"I believe that we can do that, Lee. Can I get that list one more time to confirm I have everything correct?"

With one hand occupied by his cell phone, Lee has to flick his wrist to reopen the notebook held in his other hand. "Yeah. I need six copies of Protect, two copies of Solar Beam, two copies of Energy Ball, two copies of Focus Energy, one Dig, one Iron Tail, one Synthesis, one Thunder Wave, one Thunderbolt, one Psychic, one Swords Dance, one Payback, one Roost, one Light Screen, and one Hyper Beam. I'm willing to pay a premium if they come from quality donors."

On the other end of the phone line, Aarons is quiet for a moment. "Quite an impressive order. Why the sudden interest, if you don't mind me asking?"

Lee clicks his tongue. Aarons doesn't need to know. "I'm just closing gaps in my team's coverage. I am a career competitor, after all."

"Hmm…" Aarons hums on the other side of the line. "We can get the TMs to you within the week, though there is the matter of cost. I'm sure I can talk the boys upstairs down quite a bit since your TMs were quite a hit, but even my conservative estimates are putting the bill at nearly a hundred-and-twenty-thousand credits. Your second TM run will cover a fair amount of it, but…" The Silph Co rep sighs melodramatically. "Goodness, the remainder might hurt."

"I'll send you an email authorizing another run of Seed Sniper and Seed Blast when we're done talking," Lee interjects, trying to hold back his cringe at the expected but still painful number. "Just get the TMs to me when you can."

"That would certainly help out…" Aarons, being the asshat that he is, pauses dramatically. "But consumer projections of Grass TMs aren't as favorable as they were now that we're approaching the middle of the league year. The major players have theirs now, and a second run is never as exciting as the first. The Finance department might consider your 'tab' to be a debt if the new run doesn't sell as quickly, and they are rather aggressive when trying to collect an outstanding balance."

A scowl mars Lee's face. "That almost sounds like a threat."

"No no! Not a threat!" the businessman backpedals. "They would never! Silph Co values the relationship it shares with the fine pokemon trainers of the world, and that is why so many trainers look to us to support their journeys and endeavors. Why, we –"

"I'll fly back out to Mauville and let you copy something new," Lee interrupts, already exhausted from the conversation. "Give me two-three weeks."

"–will have your TMs in the mail by the end of the day!" Aarons is all radiant positivity, but he can't quite hide the greed-tinged eagerness in his voice. "Where should we ship them?"

Finally.

"The Fallarbor Pokemart. I'll be there in a week," Lee supplies, reaching up to massage his brow. "Oh, and Aarons? When I show up for the TM copying, skip all the posturing and pleasantries. My Ninetales' temper is much shorter than it was back when she was a Vulpix. Have a good one."

Without waiting for an answer, Lee ends the call and leans back on the rickety park bench, relaxing. The dull throb of his migraine is slowly siphoned off, and he looks down to find out why.

Standing at his feet is Ninetales, who is breathing in deeply with a slight shake to her limbs. The tuft of chest fur on her breast is shaved short, and if one looks at her at the proper angle, they'll see pink scar tissue on her chest, nearly touching her heart.

It's been a week since Lee, Brendan, Zinnia, and their pokemon left Lavaridge, making north towards the distant town of Fallarbor, all the way on the other side of Mount Chimney. It's also been a week since Ninetales was finally released from the Lavaridge Pokemon Center…

… But not without complications.

The Pokemon Center's surgeons worked some absolute magic to save Ninetales' life, and even ensured that any lasting damage would be minimal, but that was only the silver lining of a dark cloud. A portion of Ninetales' left lung was destroyed, and although only a small fraction of her lung tissue was twisted and burned beyond repair, the loss compounded with the rest of the damage was enough to cause physical setbacks.

Until everything recovers, Lee's dear fox is going to be short of breath and easily fatigued. She's hissed and grumbled her discontent the entire way north so far with only Lee to hear her thoughts, as she's spent the long days of walking off of her paws and cooped up in her ball. Only now that they've reached a small border town west of Mount Chimney has she been allowed to begin exercising again, much to her frustration.

'Done with your laps, love?' Lee sends, patting the bench next to him, which Ninetales hops up onto. The fox lays her front half across Lee's lap, and Lee silently pours a bit of his stamina into her. His limbs grow a bit heavier, but the vixen's tremors fade.

'Seven laps around a park at trotting speed and I'm already exhausted?' Ninetales gnashes her teeth and tries to calm her rapid breaths. 'I hate this. I hate this feeling of weakness.'

Lee watches the various pokemon and people in the park as he thinks of a reply. His eyes roam to Zinnia, who is in a distant corner, letting her Tyrunt brutalize a challenging trainer's poor Pancham, to Brendan and Electrike, who are impressing a group of similarly-aged children with Brendan's four badges.

