What a day it had been. That was the common thought shared between most soldiers that had participated in the raid on Greenfield. A light jubilant mood had settled in among them; they’d pat each other on the back, groom each other’s fur, and congratulate one another on a job well done. The townsfolk had abandoned the quaint streets altogether, leaving just those wearing a green lap of cloth on their body somewhere out to enjoy the mood.

Luffy and Vli were standing watch in the town’s square, both wearing a light smile. Next to them sat a slumped over Raichu. He bore a dim expression on his gagged snout; all attempts to try and break through the ropes tied around his hands, or pierce through the wads of rubber stuck onto his cheeks had long ceased. It was hopeless. Vli kept an eye on him, his twisted right foot most of all.

“‘’Ey, Luffy.”

“Yeah?”

“You can’t deny that I got that guy pretty good, didn’t I?”

The Toucannon directed Luffy towards the Raichu; she gave a short nod in response.

“Hm, your aim was a little off though. You might want to practice that more.”

“Eh?” Vli beat a wing against his chest a single time. “You see that yourself, right?”

“Oh yes,” Luffy said with a bow, “That is quite something indeed. I guess a hit’s a hit with you regardless of where exactly you landed, isn’t it? I mean, I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of something like that, and I’ve had some nasty injuries prior to this, let me tell you!” She tapped a claw on her leg.

Vli’s head jolted upwards in a cocky manner. “Exactly right! Might’ve been a while since I’ve had to do something like it, but I’ve still got the touch. My moms and pops didn’t raise no weakling! Heck, I’m the reason they put the cannon in Toucannon to begin with!”

The Raichu beside them let out a pained groan. Vli, now annoyed that his little moment of glory had been interrupted, hopped over to the Raichu and smacked him across the head with one of his wings.

“Quiet, you! If you have anything to say, say it to the interrogator later!”

The electric rodent quieted down, visibly defeated. Luffy looked past him to the road out of town, her tail swaying up and down.

“Hm, we are going to give him opportunities to see his little son still, right? It wouldn’t be right to take that from him.”

“Eh?” Vli tilted his head in a forceful manner. “What do you mean?”

Luffy blew a little steam out of her mouth. “We all saw it back there, right? The little boy was crying his eyes out! That’s gonna stick with the poor kid for a long time, you know. We can’t just let that happen, can we?”

Vli shrugged. “Eh. Makin’ mountains out of Drilbur hills, I’d say. The little kid will be fine, he’s in our care now,” he said. A whine from the Raichu cut him off. “Hey! Shut it!” Vli lashed out again. The Raichu took a cut across the cheek, and a spark shot out of the rubber. His tail curled around his side, as tears began to well up in his eyes. Luffy looked away, stroking her arm for comfort.

“I hope you’re right…”

The conversation was suddenly stopped dead in its tracks by a thunderous crash. A bloodcurdling roar followed straight after, bristling fur and causing most of the soldiers in the square to jump into a defensive stance. Even the Raichu tried squirming away again.

“L-Luffy? Is that-””

A second bone chilling roar struck, coming from the café building on the opposing end of the square; it was dark inside.

“T-That’s Gareda, alright. No doubt about it.”

“Shall we, shall we have a look?” Vli asked. Luffy took her tail in hand.

“Y-yes, we should.”

* * *

“Not today… NOT TODAY!!!”

Glass shards scattered over the floor as a bottle cracked open on the wooden walls, its contents splattering all over the drinkware, scraps of aged parchment and little wooden figurines that were stacked all over the bar. Gareda eyed the counter with a monstrous glare, her breaths vibrating in her throat with ever growing intensity, before she raised her talons and sliced a gash right through it, sending splinters from a figurine through the air.

“Come here you… come back here you lone eyed coward! You traitor! You spineless son of a bitch!”

Any optimism about this operation going as planned had disappeared in the time it took to blink. Gareda had him right where she wanted him to be. Cornered, no way out except through her and the twenty others she had stationed around the building. Any ways out should have been blocked and sealed tight. This shouldn’t have gone wrong.

She cursed under her breath, wiping the liquid off her fins with a growl. Her sensors died down: That Dusknoir had vanished without a trace. There was no direction which reacted stronger, not a trace of his spectral essence anywhere, he was gone with the winds of the storm. She heard footsteps behind her. Their scent and their aura was familiar to her by now, she didn’t have to look and see.

“Lord Gareda, lord Gareda! What is happening here? What happened to this place?” Vli asked in a higher pitch than he usually spoke with, as if he’d been speaking with Gareda for an hour already.

The Garchomp grumbled an exasperated breath out of her throat, kicking at the clutter by her feet out of frustration. “You don’t want to know…”

“But Gareda, you said it yourself that this Hein was incredibly dangerous,” Luffy said in an empathetic tone. “What if he did something to you?”

“I know that!” Gareda roared back, swaying her entire body around with a wild swing of her tail. Luffy staggered back, visibly shocked. Vli hid behind her.

“D-don’t take it out on us,” Vli said. Gareda gritted her teeth.

