Returning to the gym was oddly comforting. It might not be home, but it at least felt safe. Pokecenters used to feel safe, until they weren’t. I still could hardly believe that Team Flare attacked one just for one shiny Pokemon. They didn’t even try for the mythic. It really made no sense.

  In the end, it doesn’t matter. Thankfully they were smart enough to not attack a gym. Or maybe getting beat so bad scared them off. Or maybe they were biding their time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Hard to tell.

  But it was still nice.

  I decided to take a break the next day and unwind… by observing several Pokemon fight each other in some sort of near sadistic glee. Keo and Scoly were getting really good at fighting together, to the point that Rio and Cara actually had to team up in order to fight them off. It used to be that the two blue canines would fight each other while staving off the attacks of the other two, but now they didn’t have that luxury.

  And when you threw Primarina into the mix, it was an honestly brutal fight. She slipped in some places, mobility was definitely the seal's weakness when under the effects of Gravity, but she’d gotten very good at using her bubbles defensively. I wish she would use her singing more, but she seemed more focused on bubbles. That was probably from trauma and being the link that got us to bond.

  But she wasn’t the problem.

  The problem was Keo. Her improvement had been massive since she started training under Gravity. Even if she was still reluctant to listen to advice I gave her whenever she plateaued, she saw massive gains when she actually listened. That was a bit frustrating, but I wasn’t going to make her listen to me. She was getting better, but it was slow.

  Sliggoo had also seen quite a lot of improvement. Her dragon energy had spiked so much since she evolved, and she was a surprising menace with her Dragon Breath. The problem when it came to the training is everyone was starting to form little duo’s so that they had someone to watch their back, and the little slug didn’t have anyone.

  Diancie did not have this problem.

  If the little slug was a menace, then Diancie was a terror. Rocks, diamonds, blasts of moonlight; all were at her disposal. And this session was honestly interesting. They had started to send more attacks at Diancie, and Rio and Cara started to actively attack pressure her… Well I was very interested to see her reaction. It was really the first time the focus of combat had started to actively be put on the big rock. She started taking hits, getting battered, and she clearly did not like that.

  In fact, she didn’t like it so much that her retaliation was to Mega Evolve. The strange shift in energy that I had felt the first time on the beach was very different. I didn’t feel staggered, or drained at all in fact. It was more of just a shift rather than a pull. I wasn’t sure if this was due to being closer to Diancie now, or if it had to do with the strange ritual that had been undergone at the sundial, but it was definitely easier.

  And the destruction they all wrought as a result… Well, I had to end the training session early and explain to a panicked Valerie that we didn’t get attacked, it was just Diancie being extra. And we had to change rooms after everyone had a visit to the Pokecenter.

  Putting the blame on a Mega Evolved mythic was more than a good enough excuse for a nearly destroyed training room and a rather sizable hole in the wall.

  To me, it had honestly been worth it. Seeing the effects of Mega Evolution first hand like that told me quite a lot. The spike in power was noticeable, but not extreme.

  But damn had I not been expecting all that.

  It escalated so fast that I didn’t even realize they were taking it too far until it was too late. It quickly stopped being about training and just devolved into straight up fighting, and it only really stopped when Diancie was knocked out.

  And oh boy was she not happy when I let her back out. I had to grasp hold of her hands to stop her from immediately starting to throw down again. I’d never seen her so pissed. It took almost an hour for me to explain to her how training is supposed to go, and how battles go. She was very confused and frustrated, and I realized I had never properly explained things to her.

  “I still don’t like that they teamed up on me,” she grumbled at the end, having calmed down considerably, but was still upset.

  “I know, I know,” I said as I continued to hold her hands. “But that happens during battles.”

  She huffed, but had become more focused on my fingers. It took a while before she seemed satisfied with whatever fascination my fingers held for her and decided to go and do other things, which allowed me to make dinner.

  I think everyone had a new found respect for the silly diamond Pokemon that threw rocks at them. While it hadn’t been a very long fight, she had battered all of them thoroughly before going down.

  ~

  The next day I found myself in Snowbelle, literally wading through two feet of snow as I exited the train station. Valerie had told me to buy warmer clothes, and I was so glad I had listened to her. I spent two thousand on the biggest, puffiest, warmest coat that I could find, and wore it over my normal coat. Layers and all that. And had I mentioned how glad I was that I listened? Because damn it was cold. I had also bought a few other things that I hoped would be helpful in such a winter wonderland, but only time would tell.

  Why did I think going to the snowiest, coldiest city in Kalos in the middle of winter was a good idea?

  The incubator with Alma in it had been left at the gym with the wolf pack, since despite being called portable the thing was massive. It would not only make me a target, but I didn’t want to risk bringing it into battles if I could help it. After all, I was here to fight Wulfric.

  I let Keo out, as she had made some rather interesting requests last night when I explained what we would be doing. “I hope you’re ready,” I said with a bit of a smile at her. She was the only one out. It was too cold to have anyone else out, including Eevee.

  She looked around, and then looked me up and down. “You look ridiculous,” she commented before turning and trotting off a bit. She hardly even left prints in the snow, while I was up to my knees in the stuff.

  Scoffing, I started to follow after her. She didn’t seem very bothered by my slow pace, as it gave her a chance to wander around and look at things. Our destination was the gym, and it wasn’t hard to spot. It was a massive thing up on the mountain, and if what the games had said was right, it was the reason Snowbelle was so cold.

