Clothes washed, showers taken, and relaxation complete, the three trainers headed down to the Devon Towers, pace slowed by lingering fatigue and injury. The two spires shone in the afternoon skyline like beacons, and as the base of the buildings came into view the trio blinked at the sight before them.

“Damn,” May huffed, rubbing at her side. “That’s a lot of police cars.”

“There’s only three,” Brendan said, peering at the parking lot in the distance. “More than I thought there’d be, but Devon is pretty high profile, the theft must have kicked up a panic.”

Astra squinted, staring down at the cars. Quite a few humans were scattered about the area, all but one had matching blue uniforms and turquoise hair. The sole exception was a familiar Devon employee. He was speaking with one of the uniformed people and seemed downcast if his slumped stance was any indication.

“What’s up with all the blue?” Astra asked. She’d never seen humans go without some form of individualism; this swarm of identical people was a startling departure from the norm. Even their hair was the same shape. If Astra didn’t know better, she would have thought she was looking at another pokemon species.

“You don’t...?” Brendan paused, and when Astra turned to look, she found him sharing a concerned glance with May. Had she asked something weird again? He shook his head and turned back to her. “Those are police officers,” Brendan continued, frowning in thought. “Uh, they’re a group of people who enforce the laws, and protect people when dangerous things happen.”

Astra nodded thoughtfully. So they were the human equivalent of the guards back home? Why hadn’t they been the ones to—wait, the Devon employee had said the ‘police’ were occupied by the disaster in the forest, hadn’t he? Another hot flash of shame roiled though her; yet another way her experiment had caused chaos and panic. Well, that explained who they were, but not why they looked so similar. Wait, hadn’t she seen something like this before? “Are they like Nurse Joys, then?” Astra asked.

“Yeah, same sort of deal,” Brendan confirmed. “They all dress the same so people can recognize them. Though, if you ask me the hair and the names are a bit much.” He shrugged. “Still, they’re always first on the scene when there’s trouble afoot, so if you have a problem, a Jenny is always a good choice to call!”

“Good choice my ass,” May snorted. “Any time I ever met one of them, they were only interested in giving me hell. Fucking bluejays.”

“May!” Brendan exclaimed, giving her a scandalized look. “You can’t call them that! That’s disrespectful!”

“If they wanted me to respect them, then they shouldn’t have gotten on my ass for the most petty of bullshit!” May scoffed, glaring down at the uniformed humans. “Seriously, who the hell gives out a misdemeanor for a little bit of spray paint under a fucking bridge—!” She abruptly cut herself off with a hiss, clutching at her side.

“Uh,” Astra said, coming to a halt. “You okay?

“I’m fine.” May bit out, grumbling as she poked around her ribs. “Just—got too excited.”

Brendan frowned. “We could still go to a clinic first. The briefcase isn’t going anywhere.”

May rolled her eyes. “It’s just a stupid bruise with ideas, I can handle it.” She shouldered her way past Brendan, speeding a few meters down the road. “See!” she called, turning back. “I’m fine!”

She held her hands out in display, giving them a flat look. Brendan sighed. “Alright, alright.” he said, waving her on. He glanced at Astra. “She really likes making things difficult, doesn’t she?”

Astra shrugged and gave him a wry grin. “You don’t even know half of it. I hope she’s okay...” She frowned, looking back at May. Externally, the other girl looked fine, but Astra had sensed May’s pain flare up a few times now.

“We’ll know for sure after we bring her to a doctor,” Brendan replied. “Come on, we don’t want her getting too far ahead.”

“Right.” Astra nodded, and sped up her pace to catch up with May. Something May had said just now had piqued her interest. Falling in line with her friend, Astra looked up at her curiously. “You were painting on a bridge?” she asked, tilting her head. “You never told me you could paint.”

May’s eyes flickered to Astra, and she sighed. “...I used to doodle at school,” she grumbled. “It sort of translated over. Wasn’t any good, but it didn’t look like shit, I guess.”

“I’m sure it looked great!” Astra said with a grin. “What’d you draw? Something cool, right? Actually, knowing you, it was just rude.”

May looked at Astra, eyebrow raised. “Rude?”

Astra shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe you drew your dad with a stupid face?”

May snorted and looked away, lips upturned. “Heh, maybe I should have.” She was silent for a moment. “...I drew a beach, and the ocean.”

“Oh!” Astra exclaimed. “That sounds nice!”

“But not something you’d get a misdemeanor over,” Brendan chimed in from their left, having caught up to them. He frowned. “That’d get you a warning at worst, especially since we’re minors.”

“There may have been shouting.” May shrugged. “I guess they didn’t like what I put on the beach.”

“...What did you put on the beach?” Brendan asked, slowly.

