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"Are you really going to stand there until Hexum and Kiedis get here?" Artemis asked the invisible D-Vee. She was being ushered out, but the woman gave Jackie a stiff glare before one of the medical personal rushed over and helped her stand.

"Right, keep your hands where I can see them," she murmured as the medic forced her nearly limp arm over his shoulder.

"Yes ma'am," he said quickly. D-Vee teetered after them, his invisibility flickering off as he moved. Once they were on the ground again and he stood still, however, his invisibility returned. Artemis was loaded onto a stretcher.

"...there is no way I'm finishing that painting today," she groaned.

* * * * *

"No. At least, I didn't," Eunmi said, her brow furrowing slightly. "I hope they're okay."

She flicked the switch on her xtransceiver on her wrist on and tapped the screen. Activating the C-gear, it showed her Henrietta's location back in Nacrene on the screen.

"Well, she's not in the forest," Eunmi said. "You guys would probably benefit from the C-Gear upgrade." She held her arm up for them to see.

"Not yet, Comet," Jacqueline said with disinterest as she signed them in with one of the waiting guards. She turned back towards Jump, "I came here as soon as this whole thing broke out. This is me, here, arriving right now. So no, I've not checked with anyone about anything."

"Destress," Zack said in her ear on his way past, patting her shoulder and leading Katelyn down the ramp by hand. Jacqueline frowned and folded her arms. Easy for him to say. Jobless a*****e.

"I bet this has been an odd couple days for you, huh," Zack asked, his daughter staring up as they walked, entering the hospital through the roof door.
"It's okay, I had fun with Aunt Jackie."
"Did you now?" took the stairs when the elevator opened and looked full.
"Ahuh. She gets mad a lot but she's really nice sometimes."
"There's a surprise," Zack said without looking, pushing open the door into the main wing.

The hospital was something of a maze of corridors and they had to find their way around by following the vastly inefficient signs and more than once had to double back. It was busy, but not too busy.

There had been an influx of trainers with small injuries but from the atmosphere it sounded like the most anyone had to deal with was a shock when the fire started, some nicks and some bruises from scrambling to get away.

Eventually they happened upon a small mall and Katelyn got excited. It was basically a large room with outlet stores around the edges, a staircase at the far end leading to a similar deal one floor up. The centre area was something of a lounge, fitted with cushioned seats and occupying near capacity. But Katelyn wasn't excited about shops or stairs or seats, oh no.

"Mommy!" she squealed, breaking away from Zack and racing across the crowded lounge area and leaping into Elizabeth's arms. The woman was taken back but gladly held her little girl, big grin and she saw Zack approaching.

"I thought you'd wind up here and oh my god you're a mess. What happened?"
"Big guy didn't want to go down," Zack shrugged, "Jump showed up."
"Alright then," Elizabeth knew the sorts of situations her husband wound up in. That his wounds had already closed up and all that was left was mud was a good sign and all she needed to see.

"Hello, baby," she coddled, holding Katelyn's tiny forearms between them and touching foreheads, the little girl giggling like mad. Zack looked away with a smile then encountered some big, half-ugly guy with a bottle in each hand.

"Can I help you, friend?" the guy muttered, clearly attempting to square off. Zack shook his head, waving his hand to let him pass. He didn't get very far and like a dog returning to its master, he stood next to Elizabeth with a dopey, "I got you those drinks you wanted, uh."
"Oh, thanks," Elizabeth pulled Katelyn onto her knee and took a bottle. "Zack, this is, erm--"
"Drew," he prompted and Zack snorted.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and unfurled her fingers in Zack's direction, "Drew, this is my husband, Zack."
"Yeah, thanks for the drinks, Drew," Zack said through a smirk, "Go on, get out of here."

Drew left with his tail between his legs and Zack shook his head. He took it all as a complement by proxy. Pulled a face when he turned the bottle over in his hand and saw the label.

