Chương 69: Chapter 56

I met Alyssa outside the mall just after ten, my partners surrounding me in a little brigade that made navigating the morning crowds rather arduous. My best friend had her own partner perched on her shoulder, the little yellow head combining with Alyssa's natural height to let me pick them out of the crowd.

"Fe!" She waved at me as my team approached, the eleven of us catching her eye.

"Hey Alyssa. Sorry, had to wrangle everyone to get out this morning. Were you waiting long?"

"Just got here," she reassured me.

"Feeling better?"

"Mostly," I replied, wilfully ignoring the time I'd spent few days ago rebandaging my split wounds after my dustup with Donna. Luckily, none of my stitches had torn, but the deeper cuts, the ones that were still healing, had been weeping red for a few hours after the battle.

"Glad to hear it," Alyssa went on, though the look she gave me made me think I wasn't fooling her.

"Ready to go inside? Feels like it's been forever."

"We just got our ears pierced here on your birthday."

"Yeah, but that was an appointment, and we just went to CBF for that. When was the last time we came to the mall to just, you know, hang out?"

"Ummm," I had to spend a few moments thinking about that one.

"Well the last time was probably a little before school let out," I reasoned, "so close to nine months now, give or take."

"See, forever," Alyssa reiterated.

"Now c'mon, let's get in there." The Tin Column Mall was a Techne institution. A real pillar of the community. Or at least, that's how the owners wanted people to think of it. The truth of the matter was, the mall had only been in operation for just over a decade. I knew that because just last year they'd thrown a huge celebration for their ten-year anniversary. And in all fairness, as far as malls went, I thought Tin Column was pretty impressive.

The building was three stories, with interlocking indoor and outdoor areas that flowed together seamlessly. There were hundreds of shops, a full Pokémon Center, a Movie Theater with 3D capabilities, a massive food court, and a dedicated battle space where multiple Ferrum Battles could go on at the same time. And on top of all that, the mall even had its own dedicated subway station and I-line stop.

All of that to say, the Tin Column mall had been one of the tip-top places to hang out for me, Alyssa, and a ton of other pre-teens from Nickel-street preparatory school. We'd spent thousands of collective hours traipsing through huge mall's walkways and escalators, together, alone, with family and friends, in every permutation you could imagine.

Film releases, birthdays, big purchases, and weekend hangouts, we'd experienced all of them at Tin Column, and stepping inside its air-conditioned halls felt like a return to familiar stomping grounds for us. Less so for our partners, who embraced the new experience with a wide array of reactions. Pikachu's ears were going wild, swinging this way and that as a thousand and one conversations happened around us.

Maushold were obviously enamored with the mall itself, watching all of the people coming and going and peering into the shops with sparkling eyes. My knights were slightly ornery, obviously riled by the crowd, but I was able to corral them by asking them to focus on keeping a protective cordon around Alyssa and I.

Mana shot inquisitive looks around, and occasionally an azure construct would dart away from her to peer closer at something of interest, but she mostly watched the Pokémon around us, staring at each one passing us by in a way that I couldn't read. Our first stop was Figuero's, a clothing boutique that catered to young Battle Trainers. Apparently, Alyssa wasn't satisfied with her current trainer-apparel, and was looking to change things up for the rest of the season.

I hadn't noticed anything wrong with what she'd worn for her battles before, practical shorts/pants (depending on weather) and a gray coat, but the clothes admittedly didn't leave much of an impression. Branding hadn't been something I'd ever really considered when I was dreaming of being a successful and powerful Battle Trainer, but when Alyssa brought it up, I had to admit that it was probably an important part of the shebang.

"A couple of sponsors have reached out to me, none for any apparel-brands, but it got me thinking that maybe I should update my wardrobe. Need to appeal to our corporate-overlords if I want to get the money I need to compete, you know?"

"Are tournament and match winnings not enough?" I asked, as I thumbed through some athletic shirts on a rack.

"I mean, your win-rate is absurd." My best friend shrugged, jostling Pikachu and eliciting a noise of protest from the Electric-type on her shoulder that she ignored, "It's fine for now, but expenses start piling up once you get into higher leagues. The amount of traveling you need to do in the Blue and Red leagues for your matches means paying for transportation and hotels. Plus, the medical expenses start to rack up too.

Especially in Red League, making sure your partner is in the best shape after every match gets expensive."

