Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Blizzard…?” Freth spoke up as she saw me walk back into the sleeping area littered with cots. “…what happened in there?” She only had been awake for all of ten, maybe fifteen minutes, sitting there at her cot as she tried to work out atrophy and quench a thirst she developed over the span of four days, submitted to a comatose state by the appointed doctor of the team as the group had been on the run. I wouldn’t answer her initially as I walked into the room and approached my cot next to hers. I hesitated to sit, trying to concentrate on taking a few deep breaths before speaking to her, then sat down at the edge of my cot. “Blizzard? Well?” she said, trying to get an answer.

“Freth, I haven’t the words right now. I don’t know what to do anymore. Its looking grim. The stuff that we got from Realgam, yea, its information and gets into the mind of Ein, but it was effectively garbage, a nothing-burger, irrelevant to the grand scheme of things.” I said to her. “I am frustrated, that we went all the way to Orre, only to not only get screwed over by Cynthia, the same champion Cynthia, quickly followed by Ein’s still active projects, then nearly overrun by SWIPE on our leave from that blasted place, only to find out just only moments ago that the information we got doesn’t prove crap of our innocence. In fact, now that I am thinking about it, it instead probably just reaffirms one of SWIPE’s initial assumptions that we at some point decided to screw over Ein for our own agenda and had manipulated everything for our benefit. And that’s only on the assumption they believe that none of what we took out of the tower wasn’t altered in any way. And what did I get from Sub just before we walked out of the lobby? ‘Well, what were we to do? Nothing?’ At least Tristen and Ogerpon wouldn’t be in the shape they’re in now.”

“I thought I heard you yelling a minute ago…” Freth said.

“Worse, while we were talking about all of this, GRAY got our attention that Looker had some press conference, namely addressing us, saying that our trial is going to be in ten days, all the while making them look better, us look worse, and bringing up how they still have everyone up in Mt. Silver still.” I said.

“Are they still okay?” Freth asked.

“They’re fine…in a matter of speaking, I guess. Physically fine. Mentally…who the hell knows.” I said. “Undoubtedly better than us. And that’s not getting into possibly the worst part to this whole endeavor.”

“It gets worse?” Freth asking, a bit in disbelief.

“It’s a possibility time travel is involved, which is something I needed to ask you real quick while I try to collect my thoughts on the matter…what can you tell me about this Volo guy?” I asked.

Freth couldn’t hide her surprise. She told of her travels in Hisui a while back ago, but never in great detail other than how they got back, how it involved the three legendary Pokémon that have been known to reside at the major lakes in an Ancient Sinnoh in an altogether other reality. ”Who…did he ask about?” The question did not escape the one residing in Freth’s mental depths. ”I did hear him, right?”

“Volo?” Freth asked me.

“By what I got, you guys ran into him on that ultra space trip to another reality’s Sinnoh.” I said to her.

“Uh…he was that creepy salesman that I told you about. Rather, not so much creepy, but more…uh…one of those sorts you know he has a whole other agenda, but you can’t really figure him out. You know? One of those with a smile on his face and tries to keep levity constantly to confuse you.” She said.

“I’m getting the picture. Basically, another Sub…great. Well, apparently, he’s in this reality somehow. And there’s suspicions he’s not only involved, but he got Aden roped in it. Possible time-travel crap with unknown to what extent. They were apparently either seen, sensed, or both on our way out of Realgam. I didn’t catch sight or sense of him since I was too preoccupied making sure SWIPE is off our case and Tristen was on the plane safe because…well, you see him. Which raises all sorts of questions about how we know one thing, but people are drawing conclusions to other things. It also throws the evidence Mr. Devon got off of SWIPE back into question.” I said.

”Uh…Eris? A little help here?”

”I can…maybe see Volo being here, sure. Maybe he managed to hitch a ride with us on the way out of that other reality’s Hisui somehow without us noticing. The problem is the whole time-travel issue. The problem with time travel is butterfly effect is not a thing. And the whole idea of a whole other new universe is created is fallacy. If one was to go back in time to do an action in the past, it doesn’t actually change the current present. It happens and…that’s it. Sure, evidence might get left around that someone was around like a footprint or an obscure memory for someone, but it doesn’t change the overarching whole. Someone can’t just go back to the past for example and murder someone and expect to find that person’s grave when they return to the present. There are checks in the universe for that. Dialga being first and foremost in all of that. Same goes for trying to prevent someone from dying as well, as an example. Death will always be death as it should happen.”

”God, you know I hate the idea of destiny.” Freth disdainfully spoke up.

”It’s not exactly destiny. Destiny is insinuating that all time and life is predetermined when in actuality the only thing fixed in stone is the beginning, once life starts, and the end, when all manner of variables runs its course. Everything in the middle is as variable as can be. The same goes for all realities. You can try to predict how they go if you were say with the Ultra Recon squad. Based on how a reality is positioned and correlation to other realities within Ultra Space. But in context on an individual reality whereas time is involved? Something more of a Dialga’s or Celebi’s wheelhouse? Say you died back there with Kess because of whatever happenstance. It wasn’t some plan or anything, it wasn’t destiny. That was just how the dice rolled. But because you hypothetically perished in that time, it doesn’t matter if someone managed to go back in time and saved you back there. You would still have perished before present time because effectively nature itself would stop it. Dialga, or any number of outside forces beyond comprehension would see to it.

”That doesn’t make any sense. Aden rescued us from the brink back when Ein nearly vaporized half the team and only got rescued at quite literally the last second. By what you are saying, Aden shouldn’t have been able to do that. And if I was to understand correctly, he literally saw us getting vaporized multiple times, each instant he found himself back, he had someone rescued. We should have long since been gone. Snagem probably wouldn’t be existing in its current form, if at all anymore after that fight with Ein.”

“You’re right, he shouldn’t.”

