CHAPTER 245

The sharp pain at my ankle vanished for an instant when I realized that Abel had been involved, only to return like a wave crashing against the sand. I winced, and I caught my leg spasming in erratic motions. I took a deep breath and prepared to ask questions, but Ariel had already started to speak.

"Was there a Pokemon capable of turning into something else? A female dark type," Ariel asked, more forceful than I'd ever heard her. Dragonite seemed content to listen, but the inquiry had piqued even his interest.

Carnivine, who had already started to stand up and crawl away shook her head and hovered a few inches in the air with a tired sigh. Ariel had already grabbed some notepad and was writing this information religiously with a pen she'd gotten from one of her many orange uniform pockets. No doubt she was going to report to her superiors about this. Unfortunately, Carnivine was done talking to us. She didn't believe us when we— well, when I said I'd get Leafeon back, and the fact that Abel had stolen him changed things greatly.

I had struggled so much against Carnivine while Abel had slipped in and out. Granted, his team was kind of built for stealth and crimes like these…

I sighed.

He hadn't committed a crime. In the eyes of Sinnoh's law, all he had done was catch a wild Pokemon, despite how horribly wrong that was. Stealing a child from his mother was among the most horrifying ways you could catch a Pokemon.

But he was still a criminal. Even if his team wasn't focused on strength, he would still beat me at the moment, and while I knew I would actually be able to deal some damage now with Sunshine and Honey being heavy hitters, I didn't think it would matter. The risk was far too high.

And yet, I didn't want to just give up.

"Why would Abel steal some random Leafeon? Sure, he could sell it for a million or two to the right buyer, but that doesn't really seem his style," I took a step back and remembered my ankles hurt, causing me to wince as a sharp pain shot up my legs. "Ariel, does the League know anything?"

"We knew he was in southern Sinnoh, but we didn't know where exactly," the ACE Trainer said with a hand on her chin. Dragonite growled in agreement, which made my hair go all over the place. "This narrows things down slightly. We still don't know if he's nearby or not. With a Xatu seemingly efficient in long-distance Teleportation, he could be anywhere."

"Could you have the League investigate this?"

"We're already investigating," Ariel said. "But there isn't much else I can do. The interrogation from Mira Compton showed that Abel does not know where the main Galactic base is, since her Gardevoir was there to tell if he was lying or not. He would not be of much use at this point except for gaining further favor with Unova."

I laughed dryly. "Favor? Was being freed not enough for Clarence? He needs to have his revenge for not paying the criminal mercenary that he hired?"

Ariel stared. "Yes."

"Damned manchild," I clicked my tongue. Carnivine was gone, now, having left a trail of grass where she had floated off to. At least her home would be rebuilt soon. "I guess I'll be leaving."

"And I will be following."

"Hard to tell," I snapped before pausing. "How do you eat? And sleep?" I asked.

"We work in shifts, obviously, but we never go lower than three at a time. I am the one who was assigned to communicate with you. Regardless, you don't need to worry yourself for my well-being. I believed you said your opinion of myself had cratered."

"It has, but that doesn't mean I have to be an asshole or that I can't be curious," I said as I mounted Princess. Angel thankfully helped with a few vines around my waist so I wouldn't have to put weight on my legs. "Goodbye. And don't hurt Carnivine!"

"I will not. She has a good relationship with the League, and I believe she is just grieving at the moment. She will be back to her normal self soon enough."

How clinical, I restrained a wince and exhaled.

I recalled the rest of my team and flew off on Princess. From up there, I could thankfully see that the damage I'd caused to the mountain wasn't too much. The flames hadn't spread far thanks to Buddy extinguishing them, and Sunshine hadn't gotten too hot— not to his lava-creating temperature anyway. With a lazy, tired glide, Princess set off in my friends' direction.

Ariel was an odd person, and so was every ACE trainer I'd seen so far. She was just so… detached and unemotional, but not in the same vein Justin was. It had been trained into her by the League, probably to let her stay calm and focused in every situation. And maybe to listen to every order no matter how dangerous it was too. Lou was something else entirely, however, but she hadn't been the one to intervene today.

My hands tightened around Princess' fur, and she let out a worried chirp.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm just thinking."

