Chapter Text
Smoke billowed from the ruined building, rising above the canyon like a beacon. Rocks clattered down the walls of the gorge, some hitting the roof below with an unforgiving clang. Veils of sand drifted through the air and made the scene appear fuzzy, almost dreamlike. Even so, there was no mistaking it: Team Snagem’s hideout, once carefully hidden, had now been revealed to the world. The explosion still rang in Wes' ears, a painful reminder of what he had done.
The picture changed abruptly, switching to a woman holding a microphone. Wes jumped back in his seat just a little, then quickly took another sip of coffee, trying to remain inconspicuous. He needn't have worried; everyone in the diner had their eyes glued to the TV screen.
“The recent explosion in Eclo Canyon has revealed a previously unknown building. Upon investigation, it has quickly become clear that it was Team Snagem’s hideout.” The reporter’s voice sounded tinny over the speakers, and Wes strained to hear it. Beside him, Haru and Vari pricked up their ears. “No Snagem members have been found, nor any snag machines, but the search is still ongoing.”
For once, the familiar presence of the snag machine felt like it was weighing down Wes' arm. He ran his fingers along the cold metal. If all had gone according to plan, this was one of the last snag machines in Orre.
At least for now. They could always make more, but he’d find a way to take those out too.
Wes drained the last of his coffee and set the mug back on the counter, producing a much louder clattering noise than he intended. This time, it was his Pokemon who jumped. “Relax,” he whispered to them. They had been more on edge than him this whole time. Haru’s bifurcated tail was still twitching from side to side, and Vari’s eyes hadn't stopped flickering around the room.
It was time to move on, anyway. There would be no escape for Wes, no hiding with his two distinctive Pokemon and the metal twined around his arm. He was going to have to fight his way out of this.
He just didn’t want to do it here, not in some old rusty train that had been converted to a crowded diner. The Outskirt Stand was nothing but a stopping place, and he'd rather go establish himself in a bigger city. Somewhere that he could put this machine to use. Build up a proper team and go down fighting. Even his two trusted companions wouldn't be enough to save him from all of Team Snagem.
They both leapt from their seats at the same time as Wes, always in perfect sync, and followed him towards the exit. His hand was halfway to the door when he heard “Oi, you!”
Wes spun around, accompanied by growls from both Haru and Vari. It can't be, I didn't notice anyone from Snagem here... But it was just a regular trainer. Bright-eyed and pink-haired, two Pokeballs at his waist.
“I'm Willie,” the trainer said, not that Wes had asked. “I took one look at you and your Pokemon and could just tell you're good. Battle me?”
The Eeveelutions stopped snarling, relieved in more ways than one. Things never went smoothly when trainers noticed Haru’s silence and Vari’s missing leg and wrote them off as useless.
“Yeah, all right,” Wes agreed, trying to maintain an air of nonchalance. Maybe a battle would help calm them all down.
Not that it ended up being much of a battle. Willie’s team consisted of nothing but two Zigzagoon, eager and energetic but not very well disciplined. Vari and Haru didn't even break a sweat as they knocked them down.
“You're real tough, all right,” Willie declared as he recalled his Pokemon. “But I just need more practice, too.” Wes wasn't going to argue with either of those statements. “You should head to Phenac City,” Willie continued. “A lot of trainers there would be closer to your level.”
Wes just shrugged, watching the other trainer creak his way back up the rusty train steps. Phenac was an option he had already been seriously considering. He was much more familiar with Pyrite Town, which was exactly where Team Snagem would expect him to go, so he would absolutely not be going there in the near future.
“What do you guys think?” he asked, addressing the two Pokemon. Haru considered it for a moment, then gave a slight nod. Vari just shrugged noncommittally.
“Phenac it is, then,” Wes decided. He headed over to the hovercycle, blue coat flapping in the wind and Eeveelutions following loyally behind him. The two wasted no time in hopping into the sidecar and snuggling up together. They deserved to rest after a stressful day of helping him carry out the plan.
They deserve better than anything I'll ever be able to give them here in this wasteland, Wes thought ruefully as he pulled the goggles down over his eyes to block out the desert sand. He revved the engine, and then the three of them were gone.