“Freth? You gone unusually silent.” I said to her.

“Oh sorry…conversation with Eris went longer than I thought…” she said. “I was trying to ask her for any ideas. Thought I would have been quicker about it.”

“And?”

“Volo being here is a possibility. However unlikely, my guess. Everything else, no idea. Anything Aden would have been able to do would generally have no consequence in the grand cosmos or whatever. In short, meaning I technically shouldn’t be here right now, neither should Tristen, as of Realgam Tower a couple years back.”

“But yet you and Tristen are, same with Bulder. And those people we rescued in Realgam that day wouldn’t still be stuck in those seats.” I said to her. “Though one side thing did get brought up…it was possible Volo had interacted with Ein at some point before his defeat. I can only imagine that Aden had a hand in that too. I don’t understand, though. Why save us then later betray us.”

“Or it could be the other way around.” Freth suggested. “Remember, who knows at this point. Aden has a Celebi with him last we checked, right? That throws a lot in a window of time into question. Either way, we don’t know reasoning for anything or even if he’s outright involved at all.”

”All this is telling me that nature is possibly out of whack somehow and its having repercussions here.” Eris commented.

A realization suddenly occurred to me just then. “…if you and Tristen never should have made it after Realgam and by some chance that-“

“Blizzard. Don’t even go there.” Freth said, already knowing where that train of thought was going. “Just bare in mind, it doesn’t matter. You promised…” she said.

I sighed a bit, gripping the edge of the cot tight as I stared at the floor. I was left to stew over that unsettling thought. I nearly wanted to break down right there and then. I could feel it as I felt a breath tremble out. I was frustrated, perhaps the most I have been in some time. I was ready to crack, rage out to whoever, lash out on something. The SNAG would then chime. I reached around and pulled it out, checking it. One of Sub’s missions…perhaps one of the last ones for as all I knew…and one that I wasn’t really thrilled to see.

“What is it?” Freth said.

I’d take a pensive read over the SNAG, making sure I read it over correctly, and once I did, I sighed out. I really didn’t have the mindset for it right at the moment and it left me to wonder if anyone else was going to go on it. “Ugh…that…is not going to make things look any better and I don’t have faith on making that pan out. Apparently, Reno and GRAY figured up something to disable the teleport jammers that they would inevitably have.” I said.

“They’re going to want us to get there, right?” Freth said.

“It’s not like Viridian City is going to have a place where we can park that jet…”

“A what?” Freth asked.

“A lot has happened in the past four days…” I said. “But you’re right, they’ll probably leave them off long enough to know that they got who they want and then turn them on when trial time happens to see to it, we don’t leave with anything resembling ease. Effectively closing the barred doors behind us.” I said to her. “I’m not even sure if I am the right person to be out there. It’d take an attuned enough Pokémon or hybrid in their ranks to point me out easily. And I would prefer not to fight; more so now with what we know. Never mind, Viridian City is going to be crawling with freakin’ SWIPE, probably expecting us to do something dumb. It’s not going to be a simple in-and-out sabotage job.” I said.

“Either way, Blizzard, go ahead and go. You need to get out of here. Just…get out and think for a little bit.” She said.

“Kinda hard to when SWIPE is looking for excuses, even without a sabotage job. I tend to stick out quite a lot, you know.” I said.

“You at least know how to stay out of trouble. Just go, Blizzard. We’ll be fine here.” She said. She would slowly shift off the cot, which made me go completely wide-eyed, fearing her hurting herself so soon, but it was to merely switch over to my cot to sit next to me, take my hand then leaned her head against my shoulder. “Until this is over, we do what we need to do.” She said. I leaned my head against hers, just looking out towards the nearest wall.

-----

Truthfully, I come to find out that I wasn’t as equipped for the task at hand more than I thought. When I started to get briefed over the device, it barely qualified to be even called as such. Cobbled together with various seemingly random parts, duct tape, and a dream. The device wasn’t so much of an anti-jammer, as it was a means to disable the device, if only temporarily. The idea behind it is once we were in to do trial deliberations and effectively have staring contests with SWIPE there, they would in fact turn on the jammer to prevent us from leaving with any particular ease. The thing that I was given was to be inserted in the jammer on top of Viridian Gym to allow it to do its work. The device was supposed to be activated by remote. By SNAG or even GRAY if push came to shove to start slowly crippling the device. Once activated, the emitter would be drawing in more power, far more than what it was designed to do, and instead of going through the currents it was supposed to, but directly into the emitter. In short, it would overheat the emitter, forcing it to shut down to cool down. It would take a little bit for the emitter to start heating up to failure, but once it was disabled due to the emitters own fail safes, we would have a fairly generous window to teleport out, however long it would take before the emitter cools off. And if the emitter were to turn back on, it wouldn’t be long before it was back off again unless someone caught wise to the stunt. Though probably at this point, the emitter would be risking long-term damage from the jury rigging.

Barring all of that, it wasn’t as if I was any sort of electrician or anything of that sort. I didn’t really have that kind of experience for that sort of thing. GRAY stated that it would be able to guide me through the process, I just had to get there first. Preferably with as little resistance, never mind, commotion as possible. I didn’t really put up any protest at that point, either way. I was too out of it, too much feeling dead inside to actually point out how few guarantees that we had in this. ‘We been through worse’, I was only assured once more. I wasn’t so sure anymore. I felt like I would have preferred to go another round with Celcius or the Ziton, hell even Lysandre and Ein, with either S22 or that Shadow Mewtwo again as opposed to…this. These people were turned against us. No mind control, no nothing. Aden possibly having a hand in this in some way was gut-wrenching. I honestly felt…drained now. I heard at one point in life that if one ‘knew’ they were going to perish soon, they would do everything they can to see that it happens. It had many meanings, honestly. The common one is that in spite of trying to go against fate, their actions would instead doom them in their efforts instead of save them. In others, it’s just simply going ahead and accepting it, effectively surrendering, allowing fate to take them. Truthfully, I don’t know where this situation would fall for me. All I did know, I wasn’t in the best headspace for this…

