Chapter 76: Chrysalis

Two months after she moved in, Leaf still wakes aware that she's in a dead girl's bed, in a dead girl's room, in a dead girl's house.

She stares at the ceiling for a minute, listening to the quiet of the house around her. It's been years since she stayed in a private room for months at a time. Even those weeks in Pewter and Cerulean and Vermilion were spent in trainer houses, the bunkbed filled rooms shared with a dozen others. Waking up in the same bed day after day without the sounds of others waking up and moving around and talking quietly… just her and her thoughts… it's nostalgic, bringing back memories of when she was too young to travel everywhere with mom and grandpa.

She eventually reaches for her phone and checks her messages, spending a minute (or ten) scrolling through her news feeds and reading comments from her latest article. Each scroll of her finger triggers a minor dopamine hit that finishes waking her up, but also tugs her attention toward the wider world outside the room, until she starts to get restless enough to get out of bed and into the shower.

Afterward she joins Mr. Sakai for breakfast, the bereaved father still treating her presence like it makes total sense for a virtual stranger to take up residence in his daughter's room. She'd spoken with Aiko's aunt, gotten her blessing, for whatever that's worth, but at the very least Leaf doesn't get the impression that Mr. Sakai ever confuses her for Aiko. That would be too cruel, and she's been wary of any signs of it. Instead the rancher simply treats her like a perpetual guest, feeding her at every mealtime and accepting her help with the managing of the pokemon.

"Remember not to make dinner today, Mr. Sakai," Leaf says as she clears the table. "We're having guests, and I'll be ordering food for everyone."

"Guests? How wonderful. More children to see the pokemon?"

"No, Blue and his friends are coming by." She's glad she reminded him. The longer she lives with Aiko's father, the more surprised she is by how relatively functional he is. She does find him weeping quietly as he works from time to time, but as long as his wife or Aiko aren't brought up he often seems fine. She helps take care of the pokemon and looks over the ranch finances (which are a little better these days, thanks to the extra income from the therapy groups), but he does the laundry, keeps the house clean, orders food to the ranch, all with steady competence day to day.

The clearest areas the gaps appear are in any changes to the schedule. If she's not around to help, he prioritizes the pokemon's care over his own or the household's, and she's come to suspect that for Mr. Sakai, the easiest way to cope with his losses is to simply act as if each day is the same. To be lost in the repetitive habits of predictable schedules and (relatively) thoughtless chores. The few times she's seen how he acts when he has nothing to do, she was a little frightened by how lost he looked, sitting at the table and staring blankly at the wall, or wiping down the already clean kitchen counters, or simply falling into an exhausted, but fitful, sleep.

Once the table is clear they go outside to summon the pokemon into their pens. She brings Raff and Crimson out so they can walk and fly beside her as she makes a circuit around her half of the ranch, then returns to her room (Aiko's room) a few minutes shy of her scheduled call. Raff goes to rest on his soil bed by the window, which she opens so Crimson can fly in and land on the perch she set up on the wall. She already sees the invitation waiting on her screen when she arrives. "Hi Bill," she says after accepting the call and turning on her mic.

"Eva found six errors in the simulated program," the inventor says. Leaf doesn't get offended by the lack of niceties or smalltalk anymore; if anything it makes it easier to interact with him, since she doesn't have to worry that he'll ask about her or how her day went, or the other sorts of questions that sometimes make it hard to talk with others these days.

"That doesn't sound so ba-"

"Then it crashed."

Leaf sighs. "You did that on purpose."

"Crushing unfounded optimism is just one of my many public services. You're welcome, and also, pay attention. Your scope is way too big. Untraining commands is hard enough. Reinstituting wild behavior is worse. Keeping certain pieces of conditioning is just not something you can do right now."

Leaf sits up, jaw clenched. "I know you're not telling me to give up." He'd agreed to look over what she's developed so far, and she expected harsh criticism, but...

"I am actually, on that goal and plan of attack. But you've got other options."

She opens a document to take notes. "I'm listening."

"Reverting newly caught pokemon's brainstates to what they were when caught would be… well, easy for me, at least achievable for you, if time consuming. It's low hanging fruit that no one's developed because there's been no incentive to. But it would make a good learning opportunity, and be a stepping stone."

"A stepping stone to releasing already caught pokemon?"

"Thanks to that fascinating sample of yours that I'm still curious about the origin of, yes, though without a saved version of their brain-states it's going to take an immense amount of work applying it to each pokemon. As I said before, keeping any bit of conditioning makes the whole thing exponentially harder, but this also showed that carving out specific exceptions moving forward may be more doable. And by doable I mean maybe half a decade of effort by a dozen of the best TM programmers around, taking into account QA and some unexpected complications."

Leaf rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms. "But it would work?"

"Theoretically, yes, but my point is don't focus on that right now. Just aim for simple reversion. It'll be an achievement you can call your own, draw attention to your project, get people thinking about it. Whatever you decide, this is about all the time I can put into it. I've already sent out a notice to some of my circles, maybe it'll help connect you with others who find it interesting."

Leaf lowers her hands. She shouldn't be ungrateful. He's done so much for her and Red already, and didn't even get all that upset when he found out they left the cruise early, though he did point out how stupid it was, in the same impersonal, distracted voice that indicated that he wasn't trying to berate them, only pointing out a fact. "Right. Thanks."

"You're welcome," Bill says, voice wry, and Leaf realizes her thanks didn't sound particularly thankful. "Trust me, you're better off without me being more involved. Even if I had the time, which I don't, and the interest, which I also don't, my version of this would be way different than what you're envisioning."

"What do you mean?"

"The easiest way to do what you want is to just create a brainstate of a pokemon with all its wild behaviors intact, add an additional set of conditions against harming humans, and then just apply that brainstate to all pokemon of its species that are released."

A chill goes down Leaf's back. "That's... you would just be mentally cloning one pokemon over and over. Effectively killing all the others..."

"Yep, and I know you've got problems with that, which is why me not doing it is better for everyone," he says, a little impatiently. "Well, except for people who might die to wild pokemon between when my hypothetical version would be complete and yours."

Leaf swallows her retort. "Couldn't we just… save their mental state upon capture, and use that?" It would delete each pokemon's experiences between capture and release, which is also a form of erasure, a killing of the pokemon that they become to replace them with who they were, but that wouldn't matter for balls designed specifically to pacify wild pokemon, who would be released immediately after capture anyway.

"Sure, yeah, but now you're back to writing a program that applies the right conditioning dynamically to each individual, which is a lot more work. However you want to tackle it, you've got some options and my advice for which to choose. Hopefully someone reaches out soon, but meanwhile I'd get more samples if you can."

"Alright. Thanks, Bill. Really."

