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

[[Desolate Divine]]

Not my best, but was a plot point I really wanted to include, without going overboard on technicalities that probably irritate me the most, and sending the wordcount over 9000. But here is Episode 4.

Episode 4: Retribution

Spoiler:

Charlotte and Dylan both sat in the classroom at 8:50am, with class due to start in the next ten minutes. Whilst the pair had no reason to be on bad terms, the room was silent. Neither of them were the sort to engage in small talk, and whilst Abbee tended to be the social butterfly who could get either of them to chat, without her there, they waited in silence.

It was Tuesday of the second week at the Academy, didn’t take long for Abbee to arrive, saying hello to those already in the room, making her way to her usual seat with Charlotte.

“So what did you think of what I sent you last night?” Charlotte asked Abbee. “Are you interested?”

Abbee sighed, leaving Charlotte confused. Jon had offered for her to tag along during his next training match with Steven, as she was ahead of the class and wasn’t needing to be as direct about studying, and when she had asked if Abbee could come as well, Jon had pitched they do a double battle, one student with him and one with Steven. She thought Abbee would have loved that.

“I’ll need you to fill me in in person,” Abbee said. “My phone has gone missing.”

“Missing?” Charlotte asked. “How, it’s nearly glued to you…”

“Honestly, I think Justin took it as some dumb joke,” Abbee explained. “He was saying the same thing yesterday.”

“So why don’t you go get it back?” Charlotte said.

“I tried, but he just gave me that stupid grin and denied the whole thing,” Abbee replied, rolling her eyes. “In all honesty, it isn’t a big deal. My watch has an alarm, and if I leave it alone, the joke will get old quickly, and he will be the idiot with someone else’s phone keeping him awake all night. He can’t turn it off without the passcode, so I think I will get it back soon enough.”

Charlotte shrugged, not the sort to let something like that play out, but also noting Abbee didn’t seem too annoyed, just a little inconvenienced, however she seemed to have a solid idea of how to go about it. Charlotte proceeded to tell Abbee about Jon’s offer for Thursday evening. As she did, Chris and Justin entered the room, with a few minutes before class was due to start, Charlotte shooting Justin a glare as he entered, and Justin grinning, feigning ignorance.

The clock struck nine, however, to everyone’s surprise, Jon was late. This had never happened before. When it reached ten past, Chris spoke up.

“Should we maybe go to his place?” Chris asked. “Maybe his alarm didn’t go off?”

“Even if it didn’t, he has something more effective at waking people up than an alarm,” Abbee replied. “A newborn. I don’t think he is just sleeping in.”

“Even so…” Chris said, as he got up from his seat, making his way to the door, before Jon entered the room, seeming a little agitated, while Chris went back to his seat.

“Sorry I’m late,” Jon said. “Some stuff came up, and we gotta talk about that.”

“Everything alright?” Abbee asked.

“Not really, no,” Jon said. “I just spent the last hour on the phone to the League and the police.”

“Wait what-” Charlotte began, not expecting this morning to take this sort of turn.

“What happened?” Chris asked. “Did someone break in?”

“Remember how I have worked a few League Operations in the past with Steven?” Jon asked. “We use a few different encrypted apps to communicate on missions, and last night, one of those was receiving messages from a few different contacts. They were all threats.”

The class went silent hearing those words come from Jon.

“It’s pretty clear the threats are from Lance, or at least in his name, but he is in prison, which means that for someone to send these threats, or for him to get the means to send them himself, he has outside help, which is what concerns me. When we were on the S.S. Wishmaker, he had operatives loyal to him more so than the League, which is why I am concerned,” Jon explained. “The League wants me to not tell you this, but the fact is that the threats involved you.”

Jon plugged his phone into the projector mounted on the roof, and showed a couple of photos that had been sent of the gates to the Eon Academy. However as Jon scrolled through, the photos became more and more concerning. The first to raise alarm bells was a photo of Charlotte and Abbee as they sat outside a cafe in Mossdeep. Another showed Dylan through the fence, playing a game with his Duskull. The final one showed Chris and Justin on the beach, doing a workout together.

