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    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Season 5 Episode 2: Grudge Match
    Spoiler:

    Jon grinned smugly as Abbee sent Victini onto the battlefield. He knew why she had waited until now. His Scizor had just beaten Abbee’s Gardevoir, one of Abbee’s least experienced Pokemon. She had captured it as a Ralts during her second summer at the Academy, three years prior, and having worked at Elesa’s Gym the last few years, had intentionally kept it as a Kirlia, using the plethora of electric moves it could learn to provide a challenge for matches where Abbee was forced to hold back. However, given her being offered the Gym Leader position, she had decided to let the Pokemon evolve. Alongside her Ampharos and Electivire, another Pokemon she had captured and trained for her role in Nimbasa City Gym, Gardevoir levelled out her battling team, any combination of the three providing enough of a challenge, with Victini being an extra level of difficulty for those who wanted it.

    Given Gardevoir’s lack of experience, and its partial Fairy typing, Scizor made short work of Gardevoir, and now Abbee was sending out her third and final Pokemon. Jon however, was on his second.

    “Scizor, Baton Pass!” Jon commanded, as he returned Scizor to its Pokeball. Victini glared at Jon, expecting this to happen, as Jon sent out his third Pokemon, Blaziken.

    “Goddamn it!” Victini yelled, only understood by Jon, who couldn’t help but grin, and Abbee, who could have sworn Victini was less aggressive during battle before she dated Chris, sighed.

    It was Thursday afternoon of the first week of the Eon Academy’s summer program. Abbee’s team had just begun their session training with Jon that afternoon. Having explained the concept of patience in a battle, he had invited Abbee to join him for a demonstration match.

    Abbee had opened with Poliwrath, with Jon sending out Nidoking to begin with. Despite being at a type advantage, Nidoking dispatched Poliwrath quickly, causing Abbee to send out Gardevoir. Her reasoning was that Gardevoir, despite being her least experienced Pokemon, would be able to dispatch of Nidoking whilst buffing its own attack power. Additionally she knew Jon relied a little too much on Blaziken, the viability of which in battle was proportional to how early it is sent out. This had been part of Abbee’s reasoning to send out Poliwrath as her first Pokemon.

    However, subverting expectations Jon, instead of sending Blaziken out as his second Pokemon, sent out Scizor, and then even further, sent out Blaziken as his third Pokemon.

    “Shadow Claw!” Jon commanded as Abbee ordered a Psychic attack from Victini.

    With blinding speed, Blaziken rushed at Victini, one of its claws engulfed in a spectral light, slashing at the Pokemon, before quickly dodging Victini’s own attack.

    Jon watched intently as Victini, growing more frustrated, acted with no orders. Whilst there was a chance Abbee could be commanding him via his telepathy, Jon knew that these days it was more natural for the two to speak verbally, and given Victini's own frustration, it was more likely that he had just let that get the better of him.

    One point of growth for Victini since joining Abbee in training under Jon, was relying less on V-Create, the move that came most naturally to the Mythical Pokemon, and using other moves in a pinch. However, Victini was still acting rashly, and had not made that much better of a decision with move choice.

    Jon could see that instead of flames forming a V from Victini's crown, they engulfed the entire Pokemon, as it rocketed towards Blaziken.

    "Take the hit!" Jon ordered. "Then Assurance!"

    With a crash, Victini slammed into Blaziken, the Fire Type choosing not to dodge the attack, causing Victini to take recoil damage. In a flash, Blaziken's fist became coated in a dark aura, as it used the force of Victini's impact to launch itself into a spin, circling around Victini and slamming its fist into Victini at the same time he felt the impact of his own attack.

    Victini collapsed to the ground, before weakly attempting to stand to his feet. Normally, even with the sheer amount of recoil damage Victini took, that one attack wouldn't be enough to put Victini out of commission, even if it were super effective however…

    "Abbee, I recommend you forfeit for Victini's sake," Jon called out, as Victini still struggled to his feet. "Blaziken still has too much fight left in him, and even if Victini does beat it, I still have Scizor…"

    Abbee nodded in agreement. Though she was supportive in Victini's pursuit of a rematch with Scizor, she also knew that even if Victini were to beat Blaziken in this state, Scizor would simply humiliate him.

    "Victini, we're forfeiting," Abbee called out, as Victini looked back at her in disbelief. "It's only a practice match. You'll get him next time…"

    Victini glared at Jon, before walking slowly back towards Abbee. Jon grinned at Abbee, who shrugged, trying to hide her own grin. She didn't blame Jon for withdrawing Scizor. They both remembered how Victini beat Matt Campbell's Shaymin two summers earlier at the College of the North Wind, battling much more ferociously than normal, purely to prove that his win against Avery Miller's Shaymin wasn't a hollow victory. If the dial had been cranked up to eleven for that battle, Victini having another crack at Scizor would send that same dial to a hundred.

    "Before we get into the patience part, what did you all notice about Abbee and I's battle?" Jon said, addressing the thirty five students that were part of Abbee's team. There was silence for a moment, before one of the older students spoke.

    "Abbee's opening play was to capitalise on your habit of using Blaziken early?" Rose, Jon and Alyssa's niece, now sixteen years old and in her third summer at the Academy, answered. "But you didn't let it stop you from using Blaziken altogether…"

    Jon nodded, before grinning at Abbee.

    "Cheers for that. It helped me illustrate the point…"

    Having a hunch she knew what he was talking about, she nodded, though didn't say anything further, on the chance she was wrong as Jon continued.

    "This is where patience comes into it. When Gardevoir knocked out Nidoking, and I sent out Scizor, Scizor could have quite easily finished Gardevoir off with a Bullet Punch, and a lot of trainers don't see past the circumstances right in front of them," Jon explained. "But fact was that once Gardevoir was beaten, Abbee still had one Pokemon left to use, and has two Pokemon on her team, both maybe capable of giving Scizor a hard time if given the chance…"

    Victini glared at Jon who responded with a friendly grin.

    "When Rose talked about my habit of using Blaziken early, she was referring to its Speed Boost Ability, which increases its speed as the battle progresses, and in order to make the best use of it, I tend to send out Blaziken as my opening Pokemon, or normally, my second at the latest. Between that and its wide move pool, it is usually a good play. The trade-off, as Abbee has shown, is that it is predictable, so I need to make sure I have contingencies in place in that event…"

    Jon grabbed the remote that sat on a small table next to him, lowering the screen for the projector, before turning it on. The projector quickly lit up, showing a recording of the battle he and Abbee had just finished. He pressed fast forward until the screen showed Gardevoir beating Nidoking, and Jon responding by sending out Scizor.

    "At this point, I still wanted to use Blaziken because of how versatile it is, however, to send it in against Gardevoir would have been far from ideal, as it would be too disadvantaged without the time for Speed Boost to activate, and given how ineffective Power-Up Punch would be, that also made sending Blaziken out as my second a bad idea. Which meant if I wanted to use Blaziken, it had to be my third," Jon explained. "So instead, I sent out Scizor, who would not struggle to beat Gardevoir, with a Bullet Punch or two and it's Technician Ability, and would resist most of Gardevoir's attacks, meaning there was no real urgency. But instead of rushing to beat Gardevoir, I made the most of the low-risk match up, in order to give my third Pokemon, be it Blaziken, or something else, a better chance…"

    Jon pressed play and all present watched as Gardevoir, who was quicker than Scizor, used Recover, regaining some energy, before Scizor used Agility, gaining in Speed, and following up with a Sword's Dance. On screen, Gardevoir used Mystical Fire, which Scizor managed to avoid the bulk of, only being grazed before hitting Gardevoir with a Bullet Punch, knocking it out. Jon pressed pause again.

    "At this point, I now have a Pokemon that is faster than any Pokemon Abbee will send out, and more attack power," Jon explained. "If Abbee sent out something that Scizor could handle, Scizor was equipped to deal with it. And if she sent out something that might give Scizor a hard time, it will be able to Baton Pass to another Pokemon to handle it. Meanwhile, had I just had Scizor go straight for the knock out when Abbee sent out Gardevoir, Blaziken would have gone up against Victini slower off the mark, and likely been knocked out before it could land a hit…"

    Jon meant no offence to Victini with his might, only to stir the Pokemon that he was on good terms with. Victini however, had had enough. He walked over to Jon, standing at his feet, looking up at him.

    "Jon," Victini said telepathically, including all present in the conversation. "I formally challenge Scizor to a one on one battle, once I've had time to recover from this one…"

    There were murmurs and grins from those watching as Jon stifled a smirk. Abbee shook her head in disbelief. She and Victini had a close bond, however, when Victini was feeling especially competitive, he tended to forget who was the trainer and who was the Pokemon.

    "I refuse," Jon answered simply.

    "I'm challenging Scizor, not you, but if you think Scizor needs your commands to stand a chance, I'll allow you to give orders…"

    Victini was aiming for Jon's pride, however Jon simply grinned.

    "If Scizor were to injure somebody during the course of a battle, as it's trainer I'd be held responsible, just like if you were injured in the course of a battle, it would be Abbee's responsibility to fund treatment," Jon explained, returning the blow by implying Victini would be injured and not Scizor. "As such, I have the right to accept or reject any challenges on Scizor's behalf."

    Victini flushed red, as Jon knelt down, speaking quietly to the Mythical Pokemon.

    "Victini, I'm not going to indulge you in a one on one grudge match because you demand it," Jon said quietly. "I get that you have something you want to prove, and it's admirable. I am seeing the same thing in Cass, and considering where the two of you were when I met you, I am glad to see you both so determined to prove you can win legitimately. But just because you have something to prove, I'm not obligated to accept any sort or challenge…"

    "It sounds like you're scared…" Victini answered verbally, as Jon chuckled.

    "Victini, I am among the most famous battlers in the world, yet even I couldn't just go to Ever Grande City and formally challenge Steven. I'd have to beat the Elite Four to prove I'm worth Steven's time in a formal challenge," Jon explained, before being interrupted by Victini.

    "Abbee is the Nimbasa City Gym Leader," Victini retorted.

    "Abbee will be the Nimbasa City Gym Leader," Jon said, lowering his tone further and giving Victini a meaningful look. It wasn't public knowledge yet that Elesa was retiring and whilst the only people present who could understand Victini were Jon and Abbee, he didn't want Victini to say something to someone else who didn't know, or to someone who did, and they are overheard replying to the comment. "And Abbee hasn't challenged Scizor. You have."

    Standing up, and effectively ending the conversation, Jon began pairing off students to have one on one practise matches, with a focus on making the most of lower risk situations. Abbee, after returning Victini to his Pokeball, quickly helped him, and once the older students who were tasked with helping Abbee run the team were given their tasks, Abbee approached Jon.

    "Don't you think you're teasing Victini a little too much?" Abbee asked. "I know he respects you, but I've never seen him so frustrated…"

    Jon gave a smug grin, causing Abbee to roll her eyes. She had been his student long enough to know when he was setting them up for something.

    "Okay, spill it," Abbee said, her tone hardening. "Why are you antagonising Victini and being so difficult?"

    Like her Pokemon before, Jon gave Abbee a meaningful look before lowering his tone and making sure nobody overheard her.

    "Can you keep a secret?" Jon asked.

    "I kept Rayquaza a secret for three years," Abbee retorted with a grin.

    "Not from a telepath…"

    "How can I keep a secret from a telepath?" Abbee asked.

    "Don't let yourself think about this when he is around," Jon explained. "It's how I kept my stash of beers from being found by Latios…"

    Abbee nodded as Jon continued.

    "Victini has something to prove, and honestly, I wouldn't be doing him any favours if I accepted his challenge and let him beat Scizor senseless," Jon said. "Sure, he'd be loving it, but how long until he finds some other thing he must do to prove himself? Technically, Scizor beat him because I trained it and commanded it, so next he will want to beat me, which is fine. But even if he does that, what next?"

    "Honestly, I don't know…"

    "Does Victini blame himself for what happened to you in Alola?"

    The question took Abbee by surprise, as did the change in Jon's tone. Her silence however answered the question.

    "Short of another situation that I hope you never find yourself in again, once Victini starts fixating on that, and trying to prove to himself he is strong enough to make sure that never happens again, he will be getting into dangerous territory," Jon continued. "He may never be able to do that…"

    "So you just won't let him get there by making sure he never gets past this Scizor hang-up?"

    Jon shook his head.

    "If I just let him have a crack at Scizor, he is happy for a few weeks, maybe months, but it won't last. Because honestly, take away our history, a Legendary, Fire-type Pokemon, that has beaten Mega Rayquaza before, beating a Scizor isn't a huge achievement…" Jon said. "But if I make it so difficult for him to even get the opportunity, and make sure that the achievement is purely from his own initiative and cunning, I'm hoping that this achievement may be able to keep him satisfied for a fair while…"

    A million thoughts raced through Abbee's mind, as she processed Jon's plan.

    "So you'll let him have a crack at Scizor before the summer is over?"

    "If I absolutely have to," Jon answered. "I'm hoping before then, Victini will have made it happen regardless of what I do…"

    Abbee considered Jon's reasoning.

    "Can I at least help him?" Abbee asked as Jon considered the question.

    "As long as it doesn't take away from his sense of achievement," Jon answered. "Try and let him take as much responsibility as possible…"

    Abbee nodded, though dreaded trying to keep this a secret from Victini.

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

    ”Dylan…”

    The voice sounded distant, as Dylan quickly became aware of his surroundings. On the wall was a painting of a large, bird Pokemon with rainbow colored wings. The image was largely stylised, and Dylan knew that the subject of it would look vastly different, should he ever meet the Pokemon himself. However, he recognised the Legendary Pokemon as Ho-Oh.

    “Dylan, is everything alright?”

    Dylan looked over to Dr. Tanner, who had just taken a seat on a comfortable looking leather armchair, having just reentered the room.

    “Yeah, sorry,” Dylan answered quickly. “Got lost in my thoughts…”

    He nodded towards the painting.

    “I only just noticed it,” Dylan said. “Are you from Johto? They tend to have the most focus on Ho-Oh in terms of mythology.”

    Dr. Tanner shook her head.

    “I grew up in Petalburg,” she answered. “But the myths of Ho-Oh are associated heavily with healing and rebirth. It’s believed the original Raikou, Entei and Suicune were all Pokemon that perished in a fire. A Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon, which Ho-Oh resurrected. I guess the sentimental part of me likes the idea of someone emerging stronger from a situation that once left them broken…”

    Dr. Tanner was one of Hoenn’s best psychologists, whom Jon was thankful lived on Mossdeep Island when the discussion of Dylan seeking professional help came up. She was in her early fifties, and during the first session, when she and Dylan had attempted to get to know each other a little better, had told him that she was divorced, but had two adult children, the youngest a few years older than him. She had also mentioned that both were fans of his, which causing Dylan to cringe a little, not being too fond of the publicity he inadvertently received being affiliated with the Eon Academy.

    “So you were telling me before that the summer program has started?”

    They were twenty minutes into Dylan’s fifty minute session, however another patient had arrived in a frantic state, having gone to get a prescription filled, only to find that the pharmacy, which had been sent a digital copy of the prescription, had lost the record. Normally, Dr. Tanner wouldn’t have interrupted a session, however given the nature of the medication the patient was prescribed, and Dylan’s relatively easy-going nature, especially when compared to other patients, she had quickly left the room in order to quickly send a new prescription to the pharmacy, promising Dylan she’d make up the time at the end.

    “Yeah, the other interns arrived a week and a half ago, and the students arrived Sunday afternoon,” Dylan answered. “Program is in full swing.”

    Dr. Tanner nodded in understanding.

    “How are you finding time?” she asked. “Are you managing it well?”

    “As well as I normally do. Better even,” Dylan explained. “The summers themselves, unless a Deoxys attacks the place, tend to be less work than the month or two prior.”

    Dr. Tanner took some notes, something Dylan had quickly realised was not indicative of him revealing some deep psychological issue he carried very early on, as he continued.

    “There are things that we can’t really do in terms of preparation until a month beforehand. We had to close registrations really early this year, because we were at capacity, and everyone else got put on a waiting list, but they have until a month before the summer to cancel and receive a full refund, and their place gets given to the top of the queue,” Dylan continued. “So things like allocating cabins, training teams, timetables and such, all happen in that last month when we know we aren’t going to be switching people around. Then, by the time summer comes, and the other interns have arrived, most of our work is running our classes and training sessions, and making sure our teams aren’t doing anything stupid, which we now have subordinates to handle the latter…”

    “Did you tell the others about your news?”

    Dylan tried for a moment to hide his apprehension towards the question, before remembering, not for the first time, that this session, whilst not out of pocket, was costing $250, and hiding things that were obviously bothering him was just wasting that. Dr. Tanner, as if she could read his mind, grinned.

    “I did, but honestly, it wasn’t a huge deal,” Dylan said. “The others had news as well, and it all got swept up together…”

    “What sort of news?”

    “Justin has finished his degree, pending final marks, and has been accepted into the Sinnoh P.D. Chris has decided he wants to be the first to conquer all seven regional leagues, and is going to do it in a year,” Dylan explained, as Dr. Tanner showed the first hint of shock that session hearing of Chris’ ambition. “Charlotte has been offered a guaranteed spot in next summer’s High Seas Tournament, and Abbee is going to be replacing Elesa as Nimbasa City Gym Leader. So it’s going to be the last summer for all of them…”

    “Not yourself?” Dr. Tanner asked, clicking instantly to his exclusion of himself from the statement.

    “I might not be able to get finance for the property,” Dylan said, recovering quickly. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself when the bank are the ones to make the decision…”

    Dr. Tanner gave Dylan a meaningful look, before deciding not to pursue it any further.

    “Have you been sleeping well?”

    Knowing he’d be pushing his luck being dishonest any more than he had been, Dylan shook his head.

    “Even when what’s going on at home doesn’t keep me awake, when I do sleep, it’s always rough…” Dylan answered quietly. “On a good night, I see Giratina destroying the hospital, and people being mowed down by witches left, right and centre. On a bad night, I see Abbee…”

    Dr. Tanner didn’t need clarification on what he saw of Abbee. She knew what had happened in Alola whilst the battle at the Megamart took place.

    “And Brianna isn’t there. Or if she is, she just laughs and leaves Abbee to die…” Dylan continued. “Victini is there, and he blames me, because Abbee wanted to leave earlier, but I didn’t. Then Jon arrives, and he blames me as well…”

    “And it’s the same every time?”

    “More or less, but it’s been worse lately,” Dylan answered. “Same s**t, different smell…”

    Dr. Tanner nodded in understanding, before laying down her clipboard.

    “If I had to take a guess as to why, I’d put it as a mixture of two things…” Dr. Tanner explained. “The first being that with every day that passes, you are closer to the anniversary of the Spiritwater Crisis. Instead of your own thoughts and conversations with your comrades from Alola reminding you and bringing all this to mind, it’s the fact that by this time next month, it will be on every news report and on the front page of every newspaper. ’Spiritwater, one year on…’”

    “And the second reason?”

    Dr. Tanner considered her words before speaking.

    “I am going to ask a question, but I want to make it abundantly clear that the fact I am asking does not mean I in any way am implying one thing or another,” Dr. Tanner explained. Dylan nodded prompting her to continue. “Do you genuinely believe that if you had agreed with Abbee, and left to join the fight earlier, that Jon wouldn’t have been cursed?”

    Dylan considered denying it but decided that straight up denial would speak for itself.

    “I don’t know that he would have,” Dylan answered, as Dr. Tanner nodded in assent, before continuing.

    “Despite the fact that by that logic, I’d be even more correct in saying you don’t know that he wouldn’t have been cursed, I’m not going to labour the point. It is meaningless for me to tell you that what happened to Jon is not on you, because you have no reason to believe me. I wasn’t there, and to dumb down our professional relationship to a stupid level, you see me in order to help you feel better, so even if I didn’t believe that it wasn’t your fault, I’d still be telling you it’s not your responsibility,” Dr. Tanner continued. “There are other people who are in a much better position to help you see that with their words and time than me, so I won’t waste your time…”

    “I’m not sure I see how this is relevant…” Dylan said with a hint of confusion.

    “I haven’t made my actual point yet,” Dr. Tanner retorted with a grin. “You said it yourself that you don’t know that Jon would have been cursed if you had joined the fight earlier, which by extension means that no matter how much you might blame yourself, you also don’t know that he wouldn’t have. Effectively, you’re feeling guilt for something that logically speaking, you know you shouldn’t feel guilt for. So instead, the guilt you feel like you need to feel for Jon being cursed, you instead channel into something that you are more sure of your convictions in…”

    “Abbee…” Dylan said quietly, as Dr. Tanner nodded, seeing his understanding.

    “And you’ve said yourself, Jon’s condition has been getting worse,” Dr. Tanner continued. “As it does you’re forced to see the damage this curse has done. And you want to blame yourself, but know that really, you don’t know for sure this isn’t your fault. So instead, your mind wanders to what else you’re blaming yourself for, that you cannot convince yourself of otherwise…”

    “So what do I do then?” Dylan asked, his tone growing exasperated. “Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I slept through the night…”

    “Honestly, as painful as it may be, I think you need to talk to Jon about when he was cursed,” Dr. Tanner explained. “A lot of this seems to stem from an inner conflict, of knowing you shouldn’t blame yourself for his curse, but blaming yourself anyway. If you were to actually hear first hand what it was like there, it may hurt, but it might be enough for you to realise that you couldn’t have done anything more for Jon.”

    “And if that doesn’t help?”

    “In the next six months, we will pass the first anniversary of the Spiritwater Crisis, you will be leaving the Academy, and not seeing first hand the effect of this on Jon. And from what you’ve told me, he may be able to be medicated for his seizures after the summer,” Dr. Tanner answered. “Honestly, you’re being sucked in to the worst of it, but if you can grit your teeth and bear it, you’ll find things will improve…”

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

    "Begin!" Cassandra called out, before her and Charlotte both sent out a Pokemon. The flash of light faded and Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief. In front of Charlotte was her Magmortar and in front of herself was Marche, Cassandra's own Sandslash. She grinned, and didn't hesitate before giving her first command.

    "Bulldoze!"

    "Barrier!" Charlotte ordered at the same time. Cassandra was shocked that despite Magmortar's bulky frame, it was faster than Marche, using Psychic power to reinforce its own defence. Bulldoze struck, however instead of knocking Magmortar out like it normally would have, Magmortar was instead knocked back, worn out but easily still standing.

    Cassandra hesitated for a moment, before giving her next instruction.

    "Swords Dance Marche!"

    The Sandslash cried out, as its attack power doubled, effectively negating Magmortar's Barrier. However, Charlotte had waited to give Magmortar its order, and the Pokemon was ready to obey the moment she gave the word.

    "Scary Face!"

    Magmortar's grin turned into something menacing, as it glared at the Sandslash, unnerving the Pokemon and reducing its speed. Charlotte however was ready for her next moves.

    "Lava Plume, followed by Flamethrower!"

    Magmortar unleashed a wide-spread wave of flame, which quickly engulfed Marche, causing it to flinch. In that moment, Magmortar released a second torrent, this one for more precise, which hit the Sandslash and knocked it out.

    Cassandra looked in shock at Marche who lay on the ground. She had been able to give two commands before Marche fell, whilst Charlotte had given four.

    In her training with Jon, she had faced plenty of different trainers in the nine months, and had held her ground. In the last month or two, she had begun winning more of her matches than she was losing against trainers outside of the Academy. But not even Jon had beaten her Pokemon so quickly in the opening moves of a match.

    "Okay, so how did you do that?" Cassandra asked. She had approached Charlotte for a training match, knowing that her reputation as a battler was terrifying and had hoped to learn from her. And despite losing so spectacularly, this just proved to her how much Charlotte, despite being eight years her junior, could teach her.

    Charlotte grinned.

    "Two reasons that was an easy win," Charlotte explained casually. "First is the opening move. The first move both trainers make will make or break the battle. Even if that isn't true all the time, treat it as if it is."

    "So I didn't make a good opening move?" Cassandra asked as Charlotte shook her head.

    "It wasn't a bad opening move, but I made a better one, and that came down to two things. The first was that I knew that Magmortar was faster than Sandslash, so chances were all but certain that Magmortar would move before Marche," Charlotte explained. "That knowledge will come with experience. Be it classes here, learning about different Pokemon, or battles you have like this one…"

    Cassandra nodded in understanding.

    "And the second?"

    "The second thing that made my opening move better, and the second reason why this was an easy win, are actually one and the same," Charlotte continued. "You have a tell…"

    "A tell?"

    "A subconscious but visible behaviour that indicates what you're about to do," Charlotte explained. "It's subtle but it's something a lot of trainers do, and because you did, I had a good idea of what moves you were about to make before you even made them…"

    Cassandra's eyes widened at this.

    "So effectively I could make more informed decisions, and account for what you were going to order Marche to do," Charlotte concluded.

    "What is this tell?"

    Charlotte considered answering it however, asked herself what Jon would do before grinning in a way that Cassandra knew would infuriate her.

    "I'll let you figure it out," Charlotte said. "If I tell you, you'll try and cover it. But if I don't and tell you to figure it out, you'll be forced to look closer at other trainers and their idiosyncrasies, as well as your own, and be better for it…"

    Cassandra sighed as she called Marche back to its Pokeball. Charlotte grinned, calling Magmortar back as well.

    "Let's keep going," Charlotte explained, nodding to the mounted cameras around the room. "You can get the footage later and review it."

    Cassandra nodded, before sending out Ace the Ampharos, as Charlotte simultaneously sent out her Milotic. Despite the clear type advantage however, she had a hunch the match would not be very different to the first.

    The training session had started as soon as Abbee's group had finished at 5pm, and ran for half an hour, seeing as all of Cassandra's Pokemon were knocked out by that point. When it was over and she had retrieved the recording from the stadium's camera system, she made her way to Jon and Alyssa's cottage, knocking on the back door that led into the kitchen. A few moments later, it was answered by Jon, who invited her in.

    "It's fine," Cassandra said, knowing she'd be quick. "Just wanted to know whether I could borrow your car?"

    "Sure, not like I'm driving it," Jon said, somehow upbeat, yet sardonically, referring to having his driver's licence taken from him due to the risk of seizures. "One of these days though, I should teach you how to ride the bike…"

    Jon's motorcycle remained under a cover since October, for the same reason his licence had been removed. It had been purchased brand new by the League during the mission in Alola, being a less conspicuous form of transport than Latios, and given the fact that Latios became a target, that decision had proven to be a good one in hindsight. Jon had offered, in lieu of the full payment for his role, to take partial payment and keep the bike, which the League had accepted. However by the time it was transported to Mossdeep, the curse had triggered and Jon hadn't been able to ride it since he was in Alola.

    "Maybe after summer," Cassandra replied, both excited and anxious at the thought of learning to ride it. "I just need to get to the Pokemon Centre. I had a training session with Charlotte-"

    She stopped as a wide grin crossed Jon's face, and realised he knew that all of Cassandra's Pokemon were likely unconscious.

    "Say no more," Jon said, though seemed to have a thought. "Though, I have a better idea…"

    Cassandra nodded for him to continue, curious as to what it was.

    "The Pokemon Centre isn't the only place on the island with a healing machine. The Gym has one too," Jon explained. "And it just so happens that I was planning on training with Steven there tonight, and was wondering how to get there…"

    Normally Dylan or Alyssa would drive Jon, however Dylan had not yet returned from his appointment and Alyssa was trying to finish a work piece before the deadline. Jon considered taking Latios, however, given his own fame, being sighted would likely result in being flooded by fans. Even worse, would be if the public realised that the High Seas Champion and the Hoenn Champion had a weekly training match in the Gym.

    Cassandra grinned at Jon attempting to be subtle.

    "I'll tag along," Cassandra agreed.


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

    "How are we doing?" Victini asked Abbee, who grinned.

    "Forty thousand tweets and counting…" Abbee replied. They sat at a table in the dining room, which was seeming a little too crowded given the amount of students at the Eon Academy that summer, surrounded by students who were on their own phones, browsing Twitter for the hashtags that Abbee and Victini had managed to get trending.

    #VictiniVsScizorRematch
    #SSWishmakerGrudgeMatch
    #JusticeForVictini


    It was Victini's idea to use Jon's renown against him, and Abbee's to do that by using hashtags. She had got them started on her own account, and, knowing the password for Dylan's, had crept onto his to share them as well. Between them, as well as those at the Academy they had talked into sharing it, they had reached fifteen thousand tweets. It wasn't until Abbee bribed Justin into making a post himself with the hashtags that it sky-rocketed to thirty-five thousand. Charlotte had since seen it and shared it as well, putting them at the fourty-thousand mark.

    "Do you think he'll see it?" Abbee asked.

    "He'll see it…"

    Abbee turned to see Violet walking over to join the table. She shifted aside, allowing room for the fellow intern to join her.

    "Cass is driving him to his training match with Steven tonight," Violet said, albeit a little quieter so people wouldn't start asking why Jon needed to be driven around. "I drove the other week and he has the radio set to Planet Golem religiously. And in their evening update, they go over what's trending…"

    "If only we could get in on a billboard…" Victini muttered as Abbee's eyes widened. She looked at Violet.

    "What time does Jon usually leave?" Abbee asked Violet.

    "Between six-thirty and seven," Violet answered, unsure what Abbee had in mind. She quickly got up, scooping up Victini.

    "The Mossdeep Freeway has a digital billboard with an Eon Academy advertisement on it…" Abbee said, as Violet remembered seeing it. "Dylan rented the space when we got back from Alola last year, and got a year's worth of advertising with unlimited revisions. He did it all through a web-portal…"

    Violet grinned at what Abbee was hinting towards, as the trio quickly left the dining hall, making their way to the lodge, Abbee leading the way upstairs into Dylan's room. As expected, his laptop was on the desk. Abbee opened it before typing in her birthday when asked for the PIN. The computer unlocked, welcoming her, as she opened the web browser and began typing the web address of the advertising agency that owned the billboard.

    "Dylan is nefarious for leaving his passwords saved on his computer. Probably because he doesn't expect me to take advantage of that…" Abbee explained. She opened the login page for the website and Violet grinned to see Dylan's email address prefilled and a long string of asterisks in the password field. "Bingo…"

    Knowing Dylan would be back soon, Abbee quickly found a photo of Victini online, trimming it from its background, and placing it in a banner, before getting a photo of Jon and Scizor from the High Seas Tournament, and adding that in. Finally, were the hashtags.

    #VictiniVsScizorRematch

    #SSWishmakerGrudgeMatch

    #JusticeForVictini



    "It's not pretty…" Abbee said with a grin as Violet nodded in agreement. "But it gets the point across."

    "How long will it take to update?" Violet asked as Abbee returned to the web-portal and uploaded the image.

    "Should be instant…"

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

    "This is Planet Golem, Hoenn's home of all things rock!"

    The radio played quietly as Cassandra drove Jon's car down the Mossdeep Freeway, towards the exit that would take them to the Mossdeep Gym.

    "Maybe if you're here, I can convince Steven to head to the bar after training like we used to," Jon said. "He's been going straight home after, which takes away half the fun…"

    Despite the fact Jon couldn't drink for the time being, he enjoyed the atmosphere of the bar he and Steven frequented after their training sessions. Steven however, didn't want to drink in front of Jon and knew Jon would not let Steven deprive himself on his behalf.

    "Maybe," Cassandra replied. "But I don't want to be off site too long. It's one thing to get the senior students to keep an eye on my team while I go get my Pokemon healed. It's another to do that so I can gallivant around with you and Steven…"

    Jon chuckled at the description of their usual tame, one or two beers at the bar, as gallivanting.

    "So how did your training with Charlotte go?" Jon asked.

    "It was over before I knew it, and not because I was having the time of my life…" Cassandra retorted. Jon grinned.

    "She is terrifying…"

    Cassandra went to respond, however could hear the radio presenter faintly through the car speakers.

    "And trending at numbers one through three in the last hour, is something from Hoenn's own Jon Drake, and his Eon Academy!"

    "Jon, have you checked Twitter lately?" Cassandra asked as she turned up the radio.

    "Not for a few hours?" Jon asked, as he realised what was going on. "I disabled notifications after your little stunt in Alola, and realised I preferred them being off…"

    "Helped along by his premier students, #VictiniVsScizorRematch, #SSWishmakerGrudgeMatch and #JusticeForVictini are trending in the top three spots," the radio presenter explained. "It seems that the Victini, who was formerly trained by Cassandra Silvers, is out to prove that it's humiliating loss against Jon Drake's Scizor in the grand final of the first High Seas Tournament was a fluke on Scizor's behalf, and is doing whatever it can to make that rematch happen…"

    "Was Victini like this when he was with you?" Jon asked. "He seemed a lot more relaxed and less obsessive…"

    "Not until we beat Avery then lost to you…" Cassandra answered with a grin. "You and Scizor created this monster…"

    "We are now accepting callers to discuss this," the presenter continued. "You're on the air with Planet Golem. What do you have to say about all this?"

    Cassandra tried to listen to the caller, who began harping on about how Jon owes Victini this rematch, especially considering Scizor had the opportunity to use both Double Team and Swords Dance before Victini even entered the field. However her attention was diverted by the changing of the digital billboard above the freeway. What was an advertisement for Pokemon food, had changed to the next promotion in its rotation.

    "Jon…"

    Jon's attention, which had been on the caller, was drawn to what Cassandra was looking at as she slowed down, and pulled over into the emergency stop lane of the freeway. On the giant screen was a banner containing a picture of Victini, as well as a photo of Jon and Scizor from the High Seas Tournament Grand Final, and the three hashtags.

    "Goddamn…" Jon muttered. Whilst he had told Abbee that Victini would need to force the battle to happen, this wasn't what he had expected. He quickly grabbed his phone, and turned down the radio before typing in a number.

    "Who're you calling?" Cassandra asked. Jon didn't answer, however spoke into the phone.

    "Planet Golem? This is Jon Drake himself. Put me on air…"

    Cassandra grabbed her wireless earbuds from her pocket, which she had brought so she could watch the recording while she waited for Jon and Steven to finish their training session and turned them on, before opening Planet Golem's website on her phone and listening to the broadcast.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just been informed that we have Jon Drake himself on the line. Jon, what do you have to say about all of this?"

    "I have a bit to say… David…" Jon said, only just remembering the name of the presenter in time. "But it comes down to this; as first High Seas Champion, and the trainer of the Legendary Pokemon Latios, Rayquaza and Giratina, if I were to simply accept the challenge of anyone who posts on Twitter, I wouldn't have time to do anything else. I get five challenges on Twitter a day from people who hide behind keyboards as it is, knowing that I wouldn't actually accept it…"

    "Some would argue that as someone who calls themself a Pokemon Trainer, it is your obligation to accept any challenge. I've heard rumours of those who treat eye contact as the acceptance of a challenge…"

    "I am the High Seas Champion and trainer of three Legendary Pokemon, but even I couldn't just demand a formal match from Steven Stone," Jon answered back knowing full well of the irony of the fact he was on his way to a practise match with Steven. "I'd still have to best the Hoenn Elite Four before Steven would be obligated to meet my challenge. In the same way, I am not obligated to meet every challenge. If I were challenged by Avery Miller or Freddy Davis, I'd meet those challenges regardless out of good faith, given the complexity of the first High Seas Tournament. But outside of that, I will only meet the challenges I choose to meet."

    "So what would it take for Victini to force your hand into accepting his challenge?" the presenter asked. "You said yourself, Steven Stone would be obligated to accept your challenge if you beat the Elite Four. What are your conditions?"

    Jon grinned.

    "If Victini wants a crack at Scizor, then he needs to beat my own Elite Four. My four strongest Pokemon. Blaziken, Latios, Rayquaza and Giratina…"

    There was silence on the air as the presenter listened in shock.

    "Then he can have a crack at Scizor…"

    Jon knew that Victini, as strong as he was, could not beat all four of these Pokemon. All of them resisted at least one, some both, of his types. Instead, he hoped that Victini would instead, think less directly about this, and come up with a more creative solution to outsmart him.

    "Until then, I will not meet Victini's challenge…"

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

    It was after dinner when Chris and Justin collapsed onto the couch in the intern lodge. Despite both not having team training with Jon that afternoon, Chris had been taking a class each day that week, alongside Cassandra, with whom there seemed to be awkward tension, whilst Justin was dealing with behavioural issues amongst some of the younger students in his team almost all day.

    "For what it's worth, we'll probably miss this, come next summer," Justin joked as Chris just groaned. He honestly didn't mind the teaching work or the amount of it. It was just exhausting. Though it didn't help that he always felt on edge around Cassandra.

    I’m aware,” Chris answered. “If I drank, I’d be needing one after today…”

    The answer surprised Justin a little.

    “You don’t drink?”

    “After the s**tshow back in Jubilife on my birthday? That is to say, not for a while.” Chris asked rhetorically. “I made an a** of myself, got us thrown out of the bar, vomited more than I ever have in my life, and woke up on your couch waiting for the sweet embrace of death to spare me from the hangover I had…”

    “That pretty much sums it up…” Justin agreed. “Maybe there is hope you’ll grow up like the rest of us…”

    Chris pulled a face in a childish implication of impersonating Justin, before both, despite their exhaustion, laughed.

    “So what’s got you so tired?” Chris asked. “You haven’t taught today? And you teach alongside Steven Stone of all people. I imagine he’d be taking the lead, and you’d be assisting him?”

    “Actually, he leaves the bulk to me, and fills gaps I may leave,” Justin answered. “Steven says that unless I’m a beat cop the rest of my life, moving up the chain of command will require me to be able to coordinate and lead teams. So he figures that it's good experience being the point of contact for the students, and the authority figure…”

    “But you didn’t teach today?”

    “I teach three classes Monday, two Wednesday and one Friday,” Justin explained. “Nah, today, I think all of the younger students in my team got together and snorted a fat line of white powder in the morning, because they were bouncing off the walls all day…”

    Chris grinned.

    “Now that you mention it, they did seem hyperactive this morning,” Chris answered, remembering the class he ran for Justin’s team. Justin sighed in response. “Do you think you got your point across?”

    Justin scoffed.

    “Doubt it,” Justin said before grinning. “But I don’t think they’ll be a problem after tonight…”

    Chris gave Justin a look of fake concern.

    “You aren’t going to abduct them and tie them to the rocks on the beach in their sleep or something, are you?”

    “No, but they’d probably rather that to what I have planned,” Justin joked. “Abbee needed a favour, so I asked her if, when Dylan gets back, she could convince him to put on the grumpy face and scare them straight…”

    Despite finding Justin’s solution amusing, Chris remained silent at the reference of Abbee, Dylan, and their relationship. Dylan would be a good person to scare some sense into them. His large frame, tall stature, as well as his relative silence and visibly serious nature would be enough to get the point across. And if that didn’t, the nightmare monster that lived in his shadow would…

    “What favour?” Chris asked, curious. He knew both Justin and Abbee well enough to know that they wouldn’t be bargaining if they needed help from each other unless it was something the other necessarily wouldn’t want to do, and even then, both were still more likely to help out than Dylan, Charlotte, or Chris himself.

    “She is trying to get a few hashtags trending, so asked if I could make some posts to give them a boost,” Justin said, before adding cynically, “because for some f**ked up reason, I’m somehow the most famous out of the five of us…”

    Curious, Chris withdrew his phone from his pocket, having not had a chance for hours to check. He pressed the home button, lighting up the lockscreen, where he was quickly distracted by the half dozen missed calls and text messages.

    Clair.

    “What the…” Chris said without realising, as Justin looked over.

    “Everything alright?”

    “My sister has been trying to get me all afternoon,” Chris answered. “Normally I don’t hear from her more than once a week…”

    Without waiting for an answer, Chris stood to his feet, as he called Clair. He was incapable of standing still on the phone, with longer calls usually resulting in him walking laps in whatever room he was in.

    ”Chris, what is the point in having a mobile phone, if you don’t answer it?” Clair asked as soon as she answered the phone. Chris’ face flushed red. Despite the fact that Clair was almost ten years older than Chris, and now both were adults, with Clair getting closer to being thirty by the day, they still found it easier to bicker with one-another than have a serious conversation.

    “Clair, I have a job,” Chris retorted sarcastically. “One that doesn’t hinge on people showing up once every few days for a challenge, and pay me to browse twitter the rest of the time…”

    Justin winced at Chris’ harsh words, despite Chris having made clear earlier that he and Clair, despite not being close in the traditional sense, generally got along very well, even if their conversations turned to cheap shots at one another.

    “Funny you talk about that, because if you want to keep your job, it would have helped to answer the phone,” Clair said.

    “What are you talking about?”

    “Well, the Gym’s insurance wouldn’t cover any employees working with Pokemon that don’t have a licence, and I imagine the Eon Academy’s would be the same…”

    Chris was confused for a moment, until Justin noticed his face go white.

    “Oh s**t…”

    ”Yeah, your League registration has expired,” Clair confirmed. ”Three months ago. I’m surprised you didn’t know…”

    “I’ve been at the College of the North Wind,” Chris answered. “I stayed onsite, and they have their own healing machine and PC system…”

    “The renewal letter arrived months ago, but Dad accidentally dropped it down the side of the fridge and forgot about it,” Clair continued. ”I don’t know why you haven’t registered to have it sent to your email…”

    “Clair, save the lecture,” Chris answered exasperatedly. “How bad is it?”

    ”Well, the letter said you’re in the overdue phase, which means if you submit the renewal, you will be fine,” Clair explained. ”The bad news is the cutoff for the renewal is Saturday, and any later, your licence will be revoked, and you’ll need to go through the entire application again…”

    The application process for League registration tended to take around three months, which Chris didn't want to have to suffer through again.

    “Okay, so I’ll just log in now and submit the renewal?”

    ”Let me finish,” Clair retorted. ”If you do that, it will take three business days to process, and considering tomorrow is Friday, it will be too late by the time it is processed…”

    “S**t…” Chris muttered. “Surely you can pull some strings, being a Gym Leader and get it fast-tracked?”

    ”I can’t, but I found out something interesting…” Clair explained. ”During business hours, Pokemon Centres can process the renewals in person, and instantly…”

    “So if I want to start my trip as soon as summer is over…”

    ”You have to get to a Pokemon Centre during business hours tomorrow, and get this sorted out…” Clair finished. ”Otherwise, Second To None will be Second To Unregistration…”

    “Is there anything else I need?” Chris asked, hoping that he wouldn’t need documents like his birth certificate. “ID or anything?”

    ”Your driver’s licence will prove it’s you,” Clair answered. ”And you’ll need a witness to sign the renewal if you want it processed instantly. Someone not employed by the Pokemon Centre, or related to you…”

    A few minutes later, Chris ended the call, before looking at Justin.

    “I need a favour…”


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

    As Jon and Steven got to the end of their practise match, with Scizor facing Claydol, Cassandra sat on a bench to the side of the battlefield, tablet on her lap as she watched through the recording of her battle with Charlotte for the twelfth time. Specifically, the opening match. Marche versus Magmortar.

    The app allowed the footage from multiple cameras to be overlaid in whatever format Cassandra wanted, and she had the largest segment of the screen focused on her, with others showing Charlotte and the two Pokemon. She pressed play again, and watched as Magmortar increased its defence with Barrier, absorbing most of Marche’s attack, before striking it in rapid succession, knocking it out. The match had taken less than fifteen seconds, which Cassandra hadn’t realised until she watched the footage of it earlier that evening.

    “Goddamn…”

    Cassandra looked up, to see Jon looking over her shoulder, and watching the footage of Marche being beaten in record time.

    “Steven, check this out!” Jon called, as Steven walked towards the pair.

    “Glad I’m providing some quality entertainment,” Cassandra remarked, though still rewound the footage, allowing Steven to see the matchup that ended as quickly as it began.

    “Goddamn…” Steven agreed, as Jon grinned.

    “We know that it wasn’t through lack of skill that you lost. More so, the fact that she is-”

    “Terrifying…” Cassandra nodded. “Believe me, I witnessed that first hand…”

    At Jon’s prompting, Cassandra handed him the tablet, before he quickly reshuffled the windows, opening other camera angles on them, before he and Steven watched again in awe.

    “Honestly Jon, at the rate she is improving, I think this is your last summer where you can confidently say you’re better than her,” Steven said, surprising Cassandra a little.

    “There’s nothing confident about it,” Jon agreed. “Though if she is that close to me, she isn’t much further from you…”

    “I’m well aware…”

    The pair watched, however as they did, grew more confused.

    “Cass, I don’t think I could have even beaten you that quickly…” Jon said, sounding puzzled. “Do you know how Charlotte beat you?”

    “She said her opening move was better, and that she was able to make that better opening move, because I have a tell,” Cassandra said, as Jon looked at her confused, though Steven seemed to understand. “Some behaviour she noticed which indicated what I was going to do. Said that this one is common among trainers, and when she noticed it, it gave her an idea of what I was going to do, so she could react before I even made a move.”

    “Did she tell you what the tell was?” Jon asked. Cassandra shook her head.

    “She said that if she told me, I’d just learn to hide it. But if she didn’t, I’d be forced to analyse my own patterns, and get into the habit of analysing other trainers as well, and that I’d be better off for it,” Cassandra explained, nodding to the tablet. “That’s why I am watching that opening match on repeat. I did something there that gave her the match, but honestly, I have no clue what…”

    “She’s your student, through and through,” Steven admitted to Jon, referring to Charlotte not telling Cassandra what exactly her tell was, whilst Jon watched the clip again. Cassandra wasn’t wrong. She gave a total of two orders, and nothing seemed to stand out in her behaviour, even to someone as experienced as he was. Granted, whilst he was not one to shy away from mind games in a battle, identifying miniscule patterns like Charlotte had in this case, was beyond him. Jon looked to Cassandra, handing her the tablet.

    “Do you want her to tell you?”

    “Honestly, no,” Cassandra admitted. “She is right. Figuring this out on my own will help develop skills similar to what she has.”

    Jon nodded, satisfied, though Cassandra continued.

