CHAPTER 50

We remained standing after reaffirming our solidarity. As it was, Lance had some parting words for us.

“I trust all of you to keep up with your own training, but I want to make sure we’re truly prepared. For that reason, we’ll be holding mandatory training sessions from now on at the Plateau. These will go on until either Team Rocket is wiped out or the next League Circuit seasons begin,” Lance announced. His eyes swept over our forms with undecipherable emotion. “Many of you have minimal experience with… rougher battles, so this training should prove itself to be invaluable. I also hope that it will further strengthen our bonds and coordination for future fights.”

He had a point. A good chunk of the Indigo Gym Leaders were teenagers who’d only taken up their posts within the last year. Though they were among the strongest trainers in our country, they hadn’t had a lot of time or chances yet to experience the darker side of our jobs. They themselves understood Lance’s gentle warning the best and hid their nerves. Like the rest of us, they offered nods of assent.

Satisfied, Lance raised his chin.

“Then carry on with your respective work in the meantime. It’s officially the off-season for all of Indigo now that both Conferences are over. As always, you’ll be contacted should there be any updates with Team Rocket. We’re going to keep investigating potential hideouts,” he stated. “Just remember this: everything we talked about today does not leave this room, especially the part about Team Rocket’s motivations.”

His voice dropped a few pitches.

“Understood?”

More grim nods followed in the wake of his words. He didn’t have to tell us twice. If the public ever learned what we had today, there would undoubtedly be widespread chaos. There was a chance it could even fan the flames of controversy or reveal the existence of citizens sympathetic to Team Rocket’s radical ideas.

The unification of Kanto and Johto never needed to be brought into question.

With the meeting finally adjourned, some people conversed quietly among themselves while others Teleported back to their gyms. I was among the few who stayed behind for a reason of my own, but the moment I caught Brock’s eye—

“Arin.”

My name was called. I turned to find Lance beckoning to me. In the corner of my eye, I witnessed Sabrina and Blaine leaving the room together, presumably to undergo that interrogation Lance had mentioned earlier. Brock made a hand motion that implied he would wait, so I walked over to see what our Champion wanted.

“Did you need something?” I asked once I drew near. Agatha and Looker stood on either side of Lance.

“Yes.” To no surprise, Lance nodded. “Our League already has two Rotom of our own, but in light of the most recent incident, we’ve decided to borrow one from Interpol to shore up our defenses further. Looker has already agreed to let the Indigo League put down insurance regarding their Rotom’s confidentiality.”

Oh, I saw where this conversation was going already. I’d undergone similar experiences in Paldea back when I’d worked for Geeta and the League there.

“So you need my help making a vow?” I asked just to be sure.

I was rewarded with a most curious smile from Lance. “That’s right. Looker was actually the one who suggested it. He told us that other Leagues employ Fairy Specialists to make vows more binding. Usually Agatha and her Ghosts are the ones who enforce promises here, but I’d feel more reassured if we had additional insurance.”

To anyone who didn’t work for their regional government or League, our discussion probably would have made zero sense to them.

Pokemon like Rotom or the Porygon line were very useful for security purposes, but they also came with the risk of going rogue. Porygon were at least somewhat easier to track through cyberspace if needed, but Rotom were the problematic ones. They could literally vanish to the ends of the world like any Ghost. Even if a regional League wanted to kill them before that happened, there was no point because Ghosts never truly died. They’d just revive again and again in between periods of rest.

So, for insurance and accountability, what most regional Leagues opted to do was make ‘vows’ with any elusive Rotom they managed to ally with.

Sometimes it was with the reigning Champion’s Pokemon. Other times it was with a powerful Ghost or Fairy, but any Rotom typically made a vow with a Pokemon stronger than them. It was a way for the local League to keep them in check.

Ghosts were centered around emotion. It was feelings that drove them, and it was their intensity that affected how and why Ghosts could be tethered to the mortal plane in the first place. Though they had no identity to call their own, emotions gave them lingering attachment. Any vow a Ghost made and imbued with their own emotions — their existence on the line — had to be honored lest they suffer dire consequences. A breach in verbal contract could cause them to be banished to the Other Side of the world, or it could cause their powers to be permanently weakened.

Breaking a vow also gave the other party permission to hunt the Rotom down and kill them for the rest of time since Ghosts couldn’t die. If the other party was a Ghost, well… there was the actual threat of a Rotom’s existence being snuffed out forever since Ghosts could permanently kill their own kind under certain circumstances. You could imagine how terrifying that would be with Agatha’s famed Gengar chasing you to the ends of the world or to the Beyond. It was even worse when the promise was made with the Fae because words held truly tangible power with them.

