, that isn’t the only reason why I chose Nimbasa City! It’s a great place, and Elesa seems really great to work for!” Abbee began trying to reason. “But if she decided to leave, I’d definitely try and get her job!”

“It’s fine Abbee,” Charlotte said. “You’re allowed to have ambitions…”

“How do you think I got an extra hundred grand for winning the High Seas Tournament,” Jon laughed. “I offered to tank my reputation and take the fall, but only if I got the fourth place prize that was now going to nobody with the truth about Cassandra coming out. Even if the plan didn’t work, I’d kept my end of the deal, and started tanking my reputation so I got an extra hundred thousand to buy the Academy…”

“Well, yeah…” Abbee said. “I’d like to be a Gym Leader, and Nimbasa City seems like my best bet for that…”

“And you’re looking forward to it?” Jon asked, it seeming like a dumb question, but wanting to make sure Abbee wasn’t signing up for a job she was going to hate, seeing it as a necessity to reach her goals.

“Oh of course!” Abbee explained. “I’m looking forward to living in Nimbasa City, and want to be challenged by more than the five of you. And I can take summers off without any issue, so I can still come to Hoenn for the Academy.”

“Sounds great,” Jon answered, before looking over to Chris. “What’re you going to do now that you’ve finished school?”

“Get ready to compete in the open league when I turn eighteen,” Chris answered. “Six more months. Charlotte will be able to compete by the end of the month, and has had the last eight odd months to prepare without worrying about school, and might even have a crazy powerful Legendary Pokemon before I can compete. So I need to catch up…”

“Even if the courts decide I can keep Deoxys, it will take a long time before any insurance company will consider covering me using it, or the league lets me use it in an official battle…” Charlotte retorted. “I wouldn’t count that too highly in your plans.”

“I will account for it anyway,” Chris answered. “That way if you are right and I’ve overprepared, beating you will be that much easier…”

Charlotte rolled her eyes, but she was right about Deoxys.

Steven still held onto the Pokeball, having stored it somewhere where only he could find it, as to appease the government enough to not seize it themselves. When Jon had spoken to Charlotte about her being Deoxys trainer, he had anticipated the military trying to take it, and them having a legal fight on their hands for Charlotte to keep the Pokemon. The plan that Steven suggested was to appeal the order to hand Deoxys over so it ends up in court, and use Jon’s own exceptional training on Latios (though hoping enough time had passed since the S.S. Wishmaker incident) as reason to believe that Jon could help Charlotte train Deoxys to the point where it is safe to be let out of its Pokeball around other people, with Steven vouching for Jon having a secret, isolated location for training dangerous Pokemon. The original plan was for that process to take a month or two at most, and Charlotte actually live at the Academy, sharing the old lodge with Dylan, and accompanying Jon each weekend to his secret training ground, the relatively unknown and deserted Southern Island, to train Deoxys there.

However, the Department of Defence setting their sights on the Eon Academy itself, whilst also demanding Deoxys, caused the fate of the two to be entwined together. With the Eon Academy’s chances of survival being better the longer it took for the hearing to happen, where both of the Department of Defence’s orders would be addressed, Steven had to hold onto Deoxys for the entire time, it appeasing the government that until a more final resolution was found, the Hoenn Champion was in possession of the Pokeball. Assuming that the courts even allowed the Eon Academy to possess Deoxys, until it was trained enough for Charlotte to take ownership, it would have been nine months between Deoxys being forced into the Master Ball by Latios’ Mach 2 impact, and it being allowed out again, with Steven not taking the risk of going to Southern Island himself, and being followed by someone under Hill’s orders, effectively preventing Jon from training Rayquaza there after.


The group stayed up for a few more hours after dinner, chatting, laughing, and those who were over eighteen, having a couple of drinks, before everyone went to sleep, Jon and Dylan bunking in one room, Chris and Justin in another, and Abbee and Charlotte in the third. Whilst the teenagers all slept relatively peacefully, Jon struggled, as he continued to ponder the information they had about Hill and the incident with Deoxys, trying to think of some angle he hadn’t considered, that would guarantee them a win…

Chapter 3
It was shortly before 8am when the six trainers, alongside Victini and Latios, found themselves hiking along the trail from the pier where their rented boat was docked, heading towards one of the many natural land-bridges that connected the outer island they were on, to one of the many islands in the center of the Whirl Islands, containing caves, whirlpools, and other odd natural formations. However, the slight hope that the trainers were holding to, was the slight chance of seeing Lugia…

“Wait, I thought Lugia was usually seen around Ecruteak City?” Jon asked, an hour and a half or so after they left, remembering vaguely his conversation with Cassandra in Sky Pillar. “Something to do with the towers?”

“Are you that old? Maybe a hundred and fifty years ago...” Abbee replied, as Chris laughed.

“Ecruteak City has two towers. One is standing, and one burned down,” Chris explained. “Lugia and Ho-Oh were known to perch atop these towers, until a hundred and fifty years ago, when the one Lugia perched on was struck by lightning and burned down.”

“Both Pokemon flew away, and neither has been seen there since,” Abbee explained. “Ho-Oh has a tendency to fly all across Johto and Kanto, and nobody knows where it lands these days.”

“Lugia on the other hand is a little harder to plot, since it can swim deep underwater as well as fly,” Chris answered. “But it’s been sighted here more than any other place in recorded history, so this place must have some significance to it.”

“And you’re sure you’re not here to just try and catch a Legendary Pokemon, and use us as fodder?” Charlotte asked Chris, as Justin laughed at the comment.

“You guys know I’m more comfortable with Dragon types,” Chris answered. “Really, I just want to see a Lugia, that’s it.”

“What known Dragon Type Legendaries are there?” Charlotte asked, as she tried to think. “Jon has Latios, and there is Latias as well…”

“As far as I know, Latios is the only one in Hoenn,” Jon explained. “Steven mentioned a Pokeball registered to a trainer in Hoenn somewhere that has caught Latias, though I don’t know if there are others…”

“Sinnoh mythology seems to indicate that Dialga, Palkia and Giratina are all partially Dragon Types, though there are no recorded sightings of them, and they could all just be myths…” Charlotte explained, trying to think it over.

“The other statue at the temple where I caught Regieleki was for a Pokemon called Regidrago, which I wouldn’t be stupid in assuming is a Dragon Type,” Justin added. “Still, that’s only three Legendary Dragons that we actually know for sure exist…”

“Four actually,” Charlotte replied. “Remember a few years back, Rayquaza was on the news for causing a plane to have to land? What if you captured Rayquaza?”

Jon had been drinking from his water bottle when Charlotte spoke, and choked on his drink in shock at hearing Charlotte mention the Rayquaza so casually. Whilst she knew Jon had a Legendary Pokemon that was kept on the down-low, she hadn’t asked what Pokemon this was, and wasn’t aware that anyone but Dylan knew. Justin however was completely in the dark that Jon had a seventh Pokemon.

“You good there?” Justin asked Jon, who was trying to recover from accidentally inhaling his water.

“Fine,” Jon croaked. “Just went down the wrong way…”

“So Rayquaza,” Charlotte said to Chris as they walked. “Could you see yourself ever capturing that?”

“Umm, yeah…” Chris said, trying to sound convincing, not wanting Charlotte to ask more questions about it.

Like Deoxys, Rayquaza’s Pokeball had been in Steven’s possession, with Jon being under military scrutiny, and because of that, Rayquaza hadn’t left its Pokeball since August of the year before, eight months ago. As much as it was proven that Pokemon could survive up to a year in their Pokeballs without negative psychological effects, though it wasn’t recommended, Jon was concerned at the potential backwards steps in Rayquaza’s training that such a long time in the Pokeball could cause. He even considered releasing Rayquaza when he realized that such a long time in the Pokeball was a likely possibility, however with the election coming up, and Jon and Steven doing everything they can to discredit Mark Hill, Jon was worried Hill would set his sights on Rayquaza again to win back voter confidence.

”Smooth Jon…” said Victini’s voice in Jon’s head, as Jon looked towards where Abbee walked, carrying Victini, and the mythical Pokemon flashing Jon a sarcastic thumbs up…

Chris quickly changed the subject, asking Justin if Lauren, the researcher who had discovered Regieleki, had any leads on where they could capture Regidrago, as the statue in the temple where Regieleki was captured seemed to be completely deactivated with Regieleki being captured instead. This then turned to Justin talking more about his trip to Galar a bit over a year earlier.

Whilst they had below average phone service where the boat was docked from the mainland, allowing them to use their phones if they needed to, but being abysmal enough to make using it too frustratingly long winded for them to want to use their phones, it had disappeared very quickly as they got further from the boat, occasionally returning for a few seconds, but largely making their phones useless. Hence the surprise when Jon’s phone rang an hour after the talk of Legendary Dragons.

“Alyssa?” Dylan asked when he saw Jon pull out his vibrating phone.

“No, Steven…” Jon answered, before answering the phone. “Steven, what’s going on?”


”J̩͕̦ͤ̅͑̒͌͒̑ŏ̺͈̟̠̩̣̣̌͆͐̉̇n͊͒ͨ,̴̠̝̙̠͉̤̭ͯ ̱̪͑̔̃ͨd̖͉͍̘̠̖o͙͎̝ ͪ̆͛̀y̻͈̿̀͒͑o̬̣͓̬̙̩͟ű͉̤̲̜̮͝ ̼̠̹̥ͧͯ̔ͭḫ̼͉̥͐̃̎̽͞ͅa̛̒v̠̫͉̂̈́̓̈́̃̅̿e̫͔̰̺̘̓̃̈ͦ̾ ̮͇̞̣̳̓́à̠͇̝̰̙̥͉ͥ͗̾͛ͣ͟ ̙̫̥̗̜͙̑ͤͩ̾ͥͨ͟m̹̤̞̹̝̃ͅḭ̤̭͔̹͑ͦͭͤ͌̿͡n͕̲͇ͦ͊̏ụͫͨ̃ͤ̊͂t ̤̙̫̯̤̣̿̍è̞ͤ̿̂̈?̝͈̝̐ͬ̍̚ ̶̣̹̹͌̇ͧͨ͂ͬI̬͂͐̊ͪ̽̕'͏̯͕v̟͖̝̭͇͇ͣͅe̱̼̔̎̉ͭ̿ͮ ̫͙̗̤͈ͨ͊̒ͪ̉̆ͅğ̪̊̋̓̉o̞̺͌̚t̨̤͕͔̬̊̍ͨͅ ̱͇̬̩̓͆ͪ͂͢á̴͉̗̀̔ͥn̮͓̯̮͓͚̒́͐͆͂̾ ̜̠̖̻̜̒̀̀̉̇u̠͔̙̗̭̘̓̔̅͋͊̑p̢̲̥̙̻̔̑̐̍̂d͉̻̭͈ͥ͛̋̀ͪͫ̚a̡͒̄ ̞͔̼͖ť̡͓̣̱̜̓̃̊ͮe̤̖̰̘̅̓̓̌͋̉͑ ͖̩̱͖̘͚͚͡o̼̞̰̱ͥ̿͜n̘͚̺̖̯͇͆ͬ͒̅ ̪̥̘̠̙̹̄̔ͧo̟͎̜͉̮̞ͤͫ͆u͇̅̉̆̒́r̨̞ͬ̈́̔ ̜̞̗̱̹̦̃͠c̶̬̯̻a̵̒͒šͥ̽͗͡e̵̝̲͚͓̳̘.̮̗̲͑̊ͩ̓̏͛͟ͅ”


The signal was cutting in and out, and Jon found himself unable to understand Steven at all, though managed to hear the two last words. Our case. Before Jon could reply, the signal dropped, as Jon slowed down to a stop, the others noticing and doing the same.

“I can’t get a good enough signal here, but he mentioned the hearing,” Jon explained, looking at his watch, and thinking it over. “What time did we have to turn back to get to the boat before nightfall?”

“About 1pm,” Chris answered. “We should be able to cover the eastern half of the islands today in that time, and then the western side tomorrow.”

Jon considered it. He’d be getting back to the ship about that time if he were to turn back now.

“Normally, I’d say Steven can wait, but this might be something important,” Jon explained. “So I might head back to the boat now and see what he has for me.”

The mood dampened a little, as the group realized there was now a chance they’d see Lugia, and Jon not be there to witness it with them because of the hearing.

“I’ll make it up to you and get a head start on dinner,” Jon explained. “You guys will be back at the boat, and dinner will be waiting for you.”

“Couldn’t Latios just fly you back real quick?” Chris asked. “You’d be gone an hour at most…”

“Steven’s found something, and if it’s something bad that we need to do damage control on, I could be stuck on the phone all afternoon, especially with the s**ty reception here,” Jon explained. “And besides, I’d rather Latios stay with you, that way if there’s an emergency, he can help you. Be it finding someone who gets separated, or come and find me…”

Whilst they didn’t like that Jon would be missing out, they knew his logic was sound.

“If we see Lugia, we’re coming back tomorrow with you, regardless.” Charlotte said, as Jon grinned.

“I’m surprised you’re not thinking of trying to catch it just to show me,” Jon laughed, as Chris grinned, having not considered it. “Don’t do that…”

Chris laughed when he realized the comment was directed at him, before Jon told them to be careful, and turned back himself.

It was a little after noon when Jon saw the houseboat come into sight as he passed the last outcropping of rock that blocked it from view. Checking his phone, he decided to take a chance and call Steven. The phone rang for a few seconds before Steven answered.

“Whirl Islands have terrible reception or something?” Steven asked, after he answered the phone, sounding much clearer than he did before.

“Something like that,” Jon answered. “If I miss a Lugia sighting, I’m blaming you…”

“Surely you’ve seen enough Legendary Pokemon for the novelty to have worn off?”

“I have, but the other’s still get a kick out of it, and wanted me there for it,” Jon explained. “But I figured you wouldn’t call unless you have a good reason. What’s up?”

“Remember when the army began their cleanup of the Space Center, and tried to salvage what they could? About a week after the acquisition order arrived?” Steven asked, not waiting for an answer. “Hill has been a pain in the a**, making sure I can’t get my hands on any information. But I finally made some progress…”

“What did they find?” Jon asked.

“The harddrive of the computer that the researchers were keeping their data on,” Steven explained. “I am certain that all of that data was accessible to Hill from his office in Slateport, and any changes made to files in the Space Center PCs would automatically be reflected in his copies of the files. It’s the twenty-first century, and most of the government’s systems run that way…”

“But naturally, Hill told everyone that those files were only kept on site, so that the researchers who were allegedly researching Deoxys against his orders wouldn’t get caught, whilst he had a digital shredding party…” Jon answered. “So now Hill has access to the information that was on the harddrive without it incriminating him…”

”Exactly,” Steven confirmed. “But now it is on the government server, where it has to be. He has tried to store it somewhere that you wouldn’t expect to find it, but now I know it’s there, it didn’t take long to find the files. I’ve forwarded them to you through our usual channel…”

Their usual communication channel was the system used on the S.S. Wishmaker, where Steven communicated with Jon when they needed somewhere secure. Whilst it was technically a government system, having been created by the League, it hadn’t been used in nearly three years, and Steven was certain Hill wouldn’t have access to it, or even think to look there.

“I’ll check them out soon,” Jon answered, as the ship came closer in view. “Thanks. This could be good…”

”I really hope so…”

Jon hung up, before making his way to the boat. Whilst he could have downloaded the files and read them on his phone, the reception, as bad as it was, was still better on the boat, and he had his tablet there where he could read the files a little easier.

He climbed aboard the boat, as the wind blew hard against it outside, and caused the door to slam behind him as he entered the main area that contained the kitchen and dining area. He grabbed his tablet from the counter where he left it, opening it, and downloading the files, which were thankfully not overly large, and downloaded within twenty or so seconds. He opened the first, which was a general file about the meteorite.

The first section of text was the history of the item, which Jon largely knew. It was found after the meteor was struck down by Dylan and Justin’s Metagross and Regieleki, and Latios used its telepathic empathy to determine it was most likely a Pokemon, before it was handed over to the Space Center by Steven Stone for research. The next section however made Jon sick.

The report detailed that first they attempted to break it, by both sharp and blunt trauma, however they couldn’t pierce the meteorite. After that, they attempted to see if there was any sort of response by heating it. Their equipment detected a telepathic response from the meteorite in response, and from there, they put it through various forms of stress. After that was putting electricity through it, freezing it, even attempting to boil it. And whenever there was a response, something telepathic detected, they’d increase what they were doing to trigger another response.

“They were torturing it, and when it cried out, they tortured it more…” Jon muttered, feeling sick, as he remembered Charlotte’s nightmares, realizing Deoxys must have reached out to her because she was the one who found it, and tried to keep it safe… “No wonder it was so angry…”

The next section was largely information Jon didn’t understand about the DNA, and how it was different to anything they had seen before, with the recommended next step to expose it to radiation, in order to damage the DNA, and see if that triggers a protective response from the Pokemon. That was the last recorded bit of data.

Jon locked the tablet, putting it down as he thought over what he read. There were other files Steven had sent through, but that one on its own was enough for the time being.

Feeling thirsty, Jon made his way to the fridge to get a bottle of water. He grabbed the bottle, not thinking much of it, before closing the door, however realizing something a second later. He opened the door, and looked at the two shelves that contained the beer Jon had brought.

Jon had bought two cases, figuring between the four of them who were having beer over two nights, they would get through one of the cases at least, and Jon could take the rest home. The evening before, Jon had three, Dylan had two, Justin had one which he gave to Latios, and Latios had one of his own early in the evening and one later. Eight beers between the four of them. One case remained unopened on the bottom shelf, and the one that was opened the night before was on the shelf above. One six pack was gone, the carton being binned when it was emptied, and two full ones remained. One however was exactly half full, with three cans in it. Which meant nine cans had been consumed…

Jon quickly began trying to figure out if Dylan or Justin grabbed another that he didn’t see, before he considered whether Latios took an extra one. However Latios had been in his Pokeball after he had his second, third when counting Justin’s can, and hadn’t been let out until they were on the path that morning. And Jon remembered getting his water bottle from the fridge that morning, and seeing four cans in the partially emptied six pack…

Jon heard a sound from one of the bunk rooms, and went to grab a Pokeball from his belt, before feeling a crack of pain across the back of his head as something hard was slammed into it, and his vision flashed white, taking a few seconds to readjust.

“Don’t move, or I’ll blow your f**king head off…”

Jon raised his hands in the air, showing he was unarmed, before slowly turning around to find himself looking down the barrel of a sawn off shotgun...

Chapter 4
“What the hell do you want?” Jon asked, as he was walked down the pier, feeling the end of the shortened shotgun jabbing into his back.


“Shut up!” the man said, before stopping, and getting Jon to do the same. As they did, Jon watched as two other men left the houseboat, both having most likely been hiding in the bunk rooms when the door slamming behind Jon tipped them off he was there. One carried a bolt action rifle.

All three men were dressed in fairly casual clothing, albeit dirty and worn, with varying degrees of buzzed hair, each looking like they did each other's.

As the two men arrived, the man with the shotgun ordered Jon to hand over his Pokemon to the unarmed man, who carried a backpack with him. Jon began unclipping his Pokeballs, begrudgingly placing them in the bag. Whilst the man with the shotgun could potentially be overpowered on his own, with the right distraction, the fact his friend had a rifle made Jon’s chances of surviving any sort of fight far too slim.

“The belt too,” Shotgun ordered, waving the gun down towards Jon’s waist.

“My pants won’t stay up without it,” Jon retorted. “You really wanna walk wherever we are going with a great view of my a**?”

“I said the belt!”

“We don’t have time for this,” Rifle said to Shotgun angrily. “We shouldn’t even be taking hostages. Too many loose ends…”

“There’s too many places to hide on this damn island,” Shotgun retorted. “And if Latios gets close enough to this a**hole, it will be tipped off, so we can’t just wait on their boat…”

“You think the captain will get him to talk?” Backpack asked.

“If he can, we can still ambush the others…” Shotgun answered.

Jon remained silent, knowing that if he spoke, they might realize he is hearing too much and stop giving away all this information. For the time being he knew that these guys were after the others, though he wasn’t sure if they knew who the others were, and that they thought he could help them find and ambush the others, so they weren’t going to kill him yet. They also weren’t going to take him off the island, though there was the slight chance that they could send his Pokemon off the island. However, he also knew that these guys knew exactly who he was, and had a very good idea of Latios’ capabilities.

Jon was walked towards the west, where the path was much more difficult, getting very close to the water to round a rocky outcrop. However, as they got to the tip of the outcrop, Jon had one question answered for him. How these guys got to the Whirl Islands, and where they were taking him.

Practically invisible to the pier, blocked from sight by the rocky outcrops on the western edge of the island, was a natural cove, and inside it, was a ship. It was larger than the boat Jon and the others had arrived on, looked to be more of a workboat, with a relatively small hull, but a large and elaborate cabin area with two levels.

“Nice place,” Jon said, though all three men remained silent, as they walked him towards a rocky ledge that contained the board to cross onto the ship. He was led across the deck by Rifle, with Shotgun still poking his namesake into Jon’s back, towards the building in the center. As they entered, Jon noticed the room was a large communal area, with a kitchen, tables and a small lounge in one corner. There were doorways off to other rooms, which Jon guessed were bathrooms and sleeping quarters. At the table was a smaller man, who wasn’t as well built as the three holding him hostage, who sat behind a laptop. His hair was shoulder length, and pulled into a bun. His eyes widened when he noticed Jon.

“What’s he doing here?!” Man-Bun asked. “If he has seen the ship, he’s going to have to be dealt with…”

“He came back to their boat alone,” Shotgun explained. “One of these idiots tripped and gave us away, so he knew we were there…”

“Still, you couldn’t interrogate him on the ship?” Man-Bun asked. “At least then we don’t have to kill him, and have the attention of being the ones who killed Jon Drake…”

“Your computer says that Latios was able to communicate with him from opposite sides of the S.S. Wishmaker, right?” Shotgun asked Man-Bun, leaving Jon shocked. These people had the report from the S.S. Wishmaker incident…

“Yes…”

“Does it say how far Latios can communicate with him from?”

“No, I don’t know…” Man-Bun admitted.

“For all we know, Laitos has already made contact with him, and is preparing the others for a fight…” Shotgun answered. “We have the home field advantage here if we do wind up in a fight…”

Man-Bun went silent as they continued escorting Jon towards a doorway at the back of the room. The door was opened, as Jon was escorted into what looked like a storeroom by Backpack and Shotgun, whilst Rifle came in a few moments later with a chair and some plastic cable ties.

“Sit…” Shotgun said, gesturing at the chair. Jon sat, placing his arms on the armrests, as Rifle began securing them with the cable-ties. As he did, Jon tensed his wrists, holding them tense until Rifle had secured both his hands, as he had been taught during the training for his first League operation with Steven, years ago. The room was dimly lit, and when the attention was off his wrists, Jon relaxed, feeling the cable-ties loosen slightly. Thankfully they left his legs unsecured, though he wasn’t going to give that advantage away by trying to kick them.

“Get the captain,” Shotgun said to Backpack, who left the room. There was an awkward silence as Rifle and Shotgun waited for Backpack to return, whilst Jon tried to make a point of subtly taking in what he could of the room around him. In the corner was a CCTV camera, watching him closely, and Jon noticed a light flicker on for a few minutes, which seemed to indicate it was active. Perhaps Man-Bun was wanting to see what was going on?

In the opposite corner of the room was a trough, like that which belonged in a laundry or even a garage, with a cupboard underneath it. However, in the trough was a black tub, and from it, Jon recognized the glint of something glossy black, and spherical.

Before Jon could take in anymore, he noticed the light on the camera had flickered off, before the door to the room opened, and they were joined by Man-Bun and another man who seemed to have them all on edge. The Captain.

“Jon Drake…” The Captain said, with a smug grin. “The last thing I was expecting to hear when we were resupplying in Goldenrod was that you had made the trip from Hoenn. Then when your friend with Regieleki also came through Goldenrod Airport, we thought it was our lucky day…”

Something wasn’t right for Jon. First these guys knew information from the S.S. Wishmaker Mission Report, and now they knew when Jon and Justin had entered Goldenrod?

“We thought for sure we’d need to work hard to find the pair of you, only to see you boarding that little boat of yours from the docks with all your little friends…” The Captain continued. “We were truly blessed, and couldn’t let such an opportunity pass. Do you know who we are?”

“Poachers?” Jon asked, nodding towards the tub full of unregistered Pokeballs in the trough. “No other profession could make use of so many illegal Pokeballs.”

“He’s a smart one!” The Captain said emphatically to Shotgun, who remained silent, whilst Jon quickly tried to process the information. They were poachers, and whilst Jon’s Pokemon that they had already taken were common, they were also championship trained, and would be too much hassle to be the main target. The amount of risk they presented, considering how little money they would actually sell for, made them not worth the effort. Latios on the other hand, as well as Regieleki and Victini, whilst all risky, would also fetch high prices.

“Hopefully he is smart enough to answer our questions…” The Captain continued, before addressing Jon directly. “Justin Collins and Abbee Strauss. Where are they? Latios too for that matter...”

This confirmed Jon’s suspicion. They were after the Legendary Pokemon.

Jon remained silent, staring at the Captain, who grinned, before punching Jon across the face. Jon grunted, as his face stung, and he accidentally bit his tongue, causing it to bleed. He spat the blood out of his mouth onto the ground.

“My two year old daughter hits harder than that…” Jon sneered, before taking another blow, this time to the other side of the face. Preparing for it, he clenched his teeth, so he didn’t accidentally bite his tongue, though this time, the shock rattled his entire skull.

“Keep thinking about her,” The Captain said. “The thought of seeing her again might get you thinking a little clearer…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was 1pm before the interns had reached the northernmost part of the Islands, having stopped by a few shallow caves to look around. They had gone along the eastern side, following the trail that was already there, and whilst they could theoretically return to the houseboat going around the western edge, they didn’t know the terrain at all, and didn’t want to potentially be fumbling around the rocky outcrops west of the boat in the dark. Needing to turn back to not be getting back to the boat too late, they began their return journey, thankful that the sun would eventually be obscured by the western side of the islands, and the rocky structures that they housed.

“What were we having for dinner tonight again?” Justin asked, about an hour after turning back.

“I made a lasagne the other day, and froze it,” Abbee answered. “Jon’s just gotta heat it up in the oven, so it should be easy…”

“Does the houseboat have a gas or electric oven?” Dylan asked Chris.

“I’m not sure…” Chris asked. “Why?”

“We weren’t expecting anyone to be on the boat between eight and six, so almost no electricity is being used,” Dylan explained. “But Jon would have gotten there at around 1, and has probably been using power. And if the oven’s electric…”

“The battery will be dead…” Chris said, realizing why Dylan was asking.

“There’s a generator, isn’t there?” Justin asked. “The guy who showed us around the boat showed us. To charge the battery if it gets low?”

“There is, but it’s not exactly easy to get running…” Chris said, remembering the slightly long winded process on the older boat.

“Good luck getting a call through here…” Charlotte said, with everyone well aware of how bad the phone service was this far from the mainland.

“We don’t need cellular…” Abbee remarked, before nodding towards Latios, who was floating above them, looking around a nearby rocky peak. “Latios could get within range within ten minutes, and tell Jon how to start the generator…”

Realizing it was a stroke of genius, and next to no risk, since they were going down a familiar path, the group had a consensus, before calling out to Latios to join them down on the ground.

“Latios, do you mind passing a message on to Jon?” Chris asked. “He’s probably going to need to run the generator and recharge the battery on the boat, but doesn’t know how to…”

Latios nodded, before Chris felt Latios’ presence in his head, which felt slightly simpler, but less sarcastic than Victini’s that he was used to.

”Focus on exactly how to do it. Picture it…”

Closing his eyes, Chris pictured the moments when he and Justin were being shown how to start the generator by the employee of the rental company, focusing on every little detail. If Latios could show Jon that, he could get the generator running, and prevent them losing power…

”Got it…”

Chris opened his eyes, before Latios left, flying upwards and southward, towards the ship, at a reasonable pace, though nothing compared to the breakneck speeds he flew at during the battle against Deoxys.

It took ten minutes for the houseboat to come into view at the speed Latios was flying at. He let his mind wander towards the houseboat, trying to detect Jon, who should have been in range. However, Latios felt no familiar presence at the boat, only the unfamiliar minds of the Water-type Pokemon swimming in the water beneath it.

Knowing how cautious Jon was, and wanting him to be, Latios turned invisible, before flying silently towards the boat, and looking in the windows. Jon’s phone and tablet both sat on the table in the dining area, however Jon was nowhere to be found. Floating above the houseboat, Latios looked back towards the Whirl Islands themselves. There were only two paths Jon could have taken. To the east, where Latios came from, and would have noticed him, or to the west, which seemed a much harder path.

Cautiously, Latios flew towards the west, rounding the rocky outcrop that blocked their view, and saw what nobody had noticed the evening before. A well hidden cove, containing a large ship. As Latios got within range, he let his mind wander again, detecting the minds of six people, though only one he recognized.

”Jon?” Latios asked as he touched Jon’s mind, ”What’s going on?”

Before Jon could answer, Latios felt a sharp sensation of pain through their telepathic link, as Jon took another blow. Alarmed, Latios concentrated, trying to block out his own senses, and focus purely on Jon’s, a roundabout method allowing him to view what Jon saw, granted nowhere near as easy as Latios could show Jon his own vision.

Jon sat tied to a chair, as a man in front of him rubbed his knuckles, having been the one to punch Jon, though Latios didn’t know how many times. Feeling the rage building up in Latios, Jon focused his thoughts.

”Latios, don’t…” Jon thought. ”Poachers. Five that I’m aware of, two of them at least with guns. Lots of unregistered Pokeballs. After you, Justin and Abbee…”

”Jon…” Latios replied, not wanting to leave his trainer behind.

”I’ll handle myself…” Jon replied, though Latios wasn’t convinced. ”They need to be prepared. Warn them…”

“Not so smart now?” The Captain sneered, as Jon remained silent, focusing on trying to get the message out to Latios. The pain he was in, and the splitting headache from the constant blows made it impossible for Jon to focus on thoughts for Latios whilst also talking like he was. The Captain’s eyes widened, as he realized what was going on. “I think Latios has contacted him! Go out and find it!”

”Warn the others!” Jon thought intently. ”That’s an order!”

Latios went to flee, but in the second before he left, reached out to the mind of The Captain.

”You’re dead…”

“Latios is here!” The Captain shouted to Rifle, who was gathering supplies, including a few unregistered Pokeballs. “Don’t let him get away.”

“He’s invisible you stupid motherf**ker…” Jon said quietly, ignoring the pain in his face. “And he has his orders. He’s long gone…”

The Captain hit Jon hard in the head, and whilst it wasn’t enough to knock him out, Jon fell limp, feigning unconsciousness.

“Good, I was sick of listening to him…” Man-Bun said, sounding a lot more certain of himself than he did earlier, to Jon’s amusement.

“We couldn’t see Latios outside of the ship,” Shotgun interjected as he walked back into the room.

“Latios is invisible, so tracking him will be difficult, but not impossible…” The Captain answered. “Latios will be warning the others, so if we find him we will find them. Did you get a scent sample from the boat?”

“Got one of the girl's beanies…” Rifle replied.

“Take Slurpuff,” The Captain said. “Arcanine and Rapidash too. You should be able to find them…”

“Got it,” Shotgun answered, before he and Rifle left the room.

Whilst Jon wasn’t too familiar with Slurpuff, he could put together what they were doing. Slurpuff must be able to track their scents, if given a sample, with Arcanine and Rapidash both being strong and fast forms of transport for Shotgun and Rifle.

”Do as you're told, all of you…” Jon thought to himself, though intending that thought for Latios and the others. ”Don’t do anything dumb…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It had taken Latios longer to come back than they had expected, however the speed he returned indicated to Dylan something wasn’t right.

“Jon take a while to learn how to use the generator?” Chris teased, before Dylan brushed past him to Latios. “Hey, watch it!”

“What’s going on Latios?” Dylan asked, as the others began to realize something was wrong.

”Poachers…” Latios answered, projecting his telepathy to all in the group. “They have Jon…”

Chris’ eyes widened as he remembered the ship he saw the night before, and thought nothing of.

”They’re after me, and Justin and Abbee, which means they want Regieleki and Victini…” Latios explained, causing Justin to ask a question.

“How did they know to follow us here? That we were even on that boat?” Justin asked. “It seems too convenient that they happened to arrive on the island after we left this morning…”

Before Latios could answer, Chris spoke up.

“They’re docked to the west aren’t they?” Chris asked Latios. “I saw another ship in the distance last night, but didn’t think anything of it…”

”There’s a cove that we can’t see from our boat. It’s blocked by the rocks,” Latios explained. ”They’re docked in there…”

“Is Jon okay?” Abbee asked.

”No… He’s tied up and they were beating him. Trying to get him to tell them where you are…” Latios explained. ”Jon told me to warn you all. To tell you to be prepared…”

“Be prepared for what?” Charlotte asked. “Surely we take them on?”

“No…” Dylan answered, as his hands curled into fist. “That’s the last thing Jon would want us to do right now…”

”Five of them. They have weapons, and unregistered Pokeballs,” Latios explained. ”They would know we’re coming from a mile away, and the three strongest Pokemon we have would all be captured, and you guys shot…”

“Then what the hell do we do?” Chris asked angrily.

“He said be prepared…” Dylan explained. “They’re trying to beat information out of him which means they don’t know where we are, but we don’t know much about them. Jon would want us to find somewhere where we’d have an advantage in a fight, and let them come to us. That way we fight them on our terms…”

“You mean hide until they find us?” Chris asked. “That could take days!”

“That would actually be good!” Justin retorted. “Think about it! We gotta return our boat the day after tomorrow, and have people expecting us home not too long after. If we all went missing, and it was known we were out here, this would be the first place that would be searched…”

“But what if they just cut their losses, and decide to kill Jon and leave?” Charlotte asked. “Eliminate any witnesses…”

“Latios saw their ship, and is more capable of tracking it down later than anyone is…” Dylan answered. “They’re going to assume that Latios has told us everything by now, and they aren’t going to shoot a hostage and leave so many loose ends to catch them out. They either let Jon go, or they get rid of all loose ends. And the fact they have already captured him and beaten him up, means they are going to try and see this through…”

“So they’ll come for us…” Abbee said, realizing Dylan was right.

