Hey folks, welcome back! Happy to be making a new post again after taking some time off to get through my final exams and assignments for the winter semester! Less happy that I had to take extra time off because my laptop broke so I couldn't write for several more weeks after school was done. Thankfully it's still under warranty, so it cost me nothing but time.

Chapter 26: Damage Assessment

"We are here at the aftermath of the battle against Team Plasma, and as you can see the battle has caused massive damage to Vertress City's stadium as well as the city around it. League officials are still sweeping through the castle itself, and due to the potential danger of Team Plasma the entire city has been declared a no fly zone until further notice. The battling outside of the castle has been brought to a complete close, but we have seen signs of pokémon battling within the castle, including what appears to be a collapsed wall at the top floor. Attempts to infiltrate through this opening were deemed an unacceptable risk due to the sound of roars which experts have identified as those of a hydreigon…"

I'm not really processing anything beyond staring intensely at the screen, so Keith sums the situation up for me instead: "Shit."

After Koga gathered up all of his trainers, he quietly evacuated us all to a building on the other side of Vermillion, close to Surge's gym. We were left in some sort of lounge room and told not to leave under any circumstances. That was several hours ago, and since then we've been joined by Zachary and Arthur. All the trainers still in the tournament who have ties to Kanto League members. I haven't been paying much attention to any of them since I finally managed to find good coverage of the goings-on in Unova on my pokégear.

"Ben's from Unova, right? Did he know anyone competing? Or who lives in Vertress?" Zachary quietly asks the others behind me.

"Two of his friends were competing, yes. And I believe another of his friends would have been in the stands as well," Axel replies just as quietly.

"Have you been able to contact any of them?" Zachary asks.

"One of them," I reply dully, "Bianca got back to me a while ago. She was helping with evacuation efforts. She was too busy for more than a quick text to say she was okay. The other two are still in there," I gesture to the castle on the screen.

"Well, if they're in there with the League, that means they're strong enough to be okay, right?" Zachary says, attempting to cheer me up.

"They could be out already, this isn't a live feed," Sara points out helpfully.

"Press releases are probably still being throttled, it's pretty standard for disasters like this," Keith explains, "The Pokémon League has rules in place that let them control the rate information gets out for the first few hours after an incident to prevent panic and give them a chance to ready official responses. There's probably a lot of info that won't be fair game yet."

"We should check social media instead then," Sara says, "Even the Pokémon League can't hope to keep that under control."

"Can somebody else do that for me?" I ask, "I don't really… do social media."

"You really are the old man of this group, aren't you?" Keith jokes, whipping out his pokégear to check the web. It only takes him a few minutes of searching before he looks up to me, "Sara was right, people are already talking on Flitter. Lots of pictures of Champion Alder bringing out some old guy with green hair and handing him off to Rangers. Oh! And I think this might be Hilda and your other friend, she owns a scolipede, right?"

I hurriedly look over to the picture he's found and I can immediately see why he's unsure if Hilda's in the picture. It's extremely blurry, as you'd expect when trying to snap a moving photo of one of the fastest Pokémon in Unova. Still, the shape of the scolipede is unmistakable, and the figures on its back… "I think it's them," I announce, sagging in my seat in relief, "It looks like Hilda and Cheren."

The rest of the room seems to relax at my announcement. "Thank goodness," Arthur mutters quietly.

I can't help but feel touched at how worried everyone seems to have been on my behalf, even Zachary, who I've barely spoken to.

"Hey guys…" Sara says, still browsing on her own pokégear, "Found a video here with a Pokémon I don't recognize, does anybody know what this is?"

Arthur leans in first, staring over her shoulder. "Wow," he comments, "Don't know what it is, but it looks big. Any other videos or photos? Something clearer, maybe?"

"No, this is all I've found. It's only there for a few seconds, I doubt anyone had time to take a picture."