The moral of the story was to be careful with the kinds of promises you made.

My Pokemon and I had experience with what Lance was asking of us. Every regional League or government had at least one or more Rotom under their employ, and the Paldea League had been no different. I’d helped Geeta enforce promises with multiple Rotom before. Thankfully, we’d never had to go beyond our roles as witnesses or arbiters. Our contractees valued their existences more than their fickle natures would otherwise imply.

I could understand why Lance wanted my help. He’d already told me his reservations about Interpol in private before, so it seemed like he wasn’t quite reassured yet about them being a politically neutral organization.

That, and the severity of the situation warranted extra precautions. Letting a foreign Rotom have access to our systems and records could not have been an easy decision on Lance’s part. I respected that he was willing to extend another level of trust to outsiders for the sake of Indigo.

“Alright,” I easily agreed. “Where are we conducting the process?”

“This way.”

I followed Lance and the others out into a hallway. The doors here all looked the same to me. It was to the point that when Lance finally stopped to open one, I wondered if he’d picked it at random. My seemingly wild hunch was cemented by the fact that the new room we were in looked almost identical to the one we’d just occupied.

Without further ado, the lone Interpol agent in our midst dug out a Pokeball from inside his coat and clicked it. Everyone gave him and the ensuing red light a wide berth for good reason. Streaks of electricity tore erratically at the air as a small entity made of plasma took shape, solidified further by the light bulb it currently possessed. I could tell as much by the orange blob that formed its core and the almost unnatural blue and white eyes it had.

A strange cry left the Rotom as it twirled around. It sounded like a lightbulb twisting into place and then punctuated by a distinct pop after it had been turned on.

While I went ahead and released Silque, the shadow behind Agatha rippled in place. Three Gengar slid out from it without a sound and shuffled in front of the old woman. The temperature drastically went down with their full appearances, but a fond nudge of Agatha’s cane made them dial back the whole warmth-sapping habit.

Gengar were famous — or to be more accurate, infamous — the world over, but very few trainers actually owned one. For one thing, they were hard to tame even when compared to regular Ghosts. For another, there were only so many different ways a Haunter could evolve, and none of them were simple. The so-called ‘easier’ methods that the public was actually aware of included inducing and accumulating enough fear or letting your Haunter feed on an extraordinary amount of highly toxic waste over a period of time. The more common ways — those hidden by the government yet whispered in rumors — involved going down a path of immoral bloodshed… killing. Devouring enough life force from living beings.

To this day, nobody knew exactly how many Gengar were under Agatha’s command. I doubted the trio in front of me were the only ones she had. As a veteran who’d lived through two deadly wars, she’d probably had plenty of chances to evolve multiple Haunter she shared a bond with.

With my Hatterene by my side, all the participants needed for the vow ceremony were now in place. Everyone looked to me as I gave Silque the signal to begin.

There was an immediate shift in the room. The lighting dimmed even though no switches were touched, and a strange tension seeped into the atmosphere. White pupils glowed as brightly as crescent moons in the sky as Silque focused her gaze.

Under the all-knowing gaze of the Moon, I stand here as Witness and Arbiter, she said into the minds of those present. Two different sides seek a contract. Speak now and state your terms.

Lance was already prepared. He pulled out a written contract drafted far in advance from his pocket and began to read the stipulations printed there. There were a lot of legal terms involved, but the gist of the matter was that Rotom was required to keep anything it learned while protecting our systems in utmost confidentiality. None of the information could be leaked, voluntarily or not, to those at Interpol, another living or non-living being, etc. The list of conditions and accompanying explanations went on and on for nearly a full page. The Indigo League knew to be very thorough with their wording.

When he finally finished, Looker urged Rotom forward. I couldn’t understand what it said, but the constantly shifting Ghost presumably agreed to the terms through a series of garbled clicks. Agatha’s three Gengar followed up with screeches made in unpleasant unison.

Rotom, the Gengar— All the Ghosts in the room then flickered in and out of existence as they imbued their words and intentions with the source of their powers here in the mortal world. Their promises were given weight by the emotions that sustained them.

My Hatterene waited for them to maintain a stable hold over their spectral forms again before speaking.

The Moon and Stars bear silent witness, and the World acknowledges the contract made here today. Both parties have hereby agreed to the terms mutually set. Now, in accordance with the laws that govern those from Beyond, the contract must be abided until Eternal Rest.