"Welcome. Good luck."

And then he's gone, and Leaf is leaning back in her(/Aiko's) chair. That was… disappointing, but not as bad as it could have been.

Still, she's going to have to reconsider her priorities now that she has a better idea of the difficulty of the task and what the short term rewards would be. She doesn't know nearly enough about programming to do the hard work with any sort of efficiency on her own, which means she's going to be mostly reliant on others as she does her best to learn quickly... but she still remembers the resolution she made a while back, where no matter how much her goals might change, she'd never regret improving herself. If she can identify her programming skills as lacking, she should focus on improving them while she waits to be contacted.

So that's what she does for the rest of the morning, occasionally stopping to play with some of her pokemon. She's getting to know Aiko's better, and they're integrating well with her pokemon in their games and tests. She knows the transfer of ownership doesn't delete their memories of their previous trainers, just makes them seem long ago while adding bonding memories with their new ones. It's preferable to the alternative, but she can't help but wonder if they miss Aiko at all, and gets teary-eyed as she strokes Aiko's oddish's grassy leaves, wondering if they might even think they were abandoned.

After lunch she's back to working on her programming, and a couple hours go by before she hears pokemon outside getting excited by something. She gets up to look, and grins as she sees Blue and the others biking down the dirt paths that wind around the various pens. She quickly saves her work, then runs down the stairs and out onto the porch.

Blue is just stepping off his bike when she reaches them, and seems surprised as she pulls him into a hug. After a moment he hugs her back, still breathing hard from his pedaling. He smells like the road to her, a mix of biking gear and sweat and dirt, nostalgic scents that make her realize how much she misses their journey together.

The others start removing their own gear and stowing it away, and she releases Blue so he can do the same, smiling wide. "It's great to see you again."

Blue looks a little embarrassed, but returns her smile as he unbuckles his helmet. "You too. You cut your hair!"

"Wanted to try something new." She goes to hug Elaine as well, who grins at her.

"Hey Leaf! It looks great."

"Thanks!"

"Take notes, Blue," Glen says as the older boy strips off his knee pads, then stretches his arms out for his own hug. "Compliment, don't just notice. Pixie cut really suits you, Leaf." Leaf feels her cheeks warm as she steps over to him, while Blue grumbles something. "Doing alright?" Glen murmurs, giving her a brief squeeze before letting her go.

"One day at a time." She steps back and waves to the others, who return the gesture. Leaf vaguely remembers Lizzy, but not the other girl, who she first took to be wearing a rain poncho or something, but turns out to have on a long, dark cloak that she had gathered around her waist to be able to bike. "Hello, I'm Leaf Juniper."

She takes her wide-brimmed hat off a moment to unbuckle the helmet she'd been wearing under it. "I know. Heard all about you. I'm MG. Don't think you'd have heard much about me."

Leaf glances at Blue, who just smiles. "Well, I'm looking forward to doing so. Are MG your initials? Or is your name Emgee?"

"Neither."

Leaf waits for more, then simply nods and turns to the final member, who has just finished putting her bike in its box. "Hey, Lizzy."

"Hello, Leaf." The tall girl puts the lid on and returns the container to its ball, then looks around them as she stretches and walks over to the nearby pen that holds some sentret, each standing on their tail to get a better look at the newcomers. "This place seems very nice," she says as she rubs one of their bellies, making it chirp.

Leaf grins. "Yeah." She looks at Blue. "I thought there'd be others?" She didn't watch the matches, but did read about the two groups that were practicing scenarios with Blue, and of course read about the results.

"Bretta went ahead of us to rejoin some friends. Everyone else decided to stay at the gym."

There's a story there, Leaf senses, a neutrality to Blue's tone that feels forced, but she just nods for now and lets them finish packing up their things before leading them to the house. The weary travelers take turns showering and introducing themselves to Mr. Sakai, who seems to be having one of his better days, taking the introductions in stride as he helps clear parts of the bottom floor for people to sleep that night. Leaf goes around getting everyone's orders for dinner, talking with everyone about their trip here and plans for when they arrive in Celadon. She wonders why they aren't going to Saffron first, but figures she can guess.

While Blue is in the shower and MG and Lizzy go to help Mr. Sakai with the pokemon as they take a tour of the ranch, Elaine and Glen find Leaf while she's putting the dinner orders in. "Hey. So… Blue told us."

It takes a moment for Leaf to understand what they mean. "Yeah?" she asks, a little wary. "What did he say, exactly?"

Elaine smiles slightly. "We're not fishing, Leaf." Her smile fades. "He explained how Red was with Aiko when she ran into the building, but didn't go in after her. How he and Red fought, and… how they disagreed about what Red should have done."

"He was a little more detailed," Glen adds. "Said Red accused Blue of making Aiko so worried about looking heroic that she risked herself recklessly to live up to his ideals. And that he told Red that if going in to help her would mean death, then he should have been willing to die."

"Is it true?" Elaine asks, voice low and gaze earnest.

Leaf feels her heart twisting, and takes a deep breath before letting it out as she finishes putting the dinner order in. She'd wondered whether Blue would ever tell them. She's glad he finally did, but she's not sure what it means for him. She gets the confirmation, then puts her phone away and gives them her full attention. "Yeah. There was more, but… that seems a fair enough way to summarize it."

"And how do you feel about it all?" Glen asks, voice cautious, which in turn makes Leaf cautious.

"I think both of them are wrong in their own ways, and judging how others decide things like that… doesn't always have a clear answer."

To her relief, Glen smiles. "That's basically what Surge said."

Leaf blinks. "Wait, Surge talked about it?"

"Not directly," Elaine explains. "Sorry, I thought you knew… we're explaining this out of order. Surge's speech was related to what happened in the second scenario. We can tell you about it later, but we think Blue told us the story in the first place because he's struggling with what Surge said."

Glen sighs. "It's almost like he wanted everyone to make up their own mind about whether he was right or not, and for us to feel free to leave if we disagreed."

"Or if we're worried he'd get mad at us for disagreeing," Elaine adds, and Glen nods. "It's not that simple, of course, but everyone who was going to stay still decided to… except Vlad and his friends. I don't think their changed decision is related, but we're worried Blue took it pretty hard."

Glen nods. "He's been a little off ever since. Would you talk to him, sometime tonight?"

Leaf nods, worry churning in her stomach. "Of course. Thanks for letting me know."

Their obvious relief and hope makes her worry grow, but also infects her with some hope too. When the status quo seemed so hopeless, a change like this might result in something good. They go to help take care of the pokemon, and Blue joins them outside eventually. With everyone working together it goes by much more quickly than usual, and once they're all back inside Leaf innocently asks about the badge scenarios while they wait for the food to arrive.