I dwelled on the entire situation the moment I arrived at Pewter City in the Kanto region and headed south under the evening skies. With the Viridian Gym on the northern part of Viridian City, the closest, fastest way to get there was come in from the Viridian Forest, go through there under the cover of the woodland night, get to the city, make my way to the top of the gym, do the deed, and leave the same way. And unlike how the Snagems escaped from Rustboro, I could make an easier getaway making my way through the Viridian Forest. The forest was a natural maze and while there was one general path through for most trainers, namely the newer ones who go from Viridian and Pewter, the more experienced ones can find their way their way through the forest however they please. It was close to midnight once I found myself on the other side of the forest. From a hillside, I stood by a tree and leaned up against it for a second. I looked down to the city that was just only a mile or so more away. The city lights kept a gentle glow to fight back the night. The city’s hustle and bustle, while not gone, only heavily subsided as many at this point have taken to bed. I took in the sight, then closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. “Just another mission…just do it and go…” I said to myself.

It was only a little bit before I found my way into the city, and it was instantly I was on high alert. I had to take to the shadowy backstreets trying to keep a look out for anyone or anything. I felt tense; not really shaking the weight of my feelings through that entire walk through the woods. It felt as if almost a waste of time right now. Even if we resorted to leaving abruptly somehow, we’ve ultimately change nothing even still. The opinion of everyone would skew ever more against our favor, it’d be harder to prove our innocence as if it wasn’t nigh impossible enough, the fights will continue to intensify. More will get hurt. Futures ruined.

Every street I cross I quickly dashed across with Agility, keeping a look out for anything. Vehicles, people, any one that would throw a wrench in the works. On the surface, it did seem like a fair number of SWIPE operatives about, patrolling the streets at night, perhaps more so than the local police. But that was on initial glance. For as all I knew, a stray Rattata could have been SWIPE. At this point, I had to effectively trust nothing here as long as I am out here. It was a matter of time before I found my destination. A building once tainted by the likes of Giovanni’s machinations only for Blue to eventually take it over in an attempt to make this place a shining pinnacle of the city. The Viridian City gym, where everything will eventually come to a head for everyone in Snagem.

As I took a look out of the area, this place looked a lot busier than most places at this time of the night. There were a couple of trucks in the area, with a very small handful of people, SWIPE operatives it looked. I didn’t know what annoyed me more, that a gym was going to be converted into this whole trial, or the fact that those that were relegated to upholding the peace in a matter of speaking is being instead a bunch of…movers. “…regional tax dollars at work…” I said, sighing a little bit. As I continued to look to get a look, I started to note various SWIPE operatives accompanied by Growlithe patrolling the area. Security was looking fairly lax and my senses weren’t picking up any outliers. Still though, as little as security there was, any one could blow the whistle and ruin everything with this. “Ugh, what am I doing…?” I silently asked myself, starting to second guess if I should even bother trying this. Once again, a deep breath was taken then I took one more look out.

As my gaze looked towards the roof of the gym, there it was, the emitter. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Frankly, I would just want to outright break it now; it was an eyesore to be seen on any gym, but then a realization hit me. There were more and more of these things being put up all over the place. And it started to almost look that it wasn’t to stop us in particular. These things ultimately screw over not only just us, but effectively any trainer around. They blocked all manner of emergency transport for effectively…anyone. Trainer or otherwise. The overbearing grip SWIPE was tightening and it was in ways that I didn’t care for. Too many parallels towards the Rangers or HAZARD started to form in my mind, but even they, to that I can recall, didn’t go this far. The realization only tempted me to do something potentially stupid as opposed to sticking to the plan, but I refrained.

Another deep breath was taken then I started to double check around me. Around the corner, then behind me. Then above me. I then took a hard leap upwards, taking a few flaps up towards a roof close by and touched down. I then peered over the roof to double check where everyone was at. I had to wait a moment, watching the patrols move about. When the coast was clear for the second, I took a few steps backwards, then took a running start, taking another hard leap upwards and started to glide over. Once close enough, I went into a hard dive and went into a hard tumble once landing, landing on my feet. I looked around, making sure there was no one about. I then stayed low, peering out over the roof to make sure that it didn’t get much of anyone’s attention. When I was confident that I managed to make it without alerting anyone, I made my way over towards the emitter.

It was a tall structure. I could feel it giving off its waves, making me wince a little bit. I looked at it, noting that it was bolted down to the gym roof. I swear, if they tried to do this at Mahogany Town, I would have raised so much hell. I started to look about the device then laid flat on the roof to look down under the device. I couldn’t really outright see under it. Sitting up for a moment, I took off my pack and took out a small flashlight and shined it under the device. There were several thick cables feeding into the device itself. It looked like what I needed. I then took out my SNAG and sat it on the roof. “GRAY. I’m here, am I coming through to you?” I asked silently.

”You are.” the AI spoke. ”And I suppose that you haven’t alerted anyone to your presence. A rare feat for the Snagems as a whole.”

“GRAY, I am not up for bull crap tonight and I am short on time. Now what do I need to do to get this thing latched onto this emitter ready for sabotage?” I asked.

“You’re going to have to attach it to the main conduit relay. It’s where the power feeds into the emitter and changes into the dark signal.” GRAY replied.

“Wait, am I going to need to cut the power on this?”

”If you would prefer not to get electrocuted.”

