Storm Clouds II Ch. 05

Again, mist.

Missy found herself standing on the silvery grey paws of long ago.  Calm down, she reminded herself as the Eevee tail twitched behind her.  Here, my shape reflects my heart…I'm afraid of turning into an Eevee once more.  I'm afraid for Armor, who may have transformed himself for my sake.  I'm afraid for my son, who has lingered in a world unknown to him without my guidance…

But I won't give up hope for finding Ivan.  Armor made his decision, and I'll offer my help no matter his situation.  And even if I do somehow become an Eevee again, I'll be with supportive friends.  Dan will know the truth.  I'll be me, as I always have.

Her body shifted; she was Melissa Fawcett, mother and council member, woman with fangs and fierce eyes, once more.

"You are demonstrating familiarity with the laws here."

Mr. Shadow slowly materialized from the mist.  "It is not common that normal souls visit me often enough to adjust to my realm.  I don't know whether to be proud of our camaraderie…or ashamed that I have involved you to such an extent."

"'Involved' me?"  Missy responded.  "I thought you were helping me reclaim my son.  Or is there something else going on here?"

"Both."  Mr. Shadow said.  "I genuinely wish for your search's success, but there is something truly terrible coming.  Death…death uncountable, and miserable, is walking towards us.  If you reunite with your son…it might be averted."

"I don't follow," Missy returned.  "I thought you were Death, or perhaps its escort or avatar.  Wouldn't people dying be a good thing?"

"It's true—all dies.  Even my own end will come one day.  But know this: not all deaths are equal.  Disease, age, uncontrollable accidents…these are the natural ways to die.  These should be the end of all good souls.  But wickedness of the kind found in your old foe Masque murders and massacres, cutting lives short before their natural end.  How can I rejoice in that?  I pity the good folk who I lead away before their time.  Death is meant to complement life and to serve as a cap to the totality of experience, not abruptly and crudely slash through it.  And it is that unnatural, abrupt, senseless manner of destruction which is coming.

"The world of pokemon has changed, Missy.  If one person were to be blamed…it must go to Masque.  Before he left his world to invade yours, he took certain actions.  Those actions snowballed and soon had consequences no-one, not even Masque himself, could have foreseen, though he doubtless would have approved of what occurred.

"There are always dangerous people, no matter the universe.  In your world they take the form of leaders at the front of large and sinister groups: crime lords, terrorists, dictators.  They ignite conflicts and wars.  The pokemon world sees individuals with personal power far beyond what your world could hope to achieve, and the wicked wage their fights not with armies but with psychic powers and pokemon abilities.  Conflicts form on an individual basis or are fought through small groups.

"Masque's actions led to a war, a massive global war in the style of your world, fought with the superpowers of pokemon.  Imagine the devastation.

"It ended as all conflicts do, but changed the face of the world irrevocably.  The new order and society formed in the aftermath led a number of individuals on intermingling paths.  Some are good, some evil, but all are dangerous in their own way."

Mr. Shadow tapped his cane, and at his command the mist reshaped itself to form a number of visages, each lingering only a moment.  Missy caught view of a person bidding ice to their will, a massive blue reptilian pokemon, a cold-eyed figure holding a sword, and a man in an ornate robe with a blue-eyed shadow perched on his shoulder, among many others.

"Ivan has been thrown into the mix," Missy said in horror.  "My son is among the players in this dangerous game."

"The black future shall arrive soon." Mr. Shadow said, and Missy was chilled to detect fear in the voice of Death.  "It will consume the pokemon world, and the tremors shall spread through all existence, rocking your own home and all others."

"I'll find Ivan and take him home," Missy promised.  "Whatever this doom, I'll stop it."

The mist began to fade.

"You wake."  Mr. Shadow noted.  His voice progressively grew more distant.  "I regret to shoulder you with this burden.  By my very nature I cannot take action in the worlds of the living. I can interfere only through helping and advising proxies.

"Missy," Mr. Shadow said; the mist was dissipating into a field of white, and the short bowler-hatted man had nearly vanished from sight.  "Your role isn't only to focus on Ivan.  I mentioned the dangerous and influential figures coming together—you are one of them.  You're already involved, even before Ivan was taken away…"

---

Missy's eyes snapped open.  She sprang up immediately and let out a breath of relief: she hadn't transformed as her last visit.  She quickly glanced around; she'd landed in some sort of grassy plain.  The salty scent of the sea wafted over a nearby hillside as the wind brushed past the high grass stalks.  The sky was pleasantly overcast, the clouds white and soft grey.