The others take turns filling her in on what happened, first during Blue's group challenge, then during Glen's, from both the participants' and the observers' perspectives. Despite her aversion to watching the matches, it's fun listening to them relate what happened with occasional bursts of suppressed excitement at the thrilling bits (and some occasional arguing about details of what actually happened, which usually ends with Lizzy reminding people that there's footage available or Blue jumping in to push the narrative along). The conversation extends through dinner, and for the most part Leaf is able to avoid thinking of the combatants' pain… up until the end of the second match, when Blue's subdued description of the dragonite brutally one-shotting each of Bretta's pokemon makes Leaf's hands curl into fists.

"And that was it," Glen concludes as they start to clean the table. "Surge made a speech about how what happened couldn't be judged, and they got their single challenge matches the next day. They were intense, but both got their badges too."

Suddenly Mr. Sakai, who had been silently listening throughout the conversation (or else deep in his own thoughts), speaks up from the kitchen. "Was he talking about Aiko?"

Everyone goes silent. Leaf exchanges looks with Blue and Elaine and Glen, trying to decide what to say… she'd told him what happened to Aiko within the first month of living here, aware that it was a risk but wanting him to know she'd died while attempting to save others.

Before she or Blue find something to say, Leaf is surprised to hear MG respond, despite being the most quiet of the group. "Yes, Sir. Aiko's actions are part of what inspired the gym to teach this lesson. I never met her, but I wish I had. She's very inspirational to me."

"Oh." That's all he says. Just that. None of them break the ensuing silence, listening to the quiet sounds of his movements in the kitchen, and when he leaves it a minute later, Leaf feels her heart twist as she sees him silently weeping. "I'll go to bed now. Goodnight, everyone."

Their subdued goodnights follow him down the hall, and they're all silent again until they hear the door close.

"Did I say the wrong thing?" MG asks, hat completely hiding her features and voice fragile as a cobweb.

"No," Leaf immediately says. "No, I think that was perfect. Thank you."

The hat shifts in a nod, and Elaine gets to her feet. "Anyone want tea or cocoa or something?"

A few hands go up, including MG's, and Leaf gets up to help her while Blue suggests the group get more comfortable. By the time they finish making the drinks they find the others spread out in the living room, on the couch and floor talking about lighter things. Once everyone has their mugs, Leaf perches on the end of the couch and decides to poke a potentially delicate subject during the next lull in the conversation.

"So... I was under the impression that the scenarios you guys were practicing with were to help against pokemon incidents… but some of the things you described in the Challenge matches were definitely not that?"

Smiles spread around the group, and Glen chuckles. "Should have figured you'd see it. Yeah, they kind of took it in a different direction than us. Don't think it's a secret, or at least it won't stay one for long after all the chatter that's been going on over the net…"

"It's why Vlad decided to stay longer," Elaine says, voice confident, and Leaf glances at Blue to see him shift in his seat. He doesn't contradict her, however. "When he heard what Surge was preparing everyone for... He and his friends decided to stay at the gym with the others."

"What, the thing about hard decisions?"

"No," Blue says, and she turns to see his gaze intense on hers. "The scenarios are to prepare trainers for war."

Sudden cold spreads through Leaf's veins as she stares back at him, hardly believing what she heard. War. An ugly word, where she's from, divisive and often taboo in polite company. Her grandpa in particular spoke of those times with a venom she never heard about any other topic. He'd lost friends in it, spoke out against it at the time and was shunned by the whole Unovan government and League while it was going on. Almost left the region, according to Leaf's mom, who never spoke much about those days other than when she taught Leaf about it in her history lessons. It's a scab on the region's legacy, not quite old enough to become a scar, still itching and bleeding out occasional silence and harsh words between friends and family and neighbors who hold opposite views of it.

"Kanto is preparing for war?" she whispers, and her first thought, which she would later spend a restless hour in bed reflecting on, is of how fast she can leave the region.

Blue shakes his head, and the relief warms her as much as her tea. "Nothing specific. Surge is just sure that war is coming, one way or another, and wants to prepare people."

Leaf's brow is furrowed. "And… what do you guys think?" She looks at Glen and MG in particular, the other non-Kanto natives.

Glen rubs his face, sighing. "It seems crazy."

Lizzy nods. "The Indigo League is larger than practically any other region in the world, definitely the biggest on the island. Who would be crazy enough to attack us?"

"Only Hoenn or Sinnoh are close enough," MG says from beneath her hat, a cup of cocoa in her hands. "And only they would benefit."

As the others start to discuss it, something tickles at Leaf's memory with growing urgency, like she's forgetting something important. She thinks it has to do with something her mom or grandpa must have said at some point, but only once she gives up on that line of thinking does the answer come to her in a flash, the words of an old woman on a bench as they fed their pokemon together. And who will this trainer be? What new calamities will they bring, with the power of a god in their pocket? Kingdoms have warred for less, long before mankind's reach exceeded its grasp.

"Blue," she says, and something in her tone makes everyone turn to her. "If you had the chance to catch one of the Stormbringers… and the alternative was to kill it. What would you do?"

He's silent a moment, everyone watching him. "I've thought about it before," he admits. "If I'm being honest, I want them dead. But… it would be too big an advantage to give up, when going after the others. I've often thought that I don't actually need to beat all three. Just getting Zapdos might be enough to take the other two down because of type advantage, though capturing any of them would be a big help against at least one of the others. And not just them. Could take them from region to region, hunting down the legendaries…"

"And who would own them?" Lizzy asks, and her tone makes it clear she made the connection.

Blue nods. "Thought about that too. Who I'd trust…" She sees him realize it too, his thoughtful expression shifting to one of surprise, then growing resignation, until he sighs. "Fuck. You're talking about war... It's not just who I'd trust, but who'd trust me, or whoever else has one. Even if we know we won't attack someone…"

"But people would be even less likely to attack a region with a legendary on someone's belt," Elaine protests.

"Yes," MG says quietly. "Until they can get their own."

The group is quiet a minute, and Leaf's tea no longer warms her. Blue looks far more tired than he did a few minutes ago, gaze distant and unfocused.

"We should probably head to bed," Elaine says after a minute of silence. "Can talk about this more tomorrow."

The others murmur their agreement, exchanging goodnights with Leaf before heading downstairs where they laid out their sleeping mats. Leaf gives Blue a significant look, and he nods at her. She goes to brush her teeth and prepare for bed.

She's just finishing up when she hears a quiet knock at her door, and goes to open it. Blue walks in looking very solemn despite his pajamas, a complex smile on his face as he looks around at Aiko's room. "You've made it your own."