“Oh for the love of…uh, okay…fine, I guess…if its anything like the gym at home, there should be a couple of breakers at least for the building. One for the internal operations of the gym, which is usually in some sort of utility room, and then one for external operations, like security lights, automatic sprinklers, outdoor outlets and the like, both of which is fed into from a transporter probably a block or two away from here for as all I know…” I said. “I guess I should be hoping that this thing is wired into an outlet…but why am I getting the feeling that considering the looks of this thing, that is far from the case. This thing looks like it draws in way too much for that.” I said. “Alright, I’ll try to figure it out, just give me a few…” I said, picking up the SNAG off the ground.

Once again, I started to look about and finding the main cable that was feeding into the emitter, finding the cable. The cable itself was bolted down into the ceiling just as the emitter was with brackets of some kind and they seemed to lead off the roof. I peered over the roof down below, seeing where the cable led further. I took a look about, trying to keep an eye on the SWIPE operatives, needing to be careful of the operatives that still patrolled the area. I would then hop down from the roof, landing down close by. I would find the breaker box and popped open the panel. To my disgust, its what I thought. Once again, I took out my SNAG. “It wasn’t going to be that easy…” I said silently into the SNAG. “Its hard wired into the main power. Ugh, the bastards…”

“You’re going to have to shut it down.”

“Bah, that’s going to throw the whole area on alert if they find the outdoor lights off all of a sudden.” I said. “Can’t I just rig the device into the breaker box?”

“Theoretically. While you could overheat the breaker and stop power, potentially damage it, the surge to the breaker will probably not reach the emitter. Worse, the emitters are designed to operate without power for at least a half-hour when there is a power outage. Therefore-“

“The emitter would still be working and we’d be stuck having to stall for a half-hour. We’d just be better off running out of Viridian City at that point…” I finished. “Then I am going to need to work fast. Be ready to start guiding me through it.” I looked around once more then reached for the lever inside of the panel, then quickly I slammed the breaker down. I closed the box and quickly leaped back up towards the roof when the lights on the outside shut off. Once I landed, I hurried over towards the emitter, flashlight once again shining at the underside and started to work.

I heard the operatives down below clamoring as I started to try to dislodge the main cable from the emitter. “Blast it, I don’t think I’m going to have long…” I said, quickly trying to get to work. I sat the cobbled de-scrabler device close by, at the ready, as well as my SNAG as I managed to get the cable out from under the emitter. “Alright GRAY, what am I looking for…how do I do this. I got the main power feed off the thing…”

“You will need to pull the receiver out and expose the wires inside.” GRAY replied.

I reached back underneath the device and started to feel about, trying to get a hold of the connector under the device. I had to check a couple of times, unable to find it, probably more so to my haste. I reached under once more and managed to get a hold of it. There wasn’t exactly a place to actually get a good hold on, but I had to try. I pressed hard against the inside of the connection port and pulled downwards, getting desperate in trying to expose the wires inside. “Come on…come on…” I silently said to myself. I could hear the SWIPE operatives scrambling, trying to run all manner of checks, calling out to each other. The Growlithe were barking down below, they started to sound as if they were on the hunt.

A metallic pop was heard and I managed to pull on the port further and further, until it started to clear the underneath of the emitter. I started to see what possibly was maybe nearly a dozen wires, all different thickness, all different shades of black. “Okay, next, hurry.” I said.

“You are looking to first rearrange the wires, splicing two of the main wires, the two 60 gauge onto the 300 gauge.” GRAY stated.

“And which is which?” I said, agitated, as if I was supposed to know that.

“Are they multicolored wires?”

“No.” I said.

“I do have records on studies that some birds are not adept in seeing in extreme low light conditions…can you not see in the dark?”

“GRAY.” I said, all the more agitated. This wasn’t the time for jokes.

“There should be at least some lettering to discern it if possible. Each two feet of wiring is supposed to have some sort of serial and code First three digits of the serial typically are to indicate wire gauge before getting into manufacturer, date of production, then the actual number of the spool in production. There will be variances depending on manufacturer, but that is generally how its laid out.” GRAY stated. Without a word, I quickly scrambled, shining my small light trying to look at the wires in question, trying to twist the wires about trying to see the serial numbers, if there were any about that could be seen. Fortunately, I could make out some of the wires. Quickly I skimmed over the numbers and found what I needed. I started to pull the wires as I needed, then started to put them together in a frantic pace. I started to not be confident in my handiwork here, especially when the pressure was severely on and time was only getting tighter.

“Alright, I got them together.” I said.

“Add our device to the connection panel. Put the 300 gauge wire, now spliced with the 60 gauge, into the output of our device. Put the inputs of our device into the three original wires position.”

Without any hesitation, I quickly started to frantically work, trying to put the proverbial pieces together. “And this is how that this thing stops the emitter?”

“The power is going to effectively be funneled and amplified by our device, going into the wires. At best for SWIPE, they are probably going to be looking for a overheat. At worst, this device is probably going to catch fire, however unlikely to the emitter’s fail safes.”

“I guess at this point, I’m not going to hold my breath for the latter.” I said as I tried to force the cobbled device into position.

“I wouldn’t recommend it.” GRAY stated.

I constantly pressed and tried to force the device into place. While I had no reason to, I started to feel hot right now under the immense amount of pressure that I was going through. “God, I shouldn’t have been the one to do this…” I silently said to myself. It took a couple of moments but once I was sure that the device was set in place, or at least as sure as I could be in the circumstances, I spoke up to GRAY once more. “GRAY, I think I got it. What’s next?”

“That’s everything. Return the connector back to the underside where you found it in the device and reconnect the power.”

“Thank God…” I said, laying back down to reach under the device. Having to take both hands to carefully shove the device, let alone the wires back into the emitter, I managed to line everything up and shove the port back into place. I then managed to take the main power line and went to reach up and try to plug the device back in.