Zachary leans in next, "Looks familiar. Think I saw something like it in a picture book once? Sabrina has some weird stuff in her collection."

Arthur snorts at that, "Meanwhile Lavender Gym's library is just full of textbooks."

"You think you could take a look at this thing, Ben?" Sara asks, moving over to me, "You're from the region, so I think you have a better shot than anyone else."

I only need to look at the video for a moment to identify the white blur moving out of the castle. "Reshiram," I mutter with a grimace.

"Huh, never heard of a Reshiram before," Keith comments, "What kind of Pokémon is it?"

"The kind best avoided."

I'm not the one who answers Keith's question. That honor falls to Koga, who has suddenly appeared in the back corner of the room. Everyone in the room except for me jumps. I'm as surprised as the rest of them of course. I'm just feeling a bit too exhausted to show it right now.

Keith doesn't give up easily at Koga's warning though, pressing on undaunted, "Okay, but it's clearly involved in this mess, right? It's flying out of the castle. So it's gotta be involved somehow. Is it a flying type? Or maybe a dragon? The body shape looks dragon-ish."

Koga doesn't elaborate, and gives me a look warning me to do the same. I, of course, keep my mouth shut. "We have a meeting to attend," Koga says instead. I blink my eyes and he's at the door, still speaking, "Follow, and be quick about it."

Koga leads us all to a conference room, this one already occupied by several people. Valeria is sitting off to one side with DJ Fern. Mint is sitting next to a man and a woman that I assume is their parents. At the head of the table an old man who looks to be roughly 90% beard is sitting. On one side he's flanked by Surge and Sabrina, while on the other Janine is sitting, with a chair left empty to her right for her father. There's also a fair number of Surge's trainers present.

"Is this everyone?" the old man asks, a pleasant smile on his face.

"Christina is unable to travel to Vermilion on such short notice, and sends her regrets," Koga replies, "She does not have a Pokémon capable of long distance teleportation, and her request for one is apparently still pending."

"Well that won't do! We'll have to see about pushing that along when we get a moment, won't we?" The old man frowns, then looks back around the room, "I count eight trainers, but I could have sworn there was a different fellow in the tournament. Is my memory going on me?"

"Uhh, that would be Vlad Veris, sir," one of Surge's trainers replies, "We were unfortunately unable to find him."

"That will not be a problem," Koga comments, "Mr. Veris has already seen fit to attend the meeting of his own accord." He then proceeds to whip a shuriken into one of the ceiling tiles. There's a moment of silence, then the ceiling tile collapses, depositing a very dusty Vlad onto the middle of the table with a distressed yowl.

"What the hell!?" Surge exclaims, leaping to his feet, "When did he get up there?"

"Mr. Veris acquired his infiltration route twenty seven minutes ago," Koga notes, "By that time we had already been requested to gather the remaining competitors, so I saw no reason to waste time flushing him out."

"Likewise," Sabrina comments.

Janine, meanwhile, is quietly taking her seat again and trying to pretend like she had also known Vlad was there the whole time.

The old man looks positively delighted by the unexpected appearance, eyes glittering with merriment, "Well, well! Quite the inquisitive soul, I see! Still, best be careful in the future, Mr. Veris! You wouldn't want to get yourself into trouble poking your nose where it doesn't belong!" The warning, while certainly serious given the context, sounds more akin to a grandfather scolding a young child.

"Noted," Vlad croaks.

"Are we just going to leave it at that?" Surge asks, looking down at the old man indignantly, "This rookie just snuck right through our security!"

"Oh, no harm done!" The old man chuckles, "Like Koga said, he was already invited."

Vlad takes this as a cue to grab a seat with the rest of us, and promptly scuttles across the table to sit as far from Koga as possible. This puts him next to Valeria, who promptly wrinkles her nose and starts frantically trying to clean the dust he's trailing everywhere from her outfit.