"I guess I never really thought all that much about that," I admitted, getting momentarily distracted by the sight of Maushold scampering to Alyssa's side with some clothes and handing them off to her. She took the outfit with a smile and a 'thank you,' before holding it up and making appreciative noises as inspected the clothing. The trio of Normal-type's snapped off a textbook salute, before scampering off, once more in search of potential outfits.

I very carefully didn't shoot a dirty look at the sales assistant who stared at my partners disdainfully, though I did segment off a part of my attention to make sure that she didn't cause any trouble for Maushold. They were having far too much fun for me to let someone ruin it with their unfair prejudices. As that piece of my mind kept a level eye on things, another continued my conversation with Alyssa.

"See, in my head, being a Battle Trainer was always just, win battles, get stronger, win more battles."

"That's just like you Fe," my best friend responded.

"If only things in real life were as simple as they are in your head," she continued wistfully, speaking over my indignant, "Hey!"

"But no, that would make things too easy," the brunette Battle Trainer went on.

"Expenses, branding, sponsors, media image, you need to think about all those sorts of things, and that's not to mention the politics," the last word was said like a curse, Alyssa spitting it out as if she were spewing something vile.

"You mean like when you had to accept that challenge from that guy in the top one-hundred?" I asked. My best friend blinked a few times, before shaking her hand in a so-so gesture.

"I guess yeah, but I was thinking actual politics, not battle trainer politics," she paused for a few moments, and then her face screwed up in consternation, "now that I think about it, though, the latter sucks too. Not quite as bad, but almost." I watched my best friend, a black coat held forgotten in my hands, my knights stacked next to me clearly bored out of their minds.

"But you still love it, right?"

"Of course," Alyssa said without hesitation.

"More than anything. I wouldn't give it up for the world." I could see the conviction in my best friend's eyes. It made the little green ache in my chest hurt just a little less. No one would have condemned Alyssa for seeing battle training as a means to an end, an ordeal she had to endure to escape her family, but it wasn't just that to my best friend. She loved Battle training, as much as I had. Probably more.

"Everything alright Fe?" the brunette Battle Trainer asked, when I didn't respond. Mana descended from above, settling in my hair like a cool bottle of water.

"I'm thinking about leaving Ferrum, Alyssa," I said, the words bursting out of me in a rush.

"Maybe forever." My best friend blinked at me, clearly nonplussed by the abrupt change of subject.

"What?" - I'd meant to introduce this topic today, but my intention had been to broach it over lunch, or in some other more suitable context. Instead, we were doing it here, in the back of Figuero's.

"What brought this on, Fe?" The question came from behind the fitting room curtain, and was accompanied by the sound of rustling clothes. I was silent for a few moments, marshalling my thoughts, before I replied, "it's looking like my synergy sickness is going to make it impossible for me to keep being a ranger in Ferrum. My partners and I have been talking about our options, and a lot of them involve leaving the region entirely." There was a long pause, as Alyssa considered my words.

"You're really going to leave Ferrum?"

"We're considering it," I replied immediately, "nothing's set in stone yet." The rustling stopped, and the curtain hoops made that characteristic shriek as they were all shoved to one side.

"I'd miss you," my best friend said, almost like a question, "but you should do what's right for you and your partners."

"I'd miss you too," I told her, trying to keep my voice level.

"Also, no."

"What's wrong with it?" Alyssa asked, glancing down at the first ensemble she'd picked out. I didn't have anything against fashion. I just– didn't put a lot of thought into what I wore beyond making sure it was comfortable and practical. Until recently, my only income had been a rather piddly allowance from my parents, and I'd rather have spent that on things related to Ferrum Battles. What limited funds I had possessed went into magazines, battle trainer cards, and posters.

Clothing was something my parents bought for me, or with me. I'd thought that Alyssa was the same, but she was swiftly putting paid to that assumption. She definitely had a well-developed sense of style. Just… that sense was a little bit… strange.

"I don't think jumpsuits have been in for a couple of decades now, Alyssa."

"But it's so cute, look!" my best friend replied, doing a quick spin so I could see the completely black back to complement the Pikachu-yellow front. That was the entire design, all yellow on one side and solid, jet black on the other. I had to work to suppress a wince.

"I'm not saying it's a hard no, but let's make it a maybe, okay?" I tried to reason. Alyssa pouted, but agreed, grabbing another outfit and retreating back behind the curtain once more. The jumpsuit was quickly joined in the 'maybe' pile by a myriad of other apparel. Highlights included a fluorescent green dress with accenting yellow triangles interspersed like polka dots, a blouse that was just, open in the back, somehow, and a pair of pants adorned with a menagerie of lightning bolts.