"It's still a hospital," Elizabeth said, "Not a bar."
"Uhhh, okay. Do you want this, Katelyn?" Zack passed her the bottled water and the girl pulled the same face Zack did.
"I want juice," she said quietly.
"She wants juice," Zack repeated after her, "we should go someplace else."
"They sell juice here as well," Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. She shook her head and bowed down to eye level with Katelyn, "Did you have breakfast today?"

Katelyn nodded uncertainly, like she was afraid to answer.
"She had World Government breakfast," Zack explained, "Do you want some real breakfast, Katelyn?"
"Zack, we have to wait here for Wayne," Elizabeth butted in.
"I thought he had a cross-whatever. Just call him when his signal's available."

"Okay," Elizabeth stood up and plonked Katelyn on the floor, "If you're both so insistent then I guess I know a nice café in town."

--

"No thanks, I'm saving up for the iGear," Wayne said, putting Deerling away and recalling his other pokémon, except for Solosis, while he was at it.

Walking over to Baker, Wayne went, "How you doing up there?"
"Humiliated, but luckily my wound doesn't seem to be fatal. I'd surely know it by now if it was."
"Do you guys have like, people? Somewhere to meet up and be all nefarious? Can't imagine you want us to walk you into town, which is probably loaded with cops who just want someone to pin all this on."
"When you put it that way, I'd love to stay the hell out of town, yes."

Wayne nodded and turned back to the other two, "Hey, I'm gonna take Baker to wherever his guys are meeting, uh, yeah, can one of you two hang onto my pokémon? I don't want them stealing from me again."

But when Hexum and Kiedis landed, Wayne went quiet.

"What is it? I can't see anything," Baker complained and Solosis span him around and he let out a masculine, "Guwah! Whoa. Where did they come from?"

"Excuse me?" Wayne probed slowly like Christmas had come early and brought his friends, Birthday, Easter and Christmas II, but he couldn't quite believe it, "Are you a talking pokémon?"

((I'm gonna have to go to bed gonk Otherwise I'm gonna be irritable like Jackie))

"My father?" Wayne was still awestruck, his open mouth the only thing stopping a huge, cheesy grin.

"My father is, yuhh," he swallowed. talkingpokémontalkingpokémontalkingpokémon. "Well, y'see it's kinda complicated: his name's Zack Redgrave, but I'm Wayne Lee, y'see, cause I only got officially adopted a few years ago and they asked if I wanted to change my name and I said I'd rather not and he was cool with it but I still call him 'dad' cause it just helps with my little sister, y'know, and then I got used to it and it got kinda confusing cause people think he's my real dad when I talk about him but when they meet him they're like, dude, he could be your brother instead."

He paused for breath, took one more look at Hexum. "Talking. Pokémon."

Wow.

--

"Are you ******** kidding me?" Jackie turned away, hand covering her face. She stayed still, eyes scrunched closed behind her fingers. "I don't believe this."

"Fine, y'know what? ******** protocol, you're right. Can't let this continue and Jesus Christ," she huffed, hands on hips and shaking her head, chewing lip. Destress, destress. "Okay, yeah, we'll find her. Unprovoked violence against an officer of the law is a capital offence. We're going to execute this b***h."

Eventually. Eventually. Find out what she knows. Who she's working for. Then destroy the ********.

Adopted? That was a load of information all at once. Eunmi was still sort of reeling from the shock of the talking pokemon, let alone Wayne's big reveal. She stood in silence, unsure of what to say.

"I am so in the dark right now," the korean girl murmured.

* * * * *

D-Vee decided he didn't really want to sit around waiting for Hexum and Kiedis to show pretending he wasn't there. There were too many people around that he wanted to talk to - Artemis especially. He slapped the paint off his chest in quick swipes and waggled his paws free of the mess, turning visible again, and quickly hopped onto the stretcher.

The medic gave him a strange look of protest, but Artemis rose her hand gently and gave them a glare that was meant to get them to leave her alone. It worked, and D-Vee immediately began to chatter.