“Oh, nothing much. Just a lighthouse on top of some boulders.” May said, staring straight ahead as they walked. The corner of her mouth twitched. “Alongside a few... interestingly shaped clouds firing off from the tip.”

Astra squinted, confused. What was a lighthouse? And why would it matter if clouds were emerging from it? She leaned over to ask Brendan, but paused when she saw the deep, deep exasperation etched into his face.

“Really?” Brendan asked. “Really?”

Astra looked between her friends, bewildered. “Really what? What’s wrong with clouds?”

“I also drew a sun. The clouds might have been travelling into it.” May added, her voice shaking with constrained laughter.

Astra peered at her. Was May joking? But what was the joke? Brendan looked like he got it, so maybe it was some human thing? Were they hiding it from her? Astra, undeterred, spoke up with what she did know about. “Why would a cloud go into the sun? They go across the sky. And sometimes fall down and get everybody wet.”

May twitched, her entire face curling upwards in a demented grin. “Boy, they sure fucking do!” she crowed, then burst out cackling, doubling over with a pained wheeze. Astra stared at her.

Brendan's hand hit his face, a tired sigh escaping through his fingers. “That is the most juvenile—why am I friends with you again?”

“My amazing sense of humor, obviously,” May grinned, leaning on Brendan’s shoulder. “C’mon! It’s hilarious! Just imagine it, a giant—”

May broke off and whispered a few words into Brendan’s ear. Whatever May said caused him to quickly cover his mouth with a fist, muffling a sharp snort. He shook his head, wiping the smile off his face and replacing it with a peeved expression. “Alright, maybe it’s a little funny. But it was still inappropriate!”

“What is!?” Astra yelled. She glared at both of them. It was definitely deliberate that time! Why wouldn’t they just make sense? “I don’t get it! What’s so special about a lighthouse and the weather!?”

“Nothing, Astra,” Brendan sighed, shoving May’s arm off. “Just a crude joke. Don’t worry about it.”

“Well you did laugh, so I’d call it a win!” May cheered. Then she blinked, expression souring. “Even if those Jennies didn’t. And speaking of the devil...”

“Hold it!” a voice yelled. Astra turned, and blinked as she found herself surrounded by a parking lot. Had she been so focused on the conversation that she hadn’t noticed herself walking in? Argument sidetracked, she looked over at the Officer Jenny that had called over to them, who was now briskly walking over.

“Uh, we’re not in trouble, right?” Astra asked her friends, nervously eyeing the approaching “police officer”. Their accounts hadn’t quite left her with a solid impression; the officers were supposedly protectors, but they also gave May trouble just for drawing?

“We’re fine,” Brendan said, standing to attention. “We just need to explain ourselves and everything will turn out all right. And don’t antagonize them, please?” He gave May a pointed look.

“Yeah yeah,” May huffed, waving Brendan off. “Just wave the briefcase and get us through.”

“Mhm. Ah, hello there Officer Jenny!” Brendan called, waving his free hand as the officer drew close. “What seems to be the issue?”

The Officer Jenny came to a halt in front of the trio, eyes glancing toward May and Brendan’s pokeballs. “Hello, trainers,” she said, adopting an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid there’s been an incident in the Devon Towers, and these buildings will be off limits for another few hours for investigative reasons.”

“Ah! Well, I have good news for you, then.” Brendan said, lifting the briefcase. Officer Jenny glanced at it, confused. Brendan smiled. “We happen to have been involved with—”

“You did it!” another voice exclaimed. Everyone blinked, turning to see the familiar, green-suited Devon employee nearly sprinting toward them, a joyous expression on his face and a confused Officer Johnny abandoned mid-conversation behind him. “You got it back! You really are great trainers!”

“Mr. Kennedy?” Officer Jenny asked, looking off balance as the portly man—Kennedy, as Astra now knew—came to a stop next to the group and beamed. “Do you know these trainers?”

“Know them? They’re the ones who’ve been saving my bacon recently!” Kennedy exclaimed. He hesitated. “Well, those two, at any rate,” he said, motioning toward Astra and May. “I’m not sure about this fellow here. Friend of yours?” he asked, eyeing Brendan curiously.

“Yeah!” Astra said with a nod. “Brendan helped us get the briefcase back. We couldn’t have done it without him.”

“It was no big deal, really,” Brendan laughed, scratching his head.

Kennedy smiled at him jovially. “No need to be humble, boy! You—all of you—deserve nothing but the highest of praise! That briefcase contains incredibly important material, and if it had gotten into the wrong hands, why, I don’t know what could have happened! Speaking of which...?”

His eyes flicked to the briefcase, and Brendan obligingly handed it over. “I don’t think it’s been opened,” Brendan said, flexing his hand a bit with the weight finally gone. “So whatever’s inside should still be in one piece.”