“So what do we do then?” Chris asked, irritated they were going on the defensive, but knowing that they weren’t in a position yet to launch a full scale assault.

“It took us five hours to get this far on foot, and I don’t think these guys would do the same. They’d come via Pokemon. Be it land or skies. So we gotta get off the trail, and get undercover,” Dylan explained. “Find somewhere that we can fight back when these guys catch up to us, and then wait until we can ambush them…”

“Do you think we can take on five by ourselves?” Abbee asked. “Without Victini, Regieleki and Latios being at risk?”

“They won’t send all five after us. They’d want someone keeping an eye on Jon in case he gets loose. And if we play our cards right, the element of surprise, as well as a home field advantage will be all we need..”

“Where’s our homefield then?” Justin asked.

“The Whirl Islands are a popular spot for trainers to visit, as well as tourists, and there are caves and tunnels everywhere…” Dylan explained. “The Johto government is well aware of this, and the fact that everything here seems untouched, with no fences blocking sections of the island off, or patrols preventing people from coming here means the island itself must be relatively safe. I’d guess that when this place started getting popular, they had any dead ends in the tunnels excavated to the surface, to prevent people getting lost."

"That's a big assumption…" Charlotte commented.

"We will still take measures to not get lost if I'm wrong…" Dylan answered. "But let's check the tunnels and find somewhere safe to wait out for them to reveal themselves, and try and get the upper hand on them…"

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The trail that they had spent the afternoon walking along was well separated from the large caves and tunnels by natural rock formations that made getting from the trail to the caves themselves difficult, though not impossible.

The first few caves they found themselves in were extremely short, with the light from the other end of the tunnel visible from the end they entered via. Afterwards, they managed to find a few longer, more complex cave systems, however the issue they faced was that these systems had five or six entrances which made it hard to cover all entrances and plan accordingly. It was an hour before sunset when Chris noticed something. In one of the darkest caverns, though one of the largest on the island, illuminated by the flickering flame of his Charizard's tail.

"Hey guys," Chris called out. "I think there's a ledge up there…"

The rest of the group caught up to Chris, who climbed onto Charizard's back. Charizard leapt from the ground, carrying Chris up to the ledge ten meters up the cavern wall. Whilst the ledge seemed small, the darkness of the tunnel added to that illusion, covering the small opening into another, hidden tunnel, surprisingly tall considering how near invisible it was. Dylan followed on Flygon, with Latios carrying Abbee and Charlotte. Flygon returned to get Justin.

"I think this could be it…" Dylan said, before they made their way into the darkening tunnel. "Depending on what is on the other end…”

As the group walked through the large tunnel, heading mostly downhill, Chris had a thought, as he considered the size of the tunnel they had been in before, and now this one, high up and out of the way.

“We haven’t seen many tunnels this size, have we?” Chris asked, as he tried to guess how a certain Pokemon would go moving through it.

“Few and far between…” Charlotte replied. “Why?”

“A big Pokemon would need a big tunnel to get to its den…”

Abbee was the first to realize what Chris was implying.

“You think Lugia might use this tunnel?” Abbee asked, looking at the walls she could see under the dim light Charizard produced to look for signs.

“I think this is one of the few that a Lugia could fit into…”

“Let’s hope it’s friendly…” Dylan answered. “Or at least, can be convinced to fight off the poachers…”

“If the poachers see a Lugia, I think they may just add it to their list, and consider it their lucky day…” Justin said solemnly.

It took half an hour for the group to reach the exit of the tunnel, which at a distance, seemed to open up into an extremely large cavern, where echoes of some wild Pokemon could be heard. A rock crushed under Charizard’s foot, causing a crack to resonate through the tunnel, and a small flock of Zubat to fly out of the cavern ahead, passing over them with their high pitched cries. As they reached the entrance to the cavern, the flame from Charizard seemed to do little, so Abbee called out her Ampharos, whose tail began to light up brightly, casting light through the large cavern. To their left was a large pool of water that Dylan presumed would lead out to the surface. However, something else took their attention. Something large and white, with massive wings, a long tail, and a long neck.

“Is that…” Abbee asked.

“Dead…” Dylan answered somberly, identifying the skeleton that lay at the opposite end of the room as the same Pokemon everyone else had. Lugia…

“Lugia’s… Dead?” Chris asked, shocked at the thought. There hadn’t been a Lugia sighting in years, but in the area of Legendary Pokemon, that was hardly uncommon. However this Lugia had died long enough ago that it’s body had completely decomposed, leaving it only as a skeleton.

Dylan walked over towards the skeleton, as Abbee and Ampharos followed, illuminating the skeleton more.

“I wonder what killed it…” Dylan said. “It doesn’t appear to have any broken bones that would prevent it from leaving this place…”

“Why does it matter what killed it?” Chris asked irritably, obviously disturbed by the sight.

“Because if this was killed by something, I’d like to know if it has the chance of reappearing,” Dylan explained, nodding towards the pool of water. “Some of the largest Pokemon known to mankind are sea-dwelling Pokemon…”

Realizing that Dylan made a good point, and he was being harsh, Chris joined Dylan by the skeletal corpse.

“So what do you think killed it?” Chris asked.

“I don’t think it died in a fight. The way the skeleton sits, seems almost like it died in its sleep, and it has no broken bones. If Lugia weren’t rumored to travel along the ocean floor, I’d consider hypothermia, but that seems unlikely…” Dylan answered. “Maybe illness?”

”I have a theory, but it’s not one I want to share unless it is confirmed…” Victini said, surprising everyone with his sombre tone in his telepathic message.

Looking around, and checking her watch under the Ampharos-light, Charlotte spoke up.

“It’s nearly sundown, and honestly, I don’t think we will find somewhere better to hole up for the night…” Charlotte said. “I think we’re safest here. Only one way in, and if we post a sentry, we should be able to see anyone coming, and not be caught off guard.”

“What about the water?” Dylan asked. “The fact it's here means that it leads somewhere outside…”

“What else do we do then?” Charlotte asked.

Hearing this Latios cried out, before encasing itself in a spherical telekinetic bubble.

“What are you doing?” Dylan asked, before Latios flew to the water, and dove in, retaining its bubble. A second later, Dylan felt his vision shift, as he was now seeing from Latios’ perspective, as the Eon Pokemon glided through the water in his air bubble, navigating the large winding tunnel, until eventually, a flicker of light could be seen in the distance. As Latios got closer, Dylan realized he had found the mouth of the tunnel, before exiting it, and gliding upwards to the surface to replenish his air. The scenery around him seemed dull and unexceptional when compared to the rest of it, and as Latios looked down, Dylan realized that the tunnel entrance Latios had left a minute earlier was practically invisible from the surface.

Latios rose up slightly, creating another air bubble, before descending, finding the tunnel and returning.

“The only visitors we are likely to get from the water are the Pokemon that live around here…” Dylan explained. “The tunnel is too long and too hard to spot for the poachers to use it to sneak up on us, even if they knew we were here…”

“So we’re safe staying here then?” Justin asked.

“Safer than anywhere else right now…” Dylan answered, as Latios emerged from the pool of water. “We spend the night here, and if we get to morning without incident, we will try to lure the poachers into the tunnel, and ambush them from the ledge…”

“And what if they find us during the night?” Abbee asked.

“Then we use the tunnel in here as a bottleneck and fight them off there,” Dylan explained. “Metagross, Latios, Alakazam and Victini will make telekinetic barriers to protect us from gunfire, like they did with Deoxys. And then we still have other Pokemon to fight back. We will have the advantage…”

Before anyone could comment, their attention was drawn to the pool of water, where the sound of water splashing pierced the chamber, and the wet thud of a relatively heavy Pokemon landing on the stone ground next to the pool. All of the trainers turned quickly, and found themselves even more shocked at what just emerged from the pool than they were about the Lugia skeleton.

”My theory was right…” Victini said, noticing the newcomer, who looked at them with naive curiosity.

Measuring at roughly six feet from nose to tail, much shorter than the skeleton that inhabited the cavern alongside them, was a small, young looking Lugia…

Chapter 5
The young Lugia stared at them curiously. Abbee cautiously took a step forward, causing Lugia to shuffle back towards the pool of water. Before it could go much further however, Latios glided towards it, stopping a few feet shy, looking at the Pokemon himself. Its curiosity now focused on Latios, Lugia stopped, looking up at Latios, and sniffing the air, before crying out gently.

Latios rose up, and began flying in circles at the top of the room, much slower than the trainers knew it was capable of flying, before Lugia cried out excitedly, and began flapping its own wings, attempting to fly to the height Latios was flying at, and fly alongside the Eon Pokemon.

”Do you know why Legendary Pokemon are so incredibly rare?” Victini asked the group. ”Why there is very rarely more than one of a given species?”


“No?” Chris asked, looking up at the two flying psychic Pokemon who seemed to have bonded already.

”On the odd occasion that a Legendary Pokemon capable of reproducing can find another of its species to breed with, reproduction takes a major toll on the body of both parents. Most of the time the mother dies shortly after producing an egg…” Victini explained. ”Very few legendary Pokemon are born with their mother still living. Most hatch near the skeleton of their parent…”

“S**t…” Charlotte muttered as she realized. The Lugia that had died here, died to create its offspring…


”This isn’t something many people know at all, and is largely kept a secret…” Victini explained. ”As sad as this may be, this is the way the ecosystem has worked for millenia, and well meaning humans would see it as a problem that needs to be fixed. However, too many of the same Legendary Pokemon existing at the same time would mean disaster for the world. We understand this. So we keep this secret…”

“We won’t tell anyone…” Abbee answered on behalf of the group, understanding the level of trust Victini held for them to be able to reveal that truth.

Latios descended, with Lugia following eagerly behind him, landing on the ground a few meters away from the group. Having an idea, Chris spoke up, addressing Dylan.

“Would chocolate be bad for Lugia?”

“Doubt it,” Dylan replied. “At worst, Lugia may become less independent for food.”

Not listening beyond doubt it, Chris opened his bag, and pulled out a bar of chocolate he had been saving as a snack.

“But it seems like that isn’t going to be a big deal with what you’re thinking…” Dylan added, as Abbee chuckled at the implication. She didn’t blame Chris for deep down, wanting to bring the young Lugia with him. The fact was that Lugia was alone until then, living with the skeleton of its mother, and they unknowingly had discovered its home, and were likely luring poachers towards it. Lugia was most likely not safe here anymore…

“We need someone at the end of the tunnel, by the ledge, to keep watch in case anyone enters,” Dylan explained. “Sentries, doing two and a half hour shifts.”

“What do we do if we spot them?” Justin asked.

“Quietly, send your fastest Pokemon back here to warn us. And if you’re spotted, or they find the ledge, get back here as quickly as possible, and we prepare for a fight…” Dylan explained, though trying not to show he was making this all up as he went along. “If we get to dawn, and it seems like they haven’t found us, maybe Latios could make contact with Jon again and try to figure out what’s happening? Chances are they will stay out all night, hoping to catch us off guard, but they have to sleep eventually. That could be our opportunity to fight back with a bit more intel…”

They knew they were in for a rough night. With the exception of individual snacks and water they had brought, there was no dinner packed in any of their bags, with the plan being to eat dinner on the boat. Additionally, nobody expected to spend the night in a cold cave, relying on their backpacks to act as a pillow, and whatever top layer they were wearing to be blankets. They were thankful that between the five of them, they had four Fire Type Pokemon who could also take shifts staying awake and keeping a fire going to keep them warm, and that the tunnel that led them into that cavern was long enough that the fire didn’t give away their position on the other side.

Dylan had volunteered to take first watch, before Charlotte, Abbee, Chris, then Justin. The four trainers that were left after Dylan had gone, sat around the fire, trying to keep warm in the cold cavern. Lugia intentionally kept its distance, watching them, though Latios, and occasionally Victini, kept the young Pokemon company, attempting to learn its story, though struggling as its own telepathic abilities were still significantly undeveloped.

“I wonder if Jon’s okay…” Charlotte said quietly, not knowing how well the noise transferred down the tunnel to where Dylan was keeping watch. “At least as okay as he can be.”

“You mean if he’s still alive?” Chris asked bluntly, as Abbee gave him a gentle nudge to think before he spoke. “Sorry, I shouldn’t say that…”

“He’s alive. They’d be stupid to do anything more…” Justin said. “They want our Pokemon, and they know that we aren’t going to hand them over willingly. It gives them two options. Take them by force, or force us to hand them over. By killing Jon, they’d eliminate one of those options for themselves…”

“I hope so…” Abbee said.

It was nearly 9pm when Charlotte left the campfire to go down the tunnel and relieve Dylan of sentry. At that time, those remaining in the cavern decided that there was little they could do but sleep. Staying awake reminded them of how hungry and uncomfortable they were, and by some miracle, all of them were asleep before Dylan returned, roughly an hour later.

It was almost 1:50am when Chris found himself stirring, due to something causing his bag to move under his head. At first it was subtle, however the movement became more obvious, and caused him to open his eyes. He rolled onto his side to find himself face to face with Lugia.

“F**k!” Chris called out in shock, before realizing everyone else was trying to sleep, and a loud enough shout might create an echo through the tunnel. Lugia darted backwards at the sudden noise, as Chris sat up, looking at the young Legendary Pokemon, and hearing a strange laughter behind him. One he had become all too accustomed to since spending more time with Abbee after she became his girlfriend. Victini…

”I didn’t know what I was hoping for, but that was better…”

Victini had been left by Abbee to keep the fire burning whilst she was on her shift for sentry. Chris’ alarm would have been waking him up in a little under ten minutes anyway, for him to go and relieve her so she could get some sleep.

Chris looked at his bag under the firelight, and saw that the zip had been opened, and some of his belongings were hanging out, as Lugia looked to Chris with a slight hint of guilt.

”He wants chocolate…” Victini explained. Chris tapped his temple so Victini would know to listen there, though knew Victini wouldn’t have waited for the permission.

”He opened the zip on his own?” Chris asked, slightly impressed.

”No, I saw him trying, so used telekinesis to open it for him…”

”And why would you do that?” Chris replied.

”I wanted to see how much it took to wake you up…” Victini responded.

”Why?”

”Reasons…”

Feeling a little bad that Victini was manipulating Lugia to appease his own twisted sense of humor, Chris got the rest of the chocolate bar he had before, and gave it to Lugia. Lugia crept over, gently taking the rest of it, as Chris scratched it’s hide behind the large blue spikes that partially covered its eyes. Checking his phone, Chris realized his alarm was minutes from going off, and remembering how Abbee’s had disturbed him earlier in the evening, quickly turned it off so the others would get some sleep.

Chris stood, as Lugia watched him from where he stood next to Chris’ makeshift bed, and let Charizard out of the Pokeball, very quickly instructing the large Fire Type to let the others rest undisturbed and keep the fire going for them, before making his way towards the tunnel, noticing Lugia watching him, and considering following him for a minute, before deciding against it. Whilst Lugia’s company would have amused Chris, he knew it was for the best, the young Pokemon being too unpredictable, and being an easy target for the poachers.

It took roughly half an hour for Chris to see the outline of Abbee in the light from his phone’s torch. Whilst nobody else should be coming from that direction, he saw Abbee tense up a little, while she sat on the ground, her back resting against the tunnel wall.

“Only me…” Chris said quietly, as he sat next to her, and put his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder as he turned off the light, not wanting to give away their position if someone entered the perpendicular tunnel beneath them.

“It feels like we can’t catch a break, doesn’t it…” Abbee said quietly. “Our first summer, Dad died, and Dylan had things get worse with his stepdad. Last summer Justin got his nose broken, there was the incident with Deoxys, and then the acquisition order. Now this…”

“It’d make for a pretty boring story if everything went according to plan…” Chris remarked quietly, though Abbee knew he was only joking. “But you’re right. It’s never easy…”

“Do you think Jon’s alright?” Abbee asked. “Really. Don’t sugarcoat it…”

“I don’t know…” Chris answered. “I think he’s in a pretty s**ty position, and most people would check out at that point. But I know that he wouldn’t give in. Not with us out here, and Alyssa and Amelia back home…”

“Oh God…” Abbee said quietly, not having thought of Jon’s family back home, before going silent. “What if something happens to him? What if Amelia ends up losing her dad...”

“Go get some sleep…” Chris said quietly. Abbee had been up since seven the morning before, and had managed to get a little over two hours sleep before her half hour walk, and two and a half hour sentry shift, before another half hour walk back. The lack of sleep was getting to her. “We’ll do what we need to tomorrow…”

Abbee kissed him on the cheek, before cautiously standing, and turning on the light on her phone to guide her back to the tunnel.

“If anything happens, be careful…”

“Will do…” Chris replied, as Abbee made her way into the dark tunnel, leaving Chris sitting by the ledge in total darkness.

Chris’ shift was from 2:30 to 5am, with Justin expected to wake at 4:30 and relieve Chris when he arrived half an hour later. Feeling fatigued, both from the hard day of travel the day before, and the lack of good food and sleep, it was a struggle to stay awake. He considered using his phone, finding some game, but he then was likely to risk draining the battery, and whilst he wasn’t certain that nobody had packed a battery pack for the day, he wasn’t going to risk walking back to the site, or potentially running, if the ledge was spotted, in the pitch black with no light.

It was sheer willpower that kept him awake. The thought of what would happen to Abbee, and his friends, if he slept on shift. And it wasn’t until a little after 4:30 when Chris thought he saw something. A faint glow in the distance in the tunnel below, and faint voices. He quickly shuffled to his feet, as silently as he could, before turning into the tunnel towards their campsite, hiding behind the wall out of sight, and trying to remain silent. As he poked his head slowly around the corner, he saw a dim glow of a few odd bunches of flame. As it got closer however, it became apparent. A Rapidash, with someone on it’s back, and next to it, unidentifiable in the glow, was a bulkier Pokemon that stood slightly taller.

“I thought Slurpuff had the best sense of smell?” said one voice.

“It does. Better than any other Pokemon…” replied another.

“Then why the hell is it nearly 5am and we still haven’t caught up to them?” asked the first.

“Mostly the salt air,” replied the second. “Whatever scent is on this chick’s beanie, will probably not be the same as what she currently smells like. The salt air will change her scent, as well as blow any traces of it off the trail. That’s why it’s taking so damn long. Because the scent is changing and hard to follow here…”

“So now that we’ve been out of the open for a while, with no salt air?”

“Then finding her should be a lot easier…”

It took Chris a moment to realize what was going on. They were being tracked by scent. Whilst he was supposed to send his fastest Pokemon, his Ninetales, to go warn the others, the light of the Pokeball could give him away, and he knew that chances are, if they actually had a Slurpuff sniffing them out, they would find them anyway.

Chris turned back the way he had come, and slowly crept towards the campsite. Once he had covered enough distance, he quickly flicked on his light, and began the risky sprint back towards the campsite. After running for about fifteen minutes, he saw the outline in the darkness ahead of him of someone walking towards him. Justin, coming to relieve him. Justin stopped, seeing the light getting closer.

“What’s going on?” Justin asked, as Chris shushed him.

“They have a Slurpuff, sniffing us out…” Chris whispered. “We need to get back and wake up the others…”

Realizing just how close they were probably being followed, Justin turned, following Chris as the pair ran back to the campsite where Chris’ Charizard sat by the fire, being watched intently by Lugia, who had never seen a Charizard before.

Chris quickly ran to Abbee to wake her up, as Justin woke Dylan, and then Charlotte.

“What’s going on?” Charlotte asked groggily, as Chris shushed her and put out the fire.

“They’re tracking our scents,” Chris hissed, returning Charizard to the Pokeball, knowing that Charizard’s tail would give off too much light and give them away. “They have a Slurpuff sniffing us, and at least a Rapidash and some else that is big. And if they can get up here, probably some sort of flying Pokemon.”

Realizing they had a fight on their hands, Abbee put Victini, much to his dismay, into his Pokeball to prevent him being captured.

“Psychic types, now…” Dylan said quietly, as he called out Metagross, whilst Justin sent out Alakazam. The five trainers stood behind the two psychic types as well as Latios, whilst Abbee sent out Ampharos, who kept the light on its tail off, as well as Ariados, whilst Justin sent out Greninja. Charlotte sent out her Roserade, whilst Chris sent out Ninetales.

“Latios will let us know when they’re in range…” Dylan whispered. “When they are, Alakazam and Ampharos need to use Flash to blind them. That’s the signal to give them hell…”

The group remained silent, whilst Chris hoped that Lugia would understand the need for silence, and not give them away, unaware that Latios had already, as well as he could, told Lugia to be quiet.

In the silence, they could hear footsteps, most obviously Rapidash, though the soft padded footsteps of whatever Pokemon was walking alongside it. However due to the tunnel's echo-chamber effect, they weren’t sure if they were close enough yet.

”Wait for it…” Latios said to the group, detecting their minds, and roughly speaking where they were.

A few more minutes passed, until they heard Latios’ voice again.

”Now!”

Ampharos and Alakazam both used a Flash attack, causing the entire tunnel to be filled for a moment with a flash of bright light, revealing the two men, riding a Rapidash, and an Arcanine with a Slurpuff sitting on the Arcanine’s head.

“F**k!” one of them shouted as he covered his eyes. “We’re under attack!”

“Grassy Terrain!” Charlotte called out, as Roserade launched a barrage of seeds, which upon contact with the ground beneath their foes, exploded into lush, spectral grass, providing a dim green glow, making their opponents a little more visible. However, Charlotte had trained Roserade to use Grassy Terrain with a little more kick to it…

Thick thorny vines erupted from the grass, entangling themselves around Arcanine and Rapidash. Arcanine encased itself in flames, breaking free and escaping the glowing patch of grass, though Rapidash wasn’t as quick to react.

“Confuse Ray!” Chris called out. Ninetales cried out as a grey orb of ghostly energy shot from its jaws, launching towards Rapidash.

“Water Shuriken!” Justin commanded Greninja, who obeyed, launch three liquid throwing stars, which struck Arcanine, causing the Fire Type to recoil.

“You’re outnumbered and outclassed!” Chris called out. “Give up, a**holes!”

The response was a gunshot, however the projectile launched was blocked by Metagross and Alakazam’s barrier. Latios darted forward, though invisible and undetectable to the two fire-types and their trainers, ripping the gun from the grip of the trainer who held it, before folding the barrel of the rifle with his telekinesis, making it useless as it flew past.

By the time Latios realized he hadn’t accounted for the third Pokemon present, it was too late. Detecting Latios’ scent, Slurpuff launched a Dazzling Gleam attack, taking Latios by surprise when it made contact. Whilst a single attack from a Pokemon untrained for battle was hardly a threat to Latios, he was weak to the Fairy Type attack, and it had taken him by surprise.

“Latios!” one of the men called out, as the other pulled an unregistered Pokeball from his pocket, throwing it at Latios, which the Eon Pokemon caught with telekinesis, before ripping it apart, much to the anger of the poacher who had thrown it. This distraction however gave Slurpuff time to act. The Pokemon used Cotton Spore, slowing down Latios, before Arcanine turned to attack. At the same time, the poacher readied another unregistered Pokeball.

With the enemy between Latios and the others, there was little they could do to assist the Pokemon. They tried to charge forward, however the other poacher, who remained focused on them, instead called out another Pokemon, a Corviknight, which alongside Rapidash who had shaken off it’s confusion and entangling vines, acted as a barrier.

Chris grabbed Charizard and Dragonite’s Pokeball, ready to have one keep Corviknight busy, whilst the other assisted Latios. Charizard was sent out, and following orders, ruthlessly attacking Corviknight with its fiery breath, however before Chris could send out Dragonite, he noticed a silver blur fly overhead, dodging Corviknight and Charizard, attempting to help Latios.

“No, get back!” Chris called out, knowing it was fruitless, as Lugia dived towards Arcanine, hitting it with a Psychic attack, as Latios deflected another Pokeball, whilst taking another Fairy Type attack from Slurpuff.

Latios watched in horror as the poacher realized what the silver Pokemon was, and began setting up an aim for Lugia with another Pokeball.

Latios focused on Slurpuff, attacking the Pokemon with a Luster Purge attack, hoping to act quick enough to block the Pokeball aimed at Lugia. However the Cotton Spore had taken effect, and whilst Latios managed to knock out Slurpuff, it wasn’t fast enough to prevent Arcanine, being much more experienced in battle, from pouncing on Lugia as it dove towards it, trapping it, and allowing the Pokeball to hit it.

“Motherf**ker!” Chris shouted, seeing Lugia disappear in front of his eyes. Dylan found himself enraged by what had happened as much as Chris did, though didn’t let this blind him.

“Get Latios out of there!” Dylan said to Justin, who nodded, before turning to Alakazam.

“Teleport!”

In a moment, Alakazam teleported to Latios’ side, grabbing the Eon Pokemon’s paw, before teleporting the pair back behind Metagross’ telekinetic barrier.

“Now!” Dylan called out to Metagross. “Steel Beam!”

Metagross cried out as a silvery orb appeared in front of it, before blasting forward into a beam of steely light. Whilst the attack dealt little damage, it was enough of a distraction.

“Lugia is safe in the Pokeball!” Dylan called out, confusing the others at first. “It won’t be hurt by anything you do!”

Realizing what Dylan was wanting, Abbee was the first to act.

“Zap Cannon, Ampharos!”

“Leaf Storm!” Charlotte commanded.

“Hydro Pump!” Justin called out to Greninja.

“Blizzard, Nintales!” Chris added.

“We gotta get out of here!” the poacher shouted. “Cut our losses!”

“Arcanine!” the other shouted. “Bulldoze!”

Arcanine cried out, before stomping on the ground underneath it, causing jagged pieces of earth to erupt from the ground between the two opposing forces. Content they couldn’t be easily followed, both trainers mounted their Pokemon, which took off back the way they came.

Latios roared in anger, a sound the interns were shocked to hear, before attempting to give chase, able to fly over the obstruction with ease.

“Don’t!” Dylan yelled, grabbing Latios’ arm. “You’re still slowed down, and they outnumber you!”

Latios growled, however didn’t use his telepathy, which surprised Dylan a little. However, as annoyed as it made him, Latios obliged, stopping, as Metagross began smashing down the obstacles in their path.

“We will get Lugia back,” Dylan said to the equally angry Chris and Latios. “But I think we need to go on the offensive…”

“What happened to waiting for them to find us and ambushing them?” Justin asked.

“We didn’t know what we were up against. We just had Jon’s warning to be prepared. We knew they were after three Legendary Pokemon, all of which are with us, and figured they’d send in their best,” Dylan explained. “Well, I saw some thirteen year olds last summer who could beat these guys. We know what we’re dealing with, and no matter where we hide, that Slurpuff will find us. Let’s take the fight to them…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

As the hours passed with Jon tied to his chair in the storeroom of the poacher's ship, he was partially thankful for something Steven had inadvertently taught him. When Steven was detained during the Rayquaza incident, he didn’t act out, or pick fights. He didn’t yell and scream, even though that’s what he wanted to do. Because he knew that if they thought there was no point keeping a close eye on him, they would become slack, and make escape that much easier.

It was 5am, give or take. Jon had been tied up since about 2pm the day before, taking a beating from The Captain, and feigning being knocked out for a few hours to buy himself some relief, but also lull them into a false sense of security. It was 5pm when Jon came to and the last twelve hours were spent waiting, trying not to focus on the fact that he had gone at this point fifteen hours without using a bathroom. Granted, he had shortly before he was captured, and having not been given anything to eat or drink in that time, not even moving from his sitting position, he was coping far better than he should have been. Granted, he knew he couldn’t leave it much longer…

Shotgun and Rifle had left the afternoon before, and Jon hadn’t heard them return. Whilst the ship went near silent at about 1am, Jon did hear more people leaving the ship at roughly 3, he figured to potentially meet with Shotgun and Rifle, to relieve them of their search and let them sleep. Whilst Jon had kept an eye on the light on the camera, it had been off since about 1am, and he figured this would be the best chance, having waited for the right opportunity.

He wriggled his abdomen, slowly, as to not make heaps of noise, before contorting his arm so he could get his hands within reach of his belt. Once he got a grip, he began pulling on it, attempting to rotate it around his waist, like he had been taught during the first League Operation Training, and get to the buckle with his tied hand, struggling to pull it through the belt loops on his pants. When the buckle was finally in reach, he undid it, careful not to drop the belt, before looping it through the space between the cable tie binding his right hand to the arm rest, and leaning forward, holding part of the belt in his mouth, buckling it up. He slowly shuffled the belt so that it was under the arm rest, before lifting his right foot, and lining it up with the belt. Preparing for a moment of pain, Jon slammed his foot down, into the looped belt that hung from the cable tie, pulling down the cable tie with enough force to snap it.

There was a small amount of noise made in the attempt, which Jon accounted for by kicking the belt under his seat, and sitting as if he were still fully bound, keeping an eye on the light of the security camera, and listening for footsteps in the next room over. When he was content nobody had heard him he repeated the process with his left hand, now much easier with his freed right hand. Within minutes, Jon was standing, stretching his legs, and resisting the greater urge to find a bathroom, for the time being.

Jon quickly looked around the storeroom, taking note of what he had available to him. Whilst there weren’t any weapons in the storeroom, like he would have hoped, he did find in the cupboard under the trough containing the unregistered Pokeballs, a large bottle of bleach. Remembering that Rifle and Shotgun had stocked up from that tub before going out, Jon was certain enough they were empty, though opened one to make sure there weren’t Pokemon inside, hoping for the sake of the noise they would make that they were indeed empty. Upon confirming this, he quickly began emptying the bottle of bleach into the tub.

He continued his search around the room, hoping to find matches, or a weapon, but instead found a packet of cable ties, the same used to bind him. He pocketed them, before quietly opening the door and creeping out of the storeroom.

The large main room was empty, and Jon made his way towards the doors into the other rooms that he had noticed earlier. Placing his ear against each one, he listened, trying to figure out if any of them were occupied. He could hear breathing from one room, but figured that chances are, if there were weapons, they would be kept nearby whoever was responsible for them. Slowly he opened the door.

There was a dim safety light, illuminating a room with a series of bunks, more than Jon was aware there were even crew members. However only one bed was occupied, with a man that Jon immediately recognized as Man-Bun.

As Jon walked towards Man-Bun’s bed, he passed another, and noticed something at the foot of it. A familiar backpack. The one he last saw his Pokeballs being placed in. Every so quietly, he opened the backpack, reaching in, and hoping to find them…

“Motherf**ker…” Jon whispered quietly to himself when he didn’t feel the familiar and comfortable shape. Instead, he felt something else. Something small, and cold. Pulling it out, he realized it was a spring-loaded flick knife, as Jon groaned, wishing he had a better alternative for a weapon. There was one more thing in the bag though that caught his attention. A cigarette lighter.

Taking the bag that contained both items, and adding his cable ties to the contents, Jon made his way towards Man-Bun, and saw hanging on the bedpost exactly what he was after. A belt holding a holster, inside of which, was a pistol. Jon discreetly unhooked it, before standing tall, and pointing the gun at Man-Bun, pulling back the slide. The sound was enough to cause Man-Bun to stir, which Jon helped along.

“Wakey Wakey…” Jon said quietly, as Man-Bun’s eyes started to open. “Tell me where to find my Pokemon, a**hole…”

Man-Bun, realizing the situation he was in, scrambled backwards, however Jon kept the gun trained on him.

“I’m not telling you s**t!” Man-Bun yelled, though his voice seemed to lack the conviction he intended in the statement.

“So I have no reason not to take out my recently f**ked up face on you?” Jon asked, before flicking off the safety. “I won’t waste my time taking a prisoner then…”

“Wait!” Man-Bun shouted, realizing that Jon had called his bluff. “I haven’t got them! The Captain wanted to hold them himself! And he’s looking for your friends!”

If true, this meant Jon was well and truly able to torch the ship with little to no consequences. However, that could be a convenient lie to buy time…

“There are security cameras on the ship,” Jon stated. “Show me the footage of your friend giving the Captain my Pokemon, and leaving the ship!”

“Why would I lie to you?” Man-Bun asked desperately.

“Because you want to live, and for some reason, you aren’t fully aware that telling me the truth and doing what I tell you is your best bet…”

Man-Bun stood slowly, before leading Jon out of the bunkroom to the table he sat at in the main room where Jon saw him for the first time the afternoon before. There sat a laptop.

“No funny business,” Jon said. “Calling for help or anything. I’m not in the mood.”

As Man-Bun navigated the laptop, Jon noticed a shortcut in the corner.

Pokemon League Trainer Database.

Man-Bun opened the archived footage, which showed Jon being taken onto the ship and into the storeroom, and Backpack emerging from the storeroom, greeting The Captain who had just emerged from his quarters. Backpack handed the Pokeballs to the Captain who clipped them to his own belt, wanting to keep them in sight the entire time. Man-Bun skipped the footage forward, showing The Captain leaving the ship with Backpack, both armed, at around 3am, Pokeballs still clipped.

Content, Jon grabbed three cable ties, handing two to Man-Bun.

“One around one wrist, the other through and around the other wrist,” Jon ordered. “Do as much as you can by yourself and I’ll tighten it up for you…”

Man-Bun hesitated, before Jon slipped the safety on, and smacked him across the head with the pistol. Not hard enough to injure him or knock him out, but hard enough to sting.

“Now!” Jon said. “Before I realize taking a prisoner is more trouble than it’s worth…”

Man-Bun obliged, with Jon tightening the second cable tie, before leading him to a leg of the table, and using the third to cable tie his wrists to the leg, which was bolted to the floor to prevent it from moving during rough seas. He then grabbed the laptop, closing it and placing it in his liberated backpack.

Jon left Man-Bun to figure out what was going on, before finding a bathroom before he exploded, and then making his way back to the storeroom. He grabbed the lighter, spinning the flint to ignite it, and threw it into the tub containing the bleach-soaked unregistered Pokeballs. Quickly, he left the room, making his way back into the main room, and running to the kitchenette, turning on the gas from all the hotplates on the stove.

“What the hell are you doing?” Man-Bun yelled, as Jon made his way to him, cutting the cable tie that held his bound hands to the table leg.

“If you want to survive the blast, I suggest you shut the f**k up and get moving before I decide to leave you behind…”

Jon grabbed Man-Bun by the arm, lifting him to his feet before shoving him towards the door. Whilst they had some time, Jon wasn’t sure how long it would take the fire to spread from the store-room into the main room, and didn’t want to be close to the ship when he found out.

