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'What's my sister got to do with anything?' Zack said. This whole conversation made him sick to his core. 'She's a 16 year old girl from Unova. She's done nothing wrong.'

'Then you should know better,' Zack said. She was trying to earn sympathy by bringing up her girlfriend, but the moment Zack's heart reached out, he remembered that list. His mother's name in black and white. 'If you don't know Grant's killer then tell me how to get to Jean.'

Zack recognised that look in Emily. A fervour powered by desperation to protect the ones she loved. If dragged he her into a police station, she'd be out by nightfall. If he just let her go, she'd cross names off that list one by one by one.

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'You got dealt a shitty hand, but you're just too dangerous.'

The trainer looked at Serene, and she met his gaze with horror. Through Telepathy, she knew his command. Couldn't stomach it, but she was bound to follow his orders. The Kirlia turned her attention to Emily, and held out her hands.

'You shouldn't have come for my family,' Zack said, and Serene focused her Psychic onto Emily. She would feel an intense thunder wrack her limbs, her head bursting with pain. The Psychic concentrated onto her mind, tearing it to shreds. He couldn't imagine what she felt as Serene ripped apart her very self, transforming the would-be assassin into a vegetative state. Zack couldn't cross the line into killing Emily, but this was as good-as.

Even Hazard lost her grin. Lethal frothed quietly as Serene's power coursed into the girl. Her eyes went from blue to white, then returned to normal in a final flash. Emily would be gone by now, eyes rolling in her head.

In the distance, Zack heard voices, trainers shouting about the fire as they rushed over with their water pokémon. He looked back to Emily one last time before they all disappeared in a flash of light.

Route 12 – Baa de Mer Ranch

He had heard enough. The woman this trainer was interrogating was in horrendours pain, inside and out. A part of him had tremendous sympathy for the woman. It did not outweigh his sympathy for the trainer. Going after family crossed the line. She had this coming.

Regardless, she didn’t know anything more about the Darkhorse Hunters, and getting more out of her now would be fruitless. He waited for Zack to leave, then leapt from his perch high in a tree. He needed to tie up the loose ends.

He rebounded from tree to tree, branch to branch, with incredible leaps of speed and grace. The Route floor became a blur to him as he sped along, until he found the old man dragging out the old woman.

They weren’t hunters. That much had been clear from his eavesdropping on Zack’s first interrogation. They were, however, still entrenched. And loyal. That made them dangerous to Xavier’s cause. Thus, that put them in danger. Because he was fifty feet behind them.

The Greninja paused on a branch and allowed gravity to take hold as he leaned, until the soles of his feet stuck to the bottom of the branch. Hanging upside down, masked by the trees before him, he flung two Water Shuriken at the backs of their necks.

They spun between the branches ahead, curving between the obstacles to fly directly in front of the two injured checkpoint hosts. One would fly across the front of Adrian’s neck, and the other in front of Audrey’s.

The slits would cause them to bleed out quickly, with little pain, and the murder weapons would evaporate against the ground shortly after. Xavier couldn’t let them live. They would only cause more pain. He had taken up a mission to put a stop to that since he had escaped the Chateau’s basement.

Baque Gaston. The name repeated in his head. Needing his next lead to find that man, Xavier continued on once he was sure the deed was done.

Unknown Cave

Moze put a hand on Diancie’s sleep tank. He didn’t enjoy have the Mythical Pokémon under stasis, but he trusted in Ratio’s intentions. Thus, he trusted Byrony. Their assault on the procession was so successful in thanks to Diancie’s power, but it had dug heavily into their supply of Mega Stones. The only other stockpiles they knew the locations of were in the possession of the Tower of Mastery, and Team Flare.

Bryony had given them details on Flare. It was enough to know that they could not simply infiltrate the headquarters as easily as they had busted the procession. It was an operation that needed thorough planning, but its necessity was inevitable. From Bryony’s description of the personnel, they were a motley crew, and all very capable.

Moze could only imagine that after hiding out for days, they were up to something. The cadence of war suggested their next move would be soon. After capturing the Queen, would they use her as leverage in some scheme? Or had they already moved on to the more dastardly steps of their plot? He wondered what they were up to right now.

Team Flare Secret HQ

Jump’s drink was stuck in the vending machine.

“I told you not to get the lemon drink,” Hexum said quietly. Jump stepped back and slammed his foot into the large box with a side kick. The machine rumbled. Nothing dropped.
“I’m not going to let the Aura stop me from getting a delicious beverage, my guy.”
“It wasn’t my Aura. I saw three other people’s sodas get stuck there this week.”

The location of Team Flare’s Secret HQ was, unsurprisingly, a secret. Although he held an Admin rank, it had taken Jump Einatz weeks before he was allowed to know the location. And even now, his access was limited even in comparison to other Admins. To make up for this, the Scientists had told him that he was allowed to use the lounge area as his ‘office’, whatever that may entail.

The base was underground, but that didn’t stop Team Flare from being lavish. The lounge was huge, lined in red velvet with a bar, game area, and an aquarium holding rare species of Water Pokémon for display. He and the Grunts under him had spent the last few days hustling each other in pool. And now, collectively, they were bored. No missions or jobs for days, all because the boss’s plans had changed. It was a recalibration period, which was a word that was too long for Jump to care about. He just wanted his damn soda.