The world physically rippled with every word she spoke. Words had always held power, but never more so to and by the will of Fairies. Out of all my Pokemon, Hatterene was most in tune with the old ways. She was powerful enough that she could Pull at the world and draw from powers long lost to the modern age of humans.

Now, she was cementing the words — the Contract — into the world’s history.

Silque took the words the Ghosts had given her and gave them further weight. Just like how the world still remembered and abided by influences left by passing Myths and Legends, it would now remember that a vow had been made here today with existences on the line. The World itself would hold Rotom accountable for its actions, and should the contract ever be breached… perhaps none of us would need to step in at all. The World and its other half, the Beyond, would pass down their natural judgment on Rotom for us.

With the contract officially in place, warmth and regular light returned to the room. Silque’s eyes stopped glowing. She went back into her Pokeball, but not before flashing sharp teeth in a smile at Rotom. It was as if she personally promised a world of hurt and pain should it ever prove unfaithful to its new vow.

It was also now that I noticed the appraising looks being sent my way. Lance and Agatha both stared at me with renewed fascination. In the case of Agatha, it was more like she was one step away from having her Gengar tear me apart to see what else I was hiding.

I did my best to ignore her intense scrutiny and cleared my throat.

“Lance, now that we’re done here… there was something Brock and I wanted to talk to you about. Do you have time?” I finally had the chance to bring up what I’d wanted to say all along.

I also really wanted to escape from Agatha’s piercing gaze, and the one-word answer Lance gave was like music to my ears.

“Sure.”

I was quick to follow him out the doors, but I could still feel Agatha’s gaze on my back long after the room disappeared behind us. I hardly knew her, but she was an unsettling old woman when she wanted to be.

When we returned to the original meeting room, everyone was gone except for Brock. The Pewter Gym Leader had been waiting patiently for our return.

“Alright,” Lance started, eyes darting between me and the teenager standing by the wall. He’d obviously taken note of our serious expressions. “My ears are open. What did you want to tell me?”

A few minutes later, Lance swore out loud and pinched the bridge of his nose. We’d just finished telling him about the existence of a certain Guardian Pokemon in Mount Moon. Brock and I had already sworn to Clefable and each other that we would carry the secret of the massive Moon Stone to our graves, but there had been no such promises made about Clefable herself. She didn’t care much in the first place. Every regional League and government was obligated to keep track of powerful wild Pokemon that dwelled within their borders. They usually had entire departments of people who watched over such creatures twenty-four seven, and it was all to make sure we were on top of any chaos the moment disaster struck. It was a matter of national security.

“Good Ho-Oh. It’s one thing after another,” Lance muttered. In a louder voice, he addressed the both of us. “Brock, Arin. Thank you for letting me know about this… Mountain Weaver. How high of a threat level would you assess her? How much force would be needed to subdue her in a hypothetical future?”

A slight tilt of Brock’s head in my direction, and I understood he had given me the honors as a Fairy Specialist to answer Lance’s reasonable inquiries. We had to stay on top of potential threats.

“Not very high,” I told our Champion in all honesty. “She’s content to live in secluded peace with her clan. She’s the type who’ll only move if threatened. So long as we don’t antagonize her, Clefable will do the same. As for how to subdue…” I paused for a moment to point between me and Lance. “A Champion-level trainer could easily put her in her place, but only if we fight her outside the mountain. Inside is where all her powers are concentrated. My team would still be able to win, but it wouldn’t be a quick fight.”

“Hmm…”

Lance’s brows furrowed as he mulled over my assessment. His foot tapped once, twice, three times against the floor before he finally spoke.

“Okay. I’m not going to assign too many people to keep track of Clefable’s status, then,” he decided. He turned his attention to the teenager in the room. “Brock, I doubt you need to be told this, but I’d like to emphasize that you should be careful with the Clefairy clan going forward. We’ve only dealt with proxies this whole time instead of their actual leader.”

“Don’t worry,” Brock promised in a steady, calm voice. He looked the very picture of determination as he crossed his arms. “I planned on doing just that. I’ll be extra courteous around them.”

“Good.” Lance nodded in approval, then turned to me. “Ho-Oh forbid, but if any problems crop up in the future that Brock can’t resolve… then I’ll ask you to come in, Arin, as our leading Fairy Specialist.”

“Just say the word,” I replied. “I’ll come whenever you need me. I’ll probably be seeing more of Clefable from now on anyway, so I can try to build a tentative friendship if that’ll help the League at all.”