On the surface, everything seems normal. If Lee didn't know his friends well enough, he would have missed the lingering uncertainty, the guarded look in the eyes of his fellow trainers.

Everyone is still recovering.

'Don't let it bother you, Nine,' Lee silently soothes, combing his fingers through her silky pelt. 'Your trotting speed is a dead sprint for most other pokemon. You'll come out of this stronger than before. We all will. It's just a temporary setback.'

Ninetales sets her jaw like she's going to argue, but sighs and melts into his lap when Lee heads her off with a hug, one gentle enough to not squeeze her ribs. 'Very well. I suppose now is not the time or the place. How did your call with the slimeball go? I was not paying attention.'

'I gave him the list, and he estimated a hundred-and-twenty grand. I had to promise a new TM to get him to shut up. I also told him not to mess around when we show up, lest he annoy you too much. I didn't get a reply from him before I hung up, but I imagine he's pissing himself a little.'

Ninetales lets out a raspy, vulpine chortle. 'As he should!'

While Lee would have loved to take the time to teach all of his pokemon new moves from scratch to better aid their long-term mastery and further his own understanding in the process, the incident upon the volcano left the zoologist with a painful idea of what sort of gaps his team possesses, and expedited the need to close them.

TMs are not a perfect solution, not by a long shot. As miraculous as the disks are, they only impart the fundamentals needed to use a move and little else, like inserting a new line of code into a program. Any tricks, quirks, and hangups will have to be discovered manually through use and training, meaning true mastery takes time. Only TMs from truly exceptional donors have the donor's honed, instinctual understanding of the move woven within.

Still, though, TMs provide an accelerated starting point, eliminating the initial hurdles of learning a new move. Time is money, which means TMs are expensive. To Lee, though, the cost is worth it.

The first one Lee looked at when considering TMs was Octillery. He and the octopus have been slowly getting better at working together, but it's obvious that they lack synergy; their effectiveness simply isn't up to par, at least not compared to the rest of the team. Lee is simply too used to having pokemon with superior mobility, and the transition to a slower-paced fighting style has been a difficult one.

The answer for that? Simply make Octillery the faster pokemon in the match. Until Lee's skill as a trainer catches up with Octillery's full capabilities, this is the most straightforward solution. Easier said than done, but some new moves might make all the difference in the world, which is why Octillery is getting Thunder Wave, Psychic, Focus Energy, and Payback.

Thunder Wave's near-guaranteed paralysis will slow down speedier opponents and give Octillery ample time to use Lock-On and Focus Energy.

Psychic is going to be a bit trickier, as Lee wants Octillery to learn telekinesis not for attacking, but for mobility. Pokemon without an innate predisposition to levitation often have trouble moving themselves with telekinesis, as Lee and Ninetales found out shortly after Nine's evolution, but if any pokemon can spare the brainpower to psychically levitate themself, it's Octillery. Telekinesis also opens a lot of interesting doors for the cephalopod.

Finally, Payback is to make other pokemon think twice about getting too close. Octillery's Wrap is crushing, and his Headbutt is painful, but he simply isn't a physical attacker at his core. Payback, which increases the user's physical strength after taking a hit, will even the odds for a close-range engagement.

Grovyle's greatest weakness is his fragility, which unfortunately is difficult to solve. The Sceptile line is not well predisposed for defensive moves in general. Lee is certain that, given enough time, he can work out something viable for Grovyle, but for now, it seems more prudent to go with what's tried and true. Synthesis should aid the wood gecko in his battle longevity as the two of them continue to develop the still unnamed 'drain blade' technique, but in an ideal scenario, the battle wouldn't drag on long enough for Grovyle to get that banged up.

For that reason, Lee decided Swords Dance is a must-have. It's difficult to master, and borderline dangerous for the user if they can't control their own strength, but once the user has some expertise with it, the boost to the pokemon's physical attributes is immense. Lee isn't terribly concerned about that, as Grovyle is nothing if not a master of his own body. He researched the move, and was shocked with how huge a difference it makes. Grovyle is also getting a copy of Focus Energy, because why not? The techniques pair well together.

On the projectile side, Grovyle is also getting Energy Ball and Solar Beam, just in case he faces a foe more susceptible to energy attacks than physical ones. Solar Beam also synergizes quite well with Ninetales' Drought, because as the name implies, Solar Beam is empowered by the sun's rays. In situations where Solar Beam isn't the best choice—say, a cloudy day or at night—Energy Ball will make for an excellent backup.