When they were off the boat, Jon led Man-Bun towards one of the rocky outcrops, and found a large, thin section of rock, almost reminiscent of a stalagmite.

Loop your arms around it, like you’re hugging it,” Jon explained. “Now sit, and wrap your legs around it.”

Man-Bun at this point had given up on any resistance, and Jon easily cable tied his ankles together, before cable tying them to his bound wrists.

“Be good, and I might make sure someone comes to get you…” Jon said to the poacher.

“F**k off…” Man-Bun muttered as Jon made his way towards the rocky outcrop that hid this cove from his own boat. Whilst phone signal on the island was terrible, his phone and tablet were on the boat, and the signal was adequate enough to possibly send a distress call from there.

Jon rounded the outcrop, before his attention was pulled by the sound of an explosion in the cove behind him. He turned around to see that the ship that had held him prisoner the last day and a half was now a flaming wreck.

“That’s what you get, a**holes…” Jon muttered, as he rounded the corner, not even looking ahead, until he heard the unmistakable harsh click of a shotgun being cocked.

“Drop the gun Jon…” The Captain said, as he pointed the sawn off shotgun directly at Jon…

Chapter 6
The sun had started to rise in the east by the time the interns left the cave.

“So what’s the plan?” Charlotte asked Dylan. He had been thinking this over as they travelled through the dark tunnels.

“Firstly, we find their ship, and we sabotage it so that they can’t leave. Then we do the same to ours, though something that we can undo later. Steal the ignition leads or something,” Dylan answered. “As far as we know, we outnumber them, and outclass them with Pokemon. The only advantage they have are guns, but we can defend against them…”

“What if they spot us from behind?” Justin asked. “I don’t particularly want a bullet in my back. Or worse…”

“Latios will be invisible and scouting from above,” Dylan answered. “That way not even Slurpuff stands a chance of locating him, and we can’t be surprised.”

Nodding in agreement, Latios disappeared into thin air, before ascending above them, able to see them, and the area around them as well as…

“Then we focus on busting Jon out, and taking these guys down one by one…” Dylan concluded. “They had the element of surprise, and now that’s gone, we have the upper hand.”

”I think Jon may have taken care of himself…” said Latios voice in the minds of the five trainers, before their vision flickered, being replaced by Latios’ own sight. In the distance, they could see the cove that Latios had described, however instead of the ship they had been made aware of, there was a burning wreck, slowly falling apart into the water.

“S**t…” Abbee said. “I hope Jon was clear of it when it went up…”

“And I hope they weren’t…” Chris muttered, surprising everyone a little with how bloodthirsty he was.

“This changes things…” Dylan said, sounding a little less sure.

“This changes nothing,” Charlotte corrected. “You said step one was to sabotage their ship so they can’t leave, short of flying to the mainland on whatever flying Pokemon they have. That is done. Step two was to temporarily disable our own boat so they can’t steal it and leave us stranded. And step three was to find Jon?”

“Without Latios, Jon stands a snowball’s chance in hell of finding us on the island, and he knows that,” Justin added. “And he also knows that with their ship destroyed, our own boat is the best way off the island. So he’d go there…”

“And so would whoever wasn’t on the ship…” Dylan realized. “Okay then, we head to the ship…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“I’m going to enjoy pulling the trigger,” The Captain sneered as he directed Jon back towards the houseboat, where Jon could see Backpack waiting for them onboard. “The only reason I haven’t for that little stunt is the fact you are still useful to me…”

“Do you seriously think holding me hostage will get you what you want?” Jon asked, almost laughing. “You seriously haven’t got a clue what they’re capable of, if you seriously think a p**sant with a gun is enough to scare them into complying…”

The Captain remained silent, not wanting to give Jon the satisfaction of a reaction. However Jon continued to talk, wanting to rattle him.

“I mean it’s obvious you underestimated them, sending only two guys to deal with five of them, and leaving two here in case they returned. These guys fought of Deoxys for f**k’s sake, and you think sending in a dynamic duo was a good idea?” Jon asked. “I mean, you underestimated me, and now your ship f**ked, and you’re short a man…”

“Was he on the ship?” The Captain asked, not knowing what had happened to Man-Bun and not wanting Jon to have the upper hand in anything over him, even knowledge.

“No, he’s retrained somewhere where he won’t be a pain,” Jon said casually, as the pair boarded the ship. “But still, there are four of you, and five of them. Six when you include me, though they really don’t need me to screw you guys over…”

“Will you just shut the f**k up already?!” The Captain yelled, before his attention was taken by Backpack calling out.

“I’ve got eyes on Cooper and Lewis!” Backpack called out, Jon realizing that Cooper and Lewis were Shotgun and Rifle, or vice-versa. “They’re coming from the west, and moving quickly…”

“Probably admiring your handiwork…” The Captain muttered, placing the shortened shotgun on the small dining table, and using the pistol instead to keep Jon in check, as Backpack descended from the deck above them, converging in the main room as Shotgun and Rifle arrived.

“Did you get them?” The Captain asked irritably, “Latios, Victini and Regieleki?”

“No sir, we didn’t, but-”

“Then why the f**k are you back here?!” The Captain shouted, causing Jon to grin at how much of a joke their operation was, and how the only reason they had gotten that far was the presence of a gun when Shotgun first revealed himself, and the element of surprise at that point.

“Because we found something else, and if we stayed, we’d have risked losing that…” Shotgun said, trying to sound confident in himself, but obviously shaken by the verbal abuse.

“What, pray tell, was so f**king important that you’d disobey orders and abandon the f**king mission I sent you on?!”

“We captured an infant Lugia…”

Jon’s eyes widened hearing this, it being the last thing he had even considered. He had forgotten about Lugia, and it’s connections to this place after the gun was pointed in his face the first time.

“They were holed up in a cave with only one entry, and used it as a choke point,” Rifle explained. “They must have posted a sentry to watch for us because they knew we were coming, and had a coordinated defense. We didn’t stand a chance, but they must have found the Lugia and were trying to protect it, and when we came close to capturing Latios, the Lugia tried to fight us and broke formation.”

“If we didn’t cut our losses, we would have walked out empty handed…” Shotgun added.

The Captain’s rage subsided at the idea of an infant Lugia, and Jon understood why. Lugia were rumoured to be among the most powerful Legendary Pokemon, on par with Rayquaza. And Legendary or not, infant Pokemon were the easiest to train and control. If someone wanted to buy a powerful Legendary Pokemon, without the risk of it going rogue, they would pay top dollar for something like an infant Lugia.

“You did the right thing bringing it back to me,” The Captain said. “But the job’s not over. Give me the Lugia, and get back out there. All of you. You know they will be coming for it and this a**hole, so use their own tactics against them…”

“What will you do?” Backpack asked The Captain.

“Handing over Lugia. I’ll take this boat, and get Lugia to the drop point, then come back for you three and Williams. By the time I return, you better have all three of those Pokemon captured.”

“Did you get any of the unmarked Pokeballs off the ship before it was torched?” Shotgun asked. “I’ve only got two left, and Lewis has three.”

“I still have my four,” Backpack interjected. The Captain groaned as Jon barked out in laughter.

“If you can’t catch those three Pokemon with the nine you have, then you’re beyond useless…” The Captain said. “I have none. Those nine are all we have left…”

The three men left the boat, making their way down the pier as The Captain turned to face Jon.

“Start the boat, and follow my directions…” The Captain said, sliding off the safety. “Otherwise I kill you now, and captain the boat myself without worrying about you acting out…”

Jon made his way to the controls, turning the key that sat in the ignition. However the boat didn’t start. He could hear the clicking of a starter motor, but the engine wasn’t roaring to life like it should.

“Stop f**king around!” The Captain shouted, before Jon turned his head over his shoulder.

“I’m not,” Jon said back irritably. “You think I’d try something as stupid as faking the boat not starting?”

Jon turned, so that he was side on between the controls and The Captain, giving his captor a clear view. He very intentionally turned the key all the way, which should have let the boat start, however in this scenario, did nothing.

“What the f**k…” The Captain muttered, as he walked past Jon, to try and turn the key himself, moving the gun away from Jon for a second. Knowing this was the only opportunity he would have, Jon slipped behind The Captain as he walked past, grabbing The Captain’s right wrist. The Captain tried to train the handgun back onto Jon, realizing his mistake, however Jon forced the barrel of the gun to be pointing towards the window pointing out to the pier, as The Captain let off three shots, shattering it. Suddenly the gun was ripped from the Captain’s hand by an invisible force, and thrown through the opposite window, smashing it and the gun landing somewhere in the ocean…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

When the boat was within Latios’ range, he could see Jon, bruised and battered, being held at gunpoint by the person who had beaten him on the other ship the day before, with the pair talking to the two men who had captured Lugia in the tunnels earlier that morning. He showed Dylan his vision of what was happening, as the group made their way by air towards the ship. Chris’ Dragonite carried himself and Justin, his Charizard carrying Charlotte and Abbee, and Dylan on the back of his Flygon.

”I won’t be able to get to the motor without being seen…” Dylan said to Latios, who was listening to his thoughts as he shared his sight. ”Get to the motor, and I’ll tell you what to do…”

Latios, who was still invisible, increased his speed, flying towards the boat, giving Dylan a terrifying falling sensation, made worse by the fact he was too high in the air to survive a fall if he fell off Flygon.

Latios slowed as he made his way to the rear of the boat, where the engine was, in its sealed casing.

“Handing over Lugia now. I’ll take this boat, and get Lugia to the drop point, then come back for you three and Williams. By the time I return, you better have all three of those Pokemon captured,” Dylan heard an unfamiliar voice say from seemingly above and in front of him, which was what Latios could hear being said.

Latios removed the panel that Dylan explained to him, and after a minute of looking around, the bright blue, well insulated cable that provided power to the spark-plug was visible. Latios yanked it out, leaving it in the sealed compartment, before placing the cover back in order to keep water out of the enclosure securing the motor. Whilst there was the chance that someone could come down here and fix it quite quickly, Latios knew a fight was imminent, and that would occupy their attention. A few seconds later, Jon tried to start the boat, with no success, before trying again. Latios slowly floated up, peering through the window, as Jon stood aside to let his captor attempt to start the boat, before slipping behind him, and getting a grip on his wrist, pointing the gun towards the window, before it was blasted out by a trio of bullets.

Latios telekinetically reached out, ripping the gun from The Captain’s hand, and throwing it out the window he was peering through, passing him and landing in the water.

”Now!” Latios said to the others as they rounded the last peak stopping them from being spotted by the poachers.

“We have contact!” Shotgun shouted, being the first to spot the airborne assault. Dragonite began a dive, as Chris tossed down Garchomp’s Pokeball, and Justin responded with Alakazam and Lucario’s. Whilst the three Pokemon drew the attention of the poachers, who sent out a Sandslash, Crobat and Machamp, the three flying Pokemon landed, allowing the five trainers to dismount, before Magmortar, Ampharos and Metagross were sent out.

“Latios!” Jon shouted as he heard the commotion, knowing his Legendary Partner was nearby. “I got this a**hole! Help them!”

Latios obeyed, flying over the ship, and joining the battle that was taking place near the shore of the island.

Slowed by his own aches from yesterday's beating, and the lack of sleep, Jon was slow to react, when The Captain threw a punch, moving aside only enough for the punch to scrape the side of his head, instead of hitting him directly. He staggered back a little, however instead of using the opportunity to get the upper hand on Jon, he did something else.

“Cooper!” The Captain shouted. “Catch!”

As Jon realized what he was doing, The Captain pelted the unregistered Pokeball containing Lugia, which Shotgun, adjusting his position accordingly, managed to catch.

“Get it to the drop point!”

Shotgun obliged, letting out a Pidgeot, and climbing onto it’s back before it took off.

“Don’t even think about it, a**hole!” Chris shouted, before climbing onto Charizard’s back, and taking off.

“Don’t go alone!” Dylan shouted out, before Abbee interjected.

“I’m going too!” she said, before calling out to Latios, before climbing onto his back. “Flygon won’t be able to catch up with them, and we’ll be better with you down here!”

“Be careful…” Dylan said, as Latios quickly took off, carrying Abbee towards the battle for Lugia that was about to begin.

With The Captain using precious moments to get Shotgun’s attention and throw him the Pokeball, Jon darted towards The Captain, throwing a right hook at him, which he blocked at the last second. Whilst Jon’s every instinct was to get the sawn off shotgun from the table behind him, he knew getting it, cocking it, and aiming would take too much time, and possibly draw the Captain’s attention to it if he had forgotten about it being there. He knew that given enough time, his students could beat the three on the ground, and unless The Captain had a weapon stashed somewhere that Jon wasn’t aware of, the safest course of action would be to keep him occupied until backup arrived.

The Captain headbutted Jon, causing him to stumble back, before the Captain rushed at him, grabbing him by the collar, and throwing him into the fridge. Jon hit the fridge hard, before falling to the ground. He felt a shock of pain flow through his body as he hit the ground hard, however fought through it, instead, using the fridge as an anchor for the top half of his body, kicked his leg out, hitting the Captain’s ankle with the heel of his foot, which broke with an audible crack, as the Captain swore in pain.

In the air above the island, Shotgun sat upon the back of his Pidgeot, noticing first the Charizard, and very soon after, the Latios that were in pursuit. Shotgun grabbed one of his own Pokeballs, letting out another flying Pokemon, Noivern. The Pokemon roared out in anger.

“Dragon Dance, Charizard…” Chris said. Charizard’s attack power and speed increased a little, helping it close the gap between itself and Pidgeot, as Noivern set its sights on him.

“We’ll handle Noivern!” Abbee called out from behind him, where Latios flew. “You get Lugia back!”

Chris nodded, as Charizard began to ascend, planning on dropping into Pidgeot from above. Noivern went to follow, before Latios unleashed a Dragon Pulse attack, which hit the Pokemon directly. Noivern set its sights on Latios, who then swung wide, accelerating enough to keep Noivern from getting too close, and enough to slowly be able to cut off Pidgeot.

“Why are you going wide?” Abbee asked, unsure of what Latios had planned. “Shouldn’t we just catch up to it?!”

Latios didn’t answer, and Abbee was forced to trust Latios had good reasoning for the trajectory, as Latios continued on his course.

From above, Charizard had shortened the gap between itself and Pidgeot, having used another Dragon Dance, and Chris was ready to attack.

“Now!” Chris called out. “Dragon Claw!”

Charizard folded its wings, before diving sharply down, putting itself on a collision course with Pidgeot, who darted to the left, shifting its path by a few degrees to avoid the attack, as Charizard let out its wings, and pulled out of the dive, beginning to ascend again. Before Pidgeot could correct its course, Latios darted in front of it from it’s right side, forcing it to adjust even more to the left to not get hit, as Noivern followed in pursuit. Suddenly Abbee realized.

“You’re trying to keep them near the island…” Abbee said, as Latios cried out in confirmation, slightly surprising her that he wasn’t telepathically answering her, though she began to guess why.

On the shore, the battle was largely going in favour of the Eon Academy students, with the three Pokemon initially sent out by the poachers now unconscious. The poachers were onto their next Pokemon, which weren’t faring much better against the highly trained Pokemon that Dylan, Charlotte and Justin used against them, with Chris’ Garchomp causing havoc without the need to follow orders, and Abbee’s Ampharos providing cover from the rear. However as the next Pokemon fell, and more were sent out, Dylan began to realize something he hadn’t accounted for…

“They have unregistered Pokeballs, so they can have as many Pokemon as they want!” he called out to Charlotte and Justin, who swore at the realization. “This is going to be an endurance match!”

In the houseboat, Jon barely avoided another hit, however was taken by surprise when The Captain followed up by grabbing the plastic chopping board that was used the night before from the kitchen bench, and slamming it flat across Jon’s bruised and stinging face. The large surface area dazed Jon for a moment, making contact with most of his face, which was all the time the Captain needed to kick Jon’s legs out from underneath him, at the cost of hurting his already broken ankle, and causing Jon to drop. The Captain slipped around him, dropping to a half sitting position himself to take the weight of his broken ankle, before placing his arm around Jon’s neck, putting him in a choke hold. Seeing what The Captain was trying to do, Jon placed both hands up to his neck, acting as a buffer between The Captain’s forearm and elbow, and his own neck, attempting to push outwards.

Knowing he couldn’t do this forever, Jon looked around for anything, and saw in the scuffle, the sawn-off shotgun had been knocked from the table, and lay on the floor a matter of inches from his feet. If he tried, he could possibly reach it with his shoe, and pull it towards him, however The Captain would see that, and Jon wouldn’t get the opportunity to make use of the weapon.

In the back of his mind, Jon felt a familiar presence. Latios. There, but not quite. The connection was there, but not being actively used. As if Latios were just listening in. By some miracle, the Eon Pokemon was still in telepathic range.

”I’m going to give you a window,” said Latios’ voice. ”Wait for my call…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Through a mixture of intentional flight patterns and interception tactics, Latios had made it difficult for Pidgeot to fly in a straight line for more than a few meters, feigning attacks that would force it to change its course, causing it to now fly near perpendicular to the original trajectory it was flying at. All of this was to keep the battle in range of the houseboat, to still be telepathically connected to Jon, forgoing telepathy with all others, in order to keep their minds connected. However, Jon’s circumstances were getting worse by the second, and Latios knew he needed to intervene. At the same time, his goal was to help Chris and Abbee get Lugia back, and he knew he couldn’t help Jon, rescue Lugia, and keep Noivern from getting in the way, effectively leading it in a grand chase, all at the same time. Latios had an idea that would effectively help Jon beat The Captain, and help Chris and Abbee get Lugia back, however he couldn’t do that with Noivern on his tail.

Whilst Latios wanted more than anything to just knock Noivern unconscious, he knew that it would require too much finesse and time, which he couldn’t afford either of, if he wanted to help his friends. With a heavy heart, Latios let Noivern get close, before descending slightly, and slowing down as fast as he could without risking harm to Abbee. Noivern darted past Latios, now within sight, as Latios used his telekinesis to get a grip on the Pokemon, and twist its head, snapping its neck, and killing it before it could fight against the telekinetic grip. Just like Jon had commanded if Jirachi attempted to harm Alyssa, back on the S.S. Wishmaker.

“Latios!” Abbee cried out, shocked at the killing she just saw Latios perform on their pursuer. Latios grimaced, before crying out and accelerating.

”I’m going to give you a window…” Latios said telepathically to Jon. ”Wait for my call…”

Latios went wide again with his flight path, flying faster than before. This time, instead of intercepting Pidgeot, and going past at an angle to force it to turn, Latios positioned himself to be facing Pidgeot head on. He wanted to warn Abbee, Chris and Charizard to close their eyes, however doing that risked breaking the already difficult telepathic connection he had with Jon, and this plan would fail without that.

”Now!”

Latios said the word to Jon, before instantly shifting his telekinetic link to the person closest to Jon. The Captain. He activated his sight sharing, before looking at Pidgeot, and using Flash…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

When told that Latios would give him a warning, Jon struggled against The Captain, but in a way to slowly get his foot closer to the sawn off shotgun. It was in place, when Jon got the call.

”Now!”

Suddenly, Latios’ presence was gone from his head, and whilst Jon had no clue what the Eon Pokemon was thinking, he had faith that this was intentional, and Latios had just bought him a few seconds. He stretched his leg out, hooking his ankle over the shotgun and kicking it towards him, as The Captain screamed in pain, loosening his grip for a moment, as Jon grabbed the Shotgun, and awkwardly cocked it.

“What’s that f**king light?!” The Captain yelled, his eyes closed tight, but still painfully blinded by something. His arm hadn’t moved, and with Jon’s hands now providing no resistance, he regained composure, still somehow blinded, but putting pressure on Jon’s windpipe.

“The end of the tunnel,” Jon croaked, as air struggled to enter his lungs. He clumsily pointed the sawn off shotgun to where he expected The Captain’s head to be until he found the morbid resistance of the end of it making contact with something. “A**hole…”

Jon pulled the trigger, deafened by the sound of the firearm firing right next to his ears, however felt the arm that was squeezing his neck loosen, and the vibrations in the floor beneath him of a limp body falling over behind him. He gasped for breath, taking a few seconds to fill his lungs, before standing, avoiding looking at the body of the man he just killed, and cocking the shotgun again, as an empty shell was ejected from it.

He limped out the door, making his way down the pier, where twenty meters ahead of him, Rifle and Backpack all had their backs turned, as they commanded their Pokemon, and Rifle aimed his namesake towards the three trainers, preparing to fire.

Jon put Rifle in his sights, being the only armed one of the three men, and aimed the gun at his calf, before pulling the trigger. Jon assumed the man screamed in pain, based on what he saw, with his hearing impaired from the gunshot in the enclosed cabin of the boat.

“Your Captain is dead!” Jon shouted to Backpack, who remained standing. “Surrender now and you won’t be harmed!”

“Where was my warning, a**hole?!” Rifle shouted as he gripped his calf, which the slug had grazed, tearing through the muscle, and leaving it in a pretty messed up state. The question was wasted on Jon however, who barely heard anything more than a high pitched ringing.

Backpack called back the Pokemon, before raising his hands in surrender.

“Dylan, come grab this…” Jon called out, gesturing to the gun. “I can’t hear s**t, so go along with it…”

Justin snorted at the comment, as Dylan made his way towards Jon, cautiously grabbing the gun, as Metagross followed, remaining on the other side of the two surrendering poaches.

Not wanting the students to see the mess left in the houseboat, Jon grabbed the backpack that contained the cable ties, knife and laptop he had stolen from the ship, and also unclipped his Pokeballs from the belt of the now deceased captain, trying not to look at where the gun had fired, before returning, and binding the two hostages.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Latios, what the hell?!” Chris shouted as his vision came back to him.

”I had to…” Latios said to both Chris and Abbee, though his tone sounding broken. ”I’ll explain later…”

With the advantage of numbers now in their favour, Charizard launched a Flamethrower on Pidgeot, not even intending to hit it, but instead, cause it to change course. As it did, Latios launched a Psychic attack near where it was moving, creating a telekinetic blast, knocking Pidgeot through the air, and nearly throwing Shotgun off Pidgeot’s back. Shotgun retained his balance, and held onto Pidgeot, however his grip on the Pokeball slipped, causing it to drop.

“I’ve got it!” Chris called out, leaning forward, as Charizard dived towards the ocean beneath them, closing in on the falling Pokeball. Shotgun called out for Pidgeot to use Tailwind, increasing its speed as it began to dive itself.

“Nice try a**hole!” Abbee shouted. “Latios, Zen Headbutt!”

Latios became encased in a telekinetic barrier, before darting forward at high speed, colliding with Pidgeot who cried out in pain, as it was knocked off course.

“Come on!” Chris shouted, as Charizard dived down at an angle, getting closer to the Pokeball which was getting closer to the water beneath. Charizard increased the angle of its dive, before pulling out at the last second, and flying parallel to the ocean beneath them a matter of meters above it. Chris leaned back, outstretching his right arm behind him, and tilting his head back to keen the Pokeball in his view. In his outstretched hand, he grabbed the black Pokeball out of the air, gripping it tightly, before letting out a cheer.

“Don’t celebrate yet!” Abbee yelled out. “Back to the island!”

Charizard turned, so that the island was in view, as Latios changed his own course to follow him, with Shotgun and his Pidgeot, attempting to pursue them. The island came into view, and whilst they expected to see an all out battle, they were surprised to see that both Rifle and Backpack had stopped fighting, instead, sitting with their arms bound behind them by cable ties, on the shore of the island, and their ankles bound together. Jon stood guard over them, holding a shotgun, and whilst Jon had mentioned five poachers, leaving two unaccounted for, they could see there wasn’t much urgency for the people on the beach.

Shotgun however, had put the pieces together. The last time he saw the firearm Jon was holding was in the houseboat where Jon and The Captain were. Jon was outside with the gun. Rifle and Backpack were both tied up, and Man-Bun hadn’t been seen since before the ship blew up. Realizing they had lost, Shotgun ordered Pidgeot to turn around and flee, leaving his captured teammates to their fate.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was only 7am by the time that the fighting had stopped, and the members of the Eon Academy were relatively safe. Jon spoke to Latios, and realized what the Eon Pokemon had done. How ruthlessly he had killed the Noivern that pursued them, and how he managed to buy Jon some time, knowing that Jon had no idea what had happened.

When Jon’s hearing returned, he told the interns to stay off the boat, not wanting them to see what had happened there, as they compiled their stories, each finding out details of what happened to the others, from Jon explaining his capture, and subsequent escape, to Chris and Abbee explaining Latios’ erratic behaviour, and Jon filling them in as to why Latios was trying to keep Shotgun from straying too far from the island, ignoring them, killing Noivern so brutally, and even blinding all of them with an uncommunicated Flash attack. Upon understanding his actions, Chris and Abbee both apologized profusely to Latios, who accepted the apology, though didn’t respond telepathically, still trying to come to terms with what he had done. Jon understood, partially wishing he had the luxury of time to come to terms with it, but knowing that it just wasn’t in the cards. More than that though, Latios was in the mind of a man who seconds later, was killed. Latios through that telepathic connection, almost felt what it felt like for someone to die, and this seemed to weigh on him.

Dylan flew on the back of Flygon away from the island, trying to get close enough to the mainland to have enough signal to call the authorities. Given the remote nature of the island, it took two hours for them to arrive, however when they did, they wasted no time apprehending the three poachers who remained on the island, gathering the belongings from the houseboat so that those who hadn’t seen extent of Jon’s actions wouldn’t have to, and evacuating them from the island so those with injuries, mostly Jon, could be examined by a doctor, and all could ideally get some rest.

Before they left the island, Chris let Lugia out of the unregistered Pokeball, handing the Pokeball over to the authorities. He was slightly surprised however when Lugia didn’t leave. Instead of flying away, escaping from what was probably a terrifying experience for a young Pokemon, it stayed where it was, watching Chris, and when he went to leave, following him towards the boat that was going to take them all back to the mainland.

“I think he wants to come with you…” Jon said, groggily as he watched, kind of wishing Lugia would make that clear himself so they could leave the goddamned islands and get some rest.

Chris went towards Lugia, who didn’t flee, instead watched with curiosity, before giving it a scratch behind the horns that protected its eyes.

“You want to come with me?” Chris asked, to which Lugia cried out happily. Chris got one of his own Pokeballs from his bag, and pressed it against Lugia, causing the young Pokemon to be converted into light, and absorbed into the Pokeball.

Chapter 7
The next week was one full of appointments and bureaucracy. Immediately, all six trainers were taken to a police station, where they were made to give statements. Whilst the questions were intense for the five teenagers, given the fact that they had been the targets of, and fought off poachers, it seemed appropriate. Jon was placed under the most scrutiny, given that The Captain died at his hands, though it was quickly established Jon acted in self defence, and even with the window that Latios had given him, had he not acted the way he did, he was nearly certain to have been killed himself.

The laptop itself was taken as evidence, however when Jon had the opportunity, he got in touch with Steven, and after the initial shock of hearing what had happened at the Whirl Islands had worn off, Jon explained his concerns to him. This laptop had access to the Pokemon League Trainer Database, and these poachers had it. Wanting to look into it personally, Steven sent some emails, throwing his weight as Champion of Hoenn around a little to take the laptop itself into custody, allowing a copy of the data stored on it to remain in police custody, so that the League could investigate themselves exactly how such sensitive information got into the hands of criminals, much to the dismay of the Johto Police Department.

It was nearly a week before those involved in the Whirl Islands incident were allowed to leave Goldenrod. Abbee, living in Goldenrod herself, had the five other trainers stay at her house until the police decided it was okay for them to leave Johto. The last time the house had been as lively as it was that week, granted everyone was either exhausted, injured, or just ready to go home, was her fathers funeral, and welcomed the big house seeming a little more alive, even if just for a week.

Justin was the first to leave, returning to Kalos to spend some time with his family before ideally returning to Hoenn for summer, then Sinnoh for his second year of university, and Charlotte leaving not long after him, returning home to Jubilife City.

Chris planned on spending a few more days with Abbee before he returned to his home in Blackthorn City himself, and the day after Charlotte left, Jon and Dylan said their goodbyes, Jon congratulating Chris on capturing a Legendary Pokemon, and thanking him for organizing the trip, even if it did go pear shaped within twenty-four hours…

The first stop after leaving Abbee’s however, wasn’t the airport. Instead, it was the first place that Jon and Dylan had visited after arriving in Johto a week or so earlier.

The visitors room of the Johto Regional Medium Security Prison was just as cold as it was when Jon was there last time. He sat at the same table, dressed in almost the same clothes, given he only packed enough for a weekend, as Lance was escorted into the room by a guard, wearing his orange prison overalls, and his hands cuffed together. He was sat at the table, which his hands were then secured to. Like last time both men stared each other down, and again, Lance was the first to speak. This time however, was slightly different.

“I owe whoever messed your face up a beer…” Lance sneered, nodding towards the swelling, cuts and bruises that were only now just beginning to heal.

“Pity he’s dead…” Jon replied. “But if you want, I guess you could consider us even now…”

“I don’t…”

There was silence, before Lance spoke.

“Why are you here Jon?” Lance asked, though unlike last time, sounding less irritated and more exhausted.

“I don’t know…” Jon admitted. “Maybe I’m just hoping to have a reason to believe that things may be better than they actually are…”

“That’s a joke right?” Lance asked angrily, letting out an irritated sigh. “What, you think ’Hey, it could be worse, and I’ll remind myself of that by seeing Lance in prison’?”

“Surprisingly, no…” Jon answered, thinking over how best to explain what he was thinking to a volatile, angry and arrogant psychopath.

“By the time I got off the S.S. Wishmaker, when I thought of the worst of people, I thought of you…” Jon said, noticing Lance’s gaze sharpen. “But since then, this last year in particular, I could easily say I’ve seen worse…”

“Like?” Lance asked, his tone still aggressive, but unable to hide the slight curiosity.

“The poachers who tried to steal four very powerful Pokemon, mostly from a group of teenagers, and would have killed them, for the sake of making a buck and not getting caught. Who would have sold these Pokemon that can virtually be weapons in their own right, but are also living, breathing beings, to the highest bidder, with no conscience about what the buyer will do with them after the transaction is finished,” Jon answered. “Or Mark Hill. Someone who is in a job that is supposed to be serving the people of Hoenn, yet is so power-hungry that he would risk the lives of those same people just to get more power. Whose decision resulted in people's properties and homes being damaged, and instead of taking responsibility, shifts the blame onto someone dead, and leaves everyone put out by his department, hanging out to dry. And that’s before he gets himself involved in a p**sing contest because someone bruised his ego…”

“That someone being you?”

“What do you think?” Jon asked, confirming Lance’s suspicions.

“So why come here then?” Lance asked abrasively.

“I guess, as f**ked up as what you did, or tried to do, was, I don’t think you were being a completely selfish piece of s**t by doing it. In your eyes, I was some stuck-up a**hole who wanted to essentially let three people off the hook who had cheated the league out of millions, dozens of people out of titles that were rightfully theirs, yours included, and essentially forgive turning what, seven people, into Pokemon, when chances are if they weren’t caught, those people would have gone the rest of their lives like that?” Jon said. “I still think that 95% of your reasoning for acting the way you did was for the sake of your ego, and I am not justifying that in any way. But I guess that remaining 5% is what sets you apart from the pieces of s**t I have dealt with since…”

“I guess I hoped that by actually talking to you, I could see some sort of hope that things can get better. That people who act the wrong way for even the smallest of right reasons, are different from those who do everything for the wrong reasons. And people can grow from it,” Jon continued. “That the Diamond Ladies aren’t the only ones in this world full of f**ked up people that can change for the better…”

Jon expected Lance to spit in his face, or yell, or threaten. His gaze didn’t change. He continued to stare intently at Jon, his expression indicating irritation at Jon’s very existence.

“If I hadn’t met Mark Hill myself, I’d think you were s**ting me saying you think he is worse than me…” Lance said. “I don’t know how Steven lets filth like that have any sort of power in his region…”

“You’ve met him?” Jon asked. He knew that the Department of Defence had been in contact with Lance to make some sort of arrangement during the incident with Rayquaza. However he had presumed it would be in writing, or someone speaking on Hill’s behalf.

“Christmas, a few years ago. The a**hole arrived here out of nowhere wanting to speak to me. Like you’ve gotten into the annoying habit of doing. He then starts blowing smoke up my a**. Telling me how great of a Champion I was, and how I was unfairly punished for what happened on the S.S. Wishmaker. That I can see the big picture, and Steven can’t. Laying it on that thick, that it’s just f**king patronizing, and this stuck up p***k was too arrogant to see that,” Lance explained. “This a**hole then tells me, whilst doing everything he can to avoid mentioning it was his department's fault, that Rayquaza, the Legendary Dragon, was p**sed off, and lashing out at aircraft. And whilst it wasn’t going to be returning to its resting place for another few weeks, they were wanting to set up an ambush, and have me and my Dragon Types lure it back, so they can kill it…”

Jon was beyond shocked to hear Lance telling this story. Granted, he had no doubt this wasn’t out of any sort of admiration or obligation to Jon, but simply, Hill was someone he hated even more than he hated Jon.

“He then tells me they could drastically reduce my sentence if I do it, which I knew was bulls**t. He’s the Hoenn Minister for Defence. It comes with some clout, but not enough to get a high profile inmate out of a Johto prison. But I went along with it…”

“Why go along with it if you’re so fond of Dragons, and knew they were lying by promising a pardon?” Jon asked, as a concerning grin formed on Lance’s face.

“I think you already know…”

He was right. Jon knew, but it wasn’t him who thought of it first. It was Cassandra, that night in the main building of the Academy, back when it was an old church, with Steven. Lance was going to try and capture Rayquaza himself, and if he accomplished that, the chances of him going back to prison were astronomical…

“So they go to the effort of getting me a temporary transfer. I’m taken from here, and still watched nearly every second I’m out. A week later we get to this old crumbling tower in the south of Hoenn, and get dropped off at the top, with ungodly amounts of weapons. And we wait,” Lance continued. “Four days, I froze my a** off on top of that tower, and nothing happened. Then all of a sudden, they start going on about Rayquaza being sighted travelling away from Hoenn. And since then, it hasn’t even been seen near Hoenn. And suddenly, Hill’s patronizing a**-kissing is gone, and he is taking out his frustration at the plan that failed on account of a Pokemon migrating, on me…”

Somehow, Lance’s gaze became more intense.