The moment I tried, however, the connection popped loud, making loud cracks as if many whips were snapped. I went wide eyed, instantly dropping the power. My chest felt like it got smashed by a Copperajah. I pulled back hard and fast, teeth gritted, trying not to yell out in utter pain to give away my position, bracing myself against the emitter as I tried to catch my breath from the utter seizing up of effectively everything about me. From where I sat against the emitter, past the edge of the roof, I noticed a more noticeable glow coming from down below. The outdoor lights were back on.

“Hey! Did anyone hear that!?”

“I got it guys! The power was flipped!”

“Hear what?”

I could hear the Growlithe starting to bark furiously. They certainly did hear something, and if I was to understand them, they knew something was up as well. They could smell me around the spot where I was at to flip the breaker. “Blast it…” I whispered to myself. I went back to check the cord; I then frustratingly sighed out. I had no choice at this point. I once again reached off for the cable and attempted to plug the emitter back in. While I wasn’t giving myself the closest to a heart attack again, the plug however once again made the loud crackle and snaps as the power tried to make an attempt a connection with the emitter. I managed to shove the plug into place and quickly I pulled my arms from underneath the emitter. I looked up back at it, able to feel the waves that it was putting out and sighed in disgust.

“There it is again!” I could hear one of the operatives state. There was a silence. “Get patrols out! Check the roof!”

“Son of a…” I said. I quickly stashed the small light and the SNAG and quickly got my things together and then quickly ran off to one of the edges of the roof. There were more people out now, much to my chagrin trying to scramble and organize. I needed out now and it wasn’t that I could teleport out now with the emitter back working again. I needed to find my opportunity. I could sense people starting to try to make their way up. I only had mere seconds to act. I saw one SWIPE operative below. It was probably not going to get any better than that. I leaped off the roof and didn’t bother slowing my descent, lining myself on the operative.

I slammed down on the operative, pouncing on him, driving his face right into the ground. He was out instantly. I hopped off and then made the mad dash, going as fast as I could with Agility, the blinding speed into the shadows of the nearby buildings northward. I had to find myself back into the forest and lose everyone there and get out of the range of the emitter.

As I rushed the alleys and backstreets, I had to stop on occasion, having to keep a look out for other SWIPE as I started to notice many were starting to rush to the gym. The power issue was already enough to throw up red flags and now with it only being a couple of minutes, by now, they probably found their comrade face down in the dirt, so presumably they now know something is up. “Ugh, this mission wasn’t clean at all…” I said. “…I’m sure I didn’t get spotted, but now they are sure to check everything. I would probably put money on it.”

“We will have to find out come trial day.” GRAY said. “Worry about it when the time comes. Get out of the city now.”

“Yea, already ahead of you.” I said. As soon as the coast was clear, I dashed off again, trying to stick to the shadows and rushing through the streets, trying to find my way to the forest.

As soon as I made it to the forest, I made the mad dash deep into the woods, not wanting to take much of any chances but as I made a good ways in, I ended up stopping for a moment and bracing myself against a tree. I had to take a couple of breaths, the shock from earlier still making itself all apparent. I rotated my arm, trying to shrug off the massive pain, if albeit futilely, but it was a shock all the same that caught me well off guard. “GRAY, should I be out of range of the emitter by now?” I asked.

A silence came over the SNAG for only a few seconds. “You should be able to teleport without much, if any, risk to you. I’ve already notified Sub.”

“Did you tell him that this mission completion was dicey at best?”

“He has been informed. He didn’t seem too worried about it.”

“I suppose someone shouldn’t…” I said, rubbing my eyes. I would then take out a Pokeball and gave it a toss out, releasing Telia, my Gardevoir, from her Pokeball. “Back to Trainer Hill, Telia…” I said. It took only a moment for Telia to focus and we would find ourselves leaving the forest back across the regions and back to our temporary HQ. As I would return back to Trainer Hill, those feelings returned that only briefly subsided in the heat of the moment. “…here’s hoping…” I would merely say to myself.

Putting In A Good Word

It had taken some time to guarantee something that would register as traditional passage into the Kanto region, Reno wanting to make sure he had an evidence trail to point to him arriving in the region by legal channels for helping make sure his current efforts would be acknowledged as authentic. But once he had cleared a train ticket and figured out how exactly he was going to get to the station, he was off. It had taken some time to figure out who and how he might be able to collect a few statements. He needed to concentrate his efforts, so a trip to Galar to see if old man Mustard might be willing to give them a good word was out of the question. And they needed to be someone who they had interacted with enough that there would be some basis for Reno to look to them as a character witness, which meant that he was focused on the later gym leaders in the Kanto region. That left Reno with three solid options and he was at the main door for his first pick of them all.

The doors for the Saffron City Gym would slide open as he drew near, the familiar sight of the Psychic gym once again opening up before Reno’s eyes. His entrance definitely got a few eyeballs, the staff at the entrance to the Gym muttering between each other and shooting a few furtive glances his way. Good to know the SWIPE announcement and his own traversal through the Gym twice before made sure they knew who he was and that he was something to be wary of. Giving it a second as he simply stood in the entranceway, the lack of sirens and sudden oppressing feeling of teleport scramblers being activated told Reno that they had also been informed about SWIPE’s little offered reprieve before the actual trial.

Ping

And there was the familiar sensation of his head being touched by the person he had come to call on. Adjusting himself towards the door to the main battle room, he watched as Sabrina strode through the door and stood opposite him. Taking in the tight black bodysuit and her maroon crop top and skirt, Reno would give his Psychic ally a nod. “Hiya, Sabrina. I’m here to ask for a favor.” Reno cordially asked, “As the news likely informed you, we are about to be entered into a trial. And I am here to collect some character statements to help persuade that jury of your peers. And I’m hoping after how much we dealt with each other that you would be open to helping us out with that.” Giving a broad smile, Reno studied Sabrina’s face as she processed his request. He could see that she was taken aback at the request. Which wasn’t surprising, it was a lot to suddenly spring on someone, especially after the few weeks of the news likely doing their best to slander Snagem.

