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"Nope!" Wayne said, "That's part of my ability. I can copy experiences from one
thing to another. It might not be as cool as danger sense, but it makes pokémon
training way easier. It's almost like cheating."

He folded his arms proudly. Even though everyone else seemed to have badass
physical powers, Wayne was happy with his. It suited him perfectly.

"Oh, but we are definitely awesome at battling as well," he said quickly, "Didn't
you see us on TV? We fight terrorists!"

Wayne almost had the wind knocked out of him when Salieri gave him a shove.
Even with the way his Aura infusion had manifested over the past few days,
giving him more strength and endurance, he still paled in comparison to Salieri's
strength.

He could probably do with training himself at some point. It wasn't a very app-
ealing thought.

"Hey, quit pushing me so hard," he whispered. Nowell didn't seem like a bad guy,
and Sal had definitely calmed down since the incident at PokéLand. But Wayne
didn't need to nearly get bowled over to take a hint.

"Sorry, dude!" He shouted back, "I don't think you can keep up with us!"

He grinned, finally throwing out Eukarya's ball. The pokémon manifested and
Wayne barely had time to think of the command, let alone speak it. The psychic
telekinetically flew close to the ground, generating a horizontal Barrier above
his head.

It was translucent, but sturdy enough to stand on. Wayne jumped on board,
then turned partway back to hold out his hand with a grin. If Sal climbed on,
Eukarya would secure the two trainers with Telekinesis and they'd all speed
off towards Driftveil.

If not... well... Wayne'd shrug then fly off anyway.

"I blame biological and social pressures," Wayne said. With Eukarya effectively
glued to the underside of his Barrier board, the psychic could keep their telekin-
etic movement speeding along at a blistering pace.

If it wasn't for their steadily improving Natural Infusion coupled with Eukarya's
psychic grip, the wind speed alone would have made this method of travel highly
impractical. They rushed along the route, kicking up a trail of dust and dirt, start-
ling more than a few travellers and pokémon on the way.

"Aw, crap I forgot about the city station," Wayne whined as Driftveil City came
closer.

Much like Nimbasa, there was a station at the city limit. Hopefully it'd be less
congested, seeing as Driftveil wouldn't have been under the same kind of lock
down. Plus, unless Wayne rode around showing off too much, there wouldn't
be many other trainers speeding about on a psychic surfboard.

"Isn't that your brother?" Wayne asked. Over the past few days, Wayne had
discovered that Moze and Blackbird McKnight were more closely related than
he had thought.

Still, despite the initial misunderstanding, Wayne still liked the guy.

"The heck are you doing on a rooftop?" he called up.

"I don't think you're striking fear into nearly enough hearts to be episodic."

He took out Eukarya's pokéball, glanced at the sleeping pirates then performed
a mental shrug. They could wait until later. In the meantime, he released his
pokémon, who conjured up another psychic surfboard for the trainers to use.

"Man, I hope we don't get a speeding ticket for this," he said, leaping onto the
board-like Barrier. "Make sure you fly higher up this time, Euke. Just avoid flying
boulders and stuff. Seriously."

Once Sal was on board, the psychic type would shoot off at high speed. Hope-
fully, they wouldn't lose track of Moze in the city. At their speed, actually catching
up to him shouldn't be an issue.

It wasn't hard to track down Moze, and not just because of their speed of travel. Moze had left behind a trail of sleeping pirates and their tough looking pokemon. Well, formerly tough looking pokemon. It was difficult to look tough when you sucked on your thumb in your sleep. Some of them lay on beds of cotton, no doubt provided by Moze's Whimsicott, Blacksheep.

Salieri counted at least seven sleeping pirates, not including the ones they saw before. Jump had told her Moze thought he shared an ability with Salieri. But E told her no two abilities were exactly the same. And Salieri didn't know how to put people to sleep with a touch.

They rounded a corner and ended up in the center of town at a street next to the marketplace. Moze stood on his own, surrounded by ten more pirates and their pokemon. They looked jumpy, beads of sweat rolling down their heads. Moze only had on a small frown.