“I know that… I’m just pissed. Pissed! He was right there, and I…” she sucked in a breath .”I let him slip away! He was right there for the taking. I knew how that fat bastard was going to fight back against me if he’d resort to that. I was ready, ready I tell you! And he pulled a fast one on me!”

Gareda backed up against a wall, and sank down until she felt the cold touch of the ground press up against her. She put her talons on top of her head, burying her face under her fins. She felt as if she’d been beaten into a bloody pile of scales. Her talons ached, her tail stung, her back fin was sandwiched between the wall and the rest of her, glass was prickling her feet, the foul stench of a hundred different beverages was rotting in her nose, and her sensors were aching. To think that today was meant to go well.

“Don’t ever underestimate a damn ghost, ever…” ‘Especially not this one… Arceus, how stupid could I have been? The Lone Eye, of course he would manage to get past…’

Luffy held out a claw to Gareda “Well, we can’t just rest on our laurels then. Is this Hein important?”

“Extremely so,” Gareda said as Luffy was helping her back up. Her foot slipped past a glass shard. “Agh! I know his name. Can’t say anything for sure, but he has quite the history.”

“What kind of history?” Luffy asked.

“You don’t want to know, trust me,” Gareda grumbled. “Just take my word for it.”

“Eh?” Luffy raised a claw to her mouth, evidently trying to think of something to say.

“I said, just take my word for it, Luffy.” Gareda leaned right over her head. “I’ve done my research. I know his name. I know his ‘other name’. He is not a joke, and that’s all you need to know. Understood?”

Luffy’s tail fell onto the floor. “Y-yes, Gareda.”

Gareda turned away, and shook her head. “Good.” ‘I can’t protect everyone from him forever. Yet here I am, trying anyway. ’

Vli eyed the rest of the café, his wings occasionally jittering from what had to be nerves. The bar was in ruins, and many of the stools and tables deeper in appeared to have been kicked aside. There were parts of the floor that creaked when stepped on, and walls that had a slight brown spray over them, which was darker than the wood that made up the wall, and a little faded out as if someone had tried to clean it off.

“So uh, this Hein. What did he do here?”

“Ran a café, he says.” Gareda took a few steps into the café, and got a noseful of ripe berry juice. “Take it with a giant pinch of salt. That ghost is hiding something. He has Alliance contacts, remember? Without him, those two wouldn’t have gotten their hands on the flute piece. He must be hiding something. We aren’t leaving this town until we’ve searched every nook and cranny of this cramped liquor shack.”

“Where could he be hiding something, though?” asked Luffy. “There’s not much room to hide things here, it looks like.”

Gareda looked Luffy dead in the eye. “Anywhere. Behind the walls, under the floorboards, even. Ghosts don’t think like we do, Luffy.” ‘How else could he have survived this damn smell for years.’

Luffy blushed. “Okay.”

“We should be after that ghost directly, too,” Vli suggested without an iota of a clue. “If he is so dangerous, then we-”

Gareda let out a growl, slashing at the air beside her with both her talons in a quick, yet visceral motion. It wasn’t difficult to imagine oneself in the path beside her; squint, and the echo of an attack would slice through your body as well. Vli fell silent in an instant, as if he had actually been hit.

“Forget about it.”

“But Gareda, you said he’s dangerous-”

“I did. And I’m dead serious. Go after him without a plan, and you’ll see just for yourself. I’m not interested in getting a whole squad of our people wiped clean off the planet. Besides, he is too far away for me to detect anymore. Arceus alone knows where he is now.”

Vli beat his wings as he worked to get a lump out of his throat. “But what do we do, then?”

“Keep an eye out for him. There’s no getting him without a good plan, I’m afraid to say.” ‘In more ways than one.’ Gareda shook her head. “Enough of the son of a bitch for now. Panic won’t get us closer to dealing with him. Show me how the rest of the operation went.”

“Well, we caught the Raichu,” Luffy said with full confidence. Gareda groaned.

“Show me, I said.”

“Oh.”

The three left the café to stew in its own stench. Before anything else, Vli and Luffy were all too happy to show Gareda what they had accomplished earlier, like children showing a scribble to their mother. And it wasn’t a bad scribble, either. She could smile a little at that. The Raichu they had captured was beyond pitiful. Couldn’t move, couldn’t fight, couldn’t cry: he had been utterly defeated. A pile of helpless rabble. Gareda didn’t even want to interrogate him anymore. Just leaving him in a cell was punishment enough.

Comforted a little, Gareda followed the two towards the final target of the raid, a little hovel on top of a small hill. To the eye, everything seemed in order. All of the troops she encountered on the way were keeping their eyes peeled as they should be. But something wasn’t right in the air. She sensed it, felt it brush by her body, tasted it, even.

Upon reaching the front door, the scent in the air became clear enough to be distinguishable: It was reminiscent of some kind of poison. Her eyes panned over the area; there was some kind of writing on the ground by her feet. Whatever optimism she might’ve gained on the way here faded faster than her eyes reassumed the scowl she had taken on after Hein’s escape. Poison alone doesn’t create this kind of atmosphere. Someone had made an error, and not a small one either.

“May the team leader here show themselves?”