    “However, I might ask for a little direction,” Cassandra added. “Because it seems like I’m making no progress here…”

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

    Cassandra awoke early the next morning, making a cup of coffee, and finding a comfortable spot on the couch in the intern’s lounge. Despite the fact that she tried to convince herself that she hadn’t become reliant on the comforts of living as a human, she knew that, especially in the last year, she had become very reliant on good coffee, and should she ever decide to become an Eevee again, she’d need to figure out a way to use Shadowcraft in order to brew the drink that had become part of her morning ritual.

    The tablet sat on the coffee table in front of her, however this time, instead of her battle with Charlotte the afternoon before, she was watching tournament battles between Charlotte and other competitors from the last two years. Specifically, the battles that Charlotte managed to have the first Pokemon beaten as quickly as she had against Cassandra. Dylan was the next to wake, followed by Jarena, then Justin. However, after not being able to find out what Charlotte may have seen in her, she changed tactics, instead, settling for a recording of Charlotte battling Chris, which resulted in a tie.

    “Trying to find some weakness?”

    Charlotte sat on the couch next to her, having awoken, and heard the audio of the battle downstairs.

    “Trying to figure out what this tell is,” Cassandra explained. “Or, if I can, what I am doing that Chris isn’t, that gives you the edge.”

    Charlotte grinned, as Cassandra continued.

    “You’re right, I’d be better off if I figured it out myself, but I’m getting nowhere,” Cassandra admitted. “So can you give me a hint? Some idea of what I’m looking for?”

    Charlotte pondered the question for a moment, before deciding on a way to address this.

    “I’d start taking notes,” Charlotte started, as Cassandra quickly put her coffee down and opened up the voice recorder on her phone. She nodded, as Charlotte continued. “All but the most experienced students will have the same tell as you when battling against you. But even the most experienced would have it against Jon, Steven and the five of us who’ve been here since the start…”

    Cassandra nodded, as Charlotte thought for a moment.

    “I would have the same thing if I weren’t aware of it, but I manage to hide it, regardless of who I battle. Chris on the other hand would only have this tell battling against Jon, and only if it weren’t a battle where he had something to lose. Dylan’s style of battling means that he doesn’t have it. None of the five of us would have it against any of the students, though Abbee and Justin would only have it against Jon, myself and Chris,” Charlotte explained. “Abbee, however, has a slightly different way of battling to the other four of us, and that makes up for it at times. Check out her battle against Matt Campbell for that difference. As for Justin, he’d only have it if he isn’t currently working through some sort of tactic. As for you, I know for sure you’d have it against me, and likely Dylan as well. Abbee and Justin, maybe, but not as likely as you would against myself, Jon and Dylan. As for Chris, I don’t think you’d have the tell against him…”

    Cassandra ended the recording, still trying to process what Charlotte had just said.

    “So have you watched all these combinations and identified these patterns?” Cassandra asked, still shocked that Charlotte was able to rattle off such a comprehensive list. Charlotte shook her head.

    “I don’t need to. In terms of Jon and the other four, I know them well enough to know when they would and wouldn’t fall into the trap,” Charlotte explained. “If you want to see it first hand, Chris, Justin and Dylan all have their team training against Jon, and I can guarantee there will be battles between at least one of them and Jon. If Chris and Jon battle, and Chris doesn’t treat it just like a practice match, he will do it. Justin will against Jon if he doesn’t have a detailed plan he is using in place, and Dylan won’t at all.”

    “What about Jon?”

    Charlotte grinned, almost menacingly.

    “I’ve never seen him do it, but I want to be the first to make him do it…”

    Cassandra had one word going through her head at the answer.

    ”Terrifying…”

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

    “Damn it…” Violet muttered, as she tossed her phone onto the couch, with only just enough restraint to ensure it wouldn’t bounce off, and smash on the floor. She was up to her tenth call over the last three days, and whilst she hadn’t expected an answer, that didn’t make the situation any less frustrating.

    “If they wanna be immature about it all, screw ‘em,” Jarena offered. “The only reason their cushy, middle-class lives are going on unaffected enough that they can ignore you, is because of what we did in Alola…”

    “I’m not calling them because I want to make amends,” Violet answered, as she sat on the couch, picking up her phone again to draft an email. “I called him once, and he picked up because he didn’t recognise the number. He only stayed on the line long enough to tell me how much of a disappointment I was. I’m done begging for forgiveness, and permission to live my life. I’ve apologised, and reached out. If they want to keep acting like this, that’s on them…”

    “So why are you trying to reach out to them then?” Jarena asked. This whole thing seemed foreign to her. Despite the initial awkwardness, her family didn’t hold any resentment towards her, more so unsurprised that the years of fame, before her apparent death, were, for lack of better words, a giant prank. Cassandra’s family, whilst not as chill about everything that happened as Jarena’s, relatively speaking, were still willing to talk about it. Violet’s parents, Barry and Natalya Radcliffe, however, were refusing to even answer phone calls.

    “Why the effort?” Jarena asked from where she sat in the lounge. “Obviously you aren’t pleased about this…”

    “There are only two things you can be certain of in life,” Violet said, stating the old adage. “Death and taxes…”

    “Did someone die?” Jarena asked. Violet shook her head.

    “That’d be easier to deal with,” Violet joked morbidly, earning a stifled laugh from her friend. “No, my tax return is due…”

    “Weren’t they due months ago?” Jarena asked, remembering that she and Cassandra had visited an accountant in Mossdeep together.

    “They were, but I got an extension,” Violet said with a sigh. “Remember how you needed to re-register with the Hoenn Taxation Office after we came back?”

    Jarena nodded, recalling how weird it was, going through the process of coming back from the dead, in terms of logistics, such as opening a new bank account.

    “Well, you needed ID to do that, right? Like your birth certificate? Same as getting another driver’s licence,” Violet continued as Jarena nodded. “Well my parents have mine, and don’t listen long enough to understand that they’re screwing me over by refusing to cooperate. I got an extension on my tax return to give me time to work things out with them, but I’m running out of time…”

    “Could you try calling them from Jon’s phone?” Jarena asked. “Or get someone else to call them? Heck, even get a new one issued?”

    “I’d hoped that this could be enough to open the door a little with them, and now it’s too late to get a new one,” Violet answered. “And they’d hang up the moment that they knew it was me, or about me…”

    “Could Latios reenact the S.S. Wishmaker?” Jarena half joked. “Fly to Johto over the weekend, sneak in while invisible and steal your birth certificate?”

    Violet laughed at the recollection, though shook her head.

    “Honestly, I want to handle this myself. I don’t want to run to Jon to bail me out whenever things are tricky,” Violet answered. “However, there’s not much I can do from here, and I’m sure as hell not flying all the way to Johto just because my parents won’t cooperate. But I’m getting nowhere with phone calls and emails…”

    Violet’s words trailed off as she had a thought. Jarena had proposed using Latios’ own extraordinary talents, his supersonic flight, telepathy and invisibility to solve the problem. But Latios wasn’t the only one with extraordinary talents. And whilst she hadn’t used hers to have an effect over a huge distance like this, she knew of someone else who had.

    “Is Willow around?”

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

    The grounds of the Eon Academy were oddly quiet, as all the students were in their second period classes. Two thirds were in the two rooms of the main hall, where Justin and Steven taught Pokemon Knowledge, whilst Cassandra and Chris were teaching Tactics and Strategy. In the Stadium, Jon and Charlotte coached the remaining third of the students in Practical Training. Whilst Abbee remained in her room, preparing for her Trainer Career class that would be occurring in the following period, and Violet and Jarena discussed Violet’s predicament with her parents, Dylan and Willow stood by the small hole in a garden bed that he had dug, which contained a lockbox.

    “So before I perform this spell, run me through the way all this works…” Willow said. “Just because if we do this wrong, we may be burying a time-bomb…”

    Dylan nodded.

    “So you have placed a Shadowcraft circle encasing the property, which acts as a giant tripwire?” Dylan asked. Willow nodded in confirmation.

    “Think less tripwire, and more like a dome-shaped membrane,” Willow explained. “An invisible membrane that will detect anyone crossing through it, be it on foot, in the air, or even underground…”

    “And the activation of that is conditional to the intent of the person crossing in,” Dylan continued, a hint of a question in his voice.

    “Exactly. If they enter through with ill intent towards the Academy or any of its inhabitants, that will trigger the activation of the spell, which in turn, will trigger the conditional light illusion spell…” Willow concluded. “So in practice, if an intruder were to cross the boundary, then they would be surrounded by a pillar of light, which will go through any obstacles, visible only to us staff members…”

    Dylan grinned.

    “And to power it, we take a leaf out of Brianna’s book…”

    Inside the lockbox that sat in the hole was a diamond. It was nowhere near the size of the diamonds Brianna Levine had used in Alola, however for their purposes, a spell that would largely remain dormant, and when triggered, only produce light, a small diamond was more than enough.

    “The diamond will be enchanted to absorb any residual energy from Shadowcraft performed on the property, storing it until the detection spell is triggered,” Willow explained. “And in order to prevent the diamond being overloaded with energy, it will have a hybrid enchantment, causing it to leak energy out when it is near capacity. Which will be visible in how this garden grows…”

    “One question,” Dylan explained. “What’s to stop someone just digging up the lockbox and taking the diamond?”

    Willow considered the question. She hadn’t placed any sort of spell on the lockbox in the current schematic, which meant she could enchant it however she pleased.

    “I’ll put a mild curse on it,” Willow answered simply. “One that will give them the insuppressible need to find a bathroom.”

    “Won’t that curse be gone once it’s triggered?” Dylan asked.

    “It will be, but honestly we only need to buy a little time…”

    “Why’s that?”

    “Because being within the boundary, wanting to disable what is effectively our security system, is ill intent towards the Academy, which will make it impossible to remain hidden from us for long…”

    Dylan nodded in understanding.

    “So are we ready?” Willow asked, as she began placing a series of reagents in the lockbox surrounding the diamond. Copper coins on one side, with a few blank keys from the hardware store on the other side of the diamond, chosen for their galvanised metal construction, before coating the entire contents of the box with salt. Dylan nodded.

    Willow removed a scrap of paper from her pocket, which contained the long winded and detailed incantation for the complex spell that she was about to perform. After a few moments reading through it, she took a deep breath, and began reciting it, allowing the Shadowcraft to pull energy from the void, affecting the world around her.

    The entire incantation took a little over a minute, as the contents of the lockbox began to glow. When the glow dissipated, the reagents that surrounded the diamond were gone, leaving the diamond which seemed to sparkle a little more than it did prior.

    “I’m really glad you figured out that spell for the diamond,” Dylan noted. “I think all of us who were in Alola will sleep a little better for it…”

    “It only took nine months,” Willow remarked sarcastically. “Granted, the first three months were trying to convince the League to loan me the evidence they confiscated…”

    In addition to Willow’s own tomes and belongings that she had been forced to leave at the Megamart, all Shadowcraft related items found were confiscated by the League after the battle was over. Despite Willow’s crimes being pardoned for her role in betraying Agatha, and helping to capture Marshadow, the League were hesitant to return her belongings to her, and even more hesitant to provide copies of other tomes, including Agatha’s own handwritten notes.

    The tipping point, in which an agreement was made, was the need for translation for the League. Most of the older, more advanced tomes, were transcribed in ancient Shadowcraft glyphs, and whilst government linguists would eventually be able to translate them given enough time, the very near brush with failure in Alola had the League on edge, wanting to know whether the confiscated items contained details of even worse horrors than Endkath and the Netherlink. As such, an agreement was made, in which Willow, under heavy supervision, was allowed to go through the confiscated material, translating the script, and if the contents were not deemed dangerous, to retain a copy.

    The notes that Willow had been allowed to keep, had not contained the exact spell that Brianna had used on the diamonds in Alola, though she knew this would be the case. If Agatha had known the spell herself, she would have used it to keep the dark clouds and winds in place, without tying up a large portion of her force keeping the spell active.

    However, given Willow’s own understanding of Shadowcraft, alongside the collective notes of all Shadowcraft users confiscated by the League, with enough time, she was able to recreate the spell, leading to this point.

    Once Willow had cursed the lockbox, Dylan carefully began to bury it in the garden bed, making sure not to touch it, and risk the effect of the curse, in relative silence. After a moment though, he spoke.

    “Willow, I was wondering something…”

    Willow looked towards Dylan, having heard the change of tone. He wasn’t looking at her, instead looking at the ground where he was burying the lockbox. However, his face wasn’t the usual, occupied expression he had when he worked. Instead, it was pained.

    “What’s up?” Willow asked, trying not to sound too concerned. It was no secret amongst those who lived at the Eon Academy that Dylan was seeking a psychologist, given the trauma of Alola. The pair were friendly, and had been since returning to Hoenn. But Dylan’s tone was different…

    “I was wondering… if you could tell me about the battle in Alola,” Dylan said, before adding quietly. “When Jon was cursed…”

    Willow remained silent, unsure if she would be doing more harm by telling him. She knew that half of Dylan’s own pain from Alola was guilt. Guilt for Abbee’s extremely close brush with death, and guilt for not being there to help her and Jon during the battle with Giratina and Marshadow. Understanding the silence, Dylan continued.

    “My psych told me that deep down, I know that even if I was there with you guys, Jon might have still been cursed, but I still blame myself…” Dylan explained. “And because of that, I just channel the guilt towards what happened with Abbee. Because of that, she told me I should talk to Jon about it, and hear what happened first hand. Actually find out what happened…”

    Willow understood Dylan’s words, and by extension, why he didn’t speak to Jon about this, despite having known Jon for four years at this point, and herself only one. He didn’t want Jon to worry about him. Just like Jon didn’t want Dylan worrying about him.

    ”You two couldn’t be more alike if you tried…” Willow thought to herself. She considered how best to address this, and spoke.

    “Jon and I were only together for a few minutes of the fight. We had waited until the battle between Giratina and that thing that Aaron turned himself into to be over, or until it would force us to intervene, like if it were going to move towards Heahea City. Jon also wanted to wait until Agatha was occupied, seeing as her joining the fight would cause it to end the same way it did at the hospital the day before,” Willow recounted. “Once Giratina won, and Jon got word Agatha was occupied fighting the Diamond Ladies, we intervened before Nicodemus and his force were able to heal it too much. Strike while the iron is hot, and all that. At first it was us against Giratina, Nicodemus, a few witches, and a heap of Ghost Pokemon…”

    Dylan felt his stomach sink hearing just how outnumbered the pair were.

    “Rayquaza was keeping Giratina busy, whilst Nicodemus was coming for me. Jon directed Blaziken, Nidoking and Jolteon to dispatch a large group of the Ghost Pokemon, and once they were down, had them hold back the witches. That’s when Marshadow appeared…”

    Willow’s hand dropped down to her belt where Marshadow’s Pokeball was clipped. Despite Marshadow being far easier to rehabilitate than Giratina, especially when Willow removed the curse similar to the one Agatha had placed on Giratina, she still felt anxious looking back to that day.

    “Latios managed to split Marshadow and Giratina up, and myself, Latias and Latios moved the battle with Marshadow elsewhere. Nicodemus went to follow us, but Jon got in his way and fought him, causing a bit of a stalemate, whilst his Pokemon kept the witches busy, and Rayquaza fought Giratina,” Willow explained. “I couldn’t see anything but Giratina and Rayquaza after that. Rayquaza got the upper hand, but when Brianna’s diamond overloaded and accelerated the Netherlink, it empowered Giratina. But by that point, Jon had been cursed…”

    Dylan remained silent hearing this. Had he been there, Darkrai would have been able to put the witches, Nicodemus included, to sleep.

    “There’s something you have to remember…”

    Dylan looked up, making eye contact with Willow for the first time since.

    “I didn’t know what was happening there, but I could see the shack where you and Abbee were from where I was battling Marshadow. I had no clue you were even there…” Willow explained. “Abbee wanted to leave, and help Jon, but you didn’t want to disobey orders, and risk Brianna becoming a bigger threat, right?”

    “Yeah…” Dylan said quietly, wishing he didn’t have to remember that conversation.

    “Well even if you did listen to her, you would have crossed paths with Latios, Latias and myself battling Marshadow before you reached Jon,” Willow explained. “Giratina wasn’t the only one being empowered by the Netherlink. Marshadow was as well, and even though Latios and Latias were both battling it, it was a battle of attrition at best, moving towards a losing battle…”

    “You captured Marshadow in the end,” Dylan protested, though Willow shook her head.

    “Only because Jirachi closed the Netherlink. Fact is, we were losing, and could only lose until the Netherlink closed, and Marshadow returned to normal. Latios was doing everything he could just to keep the battle going with both of them against Marshadow, because he knew the moment he or Latias fell, the fight was over,” Willow explained. “You would have crossed paths with us before getting near Jon, and fact is, even if we eventually won, we would have needed your help too much for you to leave us to fight Marshadow alone. Even if you and Abbee joining the fight would have allowed us to capture or kill Marshadow with the Netherlink still active, you would not have gotten to Jon in time to prevent Nicodemus from cursing him…”

    “We might have thought Jon was in more danger,” Dylan offered, though surprisingly, knew he didn’t believe his own words. “Or we would have split up. Abbee would have fought with you, and I with Jon.”

    “I know you care too much about Abbee to have left her with me whilst you helped Jon,” Willow said gently. “And the fact you’re feeling this way is proof enough that you wouldn’t have left me to fight Marshadow alone…”

    Dylan remained silent.

    “I was in Eon Squad HQ when Jon gave you the orders to try and find Brianna’s diamonds. You were only not part of the fight, because you followed Jon’s orders. And because you did the right thing and followed his orders, there is no way you would have been able to stop Jon being cursed,” Willow concluded. “The person who shoulders the blame for this is Agatha, and she got what she deserved. This isn’t your fault…”

    “Willow!”

    Willow looked over to see Violet and Jarena approaching. She quickly looked back to Dylan.

    “I’m happy to talk about this whenever you need to. Whatever it takes to help you understand that you’re not to blame,” Willow said quietly, so only Dylan could hear. “Just don’t keep all this to yourself, okay?”

    Dylan nodded, as Violet and Jarena arrived, looking down at the freshly dug earth.

    “You’ve done it?” Jarena asked, having had the plan explained to her by Dylan months earlier. Willow nodded.

    “We have the best security system on the planet,” Willow said proudly, trying to hide the seriousness of the conversation she had just had with Dylan.

    “Well, as much as I’d love to give you a break, I need your help,” Violet said. “I need to know how to perform a spell that Agatha used…”

    There was silence, as Willow looked at Violet in shock.

    “Nothing nasty,” Violet reassured. “At least, nothing inherently nasty…”

    “What spell?” Willow asked, shocked that anything her former mistress did could be considered not nasty.

    “The one she used to cause us all to have the dream…”

    ************************************************** ************************************************** *****
    “Sorry, but no,” Jon said as Chris felt his stomach sink.

    “Justin has his licence though?” Chris retorted, his own licence only being for a motorcycle. “And he’d be a safe driver.”

    “I don’t doubt that,” Jon agreed. “It’s our insurance that has a problem with it…”

    Chris and Justin stood before Jon in the arena, as Justin’s team, who had just finished their afternoon training session with Jon filtered out of the Stadium. Dylan, whose team was next to train with Jon that afternoon, had entered, and quietly walked over to see what the discussion was about.

    “The insurance for mine and Alyssa’s cars require the driver to be twenty-one or over,” Jon explained. “And Justin is a few months shy of that. If you were to be in an accident, you’d have no insurance…”

    Chris sighed as Jon continued.

    “The only person under twenty-one that was likely to drive either of our cars was Dylan, but he had his own car, and is twenty-one now anyway,” Jon explained, nodding towards Dylan.

    “You can borrow my car if you want,” Dylan said, addressing the offer to Justin, which, despite himself, caused Chris to breathe a sigh of relief, however Justin was cautious to not get too ahead of himself.

    “I appreciate it, but I can’t drive your car,” Justin answered. “I can only drive an automatic…”

    Chris groaned, having his recently renewed hopes dashed by Justin’s inability to work a clutch and gear shift, something he knew how to do from riding his motorcycle.

    “How can you not drive a manual?” Chris asked, as Justin shrugged.

    “I only got my licence to help my chances with the police force, and all their cars are automatic,” Justin explained. “Lessons were cheaper, and I could get my licence sooner…”

    “Sorry guys,” Jon said. “Maybe see if Jarena is free to drive you? Cass has her team's session after Dylan, so she’s busy, and Violet has had some hiccups getting her licence back.”

    “Charlotte can drive a manual,” Dylan added.

    Chris looked between the pair, and considered his options. If both Jon and Dylan’s cars were on site, it meant that Charlotte and Jarena were both likely at the Academy. However, he had no clue where, or if either could drive them. Besides, Justin had agreed to the favour, and he didn’t want to pull them away from whatever they had planned for the afternoon. However, he had another idea.

    “Jon, do you have a set of riding gear?” Chris asked, knowing the answer. He had purchased a set in Alola for riding around Akala Island. “A set that could fit Justin?”

    Jon realised what Chris was thinking, and nodded.

    “Alyssa knows where it is,” Jon said, as he noticed Dylan’s group beginning to filter in. “Go ask her for it, and tell her I gave the all clear…”

    With a grin, Chris grabbed Justin’s shirt by the shoulder and pulled as he began to run out of the Stadium, knowing they were burning the limited time they had left.

    “You know it’s illegal for someone who has had their motorbike licence for less than three years to carry a pillion passenger?” Dylan said quietly.

    “Why should I know?” Jon asked, feigning ignorance, though fooling nobody. “Those laws weren’t in place when I got my licence…”

    Understanding why Jon allowed it, Dylan nodded, though Jon looked at him curiously.

    “How do you know?” Jon asked. Dylan shrugged.

    “Your bike is gathering dust,” Dylan said. “I figured I’d look into getting my licence.”

    “Why not?” Jon asked rhetorically, though knew why. It was the same reason he didn’t offer for Chris to take his bike, knowing it would handle carrying both himself and Justin better than Chris’ low-powered bike, which he was required to have for his first three years riding. Jon’s was illegal for Chris to ride, and even if Jon could pretend he didn’t know the current laws for new riders, if Chris were to crash it, aside from the risk of serious injury, Jon’s insurance wouldn’t cover someone illegally riding it, and if he were willing to take that risk, he would allow Justin to drive his car. For Dylan to be able to ride it, he’d need to learn to ride on something less powerful and still wait three years, by which point, Jon hoped he would be in Unova.

    “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Justin asked ten minutes later, as Chris tossed him Jon’s riding jacket and pants.

    “No,” Chris answered simply. “But not being a good idea doesn’t automatically make it a bad idea…”

    “Let me rephrase this,” Justin asked. “Are you sure this isn’t a bad idea…”

    “It’s the best we have,” Chris said, as Justin put the clothes on over his current shorts and singlet that he wore. “I’ll take it easy getting there, so we’ll be fine…”

    “Isn’t it illegal practically everywhere for provisional licence holders to take a passenger?”

    “Very.”

    “And you aren’t worried about getting caught?” Justin said, slightly concerned at Chris’ recklessness. “You don’t exactly have many points left…”

    Justin wasn’t wrong. Given how much Chris rode during his travels, and how easy it was for the bike to pull past traffic, he had a few speeding fines, meaning that two more traffic violations, and he’d be without his licence.

    “I’ve been at the College of the North Wind for six months, and haven’t gotten a fine in that time. By the time I leave here, I’ll have most of my points back,” Chris explained, as Justin began lacing up a pair of heavy boots. “Besides, my licence is from Johto, which means that the number plate recognition software of Hoenn cops won’t give an instant read. I don’t have to wear high-vis anymore, so unless they pull me over and check my licence, they have no way of knowing I’m on a provisional licence…”

    Justin remained quiet, as he stood. Chris sighed.

    “Look, I know this goes against your superior moral code, being a future cop and all,” Chris teased. “But it’s a tiny risk to take now, to not put my entire project on hold. Besides, you studied a law degree, and most people who do that make a living by having no moral code, so if it’s really bugging you, pretend you’re a lawyer instead of a wannabe cop…”

    Justin couldn’t help but snort at Chris’ obnoxious comment, but got the point he made. Taking this risk was Chris’ best bet to not have his project delayed.

    “If I get caught, the worst that will happen is I lose my licence for three months. In which case, I’ll have it back by the time I get to Galar…”

    “Okay, I’ll stop questioning you,” Justin said, raising his hands to stop Chris from continuing to sell the plan. “Just focus on not getting us killed…”

    Less than an hour later, Justin climbed off the back of Chris’ motorbike, wondering how Jon could enjoy the experience of riding it, and how Chris could happily travel entire regions on it. Chris, who had already climbed off and removed his helmet, walked towards the door, Justin following him.

    “Lose the helmet,” Chris said quickly. “Take it from me, they flip their s**t if you walk in with a helmet. Thinking you’re going to hold the place up or something…”

    Justin wondered what Chris had done to have him be so aware of the need to remove his helmet, though figured, had he not been warned, he would have done the same thing.

    “I’ll meet you in there,” Justin said, as Chris nodded, walking through the automatic doors. Deciding it was too hot to keep the riding gear on, Justin quickly removed his borrowed helmet, followed by the jacket, pants, and even the boots, opting to walk into the Pokemon Centre barefoot. Whilst there was the risk of the gear being stolen, Justin figured that all it would take is a tweet to let the thief know the gear they stole belonged to Jon Drake, for it to be returned anonymously under threat of retribution, so he left it on the motorbike.

    A few minutes later, Justin entered, to find Chris standing by the counter, signing his name on a form as the attendant waited. He looked over to see Justin, before ushering him to join him.

    “All that’s left is for you to witness it,” Chris said, handing Justin the pen and sliding the form towards him, pointing where Justin needed to sign. He quickly scribbled his messy signature, before writing the date in the next box, and giving the form to the attendant.

    “So that’s sorted?” Chris asked. “My registration is renewed?”

    “I’ll process it now, and the computer system will verify everything is in order,” the attendant explained. “Once that’s done, your registration is renewed.”

    “And how long will that take?”

    “About half an hour,” the attendant explained. Chris looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 3:50pm, and whilst the Pokemon Centre was open 24/7 for healing Pokemon, for official business such as this, business hours ended at 4:30.

    “And if something is wrong?” Chris asked. “I’d only have ten minutes to fix it, and I need this done today…”

    The attendant looked between Chris and Justin, before sighing.

    “Look, if something is wrong, and you can fix it before 4:30, I’ll stay behind to confirm it’s worked,” the attendant answered. “But let’s try and avoid that…”

    Without another word, the attendant left, as Chris and Justin made their way to some seats in the waiting room, Chris half breathing a sigh of relief. As both trainers collapsed into their seats, Justin smirked.

    “So Second To None isn’t delayed…”

    “If all this goes forward smoothly,” Chris answered. “And if I’ve learnt anything from the last four years, you should never expect it to…”

    Justin nodded in agreement before counting out when things went drastically wrong.

    “Lance sending guys after Jon, Meteor Falls caving in, Deoxys attacking,” Justin recited, as he counted on his fingers. “Poachers at the Whirl Islands, the Department of Defence trying to take the Academy, those witches coming after us, Lance escaping, and the rest of the Spiritwater Crisis… Am I missing anything?”

    “I think you got the bulk of it…” Chris said in agreement. “Honestly, I signed up that first summer because I wanted to know what actually happened on the S.S. Wishmaker with Lance, and whether Jon was the piece of s**t Lance had been trying to convince us that he was. I didn’t expect things to go the way they did…”

    “I don’t think anyone did,” Justin agreed as Chris went quiet for a moment. Justin nudged his friend, noticing the space. “What’s up?”

    “Nothing,” Chris said. “Honestly, I was just thinking about where I’d be if I hadn’t come here that first summer. I sure as hell know that I wouldn’t be doing STN if I hadn’t…”

    “You’re not wrong…” Justin said in agreement. “I don’t know where I’d be. I doubt anywhere worthwhile though…”

    “Well I can tell you one thing for sure,” Chris said, as he couldn’t help but grin. “You wouldn’t be so famous that the High Seas Tournament tried to recruit you…”

    “Well if we’re going down that path,” Justin said. “Charlotte would have left you behind years ago…”

    “She already has,” Chris said with a laugh, as Justin looked at him in shock.

    “You two are at the same level, aren’t you?” Justin retorted in confusion. “It’s always been that one of you pulls ahead and the other catches up, then pulls ahead themself…”

    “Not anymore,” Chris said. “In tournament battles, Charlotte has been better than me for almost a year now. Our battle last summer was a fluke. I managed to catch her by surprise and force a tie. But if I hadn’t, she’d have beaten me. This is why I’m completing STN…”

    Chris cracked his knuckles, as Justin cringed at the sound, before continuing.

    “Fact is, if I try and make it as a competitive battler in the same scene as her, I’ll only ever be her equal at best, and her runner up at worst. She’s just got me beat,” Chris admitted. “She has a level of skill that I don’t, and by the time I have that, she’d be further ahead anyway. But there is something I have her beaten in…”

    “Being a stubborn pain in the a**?” Justin asked, as Chris rolled his eyes.

    “Sheer grit, though part of that is stubbornness…” Chris answered, realising the uncomfortable level of truth in Justin’s answer. “Charlotte’s a better battler, but she’s too level headed to consider attempting something as stupidly ambitious as STN. She wouldn’t risk wasting a year of her life, chasing a glorified title, when she could be getting stronger and making a name for herself in the competitive circuit. But I guess I’m just reckless enough to give it a try…”

    Justin couldn’t help but shake his head. He had known Chris since Day 0 at the Academy, and had known that his pride would not let him fall behind Charlotte. So to hear Chris happily admit that she is the superior battler, and that he was choosing a path to allow himself to escape her shadow, shocked him. Even more so, was the fact that Chris admitted this with no resignation or bitterness, but humour and optimism.

    “So the plan is Galar first?” Justin asked. Chris nodded.

    “Kalos after that, then Unova,” Chris explained. “Sinnoh next, then Hoenn, before Johto, then Kanto…”

    “When will you be in Sinnoh?”

    “I’ll ideally be arriving in early February, and making my way through the Gyms. I need to beat one every six days on average to keep on schedule,” Chris explained.

    Justin quickly did the numbers. He would start at the Sinnoh Police Academy in Jubilife City in September, and remain there a little over six months. After which, he would likely be stationed at Snowpoint City, being his first preference, which very few other officers would be willing to be stationed at.

    “So if Snowpoint is the last Gym, you’ll probably be arriving there a week or two after I move there…” Justin said, as he double checked his numbers. Chris grinned.

    “We’ll have to grab a drink then,” Chris explained. “Because by then, I’ll have beaten three Pokemon Leagues, and be well on my way to beating my fourth, and I’ll want to celebrate. That and you becoming a cop, but I think my reason is a little more exciting…”

    “A**hole,” Justin joked, though, knowing how different life would be for all of them come September, was already looking forward to it.

    ************************************************** ************************************************** *****
    “So what have you found?” Cassandra asked as she sat on a couch in the empty main hall, with the exception of one other person. The projector was on, however with no source selected, it projected a blue screen.

    “Footage,” Steven answered, as he handed her a portable hard drive. “I’m glad that Jon wanted to show the five this…”

    Cassandra gave Steven a puzzled look, however he simply sat on the couch, nodding for her to take the hard drive to the projector. She obliged, and as she plugged it in, the media reader sparked to life on screen, displaying five files. One for each of the original five interns.

    That evening during dinner, Steven had found Cassandra furiously scanning through notes and watching recordings of various battles. After telling Steven of Charlotte’s cryptic analysis of all the interns, Steven had an idea, telling Cassandra to meet him in the main hall after the campers were in their cabins for the evening. By this point, Charlotte had him curious too, and he knew of something that between the pair of them, may help crack Charlotte’s riddle.

    “Three years ago, Dylan had the idea of capturing all the Pokemon that the Academy has, so Jon bought a metric crap ton of Pokeballs, and sent the five interns around Hoenn for a week to capture as many Pokemon as they could,” Steven explained. “And while they were gone, Jon wanted to teach them a lesson…”

    “What sort of lesson?”

    “By that point the five of them would never lose to their students in a serious battle. Jon however, would beat them without too much difficulty, which is where the problem lay,” Steven explained. “They were honestly a lot closer to Jon and my level than they realised at that point, even with only Abbee and Justin having Legendary Pokemon. But Jon had identified in all but Dylan, some very easy weaknesses to exploit. They weren’t obvious, but if they were identified, they could be beaten quite easily. But because they only ever lost to Jon, and fact is, he ranks amongst champions, they didn’t learn anything by losing to him. They’d just write it off as ’of course I’d lose to Jon’...”

    Cassandra nodded, her intrigue growing at what this footage contained, as Steven continued.

    “So to make it obvious just how exploitable these weaknesses were, while they were gone, Jon decided to spend that weeks team training sessions going through footage of the five interns battling with a fine tooth comb, helping the students to learn to analyse a trainer, and identify weaknesses that they could then exploit,” Steven explained. “Then, at the end of the week, when the five returned home, a student from each of their teams challenged them, and all but one of the five were beaten…”

    “That one being Charlotte?” Cassandra asked as Steven grinned.

    “Dylan…”

    Cassandra’s eyes widened. She knew that Charlotte didn’t have Deoxys at this point, however she was still a formidable battler without Deoxys.

    “I’m not showing you this to give you a silver bullet to beat Charlotte,” Steven said. “Even if Charlotte still had this same weakness, I know you don’t want to rely on that. But I figure if Charlotte has given you some cryptic analysis of everyone, hearing someone else's thoughts might help you line the pieces up…”

    Cassandra nodded in agreement. Before pressing play, she grabbed a nearby whiteboard, and divided it up into five sections, each containing a name of one of the five interns. She quickly wrote Charlotte’s analysis of their battling, specifically who by her estimates, would have the tell she identified in Cassandra, against each trainer. Steven couldn’t help but find what he was seeing amusing, likening Cassandra’s furious note taking to a meme he had seen of a television character by a wall of posters, pins and string, deep in a supposed conspiracy theory. When Cassandra was ready, she pressed play, and began watching through the footage Steven had provided. The footage itself was a mixture of Jon lecturing each team, with battle footage from battles earlier in the summer superimposed, paused at crucial moments so Jon’s commentary explained what they were seeing.

    “Charlotte’s biggest strength in battle is lulling her opponent into a false sense of security, when really they are just falling into her trap, as well as her uncanny ability to predict what her opponent is trying to do. Most battles she spectates, she can see what moves are being used, and figure out what the person ordering them is trying to do,” Jon on screen said as he explained to Charlotte’s team, which at the time consisted of seven people, compared to the thirty-five this summer.

    “He’s got that right,” Cassandra remarked as Jon explained how Charlotte sent out her Roserade, correctly predicting Jon would open with Nidoking, which Cassandra remembered he did on the S.S. Wishmaker five years earlier. The explanation continued to how she used the advantageous matchup to buy time in order to ruin Jon’s strategy with Blaziken, and after Roserade had beaten Nidoking, she had chosen to have Roserade use Venom Drench on Blaziken, knowing that long term, it would do more damage than simply attacking Blaziken. From there, Jon managed to beat her Milotic, before Charlotte’s Drifblim finished off Blaziken, before forcing a draw with Jon’s Absol.

    “This is a goldmine…” Cassandra muttered as Steven nodded.

    “Even at this point, Charlotte was a championship level trainer, as was Chris, and the other three were at least at Gym Leader level,” Steven noted. “But it gets better…”

    Jon on screen explained that by acting in a way that was completely against what Charlotte expected, he was able to rattle her into acting against her own plan. Whilst she didn’t understand exactly what he meant, her eyes widened when it got pointed out that despite the fact Blaziken fainted, it had not taken a single damaging hit the entire battle, with all of the damage it took being from the poison, and had Charlotte just stuck to her initial strategy, and stalled Milotic with Protect and Recover, Blaziken would have fainted with Milotic being unharmed.

    Despite trying her best to not rely too much on what she heard in this, wanting to beat Charlotte by identifying her own weakness and preventing Charlotte from exploiting them, she couldn’t help but take note of one thing Jon said.

    “Don’t let her talent in predicting how things will go weigh you down…”

    When the video was finished, Steven clicked onto the next one, which was Abbee. This was the one Cassandra was looking forward to seeing most, second only to Charlotte’s, not because of her own history with Victini, but the asterisk next to Abbee’s name every time it appeared on the whiteboard.

    "None of the five of us would have it against any of the students, though Abbee and Justin would only have it against Jon, myself and Chris,” Charlotte had explained. “Abbee, however, has a slightly different way of battling to the other four of us, and that makes up for it at times.”

    “Abbee’s main strengths are her creativity and ingenuity, as well as the close bond she has with Victini, who can telepathically communicate with her, and will,” Jon on screen explained, and as he did, Cassandra felt a flicker of understanding, only for a moment. She knew they were onto something. In his peripheral vision, Steven saw Cassandra lean forward, concentrating hard on what was in front of them, as he explained the strategy Justin had used against himself the day before, and how Abbee had countered it. However, it wasn’t until Jon explained how Victini cost he and Abbee a win against Dylan by acting of his own volition that it clicked.

    “That’s the asterisk,” Cassandra said to Steven, as she quickly paused it. The opened her phone, finding the battle between Abbee and Matt Campbell that Charlotte had referenced. Steven waited in silence, knowing that Cassandra was on the verge of a breakthrough. Cassandra quickly jumped through the battle, finding a section with Jon and Camilla’s commentary.

    “Shaymin is following every one of Matt’s orders, while Victini is making his own decisions half the time…” Camilla’s voice said from Cassandra’s phone

    “And?” Jon asked.

    “You saw what happened before with Hydreigon when it stopped following orders…”

    “This could not be any more different. Victini isn’t acting on his own because he is disregarding orders. He is acting on his own because Abbee trusts him to make the snap decisions at a moment's notice. And Victini trusts Abbee to plan ahead and give him a winning path. Which is better teamwork than Victini just following Abbee’s instructions,” said Jon’s stern voice from the phone.

    “The thing that Charlotte said, which makes Abbee different, is the fact that when Victini is on the field, he makes half the decisions. She doesn’t just order him around, like almost every other trainer, but let’s Victini do what he thinks needs to be done,” Cassandra explained. “She lets him handle himself in a battle, whilst she looks more to the bigger picture to guide his decisions…”

    Steven nodded. Whilst he didn’t know what Charlotte had been referencing, this was something that made Abbee unique amongst most trainers. Whilst Jon had a tendency to let Latios make decisions, Latios usually followed orders to the letter in battle, and followed Jon’s lead.

    As the video detailing Abbee’s battling style came to an end, Steven took the remote.

    “Honestly, I don’t think Justin’s is going to be any help,” he explained. “Nor Dylans…”

    “How so?”

    Steven nodded towards the whiteboard.

    “If we’re trying to identify a pattern, you need variance. According to Charlotte, Justin would have this tell against herself, Chris and Jon. Justin won’t have it unless he has a detailed plan, but honestly, that’s too vague, and I was the one to deliver the lecture for Justin’s team, as I had spent some time with him during the winter before,” Steven explained. “And Charlotte reckons that Dylan doesn’t have this tell, which means no matter what we see, we won’t see Dylan showing and not showing this tell…”

    “So Chris?”

    “There are enough factors to Chris having it that if we can identify what those factors really are, we can identify the tell, like you did with Abbee,” Steven said. Cassandra looked over to the whiteboard. According to Charlotte, Cassandra wouldn’t have the tell against Chris, and Chris would only have it against Jon, and only in a match where he didn’t have something to lose. There was something that confused Cassandra though. Of all the people there who were more experienced battlers than herself, she’d not have the tell against Chris of all people.

    “Chris’ weakness is that he is too damn competitive. When he is under pressure, and wants nothing more than to win, he goes extremely on the offensive, not using any tactics other than brute force. That’s why he and Charlotte have tied every time…” came Jon’s voice from the screen.

    “How come Charlotte doesn’t beat him then?” asked a girl from the team. “You said she is his match, and he loses his head when it gets really hard? Shouldn’t Charlotte beat him?”

    “If that were all, yes…” Jon said, struggling to hide his amusement. [/i]“Except if you aren’t aware of it, this weakness is infectious. Even though Charlotte is one of the most cunning trainers I know, the moment Chris slips into this habit of his, she slips into it as well. Abbee and Justin have fallen prey to it a few times as well, but Charlotte in particular is the one it spreads to the easiest…”[/i]

    “Pause it…”

    The words left her mouth before she even knew she was saying it, however she needed a moment to think.

    “Chris goes on the offensive completely when he is under pressure, because he is too competitive,” Cassandra repeated. “Or at least he did back then…”

    “He has grown past letting his competitiveness dictate his decisions,” Steven noted, as Cassandra nodded.

    “But according to Charlotte, not his subconscious,” Cassandra explained. “She said Chris will have this tell when he isn’t battling with something to lose. But when he is battling herself or Jon, and has something to lose, he has the tell. And we just heard he has a history of letting the pressure he is under, and his own competitiveness adjust his actions…”

    Steven nodded in agreement, as Cassandra lent forward, trying to piece everything she had heard together.

    ”When he is under pressure, and wants nothing more than to win, he goes extremely on the offensive, not using any tactics other than brute force…”

    The words echoed through Cassandra’s head. She knew this was important, but didn’t know how. Trying to avoid spiralling into a dead end, she opened her phone to the footage of her own match with Charlotte, and pressed the cast button, causing the video to appear on the projector, before she pressed play.

    On screen, Marche followed her command, rushing in towards Magmortar with a Bulldoze attack, which Magmortar took, assisting itself with a Barrier attack. Cassandra then ordered a Swords Dance attack, after which, she did not get to call another move. Swords Dance was the last attack Marche made before Magmortar finished it off. She quickly rewound in silence, as Steven watched intently, wondering if Cassandra was becoming too obsessed with this. As she pressed play, she watched closely, considering what she heard of Chris’ battling as she analysed the footage.

    “I see it…” Cassandra said, as Steven’s head whipped around to look at her. “I know what the tell is…”

    Steven waited in silence, as Cassandra considered this tell, and what she knew about the other trainers.

    “Come on, don’t leave me hanging!” Steven pleaded after a few seconds.

    “When I am in a battle I don’t think I can win, I do what Chris does, or did,” Cassandra said correcting herself. “I don’t hesitate when I order an offensive move…”

    She rewound and pressed play. On screen the match began, and Cassandra, without waiting for an invitation, ordered a Bulldoze attack.
    “I mean, sure, if that’s the case, it makes sense Charlotte ordered a Barrier attack,” Steven said, sounding unconvinced. “But that isn’t enough to give her an edge?”

    “It isn’t,” Cassandra agreed. “But the flip side of that is that if I am not going on the offensive, I hesitate before giving the order…”

    The pressed play again, and on screen, clear as day, there was a moment of stillness, before Cassandra called out for Marche to use Swords Dance.

    “Charlotte heard the hesitation, and knew that Magmortar was safe for a moment, so instead of using Protect, or buffing its defence to block an attack, she had Magmortar use Scary Face to slow Marche down, and buy her some free hits,” Cassandra explained. “If I had just ordered another offensive move, she’d have played defence. But she knew I wouldn’t, so struck then…”

    “That is very specific…” Steven said. “I mean, if what you’re saying is true, then it makes sense how she beat you so quickly. But surely there is something more likely than that…”

    “When Abbee commands Victini, half of their communication is telepathic, and Victini will act on his own far more often than any other Pokemon would, so Charlotte would not be able to use this against Abbee. Abbee may be silent, and Victini is readying a huge attack, and she wouldn’t know,” Cassandra continued, processing all of this as she spoke. “Dylan doesn’t give the tell, but that’s because defensively speaking, he is unshakable. He isn’t as offensively talented as the other four, but his defence is that solid, that he can buy time to whittle down his opponent, so it makes sense Charlotte can’t use this trick on Dylan. His defensive battling is just as intentional as his offensive, if not more…”

    Steven began to realise just how right Cassandra was as he considered these words.

    “As for Chris, his tendency to go on the offensive under pressure means that he would not be in the position where he is in a battle he doesn’t know he would win and act defensively. Even if he doesn’t just resort to offensive attacks anymore, I’m willing to bet the impulsiveness is still there to some degree, and he wouldn’t hesitate on a single move…”

    “Goddamn…” Steven muttered, knowing that Cassandra had cracked it. “She is reading her opponents that much?”

    “She’s terrifying…” Cassandra agreed. “But there is one thing I don’t understand…”

    “What’s that?”

    “By this logic, I’d have this tell against you, Jon and the five interns. But Charlotte reckons I wouldn’t have it against Chris…”

    Steven considered Cassandra’s question, and though he had a hunch, he knew it wasn’t his place to say.

    “I think Charlotte needs to be the one to answer that…”

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

    “So we have everything?” Violet asked, as Willow did a quick count of all the materials in their room, before nodding. The spell they were about to perform was not a simple one, and they didn’t want to mess it up. Needing the floor space, they had disassembled Violet’s bed, leaving the frame stacked in neat pieces and the mattress leaned up against the wall. On the floor were flattened cardboard boxes taped together to make a strong enough surface that they could walk on without putting holes in it, and drawn on that was a large, circular glyph, the inside edge of which was lined with other strange symbols. Like numbers on a clock, various reagents were strategically placed. The circle itself glowed with an eerie purple pulsing light.

    “So when I perform the incantation, I will pass out…” Violet asked.

    “I think so,” Willow explained. “I never performed this spell myself, but I did ask Agatha about it early on, before I realised she was a lunatic…”

    Jarena listened quietly to the pair as Violet nodded.

    “Once you’ve passed out, effectively you will be in a dream world that you have complete control over. You can’t affect anything outside of the dream world, nor can you prevent whoever you pull into it from waking up. But you will be practically a god inside this world…”

    “How are you going to do this?” Jarena asked. “Try and scare him into giving it to you?”