"Partly." She goes to sit on the bed, and for a moment it seems like he might go to the computer chair, but then he joins her. She's glad he does. "How you feeling? Don't want to keep you up if you're too tired."

"Naw. I'm fine." He takes a pokeball out of his pocket, and summons Aiko's eevee. Its silver fur gleams as it materializes, looking around the subtly changed room, and Leaf suddenly wishes she hadn't changed anything, for a moment, until it turns to hop onto the bed with them. It settles down in a furry coil between them, and both of them reach out to scratch its thick fur together.

"Still haven't named her?" Leaf asks, voice quiet.

"No. Aiko wanted to wait until she evolves… makes sense to me."

Leaf nods. "Any thoughts on that?"

"Yeah. But we'll see." He looks at her. "I was thinking it over, and I think there's only one way."

She blinks at him, unsure if he's still talking about Eevee. "One way to…?"

"Every region needs its own legendary under a trainer's control. That way no region would want to mess with them. They could just send their trainer over and wreak nearly as much havoc in revenge."

Leaf stares at him, then slowly nods. It's horribly elegant in its simplicity. "I guess that might do it..."

"You think it's a bad idea," he says, clearly reading her hesitation.

"Not in the way you mean. There are stories, in Unova, of the power that legendaries give to one side of a war or the other. If people know that's how others might act, whoever catches one might try to act first to keep others from getting a legend of their own."

He sighs and nods. "I know. I just can't think of how else war could be avoided forever. At some point, someone's going to catch a legendary. I'd rather it be me, but if I just go around grabbing them all up… it's too much power to put in one person's hands. And too risky to assume no one else would get them at some point. I'd have to kill them all, just to stop anyone else from getting one."

Leaf is reminded somewhat of her and Red's conversation with Bill in his lab, the inventor's sabotage of other projects for fear of the first AGI being enough to destroy or dominate the world if developed poorly or by the wrong sort of person. "You might be right. That's not actually what I wanted to talk about, though."

"What, then?" He's watching her with simple curiosity for a moment, and then wariness sets in. She can practically feel his walls going up, the connection between them growing brittle, and if he wasn't Dark she would think she was a latent psychic like Red. "Oh."

"Not that," she quickly says. "Not directly, at least. I actually want to know more about the gym's reaction to Aiko, what Surge said. I feel like people were tiptoeing around it out there, probably because Mr. Sakai was around, but… yeah. What's going on with that whole thing?"

Blue looks slightly reassured. "Well, there are a few layers to it, the way Sabra explained it," he says, voice low. "How Aiko and Jack's deaths kicked things off. I don't know if you remember, or if I ever told you, but Peter, one of the gym members who was leading my group that night... I defied his orders to go help Gramps and Daisy. He was mad, but didn't make a big stink about it. I guess it would have been weird to, in light of everything. He just told Surge, expecting him to decide if a punishment would be fitting. And combined with what Jack did, and what Red didn't... apparently, Surge wasn't actually sure. He invited the upper tiers of the gym to meet a few nights to talk. About sacrifice, and expectations."

"They never had before?" Leaf asks, skeptical and intrigued.

"Not like this. Surge's policy was always for people to follow orders and think of the broader mission, but apparently he always talked to people who broke with that policy in private, and never punished them much. It was treated as a grey area, an inconsistency that no one really knew how to speak about at the gym. But there were a lot of others in the city who had similar stories from that night, and Sabra said once the conversation started more and more came out, it wasn't centered on Jack or Red or me."

Leaf considers this a moment. "And that's when the idea to have it happen in the scenarios came from?"

Blue nodded. "My scenarios were the first chance the gym had to really play with the idea. Play with different circumstances, prepare people for the aftermath. Test whether it can be trained."

"Whether what can?" Leaf asks, wishing she could write about all this, suddenly. It would make for a fascinating article, even a book, but she's not sure she can spare the time anymore.

"The 'heroic impulse,' as Surge calls it." Blue's gaze is distant. "The thing that makes you move toward danger to save others, without even thinking about it."

"To help people be more willing to do it?"

"No. He said that's already possible. But to do it better. To not make it an impulse, anymore, to think about the odds, evaluate the broader mission, decide if it's really what you should do."

Leaf is silent, thinking about what Blue must be feeling right now. Surge meant train as restrain, in some cases. Blue was essentially told by the Gym Leader that Red may have made the right decision. Not necessarily that Blue made the wrong one, in going to help Professor Oak and Daisy, but… "I take it you disagreed?" she says lightly.

Blue shakes his head, and Leaf feels her heart leap. Could this be it? The resolution to Red and Blue's fight?

"I don't know anymore," Blue sighs. "Surge is coming at it from the angle of someone in the military. He had the idea of focusing on the broader mission literally drilled into him. But the gym itself teaches that trainers aren't soldiers. Maybe that's a bad thing in his view, but to me it's not. Someone who will always follow orders rather than do what they think is right with the information they have in the moment… I can respect it. I get why Surge is for it, I get why it makes sense as a Leader, or just someone who leads, to want others to do it. But I don't think I can trust someone like that. They're giving up their responsibility to someone else."

Leaf considers this a moment, wondering what her own answer for this would be and whether she should nudge things back in the direction of Red's decision, and then she realizes the implications of what he said. "Wait, Blue, don't you want people to do that, once you become Champion? If you make a plan to take down a Stormbringer, wouldn't you want the trainers working with you to follow the plan, rather than run off to do their own thing?"

"I always thought that's what it meant, being a trusted leader. It's not fair, really, that things turned out so well when I went to help Gramps and Daisy. When people break from a plan like that in a combat situation… I think most of the time it actually causes more problems."

"Most of the time," she echoes. "But you're not most people, and it wasn't a usual circumstance. So… I guess you can just trust that the people you'll be leading will make their own decisions, unless you specifically want to train them not to and see how that goes?"

"But I don't want to lead people like that. I want to inspire them to do what's right, and trust that they're each capable of figuring out what that is, moment to moment. If someone sees someone in danger in front of them… it feels like I'd be asking people to not get mad if someone punches them in the face, if I told them to ignore that, or not to pick up money on the street. Especially if it's a friend that's in danger." Blue shakes his head, looking frustrated. "But I also want to know that I can depend on them to trust a plan they're given, and not deviate too much from it."

She stares at him. "You're not just talking about a handful of trainers following you on your journey."

"No. To take down the Stormbirds once I'm Champion, I'll need dozens, maybe hundreds, that I can rely on like that."

"That sounds..." She doesn't want to say impossible. "Unlikely."

He rubs his face. "I know. I know. I just... don't know what to do." He lowers his hands, staring at the wall. "When we were traveling to Vermilion, I thought I could learn about leadership from Surge's gym. And I did… in more ways than I imagined. But even if I have fewer questions now, the new ones feel harder than ever to answer."