[I'm really glad you're okay. You shouldn't have run off like that - was he that tough? I mean, it's like you haven't even been fighting for a while. Have you? You used up all your aura. You're usually way better at gauging that-]

Artemis was smiling at him as his mouth moved a mile a minute, leaning up to sit and draw him into her lap. She ruffled his fur and gave him a sweet kiss on his forehead.

[I really missed you. I wanted so badly to find you, but I couldn't. What happened? I was really afraid. Did you ever-] the Pokemon paused as Jump approached. He smiled, and scooted out of Artemis' lap. His question was about to be answered. Then Jump timidly began trying to talk to the woman. His face dropped a bit - nothing had progressed at all.

[Really?] he gapped, crossing his arms over his chest. Artemis glanced at him, opening her mouth slightly to snap at him, but pursed together quickly as her eyes flicked back up at Jump.

"Well," she sighed, raising her hand weakly to brush through her long side swept bangs. She knew the pause would make both of them hang on her words, but she wasn't even sure how to respond. She looked down and shook her head, her lips spreading enough to show some of her teeth before she looked up again, tilting her head to the side.

"I suppose all my prior engagements have been cancelled what not with me needing medical assistance," she shrugged, the smirk still planted on her face. "It's not like I'm going anywhere any time soon."

D-Vee's smile cracked into a wide grin. Artemis caught sight of this, and if she had the energy, she would have kicked him off the stretcher. She was going to be teased for this, she could feel it. Her cheeks tinged slightly, and she hastily shook her head and huffed.

"But I'm not waiting around if your stuff takes much longer than it does for me to feel my toes again," she said, refusing to look at him. "It's not like I can't write up my statement in an email..."

D-Vee groaned. Why did she have to ruin it?

And then she was back to normal Artemis form. If it wasn't so frustrating for Jump to get through to her this way, it would be a relief to have her like this. He was far more used to talking to Artemis when she was being curt with him than when she dropped her guard and brought out her seldom seen compassionate side.

Yet they were talking now, and that was better than the months of silence. Perhaps D-Vee's presence got her embarrassed? He remembered that he would have to talk to the Smeargle about this whole Artemis-thing.

Jump sighed at her last comment and shook his head. "It's not like I'd read any email sent to me. C'mon Artemis, you know me better than that." He flicked his thumb over his nose and winked down at her. "This shouldn't take too long. Not for the fastest man on the planet, anyway. My feet will step into your hospital room before you can feel yours again, guaranteed."

And then he heard the Romeo comment from Jackie. He forgot she had a sense of humor, but that wasn't the way he wanted to be reminded. Hmm, I can see where the embarrassment comes from. Third parties are really killing the mood.

He turned around and gave her and an D-Vee a backhanded wave while walking back to Jackie. "I'll be back before you know it. Don't blink, kay?"

And then he disappeared, becoming a black and white blur that zoomed over to Jackie's side in the blink of an eye. He stopped on a dime next to his fellow officer, his image still a fuzzy blur before his features became recognizable again. The sudden stop caused a breeze that blew his ponytail forward.

“Hey, shuddup,” he whispered to Jackie with a fretful expression as he scratched his head “You’ll scare her away quicker than a Kangaskhan in the Safari Zone. It's a, er, delicate situation.”

Jump thought for a second that he should talk to Jackie about it, mostly because she was a girl. Then again, he didn't recall Jackie having much relationship experience. What kind of advice would she give him?

Probably something real dark.

His purple eye locked onto the equipment belt she had. Kiedis and Hexum were two of the three pokemon he had with him in Unova, the other being Black Star. But bringing out Black Star for a fight like this one was overkill. “Got any bullets for me?” he asked.

Not the gun. Just the bullets.

****

Salier recalled her father once explaining Aura for her, but it was far too complicated for her to remember. Moze also told her about Aura once. “My big brother says Aura is in all of us, or something. Like the air we breathe.”

And after Moze explained it, he did some really awesome s**t. “He also said something about superpowers. Is that for real? Are you really a tracker?”