“These photos have been sent through with the threats, alongside photos of Alyssa and Amelia. Normally I wouldn’t be concerned since if someone did want to try and hurt us, getting us on high alert would be stupid, however because it’s Lance, I am a little more worried,” Jon explained solemnly, as Chris felt his stomach drop. He knew that Lance wouldn’t be directly sending those images, as he would recognize Chris, so it was someone else, potentially one of the operatives Jon mentioned. That being said, if what Jon and Steven had said was true, and Lance was as deranged as they made him out to be, would that family tie be broken in his eyes for going to Jon’s school?

“Why did the League want you to keep this from us?” Justin asked. “Have you told our parents?”

“I haven’t, at the forced request of the League and the Police,” Jon explained. “Alongside the threats was information about the Eon Academy known only to the League. Stuff like grant application numbers and such. They want me to know that we can’t hide anything from them. So Steven plans on only putting on the records false information, like a false evacuation plan, and fake protective measures, to try and catch out whoever is doing this.”

“Shouldn’t they know?” Charlotte asked.

“I agree with you that they should, especially now that I am a parent myself,” Jon said. “And if you were anywhere else, they would be told, but for Steven’s plan to work, we can’t have information leaving this room that conflicts with what Steven is telling the League, otherwise it won’t work. Steven thinks that the safest place for you is right here, and trusts me to be able to keep you safe if anyone does attempt anything. If I had objected further, it would have been an official choke order placed on me, and I wouldn’t even be able to tell you this much, just made changes and expected you to go along blindly.”

“So because of this, we have to change a few things about how this all runs,” Jon explained. “Firstly, nobody but me is to leave the Eon Academy property. Period.”

“What’s the point of you leaving if the reason we are apparently safe is because you’re here?” Chris asked.

“Steven will be staying in the spare room in the lodge for the time being,” Jon explained. “He is currently arranging a way for him to get here unnoticed, and maintain appearances in the league. Most likely using a Zoroark and Gardevoir to teleport here and trick people into thinking he is still working from home.”

“The reason I am going to be leaving is that Steven will be putting some real information through the league pipeline to give the bait some credibility. Things like when I go out to get supplies,” Jon explained. “I am capable of protecting myself when I go out, and if they don’t know he’s here, Steven will be able to protect you should anything happen.”

“Secondly, you are to remain in the lodge until I arrive to escort you elsewhere,” Jon explained. “I will escort you here in the morning, then back to the lodge for lunch. Afterwards, I will escort people to and from, their training sessions with me. There is no leaving the lodge on your own.”

“Lastly, for your safety, the lodge will be locked at all times, only unlocking to let you in and out.”

“Goddamn, it is starting to feel like a prison camp,” Justin muttered.

“Well we are hoping by acting now, we can make sure this is dealt with quickly,” Jon explained. “Better to be inconvenienced than hurt, or worse.”

The days classes passed, and whilst Jon tried to cover as much of the content as he could, the trainers minds were understandably elsewhere, given the bombshell they had just heard, particularly Chris, as the discussion he had with Charlotte the evening prior was in the front of his mind.

Once the morning’s classes were over, Jon escorted the trainers back to the lodge, where all windows and curtains were shut. The door itself had electronic locks installed that morning, which Jon punched in a code for to allow it to open, leading in the trainers, ensuring the door locked behind them.

“All of your windows have been lockable from day one, however we have locked them this morning,” Jon said. “You are allowed to unlock them and open them only when you are in the room. If you are asleep, or somewhere else in the lodge make sure it remains locked. You have also been given a panic button, which if pressed, will notify myself and Steven’s phones immediately.”

The group murmured about the new additions to their living situation before they spoke up.

“Steven is in the spare room at the end of the hall, next to Chris’ room,” Jon explained. “He is working his a** off trying to figure out who is behind this, and how to catch them out, so try and give him some peace, but if anything does happen, don’t act anymore than you have to. If the door does get knocked in, only do what you need to to buy time for someone to get Steven. Let him do the rest, and focus on staying safe…”

Jon left the room, leaving the group who silently processed all that was going on. Dylan went straight upstairs to his room, as Justin made his way into the kitchen.

“Hey, Abbee, I found your phone…” Justin called out as Abbee rolled her eyes.

“Told you…” Abbee said to Charlotte, as she went to the kitchen as well, leaving Chris and Charlotte alone in the lounge.