"Dan?  Armor?  Anyone there?"  Missy called out.  She cast her eyes about, but the tall wind-blown grass obscured her view.  She closed her eyes, trying to locate her friends through scent.  Dan was only a short distance away.

"Dan—Dan!"  Missy said, racing to her husband.  She shook him, and his eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Nngh," he said, clasping a hand to his head. "I forgot how unpleasant that was.  Where are we?  We're certainly not in the building in Cinnabar where we landed before.  Where are the others?"

"I haven't—"  Missy began, but at that moment, a galloping sound reached her ears.  She turned to the hillside separating her and Dan from the ocean; Ruby raced down toward them.

"There you are!"  Ruby said as she approached.  "I found Nightshade and Armor.  They're down by the oceanside."

"How are they?"  Missy said, pulling Dan to his feet.  "Are they all right?"

"Both of them are waking up," Ruby said.  "But Armor is—ah, he's a little…different.  I think it would be best for you to just come and see."  She raced back to the ocean.  Missy dashed after her, but paused as she saw Dan stumble about.

"Don't mind me," he said, still clasping his head.  "I'm a little dizzy from the journey…I'll catch up.  Race ahead with Ruby, go on."

Missy nodded and dashed off.  Her feet moved faster than any human could; she quickly matched Ruby's speed.

As the two crested the hill, Missy saw the shoreline nearby.  The sea formed a bay; a massive wooden bridge spanned it from one beach to the other. The far beach was rocky, and small hills led to a flat-topped mountain some miles back from the water, upon which a town sat.  Down on Missy's own shore were two forms: Nightshade and another, unfamiliar shape.

"Armor!"  Missy cried, speeding down the side of the hill.  "Are you okay?"  As she approached the two the unfamiliar form grew more visible.  She couldn't recognize it; it appeared to be vaguely humanoid and primarily green.  Even the smell was unfamiliar, though she was positive it was some form of pokemon.

Missy and Ruby neared the two pokemon.  "There you are, Missy."  Nightshade said as she approached.  "As you've likely already surmised…this is Armor."

"Hey Missy," Armor said.  Even his new voice sounded different compared to his old one, though the same jovial and lackadaisical feel persisted.  "I'm guessing Dan's just over that hill too, eh?  So we're all together, now."

"Are you okay?"  Missy said uneasily.  She quickly plucked her hand from its glove and placed it on Armor's head, searching for a fever or anything wrong.  "What…are you now?"

"He's a species of pokemon called 'Gallade,'" Nightshade answered.  "A Psychic/Fighting hybrid of the Ralts group, they mostly fight with the blades in their arms, augmented with their mental abilities."

Armor shakily stood to his feet, and Missy took in his new form:  Long, sturdy white legs leading into a green torso, with short purple bladelike ridges protruding from the front and back; long arms the same green like his upper body; the elbows had hazardous-looking points on the end. His face was green and white, with a high crest of a light purple, the same color as his chest ridges.

"A Gallade's crest is usually blue," Nightshade noted.  "And the chest ornaments red.  But just as your Eevee form had some differences…"

"Oh, Armor," Missy said, anguished.  "I can't believe…I made you do this, and now you've been trapped in a new body.  I'm—I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, I remembered how miserable it made me and yet I've enforced that misery on you too.  I should have done it myself…"

"HEY!" Armor shouted; his new voice did not boom as his old did, but it emanated force nonetheless.  "Did I just hear you say that you made me do this, eh?!  Bull!  I volunteered!  And I did it because I remembered your own difficulty and anguish as you swapped forms way back then!  I did it to make sure, eh!  Make sure that you wouldn't have to suffer—that none of my friends would suffer!  And I'm happy I did it!  And now all of you are going to dance on eggshells the whole time, making yourselves miserable for my sake—the very thing I wanted to avoid?  Nuh-uh!  I'm not letting it happen!  I'm not sad, so you shouldn't be either.  No angst allowed, eh?"

"But—"

"No!"  Armor said.  "It's…different, to be sure.  The body, the powers—I can hear a sort of buzz coming off of each of you, telling me your emotions if I focus hard enough.  Ruby and Nightshade—you're hiding it better than Missy, eh, but you're both despairing.  Stop it.  It's new, to be sure, but part of the reason it was so awful for you, Missy, is that at the beginning you had no friends to talk to and it was so sudden.  I have all of you here, and I chose this.  So everything will work out, eh?  Let's not forget why we're here.  We can't ignore Ivan, Artemis, and Nemo."