And not included on that list were an equal number of flat-out rejects I forced Alyssa to put in the 'definitely not' pile. Those didn't even bear describing. A substantially smaller selection also got set aside, articles that met both my, and Alyssa's approval. A puffy winter coat in Pikachu-yellow. A few pairs of plain black leggings. A blouse (with a full back) in a color that didn't hurt my eyes too much to look at.

Meager dealings for a couple of hours of work, but, a lot of that time was spent talking, me explaining the options I'd come up with and Alyssa chiming in with her feedback. Unsurprisingly, she was most in favor of the options that kept me in the region. She even suggested a couple of programs and internships that I hadn't thought of. The topic of discussion was stressful, but it didn't compromise the experience in general which was– nice. Just spending time with Alyssa, picking out clothes, trying them on.

I'd missed this. The last time we'd just hung out like this was probably her birthday, and the comfortable warmth I was feeling served as an aching reminder of just how much I'd miss my best friend were I to leave the region. The time flew by in a flash, as we traversed the mall's various shops. We went from Figuero's to Spice Rack (a shop with more punk selections), and then to Posh, (a boutique where everything cost thrice as much as it would elsewhere).

Maushold were practically in heaven, excitedly scampering too and fro through the various offerings, looking at them with sparkling eyes and obviously taking notes in their minds, in between picking things out for us to try on. I didn't like the way people stared at my partners, the affected shudders, or the harsh glances, but it could have been worse. At least no one attacked them or spit at them. Cold comforts, but I'd take what I could get.

Luckily, they seemed mostly too distracted to pay too much mind to the hostility, but I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking they didn't notice it at all. I'd have to pay extra attention to their mood for the next couple of days. Eventually, we ended up in Maddy Making, a large clothing outlet that offered more every-day selections than the Battle Trainer boutique.

"What do you think of this," I held out a cute, pink romper with a couple of bows on the front and one each on either side of the shorts, right by the waist. Alyssa eyed the clothing I proffered in the same way she'd look at a particularly offensive stain.

"Are you joking, Fe?" If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"It's cute!" I protested, holding the outfit up over my chest.

"See? You'd look great in this."

"I'd look like a child! Rompers are only for kids."

"This is literally in your size," and that was saying something, since Alyssa was taller than many adult women.

"So I'd look like a huge child!"

"Maus, Maus, Maus," a trio of squeaks interrupted our argument. We looked down, to find Maushold standing between us, a maroon cardigan, black denim jeans, and a white dress shirt held up between them. With another dismissive glance towards my proffered romper, Alyssa absconded with Maushold's offerings, disappearing into the changing room once more.

With a sigh, I returned the adorable pink outfit to its rack and tried very hard not to think about the fact that quite literally everything Alyssa had bought thus far had been brought to us by the trio of Normal-types. - Alyssa ended up finishing her shopping trip with seven full outfits, six of which had been fully provided by Maushold. The last was a yellow jacket and shiny, faux-leather pants combo that I just hadn't been able to convince her off of.

For my part, I departed with a few additional sets of athletic wear, but I was able to beg off anything further by pointing out how uncertain my future plans were. I wasn't sure what my wardrobe would need to look like in a couple of months. After clothes shopping, we headed towards the food court to pick up lunch. Discussions between my knights had gotten a little bit heated, so they were on timeout in their ball right now.

Mana floated alongside my head, and I carried Maushold (to Alyssa's obvious jealousy) in my arms so they could see the various shops in the mall. Pikachu perched on Alyssa's shoulders, swapping between them as various things caught her interest. All of a sudden, my best friend stopped in her tracks, head whirling back and forth.

"Alyssa?" I asked, confused by the sudden stop.

"What's up? See someone you know?" A few seconds passed as she continued to cast about, before she shook her head.

"No, sorry. I thought I saw something– it was probably nothing." I blinked a couple of times, nonplussed.

"Um, you're not acting like it was nothing. Is everything alright." My best friend chewed her lip, "Fine, things are fine," she shook her head.

"Just some paranoia. Let's grab lunch." I considered pushing her, but decided against it. If something were truly wrong, surely Alyssa would tell me about it, right? - The food court was packed, and we barely managed to snag a two-seat table. There wasn't really any room for our partners, other than Mana, who hovered above us and munched on some kelp I'd packed with me, and Pikachu, who squeezed herself underneath the table along with our bags.