***
Phenac was unmistakable. A bright jewel shining through the grit of the desert, it promised safety and prosperity to the weary traveler. Glistening fountains bubbled with sparkling blue water, and palm trees spread their comforting leaves over the streets. It was a perfect oasis.
Too perfect.
Wes had always avoided the place. It was fake, full of endlessly circling fountain water that you couldn't drink and trees confined on all sides by cobblestones. Everyone here was always smiling and safe, never venturing out into the real world. It was far from what he was used to, and that's exactly why he was here. It wasn't Team Snagem territory.
As Wes pulled his bike into the parking lot, his eyes were drawn to a rusty old hovertruck. Two men were unloading a large package that seemed to be wriggling, which was surprisingly suspicious activity for Phenac. Haru and Vari, growling, clearly agreed.
“Can’t you hold on any tighter?” the first man grumbled. “Seems I'm doing all the work here.”
“It's not easy with all this squirming!” his partner complained.
Wes slid off the bike. Pokemon thieves, all the way out here? With no snag machine, they weren't going to get very far.
A sudden spitting noise from the bag, and then a third voice rang out. “Help! Kidnappers! Let me out!” The men started frantically arguing again.
“You didn't tie the gag properly!”
“Well, you told me to hurry up!”
“I'm not letting you blame me for this one if things go wrong!”
Wes strode over, accompanied by two furious Eeveelutions. “Sounds to me like you're both at fault here.”
The two men spun around. They weren't very inconspicuous for kidnappers. One of them had hair dyed neon yellow with orange tips, making it seem like his head was on fire. The other was wearing a bright safety vest and a strange-looking blue hat.
“What? Whatever you thought you heard, you're wrong!”
“We’re not kidnappers! We're just thieves!”
The voice from the bag chimed in. “Nope, they're definitely kidnappers.”
Flame-hair glared at Wes. “Whatever! You're not making it out of here to tell anyone about this, anyway.” He reached for a Pokeball, but Haru glowed white, and the man's hand froze in midair. “Hey, that's not fair!”
“Neither is kidnapping,” Wes said matter-of-factly. “Now, I suggest you get out of here if you don't want a demonstration of just how unfair my Espeon can be. And my Umbreon hasn't even gotten started yet.”
The two men looked at Haru’s flashing eyes, then over at Vari, who was snarling and glowing with dark energy. “This isn't over!” yelled Blue Hat as he and Flame-hair wisely fled. “We’ll find you, and we’ll make you pay!”
Vari’s teeth had already sliced through the rope at the top of the bag by the time Wes got closer. Haru effortlessly grabbed the entire bag with his telekinesis and flung it away, revealing a girl lying on the cobblestones with her hands tied together.
“Thank you,” the girl said, sounding immensely relieved as Vari went to work on the rope around her wrists. Wes noticed that the girl looked, well, girly. She was wearing a skirt, pink boots, and a pink-trimmed denim jacket. Her fiery red hair was tied back in two Ponyta-tails that were starting to come undone. But most importantly, she didn't appear visibly hurt, just shaken.
“Thank you all,” the girl clarified as the rope fell away from her hands. She reached out to pet a startled Vari on the head. For once, the Umbreon didn't flinch away from a stranger's touch, and leaned in to comfort her. Her face lit up as Haru walked over to her other side, and she reached out to him as well.
“It was nothing,” Wes said absentmindedly, looking at his Pokemon. They weren't entirely comfortable with the situation, but they clearly wanted to help in any way they could. “You know, these two usually won't go near strangers.” he added.
“They just figure that kidnapping victims are inherently trustworthy,” the girl suggested. “Or they're great judges of character. Probably both.”
“Are you all right?” Wes asked as the girl slowly got to her feet. To his surprise, she was a little taller than him.
“Yeah. As all right as I can be, under the circumstances. They only tied me up. They didn't hit me or... or anything.” she trailed off, voice wavering. “Anyway, I'm Rui. I must say, it's really nice to meet you.” She laughed nervously.
“Wes. The Umbreon is Vari, the Espeon is Haru.” The two Pokemon nodded their heads politely.
“This might be a weird question,” Rui began. “But did you see any unusual Pokemon with them?”
Wes shook his head. “Didn't see any Pokemon at all.”