“If you’re going to war with this a**hole, then let everyone in on that dirty little secret. The public will freak when they hear their Minister for Defence was the reason that a Legendary Pokemon, which is the pride of Hoenn, was attacking aircraft, and was trying to cover it up by having a convicted attempted murderer try to help them kill it, on the false promise of a pardon, whilst the Hoenn Champion was locked up because he disagreed with the plan…”

Jon was surprised that Lance’s hatred of Hill was enough to consider helping Jon, if it meant taking Hill down. And honestly, Jon wished that would work. He had suggested to Steven that he reveal this, however Steven had made a pretty good point about it. His detainment, both with the Rayquaza and Deoxys incident, hinged around extremely classified information, and if he were to bring that up in a public hearing, he would be reprimanded for sharing classified information, whilst also having the hearing moved to be a private, internal hearing, in which Hill would have every advantage.

Jon sighed.

“Steven’s got a few stories similar to that. The problem is that they are all classified information, and Steven would be reprimanded heavily for disclosing it in a public hearing. That and they’d make it private the moment classified information was revealed, and so far a lot of our plan for dealing with Hill revolves around turning the public against him…” Jon said, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake revealing this to Lance. He took comfort in the fact that whilst admiration and loyalty can be easily faked, the hatred shown by Lance towards Hill was not.

Lanced groaned, leaning back, though not very far due to his wrists cuffed to the table. Jon stood, having seen enough.

“But for what it’s worth, thanks for telling me that,” Jon said. “Maybe it will help deal with this a**hole…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It took three days after Jon returned to Mossdeep for Alyssa to let him and Dylan out of her sight for long enough for Jon to speak to Steven. The pair sat in the dining room of Jon and Alyssa’s house, where Steven had the laptop that he had managed to get from the Johto Police Department.

“What can you tell me about this laptop?” Jon asked. “How did they get access to the League Database?”

“They didn’t get access to the Database on its own…” Steven explained. “They got access to this laptop, which already had access to the database…”

“What’s the difference?”

“Any government computer, be it regional government, Pokemon League or military, is ordered from the one provider that they are contracted to. And this provider sends the computer to whoever in government requested it, with access to all League servers and Databases, such as the Pokemon Trainer Database that this has, there, ready to go. From there, the computer is sent through to the government’s IT department, who disable access to anything not needed on a given computer. Like, if you work in the tax department, and don’t need access to the Trainer Database, your computer will be imaged with access to everything, then IT will remove access to the Trainer Database,” Steven explained. “Every serial number for every computer is recorded, with its intended purpose, and what access it has.”

“So was this one stolen?” Jon asked, looking at the laptop that didn’t seem very special at first glance.

“Doubt it. It would be noticed if it went missing from some government department, and from there it would be marked as missing, and it’s MAC address would be removed from the whitelist of accessing government servers,” Steven explained. “The serial number on this one isn’t listed as missing, so it still has access. Here’s the kicker though. The serial number isn’t in the current database of computers…”

“Wait, why not?” Jon asked. “Has the manufacturer been making extras on the side to sell on the black market?”

“That’s one possibility but I doubt it,” Steven explained, starting to sound excited. “I did some digging into the changelog of the database, and found that between the request for this laptop being made to the manufacturer, and about half an hour after it was delivered, there was an entry for this serial number which has since been removed. Even if a computer stops working, it isn’t removed from the database. We only remove them if there is a data entry error, like a typo.”

“So this was ordered, and then removed from records to imply it doesn’t exist, so it doesn’t lose access to whatever information it gets?”

“Exactly…” Steven said, his enthusiasm growing. “Twenty dollars says you can guess which department ordered this laptop?”

“Department of Defence?”

“Bingo…” Steven answered. “This laptop, and eleven others…”

“Wait, you mean to tell me there are a dozen of these things out there for anyone to have access to that information?” Jon asked. “Why the hell are you so excited?”

“The servers use a whitelist system, so I have since removed all of the MAC addresses of those laptops that were removed from the whitelist. They are now all barred from accessing any of the servers that they originally could, so are now no better or worse than any other stolen laptop,” Steven explained. “But there are two other things I discovered. Firstly, there is an extremely short list of people who can modify the list of computers, and any guesses who is one of those people?”

“Hill…”

“Secondly, this laptop had access to more than it was sent from IT with…” Steven explained. “The reason we image the computers with access to everything and remove individual accesses is because the way the system works, it is easier to remove access to individual servers than grant them. But it isn’t impossible, if someone knows what they are doing to give themselves access to servers that have since had access revoked. The twelve missing computers were all ordered by someone in the Department of Defence, with access only to the Pokemon Trainer Database, which confirms in my mind that these were ordered specifically to be removed from the list, and sold to the highest bidder. This one is special, because whoever had it, was able to undo the revokes that were done by IT, and grant themselves access to other servers. Quite a few actually. And one of them is the Department of Defence’s server.”

Jon began to understand what Steven was getting towards, as his eyes widened. Man-Bun had been busy indeed.

“The guy who had this, the one you took hostage. He’s done a lot to it since he got it, including creating access to a server of his own, with the laptop programmed to copy everything it detects as new in the Department of Defence’s server over to this private one he set up, probably to keep an eye on if they are catching up to them. And in that private server, I found some familiar files.

Steven double clicked something on the laptop, opening a document that Jon recognized as the data sheet on Deoxys, that was allegedly recovered from a hard drive in the wreck of the Mossdeep Space Center. Steven closed it, before clicking on the file and opening the properties.

“Have a look at when the file was created…”

Jon peered at the date, which was the evening before Deoxys attacked Mossdeep the year before. He had a rough idea of what all this meant, but the sheer information overload was getting to him.

“So this means that someone high up in the military, likely Hill himself, has been ordering extra computers with access to classified information, to sell illegally for some extra cash on the side,” Jon explained. “Man-Bun who had this before, managed to do some computer wizard stuff to get access to the Department of Defence’s server, and have any changes copied to his own. And on his own server, copied from the Department of Defence’s server, is a file about a project Hill claims he knew nothing about, dated before Hill allegedly first got access to said file?”

“Exactly…”

Jon couldn’t help but grin.

“We’ve got him…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 2 Epilogue 2: Justice

Spoiler:

Chapter 1
The spiral shaped bit of steel spun slowly in the vending machine, causing an upright bar of chocolate to tilt forward, towards the large drop down to the collection chute at the bottom. Chris watched through the glass, before the spiral stopped turning, just shy of allowing the chocolate bar to fall through, and plummet into his eventual grip.

“F**k!” Chris cursed, a little louder than he intended, as people who walked past him through the hallway, going about whatever business brought them here, shot him a glance, causing him to realize he was not coping well.

It was April 30th, when Chris, alongside Jon, Alyssa, Steven, Dylan, Charlotte, Justin and Abbee found themselves staying in Rustboro City, Hoenn. It was shortly before 9am when the group found themselves in the courthouse. They had all been in the courtroom early, waiting for the hearing to start, before Jon and Steven left the room in order to talk about what was coming up. Needing some fresh air, and a break from the tension, Chris excused himself for a moment, using the excuse of getting a snack to escape from the group and clear his own head. However, it was becoming clear that the inconvenience of wasting four dollars on a vending machine chocolate that didn’t deliver wasn’t the only thing causing him to lash out. He considered shoving the side of it, to shake it loose, however knew the machines were alarmed for such acts, and figured it wouldn’t be a good look for Jon if one of his students was seen allegedly tampering with a vending machine to get a free snack. He sighed, knowing the chocolate was only an excuse to get a few minutes to himself anyway, before making his way back towards the courtroom, which was starting to fill up. They had done their job since last summer of bringing the case into the public eye, with many media types, Chris guessed, filling the room.

“What was that about?” Abbee asked, as he joined her, Charlotte, Alyssa, Justin and Dylan in their seats.

“Machine ate my money…” Chris muttered.

“A bit of an overreaction, isn’t it?” Charlotte asked, having also heard him swearing from the courtroom. “You don’t want Hill seeing this, and using it against us…”

“I know. It wasn’t just the chocolate…” Chris replied. “This whole thing is just getting to me. The chocolate just tipped me over a little. I don’t know how Jon can stay so calm about all this…”

“He isn’t,” Dylan replied, causing Alyssa to look over to him.

“What, you think he’d want these guys to think everything’s peachy for the sake of some tough guy image people have of him?” Dylan said to Alyssa. “There’s nothing wrong with him being worried about this. I’d rather him be worried than just indifferent. It shows his priorities are in order…”

Abbee found herself a little shocked at how comfortable Dylan was going against what Alyssa thought, and being willing to potentially argue with her about it.

“No, you’re right,” Alyssa sighed. “Sorry, it’s just been a long eight or nine months. And it has been wearing him down a bit…”

“You would know best out of all of us,” Chris asked Alyssa. “What are our chances?”

Alyssa looked around, making sure nobody was listening in. Jon had intentionally kept the bulk of the case he was planning on making for his appeal from them, even Dylan. Only Alyssa and Steven knew, with Steven acting as an expert opinion on government processes and how they would respond, and Alyssa doing the same in terms of media. Jon didn’t even have a lawyer, with no lawyer he approached being willing to take on what was on paper an extremely risky client, and knowing no court appointed lawyer would take his case seriously enough to not cut their losses on the smallest portion of a win. He had kept the interns, even Dylan who lived with him, in the dark, as to not put them in the firing line of media, or Hill himself

“Jon’s case on it’s own, is good enough,” Alyssa said quietly, as to not be overheard. “I would be surprised if the court didn’t agree, and accept the appeal on the property acquisition, and Steven is of the same mind. But winning that appeal isn’t enough in this situation…”

“How so?” Justin asked, matching Alyssa’s tone.

“Either way, Steven, Jon and the Academy are all now on Hill’s radar. If Hill loses the property acquisition, and remains in power after the election that’s coming up, that’s a couple of years minimum, of Hill setting his sights on them,” Alyssa answered. “So for that reason, even if Jon can keep the property, and the acquisition order is voided, there is still a lot at stake if they can’t get Hill under the spotlight enough that he is sacked or his government are voted out. They’re not just trying to save the property, because if that’s all that is achieved today, there is still a lot to lose. They’re making a public attack on the Minister for Defence. If they succeed, we will be a lot safer from now on. But if they fail, they’re antagonizing one of the most powerful men in Hoenn, and this will not be the last they hear from him…”

Justin understood what Alyssa was getting at. The fact was that the only way they were going to get out of this situation with little collateral was if they could convince the court to appeal it, whilst destroying Hill’s image, making it impossible for him to retain his position. And the moment they went down that path, they needed to see it through, and needed to succeed. Even if their chances of winning the battle were high, the war still needed to be won as well, which may prove to be much harder.

Before anything else could be said, Jon and Steven returned from their private discussion, finding their seats, with the hearing due to start in a matter of minutes.

“He’s cutting it close…” Steven commented, checking his watch.

“What are the chances of this a**hole not showing up?” Jon asked, honestly having not considered it.

“Honestly, next to none,” Steven answered. “He knows to some degree our sights are set on him. He wouldn’t risk not being here to run damage control, if there is a chance we use this hearing as a chance to shed a little light on him…”

“There’re certainly enough reporters…” Jon noted. “I really hope this works. If this blows up in our face, all of Hoenn will see it…”

With Steven’s influence, the case became a high profile one, normally being held in a small court, with the decision effectively being made without Jon there, this case had instead been moved to the Hoenn High Court, in Rustboro City, with Steven calling in some favours to do so. Partially, wanting whoever made the decision to understand the importance of it, instead of a judge who handles twelve of these appeals a day, and also knowing it would put more media attention on the case, and by extension, Mark Hill.

It was less than thirty seconds before the hearing began when Hill entered the courtroom. However Steven noticed something before anyone else.

“He’s alone…” Steven commented. “Don’t tell me he is going to represent the Department of Defence?”

“Do you think if he is neck deep in his own bulls**t, he’d trust someone else to not say something incriminating?” Jon asked. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of this. It certainly works in our favour…”

“Just remember, he might be military, but he is still a politician…” Steven retorted. “They don’t get themselves into positions of power without knowing how to handle themselves in front of a crowd. And you’ve got a tendency to say the wrong thing in front of cameras…”

“I can control myself…” Jon muttered.

“I’ve been training him really hard the last week,” Alyssa commented. “If he isn’t the poster-boy for sensible media relations by now, he’s a lost cause…”

Jon laughed a little, before his attention was caught by the judge approaching the bench, and the hearing began.

“All rise.”

Everyone stood as the judge, a small framed woman with thick, curly brown hair, who appeared to be in her late forties, took her seat.

“The Hoenn High Court is now in session. Judge Evans presiding. Please be seated…”

Everyone sat down, as the judge addressed the room before her.

“Good morning everyone. Calling the case of Ryan Mason, publicly known as Jon Drake, on behalf of The Eon Academy, versus the Hoenn Department of Defence, represented in court by Minister for Defence, the Honourable Mark Hill.”

This was what Jon hadn’t looked forward to. His real name being mentioned for the world to know. Whilst his reputation had improved since the S.S. Wishmaker incident, a secret such as using a different name would stir the rumour mill. Granted, this discomfort prevented him from laughing at Hill being referred to as Honorable.

“Specifically speaking, this hearing is to determine the outcome of an appeal to a property acquisition order, made by the Department of Defence on September 4th, 2019 for the property owned by Mr. Drake at 381 Arcadia Drive Mossdeep City, under section 51 of the Hoenn Constitution, as well as determining the legal ownership of the Legendary Pokemon, currently registered to The Eon Academy, and being held securely by Steven Stone, known as Deoxys,” Judge Evans explained. “Under normal circumstances, the appeal process would be largely through writing, with a city court handling it. However, due to the involvement of the Hoenn Pokemon League in funding the Eon Academy, through various grants and subsidies, as well as the question of the ownership of Deoxys, it has been requested that this hearing be conducted at a regional level. Mr. Drake, do you not have any legal representation?”

Jon stood, and addressed the judge, as those around him began holding their breath.

“No Your Honour. Due to circumstances that will be referred to in the appeal, I was turned away by all legal experts that I approached to represent me,” Jon explained. “Whilst representation could have been provided for me in such a scenario, my concern was that there would be a difference of opinion between myself and my lawyer about an ideal outcome to this trial, so instead opted to represent myself.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing…” Judge Evans muttered, not having high hopes for a battler with a bad on-camera track-record choosing to refuse a lawyer. “Very well. Mr. Drake, please present the case for your appeal to the Department of Defence’s acquisition order.”

“Don’t f**k this up…” Chris whispered very quietly, earning a glare from Dylan who sat on the other side of Abbee, not wanting Chris to hurt their chances.

“The initial argument I’d like to present is that the Hoenn government stands little to gain from forcing me to sell The Eon Academy,” Jon started. “The property at 381 Arcadia Drive, relatively speaking, offers little value to the Hoenn government. The property itself is surrounded on most sides by farmland, and I use the term lightly, as in the three years I have spent living there, and in the many more years Hoenn Champion, Steven Stone has lived there, neither of us have seen that land used for either housing stock, or growing crops. It has remained empty, and unused, merely existing.”

Jon took a breath, feeling himself off to a good start, before continuing.

“One of the many empty paddocks surrounding The Eon Academy, which are larger than the entire property at 381 Arcadia Drive, could be subdivided and sold, with little to no detriment to the landowners themselves, potentially even benefiting them with the funds from the sale,” Jon continued. “Amongst the sections of land surrounding the Eon Academy, is also a property owned by the Hoenn Department of Electricity, housing the Mossdeep City Electrical Substation. However, the substation takes up a small portion of the land it resides on, with the remaining land leftover, being larger than the property at 381 Arcadia Drive. The reason the property is so large is to deter people from stumbling across the substation, given there being such a large space between any main roads and the substation itself.”

Jon glanced over at Hill, who had a smirk on his face, as he listened to Jon’s case. This is what Jon had expected. This was far from the argument he actually planned on making to convince the judge to appeal the acquisition order. However, by leaving breadcrumbs, and gaps for Hill to attempt to exploit, Jon hoped to use Hill’s near guaranteed response to Jon against him.

“Surely the Department of Defence could negotiate purchasing a section of one of the larger properties, which would benefit the owner of the property, or even negotiate with the Department of Electricity to use the unused land, which would not cost the taxpayers anything, would protect the substation from trespassers more than an empty field would, and not displace myself, my family and my business, which was estimated to bring over a hundred people to Mossdeep this summer as part of the summer program we run, before the acquisition order arrived last year,” Jon explained. “I don’t claim to be an expert in this, Your Honour. I’m a battler, who didn’t even finish high-school. But I can’t seem to find any good reason as to why 381 Arcadia Drive would be selected by the Department of Defence to be acquired, when alternatives that would benefit all parties involved exist within a stone's throw…”

There was silence, with the exception of the clicking of the stenographer, typing away the transcript. Finally, Judge Evan’s spoke, instead addressing Mark Hill.

“As the representative for the Department of Defence, could you please provide some clarification to these questions, Minister Hill?”

Hill stood to his feet, before straightening his jacket, and addressing the court.

“Whilst Mr. Drake raises some good questions, and offers some alternatives that, if considering only what he has mentioned so far, would definitely be better options, there is one piece of information that Mr. Drake has not mentioned to the court, and that is the intended purpose for the land at 381 Arcadia Drive,” Hill argued. “The reason the Department of Defence chose 381 Arcadia Drive to acquire, is to use the property as the site for a new military training centre. The remote location on Mossdeep Island gives security and privacy the Department of Defence needs in such a site, and given the property’s current function, already contains many of the improvements the potential site needs to be able to function as expected. Whilst there are larger, empty properties nearby, the property at 381 Arcadia Drive already contains lodging suitable for upwards of sixty people, ready access to power and water, as well as a large hall and stadium space, both of which can be repurposed with little work to suit the purposes intended for the site.”

“May I ask some questions of clarification for Minister Hill, Your Honour?” Jon asked when Hill had stopped speaking.

“You may.”

“Minister Hill, how long has the Department of Defence been considering building a training centre on Mossdeep Island?” Jon asked. “You need not give an exact date if that information is classified, however given the fact that you have disclosed the intended purpose of 381 Arcadia Drive, can you answer the question in general terms, prior to the acquisition order being made?”

“The earliest suggestion of building a training centre was roughly four years ago,” Hill answered simply.

“That raises the follow-up question of why the Department of Defence decided to make the acquisition order on August fifteenth last year? Especially when the property itself was listed for sale for at least a year before I purchased it, for less than the current market value,” Jon asked.

“As I mentioned a few moments ago, the site currently houses improvements that we were only made aware of in the months leading up to the acquisition order being made,” Hill replied, sounding slightly irritated. “The property was being considered when it was last for sale, however the state it was in at that point in time made it not as well suited to the purpose we intended for it, as it is now.”

Jon made a point of hiding his grin. This was exactly what he was wanting to do. Get Mark Hill talking, knowing that he would be lying through his teeth, and therefore, trapping himself.

“The thing is Minister Hill, I don’t believe that,” Jon explained. “Because whilst the Eon Academy now has facilities useful for your plans for the property that it didn’t have when I purchased it, the difference between the price I paid for it, and the amount the Department of Defence is offering to pay for it now, even in its current unrepaired state, is significantly higher than the amount those improvements cost me to add. And that isn’t accounting for the Department of Defence having their own contractors, resulting in it likely costing the Department of Defence less than I paid to have made those improvements themselves, and exactly to their specifications, instead of repurposing what’s really not designed for their purpose…”

Jon knew now was the time to move onto the offensive, and target the Department of Defence, and Mark Hill more directly.

“Even higher than the current value of the property, which is what the Department of Defence will pay for it if the acquisition order is fulfilled, was the value of the property given during the last insurance evaluation, before last summer, and more importantly, before my property, in addition to the property of dozens of others, sustained serious damage as the result of off the record research, conducted by researchers at the Mossdeep Space Centre, owned and operated by the Hoenn Department of Defence,” Jon condemned, staring Hill in the eyes. “My property was damaged, and like most who had their property damaged, I didn’t have the funds available at that exact moment to repair it on my own whilst the party at fault was determined, and reimbursement was sought. And before I had the chance to find the finances to repair my property, I received the acquisition order, a condition of which was that I was not to make any improvements to the property. The result of that was that the damage from Deoxys’ rampage on Mossdeep Island to this day remains unrepaired, lowering the value of it, and by extension, what the Department of Defence will pay me for the property, as the property deteriorates further. With most of the lodge windows being smashed, and me unable to repair them more than some temporary plastic coverings, moisture has entered the rooms during winter, causing mould to grow in the carpets, and lowering the value even further.”

“Mr. Drake, how big of a difference in value is there for the property between your most recent evaluation, and the last one before the Deoxys incident?” Judge Evans asked, considering the point Jon was making.

“A hundred and fifty thousand dollars…” Jon answered, as murmurs crept through the courtroom. “The reason I represent myself is because any legal advice I sought determined appealing an acquisition order from the military a lost cause, and between the amount of money I owe on the property, the amount of money I am losing in this forced sale due to the damage I am not legally allowed to repair, as well as any court costs and fees, no lawyer was willing to take on this case voluntarily, knowing that if I lost it, I most likely couldn’t even afford to pay them their fees…”

Jon continued, even more so with the undivided attention of all in the courtroom.

“Minister Hill claims that the Department of Defence made the acquisition order when they did, due to finding out about improvements to the property that made it more viable for their intended purpose. I believe this is false, as financially speaking, it would have cost less to purchase the property when it was originally for sale and improve it exactly for their purposes,” Jon continued. “Sadly, what seems more likely, is that with the value of the property plummeting due to the Deoxys incident, Minister Hill and the Department of Defence saw this as an opportunity to purchase the property for far less than they would have purchased it for three months earlier. And to add insult to injury, the source of the damage emerged from a building owned and operated by the Department of Defence itself…”

The courtroom went silent, as all attention turned to Mark Hill, who tried to remain composed, however Jon had a feeling that Hill hadn’t expected this. Jon and Steven both knew this wasn’t the reason Hill had set his sights on the Academy. Jon had bruised his ego, and was a threat to him, so Hill went after the Academy. Pride was the source of this. However, it was much easier to convince the court that Hill was being advantageous and greedy than his actions being to soothe a bruised ego.

“Minister Hill, what do you say in response to this?” Judge Evans asked, her tone sounding more invested, having had this theory explained.

“I think Mr. Drake is clutching at straws, and conveniently leaving out a key piece of information,” Hill said smugly. “The fact that before the acquisition order was made, I personally visited the property at 381 Arcadia Drive, and met with Mr. Drake, where on behalf of the Department of Defence, I offered him a price for the property much higher than the market value before the Deoxys incident, in addition to a job at the training centre. And given the photos I have seen from the incident with Mr. Drake and his employees at the Whirl Islands earlier this month, specifically the man he killed in alleged self defence, as well as the Noivern his Latios disposed of, I’d say he is much more suited for the position I offered him than he is to teaching…”

Charlotte felt Dylan next to her tense up at the underhanded comment. The story about the Whirl Islands had reached the media, and there were rumours Jon had killed someone there in self defence, with all of them remaining silent about the incident. Hill had just confirmed it publicly.

“Careful…” Charlotte said to Dylan, who she was worried would strangle Hill for that remark.

“And what do I get in response to this generous offer?” Hill asks. “I get told, and I quote, to go f**k myself...”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” Jon chimed in, as Alyssa winced, knowing what he was doing.

“I said, Mr. Drake told me to go f**k myself...”

Chris found himself grinning, however he was the only one, as Steven muttered something about killing him.

“I’m sorry, I still didn’t hear you. One more time?” Jon asked, as Judge Evans turned to face him.

“Mr. Drake, I recommend you get your hearing checked before it costs you dearly…” Judge Evans said irritably, before bringing the hearing back on track. “Is what Minister Hill says true to your understanding Mr. Drake? Did he make an offer that was higher than the market value before the incident?”

“Minister Hill did make me an offer on the property, however this offer was made in response to me asking whether the Department of Defence, given the fact that it was their researchers responsible for the damage, would be reimbursing myself and other property owners for the damage done. I interpreted his offer as a bribe for silence, as the amount offered, whilst much higher than the value of the property before the summer, would have been inconsequential compared to the amount it would have cost reimbursing all property owners who sustained damage due to the actions, or lack thereof, of the Department of Defence,” Jon explained. “I believe Minister Hill made that offer, to prevent someone as well known to the public as myself from attempting to demand compensation from the Department of Defence, and in turn, influencing others on the island to do the same…”

Judge Evans' forehead wrinkled a little as she thought over what Jon had been suggesting throughout the trial. Whilst he made very valid arguments, Hill had an answer to almost all of them. It could go either way, that one side is right, and the other wrong, or vice versa, and there was a lot at stake for Jon if she were to dismiss his appeal, and a lot at stake for her if later Jon’s claims were proven true.

“Minister Hill, before I continue, do you have anything you would like to say in response?”

“Simply that the researchers who aggravated Deoxys were acting against orders,” Hill explained. “I understood quite early on that the Mossdeep Space Center was not equipped to be able to research the meteorite well, and ordered personally that it be transferred to Unova. The researchers responsible, who did not survive the incident, lied about the item being transferred, and researched it in secret, against orders and without my knowledge.”

Jon rolled his eyes at the comment, as Judge Evans continued to speak.

“Mr. Drake, you have made some very valid arguments, and have every right to be concerned about the forced sale of your property, when it is in a damaged state and therefore, selling for less. However, unless Minister Hill, on behalf of the Department of Defence, was to admit that everything you are accusing the Department of Defence of is true; that the Department chose to purchase your property due to seeing the disaster last summer as an opportunity to purchase it for a lower market value, I am not willing to dismiss the acquisition order entirely…”

Jon felt his chest tighten hearing this. Abbee breathed in sharply, whilst Chris’ knuckles went white, and Justin held his head in his hands.

“For this reason, I propose that the hearing be postponed until the day after tomorrow,” Judge Evans explained. “Mr. Drake, if you can give me reason to believe that the Department of Defence, or Minister Hill himself, has been negligent in their responsibility, at the very least, making them responsible for the Deoxys incident, or prove that the Department is being advantageous towards your difficult situation, I will personally approve your appeal, as it is unjust for someone to benefit from their own mistake, intentional or otherwise, that is the detriment of others. If you cannot, however, I will allow the acquisition order to go ahead, on the condition that the property be sold based on the value given at the last insurance evaluation before the Deoxys incident…”

Judge Evans dismissed them, as Jon breathed a sigh of relief, before shooting a glare at Hill, who seemed a little more nervous than he did at the start of the hearing.

“Come on,” Jon said to his group. “Let’s get somewhere a little more private before we talk about anything…”

Steven made an inquiry, and before long the group were in a private consultation room in the courthouse, where Jon let Latios out of his Pokeball, who turned invisible and waited outside, making sure that nobody eavesdropped without Jon knowing about it.

“Even with Jon’s immaturity towards the end,” Steven explained. “We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome…”

“Agreed,” Jon said. “At least with the outcome part. I think I handled Hill quite well…”

“I can’t believe you…” Alyssa said, shocked more than irritated. “You really are a lost cause when it comes to how you present yourself, aren’t you?”

“I thought it was pretty great,” Chris chimed in, earning a quick grin from Jon, who was in a surprisingly good mood.

“Which is evidence enough of how bad of an idea it was,” Justin added, having had to analyse transcripts of famous legal cases in his classes that year, and seeing very few where actions like Jon’s didn’t have major negative consequences.

Ignoring the chatter from the group, who seemed a little over-excited, Steven explained, for those who didn’t understand how good of a position they were now in, what the judge’s decision meant.

“Our goal was to argue why the order should be revoked, and subtly shed light on Hill, and turn the public against him, in order to remove him from power, be it having his party voted out in the next election, or have his party see him as a liability to them being re-elected, and he be kicked out. We had to be subtle because this hearing is on paper to determine who gets the Eon Academy, and after that, who gets Deoxys. It was never meant to be an inquest or inquisition into Hill himself, which meant that if we weren’t subtle about it, the judge would see the entire appeal as a slander-fest, and we’d lose on all fronts,” Steven explained. “But now, the judge is open to the fact that the Department of Defence may be acting in a way that it shouldn’t, and we can make public that much more without hurting our chances…”

“Do you have evidence that the judge is asking for?” Charlotte asked, wanting to make sure that Jon and Steven weren’t just excited because things are slightly less hopeless.

“Bits and pieces, yes,” Steven answered. “Regardless, Hill should be worried. A lot of eyes are now on him…”

Chapter 2
After the group left the courthouse, for the most part, they temporarily went their separate ways. Alyssa’s older brother and his family lived in Rustboro, with whom Jon and Alyssa were staying with for the duration of the hearing, and her sister in-law had been minding Amelia that morning. Steven himself had his father who lived in Mossdeep, and was spending the nights there. With Leon and Georgia, Alyssa’s brother and his wife, only having the one spare room, the interns had instead split the cost of a hotel suite with three bedrooms, the cost being reasonable when split five ways, and were spending their nights there. By the time they left the courthouse at 11am, there was little planned between then and dinner at Leon and Georgia’s that evening, which all were invited to.

Given the somewhat stressful events of that morning, they had largely gone their separate ways, with Jon and Alyssa returning to Leon and Georgia’s, Steven going to his father’s house where he intended on working on their case for the postponed hearing, and the interns all heading back to their suite at the hotel.

“Which brand of sauce was it?” Alyssa called out to Georgia from the other side of the supermarket aisle.

“Just home brand,” Georgia replied, as she looked for an item on the shelf on the other side of the aisle. “It tastes the same anyway. A few months back, I bought some, cleaned out the jar from the other brand, and transferred it over. Leon couldn’t tell the difference…”

Alyssa laughed at the lengths that Georgia was going to. She knew her brother could be stubborn over the most insignificant things. That being said, she knew she had to admit she had the tendency to hardly be any better.

It was a little after 3pm, when the pair found themselves in the large shopping centre, buying groceries, amongst other things. Normally Leon was the one to do the grocery shopping, however having invited all of the visitors to Rustboro in Jon’s party to dinner at their house, and being an exceptional cook, he was spending the afternoon preparing the evening’s meal. He had told Jon and Alyssa it can be a celebration of their victory, or mourning the end of the Academy. Either way, they were going to make an event of it. As such, Georgia was about to leave to get the groceries, and wanting to get out of the house a little, Alyssa left Amelia with Jon, who had no complaint in the matter, and offered to help Georgia.

“You really didn’t have to invite everyone around,” Alyssa said, as she placed the jar of sauce in the shopping trolley, before Georgia started pushing it towards the end of the aisle. “It’s enough that you guys are putting us up for a few nights. Let alone organizing dinner for five more people…”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Georgia answered. “I don’t know them myself, but I can see just how hard everyone has been working to save the Academy. Even with what happened last summer, Rose was ecstatic about it, and wouldn’t stop talking for weeks. I don’t even think it was the battling, but just having some adults who aren’t her parents or relatives that are looking out for her made that summer just that bit more special…”

Rose, Leon and Georgia’s eldest child, had attended the Eon Academy the summer before, and been largely under Abbee’s tutelage, which showed the most results with her beating Abbee in a battle, largely with Jon’s specific instructions.

“Honestly, I have lost count of how many times I have seen her watching the footage from that battle she won against her leader,” Georgia laughed, as she grabbed another item off the shelf. “So let us do this for everyone.”

“I’ll knock it off,” Alyssa said. “But Rose will be stoked to see everyone. Abbee especially.”

“We didn’t tell her they were in Rustboro,” Georgia said. “Figured we’d leave it as a surprise.”

As the pair continued making their way through the different aisles, grabbing the week's supplies for Leon and Georgia, as well as some snacks for the gathering they were hosting that evening, the pair continued to talk.

“Has anything happened with Dylan and his car?” Georgia asked, remembering that Dylan’s car was destroyed in the Deoxys attack, and with there being a refusal for the Department of Defence to take responsibility for the incident, and no relief funds or insurance companies wanting to pay anything and let them off the hook, Dylan’s car was one of the things that he still hadn’t received any compensation for.

“No, I’m working from home most of the time these days, so when he does need to drive, he usually borrows mine, though I know he misses having the freedom he was used to,” Alyssa explained. “He’s been working part time in the Pokefood shop that he worked in a few years ago, since the Academy is quiet, and he considered buying himself whatever he could afford, but Jon talked him out of it for the time being, considering if all goes well, he may end up reimbursed, and if he adds what he has saved to that, he could possibly get himself something newer and nicer anyway…”

Even though buying groceries itself was mundane, Alyssa enjoyed spending time with Georgia. Alyssa was the youngest sibling, with Leon being older than her, and their sister Emily being the oldest, and with Georgia being a couple of years younger than Leon, closer to Alyssa’s own age, she found herself somehow closer to her sister-in-law than Emily.

“You’re a saint for taking him in, you know that, right?” Georgia remarked, before backpedalling slightly. “Not to say there is anything wrong with him, but still, a lot of people would forward him onto some social worker or something, and look the other way…”

Just like Jon’s family, which until very recently consisted only of his grandparents, had accepted Dylan as if he were Jon and Alyssa’s son, Alyssa’s family had done the same, and due to them all living in Hoenn, had spent more time with Dylan in the nearly two years he had lived with Jon and Alyssa.

“It was a no brainer. I sure as hell wasn’t going to let him go back there after the summer had finished, and I know Jon wouldn’t either,” Alyssa explained. “I mean, right after we found out what was going on at home, and Dylan went to the police, his step dad showed up on our doorstep, and if our minds weren’t made up already, after that little display, they were…”

“He caused trouble?”

“He was screaming at Dylan for causing the police to look into him, and when Jon told him to leave, he realized Jon was the one who told Dylan to report it. Ended up spitting in Jon’s face, and Jon broke his nose…” Alyssa explained, careful to leave out the fact that this wasn’t the first nose, or bone in general that Jon had broken. “He left, Dylan got an intervention order, and there haven't been any massive issues since…”

Alyssa thought more about Dylan unofficially becoming part of their family.