Leaf can't remember ever hearing such vulnerability in Blue's voice before, and realizes suddenly that he isn't just catching her up on what he's been doing. He's unloading his frustrations to someone he trusts, but also isn't in charge of. Someone who can listen without him worrying about having to look strong for.

She takes her hand from Eevee's fur and puts an arm around his shoulders. "So you're facing problems that seem bigger than you can solve, with no one that seems to know how to solve them, and trying to figure out how to get it done as you go. That about right?" He nods, and she nods too, smiling slightly. "Welcome to the club."

Blue is silent a moment, then chuckles. "It's good talking to you again. How's Operation Pacify going?"

"We don't have to talk about my problems just yet, if you still want to vent."

"I think I'm done for now. Thanks. And I have been curious. Sorry I haven't had time to check in until now."

"I get it."

"No, really. It's bothered me a few times, and I've been trying to find a good way to apologize for it."

She raises a brow. "For what?"

"Leaving you? Making it hard for you to stay?" He shrugs, looking uncomfortable. "Red ran off to Saffron… sorry, I didn't mean ran like that, just… at least he can teleport in every so often and help out, while I decided to stay in Vermilion for way longer than we expected, without talking to you about it ahead of time… and then you got stuck helping Mr. Sakai—"

She pulls her arm back and sticks a finger out at him. "Let's get something straight, Blue Oak. I didn't get stuck helping at the ranch. I could have stayed in Vermilion, or gone with Red, or hell even gone back to Unova if I wanted. Mom asked me to often enough, and I was even considering a quick visit after the cruise, before the storm hit. I chose this instead."

Blue puts a hand up in apology. "You're right, I know you did. But you still came to Kanto expecting a journey, and we… I guess it feels like our shit got in the way, and we let you down."

"You did, but not in the way you're thinking." He looks surprised, but she keeps going. "I don't need you feeling sorry for me, or guilty for me not staying, or whatever you've been worrying about. I'm here because I think it's important, as important as what you're doing. Understand?"

Blue looks at her a moment, then slowly nods. "Right. Yeah, that was… pretty shitty of me, actually. Sorry."

She's satisfied to see Blue look properly chagrined, and decides to ease up a bit, smiling as she pokes him in the side. "For?"

"...for apologizing?"

"Good. Apology accepted." She starts scratching Eevee again.

He smiles back, and they sit in companionable silence until Leaf feels brave enough to guide things back toward Red's decision. "So the gym was testing to see if people can be trained not to abandon the mission and save their friends?"

"Mostly, but not that simple. Like I said, it's also to have a place to explore how people act in different situations, and prepare them for what it's like to be in those situations… and handle how others might react."

He's not looking at her, and after a moment Leaf gently prompts, "Like with you and Red?" There's a moment of silence, and then Blue nods, and a lot of her tension fades. "And how are you handling that?" she asks, hope rising. This could be it, they might finally—

"Nothing's changed."

"What?!" He jumps slightly, and she lowers her voice, glaring. "What do you mean 'nothing's changed?'"

"I mean I don't see what's different, now. He's learning from Sabrina, I'm going for badges… it's not compatible."

"You're not this dense, Blue. Who cares what you two do? I'm talking about your friendship!"

"The friendship he wouldn't even risk his life for?"

Leaf's glare melts into something that's a mix of exasperation and sorrow, and she puts her hand over his, stopping his fingers' movements in Eevee's fur for a moment. "Blue… I watched him run up to a nidoqueen in the middle of that storm, after two hours of helping others, to save a complete stranger. I told you all this before, but it's like you don't believe me."

"'Course I do," Blue mutters.

"Then why do you think he wouldn't risk his life for yours?"

Blue shrugs a shoulder. "I think he would... if it's safe enough."

The bitterness in his voice makes her sigh. "Blue… you have to decide if this is about how much he cares about you, or whether he's willing to save others. If it's the latter, then you've already decided that all this doesn't matter, right? You won't be traveling together, he's not on a pokemon journey. Why keep the fight going? I know you miss each other."

She can see him struggling with it, and hope makes her pulse race. When he meets her gaze, she sees wary curiosity there. "It doesn't bother you? That he might not have cared about Aiko?"

"If I believed that, yeah. Of course it would. The whole thing makes me feel sad and confused and yes, sometimes angry at him."

"How do you deal with that?"

The hope is slowly returning. This is the farthest they've ever gotten, talking about it. "I wasn't there. That's how I deal with it: reminding myself that I don't know what he saw, and how he felt. I might have gone in after her. I think I would have. But I didn't go through what he did, I don't know how the Pressure was affecting them—"

"The Pressure was gone by then, it—"

"Let me finish, Blue. I know the Pressure was gone, but there are aftereffects, right? My point is that you don't know how he felt, and why he didn't go in. Maybe he's really just a cold computer that was weighing risk and reward all night, and Aiko didn't make the cut. But I don't believe that, and you can't just decide that's the case."

Blue is quiet a moment, either processing what she said or checking to ensure she's done. "He doesn't have to have been cold about it," he eventually mutters. "I know he felt torn up. But he justified it, after. He stood by the decision."

"And that's bad? He can't just genuinely have a different view?"

"He can," Blue says. "But I don't see how he can also care about me. Those two things… they can't fit together in my head. Maybe he cares as far as he can, but then his caring and mine, they mean two different things. That's what made me so… angry, then. Now I don't feel angry about it, just sad."

She waits a moment, then asks the real question that she's been wanting to. "Do you think there's any chance of talking to him about it? Being friends again?"

Blue shrugs. "That's up to him, more than me. I wasn't the one that—"

"Blue," Leaf interrupts. "Come on. I was there, remember? You said he should have died. Yes, he said some things he shouldn't have too, but anything after that was tainted, and you were the one that set the ultimatum."

"Wasn't an ultimatum, he took it that way—"

"Blue. Tainted, remember?"

She watches him squirm, face shifting between stubbornness and shame. "Didn't mean it that way," he finally whispers, so low she can barely hear him. "Of course I'm glad he's not dead."

"I know." She puts her hand over his. "I know you would have died for him. And believe it or not, I think he'd risk it for you too. But he wouldn't do what he thought was certain death for Aiko. Do you need him to be willing to for you? Not by your measure, but by his."

Blue is quiet for nearly a minute. "I don't know," he mutters at last.

"Not to journey together, but just to be friends."

He sighs. "No. Probably not."

Leaf's heart is in her throat, and it's a struggle not to squeeze his hand tighter. "And do you think it's possible that he doesn't think it's obvious that you're glad he's not dead?"