“Hm.” Balancing the briefcase on his arm, Kennedy unlatched it and peeked inside. Nodding once, he latched it shut again and grinned. “It’s all there, exactly how I kept it! Superbly done, the President will surely be glad to hear of your success. Oh, he might even want to thank you personally!” He brightened, looking at the trainers happily. “Please come with me, I’m sure he’ll want to see you as quickly as—”

“Hold it!” The Officer Jenny barked, making everyone jump. “Nobody’s going anywhere!”

May snorted. “Here we go,” she muttered, sullenly kicking at the ground.

“Oh, uh, is there a problem, officer?” Kennedy asked, looking perplexed. “These three trainers just saved us a lot of trouble; surely everything is sorted?”

“There’s still a thief at large, Mr. Kennedy,” Officer Jenny reminded him. “If you are sure that the missing property has been recovered, then we can release you and the briefcase. But as for you three,” she continued, turning to Astra, May, and Brendan, “I’m afraid I need you to answer a few questions about the events of the past few hours.”

“Oh, is that it?” Astra asked, relieved. She had thought something had gone wrong for a moment. Answering a few questions didn’t sound too bad. “Sure, we can do that.” Brendan nodded in agreement, and while May didn’t look happy, she didn’t voice an objection.

Kennedy huffed. “Well drat. Well, once you get done with all this, talk to the receptionist in our lobby. I’ll tell her to send you up.”

“We will,” Astra said, giving him a grin. After recent events it was nice to have solved a problem instead of creating one. Even if it was one she had indirectly enabled.

“Right then. I’d best get this back where it belongs.” Kennedy said, patting the briefcase. “Don’t tarry too long! We’ll be waiting.” He shot them one last smile, then spun about and walked off back to the tower.

“You know,” May said, watching him leave, “I was halfway expecting him to somehow lose the thing before he got in.”

Astra snorted. “What, like he’d trip and send it flying into a bush?”

May merely hummed. “A girl can dream.”

A clap drew their attention. “Alright then!” The Officer Jenny said with a friendly smile. “If you could follow me, this won’t take long at all.”

The questioning took a long time.

Well, longer than Astra had expected. Officer Jenny hadn't seemed fazed by their attempt to catch the thief, but she was concerned about their battle with the Exploud and had proceeded to give them a lecture about challenging pokemon ‘above their weight class’. It mostly revolved around ‘knowing when to run away’, which May had scoffed at.

A full hour later, Astra, May, and Brendan finally entered the Devon Towers, and were now in a waiting room near the top of the building. The elevator had made Astra a bit nauseous, and she wondered exactly how high up they were. Higher than even the tallest of trees she had climbed back home for sure, though it was hard to tell without a window to look through.

Apparently the Devon President was in some sort of meeting, or so the receptionist had said. The harsh lights embedded into the ceiling shone through clouded glass, revealing a wide lounge with a red-tiled floor, faded green walls hosting a few posters, and a small assortment of chairs, tables, and magazines.

“Right away my ass,” May drawled, reclining on the sole sofa in the room. She stared at the ceiling, sprawled across all three seats of the sofa. “If we weren’t held up for an entire hour, I bet we could have been outta here by now. Seriously, I swear we told the damn story twenty times! They didn’t even believe us when we told them it was an Aqua dude!“

“It was only twice,” Brendan said, flipping through a magazine with a sleek looking vehicle on the cover. “It just took longer the second time because we had to answer questions and sit through a lecture. And it’s a reasonable doubt! I still have reservations about it and I was there.” He looked up at the door, frowning slightly. “As for the delay, the President can’t just drop everything on a moment's notice. Time is incredibly valuable to a man in his position. We would have had to wait no matter when we came in.”

Astra, meanwhile, was examining a magazine of her own. It was the same one about grass care that she had seen in the pokemon center, but with a lack of anything else to do she had finally taken a look just to see why anyone could possibly want to read it. It was dull, but did deliver on its premise. She hadn’t known that clover, of all things, could be so important to healthy soil. Though, what exactly ‘nitrogen’ was and why it needed fixing still escaped her. Maybe the gardeners back home could make use of this?

Astra tuned back in upon hearing about the President of Devon. She asked, “Is his time really that important? Back home, I’d be hard pressed to keep busy all day.” Though, she supposed that was when she was still a Ralts. There would be more to do now that she was a Kirlia. She couldn’t recall a time when the Guard wasn’t supposed to be at the gates, or the gardeners at the garden. Even her Grandpa spent a lot of time on drawing, preparing pigment, or making specialty food like jam.

“It’s a little different for men like him, Astra,” Brendan said, flipping another page. “I’d imagine his every waking hour is spent dealing with some aspect of his company or another. The sheer number of people—”

“Blah blah big guy big problems,” May summarized. She scowled, glaring up at the ceiling. “When you get too ‘important’ you don’t have time for anything. All they do all day is ‘work work work’ and there’s jack all you can do to drag them away from it. This guy’s no different.”