However, her expression’s twist from taken aback to actual offense took Reno by surprise. Almost as much as her next words. “Why would I want to write a positive statement for you about either you or your group?” The words came out a touch venomous, the usually stand-offish glare from Sabrina actually hardening into a pointed assault. “You stormed into my gym, used your abilities like a toy, put your Pokemon into absolute mortal danger under the insane belief that you could somehow defy a prediction of the future, and only pulled through due to the fact I had enough of a measure of mercy to offer aid to make it so. Why would I ever agree to help such a man? He should consider himself lucky that I don’t feel like truly siding against him.” A slight sensation would begin to grip at Reno’s neck, Sabrina’s telekinesis beginning to give a little emphasis.

Okay, not exactly what Reno had expected. Sure, things weren’t permanently hunky dory between them but its not like he didn’t follow her instructions when….wait, what did she say? Offered aid herself for turning his Houndoom against him? That’s insane, why would that somehow be a thing to hold a grudge over. And all she had done was point him towards the Tower of Mastery, it wasn’t like she had fixed some dire illness. Unless she didn’t mean that, she meant the part before that. When she had attempted to use Toxic to force him to surrender instead of their fight continuing.

Interesting to see what other ways reality had managed to tweak itself in some effort to push against them. That would certainly make for some interesting things in his future with his other two stops if they had been equally as affected. “So…you think that I decided to simply just press on, hell to the consequences, because I valued a victory over you more than I valued my own Pokemon that a dear friend got me? Not because I had a Pecha Berry straight from Erika that fixed the Toxic?” Reno slowly walked through the thought, keeping his eyes focused on Sabrina to watch and see if this was going to be enough to make whatever this was falter.

To her credit, Reno could see her attempting to think of something, see Sabrina giving a slight pushback against whatever this was and even felt the telekinetic push relent before it surged back with a pointed glare. “You mean, the berry that I HAD? What made you think that I would buy such an obvious lie.” Taking a step forward, Sabrina’s eyes would begin to light up as the telekinetic grip began to tighten.

Okay, mistake, mistake.

Taking a breath through his teeth, Reno would attempt to straighten himself up like he could somehow make the telekinesis relent its grip like it was someone’s hand. “Swear its not a lie.” Reno wheezed out, moving onto his tiptoes instinctually over the attempted strangulation. “You can check my memories yourself. I know you can. And I won’t push back.” While he was attempting to escape the grip, his eyes would remain locked onto Sabrina’s with a steady, level point even as his limbs were attempting to fight out of her grip.

It would take a second before the telekinetic pressure would slowly draw down to the emphatic pressure it had been previously. “Last chance. I’m aware of how a mind can be tampered with, so we will see if someone has managed the impossible on me. But one sign of your own memory being altered in your favor and you will find me taking a much more proactive role against your group.” Sabrina monotonely informed Reno, her eyes giving a bright flash as she began to push into Reno’s mind.

To his credit, Reno kept to his word as much as he intentionally could, the only fighting against the attempt to force out his memories of their gym battles being more instinctual. It still made for a tense few moments when a slightly too forceful push made him do the mental equivalent of a flinch and give a small burst of fight back. But soon enough, there it would be: his memories for the two times he had to come into the Saffron City Gym and face down Sabrina. The second encounter, with their Mega Pokemon clashing, would be dismissed immediately before she even gave it a closer look. If the first memory had any falsehoods, then what looked to be a complete fabrication to her recollection would be absolutely meaningless to spend any time on. Even if it was….odd to see the Pokemon he had been willing to sacrifice have enough of a bond to go Mega.

And then she arrived at her prize: the first attempt at the Saffron City Gym. And she quickly zoomed through the initial trainer battles, slowing her progression as she reached their actual clash but only letting things run in real time once she saw the Houndoom and Alakazam facing each other down. And Reno could feel the pressure ramp up the second he pulled out that berry, almost an attempt to make any weak point fracture from the increased weight of psychic power. When that didn’t prove results, their visual would rip backwards as Sabrina brought them to where Erika was handing off the berry to him as a small gift to prepare for the Fuschia Gym. And then back to where they had been, the pressure continuing to climb as it progressed to Ezekiel having his mind twisted to be against Reno and Sabrina pointing him towards the Tower of Mastery with a message that he was left by her.

All of a sudden, it was over. The pressure dropped, Sabrina silent within Reno’s head as something seemed to be processing for her. Out in reality, Reno would give a small motion to place his right hand on her shoulder. “So…where are we at?”

His hand would be pushed off with a small pop of telekinesis, but it was a much more friendly gesture. This was more the brush off from someone who knew you better. “Hmm. I can’t believe I forgot about my prediction of you.” She said, her glowing eyes finally dying down as she stared straight at Reno. “I’ll make sure you get your character statement. And then I’m going to set to work to figure how exactly someone managed to tamper with my mind without my knowledge.”

—-

It would take around half an hour for Sabrina to finish writing out her statement, the whole time Reno slowly remembering his own little promise about facing Sabrina off as an equal Psychic master at some point. Once he had the statement, Reno would take his leave. As much as he wanted to try and do more with Sabrina, he needed to get more statements and make sure he did so as publicly as possible. He could almost see the SWIPE undercover agents shadowing him as he made to leave Saffron City this time, something that he had been wanting to happen. After all, even if being this blatant for clarity that he had gotten these statements willingly, this whole course of action had a second purpose: forcing SWIPE to divert resources to making sure he was kept under watch.

So there he was, stepping off the ferry to Cinnabar Island, with half of the ferry making sure they knew where he was walking to. Nothing like using government surveillance to help give some tourism money to the small island. Taking a few familiar turns as he made his way through the smaller locale, he would soon find himself staring at the automatic doors for the Cinnabar Island Gym as they drew open. Stepping inside, he would only have a moment before a familiar touch screen buzzed to life before him. “Hello there, stranger. Quiz number one: I’m hot in name but in practice I soothe the heat. What am I?” A voice crackled out of a speaker in the screen.

