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Paul rolled his eyes. Of course they wouldn't believe it. That was unimportant. They were four more men, and if the Minutemen wouldn't let them in, there would be Paul to deal with. And Paul held a big playing card in the defense. Not only was he an early warning, he was a long delay. No one had gone through him yet. Only around, and that was much, much harder.

"My friend is - well, here," Paul announced. Beati rose from the shadow, and Paul moved on to more important matters.

"Ah, Reverend. Well, no, there aren't children here, and there's a very simple reason for that. I don't even know their names, and that's quite possibly the least you can do for me. I don't know where I'm going and I don't know what I'm doing. I'd just live with that, but you obviously hope I'll be successful, and so do I, and if you want that, then I need that information - and I need a favor.

"I need these people to be able to make it home safely. I've already shot up a few of them in self-defense, and I want to make it up to them. They're hoping to go to Riverdale, but unless the Minutemen have some sort of promise, ideally from me, that they're worthy of entry, they'll be turned back. I can't deliver this message personally, so I need you to send something or someone to do it for me. I don't care how you accomplish this task, but it's a matter of... politeness. Honor. Seems reasonable, I hope. I shot 'em, I can send them somewhere safe."

As Grimstip handled the Primeape seemingly without a sweat, the battle finally came to a close. As the door opened, a refreshing scent of clean air entered the room, but did little to mask the smell of the dead. Elian allowed Sigmund and Edward to rush past her, not wanting to be in their way as their quick footsteps signaled they were sprinting. Without being able to see, it would be pointless to chase in there after him, Elian praying that Aislin was alright. Listening to the boys speak to the children brought a welcomed sense of relief, as it seemed no one had gotten hurt, and Aislin was in one piece.

~

The Pokemon turned her sharp gaze towards Grimstrip as it wrestled its way past the ether shield, feeling the same sensation of weight she had felt when she first entered the room. Seeing the Primeape fall so quickly made the Pokemon flinch, but it appeared to mostly react calmly as the chaos ended. Once the doors opened, Aislin inched her way towards the opening, only to back away as the two professors rushed in. Seeing the battered and bruised Pokemon receive treatment, the Espeon seemed to calm further, her tail swishing back and forth in content. Looking up to Sigmund as he approached, the Pokemon let out a meow and purred at his petting, her tail swishing further. Once released from her duty, Aislin bounded over bodies and out the door, her paws sliding on the slick floor as she ran over to Elian.

~

As Aislin had moved past the barrier, Elian's vision started to come into view once more, the overall scene appearing foggy, yet it was better than being completely blind. Seeing the purple blur run towards her, Elian laughed and opened her arms to catch the leaping Pokemon, hugging the Espeon close as it purred loudly in her ear.

"I'm so proud of you." She told Aislin as she petted her fur, hardly believing how well she had managed to do. From what she could tell, Elian was barely hurt, and it sounded like she had participated enough to help protect the others.

Seeing the Xatu, or rather, seeing his blurry form perch itself outside of the doorway, Elian finally put her Pokemon down, smiling as she stood to notice the gesture towards Breakfast. Breakfast? Honestly, that sounded amazing, and Aislin seemed to agree as her tail only continued to swish back and forth, her purring almost loud enough to hear in the entire hallway. Elian, however, wanted the children to leave first. She wanted to see them, and let them have first pick of the food for having gone through such an exhausting and dangerous task.

Jacob nodded. "Thank you very much, sir! I promise, I'll do it." He said, re-mounting his bike and looking off into the distance.

Now, he was lying. Some combination of the adrenaline pumping in his ears, his less-than-obedient nature, and the apparent freedom of the open road urged him to rebel. The old man was nice enough to give him the swinub, but now that was over with, and he didn't feel like taking the old man's word without question. He would find out for himself what was going on here, and then he would decide. He was the captain of his own destiny, the pilot of his life!

As he thought, his feet went faster and faster on the pedals, whizzing down the dirt paths into the wilderness as they narrowed, the wilderness growing thicker and thicker until the path disappeared completely beneath the wheels of his mountain bike. He pressed on, biking his way into the long grass that grabbed at his ankles and the wheel-spokes of his bike.

((Apologies for the absence; this is bound to happen now and then, though. Onward!))

Evening of the first day, in Woodmount...

The zubat fell with a much more audible shriek than its sonar, blind-sided by the spearow. The two crashed into the ground, but since the bird had the upper hand, she managed to fly off more easily. Leech was less fortunate and had to struggle weakly on the ground for a moment before finally regaining any sort of altitude. It turned towards the spearow and let loose an almost visible ripple of sound. It had not fully considered its position in battle, though, so the same ripple that distorted the spearow's sense of direction and threw her from the air also sent the zigzagoon chasing its own tail.