“That’s a little reductionist,” Brendan said, raising an eyebrow. “They aren’t all workaholics; even a company president takes a day off now and then.”

May scoffed. “Yeah, but only when they feel like it,” she said, gesturing toward the door. “Try to get a guy like him to take a day off to do something for you and ten thousand bucks says he’ll be ‘too busy’. Same shit every time.” May sighed, her glare softening to something more listless, as she trailed off. “Every time.”

May was silent for a moment, then scowled. “Ugh, that break earlier was not enough. Whatever, I’m taking a nap. Wake me up when it’s time.” She then rolled over to face the sofa’s backrest, ignoring them.

Astra and Brendan shared an uneasy glance. Was she still talking about the Devon President? Brendan looked back at May and opened his mouth, then paused, looking uncertain. He grimaced, then looked back at his magazine.

Astra considered saying something herself, but followed Brendan’s lead and kept quiet. The Devon waiting room was probably a bad place to air out grievances, anyway. She fiddled with the edges of her cloak, peering at the fraying fabric. How old was this thing anyway? Maybe it wasn’t surprising that it was starting to fall apart.

Sighing, Astra turned back to the discarded lawn care magazine. She considered it for a moment, then shook her head. She had been curious about it earlier, but even the small tidbits of useful information were terribly dull. Astra glanced around the waiting room, desperate for something to occupy herself with when her gaze alighted on the large Devon Corporation logo on the wall. She stared at it for a moment before wondering, what exactly was Devon anyway?

It was a company, Astra knew, and she had sussed out that that meant it was a group of humans that did things in exchange for money. Sort of like if the Smith back home—if a group of Smiths had banded together and demanded their weight in fish before they made anything.

Actually, now that she thought about it, the Smith probably did do that, what with being one of the only Kirlia able to shape metal. It occurred to Astra that once all this was over she could use the exotic berry seeds she had to much the same effect. Just wall off a part of the garden, grow and pick off a few handfuls of rare berries and then trade them off for entire baskets of Magikarp. Now that was the easy life!

Astra fantasized about unreasonable quantities of fish for a moment longer, then shook her head. Right. Devon. It was a company that did...things. Things that involved briefcases. And were led by the President, presumably. Alright, she didn’t really have any clue what they did here. While she had peeked at a few sets of computers and other machines on the way up, their use hadn’t been obvious. How lucky, then, that she had such a convenient guide sitting a few feet away.

“Hey Brendan,” Astra asked, idly swinging her legs. “What does Devon do?”

“Hm?” Brendan looked up, blinking. His brow furrowed a bit. “Devon? Uh, they research and develop new technology. A lot of it focuses on Pokemon but I don’t think there are many areas they haven’t had a hand in. They’re pretty big, actually. I think they’re only a little smaller than Silph Co, and they operate nearly worldwide.”

Astra nodded thoughtfully. New technology, huh? Astra could already hardly believe all of what humanity had come up with. Amazing medicine, awe-inspiring entertainment, mouth-watering food; they had even gone to the moon! Though all of this had come at a price as the light-drowned night sky had clearly shown her. Astra hadn’t even seen everything yet, and there was yet new technology to be made? Baffling, truly.

“What kind of things have they made?” she asked, curious. “Anything that would fit in a briefcase?”

“Well a lot of things could have been in there,” Brendan said, giving her a wry grin, “so I couldn’t really say. Things they’ve made though...” He considered the question, idly biting his lip and staring at the ceiling. “Hm.”

He cast his gaze around the room in thought, then paused to look at a poster on the wall. Astra followed his gaze, and saw a stylized, featureless depiction of a grey-suited, steel-blue haired man. He was posing dramatically on a cliffside and holding a variety of pokeballs in an arc above his head. There was some text proclaiming the superiority of the company’s goods, but Astra was distracted by the caricature. He bore a strong resemblance to the man she and May had met in the forest. Why was he on a poster here?

“Well,” Brendan said, interrupting Astra’s thoughts. “I suppose they’ve come out with a couple of niche pokeballs recently.”

Astra gazed at the poster a moment more, then shook her head and turned her attention to Brendan. “Niche pokeballs? Wait,” she said, remembering the events that had occurred when she and May had arrived at Rustboro yesterday. “That Kennedy gave me a Great Ball the first time we saved him. I guess I forgot about it. I think he said it caught pokemon better than a regular ball, but I’m not sure how that all works. And now these ‘niche’ ones...I’m a little confused. What’s different about them all?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Brendan said, setting his magazine down. “Dad told you how basic pokeballs work, right?”

“Something about stasis, I think?” Astra hazarded. She shook her head. “I still don’t get how they do what they do, though.”