One brow was quirked in my direction. “Do elaborate.”

In return, I gave a shrug of my shoulders and the hint of an excited smile. “She said I was welcome to visit after we got rid of the Rockets. I figured I’d take her up on her offer.”

Lance studied me for a moment, then—

A loud and uproarious laugh filled the meeting room. Brock and I both blinked a few times at him.

“What’s so funny?” I found myself asking with a smidge of defensiveness leaking through.

“Oh, nothing,” Lance said with a quick shake of his head. He coughed into his fist, but I saw the small smile that tugged at his lips. “It’s just… you know, here we are worrying about Team Rocket, but you’re happily invited to come visit the elusive Clefairy of Mount Moon as if it’s a tea party. Secondly, most people tend to stay away from dangerous beings, not the other way around. I’m not going to discourage you from visiting, but—”

“I’ll be on my best behavior,” I cut in, rolling my eyes with a smile of my own. I supposed this was something to find humor in given all the stress we’d been going through lately. Arceus knew Lance needed it given how haggard he looked lately as the man running the whole country. “Perhaps I’ll even bring gifts courtesy of the League, hmm? I don’t suppose you have a big Moon Stone I can have.”

That got a snort of laughter from Brock, and it was even funnier because of the knowledge in our possession that Lance was unaware of.

We parted ways there. Everybody had things of their own to do. I still had one last order of business at the League, though, and couldn’t go home just yet. I had to ask a League Trainer on standby for directions to the medical wing.

When I got there, I discovered I wasn’t the only visitor. Falkner was busy talking to a doctor while Clair peered through a glass wall. I walked over to stand next to her, eyes following her line of sight. A Dragonair rested inside a transparent case hooked up to various medical equipment and fluids. Clair didn’t say anything, but she made her acknowledgement of my presence known by a short nod of her head. Her eyes never left the Dragonair. Though she wore no visible emotion on her face, it was obvious she was concerned.

“Will your Pokemon be okay?” I asked softly.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

A prompt answer was relayed to me as if Clair had memorized it in advance. “She’ll be alright. The injury was quite severe, but they were able to mend it with Ditto cells since I put her in a Pokeball’s stasis so quickly. I’ll have her back in a week after they run more tests on her.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

I really was. I’d honestly been most afraid for Clair’s Dragonair because of how brutal Tentacruel had been with it. I could still clearly visualize its appendage stabbing cleanly into the dragon’s body, powerful enough that it managed to pierce through its protective scales…

I snapped out of my thoughts when Clair spoke again.

“Thank you.”

It was so quiet that I nearly missed it. The Blackthorn Gym Leader still hadn’t turned to look at me. Her stoic side profile gave no indication that she’d uttered her thanks, but I’d heard it clear as day.

It didn’t feel right to say ‘don’t worry about it’ or anything else in this situation, so I just gave a small, subdued smile and quietly walked away.

I felt much better after speaking with one of the available doctors. First, no Pokemon of ours had died from wounds sustained in yesterday’s battle. Powerful, trained Pokemon had tougher constitutions and could bounce back more easily from rough injuries than weaker Pokemon, so that was one point in our favor. I was also taken aback when I heard that Blaine had personally come in overnight to help oversee Ditto cell injection. Though he was no doctor, he was still the genius brain behind Ditto and knew best how to implant the cells into a Pokemon’s body so that they could regenerate properly. He’d stayed up for hours to make sure our Pokemon were going to be fine.

He was surprisingly more caring than he looked.

Grima’s Pokeball was handed back to me with a clear set of instructions. The massive hole in his arm was still in the process of stitching itself back together, but he had been cleared to go home. I was to keep him outside of his Pokeball for the next few days so that his arm had time to fully regenerate, and then I had to bring him back to the League for a final check-up. He wasn’t supposed to engage in any fighting for the next five days even though his arm would heal within two. It was the internal poison from Muk that had truly dealt a number on the Grimmsnarl. They’d had trouble getting it out of his system, and he was going to feel a bit queasy from the aftereffects for the next week.

I was just happy to have him back with me. It didn’t feel right when even a single one of my Pokemon was missing.

The first thing I did after Teleporting to the Cherrygrove Gym was follow the instructions I’d been given. Grima brought me in for a huge, one-armed hug as soon as he was out of his Pokeball, and he kept his still-healing limb clear of the act. I was glad to see he was mindful of his own injury.

“Does it hurt?” I asked him once we let go of each other.