The Electric-type was sipping on a berry smoothie, and occasionally making exclamations of joy, interspersed with cries of pain (from the brain freezes, Alyssa explained).

"So can you tell me now about what got you hospitalized?" Alyssa blindsided me with the question as I was in the midst of trying not to choke on the overzealous bite of calzone I'd just taken. After I managed to swallow enough of my bite to not choke (and coughed up half again as much), I leveled an accusing glare at my best friend.

"You did that on purpose." The brunette wore a carefully-innocent look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'd never level such a petty revenge against someone who was so laggard in offering an explanation for their near-maiming."

"It's not easy to talk about, okay?" I replied, unable to keep my voice from getting a little heated. Alyssa's face went immediately from pugnacious to chagrined.

"Shit, Fe, I'm sorry. I didn't," she paused, and I saw the way her eyes flashed across my arms, likely remembering the weeping bandages she'd seen while I was hospitalized, "no, I did mean to pressure you. I'm sorry, that wasn't fair of me." The immediate backtracking took any wind I might have had out of my metaphorical sails.

"No, I did say I'd tell you after I found out how much I can share. It's just– like I said, it's hard to talk about." I looked down, my gaze finding my hands, which were currently mangling the cheesy turnover I'd ordered. I dropped the oozing calzone, my appetite fleeing me. After a few moments, a comforting hand reached out, resting atop mine.

"Alyssa," I looked up at my friend, keeping my face deathly serious as I peered deeply into her eyes. I took a deep breath, and then told her the pure, unvarnished truth.

"There was cheese and tomato sauce, just all over my hands." The girl across the table from me, my very best friend in the entire world, nodded with equal solemnity.

"Well I know that now." We both devolved into equally hysterical giggles. - I filled Alyssa in on what I could after we'd both washed our hands. That I'd been attacked by a Pokémon whose trainer had died, that something had happened to said Pokémon to render them almost feral, and that similar events might keep cropping up, which is what was forcing me out of the ranger corp.

"It has to do with the BattleField Go's, doesn't it?" I tried very hard to keep the surprise off my face, but I doubted I was anywhere close to successful.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, my voice… reasonably close to its normal (already high) octave.

"You didn't hear?" my best friend asked, her voice a mixture between wry amusement and genuine surprise.

"RealTech put out a general recall for them. The news went out this morning." I shook my head, stunned.

"No. I literally went right from waking up to coming here. Golems, a recall? That's– that's bad, right?" I'd heard of recalls on battle equipment before, things like an AR helmet that'd been overheating and cooking trainers who tried to use it alive, or a training device that overstimulated Pokémon's nerves and caused long-term degradation. Alyssa nodded grimly.

"RealTech can't sell or support any more of them, and they have to buy back any offered to them at market price. It's– it might not kill the company, RealTech is pretty big, but it's going to hit them hard for sure."

"That's…" mixed emotions warred in me. On the one hand, BFGs were demonstrably dangerous, as a myriad of accidents and crimes involving them could attest, which wasn't even to mention the shadow synergy stones that they could accidentally create. At the same time though…

"Don't get me wrong, BFGs were bad news, but– my dad, you know?"

"Yeah, he was so excited when he presented those things at the Dojo Challenge," Alyssa nodded.

"They said he led the project."

"He's gonna be devastated," I said, my voice low.

"I mean, I'm glad they're getting taken off the streets–" Whatever I'd been about to say was cut off by a wince from my best friend.

"What?" I asked instead, curious about the reaction.

"I'm not really sure this will make that much of a difference at this point, honestly." Alyssa admitted after a few seconds.

"Even if RealTech isn't selling or supporting them anymore, there're a ton of BFGs out there right now, and plenty of people who already know how to mess with and repair them. Plus, it's not like they made owning a BFG illegal or anything, so someone's probably going to create an alternative in the next few weeks, and then we're right back where we started."

"So– my dad and his company get screwed over, and nothing actually changes?" All Alyssa could offer me was a wince and a shrug. That, well that sucked, but it also made sense.

"Hopefully it's a start at least. Maybe they'll outlaw the technology." Except, I already knew that was unlikely, since the rangers and security forces were being supplied with similar devices. Alyssa didn't have any sort of consolation to offer in response to my wishful thinking. - Conversation sort of dried up after that, so after making short work of the rest of our lunches, Alyssa and I departed the food court, making for the entrance.