Rui nodded, as if she wasn't expecting him to say yes in the first place. “I'm not sure why I bother asking. I can't imagine anyone else can see it…”
“See what?” Wes asked. This whole situation was starting to seem strange.
“It's a long story.” Rui looked down, kicking at a crack between cobblestones with a boot. “Basically, I saw something I shouldn't have, and that's why they kidnapped me.” She looked up, saw that Wes wasn't satisfied with that explanation, and continued. “I don't want to explain everything twice, but you can hear all about it if you come with me to talk to the mayor.”
“The mayor?” Wes echoed.
“Well, I need to tell somebody important, and he seems to be a good choice.”
Wes raised an eyebrow. “Are you calling me unimportant?” He was making an effort to lighten the situation, but belatedly realized that Rui might get the wrong idea and think he was angry.
She just smiled, though. “Actually, you're very important, but in a different way,” Rui took a step closer to him. “I'm out here on my own now, and I have no Pokemon to protect me. Will you come with me, even just for a little while?”
No. Because it's not safe with me. I'm being hunted by much more than just two useless kidnappers.
“Yes,” he said instead. Right now, Rui’s lack of Pokemon made her the one in more immediate danger. Maybe he could catch a few later on and leave them with her, but she would probably object to his methods.
“Oh, thank you,” Rui said, clearly relieved. “Let's go to the mayor, then!” She looked at him expectantly.
“What? I'm not from around here, you expect me to know where he is?”
***
Rui wasted no time in asking the nearest stranger for directions, and was immediately pointed towards a modest-looking building just down the street. It looked like every other house in Phenac, and nothing like the opulent mansion Wes had been expecting. Rui also wasted no time in heading over there, her strides firm and confident despite the situation. Wes struggled to keep up with her.
He didn't think the mayor would even be home, let alone bother to answer the door. But just a moment after Rui knocked loudly, the door swung open and Wes found himself face to face with the mayor of Phenac City.
Mayor Es Cade was short and fat, with two tufts of gray hair on either side of an otherwise bald head. He greeted Wes, Rui and even the two Pokemon with a warm smile. “Well, hello! What brings you to my home?” He motioned them inside before even giving them a chance to answer. “Come in, come in!”
“Well, sir,” Rui said as soon as the mayor was seated behind his desk. “I saw an unusual Pokemon. It was...troubling.”
Es Cade raised his eyebrows. “Unusual? We get all sorts of Pokemon here in Orre. It was probably just one of those fancy Alola formed thingies, or whatever they're called. Something you've never seen before.”
Rui shook her head. “No, not like that. It was a Makuhita, and I've seen those before. The problem was…” she hesitated. “Its aura. It was glowing in furious and angry ways that I didn't even know were possible, and it tried to attack a human.”
The mayor’s eyebrows somehow managed to climb even higher. “A Pokemon that was ‘glowing in furious and angry ways’? Sounds pretty noticeable. Why hasn't anyone reported this yet?”
“Well, the thing is,” Rui continued hesitantly. “I don't think anyone else can see that. It's an aura thing. I've always been able to see colourful auras around people that change with their mood. Not the same thing as psychic auras, which everyone can see.”
Haru’s own blank white psychic aura flickered to life in surprise, and he exchanged a look with Vari. Wes frowned. He didn't like the idea of someone reading his mind, even if it was something as simple as just emotions.
The mayor's eyebrows seemed to be trying to re-establish a colony of hair on top of his head. “Auras, you say? Auras that nobody else can see? I'm sorry, but that sounds hard to believe, little girl.”
Rui stamped her foot, and Wes didn't need any fancy mood-sensing powers to tell that she was angry. “Little? I am twenty-one years old and I intend to be taken seriously! I was kidnapped and tied up all because I saw this Pokemon! Two men clearly thought it was important enough that I not tell anyone about it! Isn't it your job to fix the problems like this that are going on in your city?”
Wes was taken aback not by her anger, but by her age. She's a year older than me? I wouldn't have guessed. I suppose it's the hairstyle that make her look younger.
Es Cade cowered a little, but quickly reclaimed his professional look. “Well, I wasn't aware that the situation was so serious. I'll certainly order an investigation.”
Rui breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate it.” And with that, she turned around and marched out the door, leaving Wes and his Pokemon to follow.