The Grimmsnarl predictably said it didn’t, but the slight twitch of his eye clued me in on the fact that it still hurt a lot. Made sense. There was literally skin growing back this very second. It was bound to be itchy and more than a little painful.

“Just take it easy for a bit,” I urged. “We’ll get to enjoy some downtime anyway. I don’t think they’re going to find another Rocket base so easily.”

The moment Grima claimed he could still battle, I unleashed more members of the team around my office and let them chew out their reckless teammate. I settled back in my swivel chair and watched my Pokemon bicker playfully with each other. It was a calming scene, but I couldn’t fully appreciate it.

The fact that I was sitting in my office again honestly felt a bit unreal to me. Only yesterday, I’d been fighting a Rocket Executive in the lowest levels of Mount Moon. Only yesterday, I’d learned they wanted to tear down Indigo— literally and figuratively.

It was absurdity at its best and worst. I didn’t think I could ever understand why Team Rocket felt they had to go to such lengths. Was that why Proton had looked at us with such rage? Because the idea of Indigo was simply that infuriating?

I would never know unless we found more clues or forced the answers out of them, but that was a job best left to Interpol and professionals at the League. I didn’t necessarily have to know or understand why either. The goal was never going to change, and that was eradicating Team Rocket once and for all.

They were too dangerous an entity to be left alone.

I double-checked that my phone was set to max volume for any calls or notifications from the Indigo League. The moment they needed me for anything, I’d come running. For now, I had the luxury of slipping back into more mundane routines. There was only so much time left until the fall, but the most immediate pressing matter was the gym audit.

Every year, gyms across Kanto-Johto were reviewed by teams of inspectors sent directly by the Indigo League. Reviewing financial records and statements was the least of what they did. Aside from looking for any discrepancies in the flow of money, they also reviewed a gym’s performance based on statistics and reports that Gym Leaders handed in over the course of the year. They even looked at opinions from trainers and civilians posted online. Their duties didn’t end there. They checked the emotional and physical well-being of gym Pokemon and staff members, whether or not the gym’s building met safety standards, overall facility maintenance…

Put simply, the annual gym audit slash inspection encompassed a lot.

Gyms that didn’t pass the annual audit had to pay a penalty fee to the League. If you got a low enough score, you also suffered the risk of the gym’s rank being demoted or being stripped of ownership. Needless to say, you wanted to pass the inspection with as high of a score as possible. It helped that the Indigo League gave out more annual funding to gyms that did well.

I’d received a courtesy reminder in the mail last week about the Cherrygrove Gym’s very own inspection… which was tomorrow. Due to a combination of factors — type speciality and rank change, new ownership, and not having been in operation yet for an official League Circuit season — the audit this time was going to be an abridged one. There was nothing for the inspectors to look at performance-wise, so they were going to review everything else.

I was confident the Cherrygrove Gym would pass with flying colors, but there was no harm in making sure everything was in order.

A quick trip around my office, and I confirmed neat piles of various documents clipped together and stashed away for tomorrow’s inspection. I’d lay them out on my desk in the morning. Together with Vel, I went into another room on the second floor and called for a staff meeting.

Everyone showed up within the minute. For me, it had only been a day since I last saw anyone. For them, it had been a whole week.

They didn’t look as anxious as I thought they’d be. Dad was with them, so I could only assume he’d already let them know ahead of time that I was fine. That didn’t stop Neil from giving me one of his famous bear hugs.

“Please don’t disappear like that next time,” he mumbled after letting go. I would have answered him if Luca hadn’t fallen to his knees near me with a teary-eyed expression. His Igglybuff was nestled securely in his arms.

“YOU’RE ALIVE!” Luca proclaimed happily, and he repeated it a few more times. “The Gym lives on!”

For a moment, I thought he was being serious. That was until I saw Will raise a hand to his forehead and tilt his head back in true dramatic fashion nearby. Around him, Souta and Haru’s eyes shone with unshed tears while the others held back smiles.

Were they trying to lighten the mood and this reunion?

I shook my head fondly as a smile nearly split my face in two. “Sorry. Work took longer than I thought it would.”

“No kidding,” Neil dryly quipped back.

A round of chuckles spread across the room. I checked in with everyone and was glad to hear they and the Gym had been doing fine in my absence. I had a backlog of advertisement inquiries to look through, a gym lecture that needed to be rescheduled… trivial stuff I could easily get done. I did feel bad for my newest gym trainers, though. I hadn’t been around to personally guide them through their new jobs, but it seemed the others had helped them grow accustomed to things in my stead.