An enduring silence followed the end of Armor's outburst, after which he abashedly rubbed the back of his head.  "Eh…sorry for the blowup.  But really, guys, I'll have time to get shook up after we find our friends, eh?  So just forget about worrying for me."

"Sure thing," Missy said, forcing herself to smile.  "I'm still upset—but you're right, we came here for a reason.  I'll shelve my feelings for now."  She turned her head, surveying the landscape.  "Now, where did Dan get to?"

Her question was soon answered.  "Everyone!"  Dan said, racing down the hillside.  "We're in trouble—look out there!"

Missy turned to the water, and saw a large number of people approaching.  Some rode aquatic pokemon, others small boats.

"We should get out of here," Ruby said uneasily.  "We're all out of practice in fighting and Armor's not even used to his new body yet."

"We can't run," Missy said.  "We're still weary from the traveling and we wouldn't get too far anyway.  Plus, it would make us look suspicious.  We need information, like where we are and what the state of the world is.  These people can help us.  Everyone just stay guarded in case they're not friendly."

As the waterborne pursuers approached, Missy's keen eyes saw the inscriptions on the side—THE NEW POKEMON LEAGUE.  New?  She thought.  What happened to the old one?

Her ears picked the sounds of beating wings from above, and she turned her head skyward.  Four massive flying pokemon descended, surrounding the group.

Riders dismounted from each of the bird pokemon, and one—a man in his early thirties with distrustful eyes and bushy sideburns—addressed them.

"You are under arrest," the stranger said.  The sea forces neared the beach as he spoke.  "This stretch of coast and the land surrounding it are property of the New Pokemon League.  I am taking you in for trespassing and suspicious activity."

"We meant nothing wrong," Missy replied as the pokemon tensed behind her.  The marine squad had reached the coast and beelined towards them on the sand.  She felt nervous too, but forced herself to remain outwardly composed.  "We were completely unaware this property belonged to the League and—"

"Unaware?"  The suspicious man interrupted sardonically.  "With warning notices posted as far back as New Bark Town, and a twenty-five-foot fence the moment you exit Tohjo Falls?  How, then, did you manage to penetrate the fence and progress several miles inland, completely unaware?"

Damn it, Missy thought.  Would it be too much to ask that machine to spit us out in between worlds consistently?  I was expecting Cinnabar, not some awful patrol zone.  "Well," she began, desperately scrambling for an explanation, "we—"

"Don't bother with whatever lie you prepared," he sneered, interrupting her once more.  "We observed a tremendous flash of light, and suddenly two humans and their pokemon materialized out of nowhere?  Likely a long-distance teleport from your Psychic friend there," he said, nodding towards Armor.  "You're going in for suspicious activity, no doubt.  And speaking of suspicious…"  He gestured towards Missy's exposed hand; she'd forgotten to replace her glove.

"Curious," he said.  "Those look suspiciously like claws.  And observers noted the speed with which you accompanied the Ponyta—no human could hope to move so fast.  I can only draw the conclusion that you're not human.  Correct?"

"I—"  Missy said again, but once more the League officer would not permit her a word edgewise.

"I think," he said accusingly, "that you're a Guild spy sent to infiltrate our grounds!  Maybe Forest Ocean made progress in those rumored tests of theirs and produced a human/pokemon hybrid?  Or perhaps Gentle Darkness uncovered some ancient secret?  I think that's the most likely scenario, what do you think?!"

"Oh, is that what you think?!"  Missy said viciously, bristling with that same fierce charisma she had so often employed against Bertrand and the Mayor in the meetings of Fox Creek.  "Because I've drawn conclusions of my own, based on some recent observations.  I think you have a disturbing tendency of asking me questions and filling in the blanks yourself when I try to answer!   I think you'd already convinced yourself of what crime you imagined me guilty of—and that you'd drawn your conclusions before you even spoke to me!  I think you're an arrogant thug who should leave the questions to the interrogators, and do his damn job and just bring us in!  Or are you going to stand there jawing some more, wasting EVERYBODY'S TIME?!"

The man's face bulged with indignation.  "Y—You can't—I—J-Just arrest them already!"  He sputtered, and stomped away as Missy and the others were frog-marched onto the boats, Dan forced to recall his pokemon.

---

Dan sat alone in an interrogation room some hours later.  He'd been separated from Missy and his poke balls the moment they'd arrived at a small base at the foot of the mountain which housed Indigo Plateau and the Pokemon League.

The League enforcers had searched him, of course, but found nothing incriminating—he'd not packed money or identification or anything that would prove unnecessary in the pokemon world, and the large backpack he'd brought contained only food, blankets, jackets, and two tents.