And wasn’t that the question? The one that set this whole adventure off way back on Route 104. That green-haired child—Wally? May had been there too—had thrown a pokeball at her, and she had avoided capture by the most narrow of margins. She had found it and discovered how it could change size and shape, and then she had wanted to know how.

At long last, was that initial mystery about to be answered? Astra leaned forward, focusing intently on Brendan’s words.

“Neither do I, really,” he confided, dashing Astra’s hopes. “The first pokeballs were made from apricorns, and to be frank it’s downright baffling as to how a fruit can transform a Pokemon into pure energy and data.”

“Apricorns?” Astra asked, confused. Then she gaped at him, because what? “Pokeballs are made from fruit!?”

“Weird, right?” Brendan said, nodding, sharing in her confusion. “They just hollow the things out, then do...something, and boom, Pokeball. You won’t find them in Hoenn since apricorns don’t grow here, but they’re still around in other regions. Devon makes theirs out of modern materials so unless you import them you’re mostly using metal and plastic.”

Astra just stared at him, speechless. Fruit. Pokeballs were made out of fruit. How did—what—why? How!? She made a mental note to look into these apricorns later. If she could figure out how they were made and get a few seeds, then...well, maybe her home could put up more of a fight than she’d thought.

Brendan shook his head. “Crazy stuff. Right, so, Pokeball variety.” He paused, gathering his thoughts. “So,” he started, leaning his elbow on the chair, “You know about the regular pokeballs. Cheap, red, basically just puts your pokemon in a virtual bed and calls it a day. But other pokeballs, the more expensive ones, do something else.

“For example, that great ball you mentioned. Great balls are one of the three standard pokeballs, one step above the regular and surpassed by ultra balls. What great balls—and most non-default balls—do is create a sort of virtual space inside for the pokemon to live in, about... two or three times the size of this room?” He hazarded, looking around.

Astra blinked, wide-eyed. Pokeballs could do that? The room wasn’t too spacious; so two or three times that would be... a little larger than the main cave back home. All inside that little ball? “Wow. How does it all fit in there?”

“Well it’s all just data, so—uh.” Brendan stopped, thinking for a second. “The room doesn’t really ‘exist’, so to speak.” He said, raising his hands and making a strange, doubled two finger gesture. “Just...the idea of a room, I guess. And the pokemon inside can, uh, ‘shape’ the idea however they like once they’re linked to the ball.”

Astra gave him a flat look. He was dumbing things down, wasn’t he? She couldn’t really blame him, but it was still aggravating! Still, an entire room that shaped itself to the inhabitants whims? That sounded intriguing; almost enough to make her want to check it out herself.

Almost.

“What do the other types do?” she asked, leaning forward.

“Well, ultras are like greats, except a lot bigger,” Brendan said, folding his hands on his lap. “I don’t know the exact measurement, but they have nearly five times the capacity of a great ball. They’re one of the most expensive types since that much compact, durable storage needs a ton of expensive electronics, but all that space means pokemon are generally twice as likely to let themselves be caught.”

“Wow!” Astra exclaimed. Twice as likely? Well no wonder, with all that space they could make an entire house! Well, she would; she didn’t know what, say, a Wurmple would do with it all. Maybe she should upgrade her occupied pokeballs if she happened across the funds. “What are the weird ones like, then? Tell me about those!”

“Well, there are quite a few types,” Brendan began, smiling. “The most common are pre-shaped ones, which have hard-coded ‘spaces’ suited to a certain pokemon type, like water or bugs—”

The door clicked open, causing Brendan to fall silent. A woman looking down at a clipboard walked in, reading something off it before looking up and addressing the room. “Would you three be Brendan, May and Astra? The meeting—” she cut off, blinking at where May was still curled up on the couch.

Brendan glanced at May, who hadn’t reacted yet, and rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s us,” he confirmed, standing up and redirecting the woman's attention. “Is the meeting starting?”

The woman blinked again, then straightened. “Yes. Mr. Stone will see you now. If you would...collect yourselves, I will take you to see him.”

Brendan nodded, sidling up to the couch. “Right. I’ll just...” He grabbed May’s arm and yanked.

“Gah!” May yelped, flailed wildly, then collapsed in a heap on the floor. “The fuck!?” she yelled, glaring up at Brendan.

Brendan turned to the woman, smiling politely and ignoring May entirely. “We’re ready.”

Astra snickered. May glowered at them both, waving away Astra’s proffered hand.

The woman stared at them. “...Very well,” she said, “Please, follow me.”

They were led to a grandiose set of double doors down a long hallway. The secretary opened it and ushered them inside with a slight bow. The first thing Astra noticed about the Devon President's office was how big it was. It could have fit at least six of those waiting rooms inside and had room left to spare. A large table took up the central area, surrounded by a great many black seats and couches, and the walls were sparsely decorated, save a few photos and framed documents of some kind, and a few oddly colored egg-shaped objects in display cases were scattered here and there.