  Was it a weather machine? That had honestly been my thought when I saw it in the anime. It did look like some massive machine… Or maybe it was supposed to be something to research the anomaly? Depending on how amenable Wulfric was, maybe I could ask him.

  As I walked through the oddly bustling streets, I marvelled at how pretty it was. This was clearly a city that went all out on Christmas. It was like one of those Christmas Village dioramas I was able to actually walk through. Warm light spilling from windows and decorations everywhere. There wasn’t a single tree without fairy lights. It was honestly beautiful, and I could only imagine how it would be at night.

  There was even a gazebo with carolers in it. It took a while for me to figure out what they were singing, but it was similar to Deck the Halls. While I couldn’t say they were particularly good, they weren’t bad. To me, it looked like a group of friends who were just… messing around. Having fun.

  Keo seemed absolutely enamoured with the lights and displays, constantly running around to get better looks at different things. I overheard a lot of people commenting about how adorable she was, and questioning what Pokemon she was. I happily explained to a few more of the outgoing passerbys that she was a Vulpix from Alola.

  One couple talked about maybe planning their next trip over there, while a few were skeptical of my claims. Unfortunately someone commented on how it was amazing she was still so lively despite being crippled, and that really seemed to sour Keo’s mood. She stopped running around and just walked beside me, sulking.

  “People really don’t know what they’re talking about,” I said with a bit of a smile down at her. While she had made it very clear that my words of encouragement meant very little to her, it wasn’t going to stop me from saying them.

  She just huffed out a breath of snowflakes in response, though from the way she seemed to relax, it did seem to make her feel a bit better. Wait, was Keo some sort of tsundere? Thinking it over, she had a lot of the flags. Although she hardly straight up insulted me, she always acted a bit passive aggressive… Maybe that was something to be aware of. I didn’t praise her enough because she seemed almost repulsed by it, but maybe she was just pretending?

  I shook my head. That wasn’t something to be thinking about right now.

  While I was expecting to have to climb up the mountain, I was pleasantly surprised to find a gondola. Right next to the Pokecenter. In fact, they were kind of attached. “Looks like it’s not running,” I mused.

  Walking to the building, I spent time shaking all of the snow off under the easement before making my way inside. Keo was quick to run over to the counter and jump onto it with an annoyed look. “How do we get to the gym,” she demanded of the Joy, who was looking at her with a slightly bemused look.

  “Well hello there,” she said with a bit of a giggle.

  “Sorry about her, she really wants to fight Wulfric for some reason,” I explained as I walked up. The Pokecenter was empty.

  “Oh?” Joy glanced between me and Keo. “Well, unfortunately the gym is closed for Christmas,” she explained. And the little fox on the table looked personally offended.

  I nodded slowly. “I see… Should have expected that. When will Wulfric be available?”

  She turned a bit to a computer and started to punch a few things in. “The gym will be open in a week. Would you like me to schedule you in?”

  “Can you do that?” I asked, leaning a bit against the counter.

  “Of course. Wulfric uh… doesn’t have a secretary this time of year, so the duty falls on us Joy’s, since we also run the gondola,” she explained as she started to put in a few things.

  “Ah, right. That makes sense.”

  “Trainer ID?” she suddenly asked.

  I paused for a moment. “Oh. Right. That.” I shook my head as I retrieved the thing from my bag. “Almost forgot about this… Been a while since I had to show anyone.”

  She took it, but gave me a sort of puzzled look, and then her eyes widened when she actually looked at the thing. “Oh Arceus! You’re Jason! Goodness, I thought you were some foreign Trainer rushing the circuit.”

  I smiled quite a bit, shaking my head. “No, just doing it weird. Also, please make note I’m going for the Elite Badge, if you need to.”

  Her eyes actually widened a bit more. “O-oh. Okay. Right. Well, be aware that’s a three versus three battle. And… Wulfric is not kind about it… He’s got a full six team that’s almost good enough to challenge the Elite Four, and he uses them in those battles. A lot of people skip out on getting the Elite Iceberg Badge because of that.”

  “Yeah, Valerie says he’s a jerk,” I said with a nod.

  She giggled softly, putting a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to hide it. “That is… uhm… something a lot of people say.”

  I let out a soft laugh. “Alright. Well, since we can’t fight him today, I guess we’ll have to put it off.”

  Keo looked so miffed. Again, I didn’t really understand what was driving her to want to confront the ice gym. And trying to explain types and resistances just seemed to make her even more determined. Maybe that was why? She refused to accept that I was right about things, so if I tell her she would struggle, she just wants to prove me wrong.

  “Okay, well, I have you down in eight days, at two in the afternoon. Between Christmas and the New Year.” She stopped typing, turning more of her attention on me. “That alright?”

  I nodded and smiled. “Sounds good to me. Thank you, Joy.”

  She nods and returns my smile. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  I shook my head as I turned. “Nah, thanks.”

  “Have a good day, Jason,” she said with a slight bow.

  Back out into the snow, the cold hit me immediately. I had actually forgotten how cold it was out here. Keo came out with me, glaring up at the gym. I reached into my bag and released Hate. The canine looked around, getting her bearings. “Let’s find the last of those bases, shall we?”

  ~

  It took the entire day to find the four bases in Snowbelle. There wasn’t anything special about them, which was good. That put our total at thirty five, including Lysandre’s Lab. But there was still one place to check, which I was going to do the next day.