    “I considered it, but no, I don’t think that would work too well,” Violet explained. “Most of the time I know I am dreaming, and can even wake myself up from them if they go bad. If my dad is the same, then if I make this dream terrifying, he will just wake himself up. Especially if he knows that the me in his dream isn’t just a figment of his subconscious…”

    The digital clock on the desk read 1:30am, however, as Violet said the words, she had a thought.

    “Though, I may be overthinking this…” she muttered, before looking back at Jarena. “Leave it with me…”

    Jarena nodded, though before she could answer a voice called out from the other side of the door.

    “Are you guys planning an apocalypse in there?”

    The voice belonged to Justin, who had heard voice from his room below, and wandered up stairs to see what had the three witches awake at this late hour, only to see a steady pulsing light emanating from under Violet’s door.

    “Because one of those this year was more than enough,” Justin continued, as Violet couldn’t help but laugh.

    “No apocalypse,” Violet assured. “Think of it as a Witch Slumber Party, complete with Shadowcraft Prank Calls…”

    Justin chuckled to himself, before making his way back to the stairs.

    “Carry on…”

    “You ready?” Willow asked. Violet nodded her head.

    “Jarena, hold me upright, and when I pass out, lay me down,” Violet explained. “So I don’t disturb the reagents…”

    Jarena moved into position, as Willow handed Violet the transcribed incantation.

    “Whenever you’re ready…”

    Violet nodded, before beginning to quietly recite the incantation. It was medium length, and her focus wandered a little as she wondered what would happen to her once she recited the final word. However, as the final word left her mouth, her body went limp, as she instantly fell unconscious, Jarena struggling with the sudden lack of any resistance holding her friend upright. She quickly lay her down, as inside Violet’s mind, the work began.

    She found herself in a black space, disembodied, yet sensing all around her. As Willow had told her, she forced herself to remember the moments before passing out, so as to not induce panic at the odd sensation, before slowly beginning to focus. She considered what sort of dream she wanted to form before she pulled her father into it, however, knew the sort of person he was. Like most, he was vastly more comfortable in a place he knew well. She considered having it be her childhood home, however thought of somewhere even better.

    Her strained relationship with her father stemmed from the fact that ninety percent of the time he was away from home as a travelling sales rep. When she was in her early teens, he received a promotion, putting him in a management position in the company’s head office in Olivine City, however despite the fact he now rarely had to travel compared to his previous role, he seemed even more distant. She remembered one of the few occasions she had been in his large office, and how comfortable he was there.

    Forcing herself to remember the basic details, she focused on constructing the black space into a rough copy of her fathers corner office, placing the furniture and picture frames in the places she remembered them being. She didn’t focus on detail, knowing that in a dream, nothing is quite as it is in reality, and that his own memory would fill in the blanks when he arrived. Finally, when the office was ready, she focused her thoughts into creating a form for herself. She considered making herself a child, hoping to appeal to some sort of paternal instinct, but figured that wouldn’t work. He was never around when she was a kid anyway, so why would he care if he was speaking to the child version of her now?

    Instead, she opted for a form she knew he was at one point or another, proud of.

    Her hair was shorter than it was in the waking world, and much better cared for, with Violet these days opting to let it grow out a little longer since returning to the human world. She wore an expensive, glossy black leather jacket, that has cost her at the time more than the car she was considering buying now that she had saved some money from her job at the Academy. She wore a pair of black jeans, that despite not appearing to be anything special, had cost more than her father earned in a week, and a pair of black shoes which she recalled buying to wear to a TV appearance, and had not touched again until she sold them later in order to try and cover her debts. She looked in the mirror that hung on a wall of the office, and was shocked at the fact that she looked exactly the same as she did a week before the S.S. Wishmaker incident.

    “Geez…” Violet muttered in distaste, as she spun slightly to view her outfit. “Did I always look this pretentious?”

    Knowing that she had no reason to wait any longer, she began reciting the next part of the spell, which she had memorised prior, which, if he were asleep, would bring her father into this dream. After a few moments, she blinked, and found the room she was in, suddenly much more detailed, with the gaps filled in by the memories of Barry Radcliffe who stood before her. He wore his usual work attire, a pair of dark blue slacks and a white button up shirt under a blue tie. He looked around the room, then at Violet. A look of disdain crossed his face, as he muttered something under his breath.

    “I just want to talk,” Violet said calmly.

    “There’s nothing to talk about,” Barry said, as he began walking towards the door. Violet remained still, letting him. He opened it, and to his shock, there was no busy work floor outside, only blackness.

    “Hear me out, and I’ll leave you alone,” Violet said. “I’ll stop calling you, and I won’t do this again…”

    Barry didn’t bother trying to understand what Violet was saying about his situation, and instead snorted with derision.

    “You’re a figment of my imagination,” Barry retorted. “You aren’t real…”

    “Don’t you remember how Agatha gathered all the witches in Alola? How I knew what she was planning so I could tip off the League?” Violet asked, as Barry looked at her confused, before understanding dawned on him. “This place might not be real, but I am…”

    “What have you done?” Barry asked, though Violet ignored the question, knowing that every second that passed was a second before her father realised he could wake himself up, and left.

    “You weren’t taking my calls, and I needed to talk to you…” Violet explained. “So I figured I’d use my talents to get a hold of you…”

    Violet moved towards her fathers desk, and sat in the large office chair, staring him down for a minute.

    “If you’re not willing to look past my mistakes, then that’s your decision, and I won’t waste our time trying to play happy families,” Violet explained. “We’re past that. All I want is to be able to live my life, and even if we aren’t on good terms, I had hoped you’d at least be civil enough to hear me out. Honestly, all I wanted was for you to send me my birth certificate, so I can get my driver’s licence, do my taxes, and just live my own life. You do that, and honestly, I’ll do everything I can to just leave you alone, seeing as it’s obvious that’s all you want…”

    “And if I don’t?” Barry said. “If this is just a dream, I can just wake myself up…”

    “You’re right, you can…” Violet said, as she stood up. “But if you don’t do this for me, if you keep being difficult just to spite me, I’ll do the same thing…”

    As she finished her words, the floor around Barry began to crumble away, as the walls became engulfed in flames.

    “I won’t keep calling you on the phone, because I’m sick of hearing your voicemail,” Violet said simply. “Instead, I’ll visit you every night. And the difference between this dream and your others, is that you’re not in control of this place. I am…”

    With a loud bang, the desk in front of her and the chair behind her vaporised into particles of light, exploding outwards, as Violet herself began to rise into the air, arms outstretched. Vicious tendrils of light materialised in the blackness, whizzing past Barry’s face, towards Violet’s hand.

    “You might be able to get yourself out of this dream. But as long as you need to sleep, and I know you will eventually, I’ll just be able to pull you back in…” Violet said coldly. “And my imagination is the only limiting factor of what these dreams can be…”

    There was a vicious roar in the distance, that Violet recognised to be that of Giratina, as Barry’s head whipped around to where it came from. By the time he looked back, Violet was gone, until he turned around, and found himself staring face to face into her intense green eyes. He stumbled back in shock, forgetting the ground had collapsed away from the area around him, and fell. However, as he fell into the blackness, he saw he was falling towards the same room he had just fallen from. Violet raised a hand to catch him in mid air and prevent him from falling into an endless cycle.

    “I don’t want to do this,” Violet said. “I’m past using Shadowcraft to manipulate and intimidate people, but you’ve left me no choice…”

    Barry looked around in shock, before settling his sights on her.

    “You just want your birth certificate?” he asked quietly.

    “Not even the actual document. A scan sent to me…”

    Barry sighed indignantly, before glaring at Violet.

    “I’ll send it through in the morning…”

    With her purpose fulfilled, Violet changed the scene to her childhood home as she remembered it. The kitchen specifically. Additionally, she let her appearance reflect how she looked now.

    “Thank you…” Violet said, before considering her next words.

    “I won’t call you again unless it’s important. So if I do, pick up the damn phone, so I don’t have to go to all this trouble again,” Violet said. “But if you do decide you want to try and work things out, you know where to find me…”

    Barry remained silent, as Violet stared him down, though knew she was now wasting her time.

    “Goodbye Dad…”

    With that, she opened her eyes, ending the spell.

    “Did it work?” Willow asked. Violet stretched her cramped limbs, before nodding.

    “I think so. I think I got my point across,” Violet answered with a yawn. “I’ll find out in the morning…”

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

    “So what if I were to catch Latios away from Jon, and try and convince him to throw his battle?”

    Victini asked the question as he and Abbee sat at the dining room table in the kitchen of the intern’s lodge. It was shortly before 8am Saturday morning, and having heard Jon’s conditions for allowing Victini to battle Scizor, they were trying to figure out whether meeting them would even be possible.

    “You remember two years ago when Rose accidentally got the spare room in the lodge infested with bugs?” Abbee recalled. “Latios was about to tell Jon until you stopped him…”

    Victini remembered that day, and nodded gravely. Abbee was right. Just like he was loyal to her, Latios was loyal to Jon…

    “Wait a minute,” Victini said, as he remembered something else from the day. “Remember how we stopped him from telling Jon?”

    Abbee shook her head.

    “I threatened to tell Jon about the keg he had stolen,” Victini explained. “Latios loves Jon, but he also loves beer, and I think if we were to bribe Latios…”

    Abbee smirked at Victini’s idea.

    “And worse comes to worst, I think if we could get Latias in our corner, she may be able to help convince him to help you out,” Abbee suggested…

    As Chris walked down the stairs, he could hear Abbee talking, and Victini replying verbally, seeing as Abbee gained the ability to understand him last summer. He had been planning on making a cup of coffee before he went to the dining hall, where students would soon be making their way to prepare breakfast, however stopped. Every time he had seen Abbee since they broke up, it had been in a group. Especially in the last week. And whilst Dylan would more than likely just go about his business and pretend Chris wasn’t there, which Chris was equally willing to do, he knew Abbee wouldn’t.

    He considered skipping coffee, or making some excuse to chat to Jon in the morning, knowing that Jon would offer him one if he went up to the house to talk. However he realised he was being ridiculous. It was the end of the first week of summer, and would not be the last time he’d face this situation. And additionally, by the end of the year, he’d be in Nimbasa City, battling Abbee as Nimbasa City Gym Leader, and if he couldn’t get his head out of his own thoughts now, he’d struggle to beat her then. He sighed silently, before walking into the dining room, with obvious intention towards the kitchen.

    “Morning,” Abbee said casually, as she looked at the notebook in front of her, which had strategies for beating Blaziken, Latios, Rayquaza and Giratina half scribbled.

    “Morning,” Chris replied, as he made his way into the kitchen through the door on the other side of the dining room. He entered as he made his way towards the coffee machine, pressing the power button, causing the boiler to heat up.

    “Blaziken gives us a few options,” Abbee said to Victini. “If it enters the battle late, Stored Power would be the best way to handle it, seeing as you’d be using buffs to survive the match.”

    Abbee began scribbling though had a thought.

    “Though it might pay to taunt it first, since that would be an obvious play, and would be decimated by a Protect or even an Endure…”

    “What if Blaziken comes out first?” Victini asked, and whilst Chris could hear him, he couldn’t understand.

    “Out of the gate, you’re faster than Blaziken for about one attack,” Abbee answered. “Future Sight. That way if Blaziken reduces your power, or buffs its own defences, it’ll still take a big hit…”

    The machine beeped, as it finished preparing Chris’ coffee. He grabbed the mug, before walking out.

    “Hey, Chris…”

    Chris stopped, as some of his coffee spilled forward over the edge of the mug, burning his hands slightly. He swore under his breath, and quickly put his lightly burnt finger to his mouth, before turning around.

    “Sorry,” Abbee said with a weak grin. “Just wondering if you knew much about Rayquaza? Seeing as you used to go to Southern Island with Jon and all that. That and you know more about Dragon Pokemon than even Dylan…”

    Chris placed his coffee on the table, grabbing a leather coaster so the hot mug and spilt contents wouldn’t damage the wooden finish of the tabletop, before considering the question.

    “Honestly, I don’t know much that could help you. That was years ago,” Chris said, trying to think of anything he knew. “Dragon type moves are only super effective against other dragons, and Victini would handle flying moves, so you don’t need to worry too much about those. But I’m pretty sure Rayquaza knows at least one or two Dark Type moves and maybe a Rock Type one as well…”

    Abbee began taking notes, as Chris continued.

    “If this were a normal battle, I’d tell you to not bother with Victini against Rayquaza and to use Glaceon instead. I’d eat my shoe if Glaceon weren’t beaten by it, but given its Ice typing, it would really make an impact on Rayquaza,” Chris continued. “But you gotta use Victini so that’s redundant…”

    Abbee remained silent, as her and Victini looked at each other, Chris figuring they were strategizing telepathically. He looked between the pair, and then Abbee’s notes. Giratina had nothing but question marks around it, which confirmed Chris’ theory. Victini couldn’t beat all four of these Pokemon in succession.

    “Look,” Chris said, his tone becoming a little more serious. “Don’t you think you’re making this harder for yourself?”

    Abbee and Victini looked at Chris, somewhat puzzled.

    “Jon’s making it hard,” Abbee said, as Victini nodded in agreement. “He set the Elite Four challenge…”

    “And that’s the only way Victini will have a chance at Scizor?” Chris asked. Abbee nodded, though halfway through, seemed to doubt herself, and lose conviction in her nodding.

    Victini cried something irritably out, and Abbee translated.

    “He says ‘what’re you getting at?’”

    “I’m saying that in my team’s sessions with Jon, I am used for the demonstration every time, and battle Jon three times a week. Justin does the same thing, so I assume you do as well?” Chris asked. Abbee nodded.

    “The problem is that every time Victini is out at the same time as Scizor, Jon Baton Passes Scizor out to something that beats Victini….”

    “And you honestly think that if Victini can’t beat whatever gets Baton Passed out to face him, he can beat all four of those Pokemon, then finish off Scizor?” Chris asked plainly. The question wasn’t meant to offend, though Victini glared at Chris for doubting him. “Look, all I’m saying is you’re planning to pit Victini against four Pokemon, two of which Jon never uses in training sessions, and are amongst the most powerful Pokemon in the world, alone, when you could have a three on three match in your session, and if you play your cards right, have Victini and Scizor battle, both Pokemon fresh and ready to go. Logically, it makes no sense…”

    “You’re right…” Abbee said, shocked that she hadn’t looked at it that way.

    “Honestly, I think Jon set that challenge to distract you,” Chris added as he sipped his coffee.

    “Distract us from what?” Victini asked. Chris shrugged, before standing up.

    “It’s not that hard to force a match to go a certain way,” Chris answered simply. “I’ve done it before, and it worked a treat…”

    Knowing that any more information would take away from their own sense of accomplishment, Chris left them to figure it out, knowing that last time he helped in this way, they figured it out on their own.

    ************************************************** ************************************************** *****
    “So you’re ready?” Charlotte called out, holding a Pokeball in hand. Cassandra could see it wasn’t the Master Ball that she knew housed Deoxys, though also knew that Charlotte wouldn’t send out Deoxys in a practice match against Cassandra just yet. Cassandra nodded. She readied her own Pokeball.

    It was the lunch hour of Monday during the second week of the summer, with Charlotte’s team set to take to the field to train with Jon. From 1pm, the stadium would be occupied for afternoon training sessions, and not free until 5pm, and whilst Cassandra could wait until then, she knew that Jon would have Charlotte’s Pokemon too exhausted for a training match with Cassandra after, whilst, given Charlotte’s prowess, her Pokemon could likely handle a battle with Cassandra and then go into training with Jon.

    “Let’s do this,” Cassandra explained. “Then I need to round up my team…”

    All the interns had been told to have their teams gathered together and ready before the second afternoon training session, though the order didn’t come from Jon. Instead, each of the interns was told to make sure Jon wasn’t aware…

    “Count of three then,” Charlotte said with a grin, before beginning to count.

    ”One.”

    ”Two.”

    ”Three!”

    Cassandra threw her Pokeball forward revealing Gale the Frosmoth, as Charlotte sent out her Gengar. Whilst Cassandra was thankful that Gengar was the least experienced of Charlotte’s Pokemon, she also knew that Gengar were very tricky Pokemon, and that they had a double resistance to Bug type moves.

    “Curse!” Charlotte ordered.

    “Quiver Dance!” Cassandra responded instantly. Whilst she didn’t want to give away that she had identified the tell, she figured that an exception to it would be the opening move. Given the time between choosing the Pokemon and the match starting, there was time for her to think over the move then, before calling it as the match started, instead of hesitating to rethink it. Charlotte, if she had noticed, didn’t give anything away.

    Gengar, at the cost of its own energy, placed a curse on Gale, who quickly flew a quick path through the air, as its Speed as well as offensive and defensive power for special moves increased. However, within seconds, its energy left it, leaving it far more exhausted than the opening round of the battle should. However, Cassandra now had an edge. Gale was faster than Gengar, and would be able to attack again before Gengar could strike.

    Gengar was still a very quick Pokemon however, darting in and out of shadows, and Cassandra knew that her next move, whilst being fairly accurate, may not be enough to land the hit she was after. She needed Gengar to stop moving even for a second.

    “Gale!” Cassandra called out, before intentionally holding her tongue for a second. “Icy Wind!”

    “Shadow Ball!” Charlotte called out over the top of Cassandra’s order for Icy Wind, however the moment the words left her mouth, she seemed to know something was off.

    Gengar stopped its evasive manoeuvres for a split second to line up a Shadow Ball, however was met by an icy gust of wind from Gale’s sub-freezing wings. It still managed to land the hit with Shadow Ball, weakening Gale further, as did the subsequent effect of the curse, however, the surprise attack was enough to slow down Gengar, and buy Gale a chance for one last follow-up hit.

    “Giga Drain!” Cassandra ordered, as Gale launched a bright green orb from its wings, striking Gengar directly. Despite the type disadvantage, Gengar was weakened by its own use of curse, as well as the Icy Wind that had been enhanced by Quiver Dance. Gengar collapsed as Gale’s energy was restored, only to be lost again to the Curse.

    “You’ve figured it out,” Charlotte called out with a grin as she returned Gengar to it’s Pokeball.

    “You thought I was going to pull back instead of that Icy Wind?” Cassandra asked, as Charlotte nodded.

    “If I knew you were going to try and land a big hit, I’d have played defensively and tried to have Gengar avoid it,” Charlotte explained. “Especially since I’d used half its energy to place the curse. Still, I thought it’d be weeks before you figured that out…”

    “Steven helped me by showing me footage of you, Abbee and Chris, and Jon analysing all of you,” Cassandra answered. “Between that and what you told me the other day, I figured it out. There’s just one thing I couldn’t figure out.”

    “What’s that?”

    “Why do you think I’d not have the tell against Chris?” Cassandra asked. “I do it in battles I don’t think I can win, and I know that Chris would wipe the floor with me in a serious battle, just like you would…”

    Charlotte’s expression flattened.

    “I probably should have kept my mouth shut…” Charlotte muttered to herself as Cassandra gave her a puzzled look. “You sure you want the answer to that? You might not want to hear it…”

    “If it helps me understand my own battling better, then I want to hear it.”

    Charlotte nodded, before considering her words.

    “You don’t show the tell against Chris because the fact you won’t beat him isn’t what’s on your mind when you battle him. Even in a serious battle against me, you know that it’s just a Pokemon battle, against me, but honestly, I don’t think you’d be like that in a battle against Chris…”

    “And why is that?”

    “Because when you look at Chris, you see the guy who tried to kill your best friends…”

    There was an uncomfortable silence as Charlotte said the words and Cassandra looked at her in shock.

    “I know that Chris isn’t Lance,” Cassandra protested, as Charlotte held up a hand to silence her, a gesture she had subconsciously picked up from Jon.

    “I’m not saying you have some grudge with Chris because of what Lance did. I know you wouldn’t do that,” Charlotte explained. “But honestly, I’d have to be blind to not see that you are a hell of a lot more comfortable around the other four of us than you are with Chris…”

    Cassandra’s shoulders slumped as she knew she couldn’t argue with Charlotte there.

    “Jon told me that Lance’s biggest weakness is his pride, and I know Chris shares that with him. He’s one of my best friends, so I’d know,” Charlotte said, smirking at the fact that she had just referred to Chris that way. “But I also know that Chris does everything he can to not let that take him down the same path as Lance. I also know, having seen them both battle, than they are both talented trainers, both with an uncanny skill with Dragon Type Pokemon. Heck, sometimes when I see Chris battle with his Dragonite or Charizard, I see a young Lance…”

    Cassandra sighed, as Charlotte grinned.

    “I know you’re not just holding what Lance did against Chris. All I am saying is that when you battle him, I’d bet anything that in your mind, you’re battling the trainer who attacked Violet and Jarena, without even realising it,” Charlotte explained. “And honestly, I think that’s going to help you grow as a trainer…”

    “How so?” Cassandra asked, her attention piqued by Charlotte’s comment.

    “You hesitate making certain moves when you battle me because there is a level of uncertainty. You’re uncertain you’re making the right move by not going on the offensive,” Charlotte explained. “But if I’m right, you won’t hesitate making any move when battling Chris, and I can tell you, if you want to stand a chance at beating him, relying only on offensive tactics will get you nowhere. So maybe you should use Chris as a training dummy, to practise your more strategic plays. He’ll wipe the floor with you most of the time, but if you can get used to a few combos of strategic moves without hesitating against him, then you will be able to apply that to anyone else…”

    Charlotte checked her watch, seeing her students would be arriving before too long. Whilst they had time for another round, she figured it would not be as beneficial as letting Cassandra think over what she said.

    “Keep an eye on what Abbee does during her session this afternoon,” Charlotte noted, having had Abbee seek her out to work on her plan. “The tactic she is using is one that we saw Chris use three years ago. Honestly, you could learn just as much from him as you could from me…”

    ************************************************** ************************************************** *****
    "Everyone take a seat," Jon called out to the thirty five students in the stadium. It was only the beginning of the second week and the students already knew that Jon would not be starting the session until they were quiet. And given this was the opportunity to learn from Jon directly in their weekly schedule, within a few days, they had mastered the act of listening silently. At least, Abbee's group had.

    As the students made their way to the seating, Abbee remained on the battlefield. Chris had been right. At some point in every session, Jon would have a practise battle with Abbee to demonstrate a concept or tactic before the students would be grouped to practise it themselves.

    "This week will be a crash course in control tactics. Specifically tactics that control the flow of the battle by limiting your opponents options," Jon explained, as Abbee forced herself to hide her grin. "And by extension, how to identify and avoid being trapped by them."

    "He's gonna see control tactics…" Victini said telepathically from where he sat on Abbee's shoulder. For a moment, Abbee broke, letting a grin cross her face.

    Jon went into a brief lecture, discussing moves such as Rage Powder, Follow Me, or Spotlight, which when used in a double battle, can force all attacks to be made against a bulky Pokemon, leaving a less resilient but harder hitting Pokemon to wreak havoc without risk of damage. He then show footage of the battle between Chris and Charlotte in Goldenrod City the summer before, where Chris managed to force a tie on Charlotte by having Lugia use Imprison, prevent Deoxys from using any shared moves, the most important of which were energy recovery moves. Lastly he showed the battle between Dylan and Brad Jenkins two years prior, in which Dylan had his Dusknoir use Skill Swap on Brad's Cresselia, stealing its Levitate ability and by extension, dismantling Brad's entire strategy which revolved around his Garchomp using Earthquake to hit both opponents whilst Cresselia avoided the hit. At the same time, Dylan was using Ally Switch and Protect to keep both Pokemon from taking match ending blows. When he was done he looked to Abbee.

    "You got any ideas for control tactics?" Jon asked.

    "I have one or two," Abbee answered plainly as Victini struggled to remain neutral. Jon nodded.

    "In that case, for the demonstration, you try and use them against me and I'll try and counter them."

    Abbee nodded, stepping to her line on the end of the battlefield.

    "Let's do this then…"

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

    "Guys, you gotta keep quiet!" Justin hissed at the group of boys in his group that were gathered by the door to the Stadium. "If they're too quiet inside and they hear you, Jon will ask questions!"

    Chris, Charlotte, Dylan, Justin and Cassandra were all in on the plan. Victini wanted a public grudge match with Scizor, and Abbee was certain that she could force that during their training session battle. And given how public of an affair they had made it on Twitter, it was only right that they get a big audience. As such, each intern over the last two days had been informing every member of their team of two things. The first, to gather by the stadium entrance once Abbee's team were inside and Jon's focus was on them, and to make sure Jon didn't hear about this.

    "Are they almost ready?" Cassandra asked Dylan. He held his phone in front of him, patched into the stadium's security cameras.

    "He's still lecturing…" Dylan answered. Charlotte nodded.

    "It was the longest goddamn lecture he has done in one of these sessions," Charlotte said, having had the same session before.

    Chris, having not considered the fact Charlotte would know the content, had an idea.

    "Can you tell how far through the lecture he is?" Chris asked. Charlotte answered by directing a question to Dylan.

    "Can you see what video he is playing?"

    "My battle from the College of the North Wind," Dylan answered. Charlotte nodded.

    "Well that's the last video, and considering how quickly you wiped the floor with Brad, it'll be over soon."

    The interns began quietly letting their students nearby know that they would be going in soon, and to wait for Dylan's signal.

    Dylan watched on the security cameras as the video ended, before Abbee and Jon spoke for a brief moment, and Abbee made her way to her place on the battlefield.

    "That's our cue," Dylan said. "Let's head in…"

    Inside, Abbee had selected her first Pokeball, as had Jon, when everyone's attention was piqued by the sound of footsteps entering the seated sections of the stadium. Jon looked up in confusion at the near two hundred people entering and finding seats.

    "Can I help you?" Jon called out, confused by the sudden influx of spectators.

    "Just here for the show," Justin retorted "Pretend we're not here…"

    Jon looked from Justin, to Charlotte and Cassandra, where they stood by the barrier to get the best view, to Dylan, who had his phone in front of him, working furiously on something. Unbeknownst to Jon, he had logged in to the Eon Academy's twitter account, and was about to live stream the security camera footage of the battle. Jon looked to Abbee, who couldn't help but grin.

    "Come on Jon," she called out. "They're waiting for the demonstration…"

    Jon knew this was an attempt to have Victini battle Scizor, however wasn't sure what Abbee had planned. Regardless, he breathed an internal sigh of relief that he had chosen the team of Pokemon for this session that he did, given he now had nine to choose from instead of the six he had for many years prior.

    "Begin!"

    Abbee threw her first Pokeball forward, revealing Ariados as her opening Pokemon. Jon lobbed his, having opted for Nidoking.

    "Earth Power Nidoking!" Jon ordered.

    "Sticky Web!" Abbee retaliated.

    Despite the distance between the two Pokemon, Nidoking's attack struck, as he roared and mounds of earth erupted from the stone floor of the battlefield underneath Ariados. Weathering the hit, Ariados spat thin strands of sticky silk, which dispersed through the air scattering on the ground surrounding Nidoking. The large Pokemon was slowed by the hazard, allowing Ariados time to follow through with a follow up attack.

    "Leech Life," Abbee ordered, hoping to deal some damage whilst also restoring some of her Pokemon's energy.

    Ariados darted forward before leaping bodily into Nidoking, sinking it's fangs into the Pokemon and sapping it's strength.

    "Now Psychic!" Abbee commanded. Using a form of hypnotism, Ariados unleashed a barrage of telepathic signal on Nidoking, causing it to cry out in pain. However, Ariados had remained still for too long, giving Jon a opportunity to retaliate.

    "Flamethrower!"

    Despite not being a Fire Type, Nidoking was capable of learning the powerful fire move if taught, and Jon had made use of this before. The flames erupted from Nidoking's jaws, striking Ariados and knocking it out.

    "Abbee has used a very useful trick, where if your Pokemon is the slower of the two, but you are able to slow the opposing Pokemon down enough, you will be able to get an instant follow up attack," Jon explained. "However she left Ariados in Nidoking's range a little too long."

    "Keep talking Jon," Victini said telepathically to Abbee. "You haven't seen nothing yet…"

    Abbee selected her next Pokemon opting for Glaceon. Despite Nidoking normally being the faster of the pair, Sticky Web had slowed it, allowing Glaceon to strike first.

    "Hail!" Abbee ordered. Glaceon cried out as a fine mist of powdered snow erupted from its hide, and a supernatural hail began to fall from the ceiling. As it did, Glaceon's outline seemed to shimmer and lose shape temporarily, as it's Snow Cloak ability took effect.

    "Double Kick!"

    Nidoking rushed forward, descending on Glaceon and striking it with two kicks, both of which hit the Ice Type Pokemon hard, however not hard enough to put it down. Additionally, Nidoking had just put itself in close quarters with Glaceon, allowing it to use a heavy hitting move, without risk of missing.

    "Blizzard!"

    A freezing, spectral wind kicked up, catching the falling chunks of ice, and sending them flying towards Nidoking. The large Pokemon resisted the attack for a moment, before collapsing to its knees, unable to run, given the webbing that restricted its movement, and unable to fight anymore.

    "What was that about hanging out in attack range too long?" Abbee called out, earning a chorus of laughter from the crowd. Jon smirked at her, before sending out his next Pokemon. Abbee felt her heart rate rise as she saw the Pokemon she knew he would send out to taunt her, and even more, her Mythical partner that sat on her shoulder.

    Scizor entered the battlefield, and with no hesitation, both trainers resumed their match, with spectators cheering far more than they would for a standard practise battle.

    "Scizor, Double Team!" Jon ordered, as Scizor split into multiple spectral copies.

    From the stands Charlotte watched in confusion.

    "What the-" she muttered under her breath. Hearing the comment Cassandra looked over.

    "What's up?"

    "Scizor has Technician, like my Roserade which means weaker moves to a certain point will actually have double power, and I know for sure Bullet Punch is affected by that…" Charlotte explained. "Bullet Punch would also bypass Sticky Web, and likely knock Glaceon out in one hit. So why didn't he use that?"

    "Maybe he knows that he can beat Glaceon easily, so is making the most of this low risk opportunity?" Cassandra suggested, having learnt early on that that was one of Jon's favourite plays. Charlotte shook her head.

    "Abbee only has one Pokemon left at this point, and given the audience, Jon knows it would be Victini to have his grudge match with Scizor," Charlotte explained. "Scizor and Absol are the only Pokemon he runs a Double Team tactic with, because both of them are glass cannons, and even with a type advantage, Jon wouldn't use Absol against Victini if he had the choice. He'd likely use Latios or Blaziken, in which case Scizor would be better off using Agility or Swords Dance before Baton Passing out, not Double Team…"

    Charlotte's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what Jon was playing at. He wasn't the sort to just use the wrong move. This was intentional, but Charlotte had never seen him use Scizor in this way against Abbee. What worried her more was that Abbee didn't seem to see anything wrong with this, being that focused on her own plan.

    "You really know Jon's tactics that well?" Cassandra asked.

    "He's been my teacher for four years. You pick up a thing or two after that long," Charlotte answered. "Dylan knows him even better…"

    Abbee watched unphased as copies of Scizor flooded the battlefield, instead grinning, before giving a single word command.

    "Roar…"

    Jon felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised what Abbee had just done.

    Glaceon, despite its small frame, let out a terrifying roar, causing Scizor to retreat to Jon, forcing Jon to withdraw it for now and send out another Pokemon.

    "Abbee has used a brilliant trick, making use of the fact that we only use three Pokemon each. By beating my first Pokemon and using Roar on my second, I am now forced to commit my third Pokemon now, giving Abbee the tactical advantage when it comes time for her to choose her third," Jon explained. "I'm guessing that her plan is to beat whatever Pokemon I send out now, so that Scizor can't Baton Pass out when Victini comes out to play. Very good control tactics…"

    "Damn straight!" Victini said telepathically, projecting the signal to all in the room, inciting another burst of cheering.

    "That's brilliant," Cassandra said softly, as she understood what Abbee had done, admiring her former partner's Trainer.

    "She learnt that tactic from Chris," Charlotte explained. "He used it to beat Dylan in our second year. And obviously, Jon didn't remember…"

    "Well Abbee… Victini…" Jon said, letting the Pokemon's name hang in the air. "You've made a very bold assumption. That you can beat my next Pokemon…"

    Jon threw a Pokeball forward and there was a collective gasp as the Pokemon was revealed.

    Seven meters from nose to tail, with a tough emerald green hide and piercing yellow eyes in jet black sockets, Rayquaza stared down Glaceon, who seemed almost like a child's toy in comparison. The very air went still, and the Hail stopped falling as Rayquaza's Air Lock ability took effect.

    "S**t…" Chris muttered, as he took a step forward to get a better view. He knew that Jon would fight tooth and nail the moment he knew what Abbee was trying to make happen. However Rayquaza was not what he expected.

    "Rayquaza!" Jon commanded. "Destroy the Sticky Web!"

    Rayquaza roared in confirmation, eager to battle with such a large crowd to see, and let off a Dragon Breath attack, spreading it across the ground where Ariados' web remained. The ground ignited with a quick succession of explosions, which Glaceon managed to dodge before Abbee gave her next instruction.

    "Aurora Beam!" Abbee ordered. Whilst it was not Glaceon's strongest Ice Type attack, Rayquaza's double weakness to ice made up for it, and the secondary effect of reducing Rayquaza's attack power, would help Victini immensely.

    "Guys, we are seeing history being made right now…" Justin said quietly. "This is Jon's first public battle with Rayquaza, that isn't a life or death situation…"

    Dylan nodded in agreement as he watched the comments flood in on the live steam, in support of both sides.

    Rayquaza took the hit, roaring in anger before focusing its attention on Glaceon.

    "V-Create!"

    All watching were shocked when it wasn't Abbee that gave the order, but Jon, causing Victini to look at him in puzzlement. However, Victini's eyes widened when Rayquaza's own crown ignited into a large, flaming V, as the Legendary Pokemon dived towards Glaceon.

    "You poser!" Victini yelled out verbally, Abbee being the only one close enough to hear and understand him. "That's my move! Get your own!"

    "Victini…" Abbee said knowingly, helping Victini to see the irony of what he just said…

    Despite Glaceon having a snowflake's chance in hell of remaining standing after this attack, this worked in their favour. If Jon had actually taught Rayquaza Victini's signature move, it would have the same drawbacks. A massive cut to defensive ability and speed. Abbee wasn't the only one to realise this.

    "Either Jon has lost his mind in the theatrics, or he is up to something…" Cassandra said to Charlotte, who grinned.

    "You're really becoming one of us," Charlotte joked. "What have you noticed?"

    "V-Create costs the Pokemon that uses it its resilience and speed. Effectively, Jon could have used any other move to finish off Glaceon, but he chose one that was self destructive…" Cassandra explained, knowing the details of her former partner's signature attack.

    Charlotte considered her words and what she had seen before.

    "He is definitely planning something. Between that and the Double Team, something is up…"

    Rayquaza slammed into Glaceon, knocking the Pokemon unconscious before it even hit the ground, forcing Abbee to withdraw it, and Victini to hop down from her shoulder.

    "I never knew how much I wanted this rematch until now…" Victini called out to Rayquaza, as he rolled his head back, stretching his neck.

    "Latios isn't here to help you this time…" Rayquaza sneered.

    "Good," Victini retorted. "I don't need his help any more to beat your a**..."

    "Victini!" Abbee called out in shock at how antagonistic Victini was being, and chalking it up to Chris' influence. Rayquaza however was amused.

    "Big talk for a little Pokemon," Rayquaza answered. "Let's see if you can follow it through…"

    "You ready?" said Victini's voice in Abbee's mind.

    "Ready when you are," Abbee replied with her thoughts. "Remember, let Rayquaza come to you…"

    Knowing that Rayquaza was just as deadly from a distance, Abbee knew it would need some incentive to come in close.

    "Psychic!" Abbee ordered. Victini's eyes flashed white as a telepathic wave struck Rayquaza, causing it to feel sharp sensations of pain in its mind.

    "Dragon Breath!"

    Rayquaza heard Jon's command, before launching a sharp, direct stream of flame towards Victini. Given Victini's superior speed and Rayquaza's diminished speed, it was able to raise a telekinetic barrier to disperse the flames outwards, blocking his own vision.

    "Extreme Speed!" Jon commanded Rayquaza. Before Victini could see what was happening, the Legendary Pokemon shot forward at blistering speed, colliding with Victini. However, this was the opportunity he and Abbee had been waiting for.

    "Now Victini, Glaciate!"

    One of the perks of Abbee's job was living in the region where the mythology surrounding Victini was strongest. And when Elesa, as a surprise for Abbee, had brought in an expert from Castalia University on Unova Mythology, the pair learnt the extent of Victini's abilities. Specifically, that Victini was capable of learning the signature attacks of the three Legendary Dragons of Unova…

    Whilst all the attacks were powerful in their own right, they were best left a secret, for a situation like this.

    As Rayquaza struck Victini, the air surrounding them froze to far below freezing point, and blew back at Rayquaza with a vicious chill. Whilst Glaciate was the weakest of the five moves, it's true strength was the ability to slow down the target with every hit.

    With Rayquaza stunned by the hit, Abbee knew that Victini would be tempted to overdo it before the real fight.

    "Charge Beam!" Abbee commanded, knowing Victini was well practised in this attack from their time at Nimbasa City's Electric Type Gym. The attack itself was relatively weak, more so used to increase Victini's offensive power. However given Rayquaza's own compromised defences from V-Create, and the attacks it had already taken, Rayquaza took the electric attack, passing out from the shock, and collapsing on the ground.

    "Goddamn…" Cassandra muttered, seeing the victory that Victini had just won. She knew that Jon had made a call earlier that gave Rayquaza the disadvantage, but despite this, Victini still seemed to have plenty of energy left, and she had little doubt that in a serious one on one battle, he would beat Rayquaza even with Jon battling properly.

    There was silence for a moment before cheers erupted and Jon returned Rayquaza to its Pokeball, seeming far too content with the way this battle was progressing. Cassandra knew more than ever that he was up to something.

    The cheers continued when Jon sent out his final Pokemon. Scizor. The red Bug-Steel type materialised again, and Victini glared at it.

    "No running away this time!" Victini called out, however Scizor remained eerily silent. Without waiting for the order, Victini leapt forward, his crown igniting into a flaming V, and rocketed towards Scizor with a V-Create.

    "Protect!" Jon ordered as Scizor silently raised a Protect barrier, which took the attack. "Then Double Team!"

    In the blink of an eye, Scizor had split into multiple copies again, dispersing across the field as Victini lost track of his target.

    "Something doesn't add up," Charlotte said, growing frustrated. She could tell there was one simple thing she didn't know, which is what made none of this make sense, though couldn't figure it out. "Victini hasn't been slowed, even by that V-Create, seeing as it didn't hit. And Scizor is slower than Victini off the mark. So how did Scizor act so quickly?"

    Cassandra considered the question, as well as what Charlotte had said before, and felt her stomach sink as she realised what Jon was doing. A glance over to Dylan, to see the disappointed look on his face confirmed it.

    "He's going to kill you Jon…" Cassandra muttered, earning a look from Charlotte. "Just watch…"

    Victini attempted to telepathically lock in on Scizor, like he had on the S.S. Wishmaker, and was shocked when he couldn't find the consciousness like last time. Knowing that every moment he wasted was a moment Scizor could use to knock him out like last time, he readied another V-Create, aiming for one of the Scizors, only to hit a copy which vaporised upon impact.

    Abbee watched as Victini grew confused, and knew that despite this being Victini's battle, she needed to take control of the situation.

    "Victini!" She yelled. "Incinerate!"

    Regaining his focus, Victini roared out in anger, as a wave of flames pulsed outwards in all directions, striking copies and vaporising them.

    "Protect!"

    Jon gave the order as Scizor raised a barrier just in time to block the oncoming flames. However all the copies were gone, and Victini wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice.

    "Agility!" Jon commanded, before Abbee gave her next order.

    "Work Up!"

    Victini couldn't help but grin, knowing that when the pair had spent the last two days scheming, they had decided to employ another older tactic that had worked well for them. Work Up had no visible effect, so nobody would suspect a thing if Victini used another almost invisible move instead.

    "Slash!" Jon ordered. Scizor darted in at blinding speed to melee range with Victini, slicing it with one of its claws. Charlotte looked at Cassandra confused, as to why Jon used Slash instead of Night Slash or Brutal Swing, but Cassandra just nodded to the battlefield knowing Jon wouldn't keep this up much longer, and that this decision had confirmed her theory.

    "Flame Charge!" Abbee ordered. Victini encased himself in flames, before launching himself at Scizor, who with uncanny speed, dodged the attack, though remained within striking distance.

    "V-Create!"

    Victini's crown flared to life, as it rocketed at higher speed towards Scizor, who, unable to dodge this faster attack, responded to Jon's call to use Protect by raising a barrier. And whilst V-Create was successfully stopped, the Future Sight attack Victini had created earlier faced no resistance. Scizor was struck by a telekinetic blast from behind, and in that instant, seemed to lose form. Victini wondered for a moment if he had accidentally killed the Pokemon, before realising he now stood face to face with something he had never seen before.

    A bipedal Pokemon with flowing white fur with red streaks and tips. Sharp claws adorned its paws as it stared at Victini intently, with menacing red and yellow eyes.

    "What the hell is that?!" Charlotte yelled, unable to comprehend what she had just seen. Jon answered her question, however.

    "Zoroark! Shadow Ball!"

    Zoroark cried out as a spectral orb launched from its jaws, knocking Victini back, who was too stunned to dodge the attack.

    "Jon had Scizor use evasive moves instead of offensive ones-" Charlotte began.

    "Because it wasn't Scizor. It was Zoroark using its illusion ability to pretend to be Scizor…" Cassandra finished. "That's why Scizor seemed too fast…"

    "Focus Blast!" Abbee ordered, as Victini snapped back to attention, forwarding his rage at being tricked towards the strange Zoroark. He charged up the bright blue orb that made up the Fighting Type move, and launched it, as Zoroark descended on the Mythical Pokemon. Focus Blast, however, phased straight through Zoroark, striking the barrier on the other side of the field, as Zoroark descended on Victini.

    "Shadow Claw!" Jon ordered. Zoroark's deadly claws became engulfed in a spectral energy, as it slashed at Victini, knocking it back. Victini was sent flying in the air, and crashed to the ground, unconscious, and unsure of what just happened.

    Jon walked towards Abbee who looked between the odd Zoroark, and her unconscious partner in shock.

    "This is what I was talking about…" Jon said to her. "Keep planning like this, and Victini will get his rematch…"

    "You know that you just added that Zoroark to his list, right?" Abbee replied, realising just how long this summer was going to be…

    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 04-25-2023 at 06:36 AM.

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  3. #172
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    It has been nearly two months since I released an episode... Dear lord.

    But, I have three weeks left of classes, so I am hoping I can get back into the rhythm of writing now that this monster is done. My goal was to try and have storylines for all main characters, but considering this episode was 27,000 words, I realised that is not viable, so moving forward, there will likely be characters who are just rammed into story lines, or may not appear in great detail at all, seeing as the cast just keeps growing. But hey, I'm actually really happy with how this turned out.

    Anyway, enjoy...

  4. #173
    Cheers and good times! Neo Emolga's Avatar
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    And…

    Spoiler:
    That was some SERIOUS bait and switch right there, Jon! xD



    Honestly, I didn’t expect that and I totally even forgot about Jon having access to a Zoroark. I thought for sure Abbee found a way to force Jon’s hand into giving the final matchup that Victini has been dying for years over, but wow, guess it just wasn’t meant to be. At first, it felt like the ULTIMATE CHEESE MOVE for Jon to do that, but knowing him, he’s always got aces up his sleeve and almost always comes prepared, so it’s surprising in one way, but not surprising in another. Still, Jon has totally legitimate reasons for giving Victini the big “nuh uh” no matter how far and to what extent Victini tries to make his demands via every social media site and advertising agency in existence. Still, I’m curious as to what Victini is going to try and do after this whole incident. Is he going to double-down on that revenge plot, or is he going to back away from this and derive his satisfaction by other means? I have a feeling it’s going to be a double-down and Victini’s going to make this personal and might even become a bigger scare to Jon than even how Jirachi was! Jon better watch his beer and ice cream! xD

    I also like how you’ve been developing Cassandra into being more of a strategist and sort of Charlotte’s apprentice, so to speak. Sure, she’s got lots of catching up to do, but she’s on the right path when it comes to doing it and I feel it’s a strong, solid step in the right direction for her goals.

    Also, Violet pulling Barry, her father, into the dream and giving him a very interesting and unusual proposition was a fun and unique plot mechanic that I honestly haven’t seen done before in any work of fiction, so kudos to you for that. I doubt someone would ever want to be yanked into a nightmare night after night over something trivial. I know I sure wouldn’t! xD

    I also think Chris might be way too over his head with his STN plans. It’s already ambitious enough to try and beat that many leagues, but within a strict time limit like that is going to be brutal. We’ll see how he does, but I think it’s going to be trouble and he’s definitely flying too close to the sun with those wax wings of his.

    Definitely another great chapter with plenty of new plot surprises.

  5. #174
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neo Emolga View Post
    And…

    Spoiler:
    That was some SERIOUS bait and switch right there, Jon! xD



    Honestly, I didn’t expect that and I totally even forgot about Jon having access to a Zoroark. I thought for sure Abbee found a way to force Jon’s hand into giving the final matchup that Victini has been dying for years over, but wow, guess it just wasn’t meant to be. At first, it felt like the ULTIMATE CHEESE MOVE for Jon to do that, but knowing him, he’s always got aces up his sleeve and almost always comes prepared, so it’s surprising in one way, but not surprising in another. Still, Jon has totally legitimate reasons for giving Victini the big “nuh uh” no matter how far and to what extent Victini tries to make his demands via every social media site and advertising agency in existence. Still, I’m curious as to what Victini is going to try and do after this whole incident. Is he going to double-down on that revenge plot, or is he going to back away from this and derive his satisfaction by other means? I have a feeling it’s going to be a double-down and Victini’s going to make this personal and might even become a bigger scare to Jon than even how Jirachi was! Jon better watch his beer and ice cream! xD

    I also like how you’ve been developing Cassandra into being more of a strategist and sort of Charlotte’s apprentice, so to speak. Sure, she’s got lots of catching up to do, but she’s on the right path when it comes to doing it and I feel it’s a strong, solid step in the right direction for her goals.

