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Coumarine Harbor

Matheson never got tired of the smell of sea salt. When he was young he fantasized about a life at sea, the romanticism of adventure with a group of friends so close they could be called family. Now he was tracking down pirates who probably lived that fantasy every day. It was something Matheson admired, even if Skarada was as bad as Salieri said.

The search hadn't been long to get to this point. Matheson had done some research on Roll Cloud ships and what they needed to operate. Roll Clouds were capable of travel in the air, on the water or under the water, and required a massive amount of a specific fuel to do so. Math was willing to bet the ship was submerged if it was so close to Kalosian shores, since no one had spotted it on the sea recently and there were no roll clouds hanging in the sky. So he went to the closest harbor that sold the type of fuel Roll Clouds needed.

"I don't think she tried very hard," Matheson mused to Metis while he waited for the dock manager to get the business ledger. Sailboats, cruise ships and trading ships alike were docked on this sunny afternoon, with sea faring workers carrying crates and barrels of stuff back and forth off of ships. Life at sea was an adventure, but Math found life at the docks to be a chore. All play and no work was his motto after all.

"Here's what I've got," said the dock manager, coming up to Math with an open notebook. Math thumbed through the contents. "We don't have the kind of ship you're lookin' for but a couple of guys showed up this morning to buy that kinda fuel."
"Yeah." Math saw the purchase on the ledger. It had only been four hours ago, and it was the only purchase of that kind done recently. "What kind of guys? Were they sketchy?"
"Sketchy?" The manager scratched his head. "How do ya figure?"
"Like, uh, were they pirates?"
"...pirates."
"You know. Walk the plank, scurvy. Peg legs!" Math snapped his fingers. "One of them had to have a peg leg, right?"

The manager gave him a long hard look. "I know you're a noble, son, but it's a busy day and if you're just here to play games-"
"No no no! Not at all, I'm seriously looking for pirates. Maybe one of them had a hook hand?"
"If you're asking whether or not I've seen any walking stereotypes, no. Not today. They were rough around the edges but they knew what they were talking about. True men of the sea."
Math frowned, disappointed. "...were they Orrean?"
"Down to their very core."

Route 12 - Fourrage Road

"Pssh. Pfft. Ha." Salieri looked away, waving Zack's question off cockily as a sweatdrop appeared on her forehead. "Did I find out something? Did I find out something? Let me tell you..."

She got a text that doubled as a godsend as Sal started floundering. She checked her Pokégear. It was Math, saying he was 'anywhere between 80% and 83% sure' that Skarada's ship wasn't far off the coast of Kalos. He would check around Coumarine so she could cover Shalour City. God I wanna bang you, Sal thought with a smile as she shut her Pokégear.

"Thaaaat I'm 90% sure he's somewhere in Shalour City. Probably doing creep things."

"Look who's talking. You're about to rip your good arm off-"

When the vent on the back of Lethal's claw opened, Salieri had the sense to dread what came next. Banksy, however, wasn't having any of that. The Fire type used a midair air Rapid Spin to divert the excess water past her shell, flinging the unsuspecting Salieri and Oberon off her back and onto the beach. She remained dry. The other two girls became sandy.

"Connard!" Salieri growled as she dusted herself off and picked up her Cleffa to give her the same treatment, glaring at Zack walking away on the other side of the water. Just when she was beginning to think that Zack was the better Redgrave, he proved to her that they were both equally terrible. She hadn't worked hard to list what his good qualities could be because she didn't have anywhere to start. Mia told her that Esme had been with Zack the day before, so for some reason Esme found Zack worth talking to. Salieri decided she'd have to vent her frustrations to the older girl later.

"Why do I even deal with these people?" Sal asked herself, putting Oberon in her shoulder. Magic Guard kept the sand out of the Cleffa's eyes. Sal was a little jealous of that. "Listen babe, here's the thing. Some people aren't worth your time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

High above Route 12, Keasbey flew in circles listening closely to whatever Salieri had to say with her none the wiser. After Zack left, the Murkrow flew back to Skarada, who had been eating crackers on a beach blanket, watching Salieri high up from a hill for the past half an hour. Just as he was her best lead to learn more about Team Flare, she was his best lead to find the missing Sableite.