  The Pokecenter was warm and comfortable. It had a bit more…rustic feel to it. Like it was old, but had a nice feel to it. Flavienne came to talk with me a bit, mostly to warn me about Wulfric. She had apparently seen that I had scheduled an Elite Battle against him. I was actually starting to get a bit worried about it considering how many people had warned me about the guy.

  But surely it wouldn’t be that bad, right?

  As if I would actually believe that with so many warnings. I was going to have to be ready for a rough time. What really bothered me was that no one really had an explanation as to why it was so bad, aside from the fact he was practically an Elite Four member with a full team and did not pull his punches.

  But that was for the future. Right that moment I had a mountain to trudge up. Thankfully the tree cover had made the snow a lot lighter, so I only had to deal with a few inches rather than a couple feet. I was following behind Hate, who was getting more and more determined the further we traveled.

  No one else was out. Everyone was very adamant about not wanting to hike up a snow covered mountain in winter. Even Keo didn’t want to go traipsing up the mountain. It wasn’t that much of a mountain, really. More like a slight incline, but it had been a few hours of hiking now.

  Suddenly, Hate stopped. “There,” she whispered.

  Coming up beside her, I paused at the tree and looked out into the small clearing. There was just a small outcropping of rocks, but even I could see the door. It was pretty obvious. “Right…” I mumbled as I pulled out my phone, taking note of the location and taking a picture of the door. “Okay, let’s go back,” I said with a sigh, not looking forward to the hike.

  “Wait,” she said, sniffing at the air as she took a few steps forward. I was tempted to tell her to come back, but decided to let her do her thing. “I don’t smell anyone?”

  I blinked. “No one?” I looked around. I don’t know why I looked around. It wasn’t like I had any sort of tracking skills or would be able to tell if anyone was around.

  “All the scents are really old,” she mumbled, moving closer to the outcropping.

  I reached into my coat, pulling out Cara’s pokeball and releasing her. “Cara, can you sense anyone?”

  She was a bit tense when she appeared, but relaxed when there wasn’t an immediate threat. Her eyes glowed with that familiar light as she used Aura Sense. Her head snapped downward and she seemed to look around. “There’s a structure below us but… no people.”

  A frown formed on my face as I exited the tree line. I took another look around as I made my way towards the door. Hate was already at the rocks, sniffing around the door. “Something smells… off…” she said as she looked at me.

  I stood in front of the door, looking at it for a moment. There wasn’t a handle or keypad, or any obvious way to open it. “Cara, open the door.”

  The noise of the door being bashed in was oddly satisfying, though the clatter of it going down the hall was more amusing than impressive.

  The lights were off and I pulled out my flashlight, pointing it into the extremely dark hallway. “Weird, there doesn’t seem to be any lights-” the smell hit us all immediately. Cara and Hate recoiled, taking several steps back, though both tried to position themselves between me and the door. I turned away, staggering a few steps before throwing up.

  I moved farther away, lifting up my coat to try and block the stench while I made a conscious effort to not breathe through my nose. That wasn’t the smell of an abandoned building. I’d been in several of those. That was the smell of rot.

  We all moved back even further, nearly to the tree line. Even though I was far enough away to not smell it, just the memory of that smell made me gag.

  I should have turned and ran.

  That would have been the smart thing to do.

  But I was too curious for my own good.

  With a sigh, I pulled a large cloth from my bag, and a berry. I didn’t have any perfume, but if I smeared the berry into the cloth, it would mask the smell at least a little. When I wrapped it around my face, Cara looked at me incredulously.

  “You cannot be thinking what I think you’re thinking,” she stated bluntly.

  I glanced at her before shrugging. “I’m just going to take a quick look.”

  Even Hate was giving me a look. “Are you serious?”

  Again I shrugged as I started to walk back towards the open door. Even through my mask, the smell made me gag. But it was bearable. Hate and Cara did not follow. Cara looked almost distraught, clearly fighting with herself on whether to follow or not. I thought about it for a moment, running through ideas in my head. I pulled out three pokeballs, releasing Sliggoo, Banette, and Mikyu. “Okay?” I questioned Cara.

  She seemed hesitant, but then nodded. I returned her and Hate so that they didn’t have to worry and could be with me in some kind of emergency. “Whoa, that looks spooky,” Sliggoo said, staring into the darkness.

  “Right?” I said with a bit of a chuckle. Mikyu looked concerned, and Banette was standing in the doorway, staring into the darkness. I crouched down beside them, trying to ignore the smell. “Okay, you three keep an eye out for anything wrong, alright?”

  All three of them nodded, and I put Mikyu on my right shoulder, with Sliggoo on my left. Although Sliggoo was almost too big to fit, most of her was on my back, but with how well she could grip there was no chance of her falling off.

  With that, we made our way in. Banette led the way, clearly unbothered by the atmosphere. She left little footprints in the dust as she walked. This base was clearly abandoned months ago.

  The hallway wasn’t that long before we had to start making our way down an annoyingly long spiral staircase, we probably went down three or four stories before coming to another hallway. My eyes were immediately drawn to the side, where I could see a small panel. It caught my attention because it had little glowing lights. Wiping the dust from it, I jumped as the lights suddenly came on.

  We were in a short hallway, two doors to the side, and a larger room at the end. It looked… sterile. Almost like a hospital.