    Also, Violet pulling Barry, her father, into the dream and giving him a very interesting and unusual proposition was a fun and unique plot mechanic that I honestly haven’t seen done before in any work of fiction, so kudos to you for that. I doubt someone would ever want to be yanked into a nightmare night after night over something trivial. I know I sure wouldn’t! xD

    I also think Chris might be way too over his head with his STN plans. It’s already ambitious enough to try and beat that many leagues, but within a strict time limit like that is going to be brutal. We’ll see how he does, but I think it’s going to be trouble and he’s definitely flying too close to the sun with those wax wings of his.

    Definitely another great chapter with plenty of new plot surprises.

    Spoiler:

    Haha Victini will be more determined than ever, and Jon is all for it, seeing the level of strategizing he and Abbee went through to get that close. Biggest difficulty will be me figuring out a way for Victini to get the proper match, seeing as Jon now has Zoroark to make things difficult, and won't fall for the same tricks twice.

    Yeah, it was fun having Cassandra follow Charlotte this episode. And honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what she learns from everyone there, especially Chris. And speaking of Chris; ye of little faith! Steven himself told Cassandra that in their second year, Chris and Charlotte were both Championship level trainers, with the other interns being at Gym Leader level. This is before Lugia was in the picture XD Honestly, Chris will not struggle to beat the Gym Leaders (except maybe Abbee, having Victini in her corner and Chris posing enough of a challenge to justify using him, and Candice, being the eighth gym badge of her region, being ice type and having Regice). His biggest challenge will be the Elite Four, taking on five trainers with a single team. However, he has also spent six months training under the producer of Elite Four killers, Camilla Blakely at the College of the North Wind. Chris will be challenged for sure, and have to work his a** off. But I think you might be underestimating him (which is dangerous to do to any of the interns XD)

    Glad you're enjoying it though! Keen to get into the thick of it.

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  7. #175
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Season 5 Episode 3: Familiarity
    Spoiler:

    “So this morning’s seminar is on genetics and selective breeding,” Jon explained to Dylan and Abbee. “Specifically, while we will explain the benefits, we will make it clear that it is not without negatives, and to only contribute to the system ethically. Which is also a good way to plug what you’re going to be doing after summer is over.”

    It was the Saturday of the third week of the summer program, with Jon delivering a seminar, with Dylan and Abbee there to assist. Their role would be to coordinate some of the Academy’s Pokemon, specifically, some that Dylan had bred to be near identical, with only their temperaments being different, in order to show the difference that makes on a Pokemon’s battling ability. The trio sat in the lounge of Jon and Alyssa’s cottage, with Amelia sitting on the floor, her back resting against the couch entranced by Yuki, Alyssa’s Vulpix, who chewed on a toy on the floor on the other side of the room. Despite Alyssa having left for Rustboro that morning, she had left the Pokemon, knowing that it would amuse the four year old while she was gone.

    “And you don’t think we may risk setting them up to treat these things as the be-all and end-all?” Dylan asked, having strong views of the current state of the breeding industry, and the regulations that were supposed to keep it ethical. This was part of the reason why he wanted to become successful as a breeder. To change the public view of what ethical Pokemon breeding was. However, he felt his stomach turn when Jon referenced these plans, still not feeling comfortable leaving Jon in this state.

    “I’ll be making it clear that of all my Pokemon, only Blaziken was bred for competitive use, however even then it is far from genetically perfect, and that the trainer is more important than the breeder,” Jon answered. “Heck, I think the only bred Pokemon amongst the five of you is Chris’ Ninetales, which even then, was bred to be a pet like its mother…”

    Jon looked over at Yuki, and Abbee couldn’t shake the very odd feeling she felt at the thought of the Vulpix that Alyssa had chosen not to evolve, being the mother of Chris’ Ninetales. At first glance, one would guess the opposite.

    “Either way, I think we’ll get the point across…”

    Jon’s words trailed off, and Dylan felt an uncomfortable sensation as he looked back at Jon, having been looking at Yuki, who was now playing with Amelia, the young girl having approached it.

    Jon’s eyes seemed to glaze over, as his muscles went limp.

    “Abbee,” Dylan said quietly, getting his girlfriend’s attention, before nodding towards Amelia, as Jon quietly began to convulse.

    Abbee, who had also been looking at Amelia and Yuki, heard the urgency in Dylan’s tone. She looked at Jon, her heart skipping a beat as she realised what was going on, before realising what Dylan was saying.

    “Hey, Lili!” Abbee said, as she stood up, making sure to stand in a position that obstructed Amelia’s view of Jon, as the seizure took control of his body. She attempted to sound enthusiastic and happy, despite being terrified herself. “Let’s go have some ice-cream!”

    The only thing that Abbee knew Amelia was passionate about was Pokemon, and she had one in the room to keep her occupied. However, she hoped, like Victini, the sweet treat was enough to incentivise the young girl, and was thankful when she stood up, without seeming to notice Jon, and ran like all young children seemed to, towards the kitchen behind her, as Abbee followed, closing the door, hoping that Jon and Alyssa kept some in the house.

    As soon as the door shut, Dylan leapt to his feet, as Jon began to convulse violently, roughly grabbing him by the shoulders, and laying him down on the couch, placing him on his side so he wouldn’t choke on his tongue, or, if he were unfortunate enough to vomit during this episode, choke on that.

    At this point, Dylan knew there was nothing more he could do. Sadly, Jon would continue to convulse for a minute or two, until the episode ended, and he returned to his senses. Unfortunately, the rest of the day would be a sickly, uncomfortable mess for him.

    “Hey, Lili, come back here!” Dylan heard Abbee call out, as Amelia had gone to see if her dad had wanted any ice-cream. “This is girls only ice-cream! More for us!”

    Whilst Dylan considered attempting to pick up Jon, knowing he could carry him to another room if he were remaining still, he also knew that he risked dropping Jon, considering he was convulsing, Jon choking on his tongue if he didn’t keep him relatively on his side, or risked being hurt himself by a stray arm. Finally, after a minute, the movement slowed down, until Jon was still, groaning quietly. When he realised what had happened, and started to remember fragments of the conversation before the attack, he spoke quietly.

    “Did Lili see?”

    Dylan shook his head.

    “We noticed it before she did, so Abbee took her into the kitchen,” Dylan said quietly. “Promised her ice-cream…”

    Jon breathed a pained sigh of relief, though midway through, he felt a sharp pain dig into his head, which was sadly all too familiar to him by this point.

    “Can you go get me my meds,” Jon said weakly. “And a bucket…”

    Dylan considered the request, but knowing that it may worry Amelia, he instead placed an arm under Jon’s armpit, and lifted him to his feet. The pair quietly walked towards Jon and Alyssa’s room, Dylan unable to make eye-contact with Jon. They had just entered the room when Jon broke from Dylan’s aid, rushing for the ensuite. Specifically, the toilet, which he arrived at just in time before vomiting profusely. Dylan, wishing he were desensitised by this point, went to the bathroom cabinet, grabbing the familiar bottles of aspirin and anti-nausea medications, preparing them with the cup of water that Jon used when brushing his teeth. He knew that Jon would need to finish vomiting before he could keep them down.

    It had been a little over a week since Jon’s last seizure, and about the same time since the one before. He walked into the bedroom to give Jon some privacy, and waited as minutes passed, hating the feeling of helplessness he felt. Finally, the sound of vomiting stopped, and Dylan heard Jon weakly calling out to him. He entered the bathroom, not saying a word, and struggling to make eye contact. From the floor by the toilet where he sat, looking pale and deathly, Jon held out a Pokeball.

    “Let Latios out, and tell him what happened. He can keep an eye on Lili. Probably safer that way anyway…” Jon said, the last sentence especially bitter. “When Latios has Lili entertained, get Abbee to come see me. I want you to round up the other workers at the lodge, and I’ll give Abbee my instructions…”

    Reluctantly, Dylan took Latios’ Pokeball, before leaving Jon’s room, closing the door behind him. He stood still for a moment in the hallway, his hands shaking, as he struggled to keep a straight face. His right hand held the Pokeball, whilst his left dug its fingers into his palms, which began to bleed from the nails cutting through. He took a deep breath, before letting Latios out of the Pokeball.

    When Latios got his bearings and realised where he was, he looked at Dylan with a hint of confusion for a moment, before realising why.

    ”Another one?” Latios asked Dylan, who nodded sombrely in response.

    “He’s in his room, and will probably try and get some sleep. He just wants to give us instructions,” Dylan said, trying not to sound too upset by what he had seen. “He wants you to look after Lili…”

    Latios nodded in understanding, before following Dylan down the hall towards the lounge where they had been sitting. In the kitchen behind the closed door, he heard Abbee and Amelia’s voices as Abbee indulged the young girl’s chatter. He opened the door, looking at Amelia directly.

    “Lili, Dad’s feeling a little sick, so Latios is going to keep an eye on you,” Dylan said, trying not to sound too worried, and risk worrying her. “Abbee will put on Sylveon, and you can watch TV with him…”

    “Okay!” Amelia said, seeming unphased by the news, which both relieved and concerned Dylan. Relieved that she didn’t seem traumatised by what just happened, but concerned that she may be desensitised to Jon being as unwell as he was, given the frequency of his seizures.

    As Amelia went past Dylan, carefully carrying the bowl piled high with ice-cream, Abbee gave Dylan a concerned look, which he responded with a blank stare.

    “He asked me to round up the others at the lodge, and for you to see him,” Dylan said flatly. “He’ll give instructions, and then you can let us know at the lodge…”

    Abbee nodded, though her look of concern wasn’t just for Jon.

    “Dylan, are you okay?”

    Dylan remained silent for a minute, before answering quietly.

    “Does it matter?” he responded bitterly. “Doesn’t change anything…”

    Before Abbee could try and talk further, he made his way to the back door, walking out, trying to guess where everyone would be on the property, and hoping that he wouldn’t run into Chris on his own. Abbee watched as he left, before turning around to look through the doorway to the lounge, where Amelia sat next to Latios on the couch, whose wingspan was almost double the width of it. As soon as Abbee got Super Sylveon Smile Squad on the TV, Amelia was already entranced by the colourful scene, everyone thankful her favourite show was available to stream. She walked past the pair, making her way to Jon and Alyssa’s room, having never been in there herself. She knocked on the door quietly, before hearing a weak reply, telling her to come in.

    She was immediately met by the smell of vomit, and cautiously walked through the room towards the ensuite on her right, where Jon remained. He had shuffled himself so that his back rested against the cabinet under the sink, where he kept his eyes closed, hoping that blocking the light would dull the headache he felt.

    “Jon…” Abbee said. “I’ll do whatever I can, but surely you’re better off having me round up the others and Dylan relaying instructions…”

    “He can’t look after himself,” Jon replied, chuckling sardonically. “If I had him here, he wouldn’t follow orders…”

    Jon sighed, before weakly attempting to stand up. Abbee made her way towards him to help him to his feet, as the pair walked back into the master bedroom.

    “I’ve texted Steven and he is on his way to take care of the seminar,” Jon explained. “I want Chris and Charlotte to assist him in whatever way he needs. And because we’re going to be short staffed this afternoon, tell Cassandra and Willow that they’ll need to run some sort of activity to keep the campers occupied…”

    Abbee nodded, as Jon continued.

    “Justin and Jarena are on night duty,” Jon explained, Abbee well aware that meant staying awake, potentially well after midnight, to make sure that at best, campers weren’t keeping cabin mates awake, and at worst, weren’t attempting to sneak out. “Latios can help them, but if Latios isn’t here, ask Violet if she can stay in the spare room here tonight, since I can’t be left alone with Lili, in case this happens again…”

    Abbee looked at Jon confused, having not heard her or Dylan’s name.

    “What about Dylan and I?”

    “Your job is to make sure Dylan takes today off,” Jon laughed weakly. “He already works more than enough when things are great, and when they aren’t he works even more. He hasn’t had a day off since before campers arrived. So take him into town, and keep his mind off things here…”

    “That’s easier said than done,” Abbee lamented. Jon nodded.

    “Which is why you’re the best person to do it…”

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

    The atmosphere was tense in the crowded lounge of the intern’s lodge. All five of the original students were there, as well the Diamond Ladies, Willow and Steven. The couches were at capacity, with a few people standing, and others sitting on chairs taken from the dining room.

    “You’re all aware by now Jon had a seizure this morning,” Abbee stated, as there was a nod of solemn understanding. “Latios is looking after Lili while he tries to get some sleep and recover. While he sent Dylan down to find all of you, he gave me your marching orders…”

    “Steven, can you improvise a seminar for this morning?” Abbee asked, as the Hoenn Champion nodded, having gotten Jon’s message and made his way over.

    “I’ll talk about held items. We don’t cover them here because they aren’t used in competitive battling, but it is an easy topic to improvise, and I’m sure between all of us, we can scrounge some items up,” Steven replied as Abbee nodded. She looked towards Charlotte and Chris, who sat on one of the couches.

    “Jon has said you two are to help Steven however you can,” Abbee explained, as the pair nodded, before she looked to Cassandra, and then Willow. “Cass, Willow, Jon wants you to run some campsite activity this afternoon, to try and keep the campers occupied while we are short staffed. Think you can do that?”

    Cassandra considered the summer camps she attended as a kid, remembering one of the games.

    “I think we can sort something out…”

    Next, Abbee turned to Jarena who sat with Violet on a couch, and Justin who stood behind them.

    “Jarena and Justin are on night duty, and Latios will help you guys,” Abbee explained, as both trainers nodded in understanding. “Violet, since Latios will be helping Justin and Jarena, and Jon doesn’t want to risk having another attack while he is alone with Lili, he wants you to stay in the spare room in the house tonight.”

    “Understood,” Violet replied, knowing that whilst her job, if all went well, would likely be boring, she also understood how much it meant to Jon. Even amongst their earliest meetings, he knew how much Jon cared about Alyssa, and honestly didn’t think he would care as much about another human being, until the Diamond Ladies returned four years later, where they met Amelia. Even if it meant admitting his own weakness, he wanted Amelia to be safe, and having another person in the house would guarantee that.

    Abbee looked over at Dylan, who gave her a puzzled look.

    “What does he want me to do?”

    “He wants you to get off site, and take a day off,” Abbee said, as Dylan’s brow furrowed.

    “I’m not going to relax while everyone else is picking up the slack!” Dylan answered, his tone more agitated than most had ever heard.

    “Jon said you haven’t had a day off since the campers arrived, and knows you’ve been working the hardest out of all of us,” Abbee said. “Even today, you kept the situation under control, and made sure Lili didn’t notice. He wants you to take a break…”

    “I’m not leaving everyone else to cover running this place, while I have a break!” Dylan protested.

    “Well Jon told me my job today was to make sure you take a break,” Abbee retorted, before looking at those present. “Does anybody object to Jon giving Dylan the day off?”

    The others all shook their heads, expressing their agreement, with the exception of Chris who remained silent, not wanting to get on Dylan’s bad side.

    “Just take the break,” Abbee said, her voice softening a little. “So that Jon can rest easy knowing we’re doing as we’re told…”

    Dylan looked between his girlfriend, and those present who had sided with her, before relenting.

    “Fine, but only this once…”

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

    The seminar was due to start in an hour, as Chris and Charlotte sat in the foyer of the stadium, a table in front of them, containing various battle items. Whilst Mega Stones would be valuable for a demonstration, neither had made public the fact they had keystones, and despite the fact that Abbee, Dylan and Jon had made it public that they had them in Alola, they weren’t sure that it was common knowledge about them yet.

    “Having any ideas?” Chris asked, as he looked through the various held items on the table, trying to figure out which would suit his Pokemon best.

    “One or two,” Charlotte commented as she was making the same considerations. “But I won’t tell you…”

    The pair were both attempting to remain light hearted, almost to pretend that the events of that morning didn’t happen. That Jon wasn’t currently trying to sleep off the debilitating after effects of his seizure.

    “So why do you have so many items?” Charlotte asked. “And why have I never seen them before?”

    “People challenging the Elite Four are allowed held items,” Chris explained. “Ruling is that as long as the Pokemon is in possession of it at the start of the challenge, doesn’t switch it mid challenge, and can use it unassisted, they can use it. The only exception is Mega Stones. I am allowed to assist with using one.”

    Charlotte grimaced at the idea.

    “Doesn’t that mean whoever has the most money available to them has the best chances?”

    Chris shook his head.

    “It’s not like I can go and buy a hundred revives and keep my Pokemon fighting on chemicals alone,” Chris explained. “That would be making it pay-to-win.”

    “Well not everybody can afford a Key Stone and Mega Stone,” Charlotte noted, before nodding to the pile of items on the table. “Or half these items.”

    “Technically they can,” Chris answered. “Don’t worry, I thought the same thing until Camilla explained the fairness of it…”

    Charlotte shot Chris a puzzled glance, as he continued.

    “Think about it. For somebody to take on the Elite Four, they need to have beaten every Gym in the region, right?” Chris explained, as Charlotte nodded. “And when they beat the Gym Leader, what do they get?”

    “A badge.”

    “And?”

    “A T.M?” Charlotte asked, as Chris rolled his eyes.

    “That too. And…”

    Charlotte looked at him blankly. She had never bothered taking on the Gyms in her home of Sinnoh. Considering how many people took on the challenge, and how few actually beat the Elite Four, she viewed it as the regional government attempting to put training wheels on all new trainers, when really, she wanted to learn to handle Pokemon on her own.

    “Money!” Chris said in exasperation.

    “Really?” Charlotte asked, shocked at the revelation. “How much?”

    “For a first Gym in the region, about $50. Can get as high as $175 for the final gym,” Chris explained. “Regardless, a trainer who makes it to the Elite Four, in Sinnoh at least, has earnt just shy of a thousand dollars from wins against Gym Leaders…”

    “I guess, but what about the cost of living?” Charlotte asked. “And if someone begins with more money, they still have an advantage…”

    “Why do you think the League gives trainers a set number of free stays in Pokemon Centres?” Chris countered. “And at the end of the day, any trainer goes into the League with a maximum of six Pokemon, which means that they can only use six items. That Choice Scarf was pretty standard at about $120. I could buy one for each of my Pokemon, and not even have used three quarters of the money I won before then.”

    “Mega Stones are a bit more expensive than that though,” Charlotte said, and Chris nodded his head.

    “Agreed. About $400 for a Mega Stone, and another $100 for a Key Stone,” Chris answered. “But the flip side is that the Pokemon can only hold one item, so even if I had all the money in the world and could afford to buy six Mega Stones, only one can be used per battle, so it’d be wasting the item slot on the Pokemon holding them by doing that…”

    “I guess you’re right,” Charlotte admitted, having no more objections she could offer. Fact was that given the rules for the Elite Four, as well as limits of battle items, there was a clear ceiling in the advantage money could buy, which almost all challengers would be able to get close to.

    As the pair continued to look through the items, a mixture of them owned by Chris, Steven and Jon, Charlotte couldn’t help sneaking glances at Chris, watching him intently pick out an item, before considering which of his Pokemon could work well with it. Little did she know that for every other situation, he had a planned loadout, only changing things up now because he knew of her freakishly accurate ability to predict her opponent’s moves, and wanted to come up with something so new and unheard of that it would catch her by surprise. As they worked, Chris happened to glance up, as an idea struck him, and spotted her staring for a little too long in her peripheral vision.

    “Everything alright?” Chris asked casually, before seeming to have another idea, and placing down the Assault Vest he had been holding.

    “Yeah,” Charlotte answered, before reconsidering. She was tempted to bring up the fact that Jon’s instructions only had them on the clock for the day, and that they’d be free after the seminar. She wanted to raise the idea of the pair of them going into Mossdeep City and finding somewhere unusual to get dinner. And for a moment, she was about to do it, before Chris looked up, and looked towards her. Specifically over her shoulder, seeming to respond to a sound coming from outside.

    Charlotte over her shoulder, out the double doors which had been left open to let the cool breeze through, and noticed what Chris had heard and seen. Dylan’s car driving past, as he made his way into town, following Jon’s orders. From where they sat in the foyer of the stadium, they could see the passenger side of the car, where Abbee was visible in the passenger seat, following her own orders from Jon to make sure Dylan took some time to get his mind off things at the Academy.

    In the silence that followed as the car left the property, Charlotte heard an almost inaudible sigh from Chris, as he began rummaging through the items again, seeming far more focused than normal, which was the biggest sign that he was faking it.

    Charlotte forced herself not to sigh as well, seeing Chris’ reaction to Abbee being with Dylan. She and Chris had started off as less than friendly rivals, eventually growing to respect each other during their first summer at the Academy, and embracing the way they forced each other to grow stronger, shocking themselves at the fact that they had somehow become friends. Charlotte figured it was around the same time that her, Chris and Justin got arrested, for getting into a fight that Chris started when some guys in town were harassing her. Sometime before the start of their second summer though, Charlotte had found herself acting strangely around him. To quote Abbee, she was always in striking range every time he said something dumb, which at the time, was quite often. She had denied seeing Chris as any more than a friend, to both Abbee and herself, until it became obvious that feelings were brewing between Abbee and Chris.

    Knowing that nothing good would come from how she found herself thinking of Chris, she ignored it, for the sake of her friendship with both himself and Abbee, which ironically became easier after Abbee had broken up with him, two summers before. Chris, in his dejection at losing Abbee, became volatile and argumentative, lashing out at Jon, Dylan and Abbee, and honestly, making it easy for Charlotte to force down the feelings that she felt.

    It wasn’t until last summer that Charlotte had begun to see something different. At first she thought it was the old Chris, seeing how much Chris was acting like his old self during their grand final match in Goldenrod City, and watching as the year of animosity Chris felt towards Jon, and even Abbee and Dylan seemed to dissolve as he realised just how much danger they were in, battling Agatha during the Spiritwater Crisis.

    Really though, it was the confrontation in the Johto Medium Security Prison that caused Charlotte to realise that Chris wasn’t simply his old self. Chris and Lance in the visiting room had been attacked by a group of Agatha’s followers, intent on taking Chris as a hostage to coerce Jon, and killing Lance in order to make a statement, given his reputation for attacking witches, and had been saved by Justin and Charlotte arriving with Chris’ Pokeball belt, unaware that one of the Pokemon was Lance’s own Dragonite. Despite the fact that the three of them were exceptional trainers to say the least, the small space made it difficult to fight off their attackers, resulting in Justin being knocked out and concussed, and Charlotte receiving a flesh wound from a spectral blade conjured by Shadowcraft. To Charlotte’s disgust, the only reason they survived, was that in the scuffle, Lance managed to get a hold of the Pokeball on Chris’ belt containing his Dragonite, and used it in a surprise attack to kill their final attacker and dispose of their Pokemon. It was at that moment that Chris surprised her.

    When it became clear that Lance was going to escape, despite her own injury, she was willing to fight Lance, and try to prevent him from leaving. And she figured had she not been injured, she would have succeeded. Between her six championship level Pokemon, and Lance only having the one, it would have been an easy win. But Chris refused, instead choosing to let Lance go, knowing that Justin needed medical attention, as he lay unconscious on the ground, as did Charlotte, who was in no state to fight.

    What had surprised her the most though, was Chris choosing his own path. She had known that Chris struggled with living in Lance’s shadow, and had escaped that by placing himself in Jon’s. For the first time however, she saw Chris making his own decision, not affected by either his cousin or mentor.

    Chris was different. He was more like the person he was before he dated Abbee, than he was like the person he was after they broke up. But there was something else Charlotte could see. A sense of self, independent of his previous mentors, and having broken free their shadows, a drive to become a legend in his own right.

    Since then, the feelings she had ignored were bubbling to the surface, regardless of what she tried to do. And honestly, she was sick of ignoring them. She had been this close to actually doing something with them, until seeing what she had, which just confirmed what she already knew.

    Chris still had feelings for Abbee. Even though it had been nearly two years, she could see it still hurt him to see Abbee with Dylan. The key difference being that he now knew better than to be angry or upset like he was back then, and instead, just forced himself to forget. And Charlotte knew that as long as that was the case, as long as Chris couldn’t just be himself around Abbee, she didn’t stand a chance…

    “Are you two ready?” Steven asked, as he entered from the stadium. “Given the short notice, I’m just going to let the pair of you battle first, and then go through the replay with the students, explaining the use of the items.”

    Charlotte shook herself out of her thoughts, as Chris answered.

    “Just about,” Chris explained. “I just need a minute to give my Pokemon their items.”

    “Same,” Charlotte said, as she looked at the clock. She had fifteen minutes before the seminar. Steven nodded.

    “Knock ‘em dead,” Steven said to the pair, before making his way back into the stadium.

    Half an hour later, Chris and Charlotte stood opposite each other, as the last of the students finally found their seats, and Steven finished his introduction to the content of the lecture. Finally, he called for them to ready their first Pokeball. Once they had, he said the magic word.

    ”Begin!”

    Both trainers sent out their first Pokemon, and both were a little concerned when they saw what the other had sent out.

    Chris had opted to send out Lugia as his first Pokemon, which worried Charlotte, seeing as Deoxys wasn’t going to be hers. However, Luxray held a significant type advantage against Lugia, which had Chris worried.

    “Psychic!” Chris ordered, knowing that attacking from a distance was the best way to handle Luxray. The powerful electric type’s attacks were less accurate the further they had to travel, so Chris figured his safest bet was to not let Luxray get close.

    As Lugia roared, a telekinetic blast struck Luxray, staggering it for a second, as the Mind Plate that was tied around Lugia’s neck amplified the power of its Psychic Type attacks. However, Chris had not accounted for something in his assessment of the matchup. Strapped to Luxray’s head were a pair of goggles, which Chris couldn’t identify from the distance he stood away.

    The Zoom Lens that Luxray wore only would take effect if Luxray acted in response to Lugia, and when Charlotte ordered a Thunder attack, the normal inaccuracy of it was all but negated as an intense bolt of lightning was launched from Luxray’s hide, rocketing towards Lugia.

    Despite Lugia’s Multiscale ability dampening the first hit, Chris could see that one or two more of those attacks would likely end Lugia’s time in the battle, Legendary or not. He considered his options, before making a decision.

    “Psycho Boost!”

    Chris had chosen the move for multiple reasons. The first, being it was the only Psychic Type attack that Lugia knew stronger than it’s Psychic attack, and the second being that the tradeoff of reducing Lugia’s offensive power for special attacks would not be too noticed, as now, Chris had no reason to keep Lugia at a distance, seeing as Charlotte had made it clear that Luxray was just as happy with that arrangement. The third reason was that he hoped that Charlotte seeing Lugia use Deoxys’ signature move might rattle her enough to throw her off her game.

    Lugia roared as a sinister purple orb of psychic energy materialised in front of it, growing to the size of a large yoga ball, and launching at Luxray. Luxray didn’t attempt to dodge, instead, readying a Thunder attack at Charlotte’s word. The two attacks phased through one-another, hitting their targets directly.

    Lugia, who had been keeping itself afloat with large wing beats, slowly descended to the ground, still conscious and upright, but not in a position to keep flying. Luxray didn’t look much better. Both trainers however had to make a calculation. Chris knew that whilst Lugia was naturally quicker, and could use Recover before Charlotte could have Luxray land an attack, he also knew that if Luxray used a move like Quick Attack, Lugia would go down before it could recover.

    “Protect!” Chris ordered. Charlotte however, didn’t order an attack, instead withdrawing Luxray. Chris swore under his breath at the wasted opportunity, as Charlotte sent out her second Pokemon. Deoxys…

    Deoxys emerged from the Pokeball, before shifting into its deadly attack form, which Chris knew was far faster than Lugia, although had little in the way of defensive capabilities. Despite this, Chris knew he had the disadvantage, especially being unable to use Protect reliably so soon.

    “Recover!” Chris commanded, as Charlotte remained silent, using Deoxys telepathy to give orders. Deoxys teleported, and for a second, flickered into existence in front of Lugia, before disappearing again. Chris looked confused at the Pokemon, as Lugia took the opportunity to recover its energy. However, as Lugia finished the attack, he noticed something around Deoxys neck. The pink Mind Plate that Lugia had been wearing. He looked at Lugia, who now seemed far more ready for battle, and was horrified to see tied around Lugia’s large neck, a blue scarf.

    Before Chris could give another command, Lugia used Recover again, forced by the Choice Scarf that Deoxys had used Switcheroo to give it, increasing Lugia’s speed dramatically, but forcing it to use the same move again and again.

    “Dark Pulse!” Charlotte ordered, as Deoxys generated in front of the crystalline organ embedded in its chest, a flickering black light, which exploded into a devastating beam, striking Lugia directly and undoing the effect of the Recover move it had just used.

    Knowing he had no choice, Chris withdrew Lugia, knowing that he only had one other Pokemon that could put Deoxys on the ropes.

    “Thunderbolt!” Charlotte commanded as Chris sent out his next Pokemon. Hydreigon, which had once been the Deino Chris had captured during their second summer, materialised, before being struck with the electric attack. However as the light cleared, Charlotte saw the item that Chris had given Hydreigon. A set of goggles over its larger main head. She remembered when they looked through items there were only three sets of goggles. The Zoom Lens she had given Luxray, a Scope Lens that were a different colour to what Hydreigon wore, and a set of Choice Specs…

    “Dark Pulse!” Chris ordered.

    “Endure through it!” Charlotte commanded. “Get close!”

    Charlotte knew that whilst Protect would alleviate the damage, Deoxys needed to be close to Hydreigon in order to land the only move it knew which could end this quickly, and by the time Protect had blocked it, Deoxys would then be struggling to avoid the second Dark Pulse that would follow the first before it could land the attack.

    Deoxys launched forward, blasting through the Dark Pulse that would have otherwise decimated it if not for the Endure, getting into melee range with only the bare minimum of its energy left.

    “Now Superpower!”

    Deoxys with blinding speed, began a brutal assault of strikes from its tentacle-like appendages, striking Hydreigon in rapid succession, until both Pokemon passed out from the ordeal.

    Both trainers returned their Pokemon to their Pokeballs before sending out their next Pokemon. In a matchup that had been performed many times before, Garchomp, wearing the Spoke Lens, faced Roserade, who wore a Rocky Helmet, as both trainers called their opening moves.

    “Dragon Rush!” Chris commanded, causing Garchomp to become encased in a draconic aura, and begin bearing down on Roserade.

    “Grassy Terrain!”

    Chris had no reservations about Grassy Terrain. He had seen this trick more times than he could remember, Roserade having mastered the art of mixing it with a Leech Seed in their second summer, and had known what was coming. He knew that the battle was going to be decided by this match-up, and unlike other matches, he knew that brute force would be his best bet. Put simply, Roserade would not give him enough time to come up with a plan that relied on anything less.

    Garchomp struck Roserade, as the hidden Leech Seeds exploded into the air, ensnaring Garchomp. Chris had hoped that the Scope Lens Garchomp wore would have taken effect, landing a critical hit, however had no such luck. Meanwhile, Garchomp took damage from Roserade’s rocky helmet, before Leech Seed drained some of its energy, restoring Roserade, and the Grassy Terrain added to that effect.

    “Bulldoze!” Chris ordered.

    “Protect!” Charlotte countered.

    Garchomp rushed forward, causing spikes of earth to rupture from underneath the Grassy Terrain, however the attack was blocked, before Grassy Terrain and Leech Seed took effect again, healing Roserade again, and further reducing Garchomp’s strength. Chris however had planned this. He knew Bulldoze wasn’t going to hit, instead only using it to get Garchomp closer to Roserade without taking any attack damage.

    “Stomping Tantrum!” Chris ordered.

    “Mega Drain!”

    Empowered by the fact that Garchomp’s previous move had failed, Garchomp unleashed its attack on Roserade, who tried to buy time by hitting Garchomp with Mega Drain at the same time. Whilst Roserade’s energy was being depleted by the ferocious attack, at the same time, it was also having its energy restored. However, by the time the attack had finished, both Pokemon collapsed, as Chris sighed.

    “Still drawing?” Chris called out, as both trainers sent out their final Pokemon, which had happened to be their first. Lugia and Luxray.

    Knowing Lugia held the advantage, now with the majority of its health restored from the forced Recovers, whilst Luxray was still on its last legs, Charlotte opted to play defensively.

    “Protect-” she began, before realising the match was over, as she heard Chris’ order.

    “Trick!”

    Despite having the same effect as the Switcheroo she’d had Deoxys use earlier, the speed at which the move occurred was different. She had chosen Switcheroo because whilst the actual switching of the items itself was slower than Trick, Deoxys would have been able to act to make the switch quicker. Meanwhile, the opposite was true of Trick, and given Lugia’s far higher speed than Luxray’s, Lugia had teleported the two items into each others place before Luxray had registered Charlotte’s orders and acted. The Protect barrier was raised to nothing, and Charlotte knew that whilst Luxray would be quicker than Lugia now, it would only use Protect. And unlike Chris earlier, she had no other Pokemon to switch in.

    “I concede!” Charlotte called out, as Chris cheered with excitement, having not beaten Charlotte for a long time, as the crowd watching roared. The pair met in the middle of the arena, where Chris could not wipe the grin from his face.

    “You know I probably would have lost if you hadn’t shown me that trick,” Chris offered, as Charlotte sighed.

    “I should have accounted for that, and not left Lugia unchecked” Charlotte lamented. “I got ahead of myself having Deoxys attack before I knew what you were sending out. If I hadn’t, Deoxys could have beat Hydreigon, taken out Garchomp with an Ice Beam, then finished off Lugia…”

    Chris knew Charlotte wasn’t saying this to invalidate his victory, but more so to highlight her own mistake. And he knew she was right…

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

    It was nearing 1pm, as the summer heat bore down on Dylan’s car. It was reversed into a carpark, with the tailgate down, allowing Abbee, Dylan, and Victini, their permanent third wheel, to sit, watching the waves crash in. The hard-lid that normally secured the tub was raised, held up by the gas struts, blocking the sun, allowing the pair to sit in the shade as they spoke quietly. They had parked the car a few hours earlier, getting lunch at a cafe, before walking to a nearby ice-cream shop, where both trainers had bought themselves a cone, and Victini a tub, before making their way back to the car. The conversation had been quiet, with Dylan acting almost as reserved as he had been during their first summer.

    “So why here?”

    Abbee’s question was out of the blue enough to pull Dylan from his thoughts. Her tone wasn’t convicting or accusatory. The thing that surprised Dylan the most was how casual it was, given what they were getting away from back home.

    “Why here?” Dylan asked, unsure of what Abbee was asking.

    “I didn’t tell you to come here. You stopped the car here, and we figured out lunch from there,” Abbee explained. “And last summer, when I decided that I didn’t want to leave here without talking to you, I found you in pretty much the same place, but in Lilycove…”

    Dylan remained silent, as Abbee continued to probe.

    “Is this where you go when you have something on your mind?”

    Dylan looked out at the waves that crashed onto the beach. He could see outlines of various Water Type Pokemon in the water, narrowly avoiding surfers who rode the incoming waves. Most notable was a pod of Wailmer.

    “I guess I do,” Dylan said quietly, having never considered it before. “Before last summer, I hadn’t been down here in years…”

    Abbee nodded, eating a little more of her strawberry cheese-cake flavoured ice-cream, before asking her original question.

    “So why here?”

    Dylan stiffened for a moment, before Abbee rested against him, placing her head on his shoulder. He relaxed a little, before answering.

    “Mum left when I was twelve, and things at Bill’s just went to s**t,” Dylan said, making sure not to refer to his former stepdad’s house as home. “He was fine at first, but he started drinking more, and becoming more and more bitter. Within six months, all it took was some stupid insignificant thing for him to start screaming at me, and a year before he started hitting me…”

    Dylan looked out to the ferry, noting that it wasn’t the same one that he used to watch as a kid, and realised that this habit of his started nearly a decade ago.

    “I was almost thirteen when I started working at the Pokefood store, but because they couldn’t legally hire me as permanent staff, I’d just do odd jobs. Mostly delivering catalogues, and Charlie, the guy who owned it, knew I wanted more work, so he recommended me to a few people he knew. One of them wasn’t far from here, so I used to eat my lunch here when I worked for him,” Dylan explained. “And as things got worse at home, and I just wanted to not be there, I found myself coming here…”

    The ferry blew its loud air horn, signalling nearby boats to clear away as it was about to depart.

    “I used to imagine being old enough, and having enough money aside to be one of those people,” Dylan said, nodding towards the ferry. “Get on it, get to Lilycove, and jump on the first plane that would take me far away from here. Back then, the idea of staying here a second longer than I had to was my worst nightmare. Hell, I worked my a** off all year to pay for summer camps, just to get away…”

    “So why did you come to the Academy?” Abbee asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you did…”

    “It was my final year of school, and my boss knew that if I worked as many shifts as I had in the past few years, I wouldn’t be studying for my finals. He cut my shifts in the months before my exams,” Dylan answered, laughing lightly to himself. “I’d put down a deposit before Christmas as a last resort, in case I couldn’t get to one off site. And the shifts I lost meant that while I could afford the camp, I couldn’t afford to get myself there and back. So I had to settle for staying on the island.”

    Despite himself, Dylan put his right arm around Abbee, and pulled her tightly towards him.

    “Then you saw that bruise, told Jon, and the rest is history…”

    “I’m glad I did,” Abbee remarked. Dylan nodded.

    “Honestly, five years ago, I didn’t think I’d have any reason to want to stay…”

    “Do you actually want to stay?”

    Abbee’s voice had suddenly become more serious. Dylan remained silent.

    “Dylan, look at me…”

    Dylan pulled his gaze away from the waves, and looked down at Abbee, who was staring him down.

    “I remember when we were at Mt. Pyre, and you started talking about your ideas for becoming a Pokemon breeder. And when you move, we won’t have to be long distance anymore, and I know how much you hate being long distance…” Abbee said. “When I think about that, I find it hard to believe that you actually want to stay…”

    Dylan considered trying to disagree with her, but knew that she knew the truth. It had been many weeks between Jon returning from Sinnoh, and having his second seizure. The one that eliminated the possibility of the one in Sinnoh being an isolated incident, and made it clear that they were now a fact of life. And in that time, Dylan had made it clear that as much as he loved being at the Eon Academy, he was ready to make a life for himself somewhere else. And he knew that to tell Abbee he wanted to stay was to say he effectively wanted to keep her a world away.

    “I want to go…” Dylan admitted. “Live a life that isn’t reliant on Jon. Live a life with you. But honestly, I don’t know how Jon’s going to get through this summer…”

    “He’ll get through it because we’ll be here. Like today,” Abbee said.

    “Abbee, we’re sitting at a f**king beach, eating ice-cream…” Dylan muttered angrily, as Abbee recoiled. The only other time he had lashed out like that was two summers earlier, after finding out she had organised for the group to go to the Firehouse to try and set Dylan up with a waitress they had met a few days earlier, despite telling her to leave it. He took a breath, before adding quietly, “sorry…”

    “I know this is the last place you want to be…” Abbee said. “Honestly, I don’t want to be here either. Jon and Alyssa are like a second family to me. They’ll never replace Mum and Dad, but they’re the closest anyone has been to doing that-”

    “Then why are we here?” Dylan asked exasperatedly. “Why are we letting the others pick up the slack? I mean, Latios is doing more than us right now…”

    “Because Jon told us to,” Abbee said, conviction evident in her voice. “Dylan, when has Jon ever let us down?”

    Dylan remained silent, knowing the answer.

    “Even when we were facing what was effectively the end of the world, and Jon was all that stood between Giratina going to the Megamart and helping Agatha wipe out everyone there; even when everyone else would have given up, he didn’t let us down,” Abbee stated. “So if Jon thinks what’s best is that I force you, the person who has probably picked up the most slack since the seizures started, to take a few hours off, and try and get your mind off this, then goddamn it, let’s spend all day sitting at the f**king beach, eating ice-cream…”

    ”I’d be okay with that…” said Victini’s voice, as Abbee sighed at her partner undercutting her point. Dylan however couldn’t help but grin at the remark. Knowing that he’d be most reasonable now, Abbee took the opportunity.

    “Look, how about this; let’s go find a bar, spend an hour or two there. Preferably one showing Pokemon battles, so we can have fun finding their weaknesses,” Abbee stated, leaving no room for negotiation. “After that, we’ll go back, and if there is anything we can do to help, we’ll do it…”

    “Okay…”

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

    After being told that their task was to come up with a site-wide game for two hundred campers, Cassandra’s first thought was to her own younger days, when she attended summer camps as a child, and trying to remember what games they had played on those camps. Granted, none of the camps she attended had more than fifty campers, and had at least five camp workers to keep things moving. Meanwhile, there were two hundred campers, and the pair of them to run the game.

    Whilst they had known that if asked, any of the other workers on site would have helped run the game, they also knew that they had their own jobs. Chris and Charlotte had just helped Steven with his seminar, which they had intentionally run longer, in order to buy time where the students were occupied. Violet would be staying in Jon and Alyssa’s house as a last resort in case Jon had another seizure, and Justin and Jarena had the hardest job. Night duty…

    “Capture the flag won’t work,” Cassandra said, as the pair sat in the intern lodge lounge. “With that many people and just us, it would be far too easy for people to be dishonest and not return to their team's flag once they are tagged. And nothing involving Pokemon either, because it would be a nightmare to keep safe…”

    “Agreed,” Willow said, as she considered other ideas. “If we had a smaller group, I’d say Remoraids…”

    “What’s that one?” Cassandra asked, having never heard of it.

    “One person is nominated to hide, and everyone else tries to find them. But once they are found, any person who found them hides with them,” Willow explained. “It’s confusing when you’re chatting to someone from a distance and find they have just disappeared.”

    Cassandra couldn’t help but grin at the idea, but Willow had already dismissed it.

    “Problem is that with a group this big it would take less than a quarter finding the person and joining them in the hiding place before it’s just a joke…” Willow added, as Cassandra sighed, knowing she was right.

    “Honestly, all the games I could think of that could accommodate this many people need more people to make the game run,” Cassandra said, as she leaned back in her seat. “Really, we need more staff, but I don’t want to give them more work…”

    “Are there any games that can run themselves, or the campers could run?” Willow asked. Cassandra considered the idea, before shaking her head.

    “If they were adults maybe, who understood that there was more to life than winning at any cost,” Cassandra said, ignoring the sheer irony of her assessment. “But really, they’re kids, and if we can’t run capture the flag, because we don’t know they wouldn’t be dishonest, I don’t see how they could keep the game running smoothly themselves…”

    Her words trailed off as she looked at the clock on the wall, realising they were running out of time. Willow noticed this, and went to speak, before having a thought.

    “Damn it… Why didn’t I think of this earlier?” Willow muttered to herself, before beginning to scribble on the piece of paper in front of her. Cassandra shot her a puzzled look. “What makes us different from just about any other camp workers trying to organise a game for their campers?”

    “We’re short staffed with far too many campers?”

    “Nope. Even more unique…” Willow said. Cassandra looked at her, puzzled, before Willow muttered a quick incantation and snapped her fingers, causing a flame to spark to life at her fingertips. Cassandra’s eyes widened.

    “Shadowcraft…”

    “Exactly!” Willow explained. “We have talents very few other people in our position have. Yet we are in a tricky spot and haven’t even considered using them…”

    “Honestly, I get so focused on battling, I forget I’m a witch sometimes…” Cassandra said in disbelief.

    “So let’s go back to earlier ideas,” Willow asked. “And ask ourselves whether our ability to use Shadowcraft would make up for the numbers…”

    “I mean, theoretically we could make capture the flag work…” Cassandra answered. “Light illusion spell to make it visible if someone has been tagged and needs to go back to base?”

    “If we had more time, we definitely could,” Willow agreed. “The problem is, that level of spell would be affecting the entire property, and likely would need to be powered by a diamond, like the security system I set up. Even if we had the diamond handy, it would take days for it to store enough energy from our Shadowcraft to be able to power the entire game…”

    Cassandra nodded in understanding. Even though this idea wouldn’t work now, it had proven to them just how much their ability in Shadowcraft widened their options.

    “I think you’re on the right track though,” Willow explained. “We can’t let the students keep the game running and enforce the rules because we can’t guarantee they will be honest. But a light illusion spell is a good way to make sure the truth is visible…”

    “The spell just needs to be completely dependent on the students, so that their energy can power it,” Cassandra said, as Willow nodded in agreement. “Nothing area based, because we’d need to find an additional source of power.”

    The pair sat in silence, considering any and all options, until Cassandra’s eyes widened.

    “I have an idea…”

    An hour later, Steven, Charlotte and Chris had finished with the seminar, and the campers remained in the stadium, where Cassandra and Willow were ready to address them all.

    “For this afternoon’s activity, we have a campsite wide game that everyone will be involved in…” Cassandra said through the microphone to the audience, some of whom weren’t paying a great deal of attention. “A game called Infected...”

    There were curious murmurs from those present as Cassandra explained the game.

    “This is a game you will not play anywhere else, and for it to work, I need one brave volunteer, who would not mind me performing a harmless spell on them…”

    All went silent, as nobody had ever thought they would be subject to Shadowcraft at the Academy that summer. Finally, one student raised their hand. Cassandra called them to join her down the front. She was joined by a girl who appeared to be fourteen or so, with light brown hair, and piercing blue eyes.

    “What’s your name?” Cassandra asked, knowing this student was in another intern’s group. She had seen her in classes, however being less than a fortnight into a camp with two hundred campers, she hadn’t learned all their names yet.

    “Issy,” the girl replied, as Cassandra nodded. She spoke into the microphone, addressing everyone.