“So how are you going…” Charlotte asked cautiously. “Yesterday was a lot, but this…”

“I don’t know…” Chris said quietly. “I want to believe that because I was in those pictures, it either isn’t him behind it, or if it is, he just doesn’t know I am being targeted. But if what Jon and Steven said is true, it could be he doesn’t care if I get caught up in this.”

“I’m sorry,” Charlotte said awkwardly. She had known Chris for years, but only ever as a rival. Most of the time, the way he presented himself was that nothing phased him, and that he was above everyone else. Now he seemed scared and confused, just like any other person, and it was different to anything she was used to.

“Don’t be,” Chris said. “Not your family.”

Chris stood up, before Charlotte could respond, and made his way upstairs.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
After dinner, which Steven emerged from his temporary room to join in for, all of the students were quick to return to their rooms. After the day they had, none of them felt like doing extra training together, or even just watching a movie. They all wanted their own space to process it.

Latios and Jolteon remained at Jon and Alyssa’s cottage with Alyssa and Amelia, with Jon having to trust Latios again to keep her safe. He and Steven sat at the dining table, going over Steven’s work during the day, trying to get a better idea of what’s going on.

“I have been going over the footage from the records, and the Mossdeep Coast Guard over the course of the day, creating profiles for any and all people entering the island, which this time of year, there are a lot of tourists. Next I cross referenced it with traffic cameras and other security systems to wipe off as many names from that list as possible. Additionally, the space station needs to know exactly what is in their airspace, so only those who live on the island with registered flying Pokemon can use them to travel,” Steven explained. “From there I have come to the following conclusions.”

“Firstly, there is a single beach that one can enter Mossdeep from with private boats and Pokemon, which Coast Guard have a good eye on and nobody for weeks who has entered the island that way has gone more than a few streets into the City before leaving, certainly not deep enough into the island to be able to get the photos they got of the Academy. Secondly, because of how strict the flight rules are around the Space Station, very few have arrived via Pokemon that aren’t already registered as living on the island, and even then, the few that have, we were able to determine are not our guys,” Steven continued. “This means that whoever took these images came via the ferry, either on foot, or by car. It would be near impossible to hide from the security recordings if you entered on foot, which leads me to believe that the person taking the photos entered the island in a car on the ferry. Whilst their registration wouldn’t be hidden, it would be difficult to identify people in a car, particularly those in the back seats.”

“And how many cars are we talking about?” Jon asked.

“The ferry can carry forty cars at a time, and takes two hours to travel from Lilycove City, arriving every fourth hour between 6am and 10pm. So an estimated 200 cars will enter Mossdeep City a day,” Steven explained. “The tricky thing is that we don’t know how long this has been in the works for. If the people taking these photos came on the ferry last week, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find them, but if they have been here six weeks…”

“We just have to work backwards,” Jon explained. “Start at the day before the pictures arrived, and note which cars entered the island over the last three weeks, then work forward again. Note which cars have left the island, and it should give you hopefully a somewhat accurate list of which cars from outside of Mossdeep are still on the island.”

“Think I don’t know that?” Steven asked. “I have noted all cars that entered the island over the last four weeks, and which ones have left in the last three weeks, and already flagged one.”

Steven passed a tablet over, showing a black sedan with two men sitting in the front seats departing the ferry.

“This car was seen on traffic cameras in all the areas the photos were taken, which no other car was, so I am pretty certain it’s them. It was even seen tailing you when you left the academy today to buy groceries,” Steven explained. “However I can’t guarantee that they are alone, and if we intercept them now, we might potentially miss others who are in on this.”

“Well where do you draw the line?” Jon asked. “You can’t surely be planning on doing this sort of monitoring all the way back to when Alyssa and I moved here?”

“Believe me, I have no intention of doing that,” Steven retorted. “Lance isn’t a patient person. I will go back another four weeks tomorrow, and see what we can come up with. Beyond that, I doubt there is any risk.”

Jon’s watch read 10pm, as Steven yawned loudly. Jon had woken him up with the phone call at 5am, and he had been working most of the time since trying to narrow down who to expect. He had even offered to take one of the watches this evening.

“Go get some sleep,” Jon explained. “I’ll take the first watch, and come get you at two.”

“Shouldn’t we both patrol?” Steven asked. “This is a huge property, too big for only one at a time.”