“Try unplugging it and replugging it,” his Lucario suggested. Jump snapped his fingers.
“Genius.” He went to shift the machine against the wall, but it was pinned against two others. “Kiedis! Gimme some muscle!”

Days ago, his Teddiursa had discovered that one of the cocktail ingredients stocked at the bar was honey. And so he had taken up drinking, so long as the drink had honey. And so the Grunts had stopped ordering anything with honey in it out of fear of reprisal. And so he was sitting on a very high stool at the bar, his face against the wood paneling as he spun a single claw in his drink. [You have to hit G23,] he slurred before closing his eyes.

“What’d he say?”
“He said hit G23,” Hexum translated.
“…I don’t want chocolate milk I want my soda.”
“I know, I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Here, help me move this.”

With Hexum’s help, Jump got the vending machine away from the wall, unplugged, and replugged it. When they put the machine back in place, the soda was still stuck behind the distribution ring. “Now it’s not even highlighting my soda! It reset!”
“I don’t know how vending machines work,” Hexum admitted.
[Gee twenty threeeee.]
“I could use Aura Sphere.”
“Yeah, and shake up my soda? No thanks. Fool me four times, shame on us, fool me after that, that’s even more times.” Jump rubbed his chin. “Can you use Bone Rush and stick the bone up the slot?”
“It doesn’t work like that, I don’t have the angle.”
“I’m gonna try the spin kick again.”
“You’re gonna break the glass. Just text Mable.”
“I’m not texting Mable!”

After another fifteen minutes of kicks and resetting, Jump texted Mable. The Flare Scientist who styled her blue hair with two ringlets at the side strode into the lounge. “Thank Arceus you’re here, some jabroni got their soda stuck in the machine and I’ve been trying to get it out for three minutes.”

Mable walked over to the vending machine, looked inside, and hit G23. Jump’s soda was released and dropped down. “Didn’t you tell me to try that?” Jump asked Hexum.
“…you know what, I think I did.”
[What the hellllll man…]
“That’s the third time this week. You have to stop texting me about this,” Mable warned. “Belay that drink and follow me. It’s time for the meeting.”
Jump’s eyes lit up before he could even pop the tab. “You serious? The gang’s all here?”
“We prefer to be called…a Team.”
“I know dummy, I’m speaking in metaforce.”
“That’s not a metaphor. It’s just-“ Mable sighed. “Just come on.”

Jump shrugged. He slung his drunk bear over his shoulder and followed Mable out the door.

Ben would take that picture and give that description. When Matheson arrived through the bathroom closet, Ben waved. Honestly, it was a good thing this random hotel room had a bathroom closet like this, he didn't want to shuffle his strategy around.

"Nope, name's Craig. Craig Wilkinson." Ben replied with as straight a face as he could manage. He was walking through the door by the time he corrected himself. "Kidding. Yeah, I'm Ben. Nice to meet you Matheson." Noble name. Sal's hatred of nobility was apparently selective. Honestly, he wasn't surprised. That was supposed to be how dealing with people worked.

"Haven't heard much about you. Are you, like, her butler? Do you buttle?" Ben joked, whlie making his way to Gotengo proper for the briefing.

Her friend. That tone said an oof was appropriate there. "Nah, they make them look like that so you think they're nice, then you actually touch them. It's more for appearance than pampering." A noble who couldn't tell the difference. Well, maybe that wasn't surprising? How often would he stay in a hotel with less than 5 stars?

"Her friend though. Are you sure that's what you want to call it?" Ben's grin said he knew more about the subject than he probably actually did. "You know if you're indecisive, opportunity gets impatient and leaves you in the dust, right?" He wouldwait patiently for Matheson to start moving with him before going to Gotengo. This seemed like a good opportunity to possibly get some good gossip. And maybe do something with it depending on what the situation actually was.

Oh no... This guy didn't really understand romance at all, did he? As long as he didn't learn about it from romance movies or something like that, it should be fine. Those almost always portrayed that stuff wrong. Ben wasn't sure if he was troubled by the label, or what. But they seemed like they didn't really know what they were either.

"So you're casually dating to see where it goes, but you're not boyfriend and girlfriend, right?" Sal had probably picked those terms to distance herself from emotional attachment if he was calling it right. That never actually worked if romantic feelings were in the air for you, though. Eventually this would probably go badly if neither of them could admit where they were at to themselves or each other. Which probably mostly went for Sal. "And before you bring up sex again, that can be romantically a casual thing for people, and doesn't necessarily include romance either." Which there probably were some of those feelings or they wouldn't have had a talk that confusing.

Why couldn't people just be honest with themselves about what they wanted from things at the very least? "Things for me have been alright. Got a badge, so that was nice. Oh. It's cool to explore your feelings and how they grow with someone, but make sure you're checking in on that with yourself and with them at least semi-regularly. You don't want to end up on different pages there. That ends badly in everything except romantic comedies."

Matheson was probably the worst person to explain the situation to him. "You're engaged to someone she doesn't like and who doesn't like her. And I'm sure you can't imagine a single reason why that issue might not be getting any better." Ben shook his head. "There are some people completely down for a polyamorous lifestyle, and that'd be fine if that's what you were doing. But I get the impression you're just cheating on your fiance dude."

Ben didn't wait for Math, and started walking directly towards Gotengo proper. Gossip or no, Math and his fiance needed to have a talk about their own damn relationship, and he'd lost respect for the guy pretty quickly there. He wouldn't respond to anything else Math said until he got to where Sal and the rest were waiting.