    “There has been an outbreak of a zombie virus,” Cassandra explained, channelling every terrible zombie movie she had ever seen into her words. “And Issy, our brave volunteer, has offered to be our patient zero…”

    Cassandra put the microphone down, before addressing Issy.

    “It’s just going to be some lights,” Cassandra said to the girl reassuringly. “They’ll disappear at the end of the game.”

    Issy nodded, albeit a little nervously, as Cassandra took Issy’s hand, placing her own hand over the girl’s wrist, and focusing on the incantation she had memorised. Willow had devised the incantation, being far better at composing spells than Cassandra, however insisted Cassandra perform the spell.

    ”You don’t have a history of siding with Agatha,” Willow had said. ”They’d be more comfortable with you using Shadowcraft on them than me. Besides, you have this non-verbal thing pretty down, and it will be less worrying if they don’t hear you speaking an incantation.”

    Around Issy’s right wrist was a ring of light, tendrils of which wrapped themselves around her hand.

    “This is purely a light illusion,” Cassandra explained to the crowd. “How do you feel, Issy?”

    “Completely normal,” Issy said as Cassandra held the microphone in front of her.

    “Now, go and shake Willow’s hand,” Cassandra said, nodding towards Willow. Issy walked to the other witch, shaking her hand awkwardly, and to everyone’s shock, Willow’s hand now had the same light illusion affecting it. Cassandra then shook Willow’s hand herself, and sure enough the illusion had spread.

    “It’s working perfectly…” Willow said, unable to hide the grin she wore. Cassandra nodded.

    “The spell is purely a light illusion,” Cassandra repeated into the microphone. “One that will spread if contact is maintained between somebody with it, and somebody without. Issy will remain here for five minutes, in that time, you will be allowed to leave and either hide, or set up a defensive position.”

    Cassandra quickly opened the notes on her phone, in which she had spent the last half hour writing down rules.

    “Pokemon are to remain in Pokeballs for the duration of the game. You are allowed in the stadium, classrooms, dining hall and main hall. Lodges, the kitchen, and Jon and Alyssa’s house are off limits,” Cassandra explained. “You can move furniture, however you cannot block doors. Anything you do to the property must be able to be reversed. After an hour, if there are more zombies than there are people, the zombies win, and vice versa…”

    Cassandra looked at Issy, who seemed to grow more excited by the second.

    “On your marks,” Cassandra said into the microphone. “Get set…”

    The anticipation was thick in the air, as Cassandra, who couldn’t help but grin, said the final word.

    “Go!”

    Students rushed from the seating towards the exit, as Issy waited, Willow having set a five minute timer. When the timer finally hit zero, Cassandra gave Issy a nod, before she dashed out, looking for anybody to tag.

    “If only Agatha could see this,” Willow said to Cassandra as the pair made their way outside to watch the game. “Instead of using our power to dominate people and control them, using it to organise a game for some kids to play…”

    Cassandra grinned, and took in the sight of Issy, who had managed to tag another person already, causing panic and confusion in those who hadn’t managed to find somewhere to hide. There were at least forty kids in sight, fleeing from Issy, and her growing number of accomplices.

    “The old hag would have done us all a favour and had a heart attack,” Cassandra joked. “Maybe that’s what we should have done. Set up a Shadowcraft kids activity in Heahea City…”

    Willow snorted with laughter at that.

    “Honestly, I don’t know how you can create such complex spells,” Cassandra noted. “I thought the three of us were exceptional at using Shadowcraft before I met you. Turns out, we were just good at catching people unaware…”

    “Sadly, it is something Agatha taught me. I was one of the first to arrive in Alola, and when she chose me to be one of her inner circle, she made sure I knew enough to make best use of my role,” Willow said, albeit a little quieter. “I’m just glad that I can make better use of it now…”

    Willow sighed, before feeling aware of the fact that her bringing up the past was likely souring a proud moment. The pair had used their Shadowcraft for something purely enjoyable, with no expense to anyone else. Even when Cassandra had been living in the Star Glade, she hadn’t done anything like this, instead focusing her Shadowcraft on survival and healing. To see dozens of students having fun, purely because they decided to use their Shadowcraft, had served to sweeten what for both of them, for a long time, had been a slightly sour taste.

    “I mean, complex spells aside, in a fight, you’d have me beat, hands down,” Willow added, confusing Cassandra a little. “Non verbal Shadowcraft. Not even Agatha was capable of that. Honestly, the only other person I know uses it is Brianna Levine, so I’m glad we have one on our side…”

    “Honestly, I still am not quite sure how that happened,” Cassandra admitted.

    “I mean, it was either use it or watch the world end,” Willow noted, though Cassandra shook her head.

    “I’d used it once before that. The day before during the attack on Section B,” Cassandra explained. “I saw a Pokemon killed, and it sickened me. I used some of its fur to turn a nearby witch into a Pokemon. Then I used a blinding hex, but the moment I touched the ashes to use for it, they were enchanted and ready to go…”

    Willow, whose curiosity surrounding Shadowcraft eclipsed all there, seemed to become distant, as she considered what Cassandra had said.

    “From what I’ve seen, non-verbal Shadowcraft is most difficult the first time it is used, and gets substantially easier the more it's used. But that first time is difficult enough that not even Agatha could perform it,” Willow said, more so to herself than Cassandra, before looking at the other witch directly. “I figured you managed to cross that threshold because the need was there. You had been silenced, and effectively disarmed, with no way to stop Agatha. But if that wasn’t the first time, then I don’t think a strong need is the driving force to cross the threshold…”

    Cassandra nodded.

    “The need was definitely there when we faced Agatha, and that made it easier then. But I didn’t need to blind that witch the day before,” Cassandra answered. “Honestly, I think I was able to perform that spell without an incantation because in that moment, I wanted nothing more than to make that witch feel retribution. There was not a shred of doubt or uncertainty. I knew exactly what I wanted to do…”

    Willow nodded, having not considered that.

    “I thought I wouldn’t cross that threshold, short of chasing some near death experience, because in this life I now have, which is really quite peaceful, I have no need to perform Shadowcraft non-verbally,” Willow explained. “At the same time, I don’t know that where I am now leaves me wanting anything as much as you wanted to see that witch get what they deserved…”

    “Well, hopefully you can figure this out without things going to hell again,” Cassandra joked, as she looked out towards the kids playing their game. Issy’s group of infected had grown to a dozen people, who were now coordinating themselves to make assaults on specific areas. She saw three students, all with matching white lights around their hands, slowly moving towards the door of the main hall, where they were certain a large group of students were setting up a defensive position with the classroom tables and furniture.

    “This is gonna be good…” Cassandra said with a grin.

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

    The sun was setting in the sky when Jon heard a knock at the back door. He had slept until mid-afternoon, waking and feeling the lethargy of waking from a long day-time slumber that he had felt even before the curse activated. Most of the nausea was gone, his stomach feeling just a little uncomfortable, and his headache which had been a sharp pain, like his head had been filled with razor blades, before being violently shaken, had weakened to a dull throbbing. He had forced down some toast with a minute amount of butter, not wanting to risk upsetting his stomach, as well as forced himself to drink plenty of water, attempting to rehydrate himself.

    Seeing as the knock was at the back door, which led directly into he and Alyssa’s kitchen, and not the front door, he knew it was one of the workers. It was rare that a student came to find him directly, given that, this summer especially, he was least present out of all the workers, who could usually address any need a student had that would get them to seek him out. But when they did, they usually came to the front door.

    He saw Violet through the window before he opened it.

    “You know you’re an hour early?” Jon said, as he double checked his watch, making sure he hadn’t slept longer than he had realised.

    Violet nodded.

    “Honestly, I don’t think you’ll have another attack tonight, so I have the easiest job, and figure Latios could use a decent break between helping you this afternoon, and helping Justin and Jarena tonight…”

    Jon nodded in understanding, appreciating Violet’s thoughtfulness.

    “I think Latios would appreciate that,” Jon said, grinning despite himself, and beckoning Violet to follow him. The pair walked towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

    Jon directed her to the guest room, which prior to last summer, had been Dylan’s room during the academic year, but had not been inhabited since the lodge now had permanent residents and was not closed. Once Violet had placed the few belongings she had brought in the room, a pair of pyjamas, a tablet, and her phone charger, Jon ushered her towards Amelia’s room, gesturing for her to keep quiet. The pair could hear the young girl’s voice behind the door, seemingly talking to somebody who wasn’t there.

    Jon opened the door, walking in, as Violet followed. Yuki, Alyssa’s Vulpix, sat curled up on Amelia’s small bed, as she sat on the floor, hair wet from the bath she had just had, and in her pyjamas, with a plastic toy teacup, tea-pot and bottle in front of her. Opposite her, wearing a fluffy, powder-blue scarf, and sparkly pink fedora, was Latios, a teacup in front of him.

    “Would you like some more beer Latios?” Amelia asked, as Violet’s jaw almost dropped. Jon sighed, unsure if he should be more concerned about whether Latios’ taste for beer, which had stemmed from his own, was a bad influence on his daughter or not.

    Latios nodded, as Amelia poured the imaginary liquid from the plastic bottle into Latios’ cup, which he then pretended to drink.

    “I don’t mean to interrupt your tea-party,” Jon said to the pair. “But Lili, it’s time for bed…”

    Amelia protested, though Jon, still being gentle, didn’t relent, and within a few minutes, Jon managed to get her to bed, as he, Violet and Latios left the room.

    “You will tell nobody of this…” Latios said to Violet, unable to hide the embarrassment, which made this all the more amusing to Violet.

    “There’s two beers in the fridge,” Jon said to Latios. “You’ve earned it. Have a few hours break, and at eleven, go find Justin and Jarena to give them a hand…”

    Latios, letting out a sigh of relief, left Jon and Violet, leaving the house via the kitchen, where he telepathically opened the fridge to get the beers.

    “Just don’t leave the cans where kids can find them!” Jon called out. “Last thing I want is parents thinking my workers drink on the job…”

    As Latios left, Jon turned to Violet.

    “Can I get you a drink?” he offered. “We have a few more beers stashed away, and a couple of premixed rums?”

    “Just water’s fine,” Violet answered. Even if she had felt like an alcoholic drink, she knew Jon couldn’t have one as well, and like Dylan, to Jon’s annoyance, she wouldn’t have one in front of him.

    Violet made her way to the lounge, and a few moments later, Jon returned with two glasses of water, placing one in front of her. This was the first time in weeks she had seen Jon’s cursed hand, knowing he was very intentional about keeping it hidden from those outside of his inner circle. And especially wanting to keep it hidden from Lili.

    “I’m sorry you’re having to spend your Saturday night keeping me company,” Jon said casually. “If Alyssa were home, it would be fine. But we don’t want to risk something happening to Lili if I’m the only adult here and I have another attack…”

    “It’s okay, I’d have likely been watching a movie or something in my room anyway,” Violet replied. “Honestly, seeing the effort you guys are going to to look after Lili despite all this, I’m happy to be a part of that…”

    Jon nodded, having a hunch that he knew part of the reason why she framed it the way she had.

    “Did you get things sorted with your dad?” Jon asked. Violet nodded, although half-heartedly.

    “It took me threatening to gate-crash every dream he would ever have and turn them into nightmares for him to listen, but he kept his end of the deal,” Violet explained. “Sent a copy to me the next day. Taxes are done, and my new driver’s licence is on its way. But I don’t think he is too interested in doing family Christmas’ any time soon…”

    There was an awkward silence for a moment, before Jon decided to ask the question.

    “Do you want family Christmas’ with him again?” Jon asked.

    “I’m done asking for forgiveness, and trying to make amends,” Violet answered, though Jon shook his head.

    “That wasn’t the question…”

    Violet went silent for a moment, considering her answer.

    “I’m an only child. Mum was as well, and her parents passed away when I was a kid. Dad hasn’t been on speaking terms with his family since before I was born. They’re the only family I have left,” Violet explained. “So yeah, I’d like to have them in my life, but not if it means I have to be condemned for mistakes I’ve already made up for…”

    “Good answer,” Jon said. “I know that it’s not an easy question to think about when things are that difficult…”

    Violet nodded, considering Jon’s own history.

    “Are things okay between you and your dad?”

    Jon sighed, as he tried to consider the question.

    “We’ll never be on a weekly phone call basis. Right now, I don’t even make a point of just keeping in touch. I’ll send him an invite for Christmas, or Lili’s birthday, and while I’d never go to Kanto for the sake of seeing him, I’d say hello when I visit Grandma,” Jon answered. “Things are better than I ever thought they would be, but I’m not exactly going out of my way to continue that trend…”

    “Does he know about your condition?”

    Jon considered the question.

    “Honestly, I don’t know,” Jon admitted. “I had to tell Grandma the truth, because when we visited her earlier this year, I didn’t want to risk her panicking if I had a seizure then. I told her that I didn’t want it to be public knowledge, not even my hand, but also didn’t want her to feel like she had to lie to her son for my sake. She might have told him. But she might not have. At the end of the day, it doesn’t make a difference…”

    Jon leaned back, placing his feet on the coffee table.

    “At the end of the day, whether he knows or not, nothing’s changed. I still can’t drive myself anywhere. I still can’t go a week at this rate without a seizure. I still can’t be trusted to keep my daughter safe…”

    Violet considered arguing his last point, but knew he would rather her not try and convince him otherwise. Sadly, that was the truth. With Amelia so young, the potential for harm if he were to have a seizure whilst she was under his care was definitely there.

    “I help stop the apocalypse, by capturing Giratina, to give you guys the chance to take down Agatha, and give the others a window to close the Netherlink, and this is the thanks I get,” Jon said quietly, sounding the most bitter about this that Violet had ever heard him. She didn’t think less of him. Considering how long it had been since the curse activated, and it getting progressively worse, she understood he was getting sick of putting on the brave face. “Fate’s got a pretty f**ked up sense of humour, hasn’t it?”

    Violet nodded in agreement, before asking the question that she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to.

    “Do you regret it?”

    Jon shook his head.

    “It terrifies me to think of the odds from that day that led to us winning,” Jon answered. “So many little things, that had they not happened, would have resulted in us failing. Had Agatha not found out about Eon blood speeding up the Netherlink. Had Willow had any other Pokemon, and not been able to find us. Had I not kept Rayquaza’s old illegal Pokeball in my jacket pocket. Had Rayquaza not Mega Evolved. And that’s just from my involvement. Yours would have its own list. Any one of those things playing out even the tiniest bit differently, and we would have failed. And that terrifies me…”

    Violet sighed in grim agreement. Had they taken Jon’s side in the argument the night before, and let Jimmy walk out, there would have been no way for Jon to have communicated with Jirachi the next day. Had they not run into Avery and Abital near the Megamart, they would have been trying to fight Agatha whilst her supporters flanked them. Had Agatha killed them instead of merely silencing them. Had Cassandra not used non-verbal Shadowcraft….

    “I don’t regret it, because I can say with a concerning amount of certainty that it was the only way…” Jon answered. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t wish that mission turned out very differently…”

    There was one word that Jon said, which had Violet’s mind begin to wander.

    “How did you get involved with doing operative work for the League?” Violet asked. “I didn’t think they used external operatives. At least, I didn’t before the S.S. Wishmaker…”

    “Honestly, I was among the first. The S.S. Wishmaker was the first time they explicitly sought out external operatives. Most on the League’s payroll don’t have the time to dedicate to getting to the level needed to blend in as competitors in the High Seas Tournament. Not to say they can’t handle themselves, but their talents are more in coordinating Pokemon in life or death situations,” Jon explained. “For that, it was easier to find talented battlers who would naturally pass as competitors, and give them the minimum training needed for the operation, than the other way around. Before that, it was really uncommon…”

    “So how did you get involved?” Violet asked. “The way you talked about wanting that to be your last operation made it sound like it was far from your first?”

    Jon nodded, beginning to realise how old he was, when he did the maths and figured out how many years it had been.

    “I was twenty-one or so. So about thirteen years back,” Jon said, surprising Violet, who realised she would have only been fourteen at this point. “I was competing in this tournament, and was approached by Steven. First time I had ever met him…”

    “Why you?”

    Jon grinned.

    “Steven was there because the League had reason to believe that the tournament was being used as a drop site for a huge drug deal. Made sense, given the sheer density of people, the amount of people dressed in the same merchandise, and the scrutiny being on the battlers, to make sure they aren’t cheating,” Jon explained. “Steven had been looking into all the competitors, and came across myself. He saw I was battling under a fake name, and there was little he could actually find out about me, and thought I was one of the people involved in the exchange…”

    “He thought you were dealing drugs?” Violet answered, in disbelief, especially seeing the bond Jon shared with the Hoenn Champion presently. Jon nodded.

    “This was enough for him to do more digging into me, and he found the police reports. About my dad, and what happened to my mum. He saw enough to take a chance on me,” Jon explained. “He didn’t know if competitors were involved in the trafficking or not, but knew that his presence would raise suspicions. He needed somebody on the inside, and figured, given the fact that through my dad, drugs had all but ruined my life until I moved in with Grandpa and Grandma, I’d be a safe option to be his inside person…”

    “And you found the dealers?”

    Jon nodded.

    “Steven told me later just how much got seized during that tournament, and it was no small amount,” Jon explained. “After that, if he ever needed someone on the inside of a tournament, I was the person he called…”

    “Did you get any other jobs?”

    “Other than Spiritwater and investigating three dodgy girls who had beaten himself, Cynthia and Lance?” Jon asked, unable to hide his grin. “About eight or so others. Most of them smaller than the first one. Though there was one where I managed to help get about thirty illegal Pokeballs off the streets. That made headlines worldwide, though naturally I was not included in those…”

    Intrigued hearing about this, Violet continued to pose questions.

    “So what sort of training did you receive?”

    “Very basic training when there was time,” Jon explained. “That first job, I didn’t have more than a day to prepare, but a few others, when they were planned far enough ahead, I received some training. Firearms training was definitely there, though that was the only thing that required any sort of practice to maintain. And even then, when we went to Alola, I had told Steven I wouldn’t be carrying, and didn’t want Abbee or Dylan carrying either, because I knew they’d be safer relying on their Pokemon than a gun.”

    Jon scratched his chin, as he tried to remember what other training he did. Honestly, he enjoyed talking to Violet about this. It was rare he got to talk about his life prior to the S.S. Wishmaker, and it not be something negative.

    “One of the best things I learnt was how to break out if I am cable-tied to a chair,” Jon added. “Came in handy when we were attacked at the Whirl Islands two years ago.”

    Violet’s eyes widened, having never considered it, and briefly forgot that she was a witch, and even without reagents, presuming she could still speak, could quite easily break all but the strongest of bonds holding her in place.

    “Why all the questions?” Jon asked. “You thinking of enlisting?”

    “Thinking of trying to,” Violet admitted. “Whether the League would take me on given my past. I mean, we offered to help after the S.S. Wishmaker, but they didn’t want anything to do with us…”

    “A lot’s happened,” Jon noted. “And honestly, I think if you guys hadn't come forward when you had that dream, and it had been Luneth who tipped off the League, they would have been kicking themselves for turning you away…”

    Jon stretched his stiff neck, rolling his head back to look up at the ceiling.

    “It’s funny,” Jon said quietly. “Six years ago, I’d have laughed in your face if you told me Shadowcraft was a thing. Then, the world changed when the three of you were caught out. And what Spiritwater made terrifyingly clear is that Shadowcraft has existed since well before you three got involved, and has been kept secret. Even if a lot of Agatha’s supporters were relatively new to it, herself and Nicodemus at the very least had been practising it a lot longer…”

    “You’re not wrong,” Violet said. “We got caught and Shadowcraft became public. And within four years, dozens of people gathered together to bring about the end of the world…”

    Jon nodded.

    “The thing is, that Shadowcraft is still so new…” Jon said, an almost whimsical grin crossing his face. “Like, Cass fixed my broken hand on the S.S. Wishmaker, and Brianna managed to repair a heap of internal damage in Abbee, and perform a blood transfusion. Willow has effectively created the best alarm on the planet here. And she and Cass together ran a kid’s game this afternoon with Shadowcraft. But honestly, in the world outside of the Eon Academy, nothing has changed. Sure, people know about Shadowcraft, and are aware of it, but it’s not like we have hospitals employing Shadowcraft users to effectively remove the need for life-saving surgery, or nurseries employing them to accelerate the growth of their plants. I guess, I wonder when the rest of the world will catch up. Hell, I wonder if by the time Lili is finishing high school, universities will have degrees in Shadowcraft…”

    Violet had never considered this. Until she had moved here, her abilities had never been a public part of her life. She had used them in secret whilst the Diamond Ladies were competing, and then, when in hiding as a Pokemon, had used them to keep the Star Glade and its inhabitants safe. Even now, she still placed Shadowcraft as a last resort to any challenge, almost forgetting she was a witch, when really, within reason, she had no reason not to. And eventually, the world may begin to look to it more and more.

    “So don’t get too worried about not being able to be recruited,” Jon concluded. “Even if not today, the League will see you’re worth your weight in gold to them…”

    ************************************************** ************************************************** *********
    “I swear,” Justin said quietly, as he sat on the outdoor table that stood between the lodges where Jarena waited for him. “I have never wanted to slap a kid before. But Sean… Goddamn I have been tempted…”

    It was well after midnight at this point, however between the full moon, and the lights on a timer that were scattered across the property, he saw Jarena grin at him.

    “That bad?”

    The pair were on night duty, which effectively meant staying up and making sure campers weren’t keeping each other awake. Whilst they knew there was no way to force the campers to sleep, at least, without getting complaints from parents, the best they could do was make sure that the campers who were willing to stay awake all night at the expense of their next day, weren’t keeping other campers, in their own cabin or neighboring cabins, awake all night as well. Normally after the first week, when the novelty of sharing a cabin with new people wore off, and the workload of the Eon Academy caught up with them, it wasn’t a problem. However, being a Saturday which was far less intense, as well as being wound up by Cassandra and Willow’s game of Infected that afternoon, the campers were all a little more rowdy than usual. And one cabin in particular was kicking it up a notch, no thanks to Sean.

    “Honestly, I am at the point of telling Jon to handle this kid,” Justin said about the fourteen year old. “I have never met a kid who doesn’t know when to stop talking anywhere near as much as him. Or a kid who backchats so much. Did I tell you about the Breloom incident?”

    Jarena shook her head, as Justin sighed from frustration at this one camper.

    “So you know the mob of Breloom that live on the Island?” Justin asked. “They sometimes jump over our fences to eat the grass?”

    “Yeah, I’ve seen them around…”

    “So you’ve seen Steve?” Justin asked. “The freakishly big, six foot tall one?”

    “Steve?” Jarena asked, as Justin shrugged.

    “I don’t know where the name came from. I just know that he is called Steve,” Justin explained. “When all the students arrived, Jon let them know that Steve has been hanging around here a lot by himself, and to steer clear of him. He gets a bit funny if Jon or Dylan gets too close, but he knows them, and tends to just stare until they walk past. But he is usually near the edge of the property and minds his own business, so they let him do his thing. The thing is, we don’t know how he would react if a camper got too close, so we’ve told them to stay away. Even if they have Pokemon, this one is big, and wild. There is every chance that if Steve attacks them and they send out a Pokemon, Steve would just go for them anyway…”

    Jarena nodded in understanding.

    “And I’ve caught Sean four times since he arrived trying to sneak up on Steve,” Justin sighed. “Every time I tell him not to, he just argues with me about how Pokemon love him and he is fine and nothing will happen, and I end up wanting to walk over to Steve so he will hopefully knock me out and I don’t have to listen to this crap…”

    ”Justin…” said Latios’ voice in Justin’s mind. ”They’re getting noisy again…”

    Jarena, who had heard the telepathic message as well couldn’t help but grin as Justin sighed, standing up again.

    Given the sheer number of students, and how spread out over the property they were, Latios remained in the air, invisible, and using his telepathy and emotion-sense to monitor the campers. By this point the bulk of them were asleep. There were twenty-four still awake, and of those twenty-four, eighteen were quiet and trying to sleep themselves. All eighteen who were still awake trying to sleep, were in the cabins surrounding the six who were still very much awake and hyperactive. Sean’s cabin.

    As Justin made his way towards Sean’s cabin, he could hear from outside heavy footsteps of someone running across the cabin, and through the crack in the blinds, could see the flickering lights of phone flashlights.

    Justin didn’t bother to knock on the door, knowing that it just gave the other boys in the cabin a few seconds to pretend they were behaving themselves, and pin the blame completely on Sean, who lacked the subtlety to avoid the blame. He swung the door open, and found everyone in their bed, laughing immaturely, at Sean, who had jumped onto the bed of one of the other boys, who was yelling at him to get off.

    “Sean!” Justin yelled. “Get off Blake’s bed and go to sleep!”

    Sean got off the bed, and walked towards his own, however didn’t get into his bed, instead stood looking back at Blake, making funny faces and calling out immature jokes.

    “Sean!” Justin said, though Sean ignored him continuing to make faces at Blake. “Sean, look at me when I’m talking to you!”

    Sean looked at Justin, his face still carrying the immature grin.

    “Get into your own bed, and go to sleep,” Justin said, trying to remain calm enough that he didn’t snap at Sean. “It’s been nearly two hours since light’s out. Everyone in the cabins around you are still awake, because you’re keeping everyone in here awake. I’d rather be asleep right now, but I’m stuck trying to get you to be quiet…”

    “The other cabins are all asleep,” Sean argued.

    “I guarantee you they aren’t,” Justin retorted. “Latios is in the air above the cabins and can see who is still awake. You’re keeping everyone in the nearby cabins awake.”

    As soon as Justin said the words, he realised he had made a mistake.

    “That’s an invasion of privacy!” Sean protested. “I’m going to sue this place for that!”

    “Sean, shut up!” called out one of the boys, who despite being amused by Sean’s clownish behaviour, had already grown to be sick of him and his constant talking.

    “That’s illegal!” Sean continued, and whilst Justin, having just finished his law degree, knew that was not true, he knew reasoning with Sean was not worth the energy.

    “I don’t care!” Justin said, not too gently. “Stop being a pain, and go to bed!”

    ”Brace yourself…” Latios said to Justin telepathically.

    Sean opened his mouth to protest, however he, and all the boys in the cabin jumped in fright, whilst Justin managed to resist that urge, when telepathically, they heard an ungodly draconic roar, followed by a voice that Justin knew Latios was faking.

    ”STOP TALKING AND GO TO SLEEP!”

    For the first time that evening, there was silence…

    “Latios wants to sleep,” Justin said, his voice now quieter and more reasonable. “He and I will be up until we’re convinced you’re not keeping the other cabins awake. So unless you want to see Latios really tired and p**sed off, just go to sleep…”

    When there was no response from the boys, Justin left, letting out a frustrated sigh. Whilst he was glad for Latios’ help, it was also concerning that it took Latios intervening for any progress to be made.

    “Thanks,” Justin called out, although not too loudly, to Latios.

    He arrived back at the table where Jarena waited.

    “You don’t have to wait up,” Justin said quietly, knowing the girls were all asleep. “Even if the boys are silent, I’ll be up for another hour to make sure they aren’t just pretending until I go to bed…”

    “It’s fine,” Jarena answered. “Jon put us both on night duty, and I figure you’ll find the next hour less boring with some company.”

    “You’re not wrong…” Justin admitted.

    “How did it go?” she asked, nodding towards the boys cabin.

    “They’re quiet now, because Latios may have traumatised them,” Justin joked. “I went in and Sean was on Blake’s bed. By the time I got him to go back to his, I said he was keeping the other cabins awake, and he told me they were asleep. And I made the mistake of telling him that Latios was keeping an eye on things and could see they were all awake…”

    Jarena grinned, as Justin sighed again.

    “He starts arguing about how it's an invasion of privacy, and how he is going to sue the Academy for it,” Justin said, fighting back a yawn. “Told me it was illegal, which I can guarantee him, isn’t correct. By that point Latios was sick of him and scared them all straight with a telepathic message telling them to shut up and go to sleep…”

    “It’s gonna be a long summer,” Jarena noted. “He’s in Chris’ team isn’t he?”

    Justin nodded.

    “Which makes things more difficult because Chris is the sort to get himself into trouble if Sean pushes him as far as he pushes me,” Justin answered. “Dylan might have a better chance at handling Sean, but I’d be opening old wounds if I asked Dylan to deal with one of Chris’ kids…”

    Jarena looked up at the night sky, which was clear. Given the relatively small size of Mossdeep Island, there was little light pollution, making the stars visible.

    “I didn’t think I’d wind up here,” Jarena said quietly, half to herself. “Trying to get kids to go to sleep and stop being annoying…”

    “What, when you were famous?” Justin asked.

    “Even after that, honestly,” Jarena admitted. “Once we decided we were done, we torched everything. We didn’t make a contingency plan to become human again. Didn’t save any DNA, or any of our possessions just in case we changed our mind. Heck, we buried our Shadowcraft books, only because we couldn’t know for sure whether burning them would curse us or something…”

    “So how did you become human again?” Justin asked. “If you had no human DNA samples?”

    Jarena shuddered remembering how Jon got the samples.

    “Don’t ask…” Jarena said. “It’s something I’d rather not think about…”

    Confused, Justin didn’t probe further, however asked another question.

    “What was it like, living as a Pokemon?”

    Jarena considered the question.

    “It’s hard to answer,” Jarena explained. “I mean, life directly before that was far from good. We were broke, hated and had no prospects moving forward. Jon and Alyssa had offered to help us out, but at the time, this place was nothing more than an idea, and we wanted to make our own path. So compared to being a human after being caught, being a Pokemon was great. We got a completely fresh start, and not only that, we got to actually do some good. And we got to see what was actually important for the first time…”

    Jarena remembered the feeling of being caught, and the confession the trio had made.

    “It’s tricky to explain. Like, when we got caught, we realised the things we had treated as being so important were actually not, like the fame and the money. And we weren’t exactly clueless on what the right thing to do was, but at the same time, we were starting over, figuring out for ourselves what was actually important, and by extension, what our own standards were, after years of moving in the completely wrong direction. Like, after the last five years, I don’t think I would have been as cool with torching that cabin in Johto as I was back then…” Jarena explained. “And spending that time in the Star Glade helped us learn what was important. Honestly, I wonder whether, had Agatha made us have that dream three years earlier than she did, whether we would have been willing to find Jon and tip off the League, or whether at that point, we still had some growing to do…”

    Justin nodded in understanding, and despite not knowing them personally the way they were before the S.S. Wishmaker, found it puzzling to think of the Diamond Ladies as any different to the way they were now.

    “The Star Glade was our home, but at the same time, it always felt like we were outsiders. Not because the Pokemon excluded us. More so, we just knew we were different, and there was nothing we could do to change that. We could physically be Pokemon, and live among Pokemon, but the fact was, we were humans who had turned ourselves into Pokemon, and I think we all tried to pretend that wasn’t the case,” Jarena continued. “The Star Glade was what we needed for where we were at, but what happened with Agatha made us realise that it was not meant to be a forever thing, and that it was time for another change…”

    As Justin heard this, he felt a strange sensation, as though he had lived that moment before, recognising the feeling as déjŕ vu.

    “God, that was weird…” Jarena muttered.

    “What’s that?”

    “I just got the most intense feeling of déjŕ vu,” Jarena laughed. Justin however gave her a puzzled look.

    “Same…”

    His tone was questioning, however before either of the pair could question it, they felt Latios’ voice in their minds.

    ”Something’s here…” Latios said, confused alarm in his voice.

    “Blackstone?” Justin asked verbally, knowing Latios would hear his thoughts simultaneously.

    ”I don’t think so,” Latios answered. ”It’s a presence. Something powerful, but familiar…”

    Justin, glad he had his Pokeballs with him, stood. It was past 1am, and he didn’t want to wake the others over a false alarm.

    “Where is it?” Justin asked. He looked to Jarena. “You got your Pokemon with you?”

    Jarena nodded, as Latios remained silent for a moment.

    ”It’s on one of the neighbouring properties…” Latios answered. ”About a kilometre between us and the old Space Station…”

    Justin stood to his feet, as Jarena gave him a look.

    “We’re going alone?”

    “Latios will come with us,” Justin explained. “If it’s something bad, Latios will come back and warn the others. I’d rather them be here in that regard…”

    “How bad could it be?”

    “At best, a migratory Legendary Pokemon. At worst, Blackstone or any witches still loyal to Agatha that want revenge…”

    The pair walked quietly towards the edge of the property, as Latios silently descended to meet them. They climbed the fence, before making their way towards where the Space Centre that Deoxys had levelled three years earlier used to be. Latios took the front position, with his emotion sense allowing him to see any potential people or Pokemon that were hidden by the darkness.

    “Do wild Legendary Pokemon just show up here often?” Jarena asked quietly. Justin shook his head.

    “Only time was Deoxys, and honestly, until the government got involved, it was harmless…”

    It didn’t take long for Latios to spot what he had sensed.

    ”I see something…”

    Justin thought he could see a faint light in the distance. He turned off the light on his phone, and once his dark vision adjusted, he could see it. A faint silver glow. When it was close enough to identify, Latios went silent.

    “Is that a Pokemon egg?” Jarena asked.

    Before them was an egg, bigger than any they had seen before. It was the size of a large yoga ball, a dark-blue, slate-grey colour, with glowing veins of silver and light blue webbed across the surface.

    ”It is. I’ve seen it before…” Latios answered in shocked awe. ”This is Dialga’s egg…”

    Both trainers looked at Latios in shock.

    ”When Giratina took Jon and Cassandra back in time, to try and buy time to stop Nicodemus’ curse from killing Jon, Giratina took us to the place it could warp us to in space and time most naturally, and it accidentally took us to these ruins in Johto…” Latios explained. ”Given their power, there can only ever be one Dialga, Palkia or Giratina, and whenever one of them dies, an egg will appear in these ruins. And when we were there, this Dialga egg was there, waiting to hatch…”

    “But you went back hundreds of years…” Jarena asked. “Surely this can’t be the same egg…”

    ”It is. Its thought patterns are the same, just more developed,” Latios answered. ”Dialga exists naturally outside of time, rarely entering into a point in time. But for some reason, it can’t exist outside of time as an egg. So it exists in a point in time, and if Giratina or Palkia get too close to it, it will warp to somewhere else to remain safe. I don’t know how many times it has warped since, but it has warped here…”

    “How close?” Justin asked.

    ”Within a few metres…” Latios answered. ”We need to take it with us…”

    Both trainers looked at Latios in shock.

    ”Dialga’s safeguard only protects it from Palkia and Giratina. Anyone else could do whatever they wanted to the egg, and it won’t stop them,” Latios explained. ”We can’t leave it…”

    “Remember what happened last time?” Justin asked, evidently concerned. Latios nodded.

    ”Which is why we tell nobody. We don’t hand it over to the League. We keep it at the Academy, until it hatches and can fend for itself…”

    “Why not have Giratina get close to it and make it warp again?” Jarena asked, although as soon as she finished the question, she knew the answer.

    “If it’s here, we can protect it if the need arises. But if we do that, it’ll either go to the past or future, and we’ll have no way of helping if things go bad…” Justin answered, as Latios nodded in agreement.

    ”Triggering the warp is a last resort…” Latios said. ”The safest hands are our own…”

    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 04-25-2023 at 07:41 AM.

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  9. #176
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Season 5 Episode 4: Statement
    Spoiler:

    “Why do I have a feeling of déjŕ-vu?” Jon asked, as he looked at the large egg which sat on the floor of the stadium. It was nearly 3am, as Jon, Steven, Willow, and all eight interns stood around the large egg.

    “We got the same feeling when it appeared,” Jarena explained. “Though I don’t know why you’d be getting it now…”

    “Maybe because Jon and I have seen it before?” Cassandra offered, though Charlotte shook her head.

    “He is getting déjŕ-vu because it was almost the exact same when we found Deoxys…” Charlotte muttered, as Jon nodded. Three years prior, Charlotte and Chris had found an orb that turned out to be the brain-like central organ of Deoxys. Just like now, they had brought it back to the Academy, where all the interns looked upon it with shock and amazement.

    “That’s it…” Jon answered, sickened by the parallel.

    “Are you sure that’s Dialga’s egg?” Steven asked. Cassandra nodded.

    “When we were in those ruins and saw it there, Giratina seemed to know that it was Dialga,” Cassandra answered. “I don’t think it could be anything else…”

    “But how did it get here?” Willow asked.

    “Honestly, I have no idea…” Jon said, shock evident in his voice. “We believe that if it is in the presence of Palkia or Giratina, it will transport itself through time to keep itself safe, but it shouldn’t be able to teleport across space…”

    “Maybe after we accidentally made it warp, someone found it?” Cassandra offered. “It got moved here, before it was exposed to Giratina or Palkia in another time, and it warped to here?”

    “But why here?” Justin asked. “And why now? Think about it, it has all of time it can travel to, yet it travels to the point in time where two trainers who had seen it before and identified it were present. Mathematically, the odds are astronomical…”

    There was silence as most present in the room agreed with Justin. It couldn’t be a coincidence that Dialga’s egg travelled to this exact point in time.

    “I think that we need to stop thinking in terms of logic and reason,” Steven answered, as Jon nodded his head. “Think about it, there are so many facets of Pokemon that we have no scientific explanation for. Look at your Regieleki. You know that it can adjust the resistance of its own body to increase its voltage. But scientifically, you have no idea how it does that, or where it generates all of its electricity from…”

    Justin nodded in understanding as Steven continued.

    “I have a theory, but that theory requires us to suspend our disbelief, and stop looking for scientific answers,” Steven explained. “We are talking about a Pokemon immersed in mythology, and in said mythology, it is effectively the child of Arceus, who I cannot say is more Pokemon than god or vice-versa. And honestly, the only reasonable explanation is that this isn’t a coincidence, but divine action…”

    “You think Arceus had it warp to this point in time?” Chris asked, as Steven shrugged.

    “If I were Arceus, and wanted this egg kept safe until it hatched, I’d think this is a good option…” Steven answered. “The Eon Academy has never been safer. We have myself and Jon, plus the five of you, all of us ranking amongst some of the best battlers in the world, each with one or more Legendary Pokemon ourselves. In addition, we now have the Diamond Ladies, and Willow, all capable of handling Pokemon, but even more impressive, is their knowledge and skill in Shadowcraft. Had Dialga arrived last year, none of us would be here, because of the Spiritwater Crisis. Any year before that, and the five of you were nowhere near as strong as you are now. The Diamond Ladies were in hiding, we hadn’t even met Willow yet, and Jon couldn’t use Rayquaza without risk, and didn’t have Giratina, which can be our last resort to teleport it away. And had Dialga arrived next year, the five of you would be gone…”

    “Crap…” Willow muttered, feeling the pressure on them. “When you put it like that…”

    “And there is one thing Steven hasn’t mentioned…” Jon added. He looked to those around him. “I know for sure there isn’t a single person in this room who is considering trying to capture Dialga for their own benefit. And the only other group who could defend Dialga’s egg as well as we could, are Blackstone, who would likely want to exploit it for their own means.”

    Steven nodded.

    “I know it goes without saying, but we aren’t making the same mistake we made with Deoxys,” Steven explained. “This egg will remain here. Hopefully it will hatch here, and from there, Dialga will have enough control of its power to keep itself safe, teleporting outside of time. Or, if circumstances show it would be safer at another point in time, Jon will send out Giratina near the egg to trigger its warp mechanism.”

    “There’s something that we aren’t talking about with all this…”

    Dylan, who had remained quiet most of the time, much to both Abbee and Jon’s concern, as they knew he tended to isolate himself when he was struggling to cope, was the one to say it.

    “What’s that?” Violet asked, worried by his tone. She knew that Dylan was the most down to earth and level headed person amongst those present, and if he was worried, the rest should likely be as well.

    Dylan’s mouth flattened into a straight line.

    “I think Steven and Jon are right. It is no coincidence that Dialga ended up here. And considering how many close calls we have had in the last few years, where we only just managed to succeed, I get the feeling either something beyond all of this was looking out for us, or we’re just the pawns of some sick storyteller,” Dylan answered cynically. “What worries me is that if Dialga has appeared here, because we are able to keep it safe, I’d be inclined to think that something is coming to warrant that need…”

    A tense silence permeated through the room, as those present realised what Dylan was saying. Whilst it did seem a little pessimistic, he raised a good point. Why would Arceus, or whatever form of god that had the power to influence fate itself, have Dialga appear here on the basis of the Eon Academy’s ability to protect it, if the need wasn’t going to arise…

    Knowing he needed to lead, Jon broke the silence.

    “Honestly, I think you’re right…” Jon answered, as he sighed. “Violet and I were just talking about it earlier this evening; our success in Alola hinged on so many consequent things that were unlikely to happen individually, let alone in succession, that I can’t not think something is out there, twisting things to line up and give us a shot. And if we are right, and Dialga’s appearance here isn’t random, something will be coming for it…”

    Jon looked at Chris, Charlotte, Dylan, Abbee and Justin.

    “I know that I ask a lot of you, but I need a big favour,” Jon explained. “Weeknights there will be two four hour shifts. 11-3am, and 3-7am. Then weekends there will be three three hour shifts. I’ll need each of you to take two weekdays and one weekend shift to keep watch. Willow’s security system will make it clear if someone trespasses, and whilst we could go for the traditional alarm approach, Shadowcraft would have ways around that, and it may risk tipping off any invader that we are aware of them, and give up our element of surprise.”

    “Jon, what about us?” Cassandra asked. “Surely they would be better off doing less shifts if the four of us took some?”

    Jon shook his head.

    “Even if Shadowcraft users attack, without Agatha or Nicodeus, they honestly don’t scare me. My biggest worry when it comes to an attack is Blackstone, and as much as you have improved with Pokemon, I don’t think you could handle one of their guys alone if they got the jump on you as well as these guys could,” Jon answered, as Cassandra sighed irritably. She knew Jon was right. Whilst an experienced Pokemon trainer with a solid team could generally hold off an attacker using Shadowcraft, the reverse wasn’t true. Blackstone was the biggest threat, and if Blackstone got the jump on the four less experienced trainers, even with their Shadowcraft, their chances weren’t as good.

    “Well I can only speak for myself, but I’ll stay up when I can as well and keep whoever is on watch company,” Cassandra stated, her tone making it clear that she was not going to let Jon talk her out of that. Jarena, Violet and Willow chimed in their agreement. Jon nodded.

    “I’ll be doing the same,” Jon answered. “If I weren’t at risk of being incapacitated by a seizure, I’d be putting myself in the roster, but sadly, I can’t be as depended on as you five…”

    Jon looked to his five original students. He was surprised when Chris was the first to answer.

    “We’ll do it,” Chris said firmly.

    “If we plan the schedule well, it won’t be anything too uncomfortable,” Charlotte added. “Whoever has the 11pm-3am shift can be on night duty as well. And if it’s someone with no classes first period, they can sleep for a few hours before their shift, and sleep in a little later. And the person starting at 3 should be able to get at least six hours sleep before then if they can sleep early enough…”

    “What Charlotte is saying, is that we will make it work,” Abbee stated.

    Dylan nodded in silence, knowing on any given night, he wouldn’t get four hours sleep anyway, so he may as well make good use of the time.

    “I’m in,” Justin added. “But I won’t turn down any company on my shifts…”

    Despite his worry, Jon grinned.

    “What happens after the summer?” Steven asked. “I mean, honestly, this will be a good way of keeping the egg safe, but once these five leave…”

    “If Dylan is right, and the fact it showed up here is a sign that something is coming, and you’re right, in that it showed up here because we could protect it,” Cassandra said, “then I think that whatever is coming, will come during the summer. Otherwise, why send it here if when the rubber meets the road, half of the people protecting it will be gone by the time it needs protection?”

    “I’ll keep digging in my notes and books,” Willow added. “Try and come up with some more security measures. Though we may need another diamond to power them if we go down that Raboot hole.”

    Jon nodded.

    “We have the funds,” Jon said. “No half measures…”

    He couldn’t help but find it amusing when Cassandra nodded determinedly at Jon’s last words, knowing the last time he spoke them, they were about their plan to cover up the existence of Shadowcraft from the world.

    “Charlotte, do you mind taking tonight's watch until 7am?” Jon asked. “I’ll write up an actual roster tomorrow. Or more accurately, today…”

    Charlotte nodded. It was Sunday, and she had the day off from any official duties outside of just generally keeping an eye on things. A night shift could be made up with a solid sleep in.

    Despite the conversation being thriving, everyone had slowly gone quiet, taking in the sight of the egg.

    “So this thing will hatch, to become the ruler of time itself…” Justin muttered, not asking the question of anyone in particular. There was a murmur of agreement. “I’m not even twenty-one, and I’ve seen it all…”

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

    “So Steven told me you beat Charlotte…”

    Chris, struggling to stay awake, looked up as he heard Jon’s voice approaching from the darkness. It was Chris’ shift to stay up that night, until he was relieved by Charlotte, who was scheduled to take over at 3am.

    The day after the egg had been brought back, Jon wrote a proper roster, trying to make sure people doing night shifts weren’t required to run classes the following morning, or if they were, them being later classes, in order to allow them a little longer to sleep in. This was the fourth night that the practice of one of the interns staying up was in effect.

    “I wouldn’t put too much stock in it,” Chris answered casually. “Tournament standard doesn’t allow items, and I’ve been practising with them at the College for the last six months, since the Elite Four allows them.”

    Jon couldn’t help but grin.

    “Steven says you also forced her to concede by using her own tactic against her,” Jon noted. Chris found himself grinning as well. He looked at his watch, noting it was shortly after 1am. The worst of the campers had just quietened down in the last half hour, though they weren’t Chris’ reason for staying awake anymore.

    “What brings you out?” Chris asked. “Surely you’d much rather be asleep?”

    “I would,” Jon admitted. “But I struggle sleeping these days. Especially after a seizure.”

    It had been days since Jon’s seizure, so Chris gave him a confused look.