Corvi might be the best balanced of Lee's team. The great raven has no outstanding weaknesses other than a susceptibility to Fire and Electric-type. Nevertheless, Lee picked out TMs for him too.

Roost was an obvious one. How do you make a flying tank even worse to fight? You give that tank the ability to heal itself. Roost also has some properties that might make for interesting research later. How does the pokemon use Flying TE for healing?

Given how many Fire and Electric-type moves are energy-based attacks, Light Screen was another gimmie. With Light Screen cutting the potency of energy attacks, Corvi should be able to shrug off most projectiles and reduce the potency of his only two type disadvantages.

Lee would have liked to get an offensive Ground move for Corvi to defeat his sole pair of weaknesses, but most experts say that Ground TE is beyond the Corviknight line, meaning that that is going to have to be an independent project on his part.

Thunderbolt is for Shinx once she grows a bit more. It should serve as an accelerated stepping stone once she masters Thundershock. Once the kitten has a few battles under her belt, Lee can more effectively build a movepool for her. If Lee is being honest with himself, Shinx is probably ready to begin battling. She's fully transitioned to solid food, is finally in the healthy weight range for her species, and watches the rest of the team train with growing restlessness.

And for Ninetales? His ace is getting Solar Beam, Energy Ball, Iron Tail, Hyper Beam, and Dig.

Solar Beam was the most obvious choice for her. It hits hard, synergizing with the harsh sunlight brought by her Drought, and is super effective against her three main weaknesses—those being Ground, Rock, and Water. Like with Grovyle, Energy Ball is a backup for when Solar Beam isn't viable.

Iron Tail is a move Lee tried to teach Nine himself, but something about the Steel TE has been eluding her. They can get the fur of her tails to stiffen and shine, but they've always been too rigid to maneuver, sticking out like an awkward fan behind her. The fox is no slouch in melee, and turning her namesake tails into weapons would make her a terror at close range. But this pales to what Lee has in mind for long-range.

Hyper Beam is a ferocious technique spoken of in hushed whispers. Few pokemon have what it takes to use the move in the first place, let alone master it. Even novices can reshape the landscape with it, and Ninetales could make fantastic use of a powerful, Normal-typed beam attack. The poorly understood components within Hyper Beam that allow a pokemon to unleash such unearthly amounts of energy at once will arguably be more useful to Ninetales later, though. If she and Lee can reverse engineer that…

Finally, Dig is almost exclusively to introduce Nine to Ground TE. The move will be useful on its own merits, but the end goal of learning it is to use it as a stepping stone to other Ground techniques. With Ground at her disposal, Nine will be able to effectively counter other Fire-types with unfavorable secondary types, such as Fire-Ground, or Fire-Dark.

Lee can thank some poor guy in his Battlenet megathread for this decision, as the poster proudly announced that he acquired a Houndoom with Flash Fire, an ability that completely negates fire moves, to counter Ninetales. A Fire-Dark pokemon that's immune to both fire and psychic type attacks might be the worst matchup Nine can face.

Lee replied with the word "Dig" and muted the thread for a few days, much to Ninetales' amusement.

Then, almost as an afterthought, Lee decided that everyone, eventual sixth pokemon included, will be getting Protect. Damn near every pokemon can learn it, and it's too useful to not have. In the pokemon games, Protect negates all incoming damage outside of a few rare circumstances, and it works much the same here. Only an attack of truly monstrous power can break Protect's barrier.

According to Zinnia, the Draconid stronghold outside of Fallarbor would provide an excellent place for some private training, meaning Lee will be free to teach his pokemon one TM at a time and help them master each move before moving on to the next. By the time they're back on the road, every one of them should have a greatly expanded repertoire.

'Seems sound to me.' Ninetales nods, following Lee's thoughts. Inside the fox is a twinge of excitement at the prospect of a handful of new moves, with Dig being the only exception. Already she can imagine her fur covered in filth…

'Even with a bit of dirt on you, you'd still be the most beautiful pokemon in Hoenn,' Lee insists. He presses a hand to Nine's chest, just to the side of her scar, and measures her heart rate. 'Your heart is calming down plenty fast, and your breathing is settling. You'll be back to one-hundred percent in no time.'

The fox huffs, a smidgen of her foul mood returning. 'It cannot come soon enough.'

The pair remain there on the bench for a time, their silent chatter turning inconsequential, which Lee can't help but find to be a pleasant change of pace.