The wait had drummed the nervousness out of him…and extended long enough that it crept back in.  What is taking so long?  He wondered.  Did they interrogate Missy first?  Did they hurt her?  His heart filled simultaneously with dread and fury.  Did she confess to being part pokemon?  Is she being hauled away for testing?!  And what's all this about a 'New' Pokemon League?!

His thoughts writhed in his brain until the door opened.  A slightly short man with richly dark skin and a no-nonsense look on his face strode into the room.  He looked to be only a few years older than Dan himself.

"I'm the security captain for Indigo Plateau," he began.  "Well, your wife or commander or whoever certainly got our attention with her little tirade to my officer," the man said, sitting across from Dan.  He didn't look armed or accompanied, but projected an attitude that almost dared Dan to tussle with him and find out his chances.  "And that's ignoring her obviously superhuman attributes.  But enough about her.  Let's talk—"

The man abruptly cut off, studying Dan's face with a look of curiosity on his face.  Does he think I'm not human, like Missy?  Dan wondered.  No, he seems to know me somehow…Actually now that I think about it he seems a bit familiar himself…  Dan looked at the captain's face.  There was definitely something familiar about it he couldn't place.  Perhaps if the face were a bit younger…Dan mentally de-aged the man.  Something was still wrong.  The hair…?

He suddenly had a mental image of the captain with hair dyed blue.

"No way," Dan yelped.  "Rico?!"

"DAN?!"

Each man leaped to his feet.  Rico clasped a hand to his head in shock.  "I—I can't believe—you know, after I separated from you in our journey to Lavender Town, I checked the place out a few weeks later, but you'd disappeared without any sign.  Did you ever make it back to your own world…?  What am I saying, of course you did!  But what are you doing back here?  I'd resigned myself to never seeing you again!"

"I returned to this world deliberately,"  Dan said.  "I tried replicating the events that led me here before, but I guess it's not totally reliable.  We landed here instead of the mansion on Cinnabar.  About the trespassing, Rico, we just sort of showed up here; believe me when I tell you that we had no intent or knowledge of any of this.  This place has changed a lot, it looks like."

"Yes," Rico said, "you have no idea.  I believe you, Dan.  Arceus above…this is just too sudden!  I never thought I'd run into you again.  Come on, we need to talk—what are you doing here?  Ah, let's get out of this stuffy interrogation room."  Rico opened the door and motioned Dan free.

They stepped from the room, startling both the security officer standing post at the door and her Scizor. Dan recognized her as one of those who'd taken them aboard the boats.

"C-Captain," she said.  "I don't think the prisoners are allowed to walk free yet,"

"I'm captain, not you," Rico said aloofly.  "My interrogation's over, I say there's not enough grounds to hold this man.  He's cleared."

"But—"

"HE'S CLEARED!  NOW SHUT UP!"

---

What's going on? Missy thought.  They hold me in that claustrophobic room for hours, and instead of interrogating me I'm suddenly told that charges have been dropped, and now I'm to meet the security captain with Dan?  If Missy was confused, though, that was nothing compared to the ill-concealed bewilderment on the faces of the officers escorting her to the captain's office.

"In here," an abnormally tall man with sunglasses said, motioning her towards a door.  Missy opened it to find a shock awaiting her—Dan sitting in a comfortable chair, surrounded by the three pokemon.  A similar empty chair was positioned next to him for her sake, and across the desk sat someone whose scent and appearance seemed quite familiar for some untraceable reason.

"Missy!"  Dan said cheerfully as she sat.  "This is Rico Tyler!"

Missy's memories suddenly flashed back to her previous journey in the pokemon world.  Memories of Rico—Giovanni's supposed second-in-command, actually a mole for the Pokemon League—flooded into her.  "Oh, of course," she said in recognition.

"You must be Melissa," Rico said good-naturedly.  "Your husband has told me about your predicament—your, ah, unique journey and the search for your son.  I'm the top security administrator for the Kanto-Johto territory controlled by the New Pokemon League—our strongest and biggest base.  Not to boast but around here I'm quite influential.  I'd be willing to lend what assistance I can to an old friend."

During his speech Rico's eyes wandered slowly down until they fixated on Missy's hands.  They'd removed her gloves and had yet to return them.

"You want to know about these?"  Missy said.  Well, why not?  Part of her said.  You're in a world where mysterious, powerful creatures live and breathe alongside humans.  Blaine and Rico took Dan's extra-dimensional origins in stride during our last visit.  Maybe…maybe I can actually be myself here…  "If you're going to help us I guess it would be bad form to keep secrets," she said.  "Plus I remember you being trustworthy, even if you put up a façade of quite the opposite before."