Gareda’s voice rang clear as crystal. One Soldier, a Mienshao with a green scarf half the size of Gareda’s, came out of the hovel and walked towards Gareda, then bowed in front of her.

“My apologies, lord Gareda. We are not done here yet.”

“State your name first.” Gareda eyed the Mienshao with inquisitive intent.

“Zau, lord Gareda. My name is Zau,” the Mienshao stated, folding her arms over each other in a protective manner. She was giving off little confidence, even for a question so preposterously simple. Gareda’s eyes narrowed.

“Where are the prisoners?”

Zau made a quick bow, her tail laid flat against the ground. “They’re… in the house, my lord. My apologies, they have made quite the mess. A few of our troops were injured when apprehending them.”

“Bring them here. I want to see them for myself.”

Gareda steeled herself for what was to come. That the Oshawott had managed to injure some of the finest troops she had did not come as a surprise. On the contrary, it made perfect sense. The aura that boy had around him had left a mark on her, and she had only been in his presence for brief moments. Even now, the pressure in the air didn’t lift. He had to be down there, still looking for a way to break free.

So many questions rang through Gareda’s head as the Mienshao ordered the troops under her thumb to do as she asked. Questions that had been haunting her for the past few weeks, and would soon be answered. Who he is, the cause of his strong aura, and why the Alliance had taken such an interest in him. She wanted nothing more than to be free of these thoughts, no matter how. Whether it was all smoke, or a raging inferno, she had to douse it all with water. Flood it. Drown it, cast it into the abyss.

Instead, she only saw further smoke billowing on the horizon: Just two prisoners came out of the house. A Nidorino, and a Nidorina. Both struggled to walk, were covered in cuts and bruises that warped their scaly hides, and were speechless. Zau came up to Gareda, and bowed once more.

“Here you are, my lord. The prisoners, as you requested.”

Gareda eyed the couple for some time. As battered as they were, they still looked on defiantly. The Nidorino even spat at his captor’s feet. One Soldier moved in to react; Gareda put a fin in between.

“...What is this?”

“Hm? Did you say something?” Zau raised her whiskers. Gareda’s scowl soured to the lowest.

“I said, what is this? What is the meaning of this?! You cannot seriously be telling me that this is it, right? Look at them!”

“...I do not understand what is wrong, my lord.”

Zau stared on in front of herself, half dreaming, half afraid. Gareda felt the beat of her heart speed up in her chest. She hadn’t made a mistake when ordering the plans, had she? They were looking for an Oshawott more than anyone else. Not the Raichu, not the other collaborators, not even that accursed Hein. The focus had been on the capture of that freckled little boy. A mission so critical that burning through the goodwill of all the Pokemon of the region was seen as a worthwhile sacrifice. Nothing else mattered, nothing.

Yet here they stood, in the middle of a town with zero locals daring to go on the streets, and no Oshawott. Just two raging poisonlings kicking at their restraints, and a depressed Raichu.

“I… I gave you orders, damn it! You utter fool! Where is that OSHAWOTT?!”

Gareda stepped towards Zau with heavy strides, throwing her arm out in a slashing motion. The Mienshao gasped and backed away, quickly getting herself cornered against the wall of the hovel. The other Soldiers looked on in horror.

“I-”

“WHERE IS HE?!” Gareda roared.

“W-we don’t know! He and his friend may have escaped through the back entrance-”

“Back entrance? You didn’t know there was a back entrance?!”

“My lord, we are sorry! It was hidden behind a bunch of overgrowth, we couldn’t see it-”

Gareda hissed, choked on her breath, staggered away a step with a wide sway of her tail. The pressure boiled inside her. She craned her head up at the sky, and roared as hard as her lungs would let her. She felt as if there was a vine around her neck, choking the breath out of her body. She had to let it all out.

When she finished, the other Soldiers present had backed away, and not by a faint amount either. Gareda couldn’t bear looking any of them in the eye, let alone the prisoners, whose terrified gasping rang louder in her own ears than the roar somehow did.

‘I may have gone too far, no, I’ve gone way overboard. You’re better than this, Gareda. Calm down, just calm down. It will come alright, she won’t lay a vine on them if you just, just calm down.’

She glanced over her shoulder; Zau was still standing there. Judging by her shaky legs, not for much longer. Gareda shook her head.

“Just… get out there now, and plan something, fast. Search the area for him. I will plan something more long term if he escapes your notice. And when I say fast, I mean like you’ve got lightning nipping at your arse. Got it?”

“Y-yes, my lord. It will be done.”

Zau motioned for the others to follow, who timidly followed in her footsteps. Gareda was left alone for the moment. She sat down on the ground, crossing her feet over one another while letting her tail curl up around her side. She tapped her talons into the dirt, trying to clear her head. Today was a disaster.

But the silence wouldn’t last long. Two voices came calling from the path leading back to the town, and Gareda’s eyes fell upon something scratched into the dirt. Something that shouldn’t be scratched into the dirt.

“Gareda, is something wrong?”

She held a talon over the scratches in the dirt, studying them carefully. Then, it hit her.

‘Those are Unown runes…’