“You need sleep, and tomorrow I gotta run classes, which means I gotta sleep at some point too,” Jon explained. “I need you to keep doing your analysis tomorrow and try and figure out if there is more than just these two. If we do the watch together, we don’t sleep, and that ends well for nobody.”

Steven nodded, before yawning again and closing his laptop and tablet.

“If you need anything, give me a call,” Steven said. “Don’t try and do anything alone.”

“I have Latios by the house, but I’ll keep that in mind…”

Once Steven was gone, Jon quickly grabbed his coat, and attached his Pokeballs to his belt, before making his way out of the lodge.

The grounds were quiet, save for the odd wild Pokemon cry that pierced the night. Jon patrolled the grounds, occasionally exchanging words with Latios when he would reach out to Jon telepathically, from the spot above the cottage where he was acting as a sentry. The night air was warm, as the sound of the ocean waves hitting the cliffside behind the property quietly filled the air.

As Jon walked the grounds, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of regret towards his last encounter with Lance. Not for any sort of sympathy for Lance, but for antagonizing him the way he did, knowing those choice words that he used for the sake of hurting an already deranged man’s pride were probably the fuel behind this dumpster fire of a situation they were in.

It was near midnight when Jon heard Latios’ voice in his head.

“Jon, someone is coming. They are close…” Latios said.

“What?” Jon replied with his thoughts. “How did you not see them sooner?”

“They must have used the cliff for cover. My emotion-sense is mostly linked to my sight. It can permeate through wood or glass, but not the ground, bricks or stone.”

“Protect Alyssa and Amelia, no half measures,” Jon replied as he started to run towards the cottage. Latios began sharing his sight with Jon, as Jon saw a Salamence and Dragonite ascend into view from behind the drop off of the clip, with trainers on their back. There were flashes of light, as Pokeballs were activated and a half dozen dragon Pokemon materialized, however one concerned Jon the most…

There was a deafening shriek as a three headed, black and purple Pokemon materialized. Jon recognized it as Hydreigon, a Pokemon native to Unova, but known for its extremely violent and volatile nature. One that when Pokeballs registered them, would notify the League to keep the trainer on watch lists. Jon had encountered a handful before at tournaments, and was appalled at how savage they were with their attacks.

“I’ll be there soon!” Jon said as he started running, grabbing the black Pokeball off his belt.

”Behind you!” Latios shouted, as Jon swung around to find himself staring down the barrel of a handgun.

“No matter what happens, protect Alyssa and Amelia,” Jon said. “Even if you have to get them somewhere safe. I’ll try and handle this…”

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

After dinner, Chris had tried to get an early night, however lay in bed, unable to sleep, still torn about Lance, and whether or not he was involved in this situation. At about 11pm, he gave up sleeping, instead pulling his chair by the window, leaving the light off, and sitting there, looking out past the gates of the Eon Academy at the lights of Mossdeep City. Occasionally he would see Jon, mostly as a shadow between the lights of the property, patrolling.

As Chris looked out over the property, he thought he noticed something. A shadow that was out of place for a brief second, behind the monastery which had acted as their school for the summer. As he looked back at where he thought he saw the shadow, there was nothing there. Just the shadow of the building. Looking back to where Jon was, on the path between the lodge and his own house, Chris finally saw it. Two figures, dressed in back, creeping past the front of the lodge. Chris saw one of them twitch for a moment, before he pulled away from the window, just avoiding being seen by one of the figures looking up at the one open window.

When he thought he wouldn’t be noticed, Chris looked out again, seeing they had now passed the other side of the lodge, and were moving towards Jon. There was the sound of Pokeballs activating, as light erupted from the blindspot of Chris’ vantage point, reflecting off of something metallic in one of the figure’s hands, as Jon began to run.

”He has a gun…” Chris thought to himself. He considered pressing the panic button, however realized that if Jon’s phone starts going off and he returns to the lodge, he might be in danger. If he left to get Steven now, by the time Steven got there, it could be too late. If he sent out one of his own Pokemon, the light and sound of the Pokeball would give him away before he could even give them an instruction…

Chris darted to his cupboard, opening it and finding a heavy aluminium flashlight, before making his way towards the window, grimacing at what would come next.

The drop to the ground was roughly twelve feet, however the ground beneath his window was soft grass. Jon was out of view from the window, however so were the figures. The only indicator that he wasn’t too late was that the sound of the Pokemon battling hadn’t been interrupted by a gunshot.