And trying to distract myself from the horrible pain in my ankle. Having my foot over in the air like this was debilitatingly painful, but placing it on the saddle also hurt.

How in the world was I going to get Leafeon back? The odds of finding Abel were basically zero. I was sure that he had found a new trick to get past Gardevoir's Trace, and with how uncommon the fairy type was, Mira's was the only one with the ability pushed to such a level that Sinnoh could pull on, probably because she'd spent their entire time together inside of Mira's head, even while she'd been a Ralts and Kirlia to track her different moods.

Was it impossible, then?

"Even if it somehow was, what was I going to do?" I sighed. "Ask nicely?"

Plus, he'd probably already sold it… but to whom? Would anyone in their right mind work with Abel after all the targets he had on his back? Did he work through a third party? Or maybe he pretended to be someone else? With that Ditto and the other strange dark type Mira had told us about, it was certainly possible, but then again, criminals were criminals, and the League was distracted and lacking manpower at the moment.

I bit my lip and sighed again. I was in and over my head, wasn't I? I had called Ariel out for risking too much for waiting to swoop in and save me, and now here I was thinking about ways to find one of the most wanted criminals in the world. And that was if he hadn't already sold Leafeon.

As much as it pained me to admit it, odds were I wasn't going to be able to do anything about it. A normal trainer would have been possible to find and speak to, but there wasn't much else I was capable of. I turned my head back and stared at the mountain's peak with pity.

Still lacking, I thought to myself. Carnivine had been right. We were too weak to handle Abel, at the moment.

Princess swooped down, flying only a few dozen feet above the beach, and seeing the ground pass us by so quickly improved my mood, if only slightly. Trainers battling, a few scant wild Pokemon brave enough to walk the routes, the endless waves… it felt nice. The pain in my ankle came in pulsating waves, each more hurtful than the last. I would definitely have to go to the Pokemon Center and cut our trip short, but first I had to talk to them.

It was about time I revealed Honey to my friends. This entire thing had shown that it was unsustainable to keep him hidden from them for that long. Volkner would probably hate me for it, but I wasn't strong enough to hang out off-route as long as I wanted with him, and keeping them in the dark was hurting me. I'd still keep him hidden from the public, of course.

I couldn't help but crack a smile when I reached Mira, Chase and Cecilia. Zweilous was busy digging a hole in the sand with their mouths instead of their clawed feet while Talonflame had her feathers puffed up as she took in the sun next to her trainer. Porygon and Zangoose were still battling, and their respective teams were cheering them on in their own ways. Most of Chase's team watched with a respectful silence while Mira's team was as loud as they could be— save for Alakazam, who looked like he was dying inside.

Porygon was launching every elemental attack under the sun. Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Scald… was that Scald? Zangoose raked her claws against the sand, sending white arcs toward Porygon, who beeped when one of the arcs hit her. The fight was cut short when Togekiss landed, however. Mira and Cecilia's eyes darted toward my ankle, and they noticed that something was wrong right away. I released Angel onto the beach and had him help me down. I perpetually balanced myself on one foot and leaned against the grass type for support.

"What the hell happened—"

Cecilia cut Mira off. "Who hurt you?"

Her eyes focused on my ankle as she approached me, and the same cold rage furiously bled out of her. She had been quick to anger ever since Clarence had been sent back to Unova, and she didn't hesitate to lean into the emotion any longer.

I turned back and pointed to the mountain in the distance with my thumb. "I was up there, but a Carnivine attacked me," I said, carefully picking my next words. "I won the fight, but she crushed my ankle with some grass— it might have been an advanced version of Grass Knot, or she was just manipulating it however she wished."

"You were off-route?" Cecilia asked.

"Yeah. I thought I was—" I inhaled sharply as pulsating pain shot through my leg. "I thought I'd be fine. I got a big head and I paid for it. Before you ask why, it was because of…" My eyes darted around and a sigh escaped my lips when I saw that we were in the field of vision of multiple trainers. I leaned in and whispered. "Honey evolved into an Electivire."

Reactions were muted, mostly because they were quite preoccupied about my potentially broken bone, at the moment.

"So you beat that Carnivine, then? Do you need us to beat it up?" Chase asked.