    “The easiest way to feel better after is to sleep. Not nap, or doze, but sleep, and I’m talking a minimum of four hours,” Jon answered, his tone matter-of-fact. “Problem with that is that it tends to screw up my sleeping pattern. It helped when Justin and Jarena found the egg. Meant that I was as awake as I’d be in the early evening. But I still haven’t fully gotten back into a routine…”

    “And the thought of an attack probably doesn’t help either…” Chris muttered. Jon nodded gravely.

    “Honestly, this egg has got me between a rock and a hard place,” Jon said. “Fact is, I would feel safer sending the students home…”

    Chris shot Jon a concerned look, but Jon shook his head.

    “I can’t. Because to do that would be to raise questions. Which means I have to fake another emergency, like we did last year, and I get the feeling we can’t keep faking summer-cancelling catastrophes. If we are being watched, then that would just make us stand out more,” Jon explained. “Or I have to tell the truth, which might just bring trouble to our doorstep. Blackstone, the government, or something worse…”

    “Do you think Dylan’s right?” Chris asked. “That if we are going to believe that the egg appearing here is some act of divine intervention, that it also means that something will come for it?”

    “I think it’d be foolish to not act like he is,” Jon answered. “It seems like every disaster we find ourselves in, be it Deoxys, the Whirl Islands or Spiritwater, we have absolutely nothing to tip us off. Hell, with everything that was going on, I didn’t consider that Agatha would send people after you…”

    Chris sighed.

    “We do have a history of getting caught with our pants around our ankles…” Chris muttered, as Jon scoffed at the choice of idiom.

    “Please never repeat that when this is a kid’s campsite,” Jon joked, as Chris stifled a laugh.

    “And here I thought my last summer here would be normal,” Chris said quietly.

    “I’d have paid good money for a normal summer,” Jon agreed. “But honestly, do you want a normal life?”

    Chris knew that Jon asked that knowing full well the answer.

    “Not particularly,” Chris admitted. “I just hoped I could have a short stint of normal before the next year…”

    “If I’m being real with you, I think next year’s only the beginning…”

    Chris looked at Jon, knowing his mentor was hinting towards something, though unsure of what.

    “Come on,” Chris joked. “I’m too tired for riddles…”

    “Well, you haven’t heard it from me…” Jon said, looking around to make sure nobody was out and about, listening in. “Steven has made a few subtle comments to me since your announcement of Second To None…”

    “He doesn’t think I can pull it off?”

    Jon shook his head in the negative.

    “Not that. Nothing to do with whether you can do it or not,” Jon explained, before considering his wording. “He has never said it explicitly, but he has mentioned a fair few times since then, that the Indigo League is still without a Champion…”

    “What’s that got to do with Second To None?”

    Jon grinned.

    “The reason that the position hasn’t been properly filled in the five years since Lance’s arrest, is because Lance, despite his crimes, left a massive legacy, and the League don’t want his successor to fall short of that,” Jon explained. “Lance was accepting challengers from two region’s Leagues and remained undefeated for twelve years. Not a single other League Champion in history has ever achieved something like that.”

    As Jon spoke those words, he remembered his own conversation with Lance in the S.S. Wishmaker’s infirmary, where he had antagonised Lance by claiming to be able to take his title in a fair match, should Lance ever get his position back. Jon knew now that at that point in time, he stood little chance against Lance, though now, things may be different.

    “Effectively, the League’s worst nightmare is that the best Champion they ever had, is someone who went to prison for attempted murder, and has since broken out. And very few people who may be able to rise above Lance’s renown in that position, are willing to take the risk of being the successor to such a legendary achievement,” Jon explained as Chris nodded in understanding. “So what if another Dragon-type specialist were to achieve something greater? Like beating every other League Champion in the space of a year…”

    Chris was confused by Jon’s question for a moment, before he understood.

    “Does Steven think I’d be asked to become Indigo Champion?” Chris asked in a whisper. Jon grinned.

    “He thinks that if you pull this off, you would fit the criteria of being able to outshine Lance, which is what the Indigo League needs from their next Champion,” Jon answered. “And given the fact you’ve handled yourself in many difficult situations, and have a lot more real world experience than even Elite Four members, you’d be a good fit…”

    Chris was excited about the idea for a second, but then had a thought.

    “The fact I’m related to Lance wouldn’t make things worse, would it?” Chris asked, before imitating a nameless spectator. ”They finally replaced Lance, and gave us his kid cousin…”

    “Maybe at first,” Jon agreed. “But honestly, if you complete Second To None, then I think that will change quickly. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lance was remembered as your cousin instead…”

    Before Chris could answer, he noticed something in his peripheral vision. A flicker of light. He looked past Jon towards the western edge of the property, where he spotted it. A beam of light, shining into the sky.

    Jon turned around, seeing it, as his eyes widened when he recognised what it was.

    “Go wake the others,” Jon said quietly. “I’m going to cut them off before they reach the student lodges…”

    “Let me help you-”

    “You are helping me,” Jon said. “I can’t maintain a defensive line by myself, and I don’t know how many there are. I am only buying time for you to get the others and surround them…”

    Understanding, Chris nodded, quietly darting for the staff lodge. Jon considered sending out Latios, who was currently in his Pokeball, however decided against it. For all the benefits Pokeballs provided there was one drawback that had not changed. The light and noise. There was no subtle way to let a Pokemon out, especially in the dead of night.

    Placing each step carefully, Jon crept towards the two student lodges that were closest to the western edge of the property. His advantage was that he would always know the attacker’s location, preventing them from sneaking up on him, whoever they may be.

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

    As Chris approached the front door to the staff lodge, in which all lights were turned off, he considered his next move carefully. The benefit of this silent alarm that Willow had set up was the element of surprise it gave them over any potential intruder. However, he needed to be careful not to give that up too easily.

    As he looked in the door, he saw that the light in the sky was still a reasonable distance away. Not close enough he needed to worry about noise. Lights however…

    He climbed the stairs to the second floor, which housed himself and the four younger interns.

    “We’ve got company!” Chris called out as he pounded on the nearby doors. “Don’t turn on your lights, or they’ll know we’re onto them.”

    He ran upstairs to the new third floor, which housed the Diamond Ladies and Willow, giving the same message, and warning of their lights. When he made his way back downstairs to the second floor, led by dim phone light, he found Charlotte, Dylan and Justin waiting in the hall, all in their pyjamas, or in Dylan’s case, a pair of shorts. Abbee was emerging from her room, looking puzzled at all of them.

    “What’s going on?” Dylan asked, this being one of the very few times Dylan had addressed Chris directly this summer.

    “Jon and I were talking, and saw a light in the sky,” Chris explained, as the Diamond Ladies and Willow joined them, having just descended the stairs. “Willow’s alarm. We don’t know who it is. Jon sent me to get all of you, while he is going to try to cut them off before they reach the student lodges…”

    “Alone?” Willow asked. “Surely he doesn’t think we’d sleep through a fight if you helped him?”

    “They think they’ve caught us unaware,” Chris answered, deciding not to reuse the idiom he had used earlier with Jon. “They don’t know we can see their location whilst they’re here, and are moving slowly. If Jon gets the jump on them, and can keep them busy, we can flank them…”

    “No time for questions,” Dylan said quickly, tying his belt across his torso to allow access to his Pokeballs. “We can lecture Jon about this later…”

    There was a nod of agreement from those present, as they quietly made their way downstairs. As the door opened, Willow inhaled sharply as she saw the light now halfway between the western edge of the Eon Academy property line, and the student lodge.

    “Dylan, your call,” Charlotte said quietly. Even though in terms of sheer battling ability, the other four interns had Dylan beat, they remembered how he had handled the situation when Deoxys attacked, as well as taking charge when Jon was taken captive at the Whirl Islands. “How do we approach this?”

    Dylan thought for a moment.

    “Latias is in her Pokeball, isn’t she?” Dylan asked Willow, who nodded. He figured if Jon had sent Chris, it was likely because Latios was either not present, or in his Pokeball. And without Latios, they had no way of communicating with Jon or eachother.

    “Nobody send out a Pokemon until you hear the first Pokeball activating,” Dylan said, as he looked between where he knew each of the interns had been located during their watch periods, and the beam of light. He looked at Chris directly. “Do they seem to be going in a direct path?”

    Chris looked at the light, trying to remember where they had crossed the boundary into the Academy grounds.

    “I think so,” Chris answered quietly. “They think they’ve got the element of surprise, so are slowly moving straight for the lodges…”

    “Probably to take hostages…” Cassandra muttered, as Charlotte shuddered in agreement.

    “Jon wouldn’t waste time trying to flank them if they’re moving towards the lodges, especially if he is on foot…” Dylan muttered, more so to himself. “So he’d have gone to meet them directly, hoping to stop their movement before they got close to the lodge…”

    Dylan looked up to see the light still moving at the same slow pace.

    “We’re going to spread out,” Dylan explained. “Jon is likely over there…”

    Dylan pointed to the place where he anticipated Jon would be waiting for their unwanted visitors.

    “Cass and Charlotte, you two head south of Jon, while Justin and Jarena head north. Chris and Willow, go further south than Cass and Charlotte, and try and get beside or around them, and Abbee and Violet, you two do the same with Justin and Jarena,” Dylan explained. “I’ll join Jon…”

    “What’s the plan?” Justin asked.

    “Remain unseen, and don’t send out a Pokemon until you hear myself or Jon send one out. Try and use Pokemon that emanate light,” Dylan answered. “Jon and I will break their formation, and the rest of you will try to contain them, so we don’t have any going missing when the s**t hits the fan…”

    There was a nod of agreement, as the teams paired off, moving into their positions, as Dylan crept towards where he thought Jon might be. His eyes kept darting between the path he walked, and the sky ahead of him, making sure he wasn’t going to risk bumping into the intruders. He crept into the shadows between two of the student lodges, where he saw a figure standing at the other end of the small space between the two buildings.

    “Blackstone?” Dylan asked quietly, as he joined Jon.

    “I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think so,” Jon answered quietly. “They’re too disorganised…”

    Jon looked back towards Dylan, noticing he was alone.

    “Where are the others?”

    “They’re making their way north and south, under orders to remain hidden until they hear us send out Pokemon,” Dylan explained. “We’ll break their formation, and they’ll flank them to stop them spilling past us…”

    “Do any of you already have Pokemon out?” Jon asked.

    “Only me,” Dylan said. “Darkrai is around…”

    The Mythical Pokemon had a preference to not remain in its Pokeball, and given the nearly two years since capturing it without incident, Dylan obliged, letting it remain hidden in his shadow practically all of the time. However, given the darkness, Darkrai had much more freedom to move around unseen.

    “So if it’s not Blackstone…” Dylan began. However, before Jon could answer, the distant voices were now near enough to understand.

    “We take hostages. Curse a few of them to get the point across,” said the bitter voice of a woman who sounded to be a little older than Jon. “If he doesn’t hand it over, we start torturing them…”

    A sense of alarm flashed through Jon at those words, causing him to glance back to the house, where Alyssa and Amelia were sleeping. Thankfully he saw no light in the sky, meaning no danger was present. However he still worried.

    "Do you think they're talking about the egg?" Dylan asked quietly. Jon however didn't answer. The intruders, who they knew without a shadow of a doubt were Shadowcraft wielders, were planning on taking hostages, all of whom were in the lodges either side of Jon and Dylan, and with each passing moment, the intruders moved closer.

    Jon stepped forward, withdrawing Latios and Nidoking's Pokeballs, as Dylan followed, removing Metagross', knowing the powerful Psychic type would be able to protect them by way of telekinetic barriers as it did in Alola.

    Anxious as Dylan was, he followed Jon, who walked ever closer to the oncoming force.

    "Delilah," said another voice, in a poor attempt at a whisper. "Someone is coming…"

    "You can hold it right there!" Jon called out, as he stopped walking, intentionally leaving enough distance that he'd have time to respond if the witches facing him tried to launch a surprise attack on him. "Let me make myself abundantly clear that not a single one of you will be able to take hostages, and whilst I'd rather not have an investigation as to why a trespasser was killed on my property, I guarantee that if I have to choose between one of my students being harmed, and you ending up like Nicodemus or worse, you aren't going to like my choice…"

    Dylan heard murmurs from the cabins behind him, and chose to step back, allowing Jon to take the lead. Whilst he'd support Jon in the fight, he also knew someone needed to make sure curious, or potentially overzealous students didn't attempt to get close to the danger.

    "Brave words considering you're outnumbered…" said the leader of the small group, who he figured was Delilah. She looked to be in her late thirties, with short, auburn hair, and a long, sneering face. "You may have a reputation for battling, but that won't protect you from a curse. Don't you remember?"

    Delilah raised her left arm, as Jon, knowing exactly what she was talking about, narrowed his gaze on her.

    "There's someone outside," Dylan heard a voice from a cabin say to their roommates.

    "Stay inside!" Dylan called out, his tone leaving no room for argument. Delilah grinned, as she withdrew a Pokeball. "And call the police!"

    "Good," Delilah called out, ignoring Dylan's mention of the police. "They will already be rounded up for us."

    There were triplicate flashes of light, and the familiar sounds of Pokebalks activating as Latios and Metagross emerged in front of Jon and Dylan. Jon however couldn't identify the Pokemon in front of Delilah, and given its bulk, he had a hunch as to why the witch had seemed so confident.

    The Pokemon from head to tail stood over four metres tall, with no arms or legs, but instead two large wings that spanned double its height. Its head was shaped like an upward facing crescent moon, and its wings seemed to be made up of the night sky itself.

    There were more flashes of light, as those with Delilah sent out their own Pokemon, thankfully none of those being Legendary like Jon suspected Delilah's Pokemon was. They were an assortment of powerful Ghost Type Pokemon, and in the flashes of Pokeball light, Jon counted nine other figures behind Delilah.

    In one final chorus of flashes and noise, Jon grinned as various Pokemon emerged from Pokeballs surrounding the attacking force, many of whom had a natural illumination. To Jon's left, Cassandra's Ampharos, Ace was visible, its tail providing illumination, and to her left, Chris' Charizard roared, its tail providing a flickering source of light. To Jon's right, there was a moving source of light he could only assume was Regieleki, and further along, Abbee's Typhlosion was visible by the flames erupting from its shoulders.

    "Jon…" said Latios' voice in Jon's mind.

    "Act as our watchtower," Jon thought to Latios. "Keep an eye on things and let us know if any are going to get past us. And ask Willow if she knows of Agatha or her followers having any other Legendary Pokemon that we weren't aware of. Especially Delilah…"

    More and more voices could be heard from the cabins as Dylan saw faces in the windows watching, some in excitement and awe, others in terror.

    "Hand it over, and we walk away…" Delilah said, looking around at the eight other trainers who had only made themselves known in the seconds prior. "You don't want to fight us. It will only be worse for everyone…"

    Removing another Pokeball, Jon laughed with derision at Delilah.

    "You're walking away with nothing," Jon answered. "If you're lucky enough to walk away at all…"

    Jon tossed the Pokeball into the air, where it exploded in a flash of light, revealing a Pokemon larger than the one Delilah had sent out. Rayquaza roared in indignation at the Pokemon that was intruding upon its territory.

    "No Netherlink to help you this time," Jon called out. "Even with Shadowcraft and whatever that is, you could not be any more outclassed…"

    Willow had sent out her Camerupt, knowing that Marshadow, despite being able to hit hard, would take heavy hits from all the Ghost Type Pokemon, as would Latias. And given the fact that she was with Chris, she knew that he was likely going to be doing the heavy lifting.

    "Willow!" called Latios' voice in her mind. "Did Agatha have any Legendary Pokemon other than Giratina or Marshadow?"

    Confused by the question, Willow had inadvertently given Latios the answer she would have.

    "What about her followers? Delilah?"

    At first Willow didn't know who Latios was talking about, being amongst Agatha's inner circle and knowing there was no Delilah amongst them. However after a second she remembered where she knew the name from, and realised exactly what had happened.

    "Agatha sent Delilah and a small group of witches off the island to investigate a myth about a Legendary Ghost Type Pokemon. Lunala…" Willow explained, kicking herself for forgetting. [I]"Before the attack on the opening ceremony. We all thought she was wasting her time..."[i]

    Willow took the question to mean that whilst the battle on Akala Island was happening, Delilah had indeed found the Pokemon she was tasked with finding, and captured it…

    There was another flash of light in the darkness, with Rayquaza visible for a second, before it roared. Suddenly it lunged forward, aiming for a target she struggled to make out in the darkness, though she had a sick feeling in her stomach she showed what Rayquaza was attacking.

    "Charizard, Inferno!" Chris ordered as Charizard roared, unleashed a whirlwind of intense flame upon a Gengar that had gotten too close. "Then Dragon Rush!"

    Whilst Gengar was attempting to shield itself from the flames, Charizard lunged forward, spinning through the air as it crashed through the flames and into Gengar, pinning it to the ground, and unleashing a torrent of flames on the Pokemon before it could become intangible and slip away.

    As much as she knew Deoxys was her most powerful Pokemon, Charlotte had two reasons not to send out the Legendary Pokemon. The first being that given its history here during battles late in the evening, she figured it may not be the wisest choice. The second being she knew that her opponents were not worth sending Deoxys out for, instead, choosing to use Luxray instead, alongside Ace, Cassandra's Ampharos.

    "Luxray will get in close," Charlotte said to Cassandra. "Focus on keeping his six clear, and I'll make sure they leave Ace alone!"

    Cassandra nodded, as Charlotte ordered Luxray to engage the Chandelure that was approaching them.

    "Crunch!" Charlotte commanded, as Cassandra saw a fast moving Pokemon fly through the air towards Luxray.

    "Shock Wave Ace!" Cassandra ordered, opting for a weaker, but highly accurate attack. A small orb of electricity launched from the Ampharos, before seeming to home in on the fast Pokemon, striking it and slowing it down for a second, where Charlotte was able to identify it as a Dragapult.

    "Ice Fangs on Dragapult!" Charlotte ordered, knowing the attack would hit hard.

    "Charge Beam on Chandelure!" Cassandra ordered. "Then Dragon Pulse on Dragapult!"

    The encounter had lasted less than thirty seconds before both Pokemon were unconscious.

    "Scale Shot!" Jon ordered as Rayquaza roared, unleashing a barrage of scales towards Lunala, who blocked the move with a Protect barrier, before retaliating with a spectral beam that Jon had never seen the likes of before. Despite this, he grinned. It had been mere minutes, yet he could see the others closing in, as each of the intruders Pokemon were picked off one by one.

    "Delilah, you're outmatched!" Jon called out. "Surrender! Even if Lunala beats Rayquaza, we have enough Pokemon here to hold you back until they arrive!"

    The other witches present looked anxiously at the group of trainers and Pokemon surrounding them, however Delilah, looking more deranged with every passing second refused.

    "I'm not leaving without what you took from our mistress! With her not here, it belongs to us!" Delilah shouted. Understanding dawned on Jon. He had intentionally remained silent whenever Delilah had mentioned taking something, as he didn't want to risk giving away the fact Dialga's egg was on the property. However, he hadn't considered the fact that there was something Delilah would want here that she almost certainly knew about.

    Focusing his thoughts on Latios, and wanting to see what his Legendary partner saw, Latios detected the change, and in an instant, Jon's vision changed to an aerial view of the battle. He saw the witches huddling together, as the defenders closed in, and in the cabin windows, faces of students watching, as well as phones, recording the scene unfold.

    "You want Giratina?" Jon asked. “Rayquaza, give us some space, and be ready for a Draco Meteor should they do anything stupid…”

    Rayquaza roared menacingly as Delilah glared at Jon. Normally, Jon would have had Rayquaza handle this, however, he figured that Delilah may not be the only one still loyal to Agatha and her cause. Between them and Blackstone, a statement needed to be made.

    Jon withdrew Giratina’s Pokeball, and tossed it forward. It erupted into a flash of light, and Jon heard screams from the cabins behind him. From where she stood with Violet, having forced back the nearest witches, Abbee shuddered seeing Giratina emerge, remembering the attack on Section B, though Giratina was now in a vastly different shape, its glowing red eyes piercing the darkness.

    “I hope you know what you’re doing…” Abbee said quietly, despite having vouched for Jon a few days earlier, that he had never let them down. Violet heard Abbee’s words, and couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of worry. She knew that Abbee knew Jon far better than she did, and had a better idea of his capability.

    “Giratina!” Jon called out, far louder than he needed to. “These intruders are loyal to your former mistress, and claim you belong to them. They even brought another Legendary Pokemon to try and take you by force!”

    Giratina’s narrow red eyes focused on Delilah, who could have sworn her entire body felt slightly heavier. Despite this, she spoke.

    “This thief took you from us by force!” Delilah called back. “Surely you would rather be with us, servants of Agatha, than this interloper?!”

    Hearing these words, Giratina roared angrily, and Delilah felt her entire body struggle to remain upright.

    “Giratina was never truly loyal to Agatha,” Jon called out to Delilah, who shot him a puzzled look. “Though it makes sense that the stuck up old hag never told you this! She’d want you to think she had absolute control over it!”

    “Liar!” Delilah shouted, as Jon laughed.

    “Call me a liar all you want, but the proof is in front of you! Agatha cursed Giratina to force it to be loyal, at risk of pain!” Jon shouted back. “But I broke that curse, like the one Nicodemus placed on me, and now, Giratina is loyal to me!”

    “Lunala!” Delilah roared angrily. “Moongeist Beam! Kill him!”

    [i]”Latios…”[‘i] Jon thought.

    Twin white lights appeared at Lunala’s wings, which darted forward, converging together in front of the Pokemon, before launching directly at Jon. With all the determination he could muster, and seriously hoping one of the students was filming this, he didn’t flinch, as Latios materialised in front of Jon, and raised a telekinetic barrier, which the beam struck, before dispersing around Latios and Jon.

    “Giratina!” Jon roared. “Shadow Force!”

    Giratina roared, before vanishing into thin air, reappearing a moment later behind Lunala, and striking ferociously with the tentacle-like appendages that sprouted from its back. Lunala roared in pain, as Jon gave his final order.

    “Shadow Claw!”

    Staggered by the heavy hit, Lunala was unable to dodge as all of the spiked appendages slashed at it, knocking it back, where it collapsed unconscious.

    Delilah swore as she returned Lunala to its Pokeball, before beginning to mutter an incantation.

    “Giratina, pin them to the ground…”

    Without a sound, Delilah, and all the witches with her, collapsed, as the gravity underneath them intensified. There were screams of pain, as ankles shattered under the weight, and one by one, all found themselves lying flat, unable to move.

    “S**t…” Chris muttered as he watched from where he stood.

    “I imagine it’s quite difficult to breathe, all that weight pressing down on your lungs…” Jon said coldly, as he stood forward. “And your heart is probably working a lot harder to pump blood through your body…”

    “I’ll kill you…” Delilah said, gasping, as the breath she just released with those words, struggled to return to her under the new weight.

    “Delilah, you’ll have passed out by the time I finish talking if you keep interrupting me,” Jon said, sounding like a teacher, scolding a student for holding back a class with their talking. “So listen, so there is no misunderstanding…”

    Really hoping that this was being recorded, Jon raised his voice.

    “Giratina is loyal to me, and this is only a fraction of its power,” Jon explained. “All it would take is one word, and Giratina could kill you all instantly, before you even take your next breath. And given the fact that you trespassed here, planning on harming, and potentially killing my students, I would have been quite justified in killing you if I thought that was the only safe option…”

    Hearing this, Giratina increased the intensity of the gravity holding the trespassers to the ground for a moment, as cries of pain pierced the air for a moment.

    “So let this be a message to anyone who think they have what it takes to come here, and have their way with myself, my family, or my students…” Jon continued. “Your chance of making it out of here alive, is far lower than your chance of succeeding at whatever it is you try to do here, and those chances aren’t high to begin with. I am the last person on earth you want to make an enemy of…”

    Jon watched as each of the attacking force went still, passing out from the difficulty breathing and the strain of their heart working overtime.

    “Giratina, let them go…” Jon said, before looking around. “Cass, Violet, Jarena and Willow, silencing curses on them, ASAP. The rest of you, remove their Pokeballs…”

    From all four flanking points, a witch emerged from each, quickly placing the curses on the witches, so if they did wake up, they’d be unable to perform Shadowcraft, as the rest of the interns quickly removed belts containing Pokeballs.

    “You don’t think it was a bit much?” Dylan asked, as he approached Jon. “Some of the students might be terrified of you…”

    Jon sighed.

    “If any are, I will talk to them myself,” Jon answered. “But this needed to happen. Rayquaza could have handled things. But Giratina was the better option for making a statement…”

    Dylan nodded, having figured Jon was putting on the theatrics for that reason.

    “Blackstone had better think twice if they’re planning on coming here…”

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

    The police arrived in the next fifteen minutes, by which point all of the witches were sitting upright, having awoken, however, being silenced and relieved of their Pokemon, and surrounded by Chris and Charlotte, they made no attempt to flee. The rest of the workers were tasked with attempting to calm down the students in cabins, particularly, those who had witnessed first hand what had happened, as well as doing a check to make sure nobody was missing from their cabin. Whilst the police were getting statements from Jon, Chris, and Dylan, Steven arrived, and noticing Jon was occupied speaking to the police, made his way to where Alyssa stood, having woken during the chaos, and emerged from the cottage when Abbee had gone past during her task and told her it was safe.

    “Are you alright?” Steven asked Alyssa, who nodded. “What about Lili?”

    “Serena, my Gardevoir, is keeping an eye on her at home. I managed to get her back to sleep,” Alyssa explained. “I’m fine. I was asleep until the fighting began. I didn’t even see any of it…”

    “You will,” Steven said, his tone sounding as if he wasn’t sure himself how he felt about what he was going to say. “I have no clue who shared it, but the media have a hold of the footage one of the students got from their cabin already. Silver Wing News is already publishing…”

    “Do these people never sleep?” Alyssa asked, aware of the irony, and the fact that she, in the past, had been awoken at 3am to a breaking story, and began frantically writing to be the first to cover it.

    By the time the police had apprehended the trespassers, taken statements, and left, and the students had quietened down enough that the workers could consider going back to sleep, it was 3am, whilst Jon stayed awake, beginning the task of making phone calls to parents of the students present, informing them of what had transpired before they saw it on the news.

    Chris awoke at 7am the next morning, and as he made his way downstairs, he was shocked to see everyone but Alyssa in the staff lodge living room.

    “If we’re all here…” Chris began.

    “Alyssa is keeping an eye on things,” Jon answered. “We won’t be long…”

    Chris noticed the TV was on, and the 7am news was starting, as a dull logo faded from the screen, revealing a pair of news anchors, who began their usual introduction. Once that was over, nobody was surprised at the first piece of news that was shared.

    “In the early hours of this morning, a small contingent of witches, part of the group who alongside disgraced former Elite Four member, and witch, Agatha, brought about the Spiritwater Crisis, attempted an assault on the Eon Academy in Mossdeep City. Sources claim that despite the late hour, Eon Academy employee and former student, Christopher Kingswood as well as High Seas Champion, and Academy founder, Jon Drake, were awake, and detected the assailants before they were spotted themselves. In a display of strength, the attacking force was quickly neutralised, with Jon Drake giving a word of warning to any who may consider attempting something similar at the Eon Academy. Please be advised, some viewers may find the following footage distressing…”

    On screen, grainy footage appeared, showing all of the witches from the night before lying flat on the ground. Over the excited chatter of the students in the cabin where the scene was being filmed from, Jon’s voice could be heard.

    “Giratina is loyal to me, and this is only a fraction of its power,” Jon on-screen explained. “All it would take is one word, and Giratina could kill you all instantly, before you even take your next breath. And given the fact that you trespassed here, planning on harming, and potentially killing my students, I would have been quite justified in killing you if I thought that was the safer option…”

    Cries of pain came from the screen, as Giratina had momentarily increased the gravitational pull on them, before Jon continued.

    “So let this be a message to anyone who thinks they have what it takes to come here, and have their way with myself, my family, or my students…” Jon continued. “Your chance of making it out of here alive, is far lower than your chance of succeeding at whatever it is you try to do here, and those chances aren’t high to begin with. I am the last person on earth you want to make an enemy of…”

    The footage disappeared from screens as the anchors appeared.

    “As is standard for Jon Drake, responses to his handling of the events shown are varied. Many question Jon Drake’s attitude towards taking the law into his own hands, and whilst self defence can be legally used as a reason to overlook use of lethal force, something to which Jon Drake is no stranger-”

    “Did they have to mention that…” Jon muttered, remembering the incident at the Whirl Islands.

    “You kind of asked for it,” Steven retorted.

    ”There are concerns that Jon Drake may view himself as judge, jury and executioner, both in terms of League Operations that he has been a part of, and with regards to the Eon Academy. Critics also question the sensibility of battling with Giratina, given the Legendary Pokemon’s involvement in the Spiritwater Crisis, whilst, according to sources present, Latios and Rayquaza were both out of their Pokeballs, taking a back seat to Giratina,” the anchor continued. ”There are also concerns being raised about the safety of students at the Eon Academy, especially given the enemies that Jon Drake has made due to his now public involvement in the Spiritwater Crisis, as well as the allure of multiple Legendary Pokemon, which has already put targets on the back of himself, and his students. We reached out to Jon for comment, and he had this to say…”

    All present looked at Jon in shock, knowing his usual policy was to avoid making statements unless he absolutely had to. Text appeared on screen, read out by the newsreader.

    ”As a parent myself, I understand the concerns they have in light of this morning’s events. Had my daughter been at a summer camp where this happened, I would be having Latios fly me there right now. But let me assure you, that the staff on site are some of the best battlers I have ever met, and have all proven time and time again, their ability to think rationally in a situation such as this, and act accordingly. I understand my presence invites risk, however, we are taking many measures, some of which I can’t share, to ensure that all who call the Eon Academy home this summer, will be kept safe. Last night, whilst an example of the fact that the Spiritwater Crisis has placed a target on my back, was a better example of just how protected my students are from anybody who means them harm,” the newscaster read. ”Let me make one thing abundantly clear. Every student who attends the Eon Academy, has the right to come here, learn more about battling, Pokemon and themselves, and grow stronger than they ever thought possible, without fear for their safety. The Eon Academy is not an easy target. It’s not even a difficult target, or an impossible target. It’s a suicidal target. And should somebody make it a target, and it be the last thing they do, that is their mistake…”

    “Goddamn,” Justin said, looking at Jon with great concern. “You know that self defence only goes so far if somebody is killed, right?”

    “I’m aware,” Jon said quietly. “But a statement needed to be made. So that any other groups like this one, or even Blackstone, reconsider doing anything like this…”

    ”On the other side of the spectrum, those who support Jon Drake claim that his extreme stance on trespassers such as these are justified, and that it shouldn’t fall onto Jon Drake to have to go to these lengths to defend himself and his property, and that the League should not have let this contingent evade capture to begin with-”

    “Typical,” Steven muttered irritably.

    ”They also cite the involvement of Jon Drake’s original five students, as well as that of the Diamond Ladies, who have since taken residence and employment at the Eon Academy, in the events of this morning, stating that the Eon Academy has produced battlers of such high calibre, that the risk of being student to Jon Drake is worth the results shown by his employees…”

    “We barely did anything last night,” Charlotte said, almost irritably, before looking to the four witches in the room. “Honestly, it seems like you four are the only witches who don’t think Shadowcraft makes up for being a s**t trainer…”

    “Well, we used to think that,” Cassandra replied jokingly, earning a sigh from Violet and a laugh from Jarena.

    The news continued, however there was little worth listening to after this, and the TV was soon flicked off, all present having responsibilities to attend to soon.

    “Do you think it worked?” Willow asked. “You think they’ve got the message?”

    They didn’t refer to anybody in particular, but at the same time, Jon knew that Willow was referring to Blackstone, or any other witches who wanted retribution.

    “I can’t say,” Jon answered. “Even after you guys go, they’ll be thinking twice though…”

    Steven nodded, seeing as the footage only showed Jon’s involvement.

    “Let’s just hope this damn egg hatches soon…”

    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 04-26-2023 at 01:27 PM.

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  11. #177
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Oh lord, another six week gap between episodes.

    Getting near the end of the year, and am at the sweet spot where university is finished for the year (and thankfully, this is my last year with the workload I have been studying at. Next year, it is halved before I finish), and Christmas craziness hasn't started yet.

    Keen to get back into the good habit of writing, and given work is quietening down, I should have some more time to bust out some episodes. Season 5 is ramping up...

  12. #178
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Season 5 Episode 5: Another Wager
    Spoiler:

    “There is something wrong with those boys…” Justin said loudly as he entered the staff lodge.

    It was 1am Sunday morning of the fourth week of summer. Despite the late hour, everyone was still awake. Charlotte was due to relieve Justin on watch, though Justin, having the 10pm to 1am shift, was also having to try and quieten down the campers who were keeping each other awake. Charlotte on the other hand, had to let them be. Jon didn’t want it being public knowledge that one of the interns was awake and on guard at all times. Firstly, because it meant that if the Academy staff had to respond to a threat, like earlier that week, they could maintain the element of surprise. And secondly, Jon had assured parents that students were safe at the Eon Academy, and if they knew that Jon was taking measures such as this, that would only serve to worry them further.

    “Sean again?” Jarena asked, from where she sat at the dining room table with Cassandra and Charlotte, playing a card game to keep Charlotte company as she waited for her own shift to start. Abbee and Dylan were at the other end of the table, drinking hot chocolates, whilst Victini sat on the table, helping himself to a bag of marshmallows, which he was gently roasting to perfection. In the lounge, Chris and Violet sat in content silence, Chris reading up on travel routes in Galar, whilst Violet browsed online about job opportunities working for the Pokemon League. At word of one of the students from his group, Chris looked up.

    “What now?” Chris asked, evidently sick of hearing one of his students being the source of annoyance so frequently.

    “The usual s**t,” Justin sighed. “Honestly, I’d get Jon to handle it, but if I do that, then he just knows that he can get me to give up. But if I gotta keep dealing with this, I may get myself kicked out of the police force before training even begins…”

    Though he was only joking, the room went silent hearing this.

    “Do you think one of us might have a better chance of getting that cabin to get their act together?” Abbee asked.

    Justin considered Abbee’s proposal.

    “On the one hand, I’m not sure what you guys can do that I can’t, short of using Shadowcraft to force them to sleep…” Justin said, as Violet stifled a snort of laughter. “On the other hand, maybe someone else has what it takes. Still, I don’t want to make you guys endure that…”

    “I have an idea…” Charlotte said, as she dropped her own hand of cards, revealing them before taking the pile in the centre. “Let’s have some fun with this…”

    “Why do I get the feeling the children will be scarred by what you have in mind?” Chris asked, though Charlotte ignored the joke, as Jarena grinned.

    “A bet,” Charlotte explained, pretending Chris had said nothing. “Fifty dollars to participate, winner takes all. Winner will be whoever can get them quiet the soonest…”

    Charlotte looked at Dylan.

    “Without just putting them all to sleep via some supernatural method…” Charlotte added, as Dylan sighed.

    “That sounds good in theory, but fifty dollars?” Dylan asked. “Why would Justin pay fifty dollars to participate in a competition that is stemming from the fact he can’t do this by himself?”

    Abbee nudged Dylan, who realised what he had just said, before looking at Justin.

    “No offence…” he said, to which Justin just shrugged.

    “If all it costs me is fifty dollars for someone to find a way to get these kids to behave themselves, I’d call that money well spent…” Justin said with a grin. “I’m game…”

    Charlotte stood, knowing she technically should be outside already, and stretched for a moment, thinking.

    “Who’s in?” she asked. “The more who have a go, the bigger the prize…”

    There was a murmur of assent from the other four interns, and to her slight surprise, Cassandra as well.

    “Well how about this; tomorrow is a planning day, then the next six nights each of us but Justin has an eleven ‘til three shift overnight. Chris has two, and so do I, so Cass, you can take his second one, and Justin you take mine,” Charlotte explained. “No Shadowcraft, no using Pokemon moves. No asking Jon for help, because Justin’s right. They’ll just think we can’t deal with them on our own. Honesty system for when they go quiet. Whoever pulls it off earliest, takes the three hundred dollars. And once it’s over, we get Sean moved into another cabin. Deal?”

    “Deal,” Chris said, with a look of amusement. “Easiest three hundred I’ve ever made…”

    “What has you so sure you’ve got this?” Justin asked, amused at Chris’ optimism.

    “They’re in my group. They respect me…”

    “Tuesday night will answer that,” Charlotte said, before looking at her watch. “I better go. Abbee, you’re up first, Monday night…”

    Abbee nodded, wondering how she’d go about this, as Charlotte left the building.

    “Do you guys think you can get them to behave themselves?” Justin said, looking to the table where Cassandra, Jarena, Abbee and Dylan sat.

    Abbee shrugged.

    “I have two days to figure something out. We’ll see…”

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

    The two days passed quickly, being a Sunday, with no classes, and the seminar having happened the day before, then the Monday. On Sunday, students were given free time, some of the older students going into Mossdeep in small groups, though most of the more studious ones gathered together for some practice battles against one another, even roping in a few of the interns to join them. Monday had the first classes for the week, and Abbee hoped, though didn’t hold her breath, that the classes, as well as Chris’ group having their training session with Jon, which the worst of the boys she would be dealing with were a part of, would have them tired. It was nearing eleven, which meant that students needed to already be in their cabins, with lights out and no noise from eleven onwards.

    “You’re on duty again?”

    Abbee looked over to see Rose, Jon and Alyssa’s niece, who had been one of Abbee’s first students, approaching her, wearing a shirt and pair of shorts. Despite the fact that they were keeping secret that they were having someone posted outdoors all night, it was no secret that there was an intern scheduled to try and get students into bed. Despite the fact that there were two hundred students, the bulk of them were usually compliant enough, or just exhausted enough, that they didn’t need to be pestered to sleep. It was the noisy few that even warranted someone trying to get them to behave.

    “Every Monday night,” Abbee said with a grin. “Hopefully, you lot make my job easy tonight, and I can get to bed early…”

    Abbee knew this was a lie. She’d be up until 3am regardless, as was expected from her shift that evening. She quickly checked her watch.

    “Shouldn’t you be in your cabin?” Abbee asked, giving Rose a meaningful look.

    “Auntie Liss wanted to catch up after dinner and we lost track of time,” Rose answered plainly. “I’m heading to bed now. Don’t want you wasting your energy on me…”

    Abbee sighed, knowing exactly what Rose was referring to.

    “It’s gonna be a long night…” Abbee said, as Rose grinned.

    “Good luck…”

    Rose made her way back to her own cabin, which was quiet already, as Abbee looked towards the infamous cabin she knew housed Sean and his friends. Lights were still visible from behind the curtains, and as other cabins quietened down, she could hear more noise coming from it with each passing second.

    “May as well get started…” Abbee said to Victini, who scoffed, knowing full well that the pair were going to be in for a frustrating night.

    As Abbee got closer to the cabin, she heard noise coming from it outside of the usual chatter. A heavy, basic beat.

    “Are you kidding me?” Victini muttered. “Everyone else is going to sleep and they’re playing music?”

    “Just leave it with me,” Abbee said, trying to sound confident, but knowing she wasn’t. She approached the door, and knocked.

    “Boys, it’s light’s out,” Abbee called out, her tone sounding casual and friendly. “Can you please turn off the light and music, and go to sleep?”

    “Oh, I’m sure saying please will be what wins this…” Victini whispered, which Abbee ignored. She heard a few murmured whispers, before silence.

    “Thank you!” Abbee called out, before turning to walk to the nearby bench, where she would perch herself for her shift. Before she had taken two steps however, there was a loud thud and a burst of laughter, and Abbee sighed as she turned back towards the cabin, knocking on the door again.

    “Boys, I’m coming in…” Abbee said, hoping she wasn’t making a mistake. She entered the room, where half of the boys were in their beds, watching with grins, as the other three boys appeared to be engaging in a game of sock wrestling.

    “This is a boys cabin,” Sean said. “You’re not allowed in here.”

    “It’s a cabin, not a bathroom, genius…” Victini retorted telepathically, as Abbee raised her shoulder to disrupt his footing and quieten him.

    “I’m an employee of the Academy, so if doing my job means I need to come in here, then I am allowed,” Abbee explained, trying to sound professional. “Either way, you should all be in bed, not keeping each other awake…”

    “But I haven’t brushed my teeth,” said Sean, who was still fully dressed.

    “You’ve been in your cabin the last half hour,” Abbee answered. “Why didn’t you brush them then?”

    “I forgot.”

    “Go brush them then,” Abbee answered. “Then go to bed.”

    “I haven’t brushed mine either!” said another boy. One by one, each of them said they hadn’t brushed their teeth, as Abbee, knowing now she had to allow all of them to brush their teeth, having allowed one to go.

    Each of the boys went to the bathroom that was built in to their cabin, and she heard the boys laughing, before one of them cried out in disgust, as, Abbee guessed, he had been spat on.

    “Boys, stop messing around,” Abbee said, her voice sounding sterner than it had ever had to be in this role, though still the most casual of any intern. “I need you all to go to sleep. You’ve got a big day tomorrow, and I need to teach, so I don’t want to be awake all night because of you guys.”

    “Sorry,” said one of the boys, though she had a feeling he wasn’t sorry, and simply knew this was a convenient way to defuse confrontation.

    The boys gradually found their way into their beds, as Abbee’s watch read quarter past eleven, before she told them again to go to sleep, and left the room. This time, she made it halfway to the bench, before turning around, new noises coming from the room.

    “This was a mistake…” Abbee said quietly, as Victini choked back a laugh…

    It was half past midnight when Abbee, at her wits end, gave up, knowing that if they weren’t listening to her for the last hour and a half, they wouldn’t start now, figuring that her entering and exiting would simply just keep them amused, and another hour and a half later when they finally went to sleep. An hour later, Justin arrived to relieve Abbee of her watch duty, much to her relief.

    “How did you go?” Justin asked, although knowing the answer.

    “I don’t know how you don’t slap these kids…” Abbee muttered, as Justin grinned widely. He felt better about his temptation to slap one, now knowing that even Abbee was reaching that point. “2am was when they went quiet…”

    “That’s rough…” Justin answered, though felt himself grow excited. His average time of getting them silent was about 1am. If everyone else struggled as much as Abbee did, he may take the winnings. Though, the thought of having to admit that nobody could get them to behave soured the prospect for him.

    “Honestly,” Abbee said, unable to hide the grin. “I almost want to watch Chris try and deal with this tomorrow night…”

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

    “It’s 11pm,” Chris called out loudly from where he stood in the Eon Academy grounds the next evening. “Light’s out!”

    Most cabins by this point were already quiet and over the next minute or so, he saw light disappearing from behind curtains of the various cabins. In five minutes, all the cabins were dark but one…

    “Time to make some cash…” Chris said to himself with a grin, as he walked to the infamous cabin. Without knocking, he flung the door open, and stepped in. Two boys were sitting in one of the beds, watching a video on a phone, whilst Sean stood next to the bed, laughing along, until Chris had entered.

    “Knock next time!” Sean exclaimed. “You don’t know what you might have walked in on!”

    “If you were doing anything bad enough to be that worried, you shouldn’t be here,” Chris retorted sharply. “Jamie, get into your own bed! Sean, I’m sick of hearing about you screwing around! Go to sleep.”

    “But I haven’t brushed my teeth yet-”

    “Sean, we all know you don’t care if you go a night or three without brushing your teeth,” Chris interrupted. “Stop bulls**tting me and go to bed.”

    There was a chorus of laughter from the other boys, as Sean made his way towards his bed. He stopped a few feet shy of it however, before looking around angrily.

    “Who took my pillow?!” Sean asked angrily, looking around. “It was here a minute ago!”

    All of the boys began loudly denying having taken Sean’s pillow, as Chris looked at them all.

    “This is your one and only chance to ‘fess up without us having a problem-” Chris began, before Sean cut him off.

    “Blake, give me my pillow! I know you took it!”

    “I didn’t take s**t from you!” Blake retorted indignantly. “I see how often you shower, you think I’d want your grubby pillow?”

    “Sean, shut up,” Chris said irritably.

    “But he’s got my pillow!”

    “And how the hell do you know that?” Chris asked, before cutting Sean off without waiting for an answer. “You don’t, you just don’t know when to keep your mouth shut.”

    “Oh, I know when to keep my mouth shut. I could talk a lot more if I wanted-”

    “Sean, shut up and go to bed.”

    “But I don’t have a pillow!”

    “You said it was there a minute ago?” Chris asked, and before Sean could give any more than a nod, Chris cut him off again, knowing full well letting this kid talk was not worth the hassle. “Well if you had been in bed when you were supposed to, and not screwing around, you wouldn’t have lost it.”

    “I didn’t lose it! Blake stole it!”

    “I didn’t steal your pillow, f**kwit!” Blake yelled.

    “Blake, shut up and let me deal with this,” Chris snapped at Blake. “Sean, go to sleep.”

    “But I don’t have a pillow!”

    “Use a hoodie then, you’ll get a new one tomorrow,” Chris retorted, as he walked towards the door.

    “I’m gonna sue this place!” Sean called out, as one of the other boys yelled out for Sean to shut up.

    “I’m gone after this summer, so I don’t give two s**ts,” Chris retorted, lying about not caring, but figuring it was better to show Sean indifference. He walked outside and closed the door, checking his phone. It was quarter past eleven. The cabin seemed quiet, so he made his way to the bench where he figured he would make himself comfortable before pulling out his phone and writing the time down in his notes.

    They had established that the silence only counted if it were final. If the boys remained this way for the rest of his shift, Chris knew he would have this competition in the bag. However, as he wrote pm after the time in his phone, he heard laughter from the boys cabin, before swearing to himself under his breath, and pressing backspace to clear the note. He walked back to the cabin, and pounded the door.