"I'm sorry," Rico said with a mild twinge of confusion.  "You speak as though we're familiar.  But I don't seem to recall meeting you."

"I suppose that's to be expected," Missy replied.  "I've met you before, but I've changed a lot since then.  You might recall capturing me in a poke ball."

Rico stared at her blankly.

"All right," Missy sighed, "this is going to be hard to explain.  I was much different last time you saw me.  A bit furry…and silvery."

Rico blinked.  "…No."  He said.  "That can't…no.  No, no, no…Impossible.  You can't be Storm?"

Missy raised her eyebrows in exasperation.  "Eevee vee," she said sardonically.

Several minutes passed before Rico calmed down.

"Y—you're a pokemon?"  Rico said when he finally slipped into coherence.  "And you married your trainer?!"

"I happen to have been born human," Missy said.  "I was just undergoing a rather drastic and unwanted lifestyle change at that point.  But I reverted into the body you see now not soon after Dan and I left this world."

"I cannot believe this," Rico said.

"So I've judged," Missy replied.

"I'm sorry for capturing you," Rico said uncomfortably.

"Just don't do it again and we'll be peachy," Missy said.  "Now, didn't you have something to say or do other than gawk at me?  What are we here for?"

"Ah, of course," Rico said.  "Your son and the search for him.  I'll pull some strings and help your search in what ways I can."

"Well, that should be a piece of cake then!"  Dan said.  "With the help of the Pokemon League—"

"The New Pokemon League."  Rico corrected him.

"What's that about, anyway?  I've been told that this place has altered," Missy said, flashing back to her most recent meeting with Mr. Shadow.  "What is this New Pokemon League?  It seems to be a separate organization from the old League we knew—and I don't remember the old organization being so draconian, at least not when it came to trespassing."

"You've been gone for so long," Rico said.  "It's going to be difficult to explain how things work now…"

"You know that each region was governed by its own Pokemon League?  Each of these organizations, while cooperating together frequently, were separate bodies with their own individual Champion.  That's in the past—the separate Leagues have coalesced into one body, the New Pokemon League, united under one singular Champion."

"So does this new League exert complete control over all the regions?"  Dan said.  "That doesn't sound like good news to me!"

"Hardly," Rico said bitterly.  "The New Pokemon League only controls slivers of territory in each region, usually based around the old League seat of that area.  Northern Unova; Sinnoh's Victory Road and Sunyshore City, and the waterway connecting them.  Hoenn is where our presence is weakest, as we control only Ever Grande City and the nearby cavern.  The Kanto-Johto divide where we are now is where our hold is strongest, and thus it's where the Champion and our main operations are situated.  On the Johto side we control Mt. Silver and Blackthorn City, as well as the long route leading down to Tohjo Falls near New Bark Town.  On the Kanto side we control Viridian City and the nearby forest, as well as Pallet Town and the waterway leading to Cinnabar Island, as well as Cinnabar itself.  It's mostly thanks to Blaine that we held on to that southern area of Kanto."

"Ah, Blaine!"  Dan said happily.  "I've been wondering about that old codger.  How's he doing?"

Rico looked at Dan with an unreadable expression on his face.  "He's dead," he finally said.  "He lasted clear through the Assailment and for some time after, but finally succumbed to his age three years ago."

Dan sat quietly.  "I suppose it was foolish of me to expect him to have lived forever," he said.  "But still…I can't believe he's gone.  I wonder if he remembered me at all in those later years?"  Ruby nuzzled him as he sat downtrodden, her eyes misty.

"What's the Assailment?"  Missy asked Rico, giving a pitying sideways glance to her husband.  She'd comfort him after the talk was done.

"The Assailment is the reason the Leagues splintered and were forced to unite," Rico said.  "It's why the Guilds control everything now."

"What was it, exactly?"  Missy pressed.

"A war," Rico said.  "A big one, fought in nearly every region.  You were actually around to see the seeds of it being sown—remember when Masque killed Giovanni and scattered Team Rocket?  We tracked a lot of the grunts but the higher-ups, being career criminals with nowhere else to turn, fled to a number of other organizations—Team Plasma, Team Galactic, Cipher…and many of the other crime syndicates in the world.

"A few years later, and these Teams were using the former Rocket comrades in their ranks as envoys to one another.  They started to get along, put aside their differences.  They united, utilizing the strengths of each organization and covering the weaknesses of one another, and launched an assault on the world.