At one point during his watch, Salieri had saved a woman from drowning, and that same woman had put her to sleep with a pink mist from her palm. Skarada knew who that woman was at first sight. He had heard rumors before, but didn't think she actually existed. The No Named Nomad, Dreamweaver, The Pink Phantom etcetera. This woman had accrued such a reputation in the criminal underworld that she had earned many titles, enough to make Pirate King Skarada jealous.

But Interpol had one name for her on their most wanted list, a name they assumed to be the real one. So as one bounty head referring to another, Ska would call her by that name: Pachi. And he'd steer as far away from her as he could, because those rumors he heard were not pretty.

When Pachi left and Ska was confident she wasn't coming back, he had gone through Salieri's things while she slept. The Mega Stone wasn't among them, so Ska took her Pokedex to make sure it wasn't a total wash. "Can't let you get off easy, kid," he whispered to her sleeping body, kneeling by her side. "You're looking whole these days. Physically anyway. More than you deserve."

He didn't want to disturb her in case she woke up, but Ska's curiosity got the better of him. The pirate rolled up her sleeve and stared at the scar where her arm met her shoulder, a circular scar that went all the way around her arm. Ska spat on the ground in disgust. "I'd rough you up. Throw you in the ocean, drop you from the sky. But it ain't worth the trouble right now, not when I'm so damn close." He put her sleeve back in place. "Consider yourself lucky."

So he went back up the hill to his blanket and crackers, waiting patiently for something to happen. "One Shot, One Shot!" Keasbey squawked upon his return.

"Finally, I was gettin' stir crazy," Ska grinned. He held out an arm for Keasbey to land on. "So mate, what'd they say? Exact words."

Shalour City

It took a while, but Zack made it. The Tower of Mastery stood a way off the coast, behind a tall brick wall. Its battered doors met the ocean surf as the foam crashed and slopped against the border, no pathway in sight. Zack frowned and itched his cheek, Malis's Sunny Day withered to its last specks of light overhead. He had just gotten dry from his last surf across the sea and besides, standing beneath a hovering ball of fire for extended periods wreaked havoc on his complexion. Then there was the matter of bypassing the doors, which seemed to glare at him from across the way, daring him to try and boasting centuries of repelling invaders.

'Really need that flier,' Zack said to himself. He also needed a pit stop at the centre, but he knew One Shot was hot on his trail, and since he was so close to finishing his objective first, he couldn't risk blowing it. Maybe getting wet wasn't so bad if he put it like that. Maybe Lethal could change the angle of his Aqua Jet fast enough to vault them over the wall. Or maybe he couldn't, and they'd splatter right into it.

Decisions, decisions.

His Holo Caster beeped in his backpack. He wrestled it around his chest, where the strap had been looped through his sling and made the bag itself a pain in the a** to reach. Esme's name flashed on the caller ID, but it wasn't her face on the other end of the line.

'It's you,' Zack said as the pit of his stomach fell away. 'Hey Robin.'


Route 5 – Earlier

Ronin launched a flurry of kicks, sunlight gleaming off sweat that clung to his body like a second skin. His whipping kicks became a blur, blending the view ahead into a fractured looking glass, and disguised his opponent for one vital second. Xivi dropped below his kicks and caught his back foot with her stick, which she wielded like a staff. Ronin went down, caught his hand beneath him and kicked at the Braixen's head. She batted the attempt away with her stick, and forced Ronin to create distance by launching a jet of fire, sending him backwards on a handspring.

'Never allow your opponent to dictate the flow of battle,' Robin continued as Ronin landed in a skid. The Hitmonlee sagged with exhaustion, while his opponent seemed fresh, holding her stick at her side in an open stance. Robin paced along the edge of the battleground as she spoke, voice echoing through the trees and across the oval clearing they'd chosen as an arena. 'Every action creates an opening. Learn first to recognise, then punish. Weigh your advantages, then choose an attack style. Don't just stick to the same three or four techniques or you will be slaughtered.'