'I finished my last book last night,' Ninetales begins, her troubles fading from the forefront of her mind. 'The Cerulean Account is a fascinating read to be certain, though I can't help but feel as if the author glossed over a number of important details. There was never a stated reason as to how Cinnabar Island and the Pallet Outpost began to poach seaborne merchant traffic from the Cerulean ports located on Route twenty-four. One can certainly assume that they lowered their tariffs as low as Kanto would allow, but that does not explain why even ships coming from the north, like from the growing Hisui, would be willing to circumvent Kanto's entire eastern flank and add weeks to their trip…'

Oh Arceus, she's talking about geopolitical history again. If he couldn't lift the knowledge directly from Ninetales' mind, Lee would be so lost. Even if he finds the subject dull, Lee listens dutifully.

The topic drifts here and there, from books and history…

'I would like to take up calligraphy, if funds will allow it.' Nine gives Lee a hopeful look. 'Other Eyes mentioned that it was used as a meditative art form during the days of the shogunate, and I found myself intrigued by the concept. Learning Old Kantonese along the way may also be useful later.'

Lee smiles and holds the fox a little tighter. 'Remind me, and we'll order a starter kit tonight.'

Ninetales nuzzles her face into the crook of Lee's neck, purring softly in her throat.

…To Lee's research…

'– why I believe that the Cinnabar laboratory might be onto something. Ancestral memory may be recorded within the DNA of pokemon according to their research, and I can certainly see that being true. The amount of genetic variance between differing pokemon species outside of key sequences is odd, and all that data burned in the DNA may be what is causing such an unusual amount of genetic drift,' Lee finishes, taking a breath even though he relayed everything with telepathy. 'And considering the 'level up' method of learning moves, perhaps IE concentration within the body is what is responsible for activating these dormant genes? A typical learn set wouldn't account for all of the uncategorized 'junk' DNA, though. For all we know, it might be possible for any Pokémon to learn every move. If not that, then the unused genes must be for something.'

Nine seems a little dizzy from the dump of information and theory, and Lee can feel her mind prodding his to get a replay of what he just said. '…Indeed, Beloved. I agree?'

…To things much more inconsequential, like happenings online…

"Oh my god, they actually did it…" Lee murmurs aloud, turning his phone to show Ninetales the screen.

Junesoft, the gacha game makers who contacted Lee to see if they could use his likeness in their game, Pocket Masters Epoch, weren't messing around and actually added him and Ninetales as attainable characters. They added Lee and Ninetales as a four-star 'Epic' drop, and Lee and Grovyle as a three-star 'rare' drop. Junesoft sent him an email earlier this morning letting him know when to expect royalty deposits and informing him that they awarded his account with both characters.

Lee has always felt that gacha games are a waste, but Brendan introduced him to this one, and so far it's a decent enough time waster. Naturally, the game is about collecting famous trainers and their signature pokemon, then battling NPCs and other players with them, making it a vague mirror of another pokemon mobile game that existed back on Lee's earth. Never did he imagine that he would be in one of these games, though.

'Four out of five stars!?' Ninetales is affronted. She frowns heavily. 'They should have made us a five!'

'Five might be the 'official' highest, but there are ones who are six, seven, and some other hidden rank I'm forgetting. Brendan was bouncing off the walls when he got a six-star from Sinnoh's battle frontier. Palmer, I think it was.' Lee blinks at his phone and rotates the virtual models of him and Ninetales. He clicks his tongue at the exaggerated scars and scowl on his character's face. He opens his browser and logs into Battlenet, navigating over to the video game section.

Surprise, surprise, the newest patch to Pocket Masters Epoch and the release of new characters has kicked the hornet's nest. No one seems to be complaining about Lee and Ninetales, so they must be fairly balanced in the game, but there is a thread complaining about Tobias, the Sinnoh trainer who recently captured a Latios, being added as a five-star and upsetting the metagame. Apparently, Tobias and Latios have the highest initiative of any five-star and a stellar attack rating, meaning the lucky few who have them can sweep anyone without an all-star lineup.

…No, wait, there is one post in the changelog mega-thread complaining that Lee and Nine are over-tuned. Apparently, Junesoft made Lee's unique perk, Unsung Stratagem, synergize way too well with Nine's unique perk, I Will Not Be Denied! According to the poster, anybody who uses Lee and Ninetales is definitely a 'sweaty tryhard too poor to roll a real frontliner.'

Lee then looks at the various chat groups he's in, realizing he hasn't checked them in weeks.

Fox Friday has the usual chatter. Lee debates bombing them with a photo of Ninetales draped across his lap, and then decides against it.

Fire Masters is quieter. The latest post is from Flint in Sinnoh's Elite Four. He included a picture of his goofy, smiling face with a dour blonde man beside him. Behind the pair are a boardwalk and the open ocean.

TT is a ghost town as usual, with only Lokoko online as she always is.