We were riding an escalator from the third floor down to the second when my best friend started, eyes tracking the walkways above us with manic intensity. Her partner copied her, brunette hair and yellow fur whipping back and forth as the pair looked one way, and then another.

"What, what is it?" I hissed the question, one hand going to my knights' ball.

"Alyssa, seriously, what's going on?"

"It's…" my best friend said, uncertainty clear in her tone. For a moment, I was concerned that she'd blow me off again, but with a sigh, the brunette relented.

"okay, this might sound a little bit crazy, but I could swear Pikachu and I have been really, dangerously unlucky recently. Also, we've been getting the feeling that someone is– watching us."

"What, like a stalker?" I asked, concern mingling with incredulity. Except, once I gave it some additional thought, the idea didn't actually seem all that farfetched, Alyssa was, technically, very wealthy, definitely very pretty, and sort of a public figure with her meteoric rise in the battle rankings.

"No? I mean– maybe? It's not like I've caught anyone following me or anything. It's just– an impression I get sometimes. Or Pikachu. She notices it too."

"Pika!" a confirming cry came from the yellow mouse, leading credence to Alyssa's claims.

"Well, shit, that's really scary. Are you okay? Have you gone to city-security?" Alyssa shook her head.

"Like I said, it's not like we've actually noticed anything concrete. I can't exactly go into a security station and say, 'officer, sometimes it feels sort of like someone is watching me.'" I mean, she could, but also, considering city security's reputation recently, I could hardly blame her reticence.

"Does this happen, like, all the time?" I asked.

"Just when we're out," she said, eyes flicking between me and the mall behind me, her expressions clearly unsettled.

"And like I said, unlucky stuff has been happening. We almost got hit by a car a few days ago. The guy blew right through a red light, and we barely heard him coming in time. Then, just yesterday Pikachu somehow got in a fight with a couple of wild Pokémon for like, no reason."

"Guardians Alyssa, that sounds– well I'm not sure, but it doesn't sound like nothing."

"I, I sort of convinced myself I've been imagining things. I mean, it sounds pretty crazy now that I say it out loud, right? We're probably just being careless. Or maybe we're tired from all the battling," Alyssa tried to reason, her green eyes looking haunted. It did sound sort of crazy, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Janine always says that a feeling in your gut is your brain trying to tell you something that you haven't consciously put together yet. If it was just a one or two-time thing, I wouldn't worry about it, but if you keep getting this feeling over and over, and bad things keep happening, maybe it's more than just paranoia." Alyssa nodded, looking partially convinced.

"It's definitely more than one or two times. And honestly, I've been feeling it more and more recently." Now, my hackles were up, and I couldn't help an involuntary glance around the crowded walkway. Parts of my brain that'd been lying dormant sputtered awake, more segments of my consciousness roused into awareness by the sudden feeling of unease that'd overtaken me. I did one pass, spinning in place, and then another, as something snagged a shard of my attention."

Mana," I spoke, attracting a small azure construct that hung by my mouth. I whispered some instructions, and the little blue fish vanished.

"What was that?" Alyssa asked, but for once, I didn't have the spare thoughts to reply to her. My brain was working overtime, my eyes flicking back and forth, trying to take in as much visual information as I could. Parts of me tracked the paths of the people walking by us, others checked the reflections in the surrounding store-front windows, and more still were interpreting visual and audio signals from Mana, who herself was spread across a dozen and a half different perspectives.

Together, our myriad views stitched together a picture with a glaring hole in it. I grabbed Alyssa's hand and started yanking her along.

"Don't look," I hissed at her, trying to keep my voice barely audible over the crowd, "but there's something weird behind us." My best friend, predictably, peered over her shoulder.

"What? I don't see anything." I tugged on her hand urgently.

"Stop looking! There's a spot, maybe four meters back, where no one's walking." And that spot was following us. And no matter how I tried to look at it, I couldn't see, or hear, anything there. To her credit, Alyssa stopped looking almost immediately. She picked up her pace, and quickly overtook me with her longer legs.

"C'mon, there's a small corridor that leads to some bathrooms. We can lay an ambush there." Tension kept us both stiff as piano wires as we hustled through the crowd, any attempts to appear nonchalant likely pointless. The chances of surprising our unseen pursuer seemed vanishingly slim, but maybe if they were persistent enough (or arrogant enough from their invisibility), we'd still be able to catch them off-guard. If our actions weren't borne of rampant paranoia, that was.