"The Leagues were caught by surprise and quickly isolated.  And years later, when the union of crime organizations was shattered and beaten back, the power was held not by us but by the new Guilds which had sprung to life amidst the fighting."

"I see," Missy said.  "And what are these Guilds like?"

"They are everything and anything," Rico explained.  "There are Guilds for shipping, for research, for history, Guilds dedicated to running a certain region and nothing else, there are mercenary Guilds that act as hired muscle.  If there's anything you want done, you need only cast your eyes about and you will find a Guild for it.  And many of them have a vendetta against the New Pokemon League—they blame us for not preventing the Assailment, or see us as a relic that needs squashing."

A sudden beeping cut Rico off from his explanations.  "Sorry, that'd be my phone," he apologized.  "Let me just take this.  Hello?"

Rico's eyes widened suddenly as the person on the other end spoke with him.  "Y-Yes, indeed.  …That's true.   …I can guarantee they weren't Guild agents.  …Yes, of course.  …If that's what you really want.  I'll have them up there immediately.   …Good-bye."

Rico hung up the phone and stole a glance at Missy and Dan.  "That was Abraham," he said.  "My superior and the current Champion of the New Pokemon League.  He heard about your arrest and my freeing you, and wants to meet you in person."

"How does he know about Dan and I?"  Missy asked.  "Did the police report go straight to him?"

"No," Rico said, "they go straight to me.  I didn't report this and few other people here have the authority to speak directly to the Champion as far as I know.  But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; his little birds are everywhere.  He always seems to know everything about everything.  Wanting to speak to you is odd, but then again he's a bit unusual himself.  Anyways, I'm to escort you to the Indigo Plateau and you'll be speaking with Abraham tomorrow."

"Do we really have time to do this?"  Dan said.  "We should spend as much time as possible looking for Ivan!"

"You can't really tell the Champion no," Rico responded, "especially not on his own ground.  Besides, any help I give you could be overridden by Abraham if you annoyed him by blowing him off—but if you impress Abraham, you'll probably get loads of support.  It really is in your best interest to entertain his request."

---

That evening, the moon shone down upon mountaintop of the Indigo Plateau.  Dan and Missy slept in one of the two rooms Rico had set up for them, while Nightshade, Ruby, and Armor reposed in the other.

This sure is weird, Armor thought, flexing his new hands.  He poked and prodded his arms with his fingers, curiously exploring the new sensation.  He knew it was pointless, but he tried mentally urging his body to liquefy.  That part of his being had been second nature as a Muk—now his eternally solid body stayed in one form, no matter how hard he urged it.

Well that's a dud, he thought.  No more taking hit after hit for me. He stood and stretched experimentally, feeling his muscles.  I can feel the power of this new body, he thought.  The power that being a Gallade offers over that of being a Muk.  But even though I'll be more effective in dishing out damage…I'll need to watch myself.  My new body will be easier to hurt.  If I try the same trick as I did against the Alakazam…  His thoughts vaulted back to memories of falling in Fox Creek's swollen river, and being struck by the great boulder.  I won't survive.

As he brooded over his thoughts, Armor felt that omnipresent buzzing sensation coming from Ruby and Nightshade as it now did from all people and pokemon.  If he ignored it the feeling hovered under his notice, but if he focused hard enough…

I wonder what Nightshade and Ruby are feeling, Armor thought.  He focused his mind.  The strange feeling from Nightshade gave off waves of anticipation, while Ruby's…Sadness, Armor thought.  Blaine was a big part of her life even if she hasn't seen him in nineteen years…poor Ponyta.  As he took his focus away from her, Armor felt a bit of guilt welling inside his heart.

It's not a bad thing, is it?  That I can feel their emotions?  It's not that I'm reading their minds…I have no clue what they're thinking.  I only feel the vaguest sense of their emotions.  It's part of my new psychic powers…now it's as much a part of me as the blades in my arms.

Armor looked down at his limbs.  Nightshade says Gallade have bladed arms, but…I can't really tell.  I can kind of feel something in them, but I'm not sure if it's a bone or…  Armor focused on the mysterious object he felt in his arm and tried to will it outward.  A long, sharp edge not unlike the ridge on his chest shot from his elbow, while a bladed counterpart suddenly sprung from the outside of his arm.

"Eh?!"  Armor cried in shock, tripping backwards.  Both Nightshade and Ruby turned to him with smiles on their faces.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh," Ruby said.  "After all, I would be more than a little uncomfortable if my species swapped.  But Armor, you can brighten any gloomy day."