He bashed on the wall to his left, hoping it would be enough to get Steven’s attention, before climbing out the window, and turning around, letting himself hang from the windowsill, before dropping, his bare feet stinging from the shock of hitting the ground, but thankfully, not breaking his ankles. As he composed himself, he gripped the flashlight tightly, before creeping in the direction he saw the two figures moving…

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

“You’ve made the wrong enemies Jon,” said a voice that Jon recognized from S.S. Wishmaker. Behind the gun stood one figure dressed in black with their face covered, only their eyes visible. The voice itself, Jon couldn’t name, however had heard it before during the briefing before the mission. Next to him was another figure, dressed the same, though this one unarmed.

“Lance put you up to this?” Jon asked, trying to buy time, hoping Steven wasn’t able to sleep through the sounds of the fight Latios and Jolteon were putting up behind him. The battle itself raged hard, with blasts of electricity piercing the air, and loud bangs as Latios accelerated into his foes at near full speed. “I’m surprised he can do that from where he is now.”

“Being Champion tends to have its perks,” said the other figure, with another familiar, but unnamable voice. “It wasn’t that hard for him to get a message out. When you did what you did to him, and some of our friends, it doesn’t tend to be too difficult to get a few like-minded people together to deal with a problem like this.”

“If you’re here to just deal with me, why go for the theatrics?” Jon asked. “Why have your friends over there attack my home, then come out with the gun? You could have shot me dead by now and be gone.”

As Jon said this, he noticed something behind the figures. For a second he thought it was another person with these guys, until he realized their height was more that of a teenager. As they got closer, Jon recognized the figure as Chris, wielding a flashlight.

“Lance didn’t want that. You remember what you said to him? About burning everything he loves to the ground?” the figure in front of him said, as Jon made sure to make eye contact with him, not wanting to give away Chris’ presence by looking past them. “Lance tends to feel the same, so when he heard about this little Hogwarts that you have here, he figured that would be the best place to start, right after that little house you and your family have becomes a pile of rubble…”

As Chris edged closer to the pair, holding the torch up, preparing to hit the one with the gun over the head, Jon made a slight grunt of confusion, looking towards the gates.

Confused, the two men looked in the same direction, as Jon grabbed the forearm of the man with the gun with his left hand, shoving it away from him, as he instinctively pulled the trigger. The gunshot rang through the air, before a sharp crack and a cry of pain as Chris slammed the flashlight over the gunman's head, causing his grip of the weapon to loosen.

“Jon!” Latios said.

“Don’t worry about me!” Jon shouted in his thoughts. “You know what you have to do!”

The other assailant pulled a knife from his pocket, pressing a button as a blade flicked out, before moving towards Chris. Jon grabbed the gun from the hand of the assailant in front of him, before pulling the trigger, firing a shot into the gunman’s shoulder, then turning it on the man with the knife, firing another two rounds, hitting him in the hand, knocking the blade away as the man screamed in pain, and the second in the shin, causing him to crumple down.

“F**k…” Chris said shocked, as Jon pistol whipped the pair, knocking them out, before he turned to him.

“Why the hell did you sneak out?!” Jon shouted, as Jon noticed a Pokemon flying above him. The Pokemon landed, revealing itself to be a Skarmory, as Steven climbed off its back, whilst Jon flicked the safety and placed the gun in the waistband of his pants.

“Are either of you hurt?” Steven asked.

“I’ll deal with you later,” Jon said to Chris, as Chris noticed him pocket the same jet black Pokeball that he saw in Shoal Cave. Jon turned to Steven. “I’m going to back up Latios. Make sure these two haven’t got any other weapons or Pokeballs, then come help me. Chris, get a Pokemon out, and have it keep these two here. Don’t fight them yourself if they wake up, let your Pokemon do it.”

Steven nodded, as Jon ran towards the cottage. Steven quickly frisked the pair, removing another few blades, and extra magazines, before Chris let out his Garchomp, to watch the pair of unconscious attackers and Steven joined the fray.