Xivi twirled her stick and plunged it into the earth. Ronin had seen this move before, and had the burn marks to prove it. He didn't wait for Wayne's command; the trainer stood gawping on the sidelines, yelling out attacks half a second after they were useful. The Hitmonlee shot forth with a Mach Punch. Not powerful, perhaps, but fast, and closed the gap before Xivi's Fire Spin could erupt from the glowing ground beneath Ronin's feet and claim him in fire.

His fist collided, knocking the fox pokémon back with a yelp, pushing her off balance. Fire burned, this time from within, and he pressed his advantage, landing a buzzsaw Rolling Kick that doubled Xivi over as his foot collided with her skull. She had blocked and diverted his attacks all battle with that stick of hers, and Ronin could sense it coming up to meet him. He switched into a Brick Break, leaning back to spring his leg out in a rigid line that snapped Xivi's stick in half as she tried to block.

She fell back from the force of the blow, holding half a stick in each paw, her fluffy tail cushioning her fall as she rolled onto her feet and fixed Ronin with a wicked smile.

'Good,' said Robin. 'See, Wayne? Whippy's starting to get it. Finish him off, Xivi.'

Ronin's eyes shot wide as the Braixen twirled her half-sticks and stuck them back together seamlessly. She aimed the recombined stick at him like a wand, loosing bolts of psychic power that flew like arrows. They were fast, but he was faster. There was an opening between the bolts and he exploited it with Mach Punch, shooting between them on a curve that ended with his fist on Xivi's jaw. Or not quite. His fist met the Braixen's stick, which forced his hand inwards to an awkward angle as Xivi slid along his outer arm so their faces were almost touching.

[Only fools fall for the same trick twice,] she hissed, grinning up to his eyes with a jagged row of razor teeth. The tension in their grapple vanished as the Braixen slid away like a ghost. Ronin had half a second to breathe before the stick cracked his head, then caught him across the chest. He could hear Wayne yelling something, but the ringing sound was too loud to make out what. He staggered and saw Xivi holding her stick, ready to block his counter, wearing a blank look on her face.

If Ronin had a mouth, he would have grit his teeth as he aimed his Brick Break, knowing in his heart of hearts that it was doomed to failure. The block fell away, the stick sliding underneath Ronin's leg before twisting skyward and launching him into the air. Before he could land, the ground beneath him glowed hot, erupting in a thick burst of Fire Spin that juggled the fight type ever higher, heat searing his flesh black.

As Ronin fell, dark plumes of smoke flowing from his body, Xivi pulled her stick from the earth and leapt into the air, generating a ball of flame at the stick's tip as she stretched it back, then swung it forward. The ball cannoned toward Ronin, crackling and glowing white with dense fire. Just as he fell in line with the attack, the fire ball exploded to ten times its size, shaped like a man, engulfing the Hitmonlee in Xivi's Fire Blast.

'And that's how Whippy got whipped,' Robin said as Ronin collapsed on the ground. Wayne dropped to his knees and clamped his hands to his head going 'whaaaaaaaat?' while Xivi landed, twirled her stick around, and sheathed it in her tail.

'No way. We totally got our asses kicked,' Wayne groaned, recalling Ronin so the pokémon's agony wouldn't be quite so prolonged. 'Then again, it was super hard to concentrate with you talking all the time.'
'I'll be honest with you, that was about half of the point,' Robin said as she hit Xivi with the recall beam and the Braixen dissolved into light. The last thing that vanished was her jagged smile and Wayne realised, with some gulping, that it was directed at him.
'Oh,' he frowned, 'well that's cool too, I guess.'

'I have a dozen of those speeches memorised,' Robin said, picking her bag off the floor, 'so I don't even have to think about it.'
'Man, you sure are scary.'
'Scary?' snarled Gremlin from the sidelines. 'The b***h is terrifying! She murdered that Goldeen!'

Robin sighed. 'Not this again.'
'We're out in the wild, she said, we have to catch our own breakfast, she said,' the Aipom swung from branch to branch before hanging upside down near Wayne's head. 'Well guess what! You humans didn't have to hear it begging for its life before you bashed it on the head and gutted it!'
Wayne frowned. 'Dude, you ate like half of the whole fish.'
Gremlin dropped onto Wayne's shoulder, folded his arms and pouted. 'I want to go back to Zack.'