  Cautiously I moved to one of the doors, while Banette just walked off into the larger room. The one on the left was partially ajar. Slowly I pushed the door open, revealing a sort of… break room? Some sort of generator on one side, and some game tables on the other. There didn’t appear to be anything of interest. The other door led to restrooms.

  Following after Banette, there were several steps leading down into the room at the end of the hall. It was absolutely massive. Banette had cleared some of the dust, revealing the telltale signs of a marked battle arena.

  There were two doors leading off from this battle room, again the door on the left was partially open. I decided to look at the closed door first, and opened it to reveal a sort of office. Papers were everywhere. There was a bookshelf, but it looked like someone had taken most things off of it. There was a broken computer on the desk, clearly having been smashed by something. Probably a Pokemon.

  I could see a few things on the floor in front of the shelf. Some of which looked interesting. A sort of statue that was broken, and glass that looked to have been some sort of case at one point. Banette was wandering the room, picking up the papers before discarding them. “Can you read?” I asked.

  She looked back at me, blinking at me several times before her head tilted. That wasn’t a yes or a no. Someday I would figure out why this Banette was so strange.

  As I thought about that, she went behind the desk, and I could hear drawers opening. While I could search the room myself, it was amusing to watch her do it. It was honestly like…she knew what she was doing.

  And I was actually shocked when she came back around holding an armfull of stones. I just sort of gaped at her, though my makeshift mask was hiding my expression, I was completely stunned. Immediately I knew that there were three dusk stones, a moonstone, and the other was a sun stone. “What the hell were they doing here that those were just… in some drawer?”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  After thinking about it for a moment, I realized that they must have been for rewarding promising members. Although the dusk stones made sense, I couldn’t imagine what Pokemon Team Flare used that the other stones could actually help. Maybe that’s why they were left? Too many of one, no use for the others?

  Banette offered them to me, a big grin on her face. I smiled under my mask and took them, tucking them into my bag. “Good job, Banette. Very good job.” I rubbed the top of her head, and she pressed into my hand. I had no idea what I would do with them, but better to have than to not. “Didn’t happen to see an ice stone back there, did ya?” I asked with a bit of a laugh.

  She just tilted her head at me before wandering back out into the larger room.

  I made a mental note she was not approaching the other door. The other door that I now had to check. Slowly I made my way across the room towards the open door, and the smell grew stronger. Or maybe that was my imagination?

  It probably was not. I had barely started to open the door before I caught sight of something that caused my entire body to lock up. My heart started racing like I’d just run a marathon. That was a hand. There was no mistaking it. Definitely a hand. A rotting hand.

  I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, debating what to do. Clearly that was where the smell had come from. Now I knew what a rotting corpse smelled like. Wonderful. Good. Great. That was lovely for me.

  And what made it even worse… I wanted to look.

  Some sort of morbid curiosity was pulling really hard at the rational part of my brain. But no, it wasn’t just that. I needed to know. I needed to know if those bodies - yes multiple, there was no way just one was making it smell this bad - belonged to people who deserved it. As horrible as that sounded.

  “Sliggoo… Don’t look,” I muttered as I closed my eyes. I tried to take a deep breath the best that I could, and pulled the door open. Sliggoo made a noise, and I realized she had not followed my advice. My eyes opened to the sight of what could only be described as a scene from some sort of over the top slasher movie that spent all of its budget on props and red paint.

  Immediately I slammed the door closed, looking out at the room and trying not to blink. If you blink just after looking at something there is a higher chance of burning that image into your mind. It kinda helped, but I was never going to forget the sight of that room. It was good my stomach was empty, otherwise I would have been throwing up again. Didn’t stop me from gagging and trying to not dry heave.

  It had been a sort of barracks. The only positive thing that I got out of the image that was rapidly searing itself into my mind, is that they were all very obviously Team Flare. “Mikyu,” I said hoarsely, struggling to speak. “Can… Can you check to see if they have pokeballs?” I managed. “If that’s okay. You don’t have to.”

  She just nodded and hopped down, moving to the door. I quickly moved away so that I didn’t accidentally see more. My hands were shaking. Trying to combat that, I reached up and I gently rested it against Sliggoo, who grasped it in her little hands. It was comforting for the both of us.

  I was so out of it that I didn’t even notice when Mikyu returned. She had dozens of pokeballs. I slowly slid down the wall I had apparently leaned against. When had I done that? Reaching out, I took one of the pokeballs. It was locked and in stasis mode. And they were alive.

  Without even thinking I started shoving the pokeballs into my bag. Mikyu helped pile them in, and I had barely closed my bag before I started running, scooping her up as I did. I snatched up Banette as well, running at full tilt.

  I stumbled quite a lot on the stairs, trying to go as fast as I could. Thankfully, Mikyu and Banette used their Shadow Claws to help keep me from falling over. I practically flew out of the entrance, sprinting towards the tree line. The cold stung my face when I exited, but I barely registered that it was snowing and just kept sprinting.

  I was completely out of breath and staggering when I realized that I had Scoly. I quickly brought her out, and she immediately started to complain about the cold. “No time,” I said breathlessly. “We need… We need to get to the Pokecenter. Now.”

  That stopped her, and she used her rear antennae to practically toss me onto her back before she took off. I had no idea she could do that, but I wasn’t going to question it. Banette and Mikyu were using Shadow Claws to hold me to her as I hadn’t properly seated myself. The two of them worked together to get me sitting in a better position.