Leaf watches a little more of his stubbornness melt away, heart pounding, and it's hard to stay quiet and let him answer at his own pace, hard not to just shake him and demand he apologize.

"Yeah, maybe."

Success! "So… you think you can tell him that, maybe?"

Blue rubs his face with his free hand. "I'll think about it."

Leaf almost yells at him again, but instead she takes a controlled breath and reminds herself not to push him. Instead she just squeezes his hand, and leans her head against his shoulder, and they sit in silence until Eevee's snores prompt Blue to head to bed.

The group leaves for Celadon the next day amidst bittersweet goodbyes. A part of Leaf wants to join them, to be surrounded by her peers again, on the road seeing new places.

But another part of her is looking forward to the coming quiet of the ranch again, and she knows she's still not ready. Not ready to leave Aiko's bed, her room, and the mission that she's come to consider both of theirs, building on her work and started from different directions, but which she knows her friend would have agreed with. She still has too much work to do here.

Once they're gone and Leaf returns to work on her articles and programming, she finds a new distraction bubbling up to the surface of her thoughts every so often.

She wants to tell Red what she and Blue talked about. She itches to, a constant pull on her attention. At the very least, she wants to tell him what Blue said about being glad he's not dead. She fantasizes about it, even, about just calling Blue up and telling both of them to just shut up a moment, that all she wants Blue to do is just say that one thing, just that, and for Red to just listen and respond, only to that, and then they can go on with their days and that one thing might be enough of a difference to get the ball over the edge and rolling downhill.

But she can't. Because she told Blue she wouldn't, and they might not be ready. Blue might screw things up by adding something else, or muttering it, or Red might be having a bad day or have been bottling up anger about what Blue said that he can't keep in, or something that just makes things worse instead of better, and she'll have been the cause of it, and both of them would trust her less.

Instead she tries to just focus on her work, which gets harder as the week creeps by day to day and she gets closer to Red's next visit... right up until the day before, when Laura texts her out of the blue to ask if it's okay to visit when Red's there too.

With everything that's happened, Leaf nearly forgot about Laura's promise. Nearly. Her imagination supplied all sorts of outlandish plots over the past few months, each methodically repressed to keep her from investigating them without Laura's approval, and now they all come roaring back to the forefront of her mind as she responds with a simple question: Is it time?

The response comes back almost immediately, and Leaf grins, sends an affirmative, then starts reviewing her old Mount Moon research to refresh herself on what Laura will want to talk about.

"You're sure this is okay?" she asks Red as they walk past the pens and into an open area at the outskirts of the ranch. "It won't be too tiring, on top of the other stuff you've been doing?" Other stuff that he's been fairly hush-hush about, but she knows it involves using his powers, which still makes him sadder.

"We've got what, an hour before my mom gets here? I should be fine, this is just more practice of what I'd be doing anyway."

Red looks like he's been doing well. Better than the last couple times she's seen him, at least. "How's therapy been?"

He glances at her. "Alright. Pretty good, actually. I'm learning ways to talk to myself better when I get sad."

"Oh, neat. Like what?"

"I guess you could call it journaling. We're actually talking pretty often now, and making deals with each other. Not often, but more than before."

Leaf's not sure she really gets what he means by all that, but she can sense he's not too comfortable talking about it yet, and they've reached an open area. So she just nods and hands him the bag of pokeballs, then opens her own bag of food, placing some granola on the ground as he summons the first pokemon.

Leaf knows what Red has probably been thinking, as they walked out here. At the very least, what he was thinking when she asked him to do this, told him her plan. She doesn't think he's judging her, but she wouldn't be surprised if some part of him was considering her a hypocrite, though she knows she might just be projecting. Overall, she appreciates that he hasn't said anything about it, and she feels justified in being grateful for his silence given that she would be shocked if he didn't at some point remember their argument about pokemon testing.

Not that what they're doing is the same as testing chemicals on rattata or measuring the damage done to pokemon by various attacks in a laboratory setting to better understand type advantages. Nothing they're doing here is painful, and theoretically would cause no lasting damage.

Theoretically being the key word, there. She wouldn't do it if she suspected otherwise, but she can't be absolutely sure, and so she watches with apprehension as the first pokemon Red summons, a rattata (of course) sniffs at the food she put down, but doesn't eat it. He hands her the ball, and she aims it at the pokemon, and waits… until suddenly the rattata eats the food unprompted, and she quickly withdraws it into its ball.

The next pokemon is a spearow that's missing a wing, then an oddish, then another rattata, this one missing a leg. Some of these pokemon might be able to be released back into the wild, if this experiment works. For the others, being back in the wild would be a death sentence even if they could regain their wild instincts, but they still make useful trial samples. She doesn't plan on releasing any of them without Mr. Sakai's permission, of course, she'd asked for permission to even try this… though she's not sure how meaningful that permission being granted was.

Still, two different flavors of guilt work through her as she withdraws pokemon after pokemon, and half of her keeps reminding herself that it's fine, that Red has used sakki on a number of pokemon already for combat and none seem to have any negative side effects while the other half points out that if it was really that safe, she could just use her own pokemon.

By the time she's withdrawn a dozen pokemon, Red looks barely strained at all, and smiles reassuringly at her as she ties the bags closed. She smiles back in what she hopes is a reassuring way as they return to the ranch, and maybe it was the smile or maybe it was something else, but as they walk Red sends her reeling with a simple question:

"Do you blame me for what happened to Aiko?"

She stops walking and turns to him. "What?"

His gaze is down, steps slowing to a stop. "Sorry, I know that was random. I've been meaning to ask it for a while and… the urge came up, and I didn't want to lose my nerve. You can say yes, I won't get mad. It's important for me to know."

The frustration of not being able to tell him what Blue said returns and peaks, but paired with it is her own desire to be clear, here, her own caution in how she expresses her feelings. Luckily, she's thought about this a lot, and practiced how she would say it in her head.

"No," she says first, because she thinks that's important. "I don't blame you at all, Red. You didn't make her who she was, or force her into coming along with us or going into the building." She wonders, briefly, if he's reading her mind. He promised he wouldn't, but she can't help but think of it. She starts walking again. "But I'm guessing that's not what you mean by 'blame?'"

Red nods, still looking downward as they pass pen after pen of maimed or abandoned pokemon. "Do you think I should have gone in with her?"

"I wasn't there," she says, and realizes suddenly that she should have told Red this earlier too. She was judging Blue for not telling Red how he really felt, for not clarifying, and here she had waited for him to ask her this instead of making it clear herself. They've still been friendly, so it hadn't seemed like as big a deal, but she knew on some level that he wondered, and she had just… let him go on wondering, because it would have been awkward and uncomfortable to talk about it and risk the status quo. "I don't know exactly what happened, or how you were feeling. That's the position I'm taking, because it's the right one. I don't have any right to judge you, and I don't. That's the truth, Red."