“Honestly, it’s been great to see him grow since then. Even just in the months after he came with us. How much more he’d leave his room, and actually talk. He was nearly silent when he first arrived at the start of that summer,” Alyssa explained. “Then you look at the incident last summer, where he handled the evacuation, and is the reason none of the students got hurt. Hell, he even put me in my place a little this morning before the trial…”

“Did you need to be put in your place?” Georgia asked.

“Maybe a little. Even if I didn’t, I can handle being told I’m wrong, and for Dylan to stand up to me the way he did, it shows how much he is growing…”

“You know Rose really hopes he and Abbee get together?” Georgia laughed. “That way Abbee ends up being her cousin as well.”

“Don’t let Chris hear that,” Alyssa retorted, though finding it both hilarious and adorable that her niece was trying to set the two interns up. “He and Dylan already struggle to see eye to eye at times.”

The last item was placed in the trolley, before the pair made their way through the register, paying for the items, and wandering the foyer of the large shopping centre towards the car park. However as they did, Alyssa noticed Georgia checking her watch.

“Everything alright?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah it’s fine,” Georgia replied. “Just not sure I will be able to load the car, and pick Rose and Ethan up from school in time.”

Alyssa remembered passing a school that was next to the shopping centre on their way in.

“Are they at the school that we passed coming here?” Alyssa asked, to which, Georgia nodded. “How about I go and fetch them, and you get a head start loading the car up?”

Georgia agreed, causing the pair to go their separate ways, Georgia towards the car park, and Alyssa towards the street entrance that was closest to the middle school that Rose and her nephew Ethan attended.

The last bell for the day had just rung when Alyssa arrived at the gates of the school, and before long, dozens of students, bags in tow, were leaving the property in droves. Realizing she hadn’t asked Georgia where Rose and Ethan usually meet her, she realized she was in for a difficult time finding the pair. However, after finding a teacher, and explaining her predicament, she was taken to the office where the pair were called over the speaker system. As Alyssa waited for them to arrive, she found herself looking forward to the day when she could do this for Amelia. Take her to school in the morning, and pick her up in the afternoon, asking how her day was. She was pulled from her daydreams by Rose calling out to her as she entered the office, followed by Ethan, her twelve year old brother, who was much quieter and less outgoing than his older sister. The smaller boy had messy brown hair, that reminded Alyssa a little of Dylan’s, and wore thick glasses, to compensate for his unfortunately terrible eyesight. He said a quiet hello, before the trio left, as Alyssa explained that their mother was packing the car, and didn’t want to have them waiting.

As the trio walked through the shopping centre towards the car park, Alyssa’s attention was caught by an unfortunately familiar voice…

“Mrs. Drake?”

Alyssa turned to see approaching her from a nearby coffee shop, was the Minister for Defence, and currently Jon’s worst enemy, Mark Hill. He held a takeaway coffee cup in his hand, sipping from it as he approached.

“Mr. Hill,” Alyssa replied politely, keeping Rose and Ethan close to her. “How strange to see you here?”

“Nothing strange about it Mrs. Drake,” Hill replied with an insincere laugh. “Shopping centres are hardly private places, and I have been told this coffee is the best in Rustboro.”

Smiling on the surface, and making sure to keep her cool, Alyssa spoke, taking care to not make the same mistakes Jon would in this situation.

“Forgive me, I didn’t mean strange to see you here geographically speaking. I mean strange to see you specifically, considering you’re in the middle of a court case against my husband,” Alyssa said, using her professional tone that she usually reserved for when she was tolerating an interview with someone she deemed unpleasant. “Is there something I can help you with? I figure for you to risk the potentially bad publicity of approaching me given the current circumstances, you must have good reason?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Alyssa noticed Rose staring daggers at Hill, knowing that he was the one trying to end the Eon Academy.

“Forgive me Mrs. Drake. I simply noticed you passing, and decided to take the opportunity to apologize for the fact that your husband and myself couldn’t sort out this dispute a little more amicably, and by extension, to apologize for the inconvenience that this whole process must have been causing for you and your family the last few months,” Hill replied, Alyssa offended at the fact that he even thought she was gullible enough to buy his lies. He turned his attention briefly towards Rose and Ethan. “Are these your children?”

“My brother’s,” Alyssa answered, before Hill, having feigned enough extra decency, continued his spiel.

“Lovely. Anyway, I do hope that the coming hearing can work out beneficially for all involved. Though I do hope that Mr. Drake is aware that how he handles himself in the coming days could have more of an impact than he realizes,” Hill continued. “Jon is a talented trainer, and has contributed a lot to Mossdeep City. I’d hate to see his reputation tarnished, by falling into the trap of resorting to slander to try and gain some ground in the hearing…”

Maintaining her cool, knowing that Jon would have lost his by this point already, and aware she had two children with her, Alyssa made eye contact with Hill.

“No need to worry Mr. Hill. Jon places too much value in speaking the truth to resort to unsubstantiated slander, though I appreciate your concern,” Alyssa said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I am supposed to be bringing these two to their mother in the carpark, and have taken far too long already…”

Alyssa walked past Hill, with Ethan and Rose following close behind. When he was out of earshot, Rose spoke up.

“I think he’s lucky he picked a fight with Jon,” Rose commented, as Alyssa looked at her with slight confusion. “I’d rather be on Jon’s bad-side than yours…”

Alyssa laughed to herself, content that she had handled that situation well.

“I’m flattered. But do me a favour, both of you…” Alyssa said, knowing full well how Jon would react to hearing that Hill approached her with some badly veiled threats. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay? I’ll tell your Mum, and will tell Uncle Jon later tonight. I just think it best if he hears this from me…”
************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“So this is Alyssa’s sister’s place?” Charlotte asked, as the five trainers walked through the gate into the front yard of the house that Jon and Alyssa were staying at during the hearing.

“Her brother’s,” Dylan answered. “Leon, and his wife Georgia. Do you remember Rose, Jon’s niece who was at the Academy last summer?”

“Vaguely,” Justin answered, not having much to do with her, being in Abbee’s group.

“She’s the one who beat me, when Jon psychoanalyzed the lot of us, and trained the kids to be intern-killing machines…” Abbee commented, causing Charlotte to laugh.

“Oh, yeah, with the Sableye?” Justin asked, before he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled out his phone and saw a call coming through from Candice. He had tried calling her after the hearing that morning to fill her in, however she had been busy that day with Gym Battles, only now returning the call. “I’ll meet you guys inside…”

“She can wait! What’s another hour?” Chris said, before Abbee cocked her head and he realized his mistake.

“So what, if it were me calling you, you’d ignore it and call me back in an hour?” Abbee asked, causing Dylan to scoff.

“Nice one genius,” Charlotte said jokingly, before ringing the doorbell, hoping that their hosts for dinner that evening would answer before things got more awkward. Thankfully, Jon answered the door, greeting them, and looking towards the gate where Justin was on the phone.

“He said he’ll meet us in there,” Dylan explained as he entered.

“Candice?” Jon asked.

“What do you think?” Chris retorted, earning a sigh from Abbee. Jon waved at Justin, who noticed and waved back, before he closed the door, and guided them through the hallway into the kitchen and dining area, where Alyssa waited, holding Amelia, and chatting to who they presumed to be Georgia, whilst the kitchen was manned by Leon, which was confirmed to the other three when Dylan said hello.

“That smells incredible…” Abbee commented, the scent of whatever they were having for dinner that evening wafting through the room.

“Leon’s the best cook that I know,” Alyssa commented, before Georgia chimed in.

“Also the messiest. It’s always a fight figuring out who cleans up after he cooks,” Georgia laughed. “We’ll be cleaning up for days after this…”

Realizing that the surprise still hadn’t been blown, Jon called out, loud enough for the people upstairs to hear.

“Hey, Rose!” Jon called out. “Someone’s here that you’ll want to say hi to!”

A few minutes later, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs in the hallway the group had entered through, as Rose entered the room, recognizing the interns, and running straight to Abbee, giving her a hug.

“I didn’t know you guys were coming!” the fourteen year old said excitedly.

“We’re out of a job if Jon screws this up,” Chris laughed, earning another eye roll from Abbee, who seemed to have inherited Charlotte’s job of feeling shame for him when she became his girlfriend, seeing as it almost seemed like he was incapable of feeling shame himself.

“We wanted to be here for the trial,” Abbee explained, a little more sincerely, as Rose looked around, noticing the absence of one of them.

“Where’s Justin?”

“He’s taking a phone call,” Jon explained. Georgia’s eyes widened a little, as she grabbed a nearby magazine that was a few months old, and began flicking through the pages.

“Justin, is he this one?”

Georgia handed Jon the magazine, opened to a certain page, which Jon soon recognized and burst out laughing. He held up the magazine for the others to see, revealing the photo, taking up most of a page, of Justin and Candice, both dressed in many layers to survive the cold Snowpoint City winter, holding gloved hands, as caught by an annoyingly intrusive photographer. Chris began laughing as well.

“I don’t get what’s so funny, it’s a nice photo of the two of them…” Abbee sighed.

“They’re just immature Abbee,” Alyssa commented. “Boy’s brains aren’t fully developed until they’re about twenty five, so Chris is par for the course. Jon however, has no excuse…”

“It’s not the fact that the photo is funny, but the fact that Justin now can’t hide anymore…” Jon commented, before turning to Georgia. “But yeah, that’s him. Who do you think he’s on the phone to?”

“Young love…” Leon joked, as he donned some oven mitts, before opening the oven and pulling out a large, flaky looking pie, and placing it on the stove to rest. “You’ve timed coming perfectly. Dinner will be ready in five minutes, so find yourselves a seat.”

Rose, at Georgia’s request went upstairs to fetch Ethan, the younger boy emerging not long after, and hesitating for a second, seeming shocked at all the people he didn’t know in his house, before recognizing Dylan, and quietly saying hello, before following the group into the dining room, which barely fit the twelve people. In addition to the eight dining chairs were two office chairs, and a few foldable chairs.

“No Steven?” Charlotte asked.

“He’s taking the opportunity to spend time with his dad,” Jon explained. “He doesn’t advertise it, but his Dad is the president of the Devon corporation. Between that, and Steven’s own job, they very rarely get to see each other.”

Justin emerged from the hallway a few seconds later, almost being late to the meal itself.

“Sorry I’m late,” Justin apologized, before taking the only empty seat, between Charlotte and Ethan. Alyssa began introducing Justin to their hosts, as everyone began dishing up their dinner, and Ethan, timid as he was, began to look at Justin in his peripheral vision, and his eyes widened slightly, recognizing the trainer.

As the meal went on, Ethan slowly tried to work up the nerve to speak to Justin. He was about to take a bite to eat, when he felt someone tapping on his right shoulder. He turned to face the timid twelve year old, who looked at him with a mixture of admiration and anxiety, through his thick glasses.

“Are you,” he began, before he started to mumble almost inaudibly.

“I’m sorry?” Justin asked, slightly confused. “I didn’t quite catch that…”

Noticing the interaction, others around the table quietened down a little to listen, this being noticed by Ethan whose nerves began troubling him even more.

“Are you the trainer who caught Regieleki?”

The question was even quieter than the first time, however with less background chatter, Justin was just able to make it out.

“I am,” Justin said, awkwardly, as he had very little experience with kids. Between being Regieleki’s trainer, and being caught dating Candice, Justin’s fame had grown significantly, and he was used to being stopped in the streets by strangers, who wanted to ask him questions, or take a photo with him. Lots of different people, but until now, no children, and especially no children who struggled to speak above the volume of a pin dropping. “My name’s Justin. What’s your name?”

“Ethan…” the boy said quietly.

“When Ethan saw on the news that a seventeen year old caught an undiscovered Legendary Pokemon, trekking across a frozen wasteland to do it, he was really excited,” Leon explained. “He wanted to know all about Regieleki, and had so many questions about it. I ended up having to read all the papers your friend at the university published just to give him some answers, and even then I barely understood them…”

“Well, if you have any questions about Regieleki, I’m happy to try and answer them?” Justin said to Ethan, trying to encourage the boy to speak for himself.

“How many volts of electricity can Regieleki discharge?” Ethan asked, a little louder, surprising Justin at how technical of a question it was.

“He’s been researching how electricity works so he can understand Regieleki a little more,” Georgia explained. “We had to buy him an electronics kit so we could be satisfied he wouldn’t try experimenting with the electrical outlets.”

“I’m not exactly sure how many volts, because even for an electric Pokemon, Regieleki is unusual. Do you know what volts are?” Justin asked.

“It’s what you get when you times the amps by the resistance,” Ethan answered, the preteen shocking Justin with that knowledge. “Like when you squeeze a hose and the water comes out faster. It’s the same amount of water, but more pressure.”

“Well, Regieleki is special because it can change the resistance of it’s own body,” Justin explained. “So it can hit harder, using the same amount of electricity, by increasing the resistance.”

Ethan stared in wonder, as Justin continued.

“So when Regieleki was battling Deoxys last summer, and Deoxys used Zap Cannon, Regieleki hit that attack with an electric move of its own, and created a circuit between them, like wiring together two batteries,” Justin explained, to the enthralled boy. “Then Regieleki increased the resistance of its own body, so all the current followed the path of least resistance, which was Deoxys…”

“Wait, that’s how you gave Deoxys a hard time?” Jon asked, not knowing the specifics of the battle between the two Legendary Pokemon. “That’s genius…”

Justin grinned at the praise, as Ethan asked another question, this time about whether Regieleki’s weight changes with how much electricity it has stored, and Justin realized what his night was beginning to look like, as the others resumed their conversations. Eventually, Ethan ran out of questions, and began asking Justin a lot of questions about whether he knew things like the fact that there was estimated to be over four billion different patterns on Spinda, with it being the Pokemon with the most variance in its standard appearance. Justin found himself shocked at how much the young boy knew about Pokemon, realizing why he seemed so comfortable around Dylan who sat on the other side of him.

Dinner passed, and given the fact it was a Thursday night, and Rose and Ethan still had school the next day, they were sent to bed before too long, and Alyssa put Amelia to sleep in the room the three of them were sharing, leaving only the adults (relatively speaking) at the table. Having held off whilst the children were there, not wanting them to be there when Jon, almost certainly reacted badly to it, Alyssa told the group about what happened at the shops today.

“Jon, there is something I need to tell you, but before I do, remember the kids are asleep upstairs…” Alyssa said seriously, Jon looking at her slightly confused, and earning curiosity from everyone at the table.

“What’s going on?” Jon asked, unsure what Alyssa could say that warranted that warning.

“When I was walking Rose and Ethan back to the car, I was approached by Mark Hill…” Alyssa explained, as Jon’s face began to redden, and everyone at the table realized exactly why Alyssa had reminded Jon of the sleeping children upstairs. “He played it off as wanting to apologize for the fact that this dispute had gotten so ugly, and I didn’t give him anything he could use against you, but really, the whole conversation was a threat. Telling you not to go after him in the hearing…”

There was silence around the table, as everyone waited expectantly to see how Jon would react to this news. He had remained quiet, which was a start, and they attributed that to Alyssa’s reminder. However after a few seconds he spoke.

“I’m going to kick his f**king teeth in…” Jon said through gritted teeth, showing a great amount of self control, given the fact he hadn’t been this furious in a long time. “The gutless sack of s**t wants to threaten me, but doesn’t have the balls to do that, so corners you in a shopping centre… I’m going to-”

Alyssa was surprised when she wasn’t the one to intervene first, but Dylan.

“Jon, this is exactly what he wants…” Dylan said. “He is worried that you stand a reasonable chance of destroying his image, and have enough proof to do it. So instead of trying to disprove your argument, he’s trying to discredit you. He wants you to pick a fight with him before the trial. And he wants to distract you from being able to destroy him in court…”

Jon was silent, staring at the table in front of him, which was slightly disturbing to those who didn’t know him well enough to be at least a little familiar with it.

“One comment, one threat, one shove, and he has won,” Dylan said. “The Eon Academy is my home, and I know you see it as yours too. But if we lose it, I have nowhere else to go back to. So don’t lose for the sake of playing into this a**holes hands…”

Jon sighed, before scrunching up his napkin into a small, condensed ball.

“You’re right. I know you are,” Jon said. “He’s trying to get me to do something stupid that he can use against me, and he’s trying to throw me off my game. I can’t lose my grip right now…”

“I want to see this a**hole burn, and the best way we can make that happen, is by doing exactly what you and Steven are planning on doing. This changes nothing,” Dylan concluded. “And think of it this way. In six months, once he loses everything, he will try and do something stupid. Just like Lance did. And at that point, you’ve got all our blessings to knock his teeth in…”

After a few obvious attempts by others around the table to change the subject when it seemed like nothing beneficial would come from the talk of Hill approaching Alyssa that afternoon, eventually conversation returned to normal. When the room was loud enough that she couldn’t be overheard, Abbee, who sat between Dylan and Chris, nudged Dylan lightly. He leaned over, so he could hear her speak quietly.

“You’re good for him. All of us really,” Abbee said quietly. “Honestly, thinking about everything that’s happened, I don’t know where we’d be if you decided to go to Math Camp instead…”

Dylan went a little red at the praise, even if Math Camp sounded like a nightmare, though wished it was unwarranted. By the end of his first summer at the Academy, he had come to near idolize Jon, and whilst his image of the trainer became more grounded after living with him, he still held great admiration for him, and hated the fact that this trial was bringing out the worst in his mentor. The parts of himself he tried to suppress.

Thinking over Abbee’s comment, he remembered how isolated he was early on, and how Abbee was the only other student who went out of their way to include him regardless at the time.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” Dylan replied. “Between getting me to leave my room, the fight you and Victini gave Deoxys while Chris, Justin and I were off trying to evacuate and send out an SOS, and the support you’ve rallied for the Academy since, I’d say we’d be equally boned if you went to Space Camp instead…”

Chapter 3
“Where is he…” Jon muttered as he sat in the courtroom with Alyssa, Dylan, Justin, Chris, Abbee and Charlotte. Steven had emphasized to him the importance of not being late to this hearing, and with less than a minute until it was due to start, he was now missing.

“Did he say anything?” Alyssa asked, feeling equally as anxious as Jon was. Whilst they were confident in the case they would be presenting that morning, part of the evidence they had would not make the impact they wanted if it were presented by Jon, instead of by Steven like the intended.

“He said he has something that can help us with the case, but he will meet us in the courtroom, and explain if he has time. Otherwise, to trust him…” Jon explained.

“What, no details?” Dylan asked nervously. “Just trust him?”

“Are you okay with that?” Charlotte asked Jon.

“I’d be an a**hole if I wasn’t,” Jon answered. “I’ve pulled worse stunts on him, and he’s yet to let me down…”

Twenty seconds later, Steven arrived.

“What’s going on?” Jon asked Steven as he took a seat.

“I have a witness who is willing to speak out against Hill,” Steven explained, however, before Jon could question him further, Judge Evans entered the room, and the formalities of beginning the hearing commenced.

“Mr. Drake,” Judge Evans said, addressing Jon. “Last time we were here, I told you that if you could prove that Minister Hill and/or the Hoenn Department of Defence, has been negligent in their responsibilities, or worse, I’d approve your appeal, otherwise, the property will be sold, albeit at the market price before the incident involving Deoxys. Before we go any further, do you wish to proceed, on the belief that negligence has been at play in this situation, and if so, are you ready and willing to argue your case?”

“I believe that negligence is the least of Mr. Hill’s crimes, and alongside Mr. Stone, hope to bring to light the irresponsible actions of Mr. Hill, that lead to the events which followed, and by extension, show the lack of truth in Mr. Hill’s arguments against my claims during Thursday morning’s hearing,” Jon said, shocking most in the court with how direct and aggressive his statement was. “I believe he has acted irresponsibly, and the public needs to be aware of this…”

“Mr. Drake, I trust you have evidence to back up the claims you are alluding to, and won’t simply be taking this as an opportunity to slander Minister Hill?”

“With my home, and the surrogate home of my students on the line, I would offer nothing less than the truth…”

“Then please, enlighten me as to why you believe Minister Hill has been negligent, or irresponsible.”

Jon noticed a glare from Hill on the other side of the courtroom, before he glanced at his notes.

“The possibility that I proposed on Thursday morning was that Minister Hill and the Department of Defence were attempting to acquire my property in order to take advantage of a disaster, that one could argue was the result of the actions of the Department of Defence, in order to acquire the property for a lower price. Minister Hill countered that he had offered me a price well above market value, which I will happily admit he had, though with the offer made being less than the cost to reimburse property owners on Mossdeep for the damage that one could argue was the result of the actions of the Department of Defence, I saw this offer as a bribe to buy silence from a high profile resident of Mossdeep Island, and by extension, reduce the amount of people who would seek imbursement from the Department of Defence,” Jon explained. “In response to this, Mr. Hill gave the same response that he gave on behalf of the Department of Defence after the incident. That whilst Deoxys came from a building owned and operated by the Department of Defence, the researchers who aggravated it, resulting in the destruction that occurred during the incident, were not acting under orders, instead disobeying them, having not transferred the meteorite when ordered, doctoring the paperwork to make it appear in transit, and researching when they weren’t supposed to. Have I missed anything Mr. Hill?”

“No…” Hill replied, through a forced smile.

“What I believe, and hope to prove today is that Mr. Hill was indeed aware of the secret research being done, and the fact that Deoxys, in the form of the meteorite, hadn’t been transferred to Unova like he claimed to have organized, but instead was still on Mossdeep Island,” Jon explained. “Firstly, I’d like to ask Mr. Hill a question…”

Jon turned and faced Hill, staring him in the eyes, before asking his question.

“Mr. Hill, where did the name Deoxys come from?” Jon asked, “I don’t mean why was Deoxys given that name, but who coined the name Deoxys for the meteorite-like Legendary Pokemon that eventually transformed into the Pokemon that attacked Mossdeep Island?”

“Deoxys was the name given by one of the researchers acting against orders,” Hill explained. “It was given that name due to its unique DNA, and what we later learned of the effect it has on Deoxys' ability to change shape and regenerate tissue, after the incident.”

“And how did you come to discover that the name Deoxys was given to the specimen by your researchers?” Jon asked, knowing the answer Hill would give.

“When the Department of Defence processed the damage and salvaged what we could from the ruins of the Mossdeep Space Center, we found a hard drive of one of the computers with the research notes that were taken when researching Deoxys,” Hill explained. “In order to keep their activity from being discovered, the researchers had stored the information locally, without allowing it onto the Department of Defence networks, where it may be discovered.”

“And what date was this hard drive recovered?”

“September 11th…”

Jon grinned to himself, before looking down at his paperwork, pulling out a sheet of A4 paper, worn from being folded and unfolded, read and reread many times.

“I would like to present my original copy of the acquisition order detailing the forced sale of the property at 381 Arcadia Drive,” Jon said, before he read the paper out loud for all in the court to hear.



”Dear Mr. Mason.

We are writing to inform you that under Section 51 of the Hoenn Constitution, your property under the address of 381 Arcadia Drive, formally known as The Eon Academy, is being compulsorily acquired by the Department of Defence, due to its isolated and secure location for future projects.

An offer for the property will be forwarded to you within the next fourteen days. If you wish to appeal this decision, you have twenty-eight days from the date of this letter to submit your appeal. Please note that if the appeal is unsuccessful any cost of legal representation and court fees will be your responsibility.

After receiving this letter, you are forbidden from making improvements to the property, or selling the property to a third party. This order will be valid for nine months, in which time the Department of Defence will acquire the property. If this order expires and the property has not been acquired, the order will be null and void, and the Department of Defence will be responsible for any losses on the property due to the order.

Additionally, the Hoenn Department of Defence requires you to sign over ownership of the Pokemon registered to the Eon Academy known as Deoxys to the Department of Defence. Whilst the Pokemon may be under the care of Steven Stone, the Pokemon is too dangerous to be allowed to be registered to a civilian or civilian corporation, and once ownership is transferred, Mr. Stone will be required to hand the Pokeball containing Deoxys over…”

Jon finished reading the letter, before looking up.

“This letter, referring to Deoxys by the name given by the alleged rogue researchers, sent to me by the Department of Defence, is dated to September 4th, an entire week before the hard drive that Minister Hill claims was the source of his knowing of the name of the Pokemon, was recovered…”

Justin grinned hearing this simple, yet damning point made against Hill, noticing that his classmates were doing the same, as Jon continued.

“Whilst on its own, this observation could be chalked up to an administration error, or simply Mr. Hill recalling the date wrong, this does raise questions about Mr. Hill’s statement regarding his lack of awareness of the research being undertaken in the Department of Defence’s facility,” Jon continued, noticing Judge Evan’s focus on him, occasionally shifting to glance at Hill. “I’d like to discuss the events that Mr. Hill referenced on Thursday, at the Whirl Islands in Johto.”

“Surely they are irrelevant?” Hill objected.

“I will be the judge of that,” Judge Evans dismissed.

Thankful that the judge was willing to hear him out, Jon continued.

“Myself and the five Eon Academy workers present here today rented a houseboat to stay at the Whirl Islands, west of Goldenrod City Johto, partially to have some sort of gathering before we gathered for the hearing, and also to see if we could witness the Legendary Pokemon Lugia,” Jon explained. “On the morning of the fourth of April, the six of us departed the houseboat, and hiked north alongside the east coast of the islands, however due to me receiving a call that I anticipated to be about this hearing, and there not being enough reception away from the boat to take the call, I made my way back to the boat, leaving my Latios with the interns in the event of an emergency. When I returned, I noticed that the fridge on the boat was missing items, and before I could respond, I was attacked, and taken hostage at gunpoint by three men who were hiding on the boat.”

“I was forced off the houseboat and taken to the ship these men had arrived on, where another two men were, and was bound, before being beaten for information,” Jon explained. “The information being the location of my own Latios, Abbee Strauss, and Justin Collins, who are the trainers in possession of Victini and Regieleki currently. These men, who I determined to be poachers, made it clear that they knew when myself and Justin arrived in Goldenrod…”

“During the early hours of the morning of April fifth, I managed to get free, whilst four of the men were off the ship, and after stealing a firearm from one of the men, who I had seen using a laptop, I asked him where my own Pokemon were, and when he claimed they were with his captain, who was off the ship, made him prove it by showing me the footage of the Captain with my Pokeballs leaving the ship, on the laptop. However, as he did this, I caught a glimpse of an icon on the desktop called Pokemon League Trainer Database...” Jon explained. “Naturally, I took this laptop with me, and whilst I was captured once more before the altercation was over, I managed to keep the laptop, which was handed over to the Johto Police Department, before, at the request of Mr. Stone, it was handed over to him, with the Johto Police Department retaining a copy of the data. Due to his more substantial understanding of the laptop, I’d like to invite him to share his observations.”

With permission from the judge, Steven stood to his feet allowing Jon to take a seat, as Steven began explaining.

“One wouldn’t be foolish for assuming that the poachers simply found a way to get access to the Pokemon League Trainer Database using their own laptop, however, it didn’t take much time at all for me to discover that it was the laptop itself they had gotten access to, which already had access to the Pokemon League Trainer Database. The laptop itself was government issued,” Steven explained, before giving a brief explanation of the process in which government computers are created and distributed, beginning life with access to all government servers, and the unneeded ones for its purpose having access removed by the government's own IT support, before it found itself in its place.

“This laptop made its way into the hands of the poachers that attacked Mr. Drake and his employees earlier this month,” Steven explained. “And whilst one could argue that the laptop may have been stolen, there is protocol of what to do in the event of a missing government computer, which includes changing the entry for the computer's serial number in the government’s list of PCs to mark it as missing, and removing their physical addresses from the government white-lists. This PC however, didn’t have it’s serial number in the device list, whilst it’s physical address was still in the white-list, allowing access to whoever happens to possess the laptop.”

“Additionally, I cross referenced the laptop’s serial number to the backed up copies of the government computer list, to see if the laptop had actually been requested by a government department, or whether the manufacturer who provides the computers made extra, and discovered that the serial number itself did exist on the government device list, remaining there until half an hour after the laptop was delivered, before it was deleted from the list altogether,” Steven explained. “The department that requested this laptop, in addition to eleven others, which disappeared from records almost as soon as the order was fulfilled, whilst still being on the white-list of accessing government servers, was the Department of Defence…”

Jon glanced over at Hill, whose expression hadn’t changed, however whose face had gone white.

“After heavy analysis of this laptop, looking through files and messages, I have made the following discoveries. Firstly, this laptop was purchased illegally, and based on the information provided, it was intentionally ordered by someone in the Department of Defence, before being removed from the record, and sold, be it directly to these poachers, or via a middle man, as a laptop with access to up-to-date government information,” Steven explained. “Secondly, whilst the laptop was sold with only access to the Pokemon League Trainer Database, which would be well worth its weight in gold to poachers, as made obvious by their specific targeting of Mr. Drake, Mr. Collins and Miss Strauss, at some point between it being sold, and it being recovered by Mr. Drake, someone had managed to piggyback off the access it had to the Pokemon League Trainer Database, and grant access to other government servers, most notably, servers used by the Department of Defence…”

“Thirdly, anticipating that their access may be discovered, the owner of this laptop created another server, with the laptop programmed to detect changes to the Department of Defence server, and copy files over to their own server, as to retain access to the copies if access were to be revoked to this device,” Steven continued. “Amongst these copies of files from the Department of Defence servers, were a series of research notes, dated to the evening before Deoxys attacked Mossdeep City, identical to those recovered by the Department of Defence weeks later on September 11th, which Minister Hill claims were only stored locally, and not on any server accessible outside of the Space Center. The copies of these files were stored two folders away from Minister Hill’s plans for the proposed Military Training Center, which contained no mention of the property at 381 Arcadia Drive…”

With Steven finished explaining, Jon stood to continue making his case.

“Your Honour, you asked me to give proof that Minister Hill or the Department of Defence have been negligent, or irresponsible. Even if Mr. Hill himself had nothing to do with the laptops being commissioned by the supplier, only to have records removed, and them to eventually find their way into the hands of criminals, the fact that between this, and the researchers at the Mossdeep Space Center who allegedly acted against his orders, one must ask if Mr. Hill is in control of his department, and if not, how much illegal activity is going on the he is simply unaware of?” Jon began. “However, I cannot bring myself to believe that Mr. Hill is ignorant of these issues in his department, when evidence such as the letter his department sent me, containing information he claimed to have not been aware of at the time, as well as files that he claimed to only have access to after September 11th, being proven to have been on the Department of Defence’s server weeks earlier, is brought to the table…”

“Your Honour, I have provided reasons as to why the forced sale is beneficial to no one when considering what other options are present. I have provided a likely reason as to why my property and my property alone is being targeted by the Department of Defence, even if there are better options. I have pointed out discrepancies in all of Minister Hill’s defences, both with regards to why he is targeting my property, and the question of responsibility for the Deoxys incident, and have given evidence that unless Mr. Hill sits at his computer blindfolded, it is extremely likely that he was aware of the research being done that he claimed was against orders, well and truly before the incident that brought it to the public eye,” Jon pleaded. “Given all of this, can you see any reason for my property to be taken without my consent by the Department of Defence, or any reason for the Department of Defence, under the leadership of Mr. Hill, to take possession of Deoxys, when all evidence seems to indicate the rampage it went on was the result of the Department’s actions, all of which were known to Mr. Hill?”

Jon noticed Steven shoot him a look, however it was too late. Judge Evans was ready to speak, and their case was damning enough against Hill to save them.

“Mr. Drake, as you have said, my closing statement on Thursday morning was that the appeal would be approved, if you could give significant reason to believe Minister Hill and the Department of Defence have been negligent in their responsibilities. And you have given evidence to multiple issues in the Department, that even if Minister Hill is unaware of, raises the question of how much control he has over his own Department, and in my eyes, indicates negligence,” Judge Evans explained. “For this reason, I will approve your appeal, effective immediately, that the property at 381 Arcadia Drive no longer be under the effect of the acquisition order issued on September 4th, 2019. Additionally, the cost of replacing the carpets, and any other deterioration that is the result of the order, will be covered by the Department of Defence…”

Jon’s grin widened, as Chris and Dylan barely managed to stay still.

“The question of the ownership of Deoxys however, is a significantly more complicated matter,” Judge Evans continued, as Jon realized what was happening. “The outcome of this hearing with relation to the acquisition order is of, relatively speaking, little consequence in the grand scheme of things. Yes, it is of major importance to yourself and those invested in the property, however in the scale of the Hoenn region, the decision carries little weight. However, Deoxys is an extremely powerful Pokemon, capable of causing mass devastation, as you and your employees would understand from a first hand experience of battling and capturing it. And whilst the actions you and your employees took were exceptional, I am not currently convinced that you have the necessary resources to safely retain that Pokemon, even in light of the questions raised about Minister Hill and the Department of Defence, compared to the Hoenn Military…”

Jon realized this is why Steven had given him the look. He had rushed too quickly, trying to save the Academy, and had forgotten about Deoxys...

“Your Honour, may I interject at this point?” Steven asked, earning a nod from Judge Evans.

“Based on the research data on Deoxys that was copied from the Department of Defence servers, Deoxys, in the meteorite form, was experimented on in ways that would not be approved by any sort of research ethics committee, and as a result of this, became violent and aggressive, needing the intervention of three Legendary Pokemon to subdue it. However, Deoxys was originally found, and handed over to the Space Station by Charlotte Jones, one of Mr. Drake’s employees, and in the hours that it was in Charlotte’s possession, and the night it was in mine before I handed it over, Deoxys, meteorite as it was, showed no violent or aggressive intention, as confirmed by Mr. Drake’s Latios and his ability to detect emotions…”

“Objection!” Hill called out. “Latios’ alleged ability to detect emotions is hardly a scientifically sound form of analysis, and should be treated as mysticism at most.”

“Latios proved time and time again during League operations that Mr. Drake contributed to, most notably the S.S. Wishmaker incident, that his sense is accurate to a terrifying degree, being largely responsible for both uncovering the existence of Shadowcraft to the League, and being able to see the potential for a peaceful resolution with the Diamond Ladies, who partially due to Latios’ own intervention, turned themselves over to the League, and began attempting to make amends for their crimes. One needs only to read the reports of any operations that Latios has been involved in to know his abilities are accurate, and beneficial.”

“Overruled,” Judge Evans said to Hill, before returning her focus to Steven.