  I pulled out my phone, struggling a bit because my hands were still shaking. Was that from cold, nerves, or adrenaline? Irrelevant. I tore off the cloth over my face as I called Evelyne. Fuck why hadn’t I gotten the numbers of other Joy’s?

  “Jace? What-”

  “No time!” I shouted, which I had to do due to the wind. “Emergency! I have an unknown number of Pokemon in stasis, I have no idea how long they’ve been in it, but it’s been months. I-” My words caught. “I don’t know how many of them are alive.” I could feel tears pricking the corners of my eyes, which stung something fierce in the cold.

  “Where are you?” While I had been talking, the background on her end had blurred, and the phone was a bit wobbly as she was running somewhere.

  “Outside Snowbelle. We’re heading to the Pokecenter right now.” Talking was actually calming me down.

  “What happened?” she had an extremely serious tone in her voice.

  Had I explained what I was doing to her? I had, right? I couldn’t remember. “Team Flare base. It was abandoned. But not… Not evacuated.” My breathing was starting to hitch as I talked and fragments of what I’d seen struck my mind. “Fuck I’ve never seen that much blood…”

  She froze. “Are you okay?”

  “I… I… dammit…” I closed my eyes, forcing myself to take deep breaths. “Everyone was dead... Months ago… I think? I didn’t… I didn’t look too much.”

  “Okay. But are you okay?” She was watching me, but I couldn’t help but notice her blocking the microphone and start yelling at someone else. I didn’t catch all of what she said, but I did hear emergency, Snowbelle, all hands, prepare for incoming.

  “I’m…having a bit of a panic attack. There are… There are dozens of pokeballs. And I… I don’t know-”

  “It’s okay,” she interrupted. “Just get them to the Pokecenter.”

  I nodded, making another attempt at steadying my breathing. It was really helping that Banette and Mikyu were squeezing me with their Shadow Claws. It was grounding.

  Time had no meaning for me and I had no idea how long it took, but eventually we burst from the trees and into the deeper snow of cleared land that marked the city. Thankfully the roads were more clear, and Scoly barreled towards the Pokecenter in the distance.

  I think she ran over a car at one point.

  She hit the breaks hard, nearly crashing through the front doors of the Pokecenter, and I leapt off. Not my best move, since I slipped on the snow and slammed into the door, flinging it open in the process. I would have probably toppled over, but a bunch of Shadow Claws were good enough to keep me on my feet.

  Ahead of me was a group of Joy’s. Seven? Eight? My vision swam at even trying to count them. One came running up with a basket. Flavienne. “Jason!” she called on her way.

  I met her half way, staggering but having the support of two ghost Pokemon to keep me up. The moment she was close enough I started to pull pokeballs from my bag and put them in the basket. Mikyu and Banette helped to speed up the process. “Shit,” one of the other Joy’s commented on the amount. It wasn’t quite dozens, but it was more than twenty.

  “This all of them?” someone asked, and I nodded.

  “Alright!” Flavienne shouted, turning with the basket. “Remember the new protocol! Assurance of safety is the main priority!”

  There were three Wigglytuff that came over to the basket and Joy’s started to fill trays. The moment a tray was full, it was rushed back. In less than a minute, all the Joy’s were gone.

  I slumped, my legs giving out. Scoly hooked her horns under my arms, helping the two ghosts to keep me upright. They all started to lead me over towards the sitting area, and I chuckled. “You’re all so smart,” I said softly before sinking into one of the couches.

  Scoly came around, shoving a few chairs and another couch out of her way so that she could lay down and put her head in my lap. I put Banette down beside me as I leaned more into the couch.

  For a few minutes I just breathed, trying to calm myself again. Eventually, my brain started working properly again and I pulled out my phone and called Adria. While I waited, I started petting between Scoly’s horns. Leaning my head to the side, I rested it against Sliggoo. She had been really quiet, which was understandable. But she pressed back against me, so she probably wasn’t in shock, just processing.

  “Jace?” Adria asked tentatively, and I realized she had picked up a few seconds ago.

  “I finished with my scouting,” I said slowly, closing my eyes.

  “Okay. That’s good,” she paused, “Are you okay?”

  I took a moment before I replied, “No. There was… There is a base outside of Snowbelle. Abandoned. There are…” I tried in vain to block out the image. “It was like some sort of training facility? There just… There is… I… There are so many bodies…” I muttered.

  “Where are you?” she suddenly snapped, and my eyes opened, the tone of her voice catching me off guard.

  “Snowbelle Pokecenter,” I said quickly, and she visibly relaxed.

  “Okay…” She seemed to think about something. “Chief Jenny wants to talk to you. As soon as possible. About…what you’ve been doing.”

  I nodded slowly. It was just barely after lunch. “I can do that today.”

  “You sure you’re up for that?” she asked hesitantly.

  “I’m…” I took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Yeah. I just need some time to finish up this stuff in Snowbelle.”

  She seemed to think things over, clearly hesitant. “Okay… Come to the station in Lumiose as soon as you're done, and text me when you’re on your way.”

  “Alright… I can do that,” I said, closing my eyes for a moment.

  There were a few seconds of silence. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I think so,” I replied with a sigh. “Just…trying to process.”

  “Right… Okay, I’m going to go tell Chief Jenny you’re coming later today. As for right now, I’m sending a few Jenny’s to you, so that you can tell them where the base is.” She did that thing where she blocked the microphone, talking to someone else.

  I hesitated. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

  The question seemed to catch her off guard, but I could hear the smile in her voice. “Yes. Don’t worry, these ones are trustworthy.”