"You know Armor, I've been thinking," Nightshade said seriously.  "You've the potential to be much stronger than you used to, but I don't think you'll be able to take hits quite as well."

"I was just thinking the same thing, eh."

"So a name change is in order.  We're in full agreement."

"EH?! No we're not!  I'm not changing my name!  I'm still Armor, same as before!"

"I was thinking of what to call you now," Nightshade said, keeping his overly serious tone despite the smallest of smiles twitching at the edge of his mouth.  Ruby listened in, chortling.  "Those blades enlightened me.  How about we call you Sword?"

"Sword?!  No, eh, no way!  That's a stupid name!"

"It's thematic!  You were once the mighty protective Armor, now you are the fast and deadly Sword!  I'd say your new moniker is poetic!"

"Poetic?!  I hate poetry, eh!  Fancy words and weird beats!  I don't want my name to be poetic!"

"Oh, I understand," Nightshade replied.  "Yes, yes.  I'll find you a new name that has nothing to do with poetry."

"NO!"

---

The view of the window outside of Abraham's office was lovely.  Missy stood poring over the landscape; the shining, modern complex that served as the base for the New Pokemon League contrasted with the Indigo Plateau itself, a small town with buildings made of red brick and bronze that possessed a picturesque, storybook feel.  There were many buildings that pleased the eyes—libraries shaped like chapels planted next to crumbling, vine-covered arches—but the centerpiece of the town was the large clock tower situated at the edge of town.  Beyond it a glistening lake stretched to the horizon.

"It's almost time," Rico said.  "You'll be meeting with Abraham soon.  A heads up—he can come across as…chilly, sometimes.  But don't let that get to you.  He's the only person willing to stand up to the ruthlessness of the Guilds."

The door opened, and Rico nudged Dan and Missy in before shutting it behind them.

Abraham's office was small and spartan; it reminded Missy of her own councilwoman chamber back at Fox Creek.  The walls had only a few ornaments and pictures, and one was devoted to a singular large window affording the same view Missy had not long ago admired, the clock tower drawing the eyes.

Abraham himself sat at a small desk of carved dark wood.  He was young, perhaps twenty-five.  He was not a handsome man, possessing a long, plain face with a prominent chin and gaunt cheeks.  His eyes and hair were both a light brown.  His clothing consisted of a grey suit with a blue shirt, which he wore rather casually.

"Hello," he said, a small smile alighting his face, "I'm pleased you could join me."

As the Fawcetts took their seats, Missy spoke up.  "You're younger than I expected," she said.  "I'm somewhat involved in politics myself, though only on a city-wide level; I'm unaccustomed to seeing youth placed so high."

"My age is rather unique," he admitted.  "I'll readily acknowledge that.  But the first Champion of the New Pokemon League was an old man, very old—and he mismanaged things spectacularly.  He could not grasp the new nature of the world accurately, I think, and misjudged just how powerful—and popular—the Guilds were.  He refused to acknowledge our massive loss in power during the Assailment as anything more than a temporary setback.  We made few gains under his leadership.

"After his death three years ago, the Elite Four of each region gathered together to choose a new Champion.  They wanted someone of vibrant talent to replace their short-sighted and arrogant predecessor; they hoped youth would succeed where age had floundered."  The smile dropped from his face and his eyes grew icy as he continued.  "Though it was never said, I have long suspected—indeed, even before I was selected for the position—that the various Elite Four groups wanted someone malleable, someone young and impressionable.  They selected me at the ripe young age of twenty-two; no matter what manner of prodigy I proved to be, I was still barely into my adulthood."  Abraham stood and strode to the window.  "But I am not a blind figurehead to be jerked around.  I follow the advice of the Elites when it makes sense to do so, but if I disagree with their desires they will remember who their Champion is."

"I do not envy your life," Missy said as he finished speaking.  "Being a leader of anything is difficult, let alone trying to dodge the manipulations of your allies and foes.  But with so much on your plate…why ask to see us?"

"Indeed," Dan interjected, "how did my wife and I even come to your attention in the first place?"

"You came to my attention because I play the game differently than my predecessor," Abraham said as he turned from the window.  The fury had left his eyes and his expression was unreadable.  Missy knew that look—it was the practiced mask of the politician.  "He tried to meet the Guilds head on, unaware that they played the game of intrigue and spies.  Upon his death, I was chosen to succeed not only on the basis of my pokemon battling skills—which are traditionally necessary for any Champion—but also for my talent for information.  My web of information drops many secrets at my feet, everything from the unbelievable to the decidedly mundane."

"And two people and their pokemon being brought in by Indigo Plateau police would fall under the latter category, I presume."  Missy said.