Hexum smiled to himself. Aura gives you superpowers. The simple explanation for things reminded him of Jump. But Wayne still had a good idea. Hexum’s black lobes stood up once more, tracing for Zack.

“Aura is…a bit more complicated than that." He chuckled a little. "You’ll understand when you’re older…and my name is Hexum, by the way…”

The Aura Signal wasn’t at full strength, but as Zack’s Aura replenished, the signal grew stronger. “You’re right, he’s far. Kiedis-“

[If you’re pulling me along for another Extremespeed ride, you can forget it.] The grumpy Teddiursa reeled away, mumbling to himself like an old man while walking down the path. [I’ll just trust my nose.]

“There’s too much ash in the air for you to catch his scent,” Hexum told him doubtfully as the Teddiursa sniffed the air. “You’ll get lost that way.”

Kiedis grinned out of the corner of his mouth, showing off pointed teeth that reminded Salieri of her own. [Never doubt the nose. I just picked up D-Vee.]
“D-Vee?”
[Yeah, the ink he gives off has a really specific scent. And if D-Vee’s here, then Artemis is probably around-]
“And if she’s around, then Jump probably is too.” Hexum nodded. “Right, let’s split up. I’ll look for Zack and you’ll find D-Vee?”

Kiedis grunted in approval. Hexum turned back to the teenagers and bowed again. “It was nice to meet you all. I wish you good luck on your travels, thank you for your help.”

Without another word, he was gone in a flash of Extremespeed. Kiedis rolled his eyes.

[Everyone is a showoff,] he grumbled before looking back to the other group. […what’re you looking at?] With a shrug, he continued walking along the path ahead of the teens.

Salem looked up at Salieri, then to Kiedis's back as the Teddiursa left. [He's kind of cute.]

In his pokeball, Chen Zhen wept.

((Something bad happening... must be Plasma's doing. Those animals.))

Normally reluctant to share resources with Interpol, Jackie figured she could spare a box of bullets. True enough, she wasn't supposed to be teaming up with an Interpol agent to go on a manhunt but she was doing it anyway; missing ammo was but a footnote on the reports she'd have to fill out.

Ugh.

"Don't spend it all in one place," she said as she passed him a magazine of rifle rounds. She clipped her equipment belt in place, one strap over her should like a single suspender and the rest being pouches and panels around her waist, filled with standard government agent-issue gadgets and devices.

She particularly liked the handheld suction cups that emitted a blast like a rocket. Putting one on someone's back was thematically akin to a Kick Me sign but saw the poor victim blasted into the sky.

Just made sure to fill up on those.

"Lead the way. Make sure to go at a reasonable pace," she folded her arms and tilted her head to the side, so that from Jump's perspective she was nodding at Artemis, "Women hate a guy who's too quick."

--

"So... like I was saying, could either of you two hang onto my pokémon while I go take Baker back to his Plasma friends?" Wayne asked, showing the girls his balls.

Jacqueline sighed. With a flash of light, she followed after the Interpol Agent.

--

"Yeah, Baker, what's Plasma's deal with kidnappings? They after young, nubile folk like myself?"

"We're only after the liberation of pokémon from mankind's vile enslavement, ow!" Baker's voice carried the spirit of a broken man. Solosis yanking him up and down to readjust his psychic grip didn't help matters either.

"See," Wayne grinned, handing his pokéballs over to Sal, "They're only gonna try and steal my pokémon if I take them in there. Solosis, you too."

The psychic nodded and allowed himself to be recalled. In a twist of fate, Baker was lowered carefully to his feet as the green glob vanished and was passed over with the rest of Wayne's pokémon.

Wayne helped Baker stand and nodded back, "Well, I'm off. So long, suckers!"

Baker weighed a lot, especially in that armour. It was too late to stop and get him to remove some, so the best Wayne could do was hobble them forward, hissing for the injured Plasma to speed up so he didn't look stupid.