  “Alright,” I said, opening my eyes a bit in time to see her hang up.

  A soft huff escaped me. Well I couldn’t really blame her, I’d kinda dropped a big problem in her lap. Either way, I put my phone away and relaxed more into the couch. I actually dozed off for a bit. I was mentally drained, and Sliggoo was surprisingly comfortable. And there was just…something about Pokecenters that made me feel relaxed. It was nothing like a hospital, or a clinic. It was…

  “Jason?”

  My eyes cracked open, and I looked over to the side, where there was an Officer Jenny. I sat up, finding that I had slumped over against Banette. The little doll was sleeping against me, or at least seemed to be. “Yes. Sorry.” I wiped a bit of drool from the corner of my mouth. “Long day.”

  She nodded a bit, and I looked around for a moment. There were two more Jenny’s, and four others that also looked like they were police. “No worries,” she said with a smile. “From what Adria told us, it’s… quite a thing.”

  I nodded, and shifted a bit before I realized I was trapped. I looked down at Scoly, who cracked open an eye and looked up at me, before closing it and pretending to be asleep. A snort escaped from me. “Right… Well…” I thought for a moment before reaching into my bag and pulling out Hate’s pokeball.

  When I released her, she immediately tensed up when she saw all the police, but relaxed slightly when she could see me. “Yes?”

  “Do you mind leading them the way to the bunker?” I asked. She seemed hesitant at first, but nodded. “Good.” I turned my attention back to the Jenny in front of me. “This is Hate, she knows the way. It’s a few hours of hiking…”

  “We have mounts,” one of the non-Jenny officers chimed in, all of them curiously looking at Hate.

  Hate did not particularly look comfortable under their gazes. “Then we’ll head off now,” Jenny said, but hesitated as her hand started to reach towards me. “Do…do you want us to take her pokeball? If you have business elsewhere, we can transport her ball there once we return.”

  I looked from the Jenny down to Hate, who was frantically shaking her head. I laughed softly. “Nah, she can run back after leading you there. Then we’ll head to Lumiose as soon as she gets back.”

  They all seemed to nod and started making their way out. “Alright.”

  I reached over and rubbed Hate’s head. “I’ll be here when you get back,” I said softly.

  She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment and enjoying the contact. Then I watched as she was suddenly all business and trotted quickly after the officers.

  My gaze fell downward to the pokeball in my hand. It was a battered thing. A few scuffs here and there, scratches, some little dents. The word Hate was still written on it, though the e had smudged a bit. I just didn’t understand how someone could be so delusional that they could actually want what Lysandre did. They had put this ball and its resident through so much…

  I was a bit startled as something warm and slimy pressed against the side of my face. Looking over I found Sliggoo, asleep and shifting to try and get into a more comfortable position. Banette and Mikyu were tucked against my side, the little disguised Pokemon had wrapped me and the little stuffed doll in her Shadow Claws. They were asleep as far as I could tell, and so was Scoly. Actually asleep I figured, since the large bug was drooling slightly on my leg.

  As I watched them, I was honestly thankful for where I was now. Things had been hard, and getting harder and harder, but most of it was also fun. But there was still just so much danger. This was what I was worried about. Getting involved put a big target on me. Now all I could really hope was that I got an explanation for what happened. And hope that it wasn’t as bad as my imagination was supplying.

  Time passed slowly, but eventually a Nurse Joy walked out. It took me a moment to recognize that it was Flavienne. She had a rather tired looking expression on her face, but it slowly melted into a smile as she looked over at me. “Well, don’t you look comfy,” she said with a soft giggle.

  “I am,” I said with a bit of a nod, which got a few more giggles from her. “So?”

  She hesitated, and then sighed before taking a seat nearby. “Good news, they’re all alive.”

  “But…”

  “But… I don’t know if they all will survive,” she said softly, and I could see her eyes water a bit. “All of them are starving, malnourished, and battered to some degree.”

  There was the briefest thought that if I had just come here earlier, things would have been different. But I forced that ‘what if’ nonsense out of my head. That wouldn’t help. It never did. “What are their chances?”

  “Most of them will be fine,” she assured. “There’s just… three that… It looks grim. They’re undergoing surgery now. Two of them have a good chance, but it’s going to be hard for the third.”

  A sigh escaped me as I closed my eyes. I took a moment to center myself. “Okay…” I mumbled.

  “We’ll be holding them all for observation,” she continued. “That’s part of our new procedure, that you helped get implemented. Then they’ll be sent to Gym Leader Valerie.”

  I nodded a bit, still keeping my eyes closed. I was trying to think. “Good. Good…”

  There was a moment of silence. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.

  I opened my eyes a bit, looking down at Scoly. “Yeah. I was just… overwhelmed. I’m much better now.” I took a slow, deep breath. “And I’ll feel even better when Team Flare gets knocked down a few more pegs.”

  She snorted, though she tried to turn it into a cough. “We sent a Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff with those officers to help, just in case. We should know a lot more in a few hours.”

  With that, she left. She still had a lot of things to do now that she suddenly had twenty three villain team Pokemon dropped in her lap. She was clearly one of the higher ranks at this Pokecenter. Though I didn’t exactly know how the Joy hierarchy worked, there clearly was one.