'I'm not sure the pokémurder rate is any lower on that side of the grass, but okay,' said Robin, and Gremlin's ears perked up. 'I'm sick of your complaining anyway.'


Lumiose City – Estival Avenue – Earlier

Esme didn't drink often, but when she did, well, the Moreaus had a wine cellar in their basement. But no amount of hangover could make an errand not an errand, and her aunts had run out of bread. So it was that Esme found herself holding a paper bag filled with less-than-fresh baguettes in her arms as she walked the familiar route home, passing people who had at least mastered the veneer of not being scared shitless.

In less than a week, Kalos had gone from being the culture capital of the world to a target of repeat catastrophes. Route 9 demoralised the trainer population, Route 10 terrified the rest, and they didn't even know how bad things really were. Hell, Esme thought as she peeked between loaves to avoid crashing scatter-assed into anyone, she didn't even know how bad things really were. At least she had some idea, even if the price hadn't been worth paying.

Her neck prickled as she passed a group of people discussing league challengers. Could he be watching now? The voice? It happened a year ago, and was the final, terrifying straw that made her halt her investigation into Allard's death. She must have been close to something, for one day her phone rang from an untraceable number, and the voice threatened to murder her too. She had been fairly open about her plans of late, hadn't thought that all it took was one overheard conversation, one eavesdropped Caster call, and she was back on the firing line.

She wanted justice for Allard, but she didn't want to die too.

No. Esme reached the front doors of the Moreau Library and worked the paper bag around. She placed her hand on the glass and pushed. No, if the past two years had been any indication, life ahead was one of gut-wrenching loneliness and cynically going through the motions. That was no life at all.

Wind picked up, blasted through Esme's hair and clothes, chilling her skin, and caused people to shriek and run. She turned and saw a great bat blot out the sun, its wings spread wide, a horrible screech tumbling from its throat. Then it landed, two sharp yellow eyes and a nasty fanged mouth peering at her as its head bowed. The first rider peeled herself off the Noivern's back and landed effortlessly. With a flush of anger, Esme recognised the other two.

'Hey,' the rider said as she fished an apple-sized berry from her bag and tossed it over her shoulder to the Noivern, which tilted its head back and chomped ravenously. 'You must be, uh…'
'Beats me,' said the connard with black hair when the rider turned to him for help. 'Probably something foreign.'
'You're the foreigner here, you dipshit,' Esme said as her cheeks went red. 'My name is Esme. Can I help you? Only those are the idiots who broke my windows and it is taking all I have not to throttle them. Or call the police.'

'Your windows.' The rider cracked a grin and shook her head. 'Why does that not surprise me?' She recalled her Noivern just as the other two were dismounting. They flailed a bit, but landed okay. 'I'm Robin Carella. And you can throttle the Aipom all you like, but leave the boy alone. Comprehend me?'

They met each other's gaze. Passersby had surmounted their shock over the Noivern landing and resumed passing by, albeit sheepishly, while rubbernecking the confrontation. Esme disliked being the centre of attention at the best of times, so she relented and looked away first.

'Alright fine,' she said, trying to ignore the triumph in the other girl's face. 'What is it you want?'
'Five minutes of your time, and a phone call,' Robin replied. 'Then I'll be out of your hair for good.'


Lumiose City – The Moreau Library – Now

'You've stopped wearing your glasses,' said Zack's hologram. The excess blue light cast an eerie glow across the nearby bookshelves, even in daylight. Esme sat on a beanbag, crossed her legs and tried not to listen in.
'A while ago, yeah,' Robin said. 'Zack, I'm not here to catch up.'
Zack looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind halfway into forming the word. 'Right. What's the problem?'

Someone let out a low whistle next to Esme. With a crawl of her skin, she fixed him with a glare, but with a tinge of red in her cheeks, she realised he hadn't noticed. Instead he was eyeing the boarded-up windows while leaning hard enough against a bookshelf to put it in danger of toppling.