Safe in her helmet, Lexi merely had to blink a few times to reorient herself. During that time, the zubat made its awkward, flapping way towards the bird who had fallen, mouth open wide and fangs glistening in the failing light. The girl's attacker took some time to recover, but once he managed to adjust his eyes even in the slightest, he drew his gun and started shooting at her tires. As might have been expected, the wild shooting missed entirely. Unfortunately, it also served to snap the zigzagoon out of its idiocy; it charged Lexi, mouth open wide to try to hamstring her

---

Approaching afternoon of the second day, in Glenville...

Sigmund Oak took a moment to adjust his glasses as he tried to focus on the letter Gerard was handing him. He was momentarily distracted by Naya's raucous entrance, but Edward managed to intercept her path and begin explaining, in as calm terms as possible, that his deceased mother had nearly gotten Juno eaten by maddened rodents.

Sigmund squinted again at the letter, as though having difficulty both seeing it and caring that it was there. "Hm. That appears to... well. I don't think it wants me to know about it, Gerard. Go ahead and open it, though; I imagine it's from my mother. She had a propensity towards mind tricks with her alakazam."

Gerard quietly nodded and opened the crisp paper, breaking the wax seal that bore the pokéball-and-DNA sigil of professors of what was often referred to as biopokénomics. (Also in that vein of sciences lay physiopokénomics and chemopokénomics, among others.) Inside, there was a piece of neatly folded paper that appeared to have been charred somehow. As Gerard read the part that was legible, black shapes suddenly burst forth from the seemingly-empty envelope.

Every eye was turned to them, and Edward almost reverently whispered, "Unown." Indeed, the black, hieroglyphical shapes were in the characteristic shapes of English lettering. They arranged themselves into a square twelve feet in the air of the high-ceilinged room and pointed their eyes straight down, as though some four-eyed beast were watching those present. The four letters there were H, K, M, and Q, and once they were aligned, a fuzzy image sifted into reality beneath them.

The image was that of a kind-faced, old woman, sitting in what appeared to be a dungeon of some kind. She was dressed semi-professionally, but her only chair was made of dented metal and the metal desk nearby, scattered with papers, was also scoured with slashes and rust. Her silver hair was wavy and fell liberally beyond her shoulders as a smile far younger than her age beamed out of bright, green eyes. "Hello!" came a static-ridden, but cheerful voice. "I'm dead; isn't that strange to think about? Not at the exact moment, necess-"

That was all that made it before the image cut off. Looking back up, the observers noticed that the H had somehow rearranged itself into an A, the K into an N, the M into an I, and the Q into a W. Both Edward and Sigmund immediately recorded the transformation in the notepads that seemed to have come from nowhere, and then the unown flew back into the envelope, not thickening it in the least. Upon second inspection, they were not even there.

The Drs. Oak immediately forgot about the letter. Both were smiling nostalgically from the image of their mother. One said, "Oh, she was always like that. We visited her there when we could, and she never got honestly upset about where she was until the last few days." They shook their heads. "Well. The original plan was breakfast. Shall we?" He began to lead the way back to the dining hall.

---

North of Cliffshire

"Mr. McCulloch, I very much appreciate your concern for these people, and I will send someone to ensure their safe transport at the next possible opportunity." At Paul's hardening gaze, he appended, "which will be within the hour, I assure you. But you understand that with all that is happening, I cannot dedicate my own time to such a noble cause.

"As for the names of the children, I am afraid I do not know that. My knowledge sources only refer to them as single letters, A through I. How many Dr. Terrian intends to expose to you is uncertain; I do hope as many as possible. It would seem from the current location that your goal is either Glenville to the west or Cliffshire to the south, although I doubt the latter; it would have been a poor choice for the late Dr. Oak. I had anticipated either Glenville or a far-removed area; I am glad it was a relatively local place. Although it is curious that Dr. Terrian sent you here... Ah, but now is not time for such baseless speculation. All I can tell you for certain is that these children will be easy to spot, once you reach your destination. It is not common that you see such young people venturing out alone."

Beati tipped his head slightly towards Paul and said, "I appreciate and admire your honor, Mr. McCulloch, but I must be on my way. Best of luck to you, and to you," he added to the men. His noctowl's shadow intersected with his again, and he sank into it as the bird winged its way back east."

---

Closer to Cliffshire...

Where Ulysses and Jecob's paths crossed, a slight tremor shook the ground and a dull explosion pulsed through the air. Some relatively short distance behind them, Ulysses could see his house burning. Oddly, the force of such an explosion seemed that it would have warranted the entire stead erupting in flames and being reduced to nothing but ashes in moments, but something seemed to have prevented that. Instead, a large section of the roof rolled to the ground and the fire licking the inside and outside of the home very quickly dwindled and disappeared.