"No. Don't approach her— especially you, Chase. Your Sigilyph's barriers aren't good enough. You'd win, but you'd get horribly wounded or die unless you used the Voice. Just let her be."

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"You should have used the Pokeball trick," he muttered. "Do you need anything? Mira has some Aspirin."

The Pokeball trick meant just throwing empty Pokeballs at an opponent to stall and buy time, just like he had done against the ghost in the underground city.

"It might have worked once or twice, but she was smarter than that," I shook my head. "More importantly, I have news. Carnivine didn't attack me just because I was in her territory…"

I explained the situation as best I could, telling them that Abel had snuck on the mountain and stolen her child and also went over the battle in general. By the end, I was skimming the details. My ankle needed a Pokemon Center.

"So Ariel watched and did nothing?" Cecilia scoffed. "My respect for the League sinks lower by the day."

"It did teach her things," Chase shrugged.

"Her ankle is broken—"

I cut in. "That's not a sure thing—"

"Forget about Ariel for a second," Mira raised a finger. "Abel is catching Pokemon… to sell?"

"I mean, that's what I assumed. I doubt he wanted Leafeon for his team," I said.

"Didn't you say something about poachers a few days ago?" Chase asked.

I blinked, and context clicked into place. "No… wait, maybe yes. They're supposed to be in the swamp west of Pastoria, so I hadn't even made the connection, but it's possible that Abel sold Leafeon to them. That's one of the rarer Eeveelutions."

"I'd say it's almost guaranteed. Now, we don't know if that's just a one-time thing or a recurring business. Abel is someone who prioritizes money above all else." Mira said with crossed arms.

"I really thought he'd lay low after his close call in Veilstone," I muttered. "Either way, if he's involved, we can't really do anything, can we?"

"Well I wouldn't want to," Mira nodded. "But hey, I roped you in a bunch of stupid situations before, so I'd be willing to help."

"Destroying some poachers sounds like a nice way to spend our time here," Chase agreed. His jaw tightened, and he looked back to Zangoose. "I fucking hate criminals."

I nodded. Chase had busted into Valley Windworks without any backup before, so I was sure what he said came from the heart. In a one-on-one, Abel would best all of us, but together?

It was still a risk. I bit the inside of my cheek and shook my head.

"Granted, this isn't a sure thing," I said. "I mean, how long will it take for this ankle to heal? I don't think it'd be a great idea to do this."

Mira smirked. "Think Ariel, Carlos, and the other ACE trainers will intervene if we throw ourselves in danger?"

Her eyes twitched, and she turned to Alakazam and Gardevoir, who were no doubt screaming in her head.

"With humans, they will, I think. Ariel did emphasize that wild Pokemon were usually predictable. But I don't want to be the one to force them to risk their lives to protect us. What if one of them dies? I don't want that debt in my hands. It would eat me from the inside."

Her smirk flattened. "You're right. My bad."

"Cecilia. What do you think about this?" Chase said.

My girlfriend's eyes shifted as if she had been in a daze. That was unlike her, I thought.

"I… you shouldn't risk yourself," she finally spoke. "And to be frank, I have started to hope for Abel's—"

Her mouth stopped.

"Never mind."

Mira's eyes narrowed, and I frowned. Abel's what? I shared a look with Mira, and she discreetly nodded. She'd get to the bottom of this... hopefully.

"I'll need to fly to Pastoria ahead of you guys to get my ankle looked at," I said. "Sorry to cut our travels short, but it'll only be a few days apart. Plus, Sunshine needs to get looked at too. He got hurt really bad, and I don't think potions will be enough."

"Go on," Chase said.

Mira nodded. "We'll be right behind you."

"Do you want Chase to come with you?" Cecilia asked, placing a hand on my arm. Her inner thoughts from earlier looked to have been put on the wayside, but there was still conflict deep within her. I'd known her for long enough and spent enough time with her to be able to tell. "He can follow on Sigilyph."

"I'm fine. Princess will be here if anything happens, and I'll be strapped in tight," I said with a bittersweet smile. "Sorry about keeping Honey hidden from you."

"Nah, I get it," Mira shook her head. "The blackouts, right?"

I didn't answer, but must have given something away, because she kept going.

"Yeah, I figured."

"Keep it a secret," I pleaded. "I want to make it look like he evolved on the route."