“Burn heal.” Reno immediately responded, a small smile crossing his face at the familiar riddle.

“Good job. Thought I had remembered you crossing my path before. But maybe you’re just lucky or knowledgeable.” The voice buzzed back, the screen giving a flicker and a ding as it accepted the answer before resetting to its former state. “So lets try a riddle from later in the gym. Like the sun I never sleep. I walk the Earth, spewing the power of the place from whence I came. What am I?”

Pausing for a moment, Reno would scratch his chin as the familiar riddle came out of the speaker. He knew that he had answered this wrong before, but what had been the actual answer? It was a Pokemon of some sort, didn’t really sleep, and only walked. That much he did remember. That and it had been a Pokemon Blaine had used. “Oh right. Magmar, right? Got tripped up by that one last time.” Reno responded, staring at the screen in front of him as he hoped that he would get the familiar ding of acceptance.

And Reno was properly rewarded, the screen lighting up and giving a ding as the controller gave the proper command. “Oooh, you are really starting to remind me of something. One last question though before I’ll come out. Smooth on top, white fluffs on the front. A burning heat inside, the windows to the flame covered by shades. It was sitting near the end. What am I?” The riddle came out of the speaker with a small echo, Reno intently doing his best to remember as the final familiar riddle came to his ears. He had answered this one wrong last time by thinking about the Pokemon thing after getting the Magmar one wrong.

A quiet click on the tile and the thought that it was near the end last time and had been near the end last time would remind him of exactly what the answer was. “How about…the old man right behind me!?” Reno called out, giving a sudden twist and pointing towards Blaine as he attempted to continue his quiet approach to try surprising Reno. To his credit, Blaine would play up the discovery as he let his jaw drop and gave a shocked leap back before letting out an amused cackle.

“Oh, got it in one. Now then….what has the Co-Leader of Snagem coming out here to search me out? Don’t you have a trial coming up?” Blaine questioned, now openly using his cane to march up to stand in front of Reno.

“I was hoping to have a few character statements from some notable figures. And who is more notable than a major Gym Leader and renowned scientist in Kanto?”

“And you were hoping this old man’s memory was good enough to say that you’re a good sort?”

“Honestly? Kinda”

Letting out a chuckle, Blaine would clap a hand on Reno’s prosthetic arm before giving a small sigh. “Well, m’boy, I am somewhat rusty on the full details of our encounter, but I do remember you offering up some mighty good answers for my riddles. And even though my memory keeps trying to say that I should be mad because you were apparently a bit of a firebug, I am fully aware of how bewildering a thought that would be for me to have.”

Reaching over as he continued to speak, Blaine would already be at work writing. “Plus, I can certainly sympathize with your legacy being tarnished by someone’s efforts to find whatever small evil they can and blowing it out of proportion. Now,” Blaine would pass over his own statement, freshly penned and even given a few little doodle flourishes to guarantee an inability to dispute it as some fabrication, “While I’m not the most certain on whether or not Team Snagem is truly as innocent as you are attempting to appear, I am always willing to back my hunches until they prove true or false. So make sure to prove this one true.”

—-

It would once again take some time to organize a ferry out of town, this time aiming towards Pallet Town for the quickest route to his final destination. It left him a day to explore around, take a look towards the mansion on the island, and continue driving the SWIPE agents that were tailing him mad as they had to keep up with his bizarre meandering tourism. And eventually, there would be Reno and a decent contingent of his current followers on board the ferry and then straight into Pallet Town. There wasn’t any time to take a look around the place though, his true destination was a bit of a walk away from here.

Not that the particular route was exactly a hardship. Half the Pokemon there looked towards him and decided that they should be elsewhere, and the other half were already inclined to do so before they even assessed the fact that he was currently walking through the place with a demonic dog at his side. So Reno and Ezekiel would quickly find themselves in Viridian City and would begin the search for Reno’s final target. After all, while he might be on the jury, it couldn’t hurt to get a statement in their favor from a former champion and current Gym Leader. Especially after that small heart-to-heart him and Reno had had after his completion of the Badge Run.

Getting as close as he dared to the gym, he could see a few eyeballs drawing towards him. But he wasn’t going to be the one doing any sabotage. Nah, from the way he heard things from GRAY, that had been last night with Blizz. Instead, him and Ezekiel were trying to suss out Blue’s scent so that he could track down where exactly he was staying while his gym was being turned into the site for the trial of the century. And while it would take some tense moments of SWIPE staring him down from their posts, eventually Ezekiel would find himself locked onto the scent of some distinct and very brand name cologne that should be Blue’s.

And that’s how Reno found himself outside of one of Viridian City’s notable restaurants, staring as the door burst open at the mere passing of him and his Pokemon. “You! Why have you come this early!? The trial for your pack of degenerates isn’t until tomorrow!” Blue shouted, accusatory finger aimed squarely at Reno.

Well, at least he had a quick answer for if he remembered things more like reality like Blaine or if this was a Sabrina situation. “Hi Blue. I can see you think we really stayed on the wrong foot. So I am going to do something before I make my case here.” Reno explained, slowly reaching up to his neck before pulling off a necklace with a small stone charm that resembled a comma. “This is my channeling artifact. Its the only thing that lets me do any Psychic powers. And this is Ezekiel, my Houndoom.” Lowering the necklace to be in front of the Houndoom’s jaws, Reno would give a quick command. “Ezekiel, hold this thing in your mouth and prepare a Dark Pulse.”

The Houndoom would take a moment before following the bizarre command, taking the gem into his jaws before a flood of Dark energy would wash over the artifact. “There is now no physical way for me to do anything mental…” He would be cut off as a familiar style of Ebonite handcuff locked onto his wrist. “Or that. That works as well.”