“As the Hoenn League Champion, and trainer of the Legendary Pokemon Registeel, I truly believe that Deoxys is naturally not an aggressive Pokemon, and under the right training, can be calmed and made safe. And given the Department of Defence’s history with the Pokemon, and Mr. Drake’s own track record with Legendary Pokemon, both his own Latios, as well as the fact that two of his employees both possess powerful Legendary Pokemon who have been safe enough to be let out in a campsite with over thirty kids present, with no hint of an issue, I would strongly recommend that Mr. Drake be given the opportunity to attempt to rehabilitate the Pokemon…”

“Minister Hill, do you have anything to say in response to this?”

Hill practically snorted with smug satisfaction.

“Mr. Stone uses Latios as an example of Mr. Drake’s ability to train Legendary Pokemon, however Latios’ record indicates that he lacks training,” Hill retorted. “If the holes left in the S.S. Wishmaker, as well as the incident in which Latios practically dive-bombed a public area of the ship don’t speak enough to this, the Noivern with its neck rotated two-hundred and seventy degrees speaks volumes…”

Jon’s hands curled into fists, especially knowing how much Latios was struggling with the fact that he was responsible for two deaths.

“Mr. Drake?”

Jon took a breath, before speaking.

“Any fault in Latios’ behaviour, is due to my own shortcomings as a trainer,” Jon admitted. “The incident in which Latios allegedly divebombed a public place in the S.S. Wishmaker, was in response to myself and Mr. Stone discovering an extremely narrow opportunity to steal the belongings of the Diamond Ladies, and effectively prevent them from using Shadowcraft, and allowing Latios and I to detain them with little to no risk. I was worried the opportunity would pass, and in that panic, told Latios that he had to get those books, and I didn’t care how many holes he put in the ship getting them, and to take no half measures. Mr. Stone was present for this conversation, as well as two other operatives, whom I am happy to name in a private setting for their testimony, but don’t wish to reveal their identities publicly without their consent. Point being, Latios’ behaviour on the S.S. Wishmaker was the result of him following my orders to the letter.”

The judge looked Jon over for a moment, before asking another question.

“What of the Noivern that Minister Hill referenced,” Judge Evans asked. “What were the circumstances of Latios’ actions?”

Jon wished this hadn’t come up, not wishing to speak so publicly about the man he killed, however answered.

“Towards the end of the incident at the Whirl Islands, I was onboard the houseboat we rented, and was being held hostage by Michael Peterson, the captain of the group of poachers. Dylan Squier, Justin Collins, Charlotte Jones, Abbee Strauss and Christopher Kingswood were battling the three other poachers, and Mr. Peterson was attempting to steal our ship, as I had damaged their own one, in order to escape with an infant Lugia that his men had captured in an unregistered Pokeball, now in the possession of Mr. Kingswood. Under the orders of Mr. Squier, Latios had tampered with the engine of the houseboat, in order to prevent them from leaving the island with it. Latios then disarmed Mr. Peterson, who then threw the Pokeball to one of his subordinates who had a Pidgeot and a Noivern,” Jon explained. “I engaged Mr. Peterson, both of us unarmed, as Mr. Kingswood, on his Charizard, and Miss Strauss, on Latios, went after the subordinate who was on his Pidgeot, getting away with the Lugia. This subordinate then sent out Noivern, who was trying to hold off Charizard and Latios so that its trainer could escape. Latios has a telepathic range of roughly two kilometers, and engaged the Pidgeot in a way that forced it to change trajectory and not stray too far from myself that he couldn’t be telepathically connected to myself…”

“Whilst this was happening, Mr. Peterson overpowered me, and was attempting to suffocate me, with his firearm just out of reach. Latios was aware of this, and in order to help me, told me that he would give me a window. However Latios couldn’t save me, whilst also preventing the subordinate getting away with Lugia, with Noivern attacking him, so used his telekinesis to break Noivern’s neck, killing it instantly,” Jon explained. “If Latios hadn’t have done that, he wouldn’t have then been able to use his sight sharing ability to share his own vision with Mr. Peterson, where he then used a Flash attack to blind himself, and by extension Mr. Peterson, as well as the Pidgeot and the poacher. It was only for that that I was able to get the firearm and…”

Jon trailed off, with Judge Evans realizing the effect talking about this was having on the normally confident trainer.

“We get the picture,” Judge Evans asked. “Was Latios’ choice of how he dealt with Noivern his own judgement, or yours?”


“A mixture of both,” Jon explained. “During an incident on the S.S. Wishmaker with the Diamond Ladies, I was worried for the safety of my wife, and ordered Latios to protect her. If anyone tried to hurt her, I told him to do that, and it seems he remembered…”

Abbee shifted uncomfortably, glad that Victini was in his Pokeball and not able to hear that Jon had given the order for Latios to kill Cassandra in the same way, if she had been perceived as a threat to Alyssa. Granted, she knew the telepath would find out at some point, if the stray thought arose during a conversation.

“Mr. Drake, you’re aware that an instruction such as that would have had you charged with murder of some degree, and Latios likely ordered to be euthanized had Latios followed through with it?” Judge Evans asked.

“I was aware. But if I had to choose between a life without her, and prison, it was an easy choice,” Jon answered confidently. “As for Latios, I would have ordered him to run, and with his skillset, very few stand a chance at finding him. Thankfully, circumstances didn’t play out in that way…”

Steven breathed in sharply at Jon’s comments, before taking over.

“In relation to the discussion at hand, it is obvious that Latios is exceptionally trained, and his only faults lie in being too willing to follow orders that Mr. Drake may not have thought through completely. Additionally, Latios is also well trained enough to be able to act on its own judgement, as shown with how he handled the situation with the Noivern, saving both Lugia and his trainer, with no instructions needed from Mr. Drake,” Steven explained. “Given Mr. Drake has stood down from acting as an operative for League Operations, due to seeing himself the way the stress of them affects his judgement, and now lives what should be a relatively stress-free life teaching, not accounting for outside factors, I don’t see these mistakes as being relevant to his suitability to training Deoxys, compared to recent errors in judgement by the Department of Defence…”

“Mr. Drake, how would you train Deoxys without putting the other residents of Mossdeep at risk, should it become aggressive?” Judge Evans asked.

“When I first captured Latios twelve or thirteen years ago, for the first six months he was in my possession, I trained him somewhere practically untouched by humans, many kilometres from any sort of civilization, where if Latios were to show signs of being violent, there was no risk of someone being hurt. Due to being Latios’s trainer placing a target on my back for poachers, as shown by the incident at the Whirl Islands, I would rather not disclose the location publicly, however Mr. Stone is aware of the location, and can verify that it is safe,” Jon explained. “I would only ever let Deoxys out of its Pokeball there, until I am certain that it is safe. Additionally, I would have Charlotte Jones present-”

“Why Miss Jones?” Judge Evans asked, sounding slightly shocked.

“Because with my responsibilities to the Eon Academy, my students, and as Latios’ trainer, once Deoxys is safe, I can’t give it much of a life. Latios had his time being able to battle competitively, and helped me win the High Seas Tournament, and now is content with the life he lives, which ideally should be much quieter and less eventful. But long term, I can’t give Deoxys the life that I have already given Latios,” Jon explained. “Additionally, Miss Jones was the one who found the meteorite that turned out to be Deoxys, and was the only one who even considered trying to stop the attack by capturing it, and came up with the plan to capture it. Once Deoxys is safe, if there is anyone who is a good fit to become it’s trainer, it is Charlotte…”

Charlotte went a little red at the comments, especially when she realized Judge Evans was staring at her.

“Miss Jones, how would you feel about this arrangement?”

With Alyssa’s prompting, Charlotte stood and moved next to Jon, before addressing Judge Evans.

“Part of me is terrified of Deoxys. Effectively, it took six of us nearly an hour to keep it occupied so it wouldn’t attack the rest of the island, and it was a miracle that we were able to capture it. If not for Regieleki, Victini and Latios, we would have hardly stood a chance…” Charlotte began. “However, I was the one to find Deoxys on the beach, and I was the one who agreed to hand it over, where it was experimented on and essentially tortured-”

“Objection!” Hill called out, before Charlotte cut him off.

“Steven told me about the research notes!” Charlotte yelled at Hill, irritated by the man. “You tried to crush it, burn it, freeze it, even electrocute it, knowing full well that it was a Pokemon! Don’t bulls**t me and tell me that isn’t torture!”

Jon put his hand on Charlotte’s shoulder, calming her, though proud that she’d stood up to Hill so publicly, hoping that this didn’t cost them the case.

“Minister Hill, I’m speaking to Miss Jones…” Judge Evans said, before turning to Charlotte, with surprising grace towards the eighteen year old. “Please continue.”

“Between when I handed Deoxys over, and it being captured, most nights I was at the Academy, I was having strange dreams, which we are pretty sure was actually Deoxys reaching out to me as a cry for help,” Charlotte continued, hoping that revelation to the public wouldn’t hurt their case. “It reached out to me, because I was the one who found it, and I guess because it felt safe in the short time it was with me. And then I was the one who captured it…”

“So yeah, part of me is terrified of Deoxys, but the rest of me knows that I owe it the chance to have a good life, more than anyone,” Charlotte explained. “And I have been Jon’s student long enough to know that fear will go away eventually, if he is helping me to work with this Pokemon…”

“You may be seated…” Judge Evans said, causing Charlotte to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

“You spoke well,” Abbee whispered to Charlotte, grabbing her hand tightly.

The indecision in Judge Evans was obvious to all in the courtroom. Steven knew the decision over Deoxys could go either way, and decided it was time.

“I’m sorry about this…” Steven said to Jon, before addressing the Judge. “Your Honour, I’d like to bring a witness into the court to make a statement if that is okay…”

Jon began to worry hearing Steven’s apology and his first thought was that Steven were about to reveal Rayquaza to the judge, as evidence of Jon’s ability with training unruly Legendary Pokemon. What he was actually planning, shocked Jon even more.

“Who is this witness?”

“The former Indigo Champion, Lance…”

Abbee felt Chris next to her, tense up at the mention of his cousin. He hadn’t seen Lance since before the S.S. Wishmaker incident, nearly three years earlier.

“I will allow it…”

Steven left the room for a moment, returning a few minutes later with a man familiar to practically all in the room, though few had seen him in his orange prison overalls, or with his hands and feet bound. Alongside them was a prison guard, who remained within arm’s reach of Lance at all times.

Lance walked down the middle of the room, his chains clinking with each step, as Jon shot Steven a glare, which he promptly ignored. As he walked past Chris, Chris noticed his eyes flicker to the side, noticing his younger cousin, before continuing to walk indignantly towards where he was expected. Once he was in place, and the courtroom went quiet again after the shock of Lance being asked to testify in this case, Judge Evans spoke.

“For the record, can you please confirm your name and/or title?”

“Lance, former yet undefeated Champion of the Indigo Plateau,” Lance replied, opting to use his title, as was his right as a former champion, as opposed to his legal name. Jon couldn’t help but wonder whether his incarceration was worth it to him, being able to have undefeated as part of his title…

“Lance, have you ever met Minister Hill,” Steven asked, and Jon realized exactly why Steven had brought him here.

“Yes,” Lance answered shortly. “I met him in December of 2017.”

“Didn’t your incarceration begin in August of that year?” Steven asked, leading Lance to say exactly what he wanted.

“Minister Hill approached me in the Johto Regional Medium Security Prison. He told me he had an offer he wanted to make,” Lance explained. “He told me that due to a mistake made by one of his pilots, Rayquaza was acting aggressively towards aircraft in the Hoenn Route 131 area, and he wanted to exterminate the Pokemon…”

Jon felt himself tense up at the mention of Rayquaza in a courtroom, knowing full well that Lance had no reason to believe Jon had captured the Legendary Pokemon, but unable to shake the uneasiness anyway.

“Minister Hill wanted to wait until Rayquaza would leave its roost on Sky Pillar, before setting up an ambush that consisted of military weapons specialized to kill it, as well as a Dragon Type specialist to occupy it and help exterminate it…” Lance explained. “He told me that Mr. Stone had objected vehemently to the plan, and to prevent him from interfering with the plan, the Department of Defence had detained him against his will…”

There was shock amongst those in the courtroom, as even Judge Evans was taken by surprise.

“If this is true, then why did Mr. Stone fail to mention his detainment at all, or even seek justice for this closer to the incident?” she asked, her eyes narrowing on Lance.

“At a guess, I would say the information surrounding the detainment was deemed classified to the highest degree by the Department of Defence, and should Steven had revealed it himself, he would have been court martialled and reprimanded, and the leaked information covered up,” Lance answered, sounding almost bored. “Myself on the other hand, will already be spending the majority of my life in prison, and being charged with leaking this sort of information won’t change that…”

“Mr. Stone, is this true?” Judge Evans asked. “Have you been withholding information about a questionable detainment due to fear of backlash from Minister Hill and the Department of Defence?”

“No comment,” Steven answered, knowing that by saying this, he couldn’t be held responsible for leaking information, but also knowing that anybody with half a brain would understand the implication. He didn’t need to convince anyone for the sake of charging Hill, so even if the no comment didn’t help bring him to justice legally speaking, everyone watching this trial, who would then be voting in the election later that month, would be convinced.

“Objection!” Hill called out. “This is classified information, shared in confidence, that is now being disclosed in a public hearing.”

“Minister Hill, the majority of the information of this meeting between the pair of you seems to be revealed already, and doesn’t paint you in a positive light. Have you been in contact with Lance at all in the last two years?” Judge Evans asked.

“No, I haven’t-” Hill began.

“Then effectively, it seems that there is nothing else that Lance can disclose after he finishes his testimony of this meeting, so you have two options. You either prevent the rest of this testimony from being disclosed, and let those who only hear half of what is shared here make up their own minds about what they think happened after, or you let the testimony be finished, and hope the truth is a little more flattering than what the public will assume,” Judge Evans answered. “Remember there is an election in three weeks…”

Hill went silent, as Judge Evans turned back to Lance.

“You said Minister Hill had an offer,” the judge asked. “I can safely assume you are the dragon expert he was referring to. What did he offer you in return for your services?”

“He offered me a pardon for my crimes,” Lance explained. “My freedom, and I accepted the offer…”

Judge Evan’s brow furrowed at the comment.

“You were convicted of attempted murder, and obstruction of justice, planning on killing the late Violet Radcliffe and Jarena Farrell, and framing Mr. Drake and his Latios for the crime. Additionally, you were tried and convicted in Johto. Surely you understood that a minister from another region’s government would have no possibility of delivering that promise?”

Lance revealed a menacing grin.

“I was well aware…”

“Then why did you accept the offer, if you knew he couldn’t keep his word?”

Lance’s grin widened.

“Because taking the offer, gave me the opportunity to double cross Minister Hill, and capture Rayquaza for myself. With Rayquaza at my disposal, it would have been near impossible for me to have been taken back to prison…”

“Why admit this?” Judge Evans asked, curious by the man. “I don’t know the details of your sentence without looking over the reference documents, but surely you would one day be eligible for parole, and now you have this conversation, recorded to potentially stand between you and your freedom someday?”

“Because Minister Hill, is an arrogant piece of s**t, who looked down his nose at me, and treated me like I was a halfwit child that he could manipulate to do his dirty work…” Lance sneered. “I hate Jon Drake. But even more than that, I hate Mark Hill, and if exposing his dirty little secrets, at the cost of a few more years in prison is enough to ruin him, then I will pay that price in a heartbeat…”

Chris was shocked hearing Lance like this. The man sounded unhinged, and whilst he didn’t know his cousin well before the S.S. Wishmaker incident, he certainly wasn’t like this when they were both younger.

Judge Evans looked through her notes, this latest revelation throwing more confusion into her decision making. However after a few moments, she glanced at Steven, and seemed to have a thought.

“Mr. Stone, during the Deoxys incident, why were you not mentioned in any reports about the altercation at the Eon Academy?” Judge Evans asked. “Surely as the Hoenn Champion, a resident of Mossdeep, and a part time teacher at the Eon Academy, you would have been present during such an incident?”

“I wasn’t present because I wasn’t on the island for a few days…” Steven answered, not giving details, but leading Judge Evans towards the natural next question.

“Where were you during this incident?”

“No comment…”

Judge Evan’s eyes widened at Steven’s avoidance of answering the question.

“Had you been detained by Minister Hill for similar reasons to your detainment in 2017?”

“No comment…”

“I think I’ve heard enough…” Judge Evans sighed, shocked at the revelation that had come from what should have been a simple appeal. “My mind is made up…”

“This hearing, as much as the direction changed, was originally to determine whether the Department of Defence should be allowed to forcibly acquire the property at 381 Arcadia Drive, Mossdeep, and to determine who should be in possession of the Pokemon Deoxys. This is not a hearing to determine whether the Department of Defence, represented by Minister Mark Hill, has been negligent or irresponsible in his position, though that question did play largely into the outcome of this hearing, and given the amount of information that has come to light in this hearing, I anticipate that certain measures will be taken and questions will be asked before too long,” Judge Evans answered. “All this being considered, it is my decision that in addition to Mr. Drake having the acquisition order revoked from his property, Deoxys will remain in possession of the Eon Academy, to be trained by Mr. Drake, who by extension will be responsible for the Pokemon, until such a time when Miss Jones can safely take possession of the Pokemon. Court is adjourned...”

There was a silent shock amongst all those from the Eon Academy, at the way that morning's trial had played out. Judge Evans gathered her belongings, before leaving via the door she entered from that morning, leaving the courtroom full of people, stunned by the way the trial had ended.

“Lance,” Jon said, shocked at what he was about to say. “Thank you…”

“Don’t thank me,” Lance answered irritably, not out of any sort of goodwill, but instead broken pride, at doing something to help someone he hated, even if it meant screwing over someone he hated more. “I didn’t do a damn thing for you, so don’t think I give a s**t what happens to you and your little school. I did this to destroy Hill, and nothing more…”

Hearing this, and feeling awkward seeing his mentor, talking to his cousin, who now disgraced was once his own idol, Chris stood forward, taking a breath, and trying to sound more sure of himself.

“Lance,” Chris said sternly, forcing himself to make eye contact with his older cousin, whom he was intimidated by. “Thank you. Really…”

Lance stared at Chris for a moment, taking in the sight, before snorting a little.

“You’ve gotten taller…” Lance remarked, before looking towards Steven. “Can I go now?”

Steven sighed a bit, hoping that this might have been enough for Lance to have grown a little, but feeling those hopes dashed. Steven nodded, as Lance was walked away by the prison guard, to be taken back to his home in Johto Regional Medium Security Prison.

Before anything else could be said, Jon felt a rough grip on his shoulder, and turned to see himself face to face with a very angry looking Mark Hill.

“You’re going to regret this…” Hill said quietly, only loud enough for those nearby to hear. “You’ve f**ked with the wrong person…”

“Mr. Hill, don’t you have an election you should be worried about?” Jon asked. “I anticipate you have a fair bit of damage control to run…”

“You…” Hill began, before Jon cut him off.

“If you really want to take this further, you know where to find me…” Jon said, staring the man down. “381 Arcadia Drive, Mossdeep. I’m sure you know where to find it. But be aware, you are not welcome there, so if you do show up, it will be trespassing, and I’ll make sure to know exactly just how far I can go with handling trespassers.”

Hill began to fume, as Jon turned away from him, and the group made their way out of the courthouse, attempting to avoid media workers who were pestering them for interviews. It wasn’t for another hour when the eight of them found themselves back at Leon and Georgia’s house, and had an opportunity to talk about what had happened.

“Why the everloving f**k did you bring Lance in?” Jon asked Steven, not angrily, but with the same sense of shock that he would have had if he just missed being hit by a train.

“He reached out to me after the trial on Thursday, when the judge said you needed to prove Hill was negligent,” Steven answered. “He had an axe to grind with him and saw this as an opportunity to do that. I’d known Lance for years before all the S.S. Wishmaker stuff, and whilst I wouldn’t say we were friends, I knew him well enough to know when he is as determined to do something as he was to ruin Hill, he would make good on it. So I had him transferred here…”

“Took a hell of a risk, but it paid off…” Jon answered. “Your detainment was the best weapon we had, but couldn’t use. Lance on the other hand…”

Steven sighed.

“Honestly, I hoped his time in prison had changed him a little,” Steven remarked. “But considering how vocal he was about hating Hill, I doubt it…”

Chris overheard the comment, wishing he didn’t agree with Steven. Abbee held his hand, and gripped it a little tighter…

“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Jon replied.

“You really think he’s changed?” Chris asked.

“Not much, but a little…” Jon answered. “Back on the S.S. Wishmaker, he did the wrong things for the wrong reasons, and it was a s**tshow. Today, he did the right things for the wrong reasons. He could have destroyed Hill’s reputation, and also tried to throw the trial and cause us to lose, but he didn’t. He settled for declaring how much he hates me, but how much more he hates Hill. Considering what he did back then, I’d say it’s a very small step forward…”

“Maybe…” Steven answered. “At this rate, I’m not sure he will be relatively normal before he dies of old age though…”

“I’d agree with that…” Jon said, before having a thought and turning to Dylan. “Dylan, when we get back, get your stuff packed up so you can move into the main lodge.”

“Am I cramping your style or something?” Dylan asked, having lived in the house with Jon and Alyssa since he moved in, with the exception of during the summer.

“No, I just figure if I turn the power back on to the lodge, you might as well move into your old room there,” Jon answered. “Charlotte might get bored living in that big building on her own…”

Charlotte’s attention was caught by the comment, as she looked over at Jon who had a stupid grin on his face.

“You want me to move into the lodge?” Charlotte asked.

“That was the plan wasn’t it?” Jon asked. “You live on site so we can train Deoxys? At least, that was the plan before all this bulls**t with the government…”

“I mean, sure!” Charlotte answered, excited by the sound of it.

“We have four weekends left until the start of summer,” Jon answered. “Dylan and I will be up to our a**es getting the property ready and a camp prepared before kids arrive. We could use all the help we could get. And Deoxys is going to need a lot of work…”

“We got this…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

Final Epilogue for Season 2 is done, which means Season 2 is finished. Less Episodes than Season 1, but I am pretty sure the wordcount eclipsed it easily with the last few episodes and epilogues being huge... (EDIT: Did the numbers. Season 1 was 140,000 words. Season 2, with three less episodes, was 189,000. Close to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...)

Now to plan Season 3. Season 4 is a retelling of Spiritwater, and Season 5 I have ideas for. Season 3 on the other hand, my only thought is to have it more character development focused. Season 1 had them meet and grow. Season 2 had them be challenged even with their new strengths, but also find a new formal for themselves. I anticipate Season 3 will have less life or death, high stakes, with hopefully a little more fluff, and a stronger focus on character growth, to build them up for the challenges that will arise in Season 4 and 5 (the final season).

Now I have three assignments to write to finish of the uni year. I anticipate Season 3 will start late November/Early December.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Got assignments to write and know if I start writing Season 3, I won't write my assignments...

So to get my Eon Academy fix, Ask Me Anything! Characters, plot, lore, anything!

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 1: Targets

Spoiler:

The morning sun kept the small island in the south of Hoenn rather warm, as Jon sat on the camp chair that he kept on the island, hidden under a tarp in some of the wooded areas. During his first six months with Latios, training here, he knew that packing to spend each weekend on the island and carrying it across would be tedious, and had the idea of bringing the essentials to spend the weekend there in a few trips, leaving them, and only bringing perishable supplies. Whilst he took everything back off the island when he was confident enough in Latios’ training to have him out of his Pokeball around people, he quickly brought enough supplies back after Rayquaza was captured, this time in many trips over a few days, with Latios carrying him and whatever supplies, knowing that renting a boat would leave a paper trail.

Whilst Jon hadn’t been able to return to Southern Island between the Deoxys incident and his trial with Mark Hill, knowing the amount of attention that was on him, that meant that he couldn’t actually remove the supplies from the island, so after Hill’s disgrace and subsequent dismissal, Jon wasn’t sure whether the tent, bedding and furniture he left, stored out of the way, would be in reasonable condition when he returned to Southern Island, this time with Steven and Charlotte in tow. After nine months, and surviving the winter, the tent and foldable chair were both in reasonable condition, in their own bags in addition to being tightly wrapped up in the tarp. The pillow and sleeping bag however were mould infested, and Jon made a note to bring them back to Mossdeep to dispose of them.

On the three flying Pokemon, Latios, Flygon and Skarmory returning for the first time to Southern Island, since the summer before, enough supplies for Charlotte to be coming on the regular were also carried. Another tent, bedding, and another chair. On that first week, they had arrived in mid afternoon, and between Rayquaza, as well as Jon and Steven’s teams, they felt safe enough with Latios flying back, unencumbered without carrying Jon and able to fly at high speeds, to return the mouldy bedding and get replacements. That afternoon, Rayquaza was let out of his Pokeball for the first time, and Jon spent an hour apologizing to the majestic Dragon for it being in its Pokeball for the good part of a year, trying to explain the Pokemon. Charlotte wasn’t sure what shocked her more. The fact that Jon had Rayquaza in his possession the entire time she knew him, or the fact that Jon seemed to be conversing with it as easily as he would her or Steven. Even Steven was taken aback at the sight of the large Dragon, having never seen it in person before.

Allowing Rayquaza time to get accustomed to being out of the Pokeball, though keeping it under strict orders to not stray too far from the island, lest he be spotted, Jon and Steven spent the next hour, telling Charlotte the story of Rayquaza, and the circumstances behind his capture. Granted, piecing together the fact Jon had Rayquaza, and Lance’s testimony against Hill, she had put most of the story together. However the real shock to her was the fact that the Diamond Ladies were still alive, and Cassandra Silvers helped Jon capture this extremely powerful and dangerous Legendary Pokemon, and was responsible for his ability to communicate with it.

Once everyone was on the same page, and Rayquaza was introduced properly to both Charlotte and Steven, they prepared to let Deoxys out of the Pokeball for the first time. Jon withdrew Rayquaza, not wanting Deoxys to feel threatened by the Pokemon and attack out of instinct. Steven held the Pokeball containing Deoxys, ready to return it should it attack, and Charlotte tried to prepare herself for what was to come. Whilst the Psychic type was legally registered to the Eon Academy, for all intents and purposes, she was it’s trainer now. For better or worse.

Steven let the Pokemon out of its Pokeball, and none were overly surprised when the Pokemon that emerged wasn’t the one they saw attempting to destroy Mossdeep Island, however the meteorite that Charlotte had recovered on the beach, the first night she was in Mossdeep the summer before. Whilst they weren’t completely certain, Latios had shown Jon his own memory of the point of impact where he hit Deoxys at top speed, capturing it in the Pokeball, and they figured the force of the hit itself may have been enough to rip out the central organ.

On that first afternoon, Charlotte sat by the meteorite-organ, resting her palm on it, and trying to keep her thoughts from spiralling into fear and doubt over the Pokemon, knowing that whilst Latios believed it didn’t understand the thoughts of humans and other Pokemon telepathically, it may be able to understand emotions, and didn’t want to risk alarming it with her own fear. Their goal was for it to know her, and feel safe, given what it had gone through at the Space Centre.

Whilst this happened, Jon and Steven attempted to, whilst focusing on the object itself to make sure they didn’t miss any potential danger, keep Charlotte calm, with light-hearted conversation, whilst also keeping their own thoughts focused on trying to not think anything that Deoxys could perceive to be a threat, particularly Jon, who had to balance being ready to let Rayquaza out should anything happen, whilst not letting the danger flood his thoughts.

Whilst it seemed nothing had happened that afternoon, when Latios returned, Jon’s new bedding in tow, he confirmed that when he saw Deoxys emotions, as little as Latios actually understood them, were similar to what he saw when the meteorite was placed on the table, the day they found it, and not as they were the night of the attack. Whilst Latios didn’t know what the auras representing Deoxys emotions correlated to, like he normally would, he could guess that it was feeling calm. The trio then returned Deoxys to it’s Pokeball, before sleeping for the evening, Steven sharing a tent with Jon, and Charlotte in her own, which would now stay on the island with the other supplies.

The next morning, they resumed what they were doing, this time with Latios, though invisible, watching Deoxys like a hawk for any sign of change. Whilst Latios, or anyone he shared his vision with for that matter, couldn’t explain the colours they saw that made up Deoxys aura, they all agreed that the colours were getting richer, as if the emotion it felt at that time were growing stronger. They only hoped it was a sense of calm, and not something else.

It was noon that day when things started to change. Charlotte was the first to notice it, being the closest, and tried her best to remain calm. As she held her hand over the crystalline organ, she noticed thin, near invisible fibres begin to flow from it, finding their places on the organ, very slowly creating a body. Whilst every instinct she had was to withdraw her hand, she didn’t want the Legendary Pokemon to feel that she had any ill will towards it, even though it took all of her sheer willpower to not panic. She coughed slightly, getting Jon and Steven’s attention, before nodding towards her hand, as they realized, and focused a little more on it.

Slowly, the fibres continued to extend from the orb, acting as the basis for Deoxys body, which grew outwards from its core. Whilst she had seen Deoxys regenerate during the battle in a split second, that was a single limb, compared to the entire body it now had to regenerate. It was nearly an hour before the fibres stopped, by which point, the shape of Deoxys lying on the ground, Charlotte’s hand over its chest, had been present for five or so minutes, the Pokemon’s cold eyes staring at her. When the process seemed to end, Charlotte slowly removed her hand, standing to her feet, and stepping back, as the Pokemon levitated itself upright, watching them all cautiously. Jon nearly called Rayquaza out when it’s form shifted, however Charlotte called out for him to wait, watching as it took on its bulkier, defense oriented form that they had seen during the battle at Mossdeep.

“If it wanted to attack us, it would change into its attack form, and if it wanted to run, it’s speed form is nearly as quick as Regieleki…” Charlotte had said, forcing herself to be calm. “This is it’s defensive form. Which means it probably wants to stay, and doesn’t want to fight us, but doesn’t want to get hurt either…”

Seeing the logic in what she was saying, Jon didn’t send out Rayquaza, however watched as Deoxys’ gaze turned to where Latios floated, invisible to all who relied only on sight to know he was there. Latios quickly turned visible, explaining to Jon that Deoxys had telepathically detected him, and he figured it would be less threatening if Deoxys could see the opponent who had ripped it from its body the year earlier.

The afternoon was seemingly uneventful. When it became clear that Deoxys wasn’t going to move, the trio began talking, at first quietly, not wanting to alarm Deoxys, but eventually letting the conversations happen naturally. At first Deoxys watched them intently, especially Charlotte and Latios, however it began letting its gaze wander, taking in the sight around it, as empty as it was. At the end of the day, Charlotte returned Deoxys to it’s Pokeball. It flinched at the sound of the Pokeball operating, however seemed to relax slightly again to it’s slightly less uptight self, when it realized it was returning to the Pokeball, and they meant it no harm.

The next morning, they had let Deoxys out, and gradually it shifted its form into its standard form, though still not letting any of them out of it’s sight. That was the only progress made that day, as Deoxys still didn’t move, and the three trainers didn’t let it out of their sight.

The next weekend, Steven hadn’t joined them, not wanting to draw attention to Southern Island, and risk a follower spotting Jon with Rayquaza, or worse, spooking Deoxys resulting in it panicking and becoming violent. Jon and Charlotte went alone, leaving Dylan at the Academy again to iron out details of the camp that was due to start there in just over two weeks. That weekend saw slow but significant progress. Most notably, Charlotte offering Deoxys food, though unsure what it would do with it, given its lack of a mouth, and Deoxys accepting it, telekinetically levitating it towards itself, after Charlotte demonstrated with another biscuit, eating it. Surprisingly, as Deoxys held it, similar fibres to the ones that made up its body, emerged from its palm, absorbing the biscuit she offered directly into its body. Jon made the comment that once Deoxys was safe, she would have researchers lining up to study the Pokemon.

The other point of progress that weekend, was Deoxys seemingly becoming significantly less suspicious of Latios, the Eon Pokemon telepathically trying to bond with it, though unable to understand specific thoughts, or even the emotions that it felt.

The weekend after was the one that worried Jon and Charlotte the most. When they arrived on the Friday evening, they let Latios out of his Pokeball, however not Deoxys, letting the Eon Pokemon rest. Additionally, during the day Saturday, Deoxys was let out of its Pokeball, but not Latios, with Jon confident enough Deoxys wouldn’t attack, allowing for Latios to rest a little more. That evening however, Latios was let out of his Pokeball, and Deoxys was allowed to remain out, in addition to one of Charlotte’s Pokemon, which Jon had only realized during the day would be beneficial to their cause.

It had been between the trial, and her moving to the Eon Academy when Jon had told Charlotte he had something planned for all the interns, but for her to be included, she needed to catch a Pokemon from a list that he had just sent her. He wouldn’t say why, as he wasn’t sure his plan would work, but to trust him. Before leaving Sinnoh, she had made her way to an abandoned mansion in Eterna Forest, known for being the home of many Ghost Type Pokemon, and captured herself a Haunter.

In addition to Latios who remained awake to keep an eye on Deoxys, and prevent it from running away, Haunter would be present too, ordered to use Mean Look if Deoxys attempted to flee.

Deoxys was slightly alarmed by the new Pokemon, however within an hour or so, returned to its normal, silent and near unmoving self, only watching and never acting. Jon however barely slept that evening, knowing that Deoxys, though under watch of Latios and Haunter, was just outside.

Charlotte however managed to sleep, and was pleasantly surprised the next morning when she woke up, realizing that the dreams she had that night were similar to the strange ones she had the summer before. This time however, instead of it being focused on pain, the emotions she thought she felt were a sense of caution, mixed with curiosity.

Latios confirmed that Deoxys remained still for most of the night, however did wander around the campsite a little, though not far enough to warrant any concern. The next day was relatively uneventful, which Jon was glad for, having barely slept.

Which left them to this weekend. Jon sat in his chair, watching Deoxys, who stood a few meters from the tents, watching intently, something that still unnerved Jon. They had allowed Deoxys to remain out of the Pokeball the night before, with only Latios and Gengar, which had only evolved a few days earlier, supervising it. Jon had awoken earlier, covering for Latios after being filled in. Again, Deoxys wandered around, however did nothing of concern. Latios even mentioned that Deoxys seemed to actually respond well to Latios’ attempts to communicate, in his limited understanding.

Jon’s attention was pulled, as was Deoxys', by the unmistakable sound of a tent being unzipped as Charlotte emerged, yawning lightly.