Finally, there are the myriad of other chat groups Lee is in, but doesn't really interact with. One for amateur academics, one for rare pokémon hunters, one for rumors and gossip, and a number of others, none of which are of any real consequence. After a moment of indecisiveness, he taps on the one for the rare pokémon hunters and skims through the recent conversations.

'Thinking on our sixth member, Beloved?' Ninetales asks, already knowing the answer.

'Yeah, I am.' Lee continues scrolling. 'Now that I can fly on Corvi, we can realistically get anywhere in the region within just a few days. Hell, if we feel like it, we could probably go to a different region altogether. With that kind of freedom available, I'm wondering what sort of pokemon might be a good fit for our sixth slot. Outside of Octi's Ice Beam, we don't have a good answer for Dragons, so an Ice-type or a Fairy-type would be nice.'

'Or a Dragon-type on our side,' Nine supplies. 'Surely Meteor Falls and the Draconid tribal land have no shortage of them.'

'True, that would save a lot of logistical headaches. Besides Corvi, we're also lacking a bulky fighter. A Dragon could fit both…'

Nine can sense his doubts, however. 'But you don't wish to deal with a typical Dragon's mentality.'

'I don't.' Lee frowns. 'Zinnia's crash course in Dragon etiquette makes me a bit leery of them. I have no problems with the song and dance of dominance displays, but I don't like using physical force when it comes to solving issues with inter-team relations. I didn't like it as a zookeeper, and I don't like it now.'

The golden fox yawns, putting her pearly whites on display for a moment. 'You still want an Eevee, I take it?'

Finding little of interest in the chat group, Lee scrolls a bit further. 'A little. I still want a Vaporeon because I think their hydro-kinetic bodies are fascinating, but at the same time, doubling up on types doesn't seem wise when Octi is already great at what he does. An Umbreon might be nice. They're outrageously tough and scrappy for their size, so one could be a welcome addition as a tanky fighter. Ice was an underwhelming type in the games, but looking around on Battlenet has shown me that a little creativity goes a long way with Ice, so a Glaceon would also be a welcome addition.'

Ninetales nods along. 'You were considering others as well, correct? I recall Audino, Miltank, and Chansey were high on your list for their restorative abilities.'

'A dedicated healer would be fantastic,' Lee thinks with a sigh. 'In an ideal world, there would be a pokemon that can heal, no-sell Dragons, fight, not overlap with our other types, and still be attainable.' His thoughts go to Gardevoir and Galarian Rapidash, who fill all of the criteria except for the 'attainable' part. No one finds a Ralts, as the timid pokemon use their empathetic powers to pick out trainers on their own, and promptly teleport away when threatened. As for Rapidash's colorful cousin, not only are they difficult to find in the wild, the small number of ranches with the expertise to breed them are all the way in Galar and demand adoption fees that approach six figures. For that amount of money, he would prefer an Eevee. 'I suppose I'll just have to make a choice and settle.'

Ninetales, apparently tired of sitting, shuffles off of Lee's legs and stands, giving herself a full body shake as she does. The shake aggravates some of her lingering aches, which Lee acutely feels in his own body, but it passes in only a second. 'I'm feeling rested. Let's go for a walk.'

Lee stands as well, giving both of his legs a shake to get his blood moving. 'Lead the way,' he sends back, locking and pocketing his phone.

The town that the group stopped at along Route 109 is small. It's almost more of a village, really, considering the main street holds roughly 90% of everything there is to see. From what little Lee has gathered from looking around, it seems as though many of the residents sustain themselves by being a resting place for trainers going to and from Lavaridge, as evidenced by the many inns, bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants, and a disproportionately large Poke Mart. The other major industry in town is a large mining operation that set up shop in Mount Forina, an ore-rich mountain along the western side of the town. The valley town reminds Lee of beautiful Appalachia, deep in West Virginia, where he spent more than one youthful summer with his grandparents.

The sight of Ninetales strolling down the street doesn't draw as many eyes as it did in Lavaridge. More than one person slows down to watch them pass, but it's not the pointing and grabbing for cell phone cameras that it was in the previous town. It's surprisingly refreshing.

'It still gets me how damn near everything in this world is so pleasant,' Lee smiles to himself, looking around. Idly, he casts his mind to Ninetales, telepathically feeling up and down her body, taking stock of it with the same ease he would his own. The trainer finds himself pleased that the sedate pace they've set isn't aggravating any of her lingering aches and pains.

'I'm hardly an invalid,' Nine snaps, irritation coloring her voice. 'If walking after weeks of bedrest tired me out, then I would hardly be fit to be your Ace.'

'I know, I know. I just worry sometimes.'