"Obviously I won't rat you guys out," she rolled her eyes.

"Let's meet when we're all in Pastoria and make a decision," Chase said. "Let's bring Williams and Lauren in. The others are too weak, I'd say."

"I'm weak," Mira acknowledged.

"But you're smart, shrimp," he said. "You can help us figure things out."

"Nothing is set in stone, okay," I said as Angel placed me back on Princess. Thanks to his dexterity with his vines, he strapped me in tighter than even I was capable of. "We aren't even sure if this Abel-poacher link is right."

Once I placed the grass type back in his Pokeball, we were on our way up. Despite her exhaustion, Princess pushed to bring me to Pastoria as fast as she could, but also made sure not to make any sudden twists or turns to spare my ankle from any extra pain. The city was still a few hours away, so I'd need to fill my mind with something while we flew, or I would definitely pass out from the pain.

"Arceus, I'm going to need crutches," I groaned.

Even with the wind as loud as it was, Princess heard me and responded with a sad chirp.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. It could have been a lot worse," I said, petting her head. "You know, when we get a psychic type, you'll be free to fly during battles and you'll be able to reach your full potential. You might not have as much power as Sunshine and Honey, but you'll be a menace."

The fairy type nodded half-heartedly, and she asked if I wanted… help.

Her new evolution had also brought her powers to a new level. Back in Eterna Forest, I had used her as a sleeping aid when I'd been plagued by nightmares, but she could do a lot more, now, and apparently she was confident that while she wouldn't be able to stop me from feeling pain, she could make the flight more bearable—

I shut her down. "No, Princess. Things haven't changed. I can't become reliant on you for everything. Cynthia might be… a character, but her advice is still valuable."

Togekiss stayed silent for a few seconds, gliding across the sandy beaches of route 213, but after a bit, she said that she'd be like a painkiller.

"You'd be a lot better, which is worse," I gently said. "Thank you for worrying about me, though. And look, if we're ever in a fight— an important fight like the one with Carnivine, and I get hurt to the point of not being able to think straight, then maybe. If it's absolutely necessary."

She seemed content with that, at the very least. When the pain came back, I started talking again.

"Okay, I'm feeling… a little better, mostly because I'm getting used to the pain," I said, leaning toward her ear. "If you ever need to take a break, you can land. I know you're tired."

Princess answered by saying that flying was no big deal.

"I'll hold you to that, then. Hey, since the swamp is a no-go because of the poachers and Abel, Cece'll have to go to the Safari zone to find her Croagunk."

She hadn't settled on Mienfoo exactly, but they couldn't be found anywhere near Pastoria, so I suspected that Croagunk would be her final Pokemon. There was only so much time she could waste. She'd have to bring them up to speed as fast as possible, and there was also the Zweilous evolution to worry about… granted, she wasn't worried yet. I hoped she would still call her brother despite their relationship having been irreparably broken.

"There's also Sweetheart," I muttered. When Princess asked what I was talking about, I spoke again. "She's getting close to evolution. The timeline points to her doing so at some point during our travels after Wake. We'll have to contain her somehow. I need to start thinking about that."

Togekiss suggested having me fly on her in the distance while the others fought Sweetheart.

"I need to talk to her. She can't go through this alone," I shook my head, clinging to the saddle. "But staying on the ground would be dangerous too. I guess we can compromise. As long as we aren't too far and she can hear my voice, and it should be okay. I don't know if she'll be too blinded by rage to know that her dark type attacks would break through your barrier. At least she'll lose her ground typing so Honey will be able to help out. Let's bounce ideas off of each other and outline a plan now."

There was also another thought in the back of my mind. Dissociating— the trick Bella had taught me— was a lot harder to pull off when lives were actually on the line. In Gym Battles? All I needed was around ten minutes of set up, but how would I lean into it when I'd have no warning and I'd have to watch my family member actually be at risk?

More food for thought, I thought to myself, sinking my hands into Princess' fluff. Anything to keep myself thinking.

The hours passed, and I managed to distract myself until we reached our destination.

—

The sun was almost setting when we arrived.

Pastoria looked unpopulated from the air, but I knew that wasn't actually true. Sure, it was one of Sinnoh's smaller cities, but it was still inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people.