The second thing Astra noticed was the gigantic window that took up nearly the entirety of the wall across the entry. Rustboro stretched ahead of her, a grand vista of the buildings below and the forest beyond from on high. The tiny people and vehicles traversing the streets, the dazzling variety of stores and structures in neat rows, the lush green trees in stark contrast at the far border; it would have been beautiful...if not for the eye-catching pillar of sickly yellow skyline in the distance.

Astra stiffened, staring at the distant haze before taking a breath and looking away. Dark memories threatened to resurface, the faint echo of senseless rage murmuring at the back of her thoughts, but she forced them back down. Grimacing behind her robes face-covering, she mentally shook herself and turned to face the Devon President, who sat behind a large wooden desk at the far end of the room.

The man was old. His hair, while still full and styled in a number of soft mounds, had clearly faded into a stark grey-white, shades of what must have been the original dark blues of his youth still visible near his neck. His square face looked down upon some papers on his desk, grey eyes creased somberly. Upon their approach he blinked and looked up at them, expression lightening slightly.

“Oh, the heroes of the day! Welcome!” he greeted, standing up and smoothing out some faint crease from his striped blue suit. “You three must be May, Astra, and Brendan, correct? My name is Joseph Stone, president of the Devon Corporation. Please, call me Joseph. I hear from Kennedy that you have done me and my company great services these past few days. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He held out a hand and tried to smile. But to Astra, the air of deep exhaustion she could sense around the man made the expression more haggard and worn. Astra vaguely wondered if he had been having trouble sleeping when what he’d said caught up to her.

Joseph Stone? Wasn’t that..? Astra shared an unsure glance with May, who seemed to be having similar thoughts. After a moment, they shook their heads. Surely it was just a coincidence. Right?

Brendan stepped forward while they were distracted and shook Joseph’s hand firmly. “Brendan Birch,” he said, smiling in return. “The feeling’s mutual. We appreciate the opportunity, even if the events leading to it were unfortunate.”

“Hm! Yes, yes, the Aqua business.” Joseph sighed, sitting heavily into his chair. “What a nuisance all this has been. First Kennedy gets assaulted outside his own home, and now some goon steals from us in broad daylight? Madness, I tell you.” His lips thinned, tone turning bitter. “Aqua denies it all, of course, but I doubt it was some imposter or lone actor. The number of people who would have use for what was stolen is very, very small.”

“Wait, wait,” May interjected, “Back up a bit. ‘Assaulted outside his home’? You mean that guy we helped out yesterday?”

Joseph blinked. “Kennedy? Yes, he said you two helped him out of a scrape—”

“Oh that’s a load of Buuu—” May cut off and glanced at Brendan, who was giving her an intense, disapproving stare. “—nk.” she finished, rolling her eyes. “Load of bunk. We were in 104 when that happened.”

“Yeah,” Astra chimed in, confused. Had Kennedy gotten his own story wrong? “We were just coming into the city. Kennedy was looking for a Shroomish when we found him, and we were attacked right after.”

Joseph stared blankly at them. “Oh,” he said, and something about his flat tone sent a chill up Astra’s spine. “Is that so? Well, far be it for me to tell a man what to do with his free time. But he had the briefcase with him at the time, correct?”

“Y-yes?” Astra said, hesitantly. May also nodded.

“I see.” Reaching over, Joseph pressed a button on his desk and an odd crackling filled the air. “Lily, could you schedule Kennedy another meeting with HR?”

Astra heard an exasperated sigh from a weird mesh inset into the wood. “Again, sir?” a voice said, crackly and distorted but heavily exasperated all the same. Astra blinked. Did this desk have a phone inside? Did people call him on it? That seemed inconvenient; what if he was away? He couldn’t drag the thing into the bathroom, could he? The voice—which she suddenly recognized as the secretary—continued, unaware of Astra’s intrigue. “Details?”

“Operational security, maximum. Tell the accountants to dock his pay as well.”

“Ouch. Very well sir.” Another sigh. “Damnit, Ken...”

The crackling stopped. Joseph sat back and huffed. “It’s a damn shame it’d take a score of men to replicate what that buffoon does on his lonesome,” he grumbled, “else I would have fired him ages ago.”

“Um,” Astra said, hesitating. Fired? Like, set on fire? Surely not; it must just be another weird human saying. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Oh he’ll be fine,” Joseph said, waving her off. “Some time with our chief of security will set him straight. Or so one would hope. Anyway!” He folded his hands on his desk, looking at them intently. “Enough about all that, let’s talk about you three. You’ve done Devon a great service by thwarting that criminal's brazen acts twice over, and at great personal risk as well. For that I’d give you my most sincere thanks and perhaps a few tokens of appreciation. However...”