  It was about another two hours before Hate came in, panting and covered in frost. She moved over and flopped down. When I had asked if she was alright, her reply was, “Never…ran…that…much…”

  She happily went back into her ball, and then I returned everyone else. I gave my farewell to the Joy who had taken over the counter, telling her that I was heading out now. She wished me safe travels and I departed.

  As soon as I was on the train, I texted Adria that I was on my way before shoving my winter coat into my bag. While it was warm, it was too warm for inside the train, and my regular coat was good enough for the weather outside of Snowbelle.

  Adria responded before I even finished pulling the coat off. She explained that she was setting up the meeting and would meet me at the train station. That was a bit concerning, but maybe there was a reason for the escort. Probably to make sure I didn’t wander, or get lost.

  It took a while, but eventually I was stepping off the train into the chill air of Lumiose. It was nothing compared to the cold of Snowbelle, but still had some bite to it.

  “There you are,” Adria said as she stepped out of the crowd. There was another Jenny nearby, though she seemed to be stationed there. “Okay, so are you sure you’re alright to do this? You just had-” she stopped, staring at me.

  I blinked at her. “What? I’m fine.”

  She reached towards me and wiped at the side of my head, her hand coming away covered in slime. “What is this?”

  “Sliggoo slime,” I said as I reached up and wiped some of it away. I hadn’t even realized it. And unfortunately it was in my hair. I pulled out a towel to try and get more of it off. “Took a nap, and the little dragon slug makes a surprisingly comfortable pillow.”

  It looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she just sighed before chuckling as she wiped the slime off on the towel. “Okay. That is very much like you.”

  I scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She waved a hand vaguely in the air as if swatting the question out of the air. “Come on, the Chief is waiting.”

  The two of us made our way outside to a waiting police car. There were a few people loitering around, discussing the vehicle like they’d never seen one before. “Oh my, how fancy. Didn’t expect a chauffeur,” I commented.

  “Shut it before I put you in the back,” she quipped back, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

  I laughed as I got into the passenger seat after she unlocked it from the inside. Immediately I could tell this was a very different vehicle than any other I’d been in. It was far more hightech. The interior wasn’t fancy, but it had quite a few different panels and keypads.

  The drive was short, mostly because Adria drove like a maniac, and I had to cling to anything and everything I could as we flew down streets and around corners. Eventually we stopped, and I staggered a bit as I got out. “You and Kukui must have gotten your license at the same place.”

  She laughed, and gave me a bit of a nudge as she passed. “Oh what, the big Expert can’t handle a bit of aggressive driving?”

  I sighed, slapping my leg a bit to try and loosen it up. “I don’t know why you needed to drive like that.”

  “I always drive like that,” she said matter-of-factly. That just made me frown, but she continued, “But you’ll understand the need to hurry in the meeting.” That got my attention, and I quickly followed after her.

  Lumiose Police Station was nothing like the one in Santalune. It was bustling and loud, and reminded me of some sort of station from a cop drama. There were even people being carted through doors in handcuffs, and people reporting crimes at tables.

  I quickly followed after Adria, trying not to get confused by all the other Jenny’s that were in the room. All the noise practically died immediately when we went through a door. It looked more like an office, where a bunch of officers were quietly discussing things and working at computers.

  Everything stopped as I entered, practically everyone looking over at me. “What’s going on, Adria?” someone asked, and then added, “Who’s this?”

  “This is Pokemon Expert Jason. We have a meeting with the Chief,” she said dismissively, which seemed to shut down any other questions as we made our way across the room. I could see where we were heading, because there was a big door with the word ‘Chief’ printed on it, and a huge window beside it. Through the window I could see a Jenny working at a computer. She really stood out as her hair was longer than the other Jenny’s that I’d seen, and done up in a rather elaborate bun twin ponytail thing.

  Adria knocked on the door, and the other woman looked up. Our eyes locked for a moment and she seemed to tense. “Come in,” she said after a moment. Adria didn’t hesitate as she opened the door and ushered me in.

  “Chief,” she greeted as she closed the door.

  “Close the blinds,” she replied as she leaned back from her computer and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  I beat Adria to it, since I was closer. “I see your daughter got to you again,” Adria said, a bit amused.

  The Chief touched her hair and then sighed. “She wants to be a hair stylist,” she explained, clearly more for me rather than Adria. “Please, have a seat.” She gestured at the two chairs on the other side of the desk.

  “She looks pretty skilled at it,” I commented as I sat down, taking a better look at her hair. It was interesting, that was for sure. Not a bad style, very anime, but not very fitting of the rather serious woman across from me.

  “That’s one way of putting it,” she grumbled, looking at Adria. “Have you told him anything yet?”

  She shook her head and my brow furrowed. “No. I thought it best to leave it to you.”

  The Chief sighed. “Alright… Okay, first, pleasure to meet you, Jason,” she said as she extended a hand out towards me over the table. “I’m Chief Cassandra Jenny.”

  “Jason,” I said with a bit of a smile as I shook her hand. “But I prefer Jace.”

  She nodded and sat back. “Right. So… Let’s just rip the bandaid off. Adria has explained to me what you’ve been up to, and while I appreciate the effort, I had no plans to do anything.” She folded her hands in front of her on the table.

  “But something changed?” I asked, noting how she worded that statement.

  Again she nodded. “The bunker you found…” She sighed as she picked up a piece of paper. “Heavily fortified bunker outside of Snowbelle. Twenty individuals, dead. Cause of death: Blood Rot.”

  My brow furrowed, and I took note of the way Adria tensed. “Blood Rot? What’s that?”