From where he stood, Chris could see over a dozen Pokemon involved in the fighting. There were two trainers riding a Dragonite and Salamence, and under their command, a Hydreigon, Noivern, Flygon, Altaria and another pair of Dragonite, that Chris recognized as Lance’s own. Meanwhile, Jon commanded Latios, Blaziken and Jolteon, with Steven commanding Skarmory, Claydol and Metagross, the two trainers fighting back the dozen attackers. For a moment, Chris wondered why Jon didn’t send out Absol, Nidoking and Scizor, however it didn’t take long for Chris to see the three Pokemon, rushing towards him, surrounding Alyssa, who carried their infant daughter.

“Chris!” she called out, trying her hardest to stay calm, however the panic was still seeping through.

“Are you alright?” Chris called out as the group got closer.

“We’re fine,” Alyssa said, somewhat frantically over Amelia’s cries. “Jon said they have them on the ropes, and has given me the code to get into the lodge. He wants us to wait in there, and let Nidoking keep an eye on these two.”

Chris nodded, as he called back Garchomp, leaving Nidoking to watch the two prisoners, as Absol and Scizor escorted himself and Alyssa to the lodge, Alyssa quickly opening the door, and letting the pair of them in.

“What the hell is going on?” Charlotte asked, as they shut the door behind them. “I heard gunshots?”

Everyone else was on the bottom floor of the lodge, watching out the windows from the dining area at the battle that unfolded, dressed in their pyjamas and dressing gowns.

“We’re under attack,” Chris said, as Abbee looked in shock. “There were four guys, but Jon and I took down two, and now Jon and Steven are fighting back the other two by the cottage.”

“Wait, what the hell were you doing out there?” Abbee asked.

“I saw two of them about to get the jump on him, and one had a gun,” Chris replied, looking out at the battle that was raging. “If I had tried to warn him, I thought they would shoot him before he could do anything, and I didn’t think there was time for me to get Steven to help him, so I climbed out the window and jumped the guy.”

“Idiot!” Charlotte shouted. “You tried to jump a guy with a gun, unarmed?!”

“I had my flashlight…” Chris muttered, as Charlotte scoffed.

“Don’t worry guys, Chris will fight off all these guys, with only a flashlight,” Charlotte said mockingly, angry that he had been so reckless.

“Look, let’s just calm down,” Alyssa said to the group. “Jon and Steven have got this.”

“Are you sure?” Justin asked. “Those are some strong Pokemon, and there are lots of them…”

“Jon has beaten much stronger,” Alyssa said. “He told me before that they have them on the ropes. I called the police before when the fighting began, so they will be here soon. Just try and stay calm.”

The group watched as the fighting continued through the window. The Noivern, Flygon and Altaria had already been knocked out, as Steven battled the Dragonite and Salamence that carried trainers, with Jon fighting off Lance’s Dragonites and the psychotic Hydreigon that seemed the worst of all.

Blaziken and Latios had been fighting off a Dragonite each, whilst Jolteon attempted to whittle down Hydreigon’s health. When Jolteon landed a good hit with a Thunder attack, Jon called out, as Latios and Blaziken darted towards one another, as Jolteon began fighting the Dragonites instead. Latios grabbed Blaziken under the arms, lifting him directly into the air, before twisting around and facing the ground directly, and dropping Blaziken, before returning to battle the Dragonites. Blaziken fell into Hydreigon, hitting it with a Close Combat attack, as it cried out in pain, falling to the ground unconscious. Latios disappeared from sight with a boom, launching itself into one Dragonite, throwing it into the second as Jolteon unleashed another Thunder attack. Latios followed up with an Outrage attack, tearing into the two Pokemon. The remaining two Pokemon that carried the trainers dodged another attack from Steven’s Metagross, before calling the Pokemon back, and finally fleeing.

It was another twenty minutes before the lodge door opened, and Jon entered the room, seeing it full with all the young trainers and Alyssa.

“Is everybody okay?” Jon asked. “The cowards have run off, but Steven is meeting the police at the gate.”

“I’m fine,” Abbee replied. “Just a bit shaken up…”

“Are we really safe here?” Justin asked. “What’s to stop this happening again?”

“We injured and caught two of them, who the police are going to arrest now. The two that got away, Steven already has a pretty good idea on who they are,” Jon explained. “We aren’t going to be slack about it, but I think that they won’t be trying this again anytime soon. Only one of them had a gun, probably because it was all they could get, and now we have that. We have fought off their Pokemon, and two of the guys are now out of the picture, with the other two probably having warrants out by dawn. I think this is the worst they could do.”

The group were silent, as they weren’t overly convinced.

“We can talk about it more in the morning,” Jon said. “Go get some sleep, you guys were in here, so I doubt the police will want statements.”

The trainers nodded, before starting to make their way up the stairs, though Jon spoke up again.

“Chris, you got a second?” Jon asked, as Chris stopped in his tracks, before making his way back.

“Because you were directly involved, the police might want to talk to you…” Jon said, as he went and sat at the dining table. “So don’t go back to sleep yet.”

“I was struggling to sleep before all of this, so that won’t be a problem…” Chris said quietly.

Jon was silent for a moment before speaking.

“Look, if we ever find ourselves in a situation like this again, don’t put yourself at risk like that again,” Jon said. “But, I do appreciate your help tonight.”

Chris was silent, thinking about what he heard the attackers say to Jon.

“Call us even for the whole Shoal Cave incident,” Chris began. “That and…”

He stopped, unsure if he should say anything else, however Jon looked at him curiously.

“That and what?” Jon asked, not sure where he was going with this, as Chris sighed.

“You know how I said my family won’t want the publicity about what happened to me last week? About how I am related to a few Gym Leaders?” Chris asked.

“Yes…”

“Well I wasn’t completely honest. My sister is a Gym Leader in Johto, and my cousin was a member of the Indigo Elite Four, before becoming the Indigo Champion…”

Jon was silent as Chris revealed this.

“So seeing as my egomaniac cousin is the one sending hit squads after you, I kind of owe it to you to try and help…” Chris muttered.

“Look, Chris, you don’t owe me anything,” Jon said. “If Lance is your cousin, that’s a shock, but really, his decisions have nothing to do with you. He did some terrible things and went down a dark path, but that is no reason for you to feel guilty.”

“Right…” Chris said, not entirely convinced, before remembering something. “What is in the black Pokeball you had? When I woke up in Shoal Cave, you had it then as well…”

“S**t!” Jon said loudly, realizing he still had it. “You didn’t tell anyone did you?”

Chris shook his head, as Jon got up frantically.

“Keep an eye out for the cops and let me know when they’re here,” Jon explained. “This Pokeball contains my absolute last resort, and when I had the gun pointed in my face, I thought I was going to have to use it. But outside of those sorts of situations, nobody can know I have it.”

Jon quickly looked around the dining room, finding the cupboard containing all of the plastic drinking cups, as Chris watched out the window, seeing flashing lights driving up the property.

“They’ll be here in a minute…” Chris said, now more curious as to what was in there, as Jon stashed the Pokeball in the cupboard.

“If they search the place, I am in trouble, but they shouldn’t need to search the lodge,” Jon explained. “If you keep this a secret, one day I will tell you the whole story…”

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

The police arrived shortly after, detaining the two captured assailants, before getting statements from Steven, Jon, Alyssa and Chris. The two captured were not the two that Steven had shown Jon the security camera footage of, and whilst Steven had means of identifying who they were and arresting them, Chris identifying the Dragonites as Lance’s own made it much simpler to track down the two assailants that fled, especially since they were kept in standard Pokeballs that were easy to track. Between having the registration details of the car they were in, a rough idea of where in Mossdeep they were staying, and now having the Trainer IDs based on when Lance’s Dragonite were last healed in a Pokemon Center, by noon the next day, the two remaining assailants had been taken into custody, with Lance being transferred to a more secure facility, with Steven and Cynthia needing to approve any visitors. Police patrolled the grounds of the Eon Academy over the next few days, as Steven remained on site, continuing his investigation to make sure the four who attacked were the only ones involved.

By the time Thursday came, Steven had managed to go through the list of operatives Lance recruited for the mission on the S.S. Wishmaker, as well as some names of other associates, and was confident that none were near Mossdeep or posed any threat, thought stayed at the Academy just in case.

On Thursday afternoon, Jon and Chris had their one on one training, where Chris was battling more intently than usual, yet somehow at the same time, didn’t seem to be completely there.

“Let’s take five,” Jon said, holding up his hand before walking over to Chris. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Chris said. “I can keep battling.”

“If it were nothing, I wouldn’t be noticing it,” Jon laughed. “You can ask Alyssa just how dense I can tend to be about what’s going through people’s heads. Something’s up.”