Pastoria differed from Jubilife, Sunyshore, and Veilstone in that there were no skyscrapers, but it also wasn't tightly knit like Eterna City either. The entire city looked suburbian, for lack of a better word. Long, winding roads with similar-looking homes and Pokemon Centers and Marts were peppered throughout. The only place that looked like a proper city was Pastoria's large port and its surroundings. The low density allowed nature to flourish everywhere throughout the city, and more Pokemon called Pastoria their home than any other major city in Sinnoh, which was one of the reasons I'd looked forward to coming here the most. There were even patches of forests in the city— parks where Pokemon and humans alike could enjoy a day out in the shade. The Safari Zone was tinier than I'd expected. Apparently there were some local populations of rare Pokemon there along with what you'd expect to find in a swamp. Paldean and Alolan species that were fit to live in the environment and that the Pastorian government had fostered over the decades. Needless to say, there were some stringent quotas on the number trainers could catch.

Princess circled over the city, making sure to adhere to the rules we'd learned in Flight School as she searched for a landing pad that was as close to a Pokemon Center as possible. The city was surrounded by the swamp to the west and north, and a forest even further north hugged the Safari Zone and stretched on for what seemed like forever. There were plenty of other trainers flying around too, as there always were in cities. It was just odd that I was one of them now instead of the ones looking at the sky in awe.

Well, that was just me having delusions of grandeur to distract myself from my ankle. Most trainers didn't give a crap of what went on over their heads.

Princess landed on one of the pads with giant Pokeballs on them, and I released Angel to support me the rest of the way. The long streets did not work in my favor here. Pastoria was even more car-centric than Veilstone and Hearthome had been. I passed by a group of curious Bidoof and waved, keeping my face as still as I could.

When I reached the Pokemon Center, I was ready to collapse. I gave over all of my Pokemon with the exception of Sweetheart and Buddy and moved on to the human wing. I was dragged into one of the hospital rooms and checked right away. The doctor that had been assigned to me looked quite young, but I paid him no mind. He introduced himself as Dr. Hemsworth.

"So. Will you tell me what happened to your ankle?" He gently asked.

The answer took a while. It was hard to talk when he was actively undoing my bandages. At the very least, he didn't say my splint had been bad, but he didn't compliment it either.

Why was I even expecting a compliment on my splint? Arceus, the pain was making me go crazy.

"I fought a wild Carnivine, and I think she hit me with some strengthened Grass Knot. Either that, or she could manipulate the grass as she wished."

"Hm…"

"Ow!"

I hissed, clenched at my leg as he palpated at my swollen ankle.

"My apologies. It definitely feels and looks broken, but we'll do an X-ray just to be sure. Take off your ring and undress, please. I'll hand you a special gown and step out of the room to let you change."

My entire procedure was a blur. Having to stand and keep my leg still was so painful sweat started to drip off my forehead. When all was said and done, he produced a series of images that showed my ankle fractured in a few pieces. I gulped and turned to the doctor.

"This is good," he said, much to my surprise. "The bones weren't displaced, so you'll be able to heal without surgery. We'll need to immobilize it with a cast, of course, and I'll have to ask for you not to put any weight on the leg—"

"How long will it take to heal?"

He hummed. "You're looking at a few months for your leg to feel normal, at the very least. In around a month and a half, walking will become possible again…"

His words faded into the background, and a mixture of rage and disbelief bubbled in my chest. Fucking. Ariel! Months! Months of healing! Yes, she said that she was caught off-guard, but had she intervened the moment Carnivine appeared instead of wanting to force me to grow in strength, then none of this would have happened.

Calm down, I exhaled. You shouldn't have gone up there in the first place. And there was no way she could have known about Carnivine wanting to kill me when she usually only chased humans off her mountain without injury.

At that point, I'd be expecting her to step in whenever I came across any wild Pokemon, and that was unreasonable.

But still, fuck her!

The fact that even ACE trainers were not infallible was not something I'd wanted to figure out.

Doctor Hemsworth donned me with a cast for my ankle that looked more like a damn ski boot than anything and gave me a pair of crutches to help me walk, along with some painkillers that I knew would be a lot less effective than Princess was.

I was too tired to do anything. After getting myself a room and downing a pill, I let the numbness take me and fell asleep.