Townsfolk stayed on the edge of the streets near the homes, far enough from the action to be safe but close enough to watch firsthand. Some people even stuck their heads out of windows or looked down from their balconies.

"Give it up, Sage."

The man addressing Sal's brother was on a bench a few feet away from the pirates, laying on his side lazily. He wore an open black longcoat over his bare chest, and a blue beanie. One large lock of hair covered one of his eyes.

"This is a misunderstanding." Moze shook his head sadly. "I'm not who you think I am."
"Yeah? Your get up says differently. Pictures say a thousand words.” Ska held up a non existant camera and pretended to take a snapshot. "Click, click. So surrender already.”
Moze sighed. “…I can’t do that either, I’m sorry.”

Ska sat up on the bench and leaned forward. “It’s fine. No difference to me either way.” He clapped his hands. “Timeout’s over, kids.”

The pirates stepped forward very slowly, wary that they’d fall victim to Moze’s abilities just like the rest of their comrades. Moze lifted up his walking staff and with a heavy tap, planted it into the ground.

He closed his eyes and slowly brought his hands together in front of him. Sparkles formed in between his palms, swirling in the shape of an orb. “Hey mates, it’s ten against one. So by all means, keep up the pace. Slow and steady doesn’t make you look like bitches at all.”

That was enough motivation for the pirates to rush in all at once. Moze opened his eyes and clapped his hands together, squashing the sparkles ball in his hands.

The sparkles blew outwards like dust, reaching everyone in a circle around him. As the sparkles washed over their bodies they yawned. One by one, they all started to fall, asleep.

Blacksheep popped up from a sewer grate, and without hesitation whisked over to Moze. With the enhanced speed of Prankster, she set up small patches of cotton for the pirates to fall on before they hit the ground.

Ska’s eyelids fluttered until he facepalmed. “Why am I not surprised?” He stood up and stretched his arms over his head with a yawn. “If you want something done right, make sure your crew can’t handle it first before you get your hands dirty.”

Moze took his walking staff out of the ground and spun it around to his side. His sleeping technique wouldn’t work quite as easily on someone with the Aura or willpower of Ska. “I don’t want to fight you. We can solve our differences through talking.”

“Yeah yeah. You said that already,” Ska cracked his neck. “I’m a pirate, mate, not a diplomat. We do what we want.”

He pointed a hand at one of his crewmate’s knives. It floated up and traveled into his hand through an erratic path in the air. Ska spun the blade in his fingers. “And I wanna knock you out cold.”

Salieri jumped off the psychic hoverboard and ran over to her brother’s side. She had seen enough. “Tag me in,” she told him.

Moze did a double take when Salieri arrived. “What are you doing? Get out of here, See-Sal, I’m trying to talk him down.”
“And you’re doing a terrific job. Get real, Moze.”

Ska tilted his head at the newcomer, curious. “…See-Sal? Were your parents playground equipment?”
“Hey!” She pointed at him angrily. “No one calls me that but my brother!” Moze pulled her hand down: pointing at somebody like that was rude.

Ska’s shifted, standing up straight and at attention. “Brother?” Suddenly, a smile crept onto his face as he looked at Salieri. "The family resemblance is uncanny."

His gaze was making her uncomfortable. Not like with Nowell before. Nowell wanted Salieri in an entirely different way. But Ska couldn’t be read the same. He was looking at her like she was some sort of prize. A treasure for the taking. Not a human being at all.

“Hey cowboy,” she called up to Wayne, not taking her eyes off of Ska for a second. “Back me up here.”
“Cowboy?” The mention of that word gave Ska a short fit of laughter. “Oy mate, are you Mayor Brokeback’s son?” he asked Wayne. “You look a little young to be his partner. Even I'm not that depraved.”

"Team...ah, I see. You got me." Ska held up his hands defensively, dropping the knife he had just picked up. "I secretly wanna raise the ocean levels because, you know, why not?"