Blue would sneer, leaving the other end of the handcuffs he had just used hanging loosely. “So, lets hear what miraculous case you have here. What exactly do you think will make up for you running roughshod through my Gym, disrespecting me at every turn in our battle, deciding your entire group was above the law and making the entire Indigo Alliance look like fools, and just plain thinking that you are somehow going to be convincing enough to tell me that MY memories are wrong instead of you being a worthless traitor?”

Taking a breath, Reno would dig into what he remembered from their battle. And especially from their discussion after that entire battle. About the whole talk about the future over the roaring bonfire that they had created out of that small forest he had swamped the place with through his Frenzy Plant. They had their discussion about Lance, about Reno’s shot towards the Elite Four and how he didn’t see himself as Champion material, even if he had succeeded. But….there was something there. That moment after he had mentioned wanting to find his way to Red and face him down. The one single moment where he had managed to get something past all the bravado and stubborn belief to some of Blue’s true feelings about the man he…maybe didn’t openly call his best friend but was as far as the world could tell.

It was the only angle he had, especially if the rest of the jury that had been gathered had been poisoned to be as hostile as this. “I was going to try and appeal to some portion of our battle that I remembered and you didn’t, prove how we both saw things at that time and how it's changed for you since then somehow. But that's not going to change anything. You’d stand by your version of events and I’d have mine. So I’m just going to tell you what we talked about afterwards. When we started that bonfire in your gym to help clear out the aftermath of our duel.” Slowly slumping a little, Reno would very mechanically place his left hand on his right leg to try and get the less articulate prosthetic to give him some support. “We were talking about what I’d do for the Eltie Four and I brought up how I didn’t see myself becoming Champion but that I would see about finding Red to face him. And you explained a lot of the history for him: how he had been chasing becoming the best his whole life and had become listless after achieving that goal. His disappearance up to the peak of Mt. Silver and how you went to visit him a few times, but just found him to not be the same person he was before becoming the champion. How he tried to fill that void by taking on the Pokemon World Tournament and his win there ended up making everything he was experiencing worse.”

Sighing, he looked up towards the former Champion. “You told me that you needed to be careful what you wished for, because you might just get it. And end up like Red. Now…if any of that means anything, will you please try and help us when the trial starts? Give us at least something to say that we’re actually good?” Reno finished, doing his best to keep his gaze locked onto Blue.

—--

Walking away from his encounter with Blue, Reno would be aimlessly strolling as he attempted to collect his thoughts. He had done all he could so far with collecting statements to be in their favor, but it felt like it wasn’t enough still. “Hey there, Champ in the making. You seem to be a little down?” A voice chirped up from a nearby bench. Looking over Reno would see a very familiar pair of sunglasses staring over at him with a grin on his face. “Anything that I can do fro you?”

Reno would pause for a moment, staring at the gym guide as a few questions raced through his mind before settling on the simplest answer. “Do you think you can give me and Team Snagem a character statement? I dunno if your opinion will add much but…”

“Whoa whoa whoa Champ.” He interrupted, cutting off Reno as he stood up to face the man. “I am an officially recognized gym guide. I see more of most trainers than a Gym Leader that someone has to retry a dozen times. I am basically the first line of defense to keep any troublemakers out of the Badge Challenge. My opinion will at least give you something. Now then, let's write a glowing review of Team Snagem and your whole saving the world multiple times.”

“Yeah, about what I expected but I swear…” Pausing as he assessed what exactly had been said, Reno would stare at the gym guide he had spent so long dealing with in Kanto. “Wait. You're just…gonna do it? Why? Didn't you see everything? Don't you remember different?”

The guide would give a simple shrug, already beginning to pen his statement. “Can't say for sure. But I know for sure its the right course.” Shooting a smile towards Reno, he added, “Maybe its just a lucky charm finally coming in handy.”

Blinking a few times, Reno would put his hand into his pocket as he waited for the gym guide to finish and found himself feeling….something plastic in his pocket. Pulling out whatever it was, Reno would find himself looking at a pair of identical sunglasses to the Gym Guide's. Smiling to himself, he would put the pair of sunglasses on before he was handed the statement. “Now then, Champ in the making. Let's see you light up the stage in Viridian Gym again tomorrow.” The gym guide offered up the encouragement with a clap onto Reno's right shoulder.

Taking it all in with a small laugh, Reno would offer a similar clap on the shoulder. “Thanks for extra pep. Now…Id better find the rest of Team Snagem. We have a meeting we can't miss. Hope you have a good day.” Reno gave his thanks before setting off for the edge of town, waiting to alert everyone when the teleport scramblers dropped so they could all make their grand entrance.

Because I ain't doing a large copy pasta reformat on my phone, here's a link to the Google Doc.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rt9joI9lfce7mjkJwAP1WCmTP6vm654wtAP4KHsvH7Y/edit?usp=drivesdk

Good job everyone! I read all your missions and I'm thrilled to say you all pass! Reading your missions gave me plenty of ideas. You'll have to see how the current team mission plays out to see what the results will be for completing these missions! Especially with how court might now play out. Though at least one of the micromissions had repercussions for not doing it so that was avoided. So good job guys! The rewards will be given out as follows:

Ulla_Hanabi and Darksol88: 2x Snag Coins, your choice of 1x K&L Pass, 1x Gengar Token, or 1 additional Snag Coin. Also 2x Evo Points for any applicable Pokemon.

Blizzard120, MoniqueBrie and Reno Vantas: The rewards above in the first group PLUS 1x Snag Emblem Piece, 1x Exp Candy S as well as an additional 1x Snag Coin.

Espeon_Commander: The rewards above in the second group PLUS your choice of Stardust, Pearl, Tiny Mushroom or Color Shard.