    “Go to sleep!” he said angrily, as the cabin went quiet again. For a total of eight seconds, before Chris heard Sean’s voice again. Flinging open the door, he walked in to see Sean, standing by his bed, which was the one closest to the door, now shirtless, and rubbing his nipples, as other boys in the cabin laughed. He turned to look at Chris, with what Chris would describe as a s**t-eating grin.

    Chris’ expression didn’t shift. He didn’t show any inclination of surprise, or further irritation. He knew that Sean was seeking attention.

    “Sean,” Chris said, his voice level, and speaking as if what he was about to say was completely normal. “Stop rubbing your nipples and go to bed…”

    Sean laughed, as did the other boys, however didn’t move.

    “Sean!” Chris said, raising his voice. “Go to bed!”

    Sean made his way to his bed, climbing in, as the other boys continued to laugh.

    “You’re keeping me, the other boys, and people next door awake,” Chris said. “Shut up, and go to sleep.”

    “What time?” Charlotte asked smugly as she joined Chris outside at 3am, who, despite the boys having now been quiet for a while, sat in obvious frustration.

    “1:15am…” Chris replied bitterly. Charlotte grinned.

    ”They respect me,” Charlotte said mockingly, reminding Chris of his words of self-confidence from the few nights before.

    “They do during classes,” Chris argued, more trying to convince himself. “It’s just bedtime when they start being stupid…”

    Charlotte’s grin widened as Chris continued to justify the situation.

    “There are stories of Were-Mightyena, people who turn into weird mutant Mightyena on the full moon,” Chris explained. “What about Were-F**kwits?”

    “Possible, except one thing,” Charlotte noted, although not believing it at all, and nodding up. ”The full moon was nearly a fortnight ago…”

    Chris sighed.

    “You have any ideas on how you’ll get them to cooperate?” Chris asked. “You can tell me now, seeing as I can’t do anything more…”

    “I have one,” Charlotte admitted. “But I’d rather see if it works before I share too much of it…”

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

    It was half past eleven when Justin decided it was time to try and get the boys cabin to be quiet, hoping that if he left them alone for half an hour, the novelty of interns telling them off not being there would leave them bored. It also gave him extra time to plan how he would handle this.

    Technically, Justin wasn’t even supposed to be having his turn that evening. Dylan was scheduled for that night’s eleven to three shift, however, in light of recent events, Justin had offered to swap shifts with Dylan.

    That afternoon, Jon had another seizure, this time, right as students were leaving Dylan’s team’s training session with Jon. Dylan had managed to obscure Jon, and prevent the students from seeing as they left, however was shaken by the episode. It had been eleven days since his last seizure, which was a consolation in itself, as the last few had been only a little over a week apart. However, all present knew how these affected Dylan more than the other interns, having been living with Jon for over four years now, and working closely alongside him. Dylan hadn’t been at dinner that evening, and Justin, having thought it over, had tracked him down in the evening, and strong-armed Dylan into switching watch shifts with him. This meant that he would be taking both shifts, given his own three to seven shift was that night as well, however, armed with caffeine, and no classes he was responsible for the next day, the idea of an all nighter was nowhere near as daunting.

    At half past eleven, Justin had entered the boy’s cabin to attempt to quieten them down, and had as much success as he expected. None. Knowing that the time he had to beat in order to stay in the running for the grand prize was quarter past one, he had left the boys for another half hour, before his next attempt. After multiple more attempts, it was now half past midnight, and Justin had just flung the door open again.

    He was not at all surprised to see Sean had climbed out of his bed and onto the vacant top bunk above him, posing as the other boys laughed.

    “Sean!” Justin said angrily. “Get into your own bed!”

    “But I want to sleep on this one!” Sean whined.

    “Really?” Justin asked sarcastically. “Because all of your bedding is on the bottom bunk…”

    “I haven’t moved it yet-”

    “Then why be on the top bunk before you do?” Justin asked, as Sean went quiet for a second. Justin knew that his university lecturers would have been proud of that retort, being something simple, but enough to win any sort of case in a court of law. He’d almost rather the court of law…

    “I just-”

    “Sean, don’t disrespect me by treating me like an idiot,” Justin snapped. “Or the other staff members. You ought to show a little more respect-”

    “Why?”

    The sheer obnoxiousness of the comment took Justin by surprise. He knew Sean was obnoxious, but even at his worst, he had pretended to have some respect for the staff.

    “Why what?” Justin asked evenly, making it abundantly clear that he was giving Sean an opportunity to back out of this dangerous path he had decided to walk down with that question.

    “Why should I show the staff respect?” Sean asked as he climbed down, with the same smug grin that he had given Chris the evening before. “Or you…”

    Infuriated more than he had been in a very long time, more than after being attacked by Agatha’s followers in Goldenrod, or watching helplessly from a hospital room as the world appeared to be reaching its end, Justin stood forward, as a silence enveloped the other boys, who knew that Sean had crossed the threshold from simply being a dumb kid who didn’t know when to shut-up to something worse….

    “I’ll tell you why,” Justin said forcefully, now angry, and letting that fuel his words, because if it didn’t fuel them, he worried they may fuel a slap across the face. “Because I’ve done more to earn that respect in the last four years than you have your entire life. By the time I was eighteen, I had discovered and captured a brand new Legendary Pokemon. I was the first trainer here to beat Jon in a serious match, before even Charlotte or Dylan!”

    Justin took a step forward, causing Sean to instinctively back away, where he fell backwards onto his bed.

    “Before I was even eighteen, Deoxys attacked the Academy, and wiped out power and communications off the island. Alone, I restored power, and sent an SOS, before returning to the Academy and helped the others get Deoxys on the defensive and end the battle! Less than a year later, we survived a targeted attack by poachers, who took Jon hostage, and managed to get them arrested and rescue him!” Justin continued, his voice rising. “Last summer, myself, Chris and Charlotte fought off a squadron of Agatha’s witches who had set their sights on us, and prevented them from murdering somebody!”

    Justin didn’t mention the somebody they were attempting to murder was Lance, a now escaped criminal.

    “And not even a week ago, myself and the other staff, risked our lives to fight off an attacking force, who came here, hoping to take someone like you, and torture and kill them to try and force Jon’s hand,” Justin yelled. “The very fact you are here, giving me the s**ts, is because I risked my own neck to make sure you could! So yes, you will treat me, and the others, with some goddamn respect, and if you have a problem with that, you can challenge me on the battlefield any time. One of my Pokemon to your six, and I’ll show you just how wrong you are!”

    There was silence in the cabin, as Justin looked around. None of the boys were willing to make eye contact with him.

    “Now shut up and go to sleep…” Justin said irritably, before walking to the door.

    He almost reached it, when Sean, living up to his reputation, spoke quietly.

    “I’ll be telling my parents about this,” Sean muttered. “You can’t talk to us like that.”

    To Sean’s surprise, Justin laughed.

    “Tell them. You can use my phone to call them if you want, right now,” Justin said, holding out his phone. “Because if they really think that I am treating you that badly, I can guarantee you that Jon will be keeping me here for the rest of summer, so they’ll probably just take you home and I can get to bed sooner…”

    Sean was silent, before Justin withdrew his phone and scoffed.

    “That’s what I thought…”

    Justin closed the door behind him, and quickly realised that between his shift ending, and going to bed in the morning, he’d need to fill Jon in. Technically, the way he spoke to Sean wasn’t ideal, but he had hoped that it may finally bring about some change in behaviour.

    The cabin was silent when Justin returned to his seat, as he wrote down the time.

    ’12:40am’

    He grinned. This was the earliest time in the bet so far, and the earliest he had managed to get them to be quiet on his shifts. And he had the feeling that nobody was keen to test his patience again that evening.

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

    “I swear, if tonight onwards they behave themselves, and I lose this bet having helped you guys…” Justin began, before yawning loudly. It was nearing eleven, and he was keeping Charlotte company as she began her shift. He had stayed awake until shortly before eight that morning, kept awake by caffeine, and quiet conversations on the phone with Candice, as the time zones made it an ideal time to talk, before sleeping for four hours, not wanting to ruin his sleep pattern, especially considering he had three classes and group training with Jon the next day. The effect of that, which Justin was thankful for, was that right now he was exhausted, and knew he would have no issue finding sleep.

    “How were they with you today?” Charlotte asked. “Have you seen them?”

    “The other boys seem to be treating me like some sort of god,” Justin laughed. “I keep catching them staring at me in awe. Sean on the other hand is terrified of me. I sat at his table during dinner, and he immediately shut up. Almost jumped out of his skin when I asked him to pass the salt.”

    “Interesting…” Charlotte muttered, as she considered her own plan of action for the evening.

    “You thinking of doing the same thing?” Justin asked. “Throwing your weight around?”

    “I had an idea I was wanting to try, and I don’t think doing both would work. It’d just come off as desperate. Especially if you did that last night,” Charlotte explained, as she looked over towards the cabin that had become the source of frustration for all the interns over the last few nights. Her attention had been piqued by the amount of noise coming from it. “I think you can rest easy. If you’re not on watch they’ll be back to normal…”

    “Good luck,” Justin said. “Remember, twenty-to-one is the time to beat…”

    “Twenty-to-one,” Charlotte agreed, as Justin waved goodnight and made his way towards the staff lodge.

    Charlotte waited fifteen minutes, before knocking on the door, and entering the boys room.

    “It’s past bedtime,” Charlotte said simply. Her voice was neutral, with no friendliness, or animosity present. She may as well have been reading out the words she spoke. “Time to be quiet and go to sleep…”

    There were murmurs of agreement, and an apology from one of the boys before she walked out. Five minutes later however, she could hear laughter and noises. She grinned. This was what she was relying on.

    After waiting another fifteen minutes, she knocked on the door, which caused silence, before walking in quietly.

    “Well boys, I just wanted to thank you…” Charlotte said, in the same tone as before. She had a theory. Sometimes, what’s worse than someone yelling and getting angry when you’re annoying them, is when they’re dead calm…

    “What for?” asked Jamie, confused by Charlotte’s words.

    “Helping me figure out how to run my classes tomorrow,” Charlotte said, intentionally visibly looking around to count the boys in the cabin. “You all have practical training with me at some point tomorrow, and I needed to figure out who to get up for the demonstration…”

    “What demonstration?” Blake asked, now sounding worried.

    “We’re discussing humiliation tactics in class tomorrow,” Charlotte said casually. “You know, for when you’re battling someone who is just a poor sport, and deserves to be put in their place. Like that girl I battled from the College of the North Wind…”

    Knowing that all students at the Academy had seen those matches, being the goldmine of tactics they were in Chris and Cassandra’s Tactics and Strategy classes, all knew what Charlotte was talking about. How she had beaten her opponent’s Legendary Pokemon Zeraora without using her Deoxys, and then, when her opponent had sent out a Hydreigon, having Deoxys use a simple trick to cause the Pokemon to rampage, ignoring all orders given by its trainer, before knocking it out with such brutal ease. Of all battles that day two summers earlier, that, potentially tied with Jon’s win over Camilla, was the most humiliating loss for the College of the North Wind.

    “See, Jon and I have been planning this, but had a dilemma,” Charlotte explained. “If I were to get any students up to help with the demonstration, it would be humiliating for them. Far worse than back at the College. But if I were to demonstrate against Jon, the tactics may not be as obvious and easy to pick up. I settled for using Jon as the example because I couldn’t think of any students I would be okay with humiliating in class…”

    Charlotte looked around as one by one, the boys realised what she was saying.

    “But now, I think I know who I wouldn’t mind helping me get the point across tomorrow…” Charlotte said, looking between them. “And I think I have some stuff in mind for all of you to help me out…”

    There was silence, as Charlotte considered it.

    “But, if I get to go to sleep soon, and don’t have time to come up with new plans tonight, I will just have to have Jon be the victim,” Charlotte said, more to herself, though knew all were listening intently.

    “We’ll be quiet,” Blake said quickly. The rest of the boys murmured in agreement.

    “Good,” Charlotte replied simply, before leaving. As she walked away from the cabin, she heard a whisper from Sean, before the sharp whispers of the other boys telling him to shut up and go to sleep. This back and fourth continued for another ten minutes, until finally they were silent. She checked the time, and laughed as she realised it was quarter to twelve, putting her in first place

    “I’ll let the others know about this…” Charlotte said to herself, as she got comfortable, having a hunch she wouldn’t need to be getting up again, short of an emergency. “After the bet is over…”

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

    That morning, once Abbee had returned from her three to seven shift, and all the interns had awoken, they had convened in the staff lodge to clarify the current standings. Abbee was currently in last place, with silence not being achieved until two in the morning, though Cassandra had respected the fact that she didn’t try and pretend it happened half an hour earlier. Chris had been minutely more successful, managing to achieve silence from the cabin at quarter past one. Justin had achieved a personal best, having the boys quiet by twenty to one. Charlotte though, had decimated that, managing to get them silent at quarter to twelve, a mere forty-five minutes after lights out.

    “Are you sure you didn’t misread the time?” Chris asked, shocked. “Or that your watch just hadn’t been changed for daylight savings?”

    “Ask anyone in the cabin next door,” Charlotte retorted. “They’ll be thanking me that they could sleep before midnight…”

    “How did you two do it?” Cassandra asked Justin and Charlotte, knowing that, despite Charlotte being clearly ahead, Justin’s feat was equally impressive.

    “I made some veiled threats,” Charlotte said casually. “Pretty much told them that I would use them as examples for humiliation tactics in my classes today if they didn’t get their s**t together.”

    “I threw my weight around a bit. Didn’t even mean to,” Justin admitted. “Sean was just being such a disrespectful little… well, he asked why he should show any of us any respect, so I gave him a rundown, from Deoxys, to last summer, to the fact any of us could beat any of those boys in a battle with our eyes closed, or the fact that he was still safely able to be a pain in our a** was because we risked our lives to keep them safe during the attack last week…”

    “Damn…” Chris muttered.

    “Yeah, Jon and I had a chat about that the next day,” Justin laughed weakly. “He is expecting a complaint from Sean’s parents, but is on my side. He found it hilarious. This whole bet as well…”

    “He knows?” Cassandra asked slightly surprised as the other interns laughed at Justin’s revelation.

    “Yeah, he thought it was great,” Justin said, before remembering something. “Actually, he made a proposition for us…”

    Curiosity flowed across those present in the room, as Justin explained.

    “He made the offer that he will add a hundred dollars to the prize pool, but will write a name in a sealed envelope who he thinks will win,” Justin explained. “He doesn’t know the current results. But if we get to the end, and he has guessed right, he’ll take two hundred from the prize pool…”

    “So effectively, we can have the chance to win $400, but risk only winning $200…” Chris muttered.

    “There's no we about it,” Charlotte said to Chris. “You’re in second last place…”

    Justin nodded, before looking to Cassandra, Dylan and Charlotte.

    “This only affects you three now. You guys want to accept his offer?”

    Charlotte looked at Dylan and Cassandra, before speaking.

    “It’s not like double or nothing where we lose the prize. Even if he guesses correctly, we’re still pocketing two hundred dollars if we win…”

    “And if he doesn’t, $400 is a lot of money…” Cassandra said quietly. Despite her wage at the Academy being generous, most of that was in the form of lodging, food and utilities. Most of the money she did earn that didn’t go towards expenses not covered by the Academy, went into savings, so she could one day soon make a new life for herself independent of Jon’s help, and earned legitimately. $400 would be a nice bit of spending money she hadn’t accounted for.

    “I’m easy either way,” Dylan said with a shrug, though sounding a little distant, which they attributed to Jon’s seizure a few days prior.

    “So you agree to it?” Justin asked. Cassandra nodded.

    “We’re game. Get him to give you the envelope, and get the money from him and add it to the pool. I’ll be interested to see how this plays out…”

    That evening, Cassandra found herself watching as various students rushed back to their cabins, knowing that they were late. She didn’t call any out, knowing that the 10:30 in cabins rule was more so to prevent it getting to lights out and having complaints of teeth not being brushed, or people missing from cabins.

    She had only one idea for how to handle the boys tonight. Her classes were more theoretical, which didn’t allow for tactics like Charlotte’s, and the main claim to respect she held was in Shadowcraft, which she could not use to put the boys to sleep, and whilst she could use it for making a scene if need be, she knew that given recent history, using Shadowcraft to make herself clear would cause more trouble than this bet was worth.

    She had however, realised something. For years, before people even knew Shadowcraft existed, she had excelled in getting her way with people who didn’t necessarily want to help her. It was a talent of hers, which had resulted in her acquiring Victini many years earlier. Granted, she didn’t like the person she was when she had used this talent, she had been effective in getting her own way. Though the fame, money and influence she held at that time had helped, they weren’t the make or break facet of her ability to manipulate people back then. There was a skill to it.

    Normally, she avoided thinking about these prior to S.S. Wishmaker interactions in depth, due to the sheer amount she cringed at her previous self. However now, she endured the cringe, needing to embody her former self. She needed to be Cassandra Silvers, undefeated champion and leader of the Diamond Ladies. Cunning. Cutthroat. Wickedly smart. And, based on present Cassandra’s standards, a bit of a b***h…

    After repeating the line that she felt embodied her previous self the most to herself, ’it’s Miss Silvers to you,’ she began planning how she would get these boys to listen to her and go to sleep. It was twenty past eleven when she decided that to spend any more time trying to perfect the persona, would be to risk allowing Charlotte to keep the lead with no real contest. Standing up straighter, to add to her already impressive height, she made her way towards the boys cabin.

    The clothes she wore weren’t her standard every day attire, which had now become slightly less practical than the summer before, given the relative peace of the past year, but instead, the only clothes she had from her previous life. The ones Jon had bought from the collector, that she thought she had given to charity. Normally, she made a point of not wearing them, given the bulk of their time with her were with her old self, and also, it disgusted her to think of who had them before Jon bought them back. But, for tonight they added to the image she was attempting to embody. Miss Silvers.

    The boys were laughing loudly, as Cassandra opened the door, and walked well and truly into the cabin. Abbee on her night, had made the mistake of not going in further than the door. Miss Silvers however, knew that would be a mistake. These boys were like wild Pokemon, who were territorial. In their own territory, they would be more confident. Cassandra may have been okay with them feeling a little more comfortable in their own space. Miss Silvers however, intended on disrupting that space, and encroaching on their territory enough to make them uncomfortable. She stopped in the middle of the room, as the boys became quiet, the more astute of them recognising that Miss Silvers was not in the mood to be messed with.

    “Let me make something abundantly clear,” Miss Silvers said, displeasure obvious in her voice. “I didn’t want to be on light’s out duty tonight, but I owed Chris a favour, so here I am…”

    The last four words were said with a sarcastic, exasperated enthusiasm, as she looked around at all the boys. Sean went to open his mouth, however before an intelligible word left it, Miss Silvers had pounced on him.

    “Did I say you could talk?” she asked sharply, Cassandra glad that it was Sean who went to speak first, knowing that she got along quite well with a few of the more level headed boys in this cabin, and didn’t want Miss Silvers to damage the rapport she had with them. “No, so listen and listen well. I’m not going to repeat myself…”

    She looked around, somehow managing to hold her gaze for an uncomfortable amount of time with each boy in the room, whilst only mere seconds passed.

    “I have every intention of being asleep by midnight, which means you will be asleep before then as well,” Miss Silvers said, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

    “But Cassandra, can I stay awake if I’m not keeping the others-” began Blake, as Miss Silvers whirled around to face him.

    “It’s Miss Silvers to you,” Miss Silvers said sharply. “And no, because everyone here knows that this cabin cannot be trusted to be quiet while they’re still awake.”

    She glanced around, making sure all the boys were still focused on her.

    “I’m going to go outside and give you boys a chance to go to sleep,” Miss Silvers explained. “And if I hear any noise, the person who I think made it, whether it was them or not, will be pulled out of here, and be waiting outside with me, where I will make it abundantly clear just how infuriated I am that I am at the thought of being stuck staying up because some people don’t understand how to keep their mouth shut…”

    There was a nervous murmur of agreement, causing Miss Silver’s gaze to narrow on the boys.

    “What was that?”

    “Yes Miss Silvers…”

    “Good,” Miss Silvers said firmly. “Don’t let me see you again until morning…”

    Without waiting for any confirmation, Miss Silvers left the cabin, slamming the door shut behind her, and walking towards the bench where she would spend the remainder of this watch shift. Technically, this eleven to three shift was Chris’ with Cassandra only taking it in order to participate in the bet. However, Cassandra knew Chris was in the student lodge, staying awake anyway. Jon was right. She had gotten stronger as a battler, but was still a while off being skilled enough to potentially handle an emergency on her own unlike the other five. She knew if something happened, her first point of call would be Chris, until Dylan arrived at three to relieve her.

    Cassandra noted the time as half past eleven, as the cabin she emerged from remained dead silent. She knew that if they remained this way for the rest of her shift, she would be in first place, but if fifteen minutes passed and they made any noise after, her chances of winning would be gone. And in that scenario, Miss Silvers would be far from happy…

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

    Despite not being as invested in this bet as the others, Dylan was surprised to hear the next day that Cassandra had managed to get the boys silent after only half an hour, and even then, that was only on her first attempt.

    “How did you do it?” Justin asked quietly over breakfast the next day in awe. He sat at the table in the dining hall with Cassandra, Dylan and Jarena, as students started filtering in, preparing breakfast and finding seats. “If I could figure out how to get them silent in half an hour…”

    “I don’t know that you could,” Cassandra said solemnly. “I’m not exactly proud of how I did it…”

    “You didn’t use Shadowcraft, did you?” Justin asked.

    “God no,” Cassandra answered quickly, raising her hands in a placating gesture. “That would be a nightmare. No. Let’s just say that before people knew I was a witch, I was still very good at getting my own way…”

    Jarena choked on her cereal hearing this, and once she had recovered looked at Cassandra.

    “Is that why you were wearing your old clothes?”

    “Yeah, I was trying to channel a little bit of my old self…” Cassandra admitted, cringing as she remembered what she had said and how she had acted the evening before as Miss Silvers. “I even dropped the Miss Silvers line…”

    “Oh God…” Jarena muttered. Dylan looked confusedly between the pair, and Justin asked the question.

    “Is that bad?”

    “The kids may never be the same,” Jarena said, no hint of humour in her voice. Cassandra rolled her eyes.

    “Not that bad,” Cassandra said. “But still, not exactly pleasant either…”

    Cassandra shuddered, as Justin nudged Dylan.

    “You have to beat half an hour if you want to win this,” Justin said to Dylan. “Any idea how?”

    Dylan shrugged, though did try and make a point of caring a little more about this bet than he did.

    “What are the rules again?” he asked.

    “No Shadowcraft, which you’re pretty safe with,” Justin explained. “And no using Pokemon moves. And common sense. Nothing that would cause problems for the Eon Academy.”

    Dylan nodded, as an idea formed in his mind.

    “I think I have something…”

    Being a Saturday, the evening shifts were instead three hours, with Dylan covering Justin’s ten ‘til one shift, having had his own covered earlier in the week by Justin. Given the next day was Sunday, all the interns agreed to remain awake until Dylan’s shift finished, so they could announce the winner of the bet, as soon as Dylan returned from his shift, with Jon agreeing to meet in the lodge with them as well. The only exception to this was Abbee, who having the four to seven watch, would sleep as much as she can prior, and wake at one for the announcement, before attempting to get a little more sleep.

    Dylan had a plan that he knew was a gamble. It was the sort of idea that would either work and work extremely well, or not at all, in which case he would not be able to beat Cassandra. However, given the fact he had half an hour to get these boys quiet in order to beat Cassandra, this was his best bet.

    The clock struck eleven, and all the students were in their cabins. And naturally, the cabin which had been the subject of this week's interest, was still lit, and producing noise. At five minutes past eleven, Dylan quietly walked to the door of the cabin, and knocked slowly three times. The light quickly flicked off, as Dylan opened the door, and heard the sound of boys rushing into their beds, not wanting to be caught out of bed. Dylan didn’t address them, but simply walked into the room, looking at the various corners, and not acknowledging the puzzled stares of the boys. After a minute had passed, he finally said quietly, though loud enough for the boys to hear, “this will do nicely…”

    “What will do?” Sean asked. Dylan whistled, and there was a flicker of indistinct movement, as his shadow seemed to leap away from him, towards a space between two of the beds. There was a yelp of fright, as the shadow seemed to materialise into form, though all that could be clearly seen was a pale blue eye.

    “Darkrai doesn’t like its Pokeball, and can’t sleep in the staff lodge,” Dylan said quietly. “There are too many lights. Things like power lights on TVs and stuff. Can’t get to sleep in there…”

    “So what, it’s going to sleep in here?” Sean asked in disbelief. “Why our cabin?”

    “Well normally I ask one of the other cabins to take let it sleep in there, but I forgot to do that tonight,” Dylan lied. “They’re all going to sleep now, but I saw you guys were still awake, and knew I still had time to make arrangements in here.”

    Dylan looked over at Darkrai, who was barely visible, and standing terrifyingly still.

    “It’s quite gentle really,” Dylan explained. “But it does get cranky if it's tired, and can become a bit of a handful.”

    “We don’t want it in here!” Sean protested, though Dylan brushed the concern aside.

    “Sure you do. It’ll go to sleep pretty quickly, and once it’s asleep, you won’t even know it's here,” Dylan said, before shifting his tone to be a little more nervous. “Just don’t wake it up. It doesn’t like being woken up…”

    Darkrai melted back into the shadows, however remained in place between the two beds. In truth, Dylan wasn’t aware of Darkrai being capable of sleep. It sure didn’t seem to show any need for it, or have any fluctuations in behaviour if it didn’t get enough. The boys however didn’t need to know that.

    “It’s already asleep. It must be comfortable here,” Dylan said, before walking to the door. “I’ll come get it in the morning…”

    The boys were silent, as Dylan walked out of the room.

    “Sleep tight,” Dylan said, almost menacingly, as he closed the door behind him, before checking his phone.

    11:08pm.

    When Dylan returned to the staff lodge at 1am, he found all participants in the bet, as well as Jon, Violet and Jarena waiting for him. Justin held two envelopes, one containing the cash prize, and the other containing Jon’s prediction of who would win the bet.

    “Latios has confirmed that all the students in the cabin are asleep,” Jon explained. Using Latios was his idea, as Dylan technically having a shift that finished two hours earlier than the others, had an advantage, given there was less time for the boys to ruin his score by making noise.

    “Spill,” Abbee said, the excitement obvious despite the tiredness from having been woken up. “What time?”

    “Eleven…” Dylan began, as a collective breath was held, especially by Cassandra. “Oh-Eight…”

    “Bulls**t!” Chris exclaimed, before remembering that he and Dylan still weren’t on comfortable speaking terms and going silent.

    “How?” Charlotte asked, equally surprised.

    “Darkrai is with them…” Dylan began.

    “You can’t use Pokemon moves though!” Justin interjected, sounding a little panicked. “If that was okay, I’d have just borrowed Darkrai to put them to sleep myself!”

    “I didn’t say Darkrai put them to sleep,” Dylan explained, as Jon grinned.

    “What did you do?” Jon asked.

    “I told them that Darkrai couldn’t get to sleep in here, because there were too many lights, and since they were the only cabin still awake, it was the only one I could arrange for Darkrai to sleep in,” Dylan explained. “Told them it is completely safe. But just to be careful not to wake it up, or it may be a handful…”

    Jon burst into laughter at Dylan’s fabrication, as Charlotte couldn’t help but grin.

    “That’s low…” Justin said disapprovingly.

    “It shut them up within ten minutes,” Dylan answered. “Would you object to me telling them Darkrai liked their room so much that it will stay there all summer?”

    “No!” Justin said quickly, having been worried about not being able to pull off a win like this again. He handed Dylan the envelope full of cash. “I take back what I said. It shut them up. Great!”

    “So Dylan’s won the bet then…” Cassandra noted. “The next question is, did Jon figure out who would win it?”

    Jon grinned, before nodding to Justin to open the envelope. Justin tore it open, and unfolded the piece of paper. He looked at the name on it, before swearing under his breath, which was enough of an answer for everyone else. He held up the piece of paper, revealing Dylan written in Jon’s handwriting on the piece of paper.

    “I very nearly said Charlotte,” Jon said, as Dylan handed him two hundred dollars. “But my instincts told me that Dylan would have the most interesting way of handling this, so I went with that…”

    “I just hope that this is enough to keep them quiet…” Chris muttered. “Honestly, most of them are from my group, and it’s embarrassing that I came second last in handling them…”

    “Well, I have a hunch I might be able to do something about it…” Dylan said, surprising those present who had seen the conflict between Dylan and Chris two summers prior. “If I’m not stepping on your toes to do it…”

    Surprised at the offer, Chris nodded.

    “I’d appreciate that,” Chris said quietly, not making eye contact. Abbee looked between the pair stunned.

    “Leave it with me,” Dylan said. “I’ll speak to the boys tomorrow. We may not even need to move Sean…”

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

    That weekend's seminar was on the Sunday, in which Jon had planned to, alongside Dylan, demonstrate more advanced double battle techniques. Given this, there was not a single person at the Eon Academy who was not present in the stadium that morning. Despite only a few of the interns being scheduled on ro assisst, Dylan’s double battle win against Brad Jenkins, an ace of the College of the North Wind, who battled Dylan with his Legendary Pokemon Cresselia before Dylan even captured Darkrai, was legendary in and of itself, and given the fact Jon had trained him, all present were looking forward to seeing some matches between Dylan, who was known to be unshakable, and Jon, who would likely be going all out more than any of the students, and even some of the staff, had ever seen.

    Hype for this seminar had been building all weekend, and because of this, Jon had decided to live stream this seminar publicly, in order to give an insight as to what the level of skill being taught by the Eon Academy is, and hopefully continue to raise interest in potential students for future years.

    “Dylan,” called out a familiar voice, as Dylan was ushering students into their seat. “Can we talk?”

    Dylan turned, and was hardly surprised to see Blake, accompanied by Jamie, two of the boys from the infamous problem cabin.

    “What’s up?” Dylan asked. “We only have a few minutes before the seminar starts…”

    “We’ll be quick,” Jamie said. “Can we please not have Darkrai stay in our room?”

    Dylan looked at the boys, with a facade of shock.

    “Did Darkrai not behave itself?”

    “It did…” Blake admitted. “I think. I didn’t really see it until you got it this morning…”

    “It’s just… Creepy…” Jamie explained. “It’s hard to sleep knowing it’s just there…”

    “Well that puts me in a difficult position,” Dylan explained. “Because Darkrai really needs its sleep, and hates being in its Pokeball, and the rest of the year it normally sleeps in one of the student cabins…”

    Blake gave Jamie an uneasy glance, before Dylan spoke again.

    “Look, how about this,” Dylan explained. “It’s been tedious trying to find a cabin that I could put Darkrai in in advance every day, and I don’t want other students being burdened with it too often just because they’re trying to help me out, especially if you think it’s creepy...”

    “So what will you do?”

    “Well, honestly, I think last night worked well,” Dylan explained. “I just chose the cabin which was awake the latest, and put Darkrai in there. It was actually nice, not having to worry about lining a cabin up. So I might keep doing that…”

    “But-” Blake began, however Dylan cut him off.

    “I mean, if you really don’t want Darkrai in your cabin…” Dylan said, almost as if he were considering the question hypothetically. “I know one way to make sure that doesn’t happen…”

    Blake realised what Dylan was saying, before nodding.

    “Do it,” Blake said. “Put Darkrai in whatever cabin is awake the latest…”

    “I think I will…” Dylan said. “Thanks for being so understanding…”

    Blake and Jamie left, both muttering to themselves, Dylan hearing the name Sean mentioned multiple times.

    A few minutes later the rest of the students were seated, as were the other interns. Alyssa sat behind a laptop which had access to the stadiums mounted cameras, and controlled the live stream, as Jon began the seminar, with a brief lecture on double battle basics, and how to choose which Pokemon to send out together. He knew, however, that people were here, and watching online, Alyssa noted by the thousands, for one thing and one thing only. Eventually, he placed the microphone he held down, and moved towards the end of the battlefield. On the opposite end, Dylan stood waiting for him.

    Each trainer selected two Pokeballs. As they both activated them, Dylan’s side of the battlefield was filled by Metagross and Flygon, whilst Jon’s was filled by Blaziken and Absol. Dylan had never seen Jon use this combination before, however could see a glint in Jon’s eye, that he was expecting to surprise Dylan. He knew that it wouldn’t be a Mega Evolution, given the fact that they still tried to not publicise the fact their Pokemon were capable of it. However, he had a hunch he knew.

    “Begin!”

    Dylan knew that based on appearances alone, Flygon was the fastest Pokemon on the battlefield, however given Jon’s recent acquisition, appearances couldn’t be trusted. He was certain one of Jon’s two Pokemon was actually Zoroark. His first instinct was that it would be Absol, given Jon’s affinity for using his Blaziken, however wasn’t willing to act on that instinct just yet. Jon’s choice in Pokemon was smart, and he knew Jon would prove that in the opening turns.

    “Flygon, Sandstorm!” Dylan ordered. Many lessons he learnt from Jon about battling stemmed from other places in life. For example, the attitude that Jon was taking to secure the Academy, in not letting their enemies know that they are aware of them, was how Dylan was approaching this. If Dylan could convince Jon that he didn’t know one of his Pokemon was Zoroark, he could lure Jon into making a mistake. Although he worried that Jon knew him too well to be able to fall for this.

    Dust, dirt and sand gushed from Flygon’s wings, before swirling around the battlefield, reducing visibility, even to those in the stands watching them, and buffeting both of Jon’s Pokemon. Dylan however, knew that this damage was too negligible to force Zoroark to drop its illusion, which would hopefully encourage Jon to get cocky.

    “Blaziken, Swords Dance!” Jon ordered. “Absol, Double Team!”

    “Metagross, Magnet Rise!” Dylan commanded, however, realised he had made a mistake. Jon had both Pokemon use a move that would make sense for Zoroark. If Blaziken were actually Zoroark, then it made sense to increase its attack power, seeing as there was little chance of either of Dylan’s Pokemon knocking it out in a single hit, which by extension meant that Absol was the real Pokemon, and using Double Team would help nullify its major drawback, being its lack of resilience, making it a glass cannon. However, if Absol were actually Zoroark, Double Team would allow it to maintain the illusion longer, whilst also being a believable move for Absol, and Blaziken was no stranger to making use of Sword’s Dance. Dylan could not determine which was more likely to be an imposter, if either, based on these two moves alone. His next plan would be to monitor Blaziken, to see whether the speed increase from Speed Boost was consistent. Despite not having seen Zoroark in battle anywhere near as often, Dylan had seen Blaziken battle many times over the years, and would not be fooled by Zoroark curbing its own natural speed, and attempting to emulate it. However, his mistake had been using Sandstorm, which reduced his own visibility of Blaziken.

    Knowing he needed to identify a potential Zoroark as soon as he could, Dylan switched tactics.

    “Flygon, Earthquake!”

    “Blaziken, Protect!” Jon ordered. “Absol, Double Team again!”

    Dylan grimaced, knowing that this move was the same as the one Jon had made prior. It was equally likely that either Pokemon was or was not Zoroark. He considered for a moment the best way to deal with this, considering using a Dark Type move like Brutal Swing, however knew that both Pokemon would resist it if they weren’t Zoroark, but what they appeared to be. Additionally, all of Flygon and Metagross’ Dark Type moves were physical, placing both of them potentially at Blaziken and Absol’s mercy. Metagross especially would not last in a drawn out match against either of those Pokemon.

    “Metagross, Laser Focus!” Dylan ordered, knowing that he was giving away Metagross’ target, however only seeing one option moving forward. “Flygon, Quick Attack Blaziken! Metagross, Bullet Punch Absol!”

    Despite knowing he put himself in this situation by using Sandstorm, he knew he had made the right decision. In the blink of an eye, Flygon darted forward to launch a quick strike on Blaziken, as Metagross did the same to Absol, hitting the actual Pokemon, and not one of the Double Team copies.

    “Good call!” Jon called out. Dylan watched as Absol took the hit and cried out, however didn’t change. Blaziken however, didn’t make a sound, or even seem to react. The attack almost seemed to phase through it.

    Blaziken is Zoroark!” Dylan thought to himself, as Jon gave his own command, knowing the jig was up.

    “Blaziken, Shadow Claw!” Jon ordered. “Absol, Night Slash!”

    Both Pokemon took the hit, as Dylan calculated his next move.

    “Metagross, Ally Switch!” Dylan ordered. “Flygon, Superpower!”

    With Blaziken being confirmed to be Zoroark, it was now relatively less of a threat to Metagross, which meant Dylan had less to lose by placing it in close quarters. Meanwhile, Flygon, having been teleported into Metagross’ original space, lashed out with a brutal Fighting Type attack, striking Absol and knocking it out.

    “Blaziken, Shadow Ball!” Jon ordered, as there were sounds of confusion from those who wondered how Blaziken knew Shadow Ball.

    Despite Dylan’s slightly higher confidence in placing Metagross there, knowing it wasn’t actually Blaziken he was battling, Metagross still fell unconscious from the hit. Dylan however, now had the upper hand.

    “Flygon, Brutal Swing!” Dylan ordered, and found himself surprised when Flygon rushed Blaziken, and struck it, knocking the Pokemon out as the illusion faded, revealing Zoroark. It wasn’t the fact that the attack hit that struck him as odd though. Instead, it was the fact that Jon, despite having the faster Pokemon, didn’t give it a command.

    Dylan’s first thought was that being a Ghost Type Pokemon, Zoroark may have used Destiny Bond to force a draw, however that would have triggered nearly instantly, knocking out Flygon already. His confusion disappeared however, as the sandstorm dissipated. On the ground on the other end of the battlefield, Jon lay, convulsing, as the seizure caused him to lose all control of his body.

    There were cries of alarm, as Dylan rushed across the battlefield, dodging the unconscious forms of Metagross, Absol and Zoroark, hoping he wasn’t too late. He reached Jon rolling him onto his side, and noticed blood seeping from his mouth, the result of Jon having accidentally bitten his tongue.

    Dylan watched in horror as the crowd all stood, and began shouting, asking what was happening, and noticing Jon’s blackened, cursed hand which had fallen out of the pocket he normally hid it in.

    “Everyone, please just calm down!” Cassandra was calling out, fruitlessly over the commotion, however the panic in her own voice was evident.

    Dylan heard footsteps rushing over to approach him, before Alyssa crouched next to him over Jon.

    “Dylan,” she said, her voice breaking a little. “I’ll look after Jon. You need to get this under control…”

    Dylan, who was growing more pale by the second, took a moment to register what Alyssa was telling him. It was common knowledge with Academy matters that Dylan was second in command, and for all intents and purposes, his word was the equivalent of Jon’s. He stood slowly, and walked uneasily towards the table where Jon had placed the microphone earlier, knowing it was the only way of getting everyone’s attention.

    Lifting the microphone to his mouth, he spoke.

    “Everyone, please calm down! Nobody call emergency services!” Dylan said, trying to force himself to remain calm and act rationally. “Jon will be okay, and does not need an ambulance or the hospital. We will try and answer questions you may have at a more appropriate time, but for now, we need you to leave the building, get into your teams, and stay together. Your team leaders will be with you as soon as they can! Team Leaders, please join me here”

    Hearing this, Willow, Violet and Jarena began ushering students outside, as Dylan placed the microphone back down, and joined the others.

    “Justin, go find a bucket,” Dylan said. “Abbee, go to the house and get the aspirin and nausea meds. Chris, once the students are out, kill the lights…”

    As everyone moved to complete their tasks, Dylan, now with the adrenaline wearing off, and his responsibilities having been taken care of, felt the full impact of what had just happened. He felt tears forming, as he realised that this was Jon’s second seizure in four days, the quickest decline yet…
    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 04-26-2023 at 01:55 PM.

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  14. #179
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Down to two weeks gap between episodes and hoping now that I have gotten past the set up parts of the season, the rest flows a little more.

    The events of this episode are based on my own experience being on camps. There was a real Sean. And a real instance of me walking into his cabin to tell him to shut up and go to sleep and him just standing there rubbing his...

    Well yeah, you get the picture. This one is personal xD

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  16. #180
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Season 5 Episode 6: Lessons
    Spoiler:

    “Has word got out?”

    Cassandra asked the words quietly of Justin and Charlotte, hoping the students sitting on their table would not hear. It was the morning after Jon’s seizure, which had occurred in front of the entire Eon Academy, during his battle with Dylan in the seminar the day before. The sight had been disturbing, to say the least, with the Academy staff having to improvise in how they handled it. Nobody had seen Jon since Dylan helped him walk back to he and Alyssa’s house, the only contact being a message sent out late that evening to them all from Jon.

    ’Sorry for the scare today. Try not to worry about what happened. It had to get out eventually. I managed to get some sleep this afternoon, and feel a lot better now. I’ll probably not sleep well tonight, so will be tired tomorrow, but will be able to run classes. I don’t want students to worry, so it’s best if tomorrow is as normal as possible. Tomorrow evening, Latios will handle the first shift of night watch. I want to talk with you all in the staff lodge at eleven.
    Jon.’


    “In a way,” Charlotte answered in an equal whisper. “There are rumours about it online, that Jon is unwell, and remarks about his hand, however most of them have almost no substantiation. Someone heard from a friend of a friend whose cousin is at the Academy, about what happened, or something sketchy like that…”

    Justin nodded in agreement.

    “My twitter has blown up with people asking if the rumours are true,” Justin explained. “But luckily, Alyssa has BattleNET locked down from publishing it just yet, and the rumours are too weak for any respectable news site to publish it. The only ones talking about it, are the ones that people know are usually full of s**t…”

    Cassandra nodded, however didn’t speak further of it. All the students knew that Jon had a seizure the day before, and that his hand was cursed. All had seen it, and once Jon was in a position that he was comfortable and not at risk of harming himself, each of the six team leaders gathered their team, and gave the agreed explanation. They had told their students that Jon had been cursed during the final battle of the Spiritwater Crisis, which had caused his blackened, corpse-like hand, as well as the seizure, which was not the first of its kind, and that Jon would be okay. Each of them had been inundated with questions, the vast majority only having one answer.

    ’It is not my place to say.’

    Jon had since ordered them to let Monday be as normal as possible, as to reassure students that despite the day prior’s events, Jon was okay and the Academy would still function as planned. And Cassandra knew that staff whispering anxiously to each other would only detract from that sense of normality Jon was hoping to achieve.

    As they spoke, Chris entered the dining hall, being late to breakfast, though nobody, other than a few students from his own team, hoping to chastise their teacher for being late, spoke. Chris had taken the first watch the evening prior, and as such, had been allowed time to sleep in before his classes. Grabbing a piece of toast, Chris made his way towards the tables, where he was noticed by Charlotte.

    “We have a spare seat here,” Charlotte called out. Chris looked over, and saw her sitting with Justin and Cassandra, accidentally making eye contact with the latter. He quickly glanced in his peripheral vision, spotting Violet, Jarena and Willow sitting at a nearby table.

    “It’s alright,” Chris said casually. “I wanted to ask Willow about something…”

    Willow, hearing her name, glanced up, as Chris made his way towards the table, frantically trying to think of a question to ask that would make his lie believable. He settled on inquiring about further improving the property’s security by Shadowcraft. Despite this however, the lie still fell flat. Charlotte, Justin and Cassandra all knew why Chris had opted to not sit with his two best friends, as they sat in silence, whilst Cassandra looked down at the bowl of muesli in front of her. She didn’t try to lie to herself, and pretend that she wasn’t glad. Despite the fact that Violet and Jarena, her best friends who were personally attacked by Lance, were comfortable around Chris, she wasn’t. Whether she liked it or not, her instincts wouldn’t allow her to trust the ambitious trainer, who she knew, even here, had a spotted history. She knew Charlotte was aware of this to a degree, and figured Justin was perceptive enough to notice, hence why she didn’t want to risk making eye contact with them. She knew that she was being unfair on Chris to hold a grudge against him for his cousin’s actions, especially having lived with the consequences of people holding excessive grudges against herself. But deep down, she felt that, despite their own acceptance of Chris, she would be betraying her friendship with Violet and Jarena, to accept the family of the man who attempted to murder them in cold blood, a feeling that was justified to her by Chris’ actions during his last summer at the Eon Academy, and his still strained relationships with Abbee and Dylan.

    As she picked through her muesli, attempting to find the sultanas that were hidden in the bowl, her attention was piqued by the chatter of the room fading to silence in a near instant. Without thinking, Cassandra looked up, to see that Charlotte and Justin, alongside all present in the room, were looking towards the doorway, where Jon had just entered. This was his first public appearance at the Academy since his seizure the day prior.

    Jon sighed, acknowledging that he was the reason for the silence, before glancing up at the clock, where he confirmed there was still twenty minutes before classes were due to begin. The silence in the room seemed to somehow grow, as Jon addressed all present.

    “I’m sure you all have questions about what happened yesterday, my health, and what it means for this summer’s program,” Jon explained. “I’ll attempt to answer them now, but ask that you hold any questions until after I fill you all in, if you still have any…”

    Jon looked around, before noting the servery from the kitchen was empty. He walked towards the counter that extended from the kitchen, before hopping up and sitting on it, much to the dismay of the kitchen staff. Students noticed however, that for the first time that summer, his hand was not kept in the pocket of his hoodie. Today, he wore no hoodie, which he had worn despite the summer heat, every time he was not in company of someone who already knew. Instead, his hand sat lightly gripping the edge of the counter, as Jon got comfortable.

    “You’re all aware that I was heavily involved in the League response to the tip off of Shadowcraft users gathering in large numbers in Alola last summer during the local Spiritwater Festival,” Jon explained. “And that, in the final hours of the crisis in Alola, I battled alongside Rayquaza, against Giratina who was in forced service to Agatha, in order to allow the League to make an assault on Agatha’s base of operations…”

    There were murmurs of understanding and nods from all present, as Jon looked around, before continuing.