'Wow, what a mess,' Wayne said. 'You should think about getting those fixed.'
'Do you think?' Esme hissed. 'You are the one who broke them, you little s**t.'
Wayne thought hard on this one. 'Oh yeah. But man, that was an accident. I didn't mean to.'
'You broke multiple windows. One of them nearly got me in the face!'
'Ssshhhh!' The Aipom hushed from his perch between a pair of history books, 'Some of us are trying to eavesdrop.'

Esme felt her headache returning.

'And what makes you think I'll take that stupid Aipom off your hands? Life's pretty good without the nagging anti-conscience in my ear.'
'Get out of character, you bum.'
Zack grinned. 'I'm not in character, dumbass.'
'So you're just naturally this much of an a*****e. I forgot.'

'She said they went to school together,' said Wayne, lowering himself to the floor where he sat with his legs spread.
Esme watched the conversation get more heated, until Robin and Zack's hologram started grinning at each other. She frowned. 'I think it is more than that. You know, you do not have to stick around for this. You can just go do… whatever it is you do when you are not destroying property.'
'Be a pokémon master?'

'Okay fine. Where do you want to meet?'
'I don't,' said Robin. 'I'll put him in a ball and send him to you. What city?'
Zack paused, licked his lips briefly. 'Shalour.'
'Shalour City it is then. Don't take too long to pick him up. You know how cranky he gets when the slightest thing doesn't go his way.'

'I think they're talking about you.'
'Shut up, Wayne.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Zack said. He pinched his brow and sighed. 'And Robin?'
'Don't start.'
'I am sorry.'
'I said- fine, apology accepted.' Esme thought she caught a hint of red in Robin's cheeks. Hard to tell from this distance. Her stomach felt queasy.
'You know, Kelly punched me when I saw him a few days ago. He's changed a lot.'
Robin flashed a quick smile. 'Good. Maybe I should buy him a drink.'

The Holo Caster beeped off and Robin released a sigh. She crossed the library to where Esme waited with the others and dropped the caster into Esme's lap. Looking up, Esme caught the hard look in Robin's eye. It wasn't directed at her, or at anything really. Then Robin shook her head and grabbed Gremlin by the face.

'I'd tell you to hold still but you'd only make things harder,' she said, taking a pokéball from her pocket. Gremlin started to struggle and screech, but the ball collided with his chest and he dissolved into light. Esme watched the ball rock and shake as the pokémon fought against capture, but it soon went silent. Robin picked it up and stared hard at what was technically her new pokémon.
'Is everything okay?' Esme asked.
'Hm? Oh yeah,' said Robin. 'I just wondered where the nearest ocean is, that's all.'

Shalour City

Once she finished spitting the last of the beach sand out of her mouth, Salieri set her sights on Shalour City and Skarada. Finding him wasn’t the hard part. The obstacle was in the approach, because the pirate captain wouldn’t be happy to see his former crewmate after they had parted on such sour terms. Even if all she wanted were the answers to a few questions, he wouldn’t be in a giving mood. Most importantly, she didn’t know why he was here in Kalos except to get Mega Stones. Skarada hated Kalos more than most, there was no way he was allied with Team Flair if they were allied with the nobility. But would he start a fight with her? Yesterday Zack had ruined their element of surprise against Ratio. She wouldn’t do the same with Ska if she could help it. So the name of the game was reconnaissance.

“If his Mukrow makes eye contact with you, he’ll ******** with your brain,” Salieri told Reynard as the two of them walked through the city, eyes darting back and forth for the Orrean criminal. “You’ll think that time stopped, but it didn’t. You did, and time kept going.”
[That makes no sense to me,] Rey yawned.
“If you don’t see the Quash in his eyes, you’ll be okay, but it’s hard to fight with your eyes closed. And it works on reflective surfaces too, like water.” Reynard sighed. That was something the hydrokinetic understood. “The only thing that’ll stop is your perception of time, so if you got whammied, the stuff that was just moving around you will be in different spots. That’s how you’ll know. Got it?”
[If I wore sunglasses, would it bounce off my face onto his face?]
“Good. So be on the lookout for Keasbey, he’s usually the eye in the sky.” Sal pointed up.
[I know you don’t understand me but that was a legit theory you just ignored.]
“Rey, we don’t have time for slushies right now,” Sal groaned. “We have to find Ska before Zack finishes his mission, I’m not gonna be second place to that scrub.”
[Okay, now you’re just projecting.] Rey wrinkled her nose in agitation. [I’m trying the sunglasses thing.]