The small smile returned to Abraham's face, and he laughed.  "Not as much as you might assume," he said.  "You suddenly appeared in the middle of our territory—cross-continent teleports have been observed, I know this for a fact, but only for Psychic-types of tremendous power, and only on themselves.  Then Rico personally waives all charges and meets with the two of you…you can imagine why my curiosity was insisting I investigate.  A group capable of mass teleportation, that knows my security administrator?  You were nearby, so I thought, 'why not?'"

"I never realized how special we seemed," Missy said.  "But you must believe us when we say that landing far inside the bounds of League territory was a complete accident.  We were looking for our missing son and my brother's machine performed oddly—per usual, I suppose—and we happened upon an old friend."

"I believe you," Abraham said, sitting.  "I looked over the arrest records and there's no indication of you all possessing anything with unique capabilities.  The only thing remotely close would  be your Gallade, and I can tell he's a long, long way from coming anywhere near mastery of his psychic abilities."

"You can tell that about Armor?"  Missy said in astonishment.  "How?"

"I have a way with pokemon," Abraham said plainly.  "I can gauge their capabilities on sight, quite accurately as well.  It's one of the reasons I ascended to the Championship so quickly.  I admit that this 'machine' you mentioned has some interest if it's capable of sending a large group across continent-level distances…but if that was completely unanticipated as you have implied, then it likely requires several years of research before it becomes anything more than a dead end.  I have other avenues to pursue."

"We were trying to find our son," Dan interjected.  "Ivan.  He's young, only eight years old; he's got a way with pokemon similar to what you've described, he always got along so well with them.  He disappeared with two of our pokemon.  Rico was promising to helping us look."

"He did what?"  Abraham said with the barest hint of exasperation.  "He is far too impulsive, I swear…it's why he won't get any higher than he is now…regardless, I cannot commit resources of the League to finding Ivan, at least no more than would be expected of typical law enforcement.  The Assailment may be over, but there is still a war—one far more insidious which threatens to ruin this world forever.  I want to make the world a safer place for human beings to live in, and I must also contend with the Guilds, who are in many ways the very descendants of the criminal Teams they broke apart.  My resources are far and few between.  My apologies, but this is how it must be."

Abraham pushed a small button on the side of his desk.  "It's been an enlightening meeting, however short.  I wish you both luck."  He extended his hand across his desk.

As Dan stood up, he looked angrily at the young Champion.  "You can't just ignore us!  We're distressed, we need to find our son—"

"Dan!"  Miss cut across her husband, standing as well.  "He hasn't promised us anything, and doesn't need to."  She shook Abraham's hand briskly.  "I wish you luck in your goals.  I hope we haven't wasted too much time distracting you from them."  Abraham nodded to her as a Weavile materialized from the corner near the door, leading them out.

---

"So I've been denied the opportunity to help you?"  Rico lamented.  "I respect Abraham a great deal, but sometimes he only looks at the big picture.  He's so busy worrying about normal people as a whole that he ignores the smaller, personal issues."

"What a waste of time that was," Dan muttered.  He stirred the ice cubes in his drink; he hadn't touched a drop since coming to the café.

"The meeting was interesting," Missy said.  "He's a bit hard to read, but he didn't seem to dislike us.  Try not to take it so personally, Dan.  It's not as great a setback as you think."

"Do you have any idea where Ivan is now?"  Rico said.

"Not a single inclination," Missy replied.  "We're running completely blind here."

"Then why not begin your search in this area?"  Rico suggested.  "I'll pay for your room as I've been doing, and direct you to local law enforcement."

"I thought Abraham said you couldn't help us," Dan said.

"He said I couldn't use League resources," Rico corrected slyly.  "What does he care if I pay for your rooms from my own pocket?  And you going to the police for help is only natural in your situation."

"There's another reason you want us to stick around," Missy said.  "What aren't you telling us?"

"I've been with Abraham a while," Rico said.  "I can see through his aloof exterior better than most.  You intrigue him—the mere fact he met with you affirms that.  I don't think you made a poor impression today.  At the very least he hasn't had you incarcerated, so he knows you're not Guild spies.  If you stick here for a bit, I might be able to arrange another meeting with him.  You may turn him into an ally yet—and with the Champion's say-so, the assistance the League will render to you will be considerable.  It's worth the time lost through hanging around, by far."

"That sounds like a plan," Missy said.  "We have no leads at all, so securing good help should be our top priority."  She raised her glass in a toast; Rico and Dan followed suit.

"Tonight…our search truly begins!"