He looks at her at last, and she can see how much her answer means to him… even as she can see that it's not wholly satisfying, either. And she can guess why: it's not absolution she's offering, or even agreement with his philosophy. "More than that," she adds, "I don't know myself enough to really answer any better. I thought I did, that day, and I'm sorry if things I said came off as judgemental. But with more time to think about it… I just don't know, and I'm not sure I will anytime soon. But it doesn't matter, for me. For us. It doesn't matter to our friendship."

Red absorbs this a minute, then nods. "Thanks. I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome." I'm sorry I can't say more, I'm sorry I can't get Blue to say more yet, but soon… "We've got another half hour, feeling up for some medical checks?"

He is, and they go through a dozen before his phone chimes, and they go outside. Laura arrives on the back of a familiar swellow, and Leaf waves at Daisy, smiling. Blue's sister waves back at them, but as soon as Laura is clear of her pokemon's downdraft she yells, "See you in a few!" and takes off again without even dismounting.

Red's mom spends a minute hugging him, until he becomes visibly uncomfortable and squirms. She lets him go, smiling, and Leaf is a little embarrassed but mostly pleased when she gets the same treatment.

"It's great to see you both again." She tucks her sunglasses into her satchel, and looks around the ranch. "Is Mr. Sakai here?"

"He's at the pond taking care of the water types. We have a little while before he's done, and we eat." They finish heading toward the house, and go upstairs to the living room table. Laura excuses herself to use the bathroom, and Red and Leaf sit at the table alone for a minute. They wait quietly, and Leaf can see the same pent up anticipation in Red as she feels herself. She gets up and fills three glasses of water for all of them, and has to keep herself from tapping her foot when she sees Red's bouncing under the table.

Laura returns and sits down, thanking Leaf for the water and taking a long drink. When she lowers the glass and sees the two of them watching her, she smiles slightly, folds her hands, and grows serious. "What I'm going to reveal to you both is potentially incredibly dangerous, not just for you but also others beyond myself. I'm trusting you for two main reasons. First, you may already be at risk, to the point where ignorance will be more dangerous than knowledge. We were lucky I hadn't told you anything by your cruise, Red, but President Silph wouldn't be likely to expect you to stay ignorant forever. The second reason is because I need help."

Leaf nods, trying to tamp down her excitement. She'd been hoping for this, not just an explanation but something she could do to help. "Of course. Whatever you need."

Red nods. "What's changed?"

Laura sighs. "Well, the most relevant part is that I got fired."

"What?"

"Oh, Laura!" Leaf takes her hand. "I'm so sorry!"

Red's mom is grinning as she squeezes Leaf's hand. "Thank you, but it's fine, really. Well, not fine, but I saw it coming. I work freelance, but the station that's been funding this whole project has been put under a lot of pressure lately, and my boss couldn't keep it going anymore without results for the higher ups… results that I wasn't ready to show, since they would jeopardize the real stories. Normally we might have been able to convince them of that, but I suspect the funders started getting leaned on too. The station's asking for whatever I've collected so far, and I refused. They're taking me to court over it."

None of this seems to indicate to Leaf that anything is "fine," and from Red's expression he feels the same. "What are you going to do?" Red asks.

She shrugs. "I've already retained an attorney, and there's no way they expect things to get resolved anytime soon. I'm not dismissing this as just an intimidation tactic, but I do think that's the main goal. The point is that it makes it much harder to find another funder and work on this as easily. Sam is doing what he can, but I still had to let some of my people go, and I could use your help, Leaf." She looks at Red. "I won't say no to yours too, Red, but I don't expect it. I'm mostly telling you this because I promised, and because I think it's safer for you to know."

Red still looks troubled, but nods, and Leaf takes the opportunity to move things along. "I'm happy to help, obviously. Can you tell us what you learned, now? And what I learned?"

Laura takes a breath, then nods, and begins to talk. About Silph Corporation, her secretive informant, and the broader mystery of the missing researchers that Professor Oak had clued her in about months ago. Red looks somewhat overwhelmed, but Leaf already knew enough that even with the presence of a masked source that climbed up to Laura's balcony what the hell she just feels moderately whelmed… until the connection to the Mount Moon renegade that she and Blue stopped becomes clear, and she understands why Laura told her to stop looking into it.

"He worked for Silph at one point," Leaf said, eyes wide. "You think Silph killed him!"

But Laura shakes her head. "Practically anyone who's worked in Kanto has worked for Silph. I don't think Silph hired Yuuta. I think he was a weapon aimed at them… but I'm not sure by whom. There are still a lot of pieces missing, but it's become clear that Silph is fighting a shadow war against others. Maybe competitors, maybe someone else, but not just the government. There's a network of shell companies and operatives that Yuuta might have been one of, except we can't see any reason for Silph to have harmed his own interests that way. We have reason to believe he was killed by Silph, though."

"Wait," Red says. "Silph wasn't responsible for Yuuta but… they still killed him? Why? He was already going to be executed, and if he wasn't working for them, why worry about him saying something first?"

"Maybe they would be hurt by things he knew even if he wasn't working for them," Leaf says. "Or maybe it was revenge, or… a warning to others?" She frowns and looks at Laura. "Has something like this happened before?"

"Not that I've seen so far, but I've got someone looking into it."

"What are you doing now?" Red asks. "Are you still in Lavender Town?"

Laura nods. "Looking into someone there that's working for Silph. It might be one of the missing researchers."

"And me?" Leaf asks. "What am I going to be working on?"

Laura takes a battered old laptop out of her bag and slides it over to Leaf. "This has a copy of the files my informant shared with me. Don't transfer them anywhere else, keep it disconnected from the net,

and wipe its drive if you so much as suspect that someone is after it."

Leaf takes the laptop a little reverently. "Is that… likely?"

"No, or I wouldn't be putting you or Mr. Sakai at risk like this. I've done everything I can to avoid giving any indication that I've been here or have worked with you. But not everyone I'm working with is the most trusting sort, and the paranoia of those I'm investigating can stretch far. Keep your web searches from being too conspicuous, just in case." Leaf is about to repeat that she still doesn't know what she's working on, when Laura says, "I want you to find out who my informant is."

Leaf's blinks. "The one that Silph was after?"

"Yep." Laura smiles. "I'm not the most trusting sort either, and her identity might be vital to figuring out more about who all the players are in this game, even beyond who she's working for or with. It might also help me work out a way to contact her."

Leaf nods, thoughts already bending toward this new puzzle as her hand moves over the laptop's battered cover. "Got it."