Ninetales' annoyance melts away in an instant, replaced with regret. 'I apologize, beloved. It wasn't my intention to be snippy. I just can't stop dwelling on my failure on the volcano… I should have been able to do more,' she says, one of her tails lashing in frustration.

'Do more?' Lee shakes his head, incredulous. He stares down at Ninetales, who refuses to meet his eyes. 'Nine, you saved my life, nearly at the expense of your own! I'm the one at fault here! I'm the one who let us go up on that volcano without adequate backup, and look what happened! You nearly died, we all nearly died!'

'Your failures are my failures, too,' she replies, her lips pulling back into a silent snarl. She quickly schools her expression and takes a calming breath, finally raising her ruby eyes to lock with his blues. 'I am not only your Ace pokemon, but your partner from now until grim death calls for us, and I would have it no other way. I arrogantly believed that nothing could hope to stand up to us, and did not catch the mistake either, so do not take all the blame for yourself. We are both equally at fault no matter what you think. Remember Mabel's words, and do not put yourself down over everything.'

Lee quickly formulates a reply, but stops himself short when Ninetales silently hushes him, wrapping her mind around his own in a hug of untold intimacy.

'You still don't agree with me, do you?' The fox asks quietly.

Lee's silence is all the answer she needs.

Nine physically sighs, and a twinge of regret jabs Lee for how he is exhausting her. 'Let us agree to disagree for now then, and promise that we will both do better for each other. After that, there is no point in dwelling on the past. Doing so is clearly taxing for us both.'

'I can do that,' Lee finally sends back, reaching a hand down to rub the heart mark on her ear. 'I love you, Nine.'

The vixen leans into him, smiling faintly. 'And I, you.'

'We'll do better,' Lee silently promises himself. 'I'll do better. For you, and everyone else.'

"That's such crap!" Brendan cries, clawing at his hat in frustration. In his hand, his PokeGear branded phone flashes with a mocking 'DEFEAT' screen. "Gah! I hate pay-to-win wailords!"

Beside him, Marshtomp chortles.

The afternoon finds Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, and their pokemon back in the park. The inn where the trio is staying the night is rather cramped, as all three were forced into a cramped two-bed room with little more furnishings than a pullout couch, making anything other than sleeping in there unpleasant at best, and impossible at worst.

Forget trying to let all of their pokemon out. Rather than dealing with the squabbling that will surely result from dinner in such tight quarters, they had left and claimed a corner of the public park with an aged picnic table and a slightly crooked, rectangular charcoal grill jutting from the ground.

Thoroughly tired of oppressive thoughts and the lingering malaise hovering around himself and his friends, Lee decided one final splurge was in order and hit up the town supermarket to get everything needed for a cookout. He had cleared out the small meat section of their steak and ground beef, grabbed a bag of potatoes, some whole ears of corn, several packages of buns, all the condiments and fixings he didn't have on hand, and a bag of charcoal.

Before he left, Lee made another round and picked out some appropriate replacement ingredients for the herbivores like Grovyle and Breloom, and the ones not too fond of red meat, like Octillery and Marshtomp.

Brendan, Zinnia, and their teams were equal parts surprised and elated when Lee and Ninetales returned trailing a train of telekinetically cradled bags.

"Damn thing…" Lee grunts, looking down at the unevenly burning coals in the grill. due to the supporting pole having probably been bent by a large pokemon or an especially fat human tripping over it. "Nine?"

At his side, Ninetales sticks her muzzle between the grill grate and coalbed, breathing a stream of flames into the coals. The uneven side glows red, warming back up to match the tilted side. Above the coals and on the grate, four burgers and a steak sizzle with more intensity.

"Thank you," Lee smiles, getting one in turn from his fox as she pulls back.

At the picnic table, Zinnia and her pokemon are tearing into their food with all the manners of… well, dragons. Zinnia is halfway through a rare, borderline raw steak, her corn cob is bare, and two of the three burgers she took are gone. How she can eat like she does and still maintain a slim figure is beyond Lee.

At her feet, Tyrunt mirrors his trainer to a disturbing degree. Huge bites of his meal disappear in his maw with little in the way of chewing. The little dino also took a baked potato… And didn't bother extracting it from the foil it was wrapped in, instead crunching down on the aluminum as if he didn't even notice. All that is left is a few scraps of foil.

Swablu and Goomy are a bit more clean. The bird opted for just grilled corn and somehow didn't cover herself in butter despite tearing it down to the cob in record time. Goomy, meanwhile, swallowed his burger in a single bite and let it dissolve in his acidic mouth.

Shelgon had a single bite of Zinnia's steak and called it quits, still in the middle of his evolutionary fast.