"What?" Moze's jaw dropped. "There's no way our ecosystem could survive the shift. If that's what you want me for, I can't help you."

Ska sucked in his lips, trying not to laugh. "Your brother's used to getting by on his pretty face, isn't he?"
"I can't say the same for you," Salieri snarled, causing Ska to grin.
"Cute. Are you two his bodyguards, or do you just enjoy a good fight?"
"I'd love one right about now, but I don't think you can give it to me."
"Haha! A fiery one, you are." Ska threw out his arms to the side, welcoming Sal and Wayne to come closer. "I'm right here waiting, girlies."

Girlies?

Salieri put a hand up to her pokebelt. She could smell that he had a pokemon close by, hidden somewhere. Somewhere close. Not a pokemon she had ever encountered before, unless pokemon had taken to using perfume for scent masking.

"I reckon I've got a better plan."

All heads turned to face the new arrival: Clay, who stood next to an Excadrill as large as he was. The mayor of Driftveil held his belt buckle and scanned the area. "Someone mind telling me what kind of ruckus this is?"

Ska kept grinning as he took off his hat and swung low into a bow. "Why helloooo your majesty! Fancy seein' you out and about."
Moze slowly rose his hand. "Wait, so, you're not trying to raise the ocean levels-"
"Was I speakin' to you? I don't think so," Clay snapped sharply. Moze shut up and looked down.

Clay looked up at Wayne. "Mind gettin' down here, son? I've got enough on my plate to deal with, floatin' trainers aside."

Silph Co.

Fire wasn't the right word to describe it.

The rush of sensation all came at once. Impossibly bright light took her sight
as her skin seemed to burst aflame, burning. Her Aura-fuelled endurance was
the only thing keeping her body intact as she clung to Zack, preventing the
sheer magnitude of force from blowing her clear of the rooftop.

And the sound. Calling it sound was too little. It was the bellow of an enraged
god, a furious force of nature, one that threatened to crush her, to split her
head apart. The vibrations shook her bones, her very being, beyond what she
could block out by closing her eyes or holding on tight. The single thought
that kept Elizabeth going was very simple.

It's aimed at Ratio.

Zack's flared explosion didn't extinguish, it simply stopped feeding. The Aura
user dropped his arm and fell to his knees, burnt out from the attack. Elizabeth's
senses were numbed, but she could still feel her husband in front of her. She
flared her Aura brightly, its restorative properties mending her injuries at a
faster pace.

She crawled up to Zack, who barely seemed capable of keeping himself from
collapsing. Her fingers found his shoulder and she pulled him in close, up to
her chest.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. Or at least Elizabeth heard it quietly; her hearing
hadn't fully recovered just yet. "I should never have left you alone."

Those words alone filled her heart with warmth, pushing out the despair and
dread that had taken root. She met his eyes, grey from the burn-out. Despite
his words of apology, Zack still held on to a look of forcefulness, of intensity.

Flames still choked the sky, blisteringly hot, a world away from the heavy
rain that had accompanied the intruder. Although night had fallen some hours
ago in Kanto, everything was lit up as if it were daytime.

"Where's Katelyn?" Zack asked. His Aura returning, he took Elizabeth by the
shoulders and looked her in the eye. Katelyn was still in that helicopter. Zack
followed Elizabeth's gaze and saw what she was looking at; the metal wreck,
crashed into the far wall, away from the flames but with its black exterior
glowing from their heat.

He looked back to her and she nodded slowly. Zack stood up, backlit by his
own explosion. He half-turned away and Elizabeth, still on her knees, peered
up at him.

"What am I dealing with?" he asked, holding out a hand. She took it and got
back to her feet, almost fully recovered.
"He said he's called Ratio," she said, voice unwavering. "Zack, he looks like
you."

Zack gave her a glance, then looked over at his flames, still swarming across
the rooftop and sky, light blinding, heat magnificent.

"Don't worry," he said, "I think I took care of that."