“Morning,” Jon called out, before gesturing to the camp stove in front of him. “Coffee?”

“I’m good,” Charlotte responded, glancing over at Deoxys, whose cold stare followed them. She lowered her voice a little, although knew there was little point. “Any news?”

“Nothing major. Same as last week,” Jon explained as he sipped his own cup of coffee. “Though Latios thinks Deoxys might be responding well to his attempts to communicate…”

Going to the food bag they had brought, and pulling out a breakfast bar, Charlotte spoke.

“So where now?” she asked, as she took a seat in her camp chair, and began fiddling with the wrapping of her breakfast bar.

“Good question. I’ve been thinking…” Jon explained, as he gently placed his cup of coffee on the ground next to his chair. “I think our best bet is to try and aim to get Deoxys trained to be battled…”

Charlotte felt a slight sense of concern, and out of the corner of her eye, noticed Deoxys looking over at her. She quickly corrected herself, knowing that an impulsive thought may trigger the Pokemon.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Charlotte asked calmly, intentionally trying to focus on Jon. “Putting Deoxys in that situation could overwhelm it and cause it to lash out…”

“That’s definitely a risk…” Jon explained before taking a moment to consider his thoughts. “But I think that if we get to the point where Deoxys is calm in a serious battle between us here, and is able to understand that a battle isn’t a threat, I think that understanding could be a serious advantage in making sure Deoxys is safe. Think about it. How much pressure is a Pokemon in a competitive battle under?”

“A lot…”

“Exactly,” Jon explained. “They have to make split second, sound decisions, and follow instructions, whilst potentially being hit by an attack that could knock them senseless. Heck, even kill them if the opponent is being reckless and taking it too far. If we can get Deoxys to that level of handling pressure and not being overwhelmed and lashing out, then I think that we can safely say that being around a large group of people and Pokemon going about their business will not overwhelm it…”

Charlotte remained unconvinced, so Jon continued.

“I’m not saying you go and try and order it to fight Rayquaza. We take baby steps, like we have been…”

“What sort of steps?” Charlotte asked.

“Today, we will let some of our Pokemon out of their Pokeballs, and let them wander the island, under instruction not to get too close, unless Latios thinks that it is safe,” Jon explained. “Start with Pokemon it didn’t battle against last summer, and after a while, if nothing goes wrong, maybe even send out one of the Pokemon it fought against. We want it to not be worried by seeing a new and unfamiliar Pokemon.”

Charlotte nodded, following his reasoning so far.

“Tomorrow, let’s have an extremely tame and sensible battle,” Jon explained. “Your Gengar against my Blaziken. Blaziken will pull his punches. We want it to see that Pokemon battling each other isn’t a situation it needs to be scared of. And we need to make sure that we are enjoying it, and our Pokemon are as well. Keep it fun.”

“Okay, but from there, how do we get it to want to be involved itself?” Charlotte asked. “It has barely moved when it can see us…”


“Latios will double down his attempts to communicate with it,” Jon explained. “And once he makes some progress, he will very gently see if Deoxys wants to battle…”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“If we know it doesn’t that means we have ideally broken some communication barrier between it and Latios. Honestly, I am hoping that Deoxys is like an infant, and will learn to understand our language…” Jon explained, well aware of the example with Amelia speaking more and more with each week that passed. “Because once it does, I may even be able to communicate with it, without Latios. And in that case, we will hopefully not be guessing as much…”

Charlotte thought the plan involved risk, however understood attempting to tame and rehabilitate a Pokemon that suffered the way Deoxys did, was full of risk.

“Let’s do it,” Charlotte said, before glancing back at the unnerving Pokemon who seemed intent on following her with its gaze. “But let’s give Deoxys some space…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Justin rolled his eyes at Chris and Abbee, who sat that close to one another, that he was convinced their connected arms would fuse, as they talked quietly, laughing about something inaudible to Justin. The ferry usually takes two hours, and for the last hour and fifty-five minutes, this is what he had been listening to. He had attempted fruitlessly to try and make conversation, however it seemed like whatever topic he brought up, they would then start on some tangent related to it that only the pair of them understood, eventually leaving him by himself. Normally he would have messaged his own girlfriend, however being in the sea between Lilycove and Mossdeep, there was no phone signal. Eventually he had enough.

“Do you want me to give you two some space?” Justin asked slightly irritably, though Chris and Abbee knew he was only kidding around.

“Sorry Justin,” Abbee said with a slight grin.

“Don’t be sorry, he was like this with Candice last summer…” Chris retorted, as Justin rolled his eyes.

“That’s a load of s**t and you know it…” Justin retorted. “We weren’t even technically together then…”

“No, but you spent all week making googly-eyes at her, and left me to do that event alone…” Chris replied.

“You mean the event that I gave up ten hours or so to help you with?” Abbee said. “And googly-eyes? Who says googly-eyes?”

“Victini,” Chris said, noticing Abbee’s puzzled look. “Don’t ask…”

“Point remains, we’ll be off this ship in ten minutes ideally, and in a car on the way to the Academy in fifteen,” Justin continued. “And on behalf of everyone else who has to be around you two, please tone it down…”

“We will…” Abbee said, though a grin crossed her face that concerned Justin. He remained silent, waiting to hear the reason for it. “But you said we have fifteen minutes…”

“F**king hell…” Justin muttered as Chris began laughing. To her credit, they did tone it down, Abbee only making the joke to mess with Justin.

“So who’s picking us up?” Justin asked, not being the one to organize the lift. He had been the last to arrange flights to Hoenn, and not wanting to spend the two hour trip on the ferry alone, and knowing Abbee and Chris would fly to Hoenn and go to the Academy together, he had found out when they were planning on arriving, and joined in.

“No clue,” Chris answered. “At a guess, Jon, Dylan, Alyssa, or maybe even Steven…”

“So basically, all of the possible people involved at the Academy who can drive…” Justin remarked dryly.

“I asked Jon if someone could pick us up. He told me he’d make it happen, but didn’t say anything more,” Abbee explained. “So I guess we will see…”

They emerged from the ferry and made their way to the small car park, however didn’t see either Jon or Alyssa’s car.

“Over here!”

They looked over to where the familiar voice came from, and saw Dylan stepping out of a dual-cab ute, similar in size to his car that was destroyed the year before, albeit much shinier and newer.

“Hey!” Abbee called out, as the group approached, giving her friend a hug.

“So you finally were able to replace the car?” Chris asked, as he shook Dylan’s hand, with Justin following close behind him, interjecting before he could answer.

“Charlotte didn’t come to meet us?” Justin asked.

“I’ll explain in the car,” Dylan answered. “I haven’t had breakfast yet, and I’m starving…”

He quickly unlocked the shiny hard lid that covered the tub, as the three trainers stowed their baggage there, before Justin climbed into the front seat, and Chris and Abbee climbed into the back.

“This seems nearly brand new?” Chris asked, as Dylan started the car.

“It is. After the military had to retract their acquisition order, and Hill was disgraced, his party kicked him out within three days,” Dylan explained. “Then to try and do some damage control, they reimbursed everyone who had property on the island damaged, as well as compensated for things like additional damages due to the time it took, and loss of income.”

Even outside of Hoenn, Hill’s dismissal made the evening news for weeks. Granted, due to the involvement of a high profile trainer such as Jon Drake, references to the events that happened in the Whirl Islands, and a shock, scathing testimony from the disgraced Indigo Champion Lance, the story was huge. And by extension, when the government at the time was voted out in the election only a matter of weeks ago, that also made the news.

“Because the Eon Academy missed out on heaps of income this year, and survived because Jon and I found other work, Jon wound up with a fair bit more given to him than he expected. I had already saved a few thousand myself during the year, and they reimbursed me for the value of my car, so Jon found room in the budget to give me a slight bonus to help buy something brand new,” Dylan explained. “Jon was actually shocked at how much they gave him as reimbursement for the damage and all the other trouble…”

“A lot?” Abbee asked.

“Put it this way. Between the amount he got paid, and being in the good graces of a bunch of locals who weren’t sure they would ever be reimbursed, and wanted to return the favour, enough that in the four weeks since, with the help of a few tradespeople and business owners on the island, he managed to get another two lodges built, to house the hundred people who are coming to the Eon Academy this summer…”

When Dylan had mentioned to Abbee in a message a week earlier that they had closed registrations at a hundred people, she was shocked. However, hearing that two entire lodges were built in the space of four weeks shocked her even more.

“Goddamn, it helps to be famous…” Chris muttered.

“Considering the slander I was reading about him last year on the Anniversary of his High Seas win, I’m a little surprised,” Justin added.

“So where’s Charlotte?” Abbee asked, remembering that Dylan told them he would explain in the car.

“Her and Jon left Mossdeep on Friday to go train Deoxys. They’ll be back this afternoon,” Dylan answered. The passengers went slightly quiet at the mention of the Legendary Pokemon.

“How are things with Deoxys going?” Justin asked Dylan.

“They’re making progress, it’s just slow,” Dylan answered. “I’ll let them explain it, since I haven’t been there, but I think it’s safe to say you won’t see Deoxys this summer, shy of a miracle…”

“Funnily enough, I think I’m okay with that,” Abbee remarked. “Don’t get me wrong, what they did to it was messed up. But I’m still terrified of it…”

Wanting to change the subject, Dylan made eye contact with Chris in his rear-view mirror.

“How’s Lugia going?” Dylan asked. “Has he grown much?”

“About another foot,” Chris answered. “At a guess though, he still has another ten feet to grow, and another two hundred and fifty pounds…”

“He’s going to eat you out of house and home…” Dylan laughed.

“Yeah. I wonder how Jon goes feeding-” Chris began, before realizing Justin wasn’t aware of Rayquaza. “Latios…”

Dylan refrained from rolling his eyes, not wanting to give away to Justin that Chris had slipped up.

“Latios’ food intake isn’t too difficult. Not much more than your Dragonite I’d guess. But his thirst for beer…” Dylan answered. “I’ve never seen such a thing in a Pokemon.”

“Well, I think Lugia will flip when he sees Latios again,” Chris answered, thankful that Dylan had spared him from the potential slip-up. Justin, just thankful that Chris and Abbee had taken the hint, was completely oblivious.

On the way back, Dylan stopped through a drive-through fast-food restaurant, however when rounding the corner, used the car's controls to call Alyssa.

“It’s an unofficial rule of living in that household,” Dylan explained as the phone dialled. “If you’re going through the drive-through on your way home, you call ahead and see if anyone is hungry…”

Before anyone could respond, Alyssa’s voice came through the car’s speakers.

”Dylan, what’s up?” Alyssa asked, and before Dylan could answer, Abbee called out.

“Hi Alyssa!” Abbee said loudly, “Chris and Justin are here too!”

Alyssa laughed at the audience to the hands-free call, before saying hello to the passengers, as Dylan spoke.

“I’m starving, and am getting something that will clog my arteries,” Dylan explained. “You want something?”

There was a laugh from Alyssa on the other end of the line, before she spoke.

”Screw it, I’ve been good all week…” Alyssa answered, earning her a laugh from the rest of the car. ”Get me the usual. I’ve made Lili her lunch, but can’t be bothered making my own…”

“I’m not judging,” Dylan replied. “Want me to smuggle it in so she doesn’t see?”

”She’ll be having a nap before you get here, so don’t worry,” Alyssa answered. ”Thanks!”

************************************************** ************************************************** *********

The four interns found themselves arriving at the familiar sign of a Latios silhouette that marked the entrance gate to the Eon Academy, for all but Dylan, the first time in nine months. When they had left nine months earlier, smashed windows and torn up earth were visible from the front gate, as well as a large Latios shaped hole in one of the fences. Now in the distance, more buildings than what was there the year before were visible. In addition to the two lodges on the left hand side of main hall, there were two past it, nearer to the fenced off cliff edge of the property.

“It’s good to be back…” Abbee said, not wanting to say that she spent the good part of the last year worrying she wouldn’t be.

“Agreed,” Chris said, as Dylan drove through the gate that Justin held open, before stopping to let him get back in the car, and driving towards Jon and Alyssa’s house.

“Are you sure we won’t be too noisy having lunch in the house?” Abbee asked. “Amelia’s napping…”

“That child will sleep through a Whismur Uproar,” Dylan said. “Well, not quite that, but she takes after her dad in how heavy of a sleeper she is. Unless we start yelling or something, she won’t wake up…”

Dylan parked the car, getting the food he had just bought, and made his way to the front door of the house, letting himself and the three other interns in. They made their way quietly towards the kitchen, where Alyssa sat at the dining table, a laptop in front of her, where she was proofreading an article she was getting ready to submit. When she saw the three newcomers, she beamed.

“It’s great to see you all!” she said happily, hugging each of them, surprising them slightly, since it had only been a few weeks since she had seen them. “It’s felt too empty with just Dylan and Charlotte here.”

“To think I bought you lunch…” Dylan muttered sarcastically.

“You know what I mean,” Alyssa said rolling her eyes. “You live here, so it’s a standard day when you’re around. With Charlotte being here, the last few weeks have felt like there should be a few dozen teenagers on the property, and you guys wrangling them…”

“More than a few dozen this year,” Justin remarked. “Not sure how the eight of us are going to wrangle all of them…”

“I think Jon’s planning on taking last years system and putting it on a larger scale,” Dylan explained. “There’ll be five teams. But each team should have one or two older students from last year who will be directly under us, helping with classes and such. Not interns themselves, but more just taking a little extra responsibility. He convinced a few of them that it would help them grow as battlers to learn to teach others.”

“You say that as if you don’t believe that’s how it works?” Abbee noted.

“I know it works. We got better having to try and help the others improve,” Dylan explained. “I think that after this year, we may not be able to pull it off. We went from five students in the first year, to forty including us, and how one hundred. I think new interns might be needed before we run our next summer program. Though given what’s gone on here, I don’t know that many people are lining up to be responsible for a summer program where a year or two before, they had to evacuate from a p**sed off Legendary Pokemon. It’s one thing showing up here to learn, but being the person to have to look after everyone is a different matter…”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Alyssa answered. “This place has had enough bad luck to last a few lifetimes, so hopefully we can have a summer or two with no disasters…”

“Hopefully…”

The group ate their lunch, before the interns returned to Dylan’s car to gather their belongings, and get settled into their rooms in the small guest lodge. Whilst the year before, they had shared rooms in the same lodges as the other students, in order for them to be nearby if needed by any of them, outside of the Deoxys incident, it made no difference to the program that they were in there. Circumstances that made it beneficial to stay in the shared rooms were practically non-existent, and Dylan and Charlotte had both been living in the guest lodge for nearly a month. Justin had a mixture of amusement and embarrassment when he let himself into his old room, noticing the slightly different coloured paint on the door from when he helped Jon repair it after Dylan knocked it in during their first year.

************************************************** ************************************************** *********

It was later that afternoon when Charlotte and Jon returned to Mossdeep, having left Southern Island in the early hours of the morning. Abbee, who had been catching up on sleep lost during the flight, only realized when she heard noises coming from the room next to hers, being the one on the far left of the building. Charlotte’s room. She got out of bed, and made her way into the hallway, before knocking on the door to the room next to hers.

“Yeah?” Charlotte called out, thinking it was probably Dylan asking for his Flygon back.

“You haven’t seen me in a month, while you’re off training a dangerous Legendary Pokemon, and the best you have for me is yeah?” Abbee called out, knowing she would get a reaction from her friend.

Abbee heard Charlotte making her way towards the door, before it opened, and she was greeted by her friend.

“I thought you guys would be coming later tonight?”

“We got here a bit before lunch,” Abbee answered. “I’ve just been recovering from the flight, and Dylan’s been getting some last minute stuff organized before everyone shows up. Haven’t got a clue where Chris and Justin are though…”

“They might be taking a look at the new lodges,” Charlotte explained. “But Jon mentioned wanting to talk to all five of us as soon as we were all here, so he will probably round us up soon…”

Before Abbee could reply, she heard the sound of the front door to the lodge on the floor below opening, and the voices of Chris and Jon, followed by Justin and Dylan.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Abbee mused, earning a grin from Charlotte. “Let’s see what he wants…”

Jon stood at the end of the table in the dining room, holding a large gift bag, which Chris looked at curiously from his seat on one side of the table. Dylan sat at the other end, with a tablet in front of him, trying to not waste any time that he could be finalizing last second bits and pieces of the camp due to start the next day, and Justin opposite Chris, on his phone. As Jon saw Abbee descend the stairs, he nodded at her, earning a grin from her. She sat beside Chris, as Charlotte took the last free seat next to Justin.

“I’m glad the three of you are here early, because you will probably want some practise time before the others arrive tomorrow,” Jon explained, before digging into the gift bag, and withdrawing five small gift boxes of different colours, each with a name. Dylan looked up, slightly surprised, as it was rare that Jon had something planned for the Academy that he wasn’t aware of. As Jon passed a few to Chris and Justin, they retained theirs, before passing the others onto the next person. A few moments later all trainers had one in front of them, and at Jon’s nod, they opened them. In Abbee’s, was a locket on a thin gold chain. Dylan’s gift-box held a simple, yet sophisticated wrist watch. Inside Chris’, a stainless steel wristband, with a stone embedded in it. Charlotte’s contained a bracelet, with a singular charm dangling from it, and Justin’s a pendant on a leather cord.

“Thank you,” Abbee said, putting the locket around her neck. “But what’s the occasion?”

“This is for protection…” Jon answered.

“I didn’t pick you to be the superstitious type,” Chris laughed, as Justin’s eyes narrowed on his gift, and all of the others. He noticed something in common with them. The same stone, embedded in each of them.

“He’s not being superstitious,” Justin answered. “These are all Key Stones…”

“Wait what?” Charlotte asked, looking closer at the charm on the bracelet that rested around her wrist. Abbee opened the locket, as Chris looked closer at his wristband, and Dylan noticed the small stone that acted as the anchor point for the two hands on his watch.

“Empty the boxes,” Jon said simply. Abbee was the first to pull out the felt cushion that her gift sat on, and underneath was a stone the size of a golf ball, with a glossy finish, above a swirl of red and yellow inside. As the others followed, they realized they all contained identical stones, albeit different colours. Chris’ was blue and black, Charlotte’s was purple and crimson, Justin’s was blue and red, and Dylan’s was gold and pale blue.

“I appreciate this, really,” Chris began. “But you know these aren’t allowed in tournaments?”

“I know that, and I plan on you not using them in tournaments, or ideally, anyone ever knowing you have them,” Jon explained.

Jon put the bag onto the floor, and sat at the seat at the end of the table where he stood.

“Between the fact that in the eyes of the public, you five are now linked to me, and four of you now have extremely rare, Legendary Pokemon, that places targets on your back…” Jon explained. “What happened at the Whirl Islands is proof of that…”

Justin and Abbee nodded in agreement. At the time, they were the only ones aside from Jon with Legendary Pokemon, and because the poachers were after Regieleki and Victini specifically, they were forced to keep the two extremely powerful Pokemon in their Pokeballs.

“These Mega Stones will allow Gengar, Lucario, Ampharos, Charizard and Metagross all to Mega Evolve at will,” Jon explained. “And at a guess, Gengar, Lucario, Ampharos and Charizard will all be stronger than Latios, Victini, Regieleki and Deoxys when they’re Mega Evolved. And Metagross will be even stronger than a fully grown Lugia…”

“Goddamn,” Chris muttered, glancing at Dylan, slightly shocked that the quieter trainer will wind up with the strongest Pokemon at the Academy.

“The reason I say I want this kept a secret for as long as possible, is that I want this saved as a last resort,” Jon explained. “The biggest mistake an enemy can make is underestimating you, and by keeping this a secret, they are near guaranteed to…”

Charlotte glanced over at Jon, before noticing what she was looking for. A ring on his right hand that she hadn’t noticed before.

“You have one too?” Charlotte asked, nodding towards Jon’s right hand. He nodded, holding his hand up so the ring was visible.

“Mega Stones for Pokemon are incredibly rare and hard to find,” Jon explained. “Right now, I only have one for Blaziken. However, Scizor, Absol and Latios can all Mega Evolve, so I will try and track them down on the downlow. That way I have options available if the s**t hits the fan.”

“Wait, which Pokemon can Mega Evolve?” Chris asked. “And where do you find Mega Stones?”

“I’ll send a list of all known Mega Evolutions to the four of you,” Jon answered. “But in your case, Charizard has two Potential Mega Evolutions, and Salamence and Garchomp both have one. Justin, with the right stones, you could also Mega Evolve Alakazam and Houndoom, and Dylan, you could Mega Evolve Sceptile as well.”

Jon looked over at Abbee.

“The only Pokemon you have that I am aware of is Ampharos, but a few of the Pokemon you caught last year, once they’re fully evolved, should be able to as well. Charlotte, you’ve only got Gengar, but I doubt that will be too much of a hurdle for you,” Jon explained, before answering Chris’ second question. “Mega Stones are found naturally largely in Kalos, but also in Hoenn. They’re believed to be fragments of a meteor that broke up in the atmosphere and landed around Kalos and Hoenn centuries ago, before being affected by the Pokemon in those habitats and resonating with those species in particular. They are incredibly hard to find and are finite, so they are also incredibly expensive. You can find them online, but the internet is rife with knockoffs that are glorified marbles.”

“So we can buy them online?”

“You can, but be careful doing it,” Jon explained. “I’ll send you the websites I found these on. If you find other websites, and the prices are significantly cheaper, or they advertise they have heaps in stock, or just generally seem too good to be true, they probably are. That’s why they are banned in competition. It is just too hard for people to get them, and advantage shouldn’t be given based on who can afford to spend a lot of money on these things…”

As Jon mentioned that he had a thought.

“Actually, it would do you good to keep these far away from you whenever you do compete,” Jon continued. “These don’t allow Mega Evolutions, but just make it accessible. Pokemon are capable of Mega Evolving without them, but it is just incredibly rare. And if you’re in a battle where one of your Pokemon Mega Evolves without using these, and you’re seen to have it on you, it won’t look good…”

“Is that why you went for the more subtle option?” Charlotte asked, noting how none of the keystones, at first glance, aroused any suspicions. “Most of the keystones I’ve seen have been these thick, ugly bangles.”

“Exactly,” Jon answered. “A little subtlety goes a long way.”

“But what about our Pokemon?” Abbee asked, confusing Jon slightly with the question. “Our Pokemon need to wear the Mega Stones for them to be able to activate, but they will stand out.”

“Good point…” Jon remarked. “I hadn’t even considered that. I was so hell bent on finding these things, it hadn’t even crossed my mind…”

“It’s not the end of the world,” Dylan interjected. “Think about it, in the last two years, when things have gotten hairy, how often have our Pokemon had to battle without us there to at least prep them? I know that Latios had to battle without Jon back on the Whirl Islands, and Charlotte, Magmortar fought Deoxys whilst you tried to get the Master Ball from the lodge. But even then, you had been around long enough and given it instructions…”

“I’m confused,” Justin interjected, before Dylan continued.

“Our Pokemon don’t need to wear the Mega Stones all the time. That would be silly, putting them on display. Even if we tried to remove them before they were seen by anyone, we may just slip up, and forget that they are holding them when we let them out of the Pokeball. It would be better if instead of them always wearing them and we take them off when they aren’t needed, we hold onto them, and give them to them when they are,” Dylan explained. “It’s not likely that a battle will start and before we can give them the Mega Stones, something happens…”

“These things are tiny though,” Abbee answered. “I’m likely to lose it…”

“No, I’ve got an idea,” Dylan answered. “Keyring.”

“Keyring?” Abbee asked.

“Look on Etsy, or any of those marketplaces for freelance artists, and you will find handmade keyrings with fake Mega Stones. They’re purely decorative, and a subtle way for people to show off what their favourite Pokemon are,” Dylan explained, opening his phone to Etsy, and finding an image of one. “This one here, really is a marble, pressed into a semi rigid metal frame. With enough pressure, it can pop in or out.”

“So we get a few of these keyrings, and replace their fake Mega Stones with our real ones,” Chris continued. “Pretend it’s some cheesy friendship bracelet type thing we all decided to do…”

“Then, if the situation arises we need them, we just remove them from the keyring, and give it to the Pokemon,” Dylan concluded.

“What about if the Pokemon drops it?” Justin asked, “Lucario will be handicapped trying to fight and keep the stone held tightly at all times…”

“The stone is temporarily consumed,” Jon explained. “During Mega Evolution, the stone is effectively absorbed by the Pokemon holding it. Which is handy because it means it can’t be stolen…”

“I think you’ve got it,” Chris said to Dylan, who tapped a few more buttons on his phone.

“I’ve ordered a half dozen of these keyrings,” Dylan explained. “The seller is in Fortree, so it will take two or three weeks before they arrive. Until then, don’t lose the stones…”

Jon nodded, thankful that Dylan was his right-hand man in all matters relating to the Academy. Charlotte was next to speak up.

“So we have until tomorrow to be able to practise with these things before all the others arrive?” Charlotte asked with a grin. “I think I know how I want to spend this afternoon…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Whilst the first battles of the previous summers followed the same fixture, given Chris and Charlotte’s tendency to draw, and Chris now having the advantage of a Legendary Pokemon, Jon changed the fixture, intentionally creating match-ups that were less frequent in previous years. Whilst in terms of sheer skill, Chris and Charlotte had Abbee and Justin beat, Abbee’s bond and experience with Victini evened the odds in a battle against Chris, even with Lugia in his corner, and whilst Justin had Regieleki, and had improved drastically as a battler in the last two years, Charlotte was still his match without having a Legendary Pokemon she could use. This then left Jon to face Dylan, who had the most experience battling against Jon, and Dylan lacking any major gaps in his battling that Jon could exploit…

The trainers were each given a few minutes to research their own Mega Evolved Pokemon online, though instructed not to do any research then and there on their opponents.

“You ready?” Charlotte called out to Justin, having selected her own Pokeball. Justin unclipped one of his own, before nodding.

“Begin!”

Justin sent out Alakazam, and whilst that had become somewhat of a staple to his battling technique since he captured Regieleki, he had developed in the last year a little more flexibility with Alakazam, trying to break the pattern of using the same tactics with the Pokemon. Charlotte, although not so much, was still somewhat predictable with sending in Luxray to begin.

“Agility!” Charlotte called out to Luxray, knowing Alakazam’s tendency to use Speed Swap. Whilst Speed Swap would switch the two Pokemon’s natural speed, any enhancements such as Agility remained as they were, and with Luxray under the effect of Agility, it would be faster than Alakazam regardless. This meant that instead of Speed Swap, Alakazam would have to instead use the temporary…

“Trick Room!”

There was a flicker in the space of the battlefield, before Alakazam, whilst still retaining it’s natural slowness, was able to act quicker than Luxray, though Luxray still retained its natural reaction speed.


“Calm Mind!” Justin commanded Alakazam, opting to have Alakazam go on the offensive in this round, instead of purely being a tank. Whilst Alakazam was offensively weaker than it was before Justin focused training on defence, its resilience allowed it to last longer, and deal more damage over a longer period of time, and Calm Mind all but made up for the missing attack power.

“Thunder!”

Luxray roared as an intense bolt of lightning arced from it, towards Alakazam. On release, the attack seemed like it would hit, however Luxray’s aim had been off by a matter of degrees, which translated to a matter of meters by the time the bolt struck the other end of the battlefield moments later.

“Psychic!” Justin called out. He considered using Calm Mind again, however knew if Charlotte were going on the offensive now, chances are he wouldn’t get many more opportunities to attack.

“Protect!”

Luxray raised a Protect barrier, blocking the telekinetic blast, however creating an opportunity for Justin to retaliate and throw a spanner in the works for his opponent.

“Disable!”

Alakazam’s eyes glowed white, placing a telepathic block on Luxray, temporarily rendering it unable to use Protect.

“Yes Justin!” Jon called out encouragingly, knowing that all too often, the opportunity that Justin just took tended to go unnoticed by most trainers.

“Thunder!” Charlotte commanded. This time, Luxray’s aim was true, as the intense bolt of lightning struck the Psychic Type, slamming it back a few meters, before the lightning dissipated, and Alakazam seemed slowed, having been paralyzed by the electric attack.

“Psychic!” Justin called out in retaliation, knowing Luxray couldn’t block the attack with Protect. However, given Alakazam’s slowness, and Luxray’s own increased speed, dodging the blast was little challenge for Luxray.

“What’s she doing?” Chris asked Abbee, noticing Charlotte’s right hand held behind her back, with her thumb tucked in, and four fingers out.

Before Abbee could even process what Chris was talking about, Charlotte gave her next command.

“Charge!” Charlotte commanded, as Luxray began charging electricity, and Chris and Abbee noticed her thumb untuck, leaving all five fingers raised.

“She’s counting,” Abbee began, as there was another flicker on the battlefield, as Trick Room ended, reverting the timing of the battle to it’s natural order.

“Now, Electro Ball!”

Luxray, having charged electricity, discharged a large amount of it, however this time, instead of being in a quick bolt of lightning, as a large orb of pulsing electricity, which launched towards Alakazam. The Pokemon was struck by the powerful attack, made stronger by the large gap in speed between the two Pokemon, and thrown back, knocked unconscious.

“Alakazam is unable to battle!” Jon called out, as Justin returned his fainted Pokemon, selecting his next.

“Lucario, let’s shake this s**t up!” Justin called out with a grin, knowing that for all present, this was going to be something new.

Lucario emerged from its Pokeball, holding the Mega Stone Justin had given it before the battle in one of its paws, as Jon called for the battle to begin.

“Thunderbolt!” Charlotte called out, opting for a less powerful, but more accurate attack. The attack struck, as Justin grabbed the pendant that hung from the leather cord around his neck, pressing the stone into it.

Lucario erupted into a shocking rainbow light, before emerging standing slightly taller, somewhat more battle-worn, with red highlights in its fur.

“Agility!” Justin commanded, as Lucario cried out, its speed increasing, before Justin gave his next instruction. “Drain Punch!”

Lucario darted forward, earning a slightly quizzical look from Dylan who seemed confused for a moment, before seeming to understand something, and making a mental note to watch closely when the others Mega Evolved their Pokemon. Drain Punch struck Luxray hard, draining its energy and replenishing Lucario’s, leaving it practically untouched by the Thunderbolt Luxray had landed earlier.

“Charge!” Charlotte commanded, knowing Lucario did use some special moves, and that Drain Punch was a relatively weaker physical attack, with the trade-off being the restorative effects. If Justin wanted Lucario to finish off Luxray in one more turn, he’d have to attack recklessly, with a move such as Close Combat, which Justin wouldn’t do this early in the matchup.

“Power-Up Punch!”

Lucario launched itself forward, hitting Luxray with a relatively weaker punch, its own attack power increasing, however to Charlotte’s surprise, Luxray was thrown to the ground, knocked out cold.

“Is Mega Lucario that much stronger?” Charlotte asked, as she returned Luxray to his Pokeball. “Even for a Mega, I didn’t think Drain Punch and Power-Up Punch could drop Luxray like that…”

Justin grinned, not wanting to give away Mega Lucario’s secret weapon while the battle was still raging. Mega Lucario’s attack power did increase, but only by thirty percent. Instead, it’s ability shifted from being passive, to a much more offensively oriented Adaptability, causing any Fighting or Steel Type moves to do even more damage than they naturally would.

“Go, Magmortar!” Charlotte called out, sending out her second Pokemon. This was one that Justin had least experience with, however its Fire Typing limited Lucario’s moves a little more. Between that and the ferocity of Magmortar’s special attacks, Justin knew that this round would not be as easy, even for Mega Lucario, as the previous round was.

“Zen Headbutt!” Justin called out. Whilst Zen Headbutt wouldn’t be as powerful as some of Lucario’s other attacks, it had the chance to make Magmortar flinch, buying Justin more time before Magmortar rained down fire and brimstone on Lucario.

Magmortar took the attack, causing it to flinch, however Lucario seemed to cringe back in pain, as Justin realized the mistake he had just made, and why exactly Charlotte had opted for Magmortar. It wasn’t for the Pokemon’s Fire Typing, or even its immense special attack power, though both would be problematic for Justin anyway. Instead, Charlotte had sent out Magmortar for one reason. Flame Body.

Lucario winced in pain at the burn it sustained from making contact with the Pokemon, and Justin knew that the burn would cause Lucario to roll punches on any physical attacks, less it put itself through more pain.

Justin considered his next moves in the moments he had before the opportunity to strike would pass, and Magmortar would attack itself. Whilst Lucario did know Aura Sphere, and Mega Lucario’s special attack capabilities were practically on par with physical attacks, Lucario would rely on Drain Punch to restore its own energy, which was going to be affected by the burn. Additionally, Lucario had already used one Power-Up Punch, and all it would take is one more to effectively negate the effects of the burn.

“Power-Up Punch!” Justin commanded, as Lucario launched itself into Magmortar, striking the Pokemon with a weaker, albeit still powerful, punch. Magmortar took the hit, stepping back, before Charlotte gave her instruction.

“Scary Face.”

Magmortar glared menacingly at Lucario, causing it to hesitate for a second, and seem to slow, before Justin got its attention once more.

“It’s almost down!” Justin called out. “One more Power-Up Punch!”

True to Justin’s word, the attack Lucario launched was the last one Magmortar could take, falling under the strike, as Lucario’s own strength began to increase further.

“Who do you think has this?” Dylan asked Jon as he stood next to him, who watched intently.

“I have a rough idea, but who do you think?” Jon asked. “I know you’ve gotten pretty good at reading the battle in the last few years. I’m curious to see if we’re on the same page…”

Dylan thought over the last few moves he had seen.

“Justin’s done really well using Mega Lucario and making the most of its strengths. But really, Charlotte’s got this,” Dylan answered, as Jon nodded in approval. “Not because Justin has done something wrong, but Charlotte is just that good…”

“Keep going…” Jon prompted Dylan.

“Not many people would see that burn tactic coming, and if there is ever a situation where that tactic would work well, that would be it,” Dylan answered. “But the fact she had Magmortar use Scary Face, and not just attack when it could, means she has something big planned, and wants Lucario slowed before then. And she still hasn’t used her Mega…”

“Spot on…”

Charlotte returned Magmortar, as Dylan focused on Charlotte, watching as he knew which Pokemon she would be sending out. She was the one who wanted to test out the Mega Stones most, which meant her Mega Pokemon would be making its debut appearance now.