We also had a few Pokemon that had evolved and some new additions to our gym challenge roster straight from Route 30. Dad had done me a huge favor and gotten all our Pokemon health records updated at the Pokemon Center already, so that was one less thing to worry about.

“The gym audit is tomorrow morning at nine o’clock,” I reminded as the meeting drew to a close. “I’ll be busy showing the inspectors around. You all just need to show up to work on time and do whatever you normally do. You might be asked some questions regarding your experience working here, and if so, always be honest. Any questions?”

No raised hands or voices answered me. Everyone went back to what they were supposed to be doing, so I took the chance to tour the rest of the gym and outside grounds. I even checked in on our gym Pokemon back at the house.

Everything was fine. We were ready for the audit.

The rest of the day slipped by uneventfully. Most of it was spent in my office catching up on emails and previous gym reports. I was proud to say I was getting better at shifting between ordinary and Team Rocket-related work modes.

Oh, how badly I wanted to visit Mount Moon and see that gigantic Moon Stone again… There was a part of me that figured it would be alright if I showed up on my own, but the better half of me reasoned I should wait for a formal invitation from Clefable for my first ever visit. It would possibly earn me brownie points.

For the time being, I worked.

Around dinnertime, my appetite finally came back to me, and I enjoyed my first full meal since coming back from Mount Moon. A huge beef bowl disappeared into my stomach courtesy of our in-house chefs.

It was all well and good until my phone rang in the evening. A sense of deja vu washed over me as I ran my thumb across the digital device in my pocket. It wasn’t the ringtone I’d set for important calls from the League, but I still felt wary.

With no small amount of apprehension, I pulled my phone out and checked the screen. My brows nearly flew up to my hairline.

Clair of all people was calling me.

Questions bounced around in my head, but I didn’t want to keep her waiting. I promptly accepted the incoming call.

“Clair?” I asked, brows furrowed. “Did you need something?”

“Good evening,” her unmistakable voice filtered through from the other side. As usual, she spoke in a brusque and business-like tone. I waited for Clair to continue, but I was met with a long period of silence.

Well, this was awkward.

“Uh… Good evening,” I finally said, hoping that would prompt her into speaking again. Clair and I weren’t exactly on the most pleasant of terms — neutral at best — so I couldn’t figure for the life of me why she’d decided to call. There was no way in hell it was just for small talk.

Luckily, she didn’t continue the awkward silence.

“Are you prepared for the upcoming gym audit?” she asked.

I blinked. That had come out of seemingly nowhere. “Yeah. They’re coming by tomorrow, and I have everything prepared already. What about you?”

Instead of answering the question, Clair began rattling off information. “It may be wise to double or triple check again. You’re going to need updated health records— not from in-house medical staff but a Pokemon Center, a map of your gym’s layout that the inspectors can peruse, records of gym expenses incurred thus far and revenue gained from merchandise sales…”

On and on she went in a never-ending stream, and it was all said in the same clinical tone. I could have cut her off halfway, but I was simply so confused by this turn of events that I let her say everything she wanted while I processed the situation. When she finally ran out of documents to remind me about, I seized the lull in conversation to ask the question at the forefront of my mind.

“Thanks,” I began in an unsure voice. “I have all those already, but I’ll look again. And… no offense, but you’re the last person I expected to care so much about the annual gym audit. Did you really have to call me about it? Is it that scary?”

“…”

“Clair?”

“I’ve said everything I wanted to. Just make sure you’re prepared for the audit with necessary documents and answers to potential questions. Inspectors can be very… thorough. Good night.”

I didn’t even get a chance to reciprocate the stilted farewell. Clair had truly said everything she wanted to and hung up right after.

I lowered the phone from my ear and stared down at it, blinking several times.

Weird. Very weird. We didn’t really talk to each other outside of official settings, yet Clair had taken the time to check in on my preparations for the annual gym audit. I supposed it was nice of her though wholly unexpected.

I was already going to check again before I went to sleep, but with Clair’s warning still fresh in mind, I went to my office a little earlier than planned.

Every second leading up to my eventual bedtime was spent poring through and reorganizing documents once again… this time with an odd feeling I couldn’t shake off.

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Bright, early, and with pleasant warm weather, the next day saw me standing by the gym’s front doors. It was a beautiful morning all things considered… it was too bad I’d be spending most if not all of it cooped indoors for the gym audit.