"Anything I can do?" Red asks. "I don't know if I'll have the opportunity to, but just in case…"

They hear the door downstairs open, and Laura closes her bag and tucks it away. "Nothing I can think of now, but I'll let you know if I think of something." She unclips a container ball from her belt, then aims it at the floor before discharging its box.

Mr. Sakai enters the room just as Leaf and Red are helping Laura put the food she brought on the table, and as they eat Mr. Sakai tells them that he thinks the blind poliwhirl in the pond is pregnant. Leaf smiles at his excitement, but part of her worries about the cost of raising the new pokemon. Some might get sold eventually, but few people would want to buy them newborn. It makes her empathize anew with the kinds of worries Aiko must have dealt with her whole life.

Still, even with those worries and her enjoyment of the extra company, it's hard not to be impatient as she waits for everyone to finish eating, then continues to talk with Red and Laura about the informant and Laura's interactions with her until Daisy calls to let Laura know she's arriving. Leaf gets another hug before she leaves, and then it's her and Red again.

"Guess I should head out too," Red says once his mom and Daisy are just a speck in the air. He turns to her, and she can see the concern in him. "You'll be careful with this stuff, right?"

Leaf smiles. "Of course. I know Laura only gave me this particular job because it's safer than investigating Silph, or whoever hired Yuuta." It's a lot harder to be upset about that protectiveness than she would have been before losing Aiko. And it was scary to hear about what happened to Laura in Celadon. "I'm just happy to be doing something useful, and so potentially interesting."

Red nods. "Well, let me know if I can help with this too. And… thanks, for what we talked about earlier."

Leaf hugs him, and feels his hesitation before he returns it. She still thinks about it, occasionally… the experience of how he saw her during their experiment on the cruise. Remembering it feels strange, self-conscious and almost embarrassed without quite being unpleasant, but she doesn't know how to respond to it, and so she just continues to treat him like she normally would if she hadn't glimpsed it. "Anytime, Red. And same to you, with your projects. I know we don't have a lot of psychic pokemon here, but if you need someone to bounce ideas off of, feel free to reach out whenever."

He smiles. "I will. Goodnight." He summons his abra, and she has one last urge to tell him about Blue, suddenly, and then he disappears in a blink.

Leaf stands in place for a moment, regretful and conflicted, then shakes her head and rushes upstairs to get to work.

She starts by reading through the information on the laptop, resting it on her stomach as she lies in bed and devours the information in each case folder. It takes her the rest of the afternoon, and her thoughts are swirling with all the illicit acts the Silph Corporation might be involved in as she feeds and withdraws the pokemon. By the time she finishes and warms up the leftovers, she has an idea for how to approach the problem, and boots up her own laptop as soon as she's back in her room. She decides to keep Aiko's computer clean of anything related to this, just in case, but as long as she keeps things vague enough, her own computer should be fine.

Leaf decides to separate the information into three categories: what she knows, what she suspects, and the hypotheses that she plans to gather information for or against. But she makes no clear delineation on her worksheet: instead each are placed on a spectrum of confidence intervals.

Farthest to the right, where the confidence is closest to 100%, are direct observations: Laura said the informant was Thin and Short. A little more leftward, not quite at 90%, is that she's almost assuredly Female, judging from both Laura's impressions and President Silph's identification, which they can trust insofar as he seems at least as motivated in finding out who she is.

Just behind that is the word Dark. Perhaps Leaf is overconfident about this, placing the word somewhere around the 80% mark, but there are two fairly strong indicators: one is that the informant didn't immediately teleport away while being pursued, which is only moderate evidence in and of itself, given that making others believe that she's Dark when she's not might be the exact reason to do it. Perhaps more importantly, being Dark presents several clear advantages to anyone doing the kind of work she does, and this one has been exceptionally successful. Leaf lists Psychic? just behind Dark, as it would certainly help her with the kind of work she did as well, but also get a complication penalty for adding yet another skill to her already impressive repertoire.

That's where things get murky. From what she's accomplished so far, Leaf lists Hacker and Burglar at around the 70% mark. Leaf's met a lot of extraordinary people while traveling with her grandpa and mother, but never someone on the far side of the law. If selecting for someone who's training with a purpose like this in mind, it makes sense for someone to have trained in both climbing buildings and computer security. But assuming that the woman who put on the mask and snuck into Laura's apartment is the same person who gathered all the information would be a mistake. Laura did say the informant seemed genuinely inexperienced, so maybe they were working with someone else, as the more expendable apprentice or "face" of the group.

Which would mean, of course, that it's a collaborative effort, and not only does she not need to have all the associated skills herself, but there might be other noise in the evidence available. Leaf has been mostly ignoring that consideration for now, as it would still be valuable to identify the masked informant regardless.

By the time she goes to brush her teeth and shower, she realizes that location is what she should start researching first, and she hurries back to examine the raw files Laura was given. There are folders where the data is collected with purpose, such as divided by crime or funding or common employees, but the original flashed hard drives that all the info comes from are there too, which means she can look at the latest files on each, and determine not just where each Silph computer was hit, but when.

After a couple hours of work, she starts plotting each hit on a map of Kanto multiple times to create a time graph. Once she plays it forward to watch as the thefts occur, the cluster becomes clear. Fuchsia city. That's when the first theft of information occurred, and the most.

She's so pleased to have found something useful from her first night working on it that she doesn't realize how late it's gotten, or how many messages she's missed. She saves her work and gets into bed, deciding to quickly skim them before she falls asleep.

Amidst the messages from Blue's journeymates, some of her followers and readers, and new responses to her articles, a new email from an unknown source catches her attention. In it is a simple message:

"Hello. I heard about your project from Bill, and found it really interesting! I didn't realize there were others so dedicated to reducing pokemon suffering. I live in Unova, and don't really get out much, but if you're working by remote collaboration anyway, I've been studying pokeball programming and would like to help."

Leaf smiles, excitement banishing her tiredness. It would be morning in Unova now, and... yes, they're still online. She opens an instant message window.

Hi, this is Leaf (obviously). Thanks for reaching out! I don't know if you knew, but I'm from Unova too :) How long have you been involved in pokemon welfare?

Hi Leaf :) Yeah, Bill mentioned who your family is. I guess you could say I've been raised in it… my dad taught me to help raise and take care of pokemon from a young age, and I'm a little socially isolated, so I sort of consider them brothers and sisters.

Leaf smiles. It's one of the sweetest things she's ever heard. Sounds amazing! What interested you in the project? And what's your name?

I've been independently working on ways to safely release pokemon into the wild after capture, so it seemed like a good fit ;) Sorry for not introducing myself earlier! My name is Natural. It's very nice to meet you!