Even knowing that a Shelgon's lack of appetite is normal, Lee still cringes a bit when he looks at Shelgon. All of the healed-over cracks in his shell would fade faster if the orb-like Dragon would eat a bit more.

At Lee's feet, Electrike, Mawile, and Shinx all sit patiently and wait for the next round of food to be done.

'Some are more patient with others, though…' Lee thinks to himself, watching Mawile's crocodile-like jaws drool in the grass. He lets his gaze wander.

Corvi is over beneath a tree, resting along with Octillery as they wait to be called for food. Neither wants to be in the sun, one because he'll overheat in his armor, and the other because he'll dry out. It's good to see the corvid and cephalopod chattering quietly, as they didn't seem too fond of each other before Corvi's evolution.

Grovyle, meanwhile, is lying in the grass along with Breloom. The Grass-types leisurely sun themselves, but Lee cringes when he lays eyes upon Grovyle.

So many of his scales, especially on his chest, are deformed or pale from his burn scars, but it looks like a nightly application of Rawst-infused cream, the same stuff that Lee uses to keep his own scars pliant, is helping minimize everything.

It obviously chafes Grovyle, who is so used to training daily, that his body refuses to move how he wishes. The wood gecko has few tells that slip through his aloof attitude, but Lee can see the annoyed bounce of his chewing twig whenever Grovyle is reminded of his injuries. Every day, he's able to push his limbs a little farther, pulling at his scarred skin, but not as far as he could at the height of his health. It's going to be some time before he gets everything back, and it's heartening to Lee that Grovyle finally seems to be accepting that he can't work himself to the bone.

For now, at least.

Lee touches his spatula to one of the steaks on the grill, and judging it to be right at the halfway point between rare and medium rare, he scoops it up, plates it, and hands it down to Mawile.

The fairy looks at the slab of meat with glee, her eyes starry and both of her mouths watering. Her croc-jaws begin to rise and drape over her shoulder, ready to snap up the meal in one bite.

A canine whine interrupts her.

Looking to the side, Mawile is treated to the sight of both Electrike and Shinx looking at her with large, despondent eyes. Shinx waivers slightly, letting her gaze fall to the steak for a moment before fixing her eyes forward again.

Mawile grimaces, her shoulders tensing as if she were just stabbed. She looks between the steaming meat on her plate and the pair of younglings giving her big Growlithe eyes, indecision coloring every movement. Then with a pained hiss, she shakily holds the plate out to Electrike, trying, and mostly failing, to put a sincere smile on her face.

Stubby tail wagging so fast that it's practically a blur, Brendan's giant, electric puppy takes the steak right off the plate and trots over to a shady spot, Shinx bounding along with him. He tears the meat in half… Then promptly cedes the larger half to a loudly purring Shinx without a fuss.

Mawile drops to her hands and knees dramatically, a mournful moan leaving her.

"Oh, don't be like that," Lee rolls his eyes and bends over, picking up the discarded plate. Taking a patty off the grill, he assembles a regular burger from the spread of ingredients laid out on the folding camp table next to him and hands it to Mawile.

The fairy is back on her feet in an instant and shoves the sandwich into her rearward-facing jaws, shredding it between her teeth like a wild animal.

'Jeez…' Lee smiles awkwardly at the sight. He takes two more patties off the grill and puts more on to cook. With the two he took off, he makes a double burger, leaving out the onions, and holds it at hip height.

'What are you –' Ninetales begins to question before her stomach growls. The inside of her ears turn pink in a blush, and as nonchalantly as she can, she bites into the offered sandwich.

The taste of the burger and Ninetales' satisfaction both wash over Lee, and he smiles as both are equally pleasant.

Looking over his shoulder, Lee finally focuses on Brendan.

The boy is still occupied by his cellphone, seemingly disinterested in any of the food being prepared. Considering his appetite as a growing boy, it's unusual, to say the least. His usually smiling face, is instead neutral as though troubled. It seems as if the young trainer has been smiling less and less over the last week.

Something must be troubling him.

"Brendan?" Lee calls to the younger trainer. "You alright? You look kind of down."

Brendan jumps, apparently not expecting to be addressed. He puts his phone down and plasters a thin smile on his face. "Yeah! I'm fine! Just a bit bummed about a losing streak," he says, lifting his phone and giving it a shake.

Beside the young Birch, Zinnia's eyes sharpen, and she slows her eating. For a brief moment, Zinnia and Lee lock eyes.

She's noticed, too.

"Okay…" Lee lets the word hang. When Brendan doesn't spill, he continues. "If something was wrong, you'd say something, right?"

Brendan nods, though it looks rather unconvincing to Lee.

Clicking his tongue, Lee returns his attention to cooking. 'What's eating you, Brendan?'