  Cassandra sighed. “I wondered if you knew what it was, but I’m not surprised you don’t. Short history lesson… About a hundred and twenty years ago, during a war against Galar, one of their scientists created a disease using various poisons from Pokemon as well as a few medicinal plants. They called it Blood Rot due to what it does to those infected.”

  I frowned. “I see…”

  “We thought that all knowledge of it was gone, but from the evidence collected in that bunker, it seems Team Flare has successfully recreated it,” she continued. “That bunker was a seed bed. You see, Blood Rot in its raw form is very difficult to actually catch. So those people from Galar would kidnap a group of individuals, carefully infect them until the disease took hold, and then drop them into a populated area.”

  There was almost a spark in my mind. “Orsay.” That was why the city didn’t exist. It had been wiped out by disease.

  She blinked. “Yes… That was the first and only use of Blood Rot that we are aware of…” She gave me a rather odd look, but brushed it off. “There is a small period of infection. Once the subject begins bleeding from their eyes and nose, they are incredibly infectious for seventy two hours, and their corpse is still dangerous an additional week after they die.”

  “So the bunker was a… what did you call it, seed bed?” I asked, and she nodded. “Do we know the target?”

  Cassandra looked down and shook her head. “No. As far as we can tell, something went wrong and the disease's infection time triggered early. I don’t know the details, since I’m not a Joy. But from what we gathered, this was their first attempt. And we don’t know if there’s another.”

  I knew Lysandre was a psychopath, but to use something like this was a lot more than I'd expected. Was this one of his contingency plans? Or was this one of his scientists? “So now you’re taking Team Flare seriously.”

  She had a rather grim expression, and nodded. “Team Flare has been nothing but a minor nuisance. Only a few of them have ever stepped out of line, and the leaders have always been quick to disparage anyone who gets caught breaking the law. As much as I hate to admit it, we needed a good reason.”

  “You let rot seep into the cracks of the region,” I said and her eyes snapped to me. I sighed, shaking my head. “I guess it’s not really fair to say that it’s your fault, considering Lysandre is smart and careful. But at least now you’re understanding the threat. Better late than never.”

  Her fists clenched as she glared at me. “You make it sound-”

  “They attacked a Pokecenter,” I interrupted, raising my voice a bit. “Blatently. Middle of the day. All over a variant? You can’t chalk that up to a few bad eggs in the bunch. That sort of suicidal confidence doesn’t come out of nowhere.” I reached into my pocket to get my phone, and noticed how both of them tensed at the movement. Did they actually think I would attack them or something? “Here. I have thirty six locations noted down. You need to hit them fast, and soon, or else that bunker is going to be the least of your problems.”

  “I know,” the Chief said, gritting her teeth. “We’re putting together an attack force.” She started to go over the plan, and by the end, I was honestly impressed. They were pulling in Jenny’s from four other regions. The plan was to strike in ten days, on New Year's Eve. They were arranging about a hundred different false missions to cover what was going on, and they were all planned for the week after the New Year and the following weeks. It was going to be frustrating to all of the Jenny’s who were involved, but the Clan Elder had already approved. All it took was the mention of Blood Rot and she decided that Team Flare needed to be snuffed out.

  I made a few suggestions to the plan, most of which were rejected, but some she liked enough to add in. The most annoying part to me was that I was to keep out of it. The only ones that were to know of my involvement at all were Cassandra, Adria, and the Clan Elder. It was partially to protect me, but it was more to keep the Association out of it. Technically I was part of the Association, so if I got involved, that meant they would, too. And Lysandre was also a member of the Association. My involvement meant he would have prior knowledge to some of the things that would happen.

  Politics were so annoying.

  It was several hours of discussion. The official reason for our meeting was about my personal case. Things needed to be discussed and paperwork filed, as it was ‘officially’ revealed that I was from Unova. Thankfully, Professor Juniper knew the truth about me and she agreed to corroborate any questions. How I got to Kalos was still a mystery, and the reason I wasn’t going back was just listed as ‘Personal.’

  Cassandra honestly didn’t care about my reasons or my past. Her entire focus was on Team Flare. My words had been a bit harsh, since she had been looking for a reason and just never gotten any support for doing anything.

  Exiting the station, all the mental energy that I had managed to recover was completely gone. But it was done. I was done. I didn’t have to do anything. Christmas was in a few days. The battle with Wulfric a few days after, and then that was it. Those were the only things I had to focus on. And Malva.

  I had almost forgotten about Malva. “What’s wrong?” Adria asked, having stopped beside me.

  “Ah, just… Thinking of what problems I still have,” I said with a sigh.

  She looked at me for a moment. “I think you need a break.”

  I chuckled softly. “Agreed.” I reached into my pocket, expecting my phone to start ringing, but it was silent. “I think… I’ll take it easy till Christmas.”

  She pat me on the back lightly. “And take a shower. You’ve still got slime on you.”

  Again I chuckled, though this one honestly made me feel pretty good. “Yeah. Well, see you after all this is over.” I waved over my shoulder as I walked towards the train station. It was time to relax and train up for the battle against Wulfric. And maybe ask around about how to get an Ice Stone, since I had a bunch of stones to trade now.

  Lucario - The group mom

  Lucario - Craves violence

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Liepard - Big hungry cat

  Houndour - Just a little pup

  Houndoom - Bit of a space case

  Mightyena - Super serious

  Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel