Pain brought the world back into focus and Tommy groaned against the dull and throbbing aches he felt. Feet rushed over from somewhere behind him and he felt a firm grip on his shoulder.

“Tommy, are you okay?” Spencer asked from somewhere outside of Tommy’s vision. The boy came around into view and grinned madly, exhaling a great sigh of relief.

“We made it Tommy!” He laughed and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, “I didn’t have the faintest idea how we were going to make it out of that. I thought we were goners for sure!”

Tommy tried to sit up but his vision faded in and out, so he slowly lay back down, groaning all the while. “How…?”

“Pryce.” Spencer put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder again. “Pryce came and saved you.”

“Is he here?” Tommy asked, eyes still shut. “I need to thank him for saving my life.”

Spencer shook his head. “No. After erecting a wall of ice to block off that archer he dragged you into the Pokémon Center. He ran back out to go confront whoever they were, but by that time the assailant had already gone, of course. I ran out after him to help but he told me in no uncertain terms to stay in the Pokémon Center. He said he was going to go out into the forest to look for more students.”

Tommy opened his eyes and held his hand out towards Spencer, “Thank you. Without you and Max I’m afraid I would have been kidnapped, and Aubrey…”

“Wait, where is Aubrey?” He asked as Spencer clasped his forearm. “And Max? Is he here?

“No,” Spencer looked away. “I told Pryce to find Max first and he took off running. Aubrey is still unconscious as far as I know. Professor Hemlock put her in one of the hotel rooms after Nurse Joy gave her a once over.”

“And did you tell…?” Tommy trailed off. He didn’t want to say it out loud.

“I didn’t,” Spencer said as he somberly shook his head. “All I told Nurse Joy and the Professor was that we were attacked in the forest and Aubrey fainted from shock.”

“Thank you,” Tommy sighed and closed his eyes. “I’ll never forget this debt, Spencer. I swear to you.”

“Relax man,” Spencer smiled. “There’s no debt as far as I’m concerned. We were all in a bind and we all helped each other make it out alive, okay?”

Tommy opened his mouth to retort but Spencer squeezed his shoulder once more. “Rest, man. Nurse Joy pulled that arrow out of your leg and stitched you up. It was pretty gnarly to watch actually.”

Tommy laughed. “Yeah, okay. I’m going to close my eyes for just a little bit. Wake me up and take me to Aubrey’s room in like an hour okay? If the three of us aren’t going to tell the whole truth then we should probably get our story straight.”

Spencer nodded his head. “Makes sense, I’ll come wake you up in a bit then.”

Spencer’s footsteps faded and Tommy heard a door open and close. He wanted to sit up and look around but his head was pounding and the fluorescent lights in the room were bright and hurt his eyes. So he kept his eyes shut as he passed the time and before he knew it, someone was trying to gently wake him.

“Mr. Hartford, please wake up.”

His eyes snapped open and he blinked and squinted in the harsh lighting. He looked over and saw Nurse Joy standing next to him, smile on her face.

“Well, good morning Mr. Hartford,” Nurse Joy said. “How are you currently feeling?”

“Pretty lousy,” Tommy admitted. “I have a massive headache. How is my leg?”

Nurse Joy handed him a few pills and a glass of water which he downed immediately.

“I’m pleased to let you know your leg should make a full recovery,” Nurse Joy smiled. “The arrow did not pierce your bone, only the muscle. It was successfully extracted and should heal quite nicely as long as you rest properly for the next month or two.”

“Thank you,” He nodded to her. “That might be a problem though. I don’t want to be expelled.”

“Don’t worry, I can medically excuse you from the rest of the excursion this weekend as well as the one that will occur at the end of the next month,” Nurse Joy told him. “I’ll write a letter to your principal explaining in no uncertain terms that you are to be on bed rest. Now hear me when I tell you no exercise or physical exertion for the next 6 weeks. Then you’ll need to get a check up from my sister in Goldenrod. Am I understood?”

“Yes ma’am,” Tommy laughed. “Will you write me a medical note excusing me from milking the cows and doing my chores at home too?”

“I’ll see if it can be arranged,” Nurse Joy giggled. “Now I need for you to sit up, I’ll help you into your wheelchair.”

“Wheelchair?” He groaned.

“Yes, wheelchair, Mr. Hartford,” she scolded him. “Six weeks, no walking whatsoever. Promise me.”

He hung his head. “I promise, six weeks.”

Nurse Joy helped him into the chair and wheeled him out of the hospital room that he had been lying in. He saw Spencer pacing furiously in the lobby.

“Tommy!” Spencer rushed over. Tommy saw Nurse Joy flash the boy a sour look.

“Can we go check on our friend Aubrey? Please?” Tommy asked her. “I need to make sure that she’s okay.”

“Yes, I’ll allow it,” Nurse Joy said. “Do you know what happened to her? She’s in an extreme state of shock.”

Tommy looked up at her and nodded. “Yes, I was there. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, just let me see her first for a few minutes and make sure that she’s okay.”

Nurse Joy nodded and moved aside, letting Spencer grab onto Tommy’s wheelchair. He was wheeled over to the other side of the Pokémon Center that opened into the lodging and hotel rooms. The two boys stopped outside Aubrey’s room and knocked. Professor Hemlock greeted the two of them in the doorway with folded arms and a scowl on her face.

“Professor, can we have a few minutes with Aubrey?” Tommy asked the woman. “Nurse Joy said it was okay, and I want to see how she’s doing.”

Professor Hemlock narrowed her eyes but eventually nodded her head once and allowed Spencer to push Tommy inside. She stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her, leaving the two boys alone in the room. Aubrey was lying in her bed, looking out the single window; she looked over at Tommy as Spencer pushed the wheelchair next to her.

“Aubrey, hey,” Tommy said slowly. “Are you hanging in there?”

She looked at him and slowly shook her head, her eyes started to well up so she swallowed and looked away. Tommy reached over onto her bed and grabbed her hand.

“You saved us,” he tried to reassure her soothingly. “Spencer and I made it out of that forest because of you.”

“Tommy…” Her voice shook. She squeezed his hand tightly and he winced in pain. “Tommy, I killed someone. I killed another person.”

“You did what you had to Aubrey,” Spencer solemnly intoned. His eyes were red as he watched Aubrey struggling and he cleared his throat awkwardly. “They would have killed the two of us like they did with those other two students. Then they would have kidnapped Tommy and taken him who knows where. You saved all of us.”

Tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I see that man’s face when I shut my eyes. His lifeless eyes stare back at me from the darkness. I killed a person, Tommy! I have to get out of here! Help me!”

She started thrashing around in the bed, the medical equipment that she was hooked up to beeping like crazy in response. Spencer rushed over and held her down so she wouldn’t hurt herself while Tommy screamed for help. Nurse Joy and Professor Hemlock burst into the room and ran over, injecting Aubrey with a sedative and knocking her unconscious.

“You will tell me what happened in that forest,” Professor Hemlock said testily. “Spare no detail!”

“Yes, I’m interested as well,” A voice called over from Aubrey’s open door. Pryce walked into the room supporting Max who was leaning heavily onto the white-haired young man.

“Max!” Spencer said in relief. He rushed over to his friend and helped him into the armchair by the window.

Nurse Joy bent down to check on him but he waved her away. “I’m fine, really. I just need to rest for a minute.”

“Let’s hear the story then.” Pryce said.

Spencer started their tale off, recounting the details of being on watch at their camp. He told how he was chased back to camp and how Max had fought back their attackers single handedly. He looked over at Max, to fill in the details of the story, but he was already sound asleep, snoring softly in the armchair. So Spencer continued on with their escape and how they were followed by the four thugs. He paused at this point and looked over at Tommy.

“At that point we hid in a tree,” Tommy continued. “The thugs argued with each other until some students wandered into the clearing.”

Tommy momentarily paused and looked down at the ground. “The two students were killed right in front of us and then Aubrey fainted from the shock.”

Nurse Joy covered her hands with her mouth and Pryce bowed his head.

“And then?” Professor Hemlock asked callously. “How did you get away from those four?”

Tommy looked over at her, disgusted at her lack of emotion over the death of two of her students. “They split up to try and follow all of our tracks so we jumped down and backtracked until we made it back to Mahogany. We ran into Max and he drew away the guards so we could get into the town and reach the Pokémon Center.”

“And two of you carried an unconscious Ms. Ryker here all the way back?” Professor Hemlock asked disbelievingly. “Plus 4 travel packs? Do I have that right?”

“Yep,” Tommy said, glaring daggers at the vile woman.

“Hmm,” she grunted. “Very well then, I have a report to go write up. Pryce anything you would like to report?”

Pryce nodded slowly and looked over at Professor Hemlock, “In addition to the two bodies that Mr. Hartford here has reported, I found the bodies of eight other students. Every group that didn’t make the trek to the Ice Path was murdered.”

“What a fucking disaster…” Professor Hemlock muttered as she exited the room.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Nurse Joy sniffled, wiping at her eyes. “I should be waiting in the lobby to receive any returning student groups.”

She left the room sobbing, leaving Tommy, Spencer, and Pryce alone with an unconscious Aubrey and a snoring Max.

Pryce screamed and punched a hole in the drywall of the Pokémon Center, “Fuck! How could I let this happen? I’m the gym leader!”

“Who were those people?” Tommy asked him. “Did you figure anything out?”

“No, they all vanished without a trace. Not even the thugs that you two incapacitated by the town entrance were still there.” Pryce bowed his head. “I failed to do anything useful, and at least ten kids died on my watch.”

“Wait a minute,” Tommy bolted upright in his chair. “Where are my clothes Spencer? All of the gear I was wearing when we were out there?”

“I put them in my hotel room, why?” Spencer asked. Realization dawned on his face. “Wait, you grabbed something from that thug didn’t you?”

Tommy nodded his head, “Yes. A bit of loose fabric from his jacket. Take me over there! Pryce, get Max and come with us!”

They woke Max and hurried over to Spencer’s hotel room, Pryce pushing Tommy in his wheelchair. Spencer unlocked the room and the four of them spilled inside. Spencer ran over to Tommy’s parka and rifled through the pockets, producing a strip of bloody black fabric.

“It looks like a bandana,” Spencer said, handing the cloth over to Tommy.

He flipped it over and smiled. “Our first clue, does it mean anything to any of you?”

He ran his fingers over the blood red letter R that was embroidered onto the corner of the bandana. Pryce took the cloth from Tommy’s hands and stared.

“I’ve never seen this symbol before,” he said, inspecting the fabric for anything else of note. “You did well getting this, how did you manage to steal it?”

Tommy shared a look with Spencer and then turned to face Pryce. “Aubrey. She killed one of the four thugs with my knife when they split up to find us. That’s why she’s in such a state of shock. I looted it from the corpse before we ran.”

“I see,” Pryce looked at Tommy. “And the reason that you lied to Professor Hemlock about this was?”

Tommy turned his gaze to the ground and he heard Max speak from his other side, “Because the reason the thugs were out there was to kidnap Tommy. He’s been betrayed by someone, most likely someone from the school.”

Pryce nodded his head, “Okay. That seems believable enough. Why were the thugs chasing after you Tommy?”

This time none of the three boys made any move to answer Pryce’s question. He folded the bandana and then pocketed it. “This stays between the four of us. I will look into this matter and report it to the league. You have my word that I will not mention anything you’ve told me here to your school. This is disturbing news, that someone is out to get you.”

“Thank you,” Tommy smiled at Pryce. “But I’m more concerned about Aubrey than I am about myself. I just want her to be okay.”

“She will have to come to terms with what she’s done in her own time,” Pryce stared out of the hotel room window with a far away look. He looked over at Tommy and smiled after his moment of introspection. “She will need her friends to support her.”

“I’ll be by her side. I’ll help her get through this,” Tommy swore. “She’s my best friend.”

“Good, she’ll need you,” Pryce nodded solemnly. He tapped his hand against the bandana in his pants pocket. “I’m going to start digging around. My gym trainers will be posted in the Pokémon Center for the rest of the weekend. They will protect you in the event that these goons try to come back.”

“Thank you for all of your help,” Spencer said. “We wouldn’t have made it back without you.”

Pryce flinched and a sad look flickered across his face. “I only wish I could have saved everyone. Don’t leave the Pokémon Center unless I personally come and collect you. Understood?”

He left the room, leaving Tommy alone with Spencer and Max.

“I need sleep,” Max said and he collapsed onto the bed that Spencer hadn’t already claimed.

“What time is it anyway?” Tommy asked.

Spencer rummaged through Tommy’s things and handed over his PokéNav; Tommy looked down and saw it was noon on Friday. His leg started to throb in pain again and he shifted in the wheelchair uncomfortably.

“Here let me help you onto the bed,” Spencer said. He came over and lifted Tommy out of his wheelchair, helping him get comfortable on the bed.

“Wait, isn’t this your bed?” Tommy asked.

Spencer nodded, “Yeah. I’ll sleep on the floor though. No big deal, I have my camping gear.”

He started to unpack his bedroll but stopped midway. Tommy watched as Spencer muttered under his breath and shook his head, then headed over towards the door.

“What are you doing?” Tommy asked him.

“I’ve just got a bad feeling,” Spencer said. “I’m going to go ask Nurse Joy if we can change hotel rooms. Plus our Pokémon should be healed by now, I’ll grab yours and Max’s too.”

He left the room and Tommy settled back onto the bed. He looked over at Max who was snoring away and smiled. He knew he wouldn’t have made it through the night without Spencer and Max’s help.

Spencer came back half an hour later with everyone's Pokémon and a new hotel room key. He passed Tommy his Pokémon and placed Max’s on the nightstand next to the boy’s bed.

“I’m going to pack everything and move the gear, then I’ll come back for you and Max.” Spencer told him. He got everything together and grabbed the three bags, then headed towards the room door. He stuck his head out making sure the coast was clear and then left the room. Five minutes later he came back and helped Tommy back into the wheelchair, then went and woke Max.

“We’re switching rooms,” Spencer told Max who rubbed his eyes sleepily.

Max yawned but nodded his head, “Smart idea, Spence.”

They left the room, not running into anyone and went down the hall to the last room, the one right next to the emergency exit. They snuck in and closed the door behind them.

Max collapsed back on the bed but not before telling Spencer and Tommy, “Don’t wake me again unless it’s time for dinner or we’re under attack.”

Spencer heaved Tommy onto the bed and then unrolled his camping gear, laying it on the floor in between the two twin beds.

“Hey, thanks for taking care of everything,” Tommy said to Spencer.

He smiled and passed Tommy the remote for the television, “See if there are any good battles we can watch.”

The two boys spent the afternoon and evening watching television and chatting about nothing in particular. Spencer snuck out of the room once to check on Aubrey, who appeared to be heavily sedated in her hospital room still. Tommy wanted to go see her, but Spencer wouldn’t let him leave the room.

Max was still sleeping soundly and they felt bad about waking him, but it was so late in the evening now that room service was about to be halted for the night and they would miss dinner if they waited any longer; pizza and chicken wings were delivered to their hotel room twenty minutes later. Spencer got up when the person knocked, peeking through the eyehole on the door to make sure it wasn’t anything dangerous. Pryce slipped into the room and handed a plate of wings to Tommy who immediately started scarfing them down.

“Smart of you guys to switch rooms,” Pryce said to them. “Who knows you moved?”

“Nurse Joy,” Spencer said. He was shaking Max, trying to wake the boy from his all day nap. “I left her with instructions to only give our room location to you.”

“Good,” Pryce said, passing a plate with pizza on it to Max who was now sitting up in his bed with still closed eyes.

“Did you figure anything out?” Tommy asked. “About what that R meant?”

Pryce laughed and shook his head. “No, it’s going to take me longer than half a day. But I sent a missive to the league so hopefully I hear back from them soon. All of the rest of the students are accounted for, two more were killed but the rest are back at the Pokémon Center now.”

“Twelve students were killed?” Spencer asked, shocked. “Has anything like this happened before?”

Pryce hung his head. “No, occasionally someone will get killed by a Pokémon because they’re careless, but never have we had twelve students killed on a single excursion before. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m stripped of my position as a gym leader.”

“That isn’t fair!” Tommy said. “How is any of this your fault? If anything it’s the school’s fault! Or Professor Hemlock’s fault!”

Pryce smiled sadly, “It doesn’t matter. It still happened on my watch, in my city.”

For the first time Tommy saw Pryce as someone only a couple of years older than he was. He had forgotten that Pryce was only 18 because he seemed so strong. He looked very small at that moment.

“Now is not the time to dwell on it though,” Pryce exhaled. Some of the confidence had returned to his voice and he was looking around at each of them. “I spoke with Professor Hemlock and she has informed me that you are all leaving tonight. Now that all of the students are accounted for there’s nothing left to do here. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that the rest of you students make it back to Goldenrod alive.”

He settled back in the armchair he was occupying and helped himself to some of the fries that he had brought in the room. He laughed when he looked over at the television.

“Spencer and I were just checking out some of your battles,” Tommy grinned excitedly. “You haven’t lost yet since you’ve been appointed as a gym leader. That’s pretty crazy.”

“Well I’ve only been a gym leader for the last couple of months but I suppose I do alright,” Pryce smiled at the television. “Everyone that has challenged me so far has been laughably weak.”

“I’ll fight you,” Max spoke up for the first time since he woke up. He was watching Pryce with a serious look on his face while eating his pizza. “You said we’re leaving tonight? Let’s head over to your gym.”

Pryce grinned at Max, “I would be stripped of my position for sure if we fought before you graduated. But I’ll look forward to fighting you next year. Besides, there's another trainer that I’m anxiously waiting for.”

“Agatha?” Tommy offered.

Pryce smiled at him and nodded, “Good guess. She beat Mortimer in Ecruteak a couple of weeks ago but she went west towards Olivine after that. Looks like I’ll have to wait until after the New Year before we get to fight each other.”

Tommy saw Pryce smiling down at his hands, “She’s strong. Can you bear her?”

“I don’t know-” Pryce started to say.

An explosion rocked the Pokémon Center, rattling the walls and plunging the room into total darkness.