With a pop, Terrian appeared to the two of them. He was pale and distraught, and seemed to be in a hurry. He tipped his hat quickly to Jacob. "Hey, little man. You can't trust me. Anyway. Ulysses," he said, turning to the older gentleman, "I'm sorry. I tried. I wondered if they had rigged it while you fought that Kent guy but I figured it was impossible. Suicide bomber inside. Don't know how many pounds of C4 or how the hell he got past you. Or me.

"Like I said," he smiled helplessly, "can't trust me. Or my senses, more accurately, in this case. I contained it as best I could; at least you still have a roof. Most of one. I hope not too much was lost." His eyes suddenly went distant. "No - no, no, no, nonononononooo, we can't be having any of that nonsense." He started walking forcefully away from the pair, sweat and anger breaking out on his face. "We have an agreement, jacka-" Mid-word, he vanished with another pop, leaving Jacob and Ulysses to speculate.

The world spinning for a second wasn’t pleasant to Lexi, but it vanished as quickly as it had come and she had been mostly sitting anyways. Unfortunately her spearow didn’t seem to be as lucky, her disorientation sending her spiraling into the ground with the zubat diving in this time. Lexi grabbed the bird’s pokeball to recall it and break the confusion, but the man had recovered and gotten his gun out. One hand twisted the throttle to get the bike moving and help the incoming bullets miss, while the other triggered the pokeball. “Aiee! This is so not worth it!” Adding to the mayhem, the zigzagoon was back on the attack. With her spearow going back in the ball, she did her best to line up a solid kick to repel it as she leaned forward and opened the throttle all the way to shoot off down the street, heading toward the first protected corner she could find that wasn’t a dead end.

Juno managed to wriggle out of Naya's grip. She escaped to get food and felt a large amount of pity for Edward. Not only did she threaten him with grits, she talked about her famous knock out soup. I wish him luck in escaping her.

That done, Juno carefully set Evie down (who decided to just lay down on the spot). She then grabbed a plate with eggs and toast and a small bowl of milk. Instead of sitting at the table, she sat down next to Evie and shared her plate of food. Evie drank the milk eagerly while Juno munched on her toast. What next after this? She hoped that they wouldn't have more "training."

Evening of the first day, in Woodmount...

The zigzagoon yipped at the impact and tried to follow, but there was no keeping up with a motorcycle. The zubat could certainly track her, but her attacker was not a man who was willing to try very hard for what he wanted. He would get her, he decided. He would find her later. Get her alone. Get her without a helmet or a motorcycle, and show that little b**** who had the authority in Woodmount. In the meantime, he needed to find a way to explain his bleeding jaw that didn't end in, "I was beat up by a girl."

It didn't occur to him that he would only barely be able to recognize her.

In short, Lexi escaped, somewhat shaken, but physically unharmed. She would make it home with no further obstacles and be ready to start off on her journey the next morning.

---

Afternoon of the second day, heading towards Glenville...

Unbeknownst to Paul McCulloch, the grizzled veteran was a mere six or seven miles from one of his targets; somewhat south of him, Ulysses Shonevsky had just witnessed his home detonating.

For McCulloch, the road ahead was fairly smooth. Some distance away, he could see the medic's dust trail. Beyond that, what seemed like a dust storm was rising up to the northeast of Glenville's still-towering buildings. It was far larger than a group of unorganized creatures had any right to produce. But this wasn't just any pack of mishaps. This was something else.

This was the Pack.

---

In Glenville...

Breakfast was served to all congenially. Aislin received her plate of food from a smiling Sigmund Oak, who winced as he watched his brother receive quite the talking-to from Ms. Douglass. The children had time to mingle while Sigmund went over to check on Elian.

"You don't want to meet the people you helped save?" he asked. "Are you feeling okay?" There was concern evident in his voice as he stood close and inspected her expression. Charlesworth alerted him to an odd shift in ether flux. It was small, but definitely extant. The professor frowned. "What was that, Elian?"

The children all seemed to freeze in what they were doing and blink for a moment or two. Sigmund turned just in time to see this, and a thin sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead as he whispered, "Oh."

Whatever it was he had just realized was put out of his mind immediately as Elian cried out and clutched her head. A vision flashed before her, a vision of the Pack tearing into Glenville, horridly disfigured humans, pokémon, and mundane creatures screaming wildly and ferociously attacking the human defenders. It would be happening soon - half an hour at the earliest, maybe in an hour. "Elian! Elian, what's wrong?" Sigmund said nervously, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. "What happened?"

As she told him, the scientist's eyes went wide. "No, that's impossible. Ed, I'm checking the defenses. Just... just to be sure. Call Jacob. He needs to be ready to mobilize everyone." He ran off to the brothers' private office with Charlesworth flying gracefully after him.