They turned the corner of the sidewalk onto another street, and the first thing either of them saw was Skarada, walking northbound with his hands on his pockets and his open longcoat flapping in the wind behind him. Keasbey was perched on his shoulder, checking his peripheral.

Salieri and Reynard immediately reeled back, hiding behind a parked truck. “Merde. That was too fast.” Clearly he wasn’t trying to hide. Sal didn’t except to find him so quickly, and she certainly wasn’t prepared for it. She still had yet to figure out what she would say to him. Surely there would be an exchange between them that didn’t involve the questions Zack and Ben wanted her to ask. “Did he see us? Is he coming back?”

Her Vaporeon melted into water and seeped under the truck. She was back seconds later, shaking her head as she became solid again. “We gotta figure out what he wants.” Sal rubbed her chin, brainstorming what to do next. Rey had already figured out the likely approach, coming to the conclusion before her trainer reached it. “We gotta stalk him.”
[Yeah, I knew you’d say that.]
“Again with the slushies?” Sal rolled her eyes and poked her head out from behind their cover. Ska was still walking, almost out of sight. “Cool it with the snacks, we’ll eat after.”
Reynard sighed. [You're unbearable.]

Shalour City North Shore

At the top of the cove where Salieri and Helena had battled earlier, Skarada watched Zack plummet into the ocean from the sky with his binoculars. “Some balls on that kid. Has he ever head of a flier? Or a doorbell?” Ska grinned and took two pretzel sticks out from a bag in his pocket, handing one to Keasbey. The Murkrow grabbed it with a dexterous wing.

“Brawk! Some balls!” Keasbey nibbled away at his snack.
“Look in a minute and tell me if she’s still following us.”

Keasbey did as he was told, stretching his neck back casually while playing I Spy for Sal. “I heard you can only walk to the Tower a few hours a day, in low tide. It’s rowboats otherwise. Wonder when they lock the doors.” Ska tilted his binoculars up at the horizon. “Won’t matter if we halo jump in but it’s good to know.”

His Murkrow tapped his shoulder. Ska took out his phone and reversed the camera to selfie mode so he could see behind himself. Keasbey was subtly pointing at the nearest building to the cove, a drugstore where Sal was crouching on the roof watching them. “Girl's still got a rooftop addiction. Some things don’t change.”

He put away the binoculars and took out a deck of combat cards from one of his two holsters, giving them an overhand shuffle. “Let’s wait on the beach for the kid to come out. If she wants to watch us get bored, she’ll be twice as bored, guaranteed.”

Off Route 14

Alexa came to a sudden halt as the path ended in a thick wall of tree trunks that were oddly twisted around each other like a poorly knit sweater. She shut off Guigsy's videocamera, which wasn't revealing any new details about his death, and looked back. There were no wild gnashings or growls. They had lost all but one of their pursuers.

The sound hoofbeats came from farther down the path in a deliberate trot, making the clanking of steel each time they came down on a stone. Not all the off route Pokémon had lost their way or were stalled by the Ice Wall. The ones that weren't had backed off from the hunt in fear of the mighty Legendary Pokémon that decided to look into their prey.

"Where do we go from here?" Liam asked with a dry throat. His sister Noel was staring off down the path from where they came.
"I'm thinking," Alexa replied, spinning around looking for a way forward.
Liam grabbed his twin's arm, next to where a branch had scratched her. Already the cut had taken on the same sickly green tone that Guigsy's had. "Sis, I need you to stay on track. We'll make it out of here." Noel didn't answer. "Noel, you're scaring me."

Noel looked at her twin brother, then back down the path, then back at him. "Y-you don't see it?"
"What are you talking about?"
She pointed down the path. "It's you, Liam. You're walking this way."