His eyes glinted, the thin line of his mouth turning up at the edges. “I also find myself in sudden need of a few trustworthy individuals to perform a task or two for me. And what luck that some would reveal themselves just as the need arises.”

“A job? Your big thanks is to give us a job?” May asked incredulously, and Astra tilted her head, squinting at the man with echoed confusion. How did doing someone a ‘great service’ lead to more things to do for them? It clearly wasn’t a human thing, because even Brendan looked surprised.

“My ‘big thanks’ is the opportunity to do the job,” Joseph replied, leaning forward. “If you wish, I could merely send you along with my gratitude and a trifling reward. But do this errand, and I will ensure you are justly compensated.”

The three trainers looked at each other uncertainly. Astra wasn’t sure what to make of the offer, personally. A reward could be useful, she supposed, and the spark of greed she could see in May’s eye told her what way she was leaning. But what was he asking them to do? Would it attract more attention their way? How long would it take?

Brendan seemed to share these thoughts, and he turned back to Joseph, brow furrowed. “What would this ‘errand’ be, exactly?” he asked, folding his arms.

“A simple delivery,” Joseph answered. “The exact details of which will only be revealed upon your acceptance.”

“Can we at least know where?” Brendan pressed.

Joseph stared at him for a moment, then inclined his head a fraction. “Two items, one to Dewford and one to Slateport.” he said. “If this is out of the way—”

“Oh!” Astra exclaimed, relieved. “Dewford? We were going there in about five days. I think Mr. Briney said he’d ferry us to Slateport too,” she added, thinking back to the old sailor’s offer.

Joseph blinked, sitting up in astonishment. “You’re travelling with Mr. Briney?” he asked. “A remarkable stroke of fortune; Briney is one of the best sailors around and much more discreet than a regular passenger ship. Slateport afterwards, you said? It seems that my request wouldn’t even have you go too far out of your way.”

“I guess so,” Brendan agreed, hesitantly. He turned to May and Astra, unsure. “What do you two think? It doesn’t sound that hard, and we’ll probably benefit a lot.”

“If it’s on the way, I don’t really see why not.” Astra shrugged, then hesitated. Maybe there was something more to this. “I mean, is it going to make the trip more dangerous?”

Joseph shook his head. “If I were to announce the delivery by seeking experienced couriers, it very well could,” he revealed. “I certainly couldn’t entrust these to the usual channels if certain groups feel comfortable attacking our headquarters in broad daylight.” His face turned thunderous for a moment, before returning to a placid neutral. “Your actions have shown me that you can be trusted, and your relative obscurity will keep attention down. If all goes to plan, nobody of ill-intent will even think to bother you.”

“And what if they do, huh?” May asked, folding her arms. “We gettin’ paid extra? What are we getting for doing this anyway?”

“Your compensation can take many forms,” Joseph started. “Money is, of course, a simple option. I could also give you license to beta test certain equipment we are in the process of developing—”

“Do you have better maps!?” Astra interrupted, very nearly teleporting to the desk. “Because the one in the pokedex is really, really bad.”

There was a moment of bewildered silence.

“A map?” Brendan asked, peering at Astra with a strange look. “That’s kind of...”

“I mean,” May said, slowly. “It wouldn’t be my first choice, but we did get pretty damn lost with that piece of crap.”

“I see.” Joseph blinked, rallying his thoughts. “An unusual request, but one we are more than capable of fulfilling. Our next generation of PokeNavs are in just the right place for some rigorous field checks; I could certainly requisition a few for you three.”

“I’m in,” Astra announced. Not knowing where she was had been awful; avoiding that in the future was worth any sort of trouble.

May snorted. “Right. I’m more interested in the cash myself. Alright, fine. I guess we’re doing this. So,” she said, looking back to Joseph, “What are we carrying anyway?”

Joseph smiled. “I’m glad we could come to an agreement. Now, the package to Slateport is one you’re already familiar with.”

With that said, he reached under his desk and plonked down an item: a silver briefcase, presumably the one they had returned a mere hour ago. The three trainers blinked in surprise.

“This again?” May asked, frowning down at it. “Didn’t we just bring it back? Why are we taking it away?”

“It’s probably because it got stolen,” Brendan guessed. “If they can do it once, they can do it again.”

“Precisely so,” Joseph confirmed. “We would have sent it along soon enough anyway; it was always destined for Slateport, but these incidents expedited the situation.”

“What’s in that thing anyway?” Astra asked, tilting her head. “...it’s probably not soup, is it?” she added, putting on her best disappointed voice. She was rewarded with the sweet sound of an exasperated sigh and the soft clap of hand-meeting-face.

“Really?” Brendan and May asked in unison, giving her a flat stare. Astra just smiled.