"You're certain that this is needed?" Courtney weakly asks, looking at her new quarters within the Magma hideout.

It's spartan, even by her own pragmatic standards. A bed, a filled bookshelf, a desk with pens and stationary, a dresser with a mirror atop it, and a small door leading to an even smaller lavatory. Air circulates from somewhere, but Courtney can't see from where.

"Leader Maxie's orders, ma'am," the lieutenant escorting her says. Courtney can't tell who the lieutenant is on account of the bulky, psychic-dampening helmet they wear, but they sound like a man beneath the polarized visor. "Standard quarantine post-contact with hostile telepaths is four weeks. Your decontamination will start at o-seven-hundred hours tomorrow."

If it is Leader Maxie who ordered it, then Courtney is in no place to argue…

Stepping inside the rehabilitation quarters, Courtney looks around and realizes that she's never seen them from the inside. She's seen the schematics countless times in her dogmatic pursuits to ensure that everything within Magma is up to par, but being inside one is completely different.

There is a slam and a click, and the Magma Admin whirls around, seeing that the heavy steel door behind her has been shut and locked. Her first instinct is to reach for the pokeballs on her belt, only to stop.

Her pokémon were separated from her. 'Safety concerns,' said the medical officer who evaluated her. 'We don't want your pokemon to be endangered by unwilling orders from you in the event you were implanted with time delay or conditional compulsions. We'll take care of them.'

With an anxious sigh, Courtney slowly trudges over to the bed and sits, staring down at her hands.

Everything seemed to be going well enough when Leader Maxie rescued everyone, using Claydol to teleport them safely to a hidden clearing on the eastern part of Mount Chimney's flank. As per standard protocol, all of the members scattered and made their way back to the hideout at random times to throw off pursuers. Courtney was one of the last ones to arrive. She immediately made herself useful and began gathering the various lieutenants and low-ranking members of the volcano operation. She received reports and debriefs from each one, then forwarded everything to Leader Maxie in a secure email. Things would play out calmly for some time afterward, and Courtney was thankful for the return to normality. Leader Maxie was scarce, likely dealing with the fallout of the botched operation.

Courtney began to shift her priorities, starkly remembering the words of Lee Henson on top of the volcano.

'Magma is up here on this volcano for one purpose: they intend to awaken Groudon and try to leash it like a rabid dog.'

How? How did he know? Who leaked the information to him? Magma must have some sort of information leak, and for ruining their plans so thoroughly, Courtney found herself determined to plug the leak permanently. She began sorting through all the member dossiers, trying to find who in the world would dare interfere with Leader Maxie's vision.

Then everything began to change all at once.

Countless Magma assets were recalled, filling the hideout to capacity and then some. Some were dismissed, and new blood was brought in to replace them. What struck Courtney as strange is that… She wasn't consulted on any of those changes. She reached out to both Tabitha and Leader Maxie, only to get no reply…

Then out of the blue, Tabitha and a host of lieutenants barged into her office, with Tabitha declaring that Courtney had been compromised. She stood up and argued her case, only to be silenced when Tabitha spoke those damning words.

"The order comes from Leader Maxie."

She wanted to ask why, but she set her jaw and allowed herself to be led off. Leader Maxie must have a reason.

In the medical wing, a psychic specialist saw to her and declared her a risk within thirty seconds. Her pokeballs were seized before her pokemon could do anything rash, then she was led to this room.

'Was I… Really compromised?' Courtney's breath hitches in her throat, her usually placid face screwing itself up into horror. 'Did that Ninetales slip past my blocks? No, that's impossible… But how did Henson know?'

Her hands grip her head, and the room seems to spin. Was someone actually in her head without her knowing? What other secrets did they acquire? What else do they know? All of Magma, all the time, effort, and ambition might be in danger now! Henson might have everything!

For all the damage she may have caused, though, something else hurts just as much now that the botched mission won't leave her mind.

"Should anybody have power like that? Are people even able to handle power like that? I don't know, and the more I think about it, the more fishy the plan to awaken Groudon becomes. If I'm being truthful, Courtney, then I didn't want to join Magma for their goals, anyway…"

"I wanted to join to be around you."

Brendan could have been an Admin like her; he could have helped them change the world.

Then at the last moment, he turned on Magma.

Should anybody have power like that?

Are people even able to handle power like that?

She wants to say it. She wants to say that Leader Maxie is the one, that he alone can lead them into a new era, a shining era, one where man is no longer subject to the whims of the world beneath their feet.

But she hesitates.

She hesitates.

Courtney's eyes shoot wide open, and for the first time since her childhood, she wants to scream.

She has been compromised.

She's betrayed Magma without even meaning to.