Chris took a moment to try and put what he was thinking to words.

“It’s about Lance…” Chris said. “A mixture of things. Part of it being the whole don’t meet your heroes thing, but even a bit more than that.”

“I always looked up to him as a kid, and when I started battling, and my family started to see I had potential, Lance became a goal for me. To be like him,” Chris explained. “That’s part of the reason why I train Dragon Types. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy it, but if I wasn’t part of his family, and didn’t have that expectation and drive, I don’t know that I would be the trainer that I am now.”

“But now, I don’t know,” Chris said. “All bulls**t aside, Lance is a strong trainer and has done a lot as Champion, and sure, I’d want to be like that. But I don’t want to aspire to be like him given the things he has done. Sure, I want to be a Dragon Tamer, and want to be strong, but…”

“Then don’t aspire to be like him,” Jon said. “Aspire to be better. Aspire to have the strengths he has, and to learn from his weakness and mistakes.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Chris muttered. “You and Steven said it yourself, the fact he was as good a trainer as he was was part of the reason why he snapped. Even if I can be a better trainer than him, will that skill, and then that expectation and pressure just do the same thing to me, if not worse?”

“Only if you let it,” Jon said. “I didn’t know Lance before he had his title and reputation, you’ve known him longer than I have, but I would bet anything that he was proud to a fault before all of that. The fact you’re even thinking about this tells me that you’ve got more humility than he could ever have.”

“Still, Lance wasn’t much older than me when he became Champion,” Chris said. “I’ve won a few tournaments in the last few years, but I still haven’t even won a practise match here. Some Dragon Tamer I am…”

Jon thought over what Chris was saying, before speaking up.

“How about this?” Jon asked. “What if you got to do something better than Lance ever did…”

“And what would that be?” Chris asked.

“I can’t tell you just yet. But it has something to do with that Pokeball,” Jon explained. “Every third weekend, I usually make a trip to an island in the south of Hoenn to do some training there. That would be this weekend, and if Steven thinks it's safe for me to leave, I still plan on going. If anyone asks, you’re coming with me for remedial training…”

“What sort of training?” Chris asked.

“Let’s say I have a Pokemon that I can’t use near civilization, that needs a lot of training,” Jon explained. “One that Dragon Master Lance would give anything to meet, let alone train alongside. And you can help me train it. Deal?”

Chris thought over the offer for a minute. Whilst he knew Charlotte wouldn’t let him hear the end of remedial training, the idea of this mystery Pokemon that Jon claimed to possess, one that Lance himself hadn’t even seen or trained did interest him…

“You’ve got a deal…”

Friday morning Steven gave the all clear for the Eon Academy to mostly resume its activities. When Jon mentioned going off-site, Steven didn’t object, knowing why he was going and how important it was that he went, however decided to remain at the Eon Academy for a few more days, with the police keeping a car parked by the front, and coast guard monitoring the area of water that the assailants came from the night before. Latios remained at the Eon Academy as well, with Steven loaning Jon his Skarmory for Jon to fly on, and once classes finished at 3pm, Jon and Chris left the Eon Academy on Skarmory and Charizard for remedial training elsewhere, much to the confusion of the other students.

They flew into the night, arriving on Southern Island at midnight, with Jon telling Chris to set up camp, and they’d begin training in the morning. Chris struggled to sleep, both given what had happened that week, and also the excitement of what Jon was going to show him, however fatigue soon caught up with him, causing him to sleep.

He awoke shortly after sunrise, as Jon called him over to the edge of the island, looking out over the sea.

“Are you ready to see something most people will go their entire lives never seeing?” Jon asked.

“If most people go their entire lives never seeing this, how did you wind up with it?”

“The military antagonized it, and it responded by bringing down commercial planes,” Jon explained. “The military were going to try and kill it, so Steven gave me some unregistered Pokeballs and asked me to try and sneak in and catch it before they could do anything. Gave me the fight of my life, but training is going well.”

Chris watched as Jon unclipped the black Pokeball.

“Chris, meet…” Jon began as he pressed the button on the Pokeball, light erupting from it, and forming in the shape of a giant serpent floating above the ocean. As the light dissipated, the Pokemon’s emerald green hide became visible, as it's dangerous looking eyes stared daggers into Chris.

“Rayquaza…”