That seemed increasingly unlikely, however, the more distance we gained, and the more obvious it became that the empty space was indeed following us. By the time we reached the long, shadowy corridor, it was all I could do to keep my hands from snapping to my knights' ball. I whispered more instructions to Mana, who hovered up near the ceiling, and waited near the entrance to the narrow hallway. We positioned ourselves behind some vending machines at the end of the corridor.

A few people walked by, going to and from the bathroom. I counted down in my mind, calculating how long our hypothetical, unseen pursuer would take to catch up to us. When my mental countdown reached zero, nothing happened. The mouth of the hallway remained conspicuously empty. Except, one of the people leaving the hallway unconsciously stepped around some unseen obstacle. The woman moved completely on reflex, and didn't even seem to register that she'd done so.

No mumbled apology or look of confusion, just a confident, unworried step to the side around something we couldn't see.

"They're here." I whispered to Alyssa, before speaking a command out loud, "Mana, come down." The order was almost unnecessary, as the diminutive Water-type was already descending, swelling in size to block the hallway's exit, eliciting an exclamation of surprise from the woman who'd just slipped past her. Alyssa and I stepped out from behind the vending machine facing different directions.

I held up a hand, blocking a couple of people who were trying to leave the bathroom, while my best friend faced the mouth of the corridor, Pikachu sparking on her shoulder.

"Reveal yourself, you're trapped," she spoke confidently to the empty space between us and the exit, staring intently at the conspicuously unoccupied hallway. The pair of people I'd stopped near the bathrooms looked at us with confusion. One of them had a hand on a Poké Ball, while the other just sort of stood there. The woman on the other side of Mana peered curiously through the translucent, azure school, even reaching out a confused hand to touch the watery bodies, as if unsure what she was seeing.

For a solid ten seconds, the uneasy standoff held, more and more people stopping to peer at Mana and see what was going on. Five more seconds passed, and another person left the bathroom, only to halt, blinking, clearly nonplussed. The tension in the air was palpable. Or maybe that was the awkwardness, as the confidence I'd felt in identifying our pursuer gave way to uncertainty, and then mortification. Just before I couldn't stand it anymore, however, clapping rang out, echoing in the dim hallway.

"Impressive. Really impressive. What gave us away?" The voice was familiar. Something about the oily, smarmy tone rang a bell in my brain. That ringing turned into sirens as, before our very eyes, the empty space dissipated, revealing a man in a black suit, still offering us a polite golf clap. Accompanying him was a Pokémon that I both recognized, and didn't. It stood on two legs, and was covered in black fur with red highlights.

The Pokémon's vulpine snout was pulled back in a snarl of displeasure, and their hunched posture left me with no illusions about how quickly they could take action should they feel it necessary. I didn't know the fox-like Pokémon's name, but I had seen it before, in a still image, presented to me by a foreign battler. One wearing a black suit, and a white, domino mask. Much like the man standing before us now (minus the mask).

"Grim?" I asked, punctuating my question by releasing my knights in front of me. The action caused both man and Pokémon to tense up, but the trainer's concern gave way to recognition as he took in the bristling Falinks.

"Artie?" he asked back, incredulity and uncertainty warring in the man's tone.

"Huh, what are the odds?"

"Why were you following us," I asked in lieu of dignifying that question with a response. The question earned several more seconds of awkward silence. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like Grim might have been worrying the inside of his cheek. His partner remained tensed, ready to spring into action, until a reassuring hand landed on their shoulder. The (presumed) Dark-type let out a dismissive huff and shook the hand off, but also straightened up, relaxing their posture.

"I know this looks weird, but hear me out Artie," the suited man held his hands out in a placating gesture.

"Someone is out to get your friend here. She's in danger, and I need to stop them." Alyssa blanched, her suspicions confirmed for the worst, and I felt my eyes narrow dangerously.

"Explain," I barked, barely able to restrain myself from putting syn in the demand.

"Not here," Grim shook his head.

"Follow me, and I'll tell you what I know." Reluctantly, I gestured for Mana to unblock the hallway. Alyssa grabbed my arm, but I shook my head.

"If he wanted to hurt us, he wouldn't need to mess around like this." I whispered to her.

"He's got at least four Pokémon, probably more, and they're strong. Closer to Drake's level than ours." If anything, that statement made my best friend pale even further.

"What hell is going on Fe?" she hissed at me.

"Who is this guy?"

"I'm not sure, but hopefully we're going to find out."