Alexa looked to where Noel pointed, and saw nobody. Liam looked too with the same result. "Noel, I don't understand-"
"Guigsy saw his son," Alexa blurted out. "Before he..." The reporter went up Noel and reached out for her arm. "You just got this?"
"Yeah," Noel whispered.
"From a branch?"
"Yeah."

Sazerac tugged on Alexa's shoulder. The Vivillon wanted to keep moving. Alexa was sure no one was against that, but they had nowhere to go, and now it was beginning to feel like Guigsy's death was connected to whatever was happening to Noel now. "We need to go through the trees," she told Roy, the only person who wasn't having some kind of breakdown. She pointed north. "That's the way the path was going before. That's the way we need to go. Noel, how fast is Liam coming at you?"

Noel gulped. "He's just...shambling...that's all he's doing."
"Noel, I'm right here, okay?" Liam assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever you're seeing isn't real-"
"But whatever you're seeing is happening," Alexa interrupted. "I think...I think it's what killed Guigsy." She looked the twins' Gogoat in the eye. "Noel's going to tell you when it's close, okay? Don't let it get close."
"You can't be serious!" yelled Liam.
"I'm not taking any chances, not until I know what's going on-"

The clanking footsteps stopped. No one but Noel could see the apparition of Liam coming at them, but they could all see the Pokémon down the path. Standing tall and majestic was Cobalion in all their splendor, their metal coat shining in the trickling sun as they stared down the traveling party. Slowly, it walked towards them.

Alexa could hear the trees rustling behind them. No, not just rustling. Shifting. Moving. "Roy, make us a path!" She shook Benedict's shoulders and moved to slap him across the face. "Pull yourself together, Benedict!"

As she said this, the roots of a nearby unearthed themselves, forming gnarled wooden hands at their ends that reached out to grab and scratch at Alexa and Roy. Another one tried to do the same to Cobalion's ankles.

Off Route 14

Bridgette had heard enough of the situation to make her own quick work of what lay before them. "Cut it all down!" She told Kabutops, who rocketed forward to clear their path with his giant blade arms.

The young teen kept Wailord's ball in one of her hands, prepared to use it at a moment's notice. Tailing behind her, injured, dazed, and freaking out, was the thief.

Off Route 14

Cobalion was about to step forward when the root lassoed around their foot. They looked down as the root grew another tendril, this one pointed and ready to scratch the Legendary Pokémon. With very little effort, Cobalion lifted their foot free from the root, and stomped it into oblivion with a swift Double Kick. The root laid smushed on the ground, quivering.

Trees in front of the group were cut down or burned apart, creating a new path to grow north. As soon as the Pokémon stopped attacking, the trees suddenly began to regrow from their stumps, and thick vines popped out of the earth to weave them together. Their new path out would be blocked again soon.

Alexa allowed Benedict to move her to safety, taking quick inventory of the situation. Cobalion snorted and charged at the group, head bowed low and steel antlers growing longer and spikier. The Iron Will Pokémon wasn't savage like the other off route Pokémon, but it was definitely gunning for them like the others were. She could only assume the reason the other wild ones weren't still on their tail was because Cobalion had claimed the prey. Simple law of nature. The only safe way to move was through the shrinking path.

"Go, go!" she shouted, ushering everyone through the path until she laid eyes on Bridgette and the thief. They had followed her filming party long enough without stating their business. Alexa didn't trust these strangers in this situation, one where someone was quite deliberately trying to kill them.

Liam and Noel went through the path on their Gogoat, and Noel looked behind at someone no one else could see. Alexa held a hand up to stop Bridgette and the thief. "Show me all your Pokémon in their balls, right now, or we're not going through." It wasn't a good time for it, but if either of them was the mystery killer she would be a fool to trust them.

As the plant blockade regrew, more root hands came out of the ground, trying to grab at Ben, Bridgette, the thief, Alexa and Roy. Branches on nearby trees extended and also formed spindly hands to do the same, all in an effort to give the humans one single scratch. That would be enough to seal their fate, if Guigsy was anything to go by.

Manny's hopes of tracking the source would yield mixed results. The sinister Aura controlling the forest was still surrounding them, pouring out of all plant life, but it was stronger to the north.