At nine o’clock sharp, popping sounds filled the air as a small group of officials blinked into existence close by. They’d been Teleported here straight from the League thanks to a pair of Kadabra. Each man and woman carried some form of clipboard or tablet with them, and they were led by two men wearing shiny name tags. They all had official League badges.

“Good morning, Leader Arin,” the man on the right greeted. He held out a large, calloused hand for me to shake and smiled cordially. “We’re here on behalf of the Indigo League for the Cherrygrove Gym’s annual audit. I’m Koichi Naru, senior inspector.”

“Aaron Rokuro, senior inspector,” the other man introduced. Compared to Koichi, he had thinning hair and a deeper voice. He also stared at me with a much more scrutinizing gaze than his coworker.

I shook hands with both of them and donned my friendliest smile.

“Thank you for coming. Now, how would you like to begin?” I asked. They were the ones who were going to be conducting the inspection after all. I was only here to show them around, answer questions, and provide necessary documentation.

Koichi and Aaron exchanged glances.

“Let’s go over financial records first,” Koichi decided after a moment of deliberation.

It was straight to my office from there. I had documents separated by purpose on my desk already. Every time the inspectors brought up something they wanted to check, I passed the corresponding stack to them without delay.

“Tax records from the last year—”

“Here.”

“Where are the papers for the gym’s sources of income?”

“Right here.”

“Employee salary records?”

“Here you go.”

Before long, I was greeted by the view of inspectors bent over dozens and dozens of papers laid out on spare tables and chairs. They were very quick but thorough with their work and expertly flipped through documents with discerning eyes. Notes were jotted down on their clipboards or tablets.

I didn’t get to stand around idly while they worked. I was asked question after question by the head inspectors regarding the documents I’d handed them. Both were very polite about it, but for some reason, I felt like the man named Aaron kept circling back and asking me to clarify the same things all over again. It was as if he didn’t believe me the first time around… or maybe he was just the type to be extremely meticulous.

In the end, no issues were found with the gym’s finances (not that there were ever any to begin with). All papers were handed back to me for safekeeping, and they were traded for copies of gym Pokemon health records. Everything checked out there, too, although I was subjected to more questioning by the senior inspectors.

In fact, they wanted to carry on the inspection by visiting the gym Pokemon next.

We took a warp tile back to my house’s backyard. A few of the inspectors had licenses related to Pokemon healthcare, so they took charge here to examine the Pokemon for themselves. This part of the inspection had one purpose only: to make sure the gym Pokemon were being well cared for and not abused in any way from overtraining and the like. The inspectors went as far as to have the League Kadabra they possessed talk with different Pokemon and ask them how they felt about the Cherrygrove Gym.

I wasn’t privy to those conversations, of course. Seeing as how the Kadabra came back to us thirty minutes later with subtle smiles, I assumed we got glowing reviews from our resident Pokemon. We had to stay a little longer because again, I had to answer what felt like a torrential flood of questions regarding how the Cherrygrove Gym cared for its Pokemon.

How many breaks did we give them in between training sessions? How long? How many times a day were they fed and cleaned? And so on and so forth.

Again, it felt like I was being politely hounded. Aaron asked almost double the number of questions his coworker did, and most of them seemed redundant to me. Even Koichi seemed to think so from the not so subtle way he gave his coworker confused glances. I was starting to get a little feeling in the back of my mind, a bothersome one.

Still… so far, so good.

We moved on and returned to the gym itself. I had to run back to my office at one point to fetch the remaining documents the inspectors asked for, and they perused them while we walked around the premises.

Compliance with national building safety standards was one of the biggest things they looked out for. They studied a map of the gym’s layout, then double checked that there were fire alarms, extinguishers, visible exit signs, signs with raised lettering, and ramp slopes for the impaired among others.

There were also frequent breaks where one or two of the inspectors would pull passing employees aside and ask them questions in private. Their conversations were ones of similar nature to those held with the gym Pokemon. They wanted to make sure staff members were happy working here. Even some of our gym trainers were pulled aside, and I nearly laughed out loud when I saw how nervous Haru looked as he was dragged away.

And of course, I couldn’t forget all the questions thrown at me as we trekked from one end of the gym to the other. Aaron felt more like a Beedrill constantly buzzing in my ear at this point. He was always incredibly polite when questioning me, but it felt like there was a faint, underlying disingenuity underneath it all. Hostility even? I didn’t know how else to interpret the seemingly interrogative atmosphere that followed us throughout the rest of the inspection.