Joseph peered at them, bewildered. “No,” he said, after a long pause. “It’s not...soup. As for the actual contents...hm.” He paused again, seeming to stare down at his desk in thought. Nodding to himself, he looked back at them, expression firm. “Very well, I suppose letting you know won’t cause any further harm. Someone already leaked that info to Aqua, so the Skitty’s out of the ball, as it were.”

Astra shared an excited glance with May. They'd been theorizing about it since they’d arrived at Rustboro and now they’d finally have an answer! She and May leaned forward in excitement, and even Brendan seemed to edge forward in anticipation.

Joseph quirked an eyebrow. “I’m afraid it’s not quite as exciting as you think it to be. In so many words, you will be delivering a collection of precious materials, machine parts, and documentation relating to the construction of a new, cutting edge engine for a submarine. Captain Stern in Slateport will be the final recipient, delivered to his hands only.”

“...huh,” Astra said, confused and disappointed. She had hoped it was something more...more. Not parts to some machine. What was a submarine anyway? Something to do with water...?

May huffed. “Well, that’s boring.”

“I told you guys it wasn’t going to be a case of gold bars, or whatever.” Brendan levelled a flat stare at May, tone dry. But even he seemed a little disappointed.

“Whatever,” May muttered, turning back to Joseph. “Yeah, we can take that thing to Slateport, easy. What was that other thing?”

“Your other package is a letter, destined for Dewford,” Joseph explained. “I’ll give it to you, along with the briefcase, on the day you depart.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Brendan said with a nod. “We shouldn’t have any problems with either of those.”

Joseph nodded back. “I should hope not. It’s vital that these reach their destinations intact and undisturbed.”

“Who’s getting the letter?” May asked.

“It’s addressed to my son, who’s busy in Dewford. It should be easy to find him; I’m sure the gym leader over there would know where he is.”

He had a son? Who was now in Dewford? An uneasy feeling pooled in Astra’s stomach. Surely it couldn’t be who she was thinking of, right? Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp jolt of surprise from Brendan, and Astra turned to see him staring at Joseph, slack-jawed.

“Y...your son?” Brendan asked, stumbling over his words. “You mean, we’re delivering a letter to Steven Stone?”

Astra stared at Brendan in shock, and she could feel the sheer panic erupt out of May as she did the same. Steven Stone? The same Steven Stone that had casually annihilated them back in the forest two days ago? The man with the strange, pressure-filled gaze? The one that May had so thoughtlessly pissed off with her reckless, immature posturing and insults? That Steven Stone?

“Yes, that would be him.” Joseph confirmed.

“Steven Stone.” Brendan repeated. “As in, Steven Stone, the Champion of Hoenn?”

All of Astra’s mental faculties promptly shut down.

HE WAS WHAT!?

Joseph nodded. Astra stared at him, mind whirling. The Champion. She was going to deliver a letter to the Champion. The Champion who was that Steven Stone guy. The one human she needed to defeat in order to save her home. Whom she had already been horrendously outclassed by. And she was just...going to go give him a letter. What kind of insane situation was this? And what was a letter, anyway!?

Behind her, Astra could feel May’s sharp shock give way to a tide of horrified panic. “Oh, fuck,” May breathed, and Astra could only dimly agree over the rising terror that had suddenly overwhelmed her thoughts.

“Ah,” Astra echoed. Fuck.

“It’ll be an honor, sir,” Brendan said, with sheer excitement roiling off him and completely blinding him to their alarm. “We’ll be happy to get the chance to meet him!”

“I’m sure,” Joseph agreed. “You said you’ll be leaving in five days? Come back then, and we’ll work out the packages and compensation. I expect this entire affair to be discreet, you understand.”

“Uh.” May said.

“Um.” Astra echoed. Was it too late to back out?

“Of course!” Brendan nodded.

“Good.” Joseph glanced at a nearby clock. “Well, it seems we’re out of time. I believe we’ve covered everything, so we’ll reconvene on the day of departure.” He stood up and shook Brendan’s hand, nodding firmly at May and Astra. “Thank you once more for your assistance, and I look forward to our future endeavors. Lily will see you out.”

They were escorted outside by the secretary from before. Brendan cheerfully strode ahead. Astra and May hung back, shooting panicked glances at each other every step of the way.

“Isn’t this great, guys?” Brendan asked once they were back outside. “We’re going to meet the Champion! Man, I never expected this to happen so soon. Steven is one of the youngest champions in the world, you know and—um.” He paused his rambling, looking from one stricken face to another. “Guys? You okay?”

Astra and May glanced guiltily at each other.

“Um...” Astra began to explain, “about that. We sort of...already fought him...on the way over...”

Brendan stared at them blankly. Raising up a hand, he slowly inserted a pinky into one ear and twisted it around. Pulling it out, he stared at the tip for a moment before refocusing on them.

Astra and May shifted, looking away.

Brendan blinked. “...you did what?”