    “Specifically, Rayquaza was battling Giratina without my instruction, whilst Latios assisted Willow and Latias in incapacitating and capturing Marshadow, and my other Pokemon, Blaziken, Jolteon, Scizor and Nidoking, were fighting off a horde of Ghost type Pokemon, and the small platoon of Agatha’s followers who were present to support Giratina. Their leader was a man named Nicodemus, who I was fighting directly against with a makeshift weapon, and was personally trying to kill me,” Jon continued, noting that his tone and choice of words seemed very formal, almost as if written in a mission report. “I trusted Willow, Latios and Latias could handle Marshadow if they were not having to deal with anything else, and that my other Pokemon could handle their opponents on their own. However, at the time, I had kept Rayquaza a secret for three and a half years prior to this, and Rayquaza had the least experience battling against trained Pokemon. However, Rayquaza held the most responsibility in that battle, as if Giratina were given the option, it would have ended the entire battle in Agatha’s favour…”

    One could have heard a pin drop as all present, even the most rowdy and talkative students, listened in utter silence, as Jon recounted the events of that horrific day.

    “I knew that Rayquaza needed my instruction to have a fighting chance against Giratina, and the longer the battle wore on without that, the slimmer our chances of victory became, however Nicodemus was attempting to place a curse on me, and there was little I could do to go on the offensive without risking being killed by him,” Jon said. “I opted to buy an opportunity to end the fight with Nicodemus, by allowing him to curse my hand, and incapacitating him before it spread any further. From there, I was able to take the lead in Rayquaza’s battle, however as Agatha’s Netherlink spell continued to grow, it empowered Giratina, causing it to gain the upper hand regardless. When Giratina seemed to have won, and was leaving to assist Agatha, by nothing less than a miracle, I managed to trigger a Mega Evolution, causing Rayquaza to Mega Evolve, which gave it the ability to remove the clouds that Agatha’s followers had summoned to encase the island, and allow the League operatives to destroy the Netherlink, and give Rayquaza the boost it needed to incapacitate Giratina…”

    Jon held up his cursed left hand for all to see.

    “Nicodemus’ curse did this, and had it spread to any of my vital organs, it would have killed me. However, Nicodemus had planned ahead, and added a secondary effect,” Jon explained. “He knew we were attempting to capture Giratina, and whilst I am unsure if he was aware of this, Giratina was only obeying Agatha because it had a curse placed on it which would cause excruciating pain if it disobeyed. So Nicodemus had placed a secondary effect in the curse which would only take effect if Giratina ever became loyal to me…”

    Cassandra shuddered hearing this, remembering seeing Jon collapse for the first time as the curse took effect.

    “The curse caused a haemorrhage in my brain, a severe bleed, which, if not for both Cassandra and Giratina’s quick action, would have killed me then and there. And with the curse having activated, Cassandra was able to make sure it couldn’t activate again. However, in the moments the curse took effect, there was resulting brain damage, which caused me to have a seizure,” Jon said, seeming to hesitate on his words before speaking again. “And as time has gone by, the seizures have happened more frequently, resulting in what you all saw yesterday…”

    Jon remained silent, as those in the room began murmuring to themselves, before Jon spoke again.

    “Are there any questions?” Jon asked.

    There was an eruption of voices, before Jon pointed to a student with a raised hand.

    “Is there anything that can be done to help you?”

    “Medically speaking, the damage cannot be healed or undone. It can be medicated, however the medication used has less than pleasant side effects, and there is a very delicate balance of not having too high of a dose, and the side effects being worse than the seizures, or too little, and it not working effectively,” Jon explained. “The plan is for me to be prescribed medication, however given the trial and error needed to get the dosage right, we needed the seizures to be more frequent before I began taking it. In terms of Shadowcraft however, I couldn’t pay our resident Shadowcraft experts to give up on finding a way to heal me. If such a way exists, I have no doubt that one day, they will find it…”

    Jon looked over, as another hand shot up from an older teenage girl.

    “How did you know the curse would need time to spread, and wouldn’t just kill you instantly?”

    “Honestly, I didn’t,” Jon admitted. “Nicodemus kept trying to touch my head and my chest with it, which made me figure he was aiming for my brain or heart specifically, and I had a hunch that if he was doing that, it was because the curse would only kill me if it reached those organs. Had I been wrong, things would have played out a lot differently…”

    There were murmurs of shock at the risk Jon described as Jon noticed another hand raised.

    “Is Nicodemus alive?”

    Charlotte sighed irritably at the question, knowing that Jon was far from comfortable talking about those who he had been forced to kill in the past, however Jon recognised something in the student’s voice that Charlotte had not noticed. Fear. He noticed the boy who had asked, who was on the younger side of the students present, glancing at Jon’s cursed arm, a look of alarm in his eyes.

    “Nicodemus is alive, however is no longer a threat. He sustained an injury far worse than myself, and the curse he used to do this to me, is one we are certain he learned from Agatha herself, who chose to take her own life before allowing herself to be captured,” Jon explained. “We are certain that this curse was one of her own inventions, and that nobody else capable of using it exists.”

    The boy who asked the question nodded, seeming a little less anxious, as Jon noticed another hand raised. He winced however, when he saw who it belonged to. Rose, he and Alyssa’s niece, who he had been especially close to since her first summer as his student, had her hand raised, as she stared at him, anger and hurt evident in her eyes. Knowing what was coming, Jon nodded at her.

    “Why keep all of this a secret?” Rose asked, the pain obvious in her voice. “Why go to the effort of keeping your hand hidden all summer, if nothing else?”

    Jon was silent for a second as he considered how he answered this. From where she sat at her table, Cassandra considered intervening, however, before she could rise to her feet, Jon spoke.

    “You’re right,” Jon said, a little quieter than before, raising his hand again. “I went to a lot of effort to keep especially this hidden from all of you. The reason I did it was for my daughter…”

    Cassandra’s heart sank a little as she heard this. She remembered the slight feeling of worry about Jon joining them in Alola, and the risk of his wife and daughter losing him, which had been severely overshadowed by her worry about what Agatha had planned, allowing her to look past it. Now however, she remembered the same sickening feeling that she felt when meeting Amelia, as she realised that she was asking Jon to leave his home, potentially for the last time.

    “She knows about the seizures. She witnessed one of them. But I know that despite this, she can have memories of me that don’t include them. This however…” Jon said, nodding to his hand. “This is permanent, and every memory she and I make from the moment she sees it, will now be marred by this. This reminder that her dad chose to leave her to fight a battle on the other side of the planet, and came back broken…”

    Tears filled Rose’s eyes as bitter understanding dawned on her.

    “I told her before I came here this morning, because I would rather her find out from me than some trashy news program hoping to make a buck off my pain, and because I don’t want to burden any more people with having to keep my secrets,” Jon added. “This day had to come eventually. I just hoped I’d have a little more time…”

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

    The day's classes seemed to have an invisible haze over them, sapping the motivation of all present. Students tried to be focused, and all participated, however, it was obvious that all, even staff, were distracted by the conversation in the dining hall that morning. This transferred into the evening, where, by half past nine, most students were in their cabins, talking quietly, and were in bed, most even asleep, by ten. At eleven, Jon sent out Latios to watch the silent Academy grounds from the sky, whilst Jon entered the staff lodge. All were present across the ground floor, however sitting in near silence, only the odd quiet comment being made.

    When those in the dining room noticed Jon enter, they followed him into the lounge, and once they had all made themselves comfortable, Jon spoke.

    “You’re all aware that word has gotten out about what happened?” Jon asked the group, being met with nods and quiet agreement. “It is only minor at this point, but by this time tomorrow, I expect every news outlet will be talking about my condition. I’ve already got dozens of messages and emails in my inbox from parents and reporters, who have heard that something has happened, that I am figuring out how to address…”

    “So what’s the plan?” Abbee asked, having intentionally not raised this question with Dylan, who seemed to be growing more detached from his surroundings since the day before, and seeming to be quietly functioning on autopilot.

    “In terms of myself, I have an appointment booked with my specialist for Thursday evening to discuss starting me on medication which should hopefully prevent the seizures, but I know how they’re going to start me on it,” Jon explained. “It will be a relatively low dosage, which may have little effect, that will be increased once they establish that it isn’t working. In terms of the Academy, I think we might need to make a statement…”

    Jon noticed nervous glances, as Dylan spoke.

    “Jon,” Dylan said, his tone a little more forceful than usual, surprising Abbee who had barely heard him speak without directly answering something. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

    “I’m not quite sure of anything really,” Jon admitted. “That’s why I’m speaking to all of you about this. I trust you guys, so whatever you as a group think is best, we do.”

    Jon looked at the group in front of him, before opening the floor.

    “So what do we think?”

    “If we don’t make a statement, and just leave it,” Justin began. “What would happen to the rumours already circulating?”

    “This isn’t like when Cass, Jarena and I dropped the ball on the S.S. Wishmaker,” Violet answered. “Before Lance leaked evidence to the media, we might have had a chance at covering up Shadowcraft. But this? We couldn’t have convinced the students what they saw yesterday was anything but what it was, and have since confirmed exactly what happened. More and more information will leak, be it slowly or quickly. This won’t just blow over if we leave it alone…”

    “Worse,” Jarena added. “The rumours will be worse if we just let it run its course…”

    “But what about the Academy?” Willow asked, looking at Jon. “You’ve never had so many students, and you’ve spent a lot of money equipping the property to house them. And with this summer being the last for most of the staff, you’re going to need to hire more before next summer. But if you hire enough staff for two hundred students, and half that show up because they think you’re too sick to teach, you’ll be in trouble…”

    “This year, we had reached ninety percent capacity of registrations by the end of last summer. The publicity surrounding Spiritwater helped that admittedly. But it’s pretty normal now that we are closing registrations by Christmas to stop us having more students than we can handle,” Jon answered. “All this to say, I should know well in advance if next year will be quieter, and hire accordingly.”

    “But what about right now?” Dylan asked. “When Delilah trespassed here, and you dealt with her, the safety of students came into question, and your capacity to keep them safe. If we go public that your condition has reached this point, what’s to stop parents wanting to take their kids home?”

    “And you think unchecked rumours won’t do the same thing?” Charlotte asked Dylan. “People will know something is wrong whether we admit it or not. The difference is how accurate their understanding is.”

    “What about Blackstone?” Cassandra asked. All went silent at the reference to the unseen and unknown threat that loomed over them.

    “What about Blackstone?” Chris asked, agitated by the whole situation, his tone challenging.

    “Maybe the fact, in case you have forgotten,” Cassandra retorted, her tone rising, earning worried looks from those present. “That we have a Dialga egg hidden here, that we believe will be targeted by a terrorist group, who have even more Legendary Pokemon than we do. That we believe will attack at some point this summer!”

    “Do you seriously think Blackstone don’t already know about Jon’s condition?” Chris asked. “Lance told Jon that Blackstone have access to government information, and the only way to revoke that is to effectively rebuild the government’s digital network, which they are not going to do based on speculation alone. The government know about Jon’s condition so Blackstone probably do too…”

    “Great, so we’re opening Pandora’s box, on the word of an escaped murderer…” Cassandra muttered. Chris stood to his feet.

    “Well the fact we even know Blackstone exists is because Lance tipped us off, and if his word is automatically bulls**t to you, then why the f**k are you even worried about them?” Chris said angrily, as Cassandra stood to her feet to match his gaze.

    “Chris!” Charlotte said angrily, however Cassandra didn’t care. Jon simply watched from where he sat, his gaze even. He knew that Cassandra and Chris couldn’t pretend there wasn’t an issue between them forever.

    “Fact is, as soon as Dialga’s egg showed up here, Jon wanted to send the students home in case someone like Delilah, or Blackstone showed up looking for it, but knew that doing that would raise questions,” Chris continued. “So even if parents want to take their kids home, that is one less kid who may be caught in the potential crossfire.”

    “So what, we say because Jon is unwell we can’t keep the Academy open?” Cassandra asked. “Give up?”

    “Did I f**king say that?” Chris asked as he stepped towards Cassandra, as Charlotte stood, stepping in front of Chris. She looked to Jon.

    “Did you actually say that?” Charlotte said to Jon. “About sending the kids home?”

    “If that wouldn’t raise questions, that could put us on Blackstone’s radar, then yeah, I would rather end the summer program early, than risk someone being caught in the middle of all this,” Jon said. He looked between Chris and Cassandra, and figured any more words would result in an altercation. “We’ve spoken enough about this, and can’t be fighting among ourselves. We will put it to a vote…”

    Removing his beanie from his head, Jon placed it on the table, before grabbing a notebook that sat there, next to a jar of pens.

    “I don’t want us arguing amongst ourselves about this. So the vote will be anonymous,” Jon explained, as he tore out a page and tore it into strips. “Write either for or against making a statement, and put it in the beanie…”

    In silence, all but Jon grabbed a pen and began to write out their votes, folding them, and placing them in the beanie. Once all were placed, and everyone had returned to their seats, Jon began reading the votes.

    “One vote for. One vote for, one vote against…” Jon read, as he placed the removed papers on the coffee table. “One vote for, two votes against. Two votes for, two votes against.”

    With Jon having not voted, there were nine votes total, making it impossible to tie.

    “Three votes for, two votes against. Three votes for, three votes against,” Jon continued. “Three votes for, four votes against. Four votes for, four votes against…”

    Jon withdrew the last slip, which all knew would determine whether or not the Academy made a statement. Jon read it, before announcing the results.

    “Five votes for making a statement. Four votes against making a statement…” Jon explained, before putting his beanie back on. “It’s decided. I’ll send some emails tonight, and arrange for a press conference tomorrow morning…”

    Saying goodnight, Jon left, and Chris made his way outside to get some air, while Cassandra quietly said goodnight, before going upstairs to her room. The seven remaining staff members sat in awkward silence, until Justin broke it.

    “Sorry about Chris,” Justin said to Violet and Jarena. “He has been a lot more level headed this summer, but some things are just in his nature…”

    “Don’t be,” Jarena answered. “He was right. Abrasive about it sure, but right…”

    “You’ve just perfectly described Chris,” Charlotte joked weakly.

    “He was right though,” Violet said solemnly. “If we are getting information from someone like Lance, we can’t just pick and choose what to believe. We either act on the basis that he may be lying about all of it or none. And given the consequences for it being true, and us not taking it seriously, we need to assume the worst…”

    “Still,” Abbee muttered. “I don’t know why Jon let it get to that point…”

    Dylan, who sat next to her, with an arm around her shoulder, stiffened a little hearing this, causing Abbee to look over at him, figuring he had an answer. Dylan however wasn’t the one to speak, but Charlotte.

    “I know why…” Charlotte explained, being on good terms with both. “Because despite having run classes together all summer, that’s the first honest conversation the pair of them have had. And Jon didn’t want to end that…”

    There was an awkward silence, before Charlotte took control of the situation.

    “Look, I have faith that all of us present in the room understand that this was just a difficult decision, with no clear right or wrong choice, and that we all understand that regardless of how we voted, we were all just trying to do what we thought was right…” Charlotte said, gauging reactions of those present, most of whom nodded in agreement. “And given what we just saw, I understand why Jon chose to vote anonymously. However, I don’t want to see us distrusting each other. So I’ll tell the truth. I voted for making the statement.”

    “So did I,” Violet added, nodding in agreement with Charlotte’s sentiment. Among those present, who were maintaining peace despite there being clear disagreement based on the result of the vote, it was better for them to be open with each other.

    “I voted against,” Justin said quietly. “I’ve been on the receiving end of the media rumour mill, and I know Jon already cops it bad enough. I didn’t want to give them more fuel to throw on the fire…”

    “I voted against as well,” Dylan added.

    “I voted for,” Jarena admitted.

    “I voted against,” Willow said.

    “Well, you guys can do the numbers,” Abbee joked. “I voted for.”

    Charlotte nodded.

    “The decision is made. The best we can do is work together and make the best of the outcome of it, whatever it may be…” Charlotte said. “And not fall into the trap of fighting amongst ourselves when Blackstone decides to visit…”

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

    “Are we all here?” Jon asked, looking around at the mass of reporters who stood in front of him, attempting not to be dazzled by the flashing of cameras. A mass of microphones were held in front of him with various news outlets logos, as well as many expensive looking cameras. He held back a sigh as he saw Silver Wing News represented amongst the reporters there, knowing they would have a field day with what they were about to hear. He was glad that it had been a cool night, and the day's heat had not arrived in completion just yet, as he wore his hoodie, keeping one hand hidden in the centre pocket.

    Jon stood alone representing the Eon Academy amidst the wave of reporters. It was eight in the morning, as students could be seen making their way from their cabins to the dining hall from where Jon stood outside the entry gates to the Academy.

    “The reason I have arranged for this press conference is to answer some questions regarding rumours that have circulated online in the last forty-eight hours, and to provide clarification before misinformation spreads too far,” Jon explained. “And to do this, I need to share some news that I have attempted to keep private, dating back to the Spiritwater Crisis on Akala Island during June and July of last year.”

    Jon sighed, as he considered his next words. The only people aware of Jon’s condition were the staff at the Eon Academy, his superiors from the operation the summer before, a select few operatives who he knew personally and had been sworn to secrecy, and his family. As well as the now two hundred students who had seen what happened two days earlier.

    Jon withdrew his left hand from his hoodie, and winced at the gasps from those watching.

    “During the final hours of the Spiritwater Crisis, I was hit by a curse by one of Agatha’s inner circle of supporters. Given the nature of the events that led to this, my superiors have agreed to release a report which provides these details, so if you have any questions surrounding this, please read that,” Jon explained. “The reason I am revealing this now, is because there have been longer lasting effects on my health from this curse, which, despite my best efforts to keep private, were revealed to my students attending this year’s Eon Academy Summer Intensive.”

    Jon looked and struggled to keep calm seeing the looks of satisfaction held by some of the reporters present, like wild Mightyena, seeing an injured Zigzagoon.

    “In October of last year, when I reached a turning point in rehabilitating Giratina, who had previously been cursed and forced into the service of Agatha, under threat of torture for disobedience, a secondary effect of the curse placed on me activated, causing me to have an extremely severe stroke. The fact I am still alive was due to the presence of Cassandra Silvers, who with her extensive knowledge of physiological Shadowcraft, was able to buy precious moments to stop the haemorrhage, and heal the immediate damage,” Jon explained. “However, I sustained permanent brain damage, which has resulted in me having seizures, which in the nine months since then, have grown more frequent. This has largely been kept private, however two days ago, during a demonstration match for a seminar with the Eon Academy students present, I suffered a seizure, which was witnessed by all students. Myself and the Eon Academy staff have since addressed the students, answering their questions, and providing assurance however we can.”

    There were quiet murmurs amongst the media personnel present, as Jon’s tone hardened.

    “Before we move into questions, there is something I need to make abundantly clear,” Jon explained. “If you would like more information, your options are to ask me now, or to contact me privately. I will not allow any questioning or harassment of my students and staff for information. As such, I want to reiterate that no media personnel are allowed past these gates without an appointment. Students and staff will be informed to report any contact by media personnel, be it digital, or in person during their free time spent outside the grounds of the Eon Academy, to me, as I am disappointed that my staff are being pestered online due to the rumours that have spread over the last two days.”

    Making a point of holding eye contact with a few representatives of some less than reputable news sources present, Jon then opened the floor.

    “Any questions?”

    Naturally, most present began speaking, and Jon quickly pointed to one reporter, a man in his late twenties, holding a microphone with a logo Jon didn’t recognise.

    “Xander Buford. SRN,” the reporter said, surprising Jon that Sinnoh Regional News had a correspondent travel to Mossdeep at his word of a press conference. “What does this news mean for this summer’s program?”

    “Nothing major,” Jon answered simply. “The program will continue as expected. I may have other members of staff fill in for me if I am unwell, which although is more likely this year, is standard for any summer.”

    Jon looked over to see the familiar logo of BattleNET, Alyssa’s employer. He recognised the reporter from the last BattleNET Christmas party that he had attended with Alyssa. He gave her a nod, as the woman, roughly ten years older than himself and Alyssa, addressed him.

    “Do you have any indication of how this condition will progress?”

    “I can only guess. If left untreated, the seizures will continue to grow more frequent. There was six weeks between the first and second, however the last two were only four days apart,” Jon explained. “However, now that they are as frequent as they are, it is a good time to begin trialling medication to hopefully reduce them. I am optimistic that this is the worst they will be, and that by the end of summer, if nothing else, they are manageable.”

    “Mr. Drake!” called out a voice, and Jon looked over to see the representative from Silver Wing News as the source of the voice. She was in her early fifties, though seemed to have tried very much to appear twenty years younger, with shiny, straight, pale blonde hair. She seemed the most smug of all the reporters. When Jon turned to look for the voice calling his name, she had taken it as permission to ask her question.

    “Julia Visage. Silver Wing News. Not even two weeks ago, you made some very direct statements about your ability to manage three Legendary Pokemon, two of which with history of violence against people, as well as your capability to keep the students present at the Eon Academy safe from enemies you have made, or those who may seek to target you for the sheer amount of Legendary Pokemon present. You labelled the Eon Academy as a suicidal target,” the reporter said, her tone growing more smug as she repeated Jon’s words to him. “How do you expect parents of students here to feel confident that their children are safe from harm, which very nearly came to them a matter of weeks ago, when you’re now revealing that you’re unable to perform a demonstration battle without collapsing?”

    The choice of words was intentional, and those nearby went a little quiet, scared to see how Jon Drake, the man who had threatened death on those who made a target of his school, would react. To their shock, however, Jon grinned.

    “How long did it take you to memorise that, Julia?” Jon asked, being intentional about using her first name. He had picked this trick up from Charlotte, who he knew would intentionally use the first name of people older than her that looked down on her, in order to rattle them. “With regards to the Legendary Pokemon in my care, Latios’ biggest flaw is being too willing to follow my instructions to the letter. When I told him on the S.S. Wishmaker to steal the Diamond Ladies’ belongings, and to ’do whatever it takes’, well, you all know by now what Latios did…”

    There were laughs from those present as Jon continued.

    “As for Rayquaza, you are all aware I triggered a Mega Evolution during the Spiritwater Crisis last year. And whilst I have a keystone, I do not have a Mega Stone specific to Rayquaza. For those unaware, Mega Evolution relies on a bond of loyalty between trainer and Pokemon. Mega Stones facilitate that, so for a Pokemon to Mega Evolve without one, there needs to be complete and unwavering loyalty from the Pokemon to their trainer. Even Latios, in the fifteen years he has been by my side, has only accomplished this once,” Jon answered. “And in terms of Giratina, the trigger that caused the curse to reactivate and make me have the stroke I described, was Giratina becoming loyal to me. The witch who placed the curse effectively placed it as a failsafe, to prevent someone else wielding a power that belonged to Agatha, and to hurt Giratina as a punishment for disloyalty towards its former mistress. I trust all three of these Pokemon completely.”

    “You haven’t answered my question, Mr. Drake,” Julia began, though Jon cut her off.

    “Julia, your question was a small essay, you need to give me a minute,” Jon interjected, resulting in more laughter. Jon had to admit, he was enjoying this press conference far more than he thought he would.

    Julia glared at him, as he continued.

    “It is true, that should the Academy be unfortunate enough to be attacked at the same time that I am incapacitated by a seizure, circumstances would be less ideal, but I stand by my comment. Living on site this summer are my five original students, all of whom are the only people alive, outside of current and former Elite Four and Champions, to be close to my own level of skill. I don’t say this to brag, I only intend to speak facts. They have proven themselves to be capable of acting rationally in emergencies, and dealing with difficult situations such as the Space Center incident in 2018, the Whirl Islands incident in 2019, their own respective involvements in the Spiritwater Crisis last year, and even the attack on the Academy two weeks ago,” Jon explained. “Additionally the Eon Academy is home to four Shadowcraft experts, all of whom were integral to stopping Agatha last summer, and are all growing stronger in their Pokemon battling with every passing week. Between these nine people, I trust the Eon Academy and its students completely…”

    “That is nice and all,” said Julia, before flicking open a notebook. “However, what about next summer?”

    “What about it?” Jon asked, knowing the answer.

    “Well, my own sources indicate that Justin Collins will be beginning training with the Sinnoh Police Department come autumn, and whilst he may have completed it before next summer, the Sinnoh P.D. aren’t known for giving their new recruits three months off to work a summer job. Additionally, a website has been published by Christopher Kingswood under the branding Second To None which seems to imply that as soon as he leaves the Academy this summer, he will be attempting to challenge all seven Pokemon Leagues over the next year. Sources in the Nimbasa City Council have confirmed that Dylan Squier has placed a deposit on a large chunk of land outside of the city. And rumours are circulating, claiming that Elesa will be retiring from being Gym Leader of Nimbasa City, and that Abbee Strauss is planned to be her successor, and that Charlotte Jones has already been offered a place in next summer’s High Seas Tournament, despite the fact that this year’s tournament hasn’t even concluded...”

    Jon’s suspicions were confirmed. Even the students hadn’t been told that the original five weren’t returning next summer. He had wanted to acknowledge all of them together, however given Charlotte and Abbee’s news still being confidential, they had all agreed to wait until near the end of summer.

    “It’s fine to say that you trust the nine people you mentioned to protect the Eon Academy should you be incapacitated by a seizure, but it sounds like five of them will not be there next summer. What are your long term plans?”

    Murmurs erupted from those present, as Jon considered how best to handle this. He knew that the reporter didn’t care about the answer for the question. She only cared about creating content to write about, and Jon slipping up and saying the wrong thing would only serve her interests. Instead however, he chose to use her own methods against her.

    “Julia, if there is a chance of somebody attacking the Eon Academy, be it next summer, or this one, why would I, as the person who is responsible for keeping it safe, share the plans I have to keep it safe? Do you expect the Mossdeep Police Station to share their car’s patrol routes, or the Pokemon League to share the names and Pokemon of their operatives to convince you they’re doing their jobs? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose?” Jon said, his tone casual and confident.

    “So what, parents worried about their children’s safety under your care need to just take your word for it?”

    “Yes, they do, just like any other summer camp, eventually, the parent needs to trust that the facility they are choosing to send their child to is placing their safety as the highest priority. And if the parent can’t do that, they can choose not to send their child,” Jon answered. “And if a parent can’t take me at my word that I can keep their children safe, I would like to remind them that the sheer fact you and I, right now, are able to have this conversation, is due to the decisions I made, and actions I took last July. If not for my judgement then, we would not be here discussing this-”

    “Do you mean to say that you single-handedly saved the world?” Julia cut in, her tone patronising.

    “Beating Agatha and stopping her plans from coming to fruition was a team effort. Multiple people had immense responsibilities placed on them, and had any of them made the wrong call and failed, it would have all been for nothing. So no, I didn’t single-handedly save the world, but, like all who had a role in our success, if not for my individual actions and judgement, none of us would be here. We succeeded together because each of us succeeded individually,” Jon answered, before grinning. “Now, Julia, I have a question for you…”

    Julia’s eyes widened, having not expected this.

    “Between your clearly planned questions, and the sheer amount of investigation you have done into my employees already, I wonder whether you were planning on writing about the rumours of my health before I even made the announcement of this press-conference?” Jon asked. “My wife is a reporter, and she has mentioned how it isn’t a good look for a reporter to be writing based purely on sketchy online rumours. Gossip trash, she calls it…”

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

    The three morning sessions contained three of Chris and Cassandra’s eight weekly classes, keeping them in politely awkward silence all morning. Neither had seen each other since their argument the evening before, and only spoke when their roles as co-teachers of Tactics and Strategy classes warranted it. Both however, had set up alerts on their phones for any news stories about Jon Drake or the Eon Academy, causing both phones to buzz periodically throughout that morning's classes. When either of them had a moment where they could quickly read a news piece, they were skimming through one or more.

    To both their surprise however, the reception to the news seemed to be the most positive and least controversial of any of Jon’s newsworthy moments. Common were statements such as ’injured for the good of all’ and ’still bravely holding his ground’. Chris, despite having voted in favour of making a statement, was surprised by this turn of events, expecting to be seeing far more pieces claiming Jon could not keep the students of the Eon Academy safe.

    Their third period class had been in the stadium, and as the last of the students filtered out, both, in silence, grabbed their phones to check for news. They were each aware that the other was looking at the same thing. As Chris got to the end of another article that was surprisingly complementary of Jon, he let out an audible sigh of relief.

    “You know this is not even half the battle…”

    Cassandra’s words were that quiet, that Chris for a moment thought she was talking to herself. From where he stood, he glanced over, to see Cassandra, looking at her phone, though her words obviously directed towards him.

    “Now everyone knows that Jon has a weakness,” Cassandra said, quietly, yet determinedly. “Which is the last thing the Academy needs right now…”

    “I thought the tip off from Lance was all bulls**t,” Chris retorted. “That’s what you said anyway…”

    Anger flared up in Cassandra at that moment, stemming largely from embarrassment. Though she couldn’t bring herself to admit it, Chris had caught her off guard with that comment last night. Caught her off guard with how correct he was.

    “Even if it all is, you think there aren’t others who’d set their sights on this place?” Cassandra asked. “People like Delilah? Or even someone like that Hill guy?”

    Chris stepped towards her, his gaze fixed.

    “At the end of the day, they don’t matter. We’ve handled them before, and we can handle them again. Blackstone are who we need to worry about, and when they come, we’ll be ready…”

    “As long as they come this summer…” Cassandra muttered quietly. Chris’ nostrils flared, as he understood the exact implication of Cassandra’s words.

    “Is there something you want to say to me?” Chris asked, his tone rising. “Because I’ve had the feeling since day zero there is something you’ve wanted to get off your chest…”

    “Well, after this morning, not only does the world know Jon is at his weakest right now, with almost nothing that can be done, they also know that the majority of what is keeping this place safe will be gone come autumn, and not coming back…”

    “So I’m the bad guy for publicising that I wouldn’t be here next summer?” Chris asked angrily. “Because I didn’t even know Blackstone existed, let alone was a threat until I got here! Or do you think Lance and I are buddy-buddy now? That we’ve had weekly phone calls since he broke out of prison? I know that’s why you’ve got it in for me…”

    “I’m saying that you’re pretty quick to make judgements that affect the Academy, when you’re going to be too busy gallivanting across the world to actually have to see the consequences first hand!” Cassandra retorted, matching Chris’ tone.

    “We voted on it, and the majority agreed it was the right thing to do!”

    “Well what’s going to happen if we’re wrong, and Blackstone attack next summer?!” Cassandra asked, her voice steadily rising.

    “So Blackstone are a threat in your books now?” Chris asked sarcastically.

    “Answer the damn question!” Cassandra retorted.

    “I’ll do what you seem incapable of doing and trust Jon’s judgement!” Chris yelled at Cassandra. “Jon says that even without us here, he will figure it out! Not just Blackstone but all of it! And Jon hasn’t let me down yet!”

    Chris’ accusation of Cassandra’s lack of faith in Jon took Cassandra by surprise. Pride damaged, Cassandra bit back, venom in her words.

    “That’s rich, seeing Jon fought in Alola without you, Justin or Charlotte because you’d cut him off!”

    Cassandra regretted the words the moment she spoke them. Despite her immense distrust of Chris, and her violently opposing opinion about whether Jon’s statement was a good idea, she knew that she had spoken out of line, speaking of history she was not even present for…

    Anger flared in Chris, as he walked towards Cassandra, fury obvious. He was an inch shorter than Cassandra, though seemed a foot larger, as Cassandra, though exceptionally brave by conventional standards, faltered, as for a brief second, she saw Lance.

    “I cut him off because I was ashamed! I had f**ked up, and wasn’t worthy of having him as my mentor! I had acted like a f**king idiot, and thought he deserved better from an employee, from a student! That’s why I dodged his calls, and wasn’t going to come back! Because the least I could do to make up for how I treated him, treated everyone, was to not be a problem for them anymore! You’re right, Charlotte and Justin weren’t in Alola because of me! And it took realising that Jon, Abbee and Dylan were risking their lives in the most dangerous situation any of them had ever been in, because of me, for me to finally pull my f**king head in and look past what happened!”

    Chris continued to bear down on Cassandra as he continued.

    “Say whatever you want about me, but I trust Jon’s judgement, which is more than I can say about you!” Chris yelled at Cassandra. “Jon offered to help you after you got caught! But instead, you took the cowards way out! Torched some person’s cabin, and faked your deaths! The fact you were even able to become human again, and fight in Alola is because of Jon! I f**ked up, but I’m here wearing it! I can barely look Abbee and Dylan in the eye because of what I did, but I’m not running away from that! Not hiding in some f**king forest like you did for four years!”

    “Enough!”

    Both trainers looked to the entrance to the stadium where Jon’s voice had echoed from.

    “You’re goddamn lucky that it’s pizza for lunch today, and all the students are in the dining hall for it, because they didn’t need to see this!” Jon said, shock, anger and disappointment all somehow simultaneously present in his voice. “Latios could sense something was wrong here, and said he hadn’t ever seen anyone this angry! What the hell?!”

    He walked towards both trainers, looking between them in equal disappointment.

    “We couldn’t have asked for things to go any better than they did this morning, and you two want to fight about it?!” Jon asked. Neither Chris nor Cassandra had seen him this angry. Both knew he tended to respond to situations like these with a dangerous level of calm. “You’re on the same goddamn team! Start acting like it!”

    “Jon-” Cassandra tried to say, though didn’t get any further.

    ’Jon fought in Alola without you ‘cause you cut him off’?! ‘You took the coward’s way out’?!” Jon asked. “I wouldn’t even expect this snide s**t from children! Let alone my staff!”

    “I’m sorry-” Chris began, though Jon turned on him.

    “Don’t bother! I’m not the one owed an apology here, and I don’t think anyone will be getting a meaningful apology after what I just witnessed!” Jon yelled, before letting out a strained breath, trying to regain his composure. His next words were with the same familiar and terrifying calm that both trainers knew was more in line with the Jon they knew.

    “Both of you, go get some lunch, and by God if I see another display like I just saw then, we’re having some serious words,” Jon said quietly. “I don’t care if you two hate each other for whatever bulls**t reason or another. I hired you both as professionals. Act like it. I have managed to get the media on my side this morning, but if they get wind of something like what just happened, we’re all screwed…”

    Chris was the first to leave, walking purposefully towards the exit of the stadium. Cassandra, having a choice of being awkwardly alone with Jon or Chris, chose to wait until she knew she wouldn’t run into Chris outside.

    “You know what’s ironic about what I just saw?” Jon asked cynically, sounding a little more like himself, though still far from pleased.

    “Jon, I’ve got the point-”

    “No, you haven’t,” Jon said with a sense of finality. “You know what’s ironic about what I just saw?”

    “What, Jon?” Cassandra asked, her voice making it clear she was not in the mood for jokes.

    “You lashed out the most when Chris called you out for not trusting me. When he damaged your pride…” Jon said. “This just showed you’re more like him than you realise…”

    Cassandra gave a sarcastic laugh at Jon’s words as he walked out, leaving her alone in the stadium.

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

    Cassandra’s phone listed the time as ten past one, as she and her smaller team waited in the stadium for their session with Jon to begin. She could see students growing restless. Considering how strict Jon was with lateness, the fact he was late worried her. And whilst a week ago, jokes would have been made by the students about Jon being tardy, they now knew that there was likely a more serious reason for his absence.

    “I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” Cassandra said, though was interrupted by the sound of the door to the stadium floor opening. She turned to face it, and though she couldn’t identify the backlit figure that had entered, she knew it wasn’t Jon.

    “Jon’s unwell and has asked me to fill in for him this afternoon,” Chris said as he entered, and upon noticing Cassandra, answered the question she hadn’t asked. “Charlotte’s team is up next, and Dylan is off-site…”

    Whilst Cassandra would have preferred Justin or Abbee fill in, she knew Chris was the more sensible choice for practical battling. Though had Charlotte or Dylan been an option, and Chris been sent to fill in for Jon, she’d have believed Jon was trying to force them to cooperate.

    As the students focused on Chris, he looked around at the group.

    “Jon didn’t get a chance to fill me in specifically on what each of this afternoon's groups have been working on,” Chris said simply. “So what have your last few sessions been focusing on?”

    “Adaptability,” called out one student. Chris nodded.

    “So not falling into the trap of being too stuck in your plan when it starts going to s**t?” Chris asked, earning a light hearted laugh of approval. As the voices quietened down, Chris noticed an older boy, probably only three or four years younger than himself, who continued to chat under his breath with his friend next to him. Chris ignored him for a moment, before asking his next question. “So how do we practise adaptability in a battle?”

    “By having a variety of moves ready,” called out one voice, as Chris nodded in approval.

    “By having strategies to stall and buy time,” said another.

    As the voices quietened down, Chris could still hear the same voice of the boy who stood near the back, murmuring with his friend.

    “What about you?” Chris said, looking directly at the boy. At first, he didn’t realise Chris was talking to him, until his friend noticed, and nudged him, causing him to glance at Chris. “What’s your name?”

    “Dustin,” the boy said, his tone defiant.

    “Well Dustin, do you have something to share?” Chris asked, almost sarcastically. “Because I haven’t seen you stop talking and listen since I got here…”

    Dustin seemed flustered by being called out, however instead of taking the hint, he responded with defiance.

    “Actually, I do,” Dustin said, as Chris’ eyes narrowed on the student. “What’s the point in paying as much as we are to attend Jon Drake’s Eon Academy, if we aren’t being taught by Jon?”

    There were quiet murmurs as Cassandra went to speak, though Chris held up a hand, much to her annoyance.

    “I’m not going to bulls**t you. Jon had a seizure during the lunch hour. Should I ask him to be a little bit more considerate when scheduling his collapses?” Chris asked, all but Dustin seeming to understand the thin ice he was skating on.

    “No, but Steven was here this morning for classes,” Dustin answered. “If Jon can’t teach his classes, I’d at least hope he’d have someone of the same calibre teaching us.”

    “Dustin, shut up!” hissed his friend next to him.

    “No, let him talk,” Chris said to the friend before addressing Dustin. “Was there anything else you wanted to add?”

    Dustin shook his head as Cassandra glared at Chris, not liking where this was going, but knowing better than to try and undermine him right now.

    “So just to make sure we’re on the same page,” Chris explained. “Because I’m not Jon, or Steven, and don’t have some fancy title to my name, it isn’t worth your time to be taught by me?”

    “I mean,” Dustin said, realising the implication of what Chris was saying. “You’re not even four years older than me!”

    “Okay, I think I understand,” Chris explained, before addressing the group overall. “Change of plan. You can continue adaptability when Jon is better. I have another lesson I want to teach. One that will benefit you in and out of your battling careers…”

    “Chris…” Cassandra said quietly, though Chris ignored her.

    “And Dustin is going to help me demonstrate…”

    Dustin looked at Chris in shock.

    “Why me?”

    “Well if you can’t learn anything from me, you may as well help me teach the others,” Chris said simply. “After all, I’m not even four years older than you...”

    Cautious, the class vacated the battlefield, as Chris gestured for Dustin to move to the opposite side.

    “One Pokemon each. Sudden death,” Chris called out. Dustin nodded apprehensively, before selecting a Pokeball at the same time as Chris. Cassandra, knowing that she couldn’t stop this now, opted to referee.

    “Both of you, send out a Pokemon…”

    There were twin flashes of light as Chris sent out his Garchomp, and Dustin, breathing a sigh of relief, sent out his Weavile.

    “Begin!”

    “Scary Face!” Chris ordered Garchomp, who sneered menacingly at Weavile, causing it to second guess itself and by extension, slowing its reflexes.

    “Avalanche!” Dustin had said at almost the same time. Chris grinned. Dustin had expected Chris to go on the offensive instantly, and had he done this, Avalanche would have ended the battle before it started. Instead, with Garchomp not dealing damage, Avalanche was just a mid-powered, slow move. Relatively weak as it was however, Garchomp’s double weakness to ice made up for that, as Garchomp was struck by the ice-encased Weavile, knocking it back and leaving it unsteady on its feet. Chris however, knew that he still held the advantage. There was not a move Weavile could use that was strong enough to end the match before Garchomp would act, and Garchomp’s next action would hopefully make Weavile’s task of beating Garchomp even more difficult. Chris considered ending the battle now, however knew that he needed to win this, and despite knowing he was a far superior battler than Dustin, Dustin did hold a massive advantage. Instead, he decided to play the long game.

    “Sandstorm!” Chris ordered, as Garchomp roared, whipping up sand seemingly from nowhere, which blew rampantly around the battlefield, buffeting Weavile, and reducing visibility.

    “Ice Punch Weavile!” Dustin called out however Chris didn’t see if Weavile even attempted to make an attack. Slowed by Scary Face, and now unable to see Garchomp easily given the Sandstorm and Garchomp’s Sand Veil ability, it had no way of reliably getting within striking distance of Garchomp.

    “Sand Attack!” Chris ordered, as Garchomp whipped its tail towards Weavile, directing some of the blowing sand into its eyes, blinding it further.

    “Ice Beam!” Dustin ordered, which Chris knew was the only reasonable option it had. Despite being a far superior physical attacker, and Ice Beam not being one of the moves Weavile was more suited to, Chris knew that one, even weak, Ice Type attack, would likely be enough to beat Garchomp, and if Weavile couldn’t accurately land a physical attack, using a weaker, albeit more reliable, special attack was the better option. However it was too late. Weavile missed Garchomp by a factor of thirty degrees, as Chris gave what he expected to be his final order for the battle.

    “Stone Edge!”

    With a roar, Garchomp rushed at Weavile, who was disorientated by all going on, stopping a foot shy of its target, and pivoting on the spot, slamming its tail into the smaller Pokemon, as mounds of rock shot up from the stone battlefield floor below it. Weavile was launched skyward, and landed only a few feet shy of Dustin, where he stood at the end of the battlefield.

    “Garchomp, return…”

    There was a flash of light, as Garchomp was returned to its Pokeball, causing the sandstorm to subside, as Chris gestured for all students to join him. When Dustin returned, Chris addressed him.

    “You chose Weavile because it could have an edge over any of my Pokemon. I’m not the sort of a**hole who would send out Lugia for this match, so you didn’t have to worry about that, though both Ice and Dark type moves would give you a better chance. I also have Garchomp, Dragonite and Salamence, who would all have a double weakness to Ice. Hydreigon would still be disadvantaged to Ice moves, and whilst my Ninetales would have an advantage being Fairy Type, Weavile’s Metal Claw could make up for it. Same with my Charizard,” Chris said. “Regardless, Weavile was likely your best bet against me. Am I correct so far in your reasoning?”

    Dustin nodded, as Chris continued.

    “You decided to make the most of your advantage by having Weavile use Avalanche, seeing as if Weavile took a hit before using it, and there was little that Garchomp could do in a single turn to end the match, it would be more powerful. You had banked on me being p**sed off with you and going straight on the offensive,” Chris explained. “Still on the right track?”

    Dustin nodded, now looking at Chris with shock as he explained all the reasoning behind Dustin’s decisions.

    “You used Ice Punch next, as it is a solid and accurate move, and even if it only grazed Garchomp, it would be strong enough to finish off Garchomp, but realised after that that Weavile would not be able to safely get into close quarters, so instead opted to use Ice Beam, which was more likely to hit, at the expense of damage. But you weren’t needing a massive hit, just something small to finish off Garchomp,” Chris concluded. Dustin nodded. “In terms of adapting to the flow of the battle, you did well. However, to a more experienced battler, your tactics were obvious, if not a little predictable.”

    Dustin’s eyes widened at Chris’ last comment, as Chris continued.

    “Opening with Icy Wind would have had a lower chance of ending the battle in a single move, but set you up for winning in the longer run. It would have slowed down Garchomp, and if used twice, would have slowed it the same amount that Garchomp’s Scary Face had slowed Weavile. And even if I used the exact same moves, an Icy Wind followed by an Ice Shard, which will always hit faster than Garchomp with near perfect accuracy, would have beaten Garchomp before it could even have used Sandstorm,” Chris explained. “Now, in one sentence, tell me what you learned from that match?”

    Dustin was quiet for a moment, before finding his words.

    “Don’t place too much emphasis on the first move. Leave yourself with options.”

    Chris nodded, before addressing all the students.

    “The lesson for all of us, something I had to learn, is this,” Chris explained. “There is not a single person on this earth who has nothing to teach you. If you believe that there is anybody who could offer you nothing, you are screwing yourself over more than them. Not just in battling, but everything…”

    Chris looked at the students, who didn’t seem to know how to respond to this.

    “Pair up, with someone who you don't usually talk to, and have a practice battle. I don’t care who wins or loses, just battle however comes natural to you,” Chris ordered. “Instead, I want you to watch how your opponent battles, see what you can learn from them, and figure out how you can apply that to your own battling…”

    For the remainder of the lesson, Chris and Cassandra helped the students pair off, making a point of forcing certain paired students they knew were close friends to split up and pair with someone else, before each pair began their own sudden-death match, as the two teachers did rounds, watching each pair battle. Near the end of the lesson, when she was sure she wouldn’t be noticed or overheard, Cassandra approached Chris, her discontentment visible to him.

    “I get the lesson you were trying to teach them all,” Cassandra said quietly, but intently. “But did you need to humiliate Dustin to do it? I’m sure the rest of the class would have gotten the point regardless…”

    Though far from having any sort of friendship with Cassandra, Chris didn’t respond with any indication of offence taken, but instead, calmly held his ground.

    “Doesn’t look humiliated to me…”

    Chris nodded towards where Dustin stood, now battling with a Victreebell, intent on his opponent who battled with a Magcargo, watching carefully for any hint as to their next move.

    “He looks more driven than anyone else here,” Chris added, though with no sense of pride, nor reprimand to Cassandra’s protests.

    “How could you know that he would take it like this though? And not just get angry about it and refuse to listen even more?”

    “Because Jon had to pull that same trick with me to get me to shut up and listen to him. Multiple times,” Chris answered simply, as if talking to a stranger. “A few indirect, one very direct. I needed to be put in my place and it be made abundantly clear that I, in fact, did not know it all…”
    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 04-26-2023 at 02:24 PM.

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