“Go, Gengar!”

Justin was slightly surprised to hear this. He did hear Jon mention Charlotte having a Gengar earlier, but amidst the excitement of the Mega Stones, hadn’t realized that he had never seen her with a Gengar in the time he knew her, meaning this was likely a new Pokemon.

Gengar emerged from its Pokeball, this being the first time Justin, Chris or Abbee had seen the Pokemon, with Jon and Dylan being regular training partners for it since Charlotte moved to the Academy a month earlier.

Charlotte lifted her left arm, revealing the bracelet, before pressing the key-stone into the charm that housed it, causing Gengar to erupt into a bright light. As it emerged, with a somewhat different shape, a third eye, and a magenta hue covering its bottom half, Charlotte gave the more menacing Mega Gengar its first command.

“Hex!”

Gengar cried out gleefully, as a spectral orb launched from it, directly towards Mega Lucario, hitting the Pokemon, and dealing extra damage due to its burn. Lucario cried out in pain before falling unconscious, as Justin grimaced, knowing that even with his final Pokemon being a Legendary, he was going to be fighting a difficult battle.

Dylan, having watched the speed in which Mega Gengar took action, waited to see the next move.

“Go Regieleki!”

The electric golem buzzed happily, as it seemed to dance on the spot from one of its small legs to the other, as Justin gave the first command.

“Thunder Cage!”

With insane speed, Regieleki leapt forward, floating into the air above Gengar, launching down a dozen smaller bolts of lightning, which struck the earth, and joined together above Gengar when the golem returned to the ground, shocking the ghost type, and trapping it in the cage.

“Toxic!” Charlotte commanded.

Gengar’s menacing grin widened, as it opened its mouth, launching a purple orb, which struck the Legendary Pokemon, poisoning it badly.

“Zap Cannon!”

Regieleki charged up a beam of electricity, aiming it at Gengar, who was trapped in the Thunder Cage, before launching an electrical blast, the calibre of which the trainers had only witnessed from Regieleki.

Seeing the attack coming, Gengar ducked, sinking into the ground, as the electrical blast narrowly passed over it.

“Now Hex!”

Gengar re-emerged from the ground beneath it, before launching the same attack that beat Mega Lucario, this time, hitting Regieleki, and like Lucario before it, knocking it unconscious, and in this case, winning Charlotte the battle…

As the pair met to shake hands, Charlotte was the first to speak.

“So now the battle is over, can you tell me how Lucario took down Luxray so quickly?” Charlotte asked, causing Justin to laugh.

“Mega Lucario has the ability Adaptability,” Justin answered. “It’s attack goes up by about 30% regardless, then Adaptability increases the boost it would normally get for using a move of its own typing. So a Drain Punch from Mega Lucario is about as strong as a Close Combat from normal Lucario…”

“Similar to Regieleki then?” Charlotte asked, knowing how Regieleki’s ability increased its attack power for electric moves.

“Exactly. What about Gengar?” Justin asked. “How is Mega Gengar different?”

“Most notably are its higher Special Attack power, and Speed. But also its ability. Shadow Tag,” Charlotte explained. “It prevents Gengar’s opponent from switching out through conventional means.”

“Wait, you didn’t even use that?” Justin asked.

“I had no reason to. You were down to your last Pokemon,” Charlotte answered.

“Because you held out until the end to use Gengar,” Justin retorted.

“I mean, yeah…” Charlotte said. “I wanted to see if I could bring down a mega without using one myself…”

Justin sighed.

“Goddamn you’re terrifying. God help us when you are able to battle with Deoxys…”

As the pair talked, Jon noticed Dylan watching Mega Gengar intently, and the gears turning in his head. Jon tried to figure out what Dylan was thinking about, but relented, and asked.

“Something on your mind?” Jon asked, before nodding towards Mega Gengar.

“There is…” Dylan said, before seeming to realize something in Jon’s tone. “You haven’t seen it?”

“Seen what?” Jon asked, looking back at Mega Gengar.

“Nothing…” Dylan said. “I’ll tell you after our battle…”

Finding himself more confused, Jon looked back at Mega Gengar, curious to know what Dylan had picked up that would help with his battle against Jon. Noticing Justin and Charlotte walking towards the group, he shook off the thought, before addressing them.

“Both of you did well. Justin, you managed to incorporate all of Lucario’s new tricks very well for your first battle. And honestly, if you were against anyone else, you’d have taken the win. But Charlotte here is that terrifying mixture of a little crazy, but good enough to back it up…” Jon explained, as Chris laughed, before turning to Charlotte. “You took a risk, holding Gengar until the end, but everything you did before then, you did exceptionally, which made the risk negligible. Even having Luxray use Agility so that Justin wouldn’t try and Speed Swap, then using Alakazam’s slowness to beat it, and using Magmortar as a way to slow and burn Lucario, which crippled its attack power. I’ve trained you long enough to know none of those decisions were reckless. Each and every one was well thought out, and with purpose.”

Jon turned to Justin again, wanting to make sure Justin knew his loss wasn’t from a fault of his own.

“You did extremely well getting her down to her last Pokemon,” Jon said. “But Charlotte even scares me a little…”

A few minutes later, Chris and Abbee were at their respective sides of the battlefield, each with their first Pokemon selected.

“You know I won’t go easy on you!” Chris called out, causing Abbee to snort with derision.

“That’s real cute,” Abbee retorted, as she sent out her first Pokemon. The rest of the interns were slightly surprised to see Abbee send out a Glaceon.

“You finally evolved your Eevee?” Dylan asked, seeming surprised, given how long she had the Pokemon before it evolved. Abbee touched a finger to her lips in a sign of silence, before winking at Dylan. Apparently he knew something that she didn’t want Chris knowing.

Chris sent out the Pokemon in the Pokeball in his hand, revealing it to be Garchomp.

“Begin!”

“Dragon Rush!” Chris called out, as Garchomp became encased in a draconic aura, and rushed towards Glaceon, blades extended.

“Frost Breath!”

Glaceon cried out, as an icy haze erupted from its jaws, buffeting Garchomp as the Pokemon rushed through it towards its prey.

“Can Glaceon take down Garchomp?” Justin asked. “It’s still fairly young, and Garchomp is Chris’ heavy hitter…”

“The fact it is young is what puts them on a similar level,” Charlotte answered. “Because that double advantage will hurt Garchomp even if Glaceon is weaker.”

Glaceon took the first hit and was thrown back a little. However, Garchomp was now in close quarters, where it was at its strongest.

“Glaceon is the Eevee evolution better suited to special attacks though, right?” Justin asked. “Isn’t it pretty hopeless at physical attacks?”

“Fire Fang!” Chris shouted, as Garchomps jaws erupted with flames, before it launched itself towards Glaceon, biting it.

“It is…” Dylan answered, realizing what Abbee’s gesture and wink meant. “Except Glaceon wasn’t her first idea for evolving Eevee…”

“Avalanche!” Abbee called out. Glaceon took the damage of the Fire Fang attack and with the last of its strength, summoned a cloud, which began to rain down with vast amounts of heavy snow, pelting Garchomp, and knocking it out as well.

“Abbee had looked into applying to be a trainer at Flannery’s Gym in Lavaridge town, and was training her Eevee to potentially evolve into a Flareon, which are better physical attackers,” Dylan explained, remembering her telling him in a message during the year. “Then she got the job in Nimbasa City, and they had a lot of Jolteon there already. She must have evolved it into Glaceon to give her team a little more coverage…”

“It worked…” Charlotte said, realizing that Abbee had lured Chris into a false sense of security by letting Garchomp get close.

“What was it you said about going easy?” Abbee asked, as she selected her next Pokeball.

“I stand corrected,” Chris replied, as he selected his own, knowing which Pokemon Abbee would be using next. Both trainers threw their Pokeballs in sync, revealing Abbee’s Victini, and Chris’ young Lugia.

“This’ll be good…” Jon said, as he looked over at Chris’ side of the field. Lugia was only seven feet from nose to tail, making it a little larger than Latios already, however Jon knew Lugia would grow to be the largest Pokemon in possession of anyone in that room, with the exception of Rayquaza.

“Victini, Flame Snare!” Abbee called out, confusing the others who had never heard of the move. It was one of her and Victini’s own creations, inspired by the Grass Knot attack.
Victini darted towards Lugia, intentionally running for the Legendary Pokemon’s large feet. The Victory Pokemon threw a small fireball between Lugia’s legs, hitting its tail, and causing it to stumble forward, as Victini encased himself in flames. Lugia instinctively stepped forward to get away from the flame burning its tail, tripping over Victini, and crashing to the ground.

“Double Team!” Chris called out, hoping to buy Lugia time to regain its footing, and make its own attack. Lugia split into three apparitions, all in the same position Lugia was in, all three of which then flapped their large wings, bringing them into the air a few feet above the ground.

“Work Up!” Abbee called out, as Victini’s offensive power began to increase. Seeing the opportunity, Chris called out for Lugia’s next move.

“Hydro Pump!”

All of the apparitions opened their jaws, releasing a large and heavy torrent of water, however only one was real, hitting Victini, and throwing him across the field.

”That sucks…” Victini said telepathically to Abbee with a shudder.

”Think you can find the real one?” Abbee replied with her own thoughts.

”Scizor beat me with the same tactic three years ago…” Victini retorted. ”That’s a long time to figure out a countermeasure…”

Abbee grinned, knowing just how much Victini wanted another crack at Scizor, as she saw images of Victini’s plan flood her mind.

”Then let’s go in guns blazing…”

“Flame Charge!” Abbee commanded, though the command itself was a feint.

Victini broadened his senses, listening for the sound of movement, sniffing for the smell of another Pokemon, and telepathically reaching out to find his opponent.

”I got him…” Victini said, as he darted towards the Lugia in the center, one of the copies, knowing this opportunity would be too good for Chris to ignore. He began to encase himself in weaker flames, however this was unlike the Flame Charge Abbee had ordered, or even V-Create which until recently, was Victini’s most powerful move…

“Aeroblast!” Chris called out, as the apparitions all began charging a blast of condensed wind, the one from the right which would strike Victini in a matter of seconds.

“V-Compress!”

Jon was surprised to hear this, having never heard of the move before, especially seeing as the implication of it was that it was a signature move of Victini.

Victini changed course in an instant, charging directly towards the real Lugia, as he encased himself in a telekinetic bubble, barely larger than himself, and launched himself towards the much larger Pokemon. As he did this, he increased the output of his flames to even higher than what V-Create normally was, with the telekinetic bubble barely able to contain the outward force of them.

Lugia launched Aeroblast, which struck Victini moments before Victini would have made contact with Lugia. The telekinetic bubble burst, causing all the compressed fire Victini was forcing from himself to erupt into an explosion. Under normal circumstances, this attack would be devastating on its own, however mixed with the compressed air of Lugia’s Aeroblast, acting as a ready fuel, the flames continued to expand rapidly outwards, throwing Lugia back towards Chris, who had to dive out of the way to not be crushed by the two hundred pound Pokemon.

“Sorry!” Abbee called out, realizing she nearly killed her boyfriend with a very enthusiastic attack from Victini.

“Goddamn…” Jon muttered, looking at the little Mythical Pokemon, who whilst looking a little worse for wear, didn’t seem to be on the brink of fainting like Jon would have expected from a stunt like that. Victini seemed to notice Jon’s attention on him and reached out with his mind, as well as Abbee.

”I’ve got one of them with Scizor’s name on it…” Jon heard Victini say, as the Mythical Pokemon flashed him a grin.

“Abbee, we’ve created a monster…” Jon called out, knowing exactly that Victini had learnt how to hit Lugia the way he did because of his battle against Jon’s Scizor on the S.S. Wishmaker.

“Justin too,” Abbee explained. “During the fight with the Golem last year, his Alakazam compressed Victini during a V-Create to make it more explosive. That served as the inspiration…”

Jon looked over at Chris, who seemed a little downcast that his own Legendary Pokemon was beaten so dramatically.

“Don’t take it personally Chris,” Jon called out. “Lugia is young, and Victini has had a lot of experience. Both dealing with Double Team, and improvised attacks. Lugia will get there eventually…”

Chris took the advice, trying to shake off his own doubts, knowing he still had one Pokemon left, and from what Jon told him, this Pokemon should be stronger than Jon’s Latios after it Mega Evolved.

“Charizard, it’s all on you!”

Chris’ Charizard entered the battlefield, as Chris, like Charlotte and Justin before him, pressed the Key Stone, embedded into the stainless steel wristband he wore. Charizard roared, before erupting into a flash of light. Once the lightshow ceased, Charizard was nearly unrecognizable. Whilst the overall shape was the same, instead of being an orange and cream colour, it was now black and blue, with blue flames leaking out of the side of its mouth…

“Holy s**t…” Chris said to himself, unable to hide the goofy smile that had struck him. Abbee couldn’t help but grin at how happy this made him.

”You do remember, this is a battle, right?” Victini asked Abbee telepathically, who quickly apologized, before making the most of the opportunity.

“Future Sight!” Abbee commanded, as Victini grinned menacingly, this tactic being one of his favourites. Victini’s eyes flashed, as Chris regained his focus, giving Charizard his first command.

“Power-Up Punch!”

On the side-lines, Justin and Charlotte were both confused for a minute.

“You ever seen his Charizard use Power-Up Punch?” Justin asked.

“No, never…” Charlotte replied, before a flicker of understanding struck her. She looked to Justin, who seemed to have the same realization.

“Mega Charizard has an ability that is making it stronger…” Justin said, with Charlotte nodding in confirmation. “Like what I was doing. Power-Up Punch is now much better for dealing damage, with the bonus of the attack boost to sweeten the deal…”

“Tough Claws,” Jon said to them as he overheard their chatter. “Any move that makes contact is stronger. But he is using one of the first strategies I taught you guys…”

“And that is?” Justin asked, having been too focused on the newly Mega Evolved Pokemon in the stadium.

“Victini is badly weakened from the battle with Lugia and poses no real threat,” Dylan answered, leaving Jon feeling somewhat more proud of his second in command. “Charizard could wipe it out with an Earthquake or Brutal Swing in a single hit. Or instead use this instance of little to no danger to set itself up for the more difficult battle…”

The attack struck Victini, who was showing signs of exhaustion, and struggling to battle. Abbee went to call out her next attack, but was interrupted by Victini.

”No, I got an idea…”

Chris took the opportunity to order another Power-Up Punch, which Victini didn’t avoid, instead, taking the attack, and focusing purely on remaining standing for a few seconds more. Shaky on his feet, Victini used one last move before he fell, projecting into everyone's minds exactly what he was doing.

”Power Swap…”

Charizards boosts to attack power were transferred to Victini, who then dropped to the ground unconscious. Chris looked at the Mythical Pokemon in amazement, as Abbee called him back to his Pokeball.

“I think he did that to spite me…” Chris called out. “Don’t get me wrong, that was brilliant…”

“Oh he definitely did,” Abbee laughed, though extremely thankful Victini’s somewhat twisted relationship with Chris had brought this about. She had seen what Chris was doing, and short of withdrawing Victini, and having to send him out again later, she thought of no other way out.

Abbee sent out her final Pokemon, Ampharos, before pressing the stone in the locket around her neck, causing Ampharos to Mega Evolve. As the light dissipated, Justin was the first to speak, albeit, a little too loudly.

“Why does Ampharos look like he has just come back from the salon?”

Jon, who had been taking a drink from his water bottle at that exact moment, lost control, attempting to laugh, and spraying water out of his nose, causing Charlotte and Justin to both laugh hysterically, as Dylan shook his head at the exchange.

“Time to start this again…” Chris called out. “Power-Up Punch!”

Charizard darted forward, as Ampharos, much slower than its opponent, didn’t attempt to dodge, instead, using the time to line up its own attack.

“Thunder Wave!”

Ampharos cried out, having been hit by the Power-Up Punch, before launching its own weaker, yet crippling attack, striking Charizard and causing its muscles to spasm and cramp. Before Abbee could give another command, Charizard was thrown back across the field by Victini’s Future Sight attack from earlier.

“Now Power Gem!” Abbee commanded, as Ampharos prepared the rock type attack.

“Neither of them realize, do they?” Dylan asked. He had seen this matchup going one way, and hadn’t accounted for neither trainer not realizing. “That the other Pokemon has become a Dragon Type?”

“They will soon enough…”

Charizard was struck by the beam of light that blasted from the red orb on Ampharos’ forehead, though Abbee was shocked at the fact Charizard wasn’t knocked out, seeing as it has a double disadvantage to rock moves.

“Dragon Rush!” Chris shouted. Charizard fought through the aches in its body, encasing itself in a draconic aura, and launching itself towards Ampharos, who attempted to dodge, only being hit by the edge of the attack, though still being thrown back. Chris looked in surprise at the amount of damage the scrape did, something not adding up…

“Wait for it…” Jon said, seeing the gears spinning in both trainers' heads, as they realized why neither attack went how they had predicted. Simultaneously, their eyes widened, as they made eye contact with one another, and those spectating burst into laughter.

“Confuse Ray!” Abbee called out, knowing that while a Dragon Pulse from Ampharos had a good chance of knocking out Charizard, Charizard was near certain to be able to take out Ampharos in a single hit, opting instead to buy time.

“Outrage!” Chris called out, however Charizard, both paralyzed and confused, stumbled around the battlefield.

“Charge Beam!” Abbee shouted. Ampharos cried out, launching the straight beam of electricity, which struck Charizard, not seeming to do much damage, but causing Ampharos’ special attack power to rise. Her next attack would be the one to end it.

“Outrage!” Chris called out again, as Charizard roared, fighting through the confusion and paralysis. The roar went from being one of determination to one of sheer violent rage, as the flames leaking from its jaws extended, leaving it encased, as it leapt towards Ampharos. The attack, a violent tackle with reckless abandon, struck Ampharos, throwing the Pokemon across the battlefield unconscious, as paralysis got the better of Charizard, and prevented it from moving, pulling it from its rage.

“Honestly, this was a battle I could not have guessed the outcome of, since you both had factors working for and against you. In terms of Legendary Pokemon, Abbee had Victini, who is a lot more experienced, and the fact Victini can communicate telepathically so easily gives her a clear advantage over you and Lugia,” Jon said to Chris. “On the flip side, Mega Ampharos’ ability was one that had no effect in this battle, while Mega Charizard X had one that gave it a massive edge in this round.”

Jon thought over the last match-up of the battle.

“Abbee, I think you could have hit Charizard with a Dragon Pulse instead of a Charge Beam, and taken the match. At the same time, Chris made a very good call using Outrage. Outrage’s downfall is that once it is used, the Pokemon will use it until it physically or mentally can’t anymore, but the paralysis and confusion would have interrupted it before Charizard got to that point,” Jon explained. “You did well. This was a fairly even match to begin with. But Chris made a very good call and it got him the match.”

The final match was between Jon and Dylan, and whilst all spectating knew of Jon’s legendary skill, some more than others, Dylan had also impressed all of them, between the Deoxys incident as well as that on the Whirl Islands. If they had faith anyone could give Jon a run for his money, it was Dylan. Whilst offensively he wasn’t as skilled as the other four, his skills left little gaps to exploit, something that Jon relied heavily on to win.

“Begin!” Charlotte called out, as both trainers selected their first Pokemon.

“Go Sceptile!” Dylan called out, as the grass type emerged from its Pokeball, crying out enthusiastically as Jon sent in his first Pokemon.

“Go Jolteon!”

The electric Pokemon cried out happily, before focusing on its opponent. Whilst Jolteon was faster than the average Pokemon, Sceptile was also relatively fast, meaning Jolteon’s edge in its speed did less than it would have against one of Dylan’s other Pokemon. Jon however knew that Dylan had the advantage out of the gate, both with Sceptile’s resistance to electric attacks, and the annoying fact it knew Earthquake.

“Magnet Rise!” Jon commanded, making the most of Jolteon’s ability to act first in this matchup. Whilst he didn’t think Dylan would go for something so obvious, Jon knew he wouldn’t let an opportunity like that slip.

“Swagger!” Dylan responded, as Sceptile taunted Jolteon, causing its attack strength to go up, however confusing it in the process. Jolteon cried out in confusion, as Jon readied his next move.

“Thunderbolt!” Jon commanded, opting for the weaker, yet more accurate attack, which Dylan was quick to respond to.

“Protect!” Dylan responded, making the most of the fact that he had a slower Pokemon, and reacting to Jolteon’s movements.

“Jolteon’s more of a special attacker, right?” Chris asked Abbee, knowing that she knew the most of Eevee’s line out of the four of them. “It’s physical attack is nothing special?”

“Pretty much,” Abbee replied, understanding why Chris was asking. “That Swagger move isn’t going to give Jolteon too much of an edge.

Jon called out his next command to Jolteon, however in its confusion, it disobeyed, instead opting to use a tackle, before losing balance, and crashing to the ground, taking a small amount of damage. This was exactly what Dylan had been waiting for.

“Assurance!”

Before Jolteon could regain its footing, Sceptile leapt at it, slashing its blades at the Pokemon, knocking it back, as it slowly began to compose itself.

“Assurance works best if the target has just taken damage,” Charlotte said to the others. “It’s an alright move on its own, but it’s pretty heavy when the target is still recovering from a hit. Even their own…”

“So that’s why Dylan had Sceptile confuse it?” Justin asked, keeping his voice down as for Jon to not hear, though it being futile, as Jon had already come to that conclusion a few moments earlier.

“Exactly,” Charlotte answered. “Jolteon is too quick for Sceptile to be able to get two moves in before it makes its own. But by confusing it, he can prevent it from attacking half the time, and open up the opportunity to hit it hard…”

“Pin Missile!” Jon shouted, as Jolteon struggled through the confusion, and began launching the needle like fur that grew on its back. Four long, thin needles launched from its back, all of them striking Sceptile, and knocking the Pokemon out.

“Jolteon might not be the best physical attacker, but still, that was the risk,” Abbee said to her fellow spectators, as Dylan recalled his Pokemon, and sent out his next one.

“Go, Dusknoir!”

During their first year at the Academy, none of the others, Jon included, had predicted Dusknoir becoming a staple in Dylan’s team. The Pokemon was only a Duskull then, and he seemed much more comfortable with his Sceptile, Flygon, and even his Beldum, which evolved twice over the summer. However, after spending the next year at the Academy, they were shocked, both to see his Duskull had evolved twice, but also how effective it was under Dylan’s training. And knowing Jon was planning on using Blaziken, and likely Latios as well, this was the Pokemon they were most curious to see in action.

“Double Team!” Jon began, as Dylan gave his own command.

“Shadow Sneak!”

Whilst Jolteon was an exceptionally fast Pokemon, it couldn’t compete with the sheer speed of even a slow Pokemon like Dusknoir, using such a quick and versatile attack. Dusknoir seemed to dive into the ground, and a second later, erupted from behind Jolteon, knocking it forward, and after the heavy hit it received from Sceptile, knocking it out.

“Smart,” Jon said casually, as he returned Jolteon. “Very smart…”

Jon sent out his next Pokemon, it being no surprise when Blaziken entered the battlefield. All trainers there knew that Blaziken relied on being able to gain momentum, and Jon stood little to gain sending it out as his final Pokemon, even if he Mega Evolved it.

“Let’s see how you handle this…” Jon said with a smirk, as he held up is right hand, and pressed the stone in his ring, causing Blaziken to erupt into a chromatic light. As it emerged, it became obvious its colour scheme had shifted lightly, instead with black sections of feathers instead of the traditional orange, and the feathers that extend behind and downward from its head, now pointing upwards.

Whilst Dylan’s first thought was to be intimidated by the Pokemon in front of him, he focused on three things he knew. First was the observations he saw during Charlotte and Justin’s match, secondly, what he knew of Mega Blaziken from his own research before he even got his own Key Stone, and thirdly, what he knew of Jon. This was the time to act.

“Shadow Claw, Blaziken!” Jon commanded, as Blaziken darted forward, no faster than normal, and struck Dusknoir with a spectral claw.

“Future Sight!” Dylan retorted, as he noticed Jon’s eyebrows raise. Jon had never seen Dylan command his Dusknoir to use Future Sight, instead opting to use Ghost Type attacks, and knew that Dylan had a reason for this.

“Bulk Up!” Jon commanded, knowing Dusknoir was a physical attacker more so than special, and also wanting to increase Blaziken’s own strength.

“Skill Swap!” Dylan retorted, unable to hide the smug grin that emerged. At this point, after two moves, he had put into use all three things he had forced himself to focus on before.

Jon watched in horror as Blaziken’s Speed Boost ability was switched for Dusknoir’s much more common and less useful Pressure ability, before regaining composure and ordering his next attack.

“Shadow Claw, again!” Jon commanded, as Dylan responded.

“Endure!”

Blaziken’s attack struck, this time with much more force, and Dusknoir barely able to remain standing after withstanding the hit, though beginning to grow in speed. At that moment, Blaziken was struck hard by a telekinetic attack that seemed to come out of nowhere, as Future Sight did its damage.

“Faint Attack!” Jon called out, opting for a move he knew wouldn’t miss, though Dylan had seen this coming.

“Protect!”

At the last moment, Dusknoir raised a protect barrier, blocking Blaziken’s attack before its own speed increased further, with Jon unsure of whether Dusknoir was already faster than Mega Blaziken, having never seen Dylan opt for increasing Dusknoir’s speed in battle.

“Protect!” Jon called out, hoping to buy precious seconds to think of some countermeasure for when Dusknoir eventually became faster than it. However, the tactic that Jon had praised Justin for in his match, Dylan was going to use against him.

“Disable!” Dylan replied, as Dusknoir disabled Blaziken’s ability to use Protect, and Dusknoir sped up again, now faster than Blaziken, and able to get another move in, though still exhausted from running on the bare minimum of energy. “Now Earthquake!”

Dusknoir cried out, before striking the ground, causing it to shake from side to side underneath them, being super effective to Blaziken, and Dusknoir itself being too tired to avoid the full force of its own attack. Both Pokemon fell, however given the fact Blaziken had Mega Evolved, those spectating knew which trainer had impressed them more…

“Well, I didn’t think my debut run with Mega Blaziken would end like that…” Jon called out, sounding shocked more than anything, as he selected his final Pokeball. “I’m curious to know how you came up with that plan?”

“I can tell you part of it,” Dylan called out as he selected his third Pokemon. “I know three things. The first, I can’t tell you. The second is that Mega Blaziken is no different to normal Blaziken in terms of types or abilities, it’s just stronger and faster. And the third is that you can’t teach an old Growlithe new tricks…”

Jon grinned as he understood.

“All of our Mega Pokemon have either different types, or different abilities to what they’d normally have. Sometimes both. So we have to come up with new tactics to battle with them,” Dylan continued. “You, on the other hand, have barely changed the way you battle since I met you, and haven’t even changed your team at all. You use your tactics in very different ways, but at the end of the day, they work for you all the time when it matters. So when it comes to choosing your first Mega Pokemon, why not choose the one that lets you battle the same way that has worked for you for years…”

Those spectating took a moment to understand what Dylan was saying. Whilst all of them had to try new and experimental tactics on the fly, Jon’s battle was hardly any different to any of the dozens of others they had seen him do. On the one hand, it meant he was battling at his best, or in this case, better, with a powered-up Pokemon. On the other, it meant he was going to be a little more predictable, and easier to disturb.

“Go Dylan!” Chris cheered, causing Abbee to laugh. It was always nice to see Jon beaten by one of them. Justin had pulled it off this time the year before, however that was largely due to him shifting his style of battling majorly, and bringing a newly discovered Pokemon that Jon knew nothing about into the battle. Now both trainers were down to their final Pokemon, with Dylan’s Mega fresh and ready to battle, and based on his partial secrecy, one more ace up his sleeve.

It was little shock to the spectators when Jon sent out Latios, and Dylan sent out his shiny Metagross. And even less, when Dylan pressed the button on the side of his wrist watch, pushing a lever to activate the keystone that anchored the two hands to the face. Metagross erupted into a bright light, emerging with all four of its normally grounded limbs pointing forward from its now levitating body, and four smaller limbs pointing behind it.

“Guys, this is likely the strongest Pokemon on the island…” Chris said to the spectators, as he watched the Mega Evolved Pokemon in awe, and Jon ordered Latios to use Shadow Claw. “What do you think he will do first?”

Before any could answer, Dylan gave his first command.

“Protect!” Dylan commanded, much to Jon’s confusion, and Chris’ horror.

Latios struck the large protect barrier that Metagross erected, before Jon gave his next command.

“Shadow Ball!”

Latios launched a purple orb of spectral energy towards Metagross, who took the attack, stumbling a little, before darting towards the levitating dragon opposite it.

“Meteor Mash!” Dylan instructed, now seemingly going on the offensive. Like Chris’ Charizard, Metagross had the Tough Claws ability, powering up any and all moves that make contact. Meteor Mash hit Latios, and given Mega Metagross being as fast in battle as Latios, Dylan was able to instruct another attack.

“Now Iron Head!”

Its attack power raised by the successful Meteor Mash, Metagross launched itself into Latios, headbutting the Pokemon hard, causing it to be dazed, and miss the opportunity for another attack.

“Now end this with Bullet Punch!” Dylan commanded, as those spectating watched in shock as Metagross struck Latios with shocking speed, hitting the Pokemon with a relatively weaker attack, but given Mega Metagross’ strength, and the beating it had taken in the prior moves, Latios was knocked to the ground unconscious. Jon looked between Latios, Dylan and Metagross in shock and wonder.

“Okay, I get the feeling that first thing that you wouldn’t tell me about is something important…” Jon said as he called Latios back to its Pokeball. “Because you made this battle look way too easy…”

“I need to look into it further, but I am pretty certain I have it figured out…” Dylan explained. “Tell me the process of Mega Evolution.”

“We press the stone, our Pokemon light up like a Christmas tree, change shape, and are stronger,” Chris answered bluntly.

“See, I don’t think that’s the case,” Dylan said, looking to Chris now as well, then the others. “Who here thought the Pokemon was Mega evolved when the light disappeared?”

Everyone, Jon included, murmured in agreement.

“I don’t think that’s the case. I think the process is still being completed for a few seconds after the light disappears. In that moment, their typing and abilities have changed, but in terms of their attack, defence and speed, that takes a few seconds to increase,” Dylan answered, as Jon understood. “I noticed it mostly in Justin and Charlotte’s battle. Both Lucario and Gengar’s first move after they Mega Evolved seemed to be the same speed as they would be normally. It wasn’t until their next move that they seemed quicker than normal…”

“That’s why you used Protect as Mega Metagross’ first move?” Jon asked. “To give it time to complete the process, and prevent me from landing a hit while it was relatively weaker?”

“Exactly…” Dylan answered, as Charlotte spoke up next.

“Why Future Sight then when Jon’s Blaziken Mega Evolved?” Charlotte asked. “That didn’t hit until two turns later, when the process was complete. Dusknoir would have had some strong Ghost moves to hit with?”

“A couple of reasons. Future Sight is a weird move because it isn’t completely prediction based,” Dylan explained. “Think about it. If Future Sight is just an attack that is going to happen, we’d be avoiding random, powerful psychic attacks out of nowhere in our day to day lives. No, it is a mixture of seeing the future, but also changing the future to create that. And if Dusknoir creates that future when Blaziken’s stats are still relatively weaker…”

“Then it should hit the same,” Charlotte said, understanding Dylan’s reasoning, and finding herself impressed by the trainer. “And the other reason?”

“Most moves are either strong, or accurate. If they’re both, they are likely to have a drawback. It might be that they can’t be used many times in a battle, or have recoil damage, or put the user out of commission for a few seconds,” Dylan answered. “Future Sight is incredibly strong, and assuming the target hasn’t used Smokescreen or Double Team, or something like that, it should always hit. The trade-off is it takes a minute to actually take effect, but I could live with that. Otherwise, if I went for a ghost move, I’d be risking it being dodged, or it doing too little damage…”

Dylan seemed to have a thought, before continuing.

“That and Jon knew that I had figured something out during your battle with Justin, and I figured if I just straight up his Blaziken hard, and Blaziken took the damage while it was still relatively weaker, it might tip him off to this and do the same,” Dylan answered. This way it is far enough into the battle to not tip him off that the moments after the light disappears, they are still relatively weaker…”

“You all give me too much credit,” Jon retorted. “I’d have never picked that just from today. Hell, I don’t know why you’re all so shocked at Dylan beating me. You’re all giving me a run for my money at this point…”

Jon inspected the keystone embedded into his ring, before nodding to himself.

“But I’m glad you let us know that,” Jon explained, before turning to the others. “Remember, these aren’t for winning casual, or even competitive battles. These are for situations like the Deoxys incident, or the Whirl Islands, where you are at risk, and need all the advantages you can get to stay alive…”

Amidst the excitement of using their Mega Pokemon for the first time, the trainers, even Jon himself somewhat, had forgotten that caveat of them having Key Stones. They were most effective for the purpose Jon had sourced them for, if they were a well kept secret.

“But you all did well,” Jon continued. “Really well. I think given a bit more practise with these things, it would take a hell of a lot to beat the five of you when the s**t hits the fan…”

Jon glanced at his phone, seeing the time before addressing the interns again.

“I gotta go start working on dinner. But I’ll make sure you all have twenty-four hour access to the stadium. The students arrive tomorrow, and once they are here, only practise with Mega Evolved Pokemon during the night, and keep all the doors locked,” Jon instructed. “But dinner is at six in the lodge, so we can talk more about it then…”

When Jon knew there was no more pressing discussions to be had, he left the interns in the stadium to head to his house, none of them having been able to predict the way that afternoon would turn out.

[[Desolate Divine]]

It took two months to write it. Technically it is a few days of work with a huge gap in the middle where I struggled to find inspiration to write the battles and write them well. Christmas busyness didn't help. Surprisingly, it was when I was away between December 26th and January 1st, when I had a tablet with me, and time to kill as my mates hadn't arrived at the campsite left, and I finally, in the peace of being away from home, work and other distractions, managed to come up with the rough ideas for the battles, even flesh out the first one, which made planning them move for move, and then writing them a hell of a lot easier when I got home.

Thankfully (for me at least) Season 3 will be a lot less battle intensive than Season 2, and I can focus more on the stuff that comes easier to me; character interaction and development.

But it's here. I'm finally releasing Season 3, and goddamn, I am keen for what it holds...