The other senior inspector actually excused himself at one point to pull Aaron aside for a private chat. When they returned, Aaron did a lot less talking, but he still interjected now and then with questions.

Ugh. So much for thinking the gym audit was going to be a smooth, fast process. I couldn’t wait for the inspection to end. I never wanted to go through a gym audit quite like this one again.

My wish was granted but not soon enough. Contrary to any and all expectations, the gym audit stretched way past noon and regular lunchtime.

We ended at half past three much to my dismay. Half a day… gone. Just like that.

I was mentally dead at this point in time, but I forced a bright smile on my face. The inspectors were getting ready to leave, and I accompanied them to a safe spot in the dark type energy blockade around the gym.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Leader Arin,” Koichi thanked.

He and the other inspectors bowed, so I reciprocated with a small one of my own. When I straightened, I saw Koichi had donned a look of embarrassment.

“I do apologize for how… long the audit was. Normally it only takes a few hours at most given all documents are in order. I hope you’ll forgive us for being thorough,” he apologized, but not before shooting a certain look at Aaron. The man simply shrugged and offered me a polite smile.

“Thank you for guiding us around, Leader Arin. Everything is in perfect order at the Cherrygrove Gym. Here are copies of our inspection records…” He trailed off to hand me papers full of notes and scores taken by their group. Nothing but the highest ratings across the board from a quick glance. “And you should receive a copy of the final audit report from the Indigo League within the next month.”

“Noted, thank you.”

I wanted them — mostly Aaron — out of my hair already, and I sagged with relief after they Teleported away.

Finally.

Instead of feeling happy about passing the audit with flying colors like I’d wanted, the first time I did was contact a certain someone. I waited impatiently for her to pick up.

“Clair Ibuki speaking.”

It sounded like she’d been expecting me, and it solidified the weird feeling I’d gotten last night and earlier today.

“The Cherrygrove Gym audit. You knew something about it, didn’t you?” I questioned. It was a struggle to keep my voice steady. “Your call last night and then all the unnecessary questioning I had to put up with today from the inspectors— something is obviously up.”

“…”

“I mean, I’m thankful you gave me a heads up if that’s what we want to call it. I would just really appreciate the truth.”

Maybe it helped that I was talking calmly and not yelling at her, but Clair finally spoke up.

“I’ll first preface things by saying I had nothing to do with it,” she began, and I was already frowning before she continued. “The Blackthorn Clan Elders leaped at the chance to find some dirt on the Cherrygrove Gym. They ‘kindly’ asked one of their connections at the Indigo League to do a thorough job when inspecting your gym today. They didn’t find any shortcomings, did they?”

“No, they did not,” I replied, and it was a true test more than ever to stay calm now. “So, you’re telling me YOUR clan instigated a League auditor to try his hardest to find something wrong with MY gym?”

“…Correct.”

I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers, exhaling deeply.

“Arceus,” I asked in a weary tone. I wasn’t even angry at this point, more tired than anything else. “Why would your clan even do something like that? Don’t they realize there are better things to worry about right now?”

We both knew I was referring to the looming threat of Team Rocket, and Clair made that known.

“They believe Team Rocket will fall easily and that things will return to normal soon."

That sounded like an abridged version of a very long and complicated story to me, but it sufficed as an explanation for now… delusional as the reasoning of the Elders was.

“…Why did you bother warning me? You didn’t have to.”

“I owed you.”

Was she talking about what happened with Dragonair back at Mount Moon?

“That’s not—”

Click.

The line disconnected. She’d hung up… again. I barely restrained myself from hissing through my teeth and sighed instead.

Was I ever going to get the last word with her on a phone call?

More importantly, the Blackthorns. I hadn’t thought much about them ever since their spies failed to infiltrate the gym, but here they were with a brand new (and unsuccessful) stunt. Compared to everything else going on, they were like… little jumping fleas for lack of a better description. So incredibly insignificant and yet annoying.

Did they actually believe Team Rocket was that weak? Were they that fixated on maintaining their own position in Johto that they didn’t care about what else went on?

I didn’t know, but I found myself wanting to learn more about the Blackthorns. Since Clair wasn’t likely to speak any further to me about her Clan, I had to ask someone else. Lance would probably be willing to talk if he wasn’t knee-deep in paperwork and Rocket business. Hell, the last time we spoke about his Clan, it had sounded like he was pretty tired of them, too.

Before I did anything, I had lunch to eat and good news to share with the rest of the team. I trudged back inside the gym and tried to keep my own mood up.

It was one thing after another.