Seeing everyone settling down, the old man claps his hands together and looks around the room, "Alright, we have all our competitors, as well as all of the sponsors we could gather! Oh, and Mr… Guinness, isn't it? You're of course welcome here as well, young man! Delighted to meet all of you, truly! My name is Charles Goodshow."

Oh shit. I straighten up in my seat, and I'm not the only one. This guy is the real deal. President of the Pokémon League. And we're not talking about the Kanto League here, we're talking about the whole damn thing. The President of the entire governing body which oversees the unified alliance of regions under the Pokémon League. Simply put, this is the most powerful man in the world. Definitely not the sort of person you'd expect to just run into, and also not somebody you expect to find wearing a track jacket and backwards baseball cap.

"No need to look so tense, everyone!" President Goodshow says, chuckling at our reactions, "I'm not here to cause a ruckus! Though I am delivering some bad news, unfortunately. I gathered you all here to let you know officially that with the events in Unova we'll be cancelling the rest of the tournament."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I follow the logic," Mint's mom speaks up, "Why would something happening all the way in Unova interfere with the rookie tournament?"

Surge gives the woman a dirty look, "Because by this time tomorrow there won't be anyone left to run it! Me and my staff are getting redeployed to Unova for the foreseeable future to provide aid relief."

The woman frowns at that, "Surely we could finish the tournament first? This was supposed to be my precious child's debut! It's very important, much more important than some minor scuffle in a different region!"

There's a beat of silence at that as everyone takes in the sheer scumminess this woman just shamelessly vomited out. Mint looks absolutely mortified and has sunk so low in their chair that they're practically hiding under the table. Their father seems similarly mortified, crossed with terror at just who his wife has decided to be a Karen at.

Vlad sums up the general mood with a slow drawl in his most gravelly, chain-smoker-esque voice: "Wooooooooooooooooooooow."

The next to recover is President Goodshow, who actually seems to manage summoning up some genuine sympathy for the hag, "I sympathize, Mrs. Monokuro, but I'm afraid that Kanto's foremost priority must be their obligations as members of the Pokémon League, and that Surge's role within the Kanto League requires him to act as a first responder to international calls to aid. There's simply nothing that can be done!"

"That can't be right!" Hag exclaims in outrage, "My child practically already won the tournament, you can't just deny our family what we're due!"

"Mrs. Monokuro, you will control yourself or you will be removed," Koga declares.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that! I bet this is all your doing!" Hag starts to scream, before her husband leaps to his feet and starts trying to escort her out of the room. "Wait, what are you doing!?" She shrieks.

"We're so very sorry for the trouble! Thank you for letting us know of the circumstances, please excuse us!" Mr. Monokuro exclaims hastily, still shepherding his wife towards the door. Mint, meanwhile, has vanished entirely. I can faintly hear a despairing whine from under the table.

"Stop that right now! We can't just let them bully us like this! It's all a conspiracy! They're plotting against us! Koga just wants to cancel the tournament because he knows his useless trainers don't stand a chance against my darling!" And with that charming comment she is finally evicted from the room entirely. Good riddance. Fucking loon was talking for about two minutes and in that time she somehow managed to out-crazy the guy who literally fell out of the ceiling. Just goes to show that psycho Karens are a universal low point across all dimensions. No offense to Elite Four Karen of course, she's probably chill.

"This meeting turned out a lot more exciting than I expected!" President Goodshow declares with a boisterous laugh, seemingly completely unbothered by what just happened, "Well at any rate, it's a shame, but I'm afraid we really do have no choice but to cancel the rest of the tournament. I was looking forward to the final rounds, too!"

Those of us still in the room trade uneasy looks with each other, still off guard by Mint's psycho mother and the presence of the literal most powerful man on the planet chilling at the head of the table. As the designated adult of the group, I take it upon myself to speak up first, "So… is that the only reason you're calling us here for this meeting President Goodshow? Because, I'm sure we all appreciate you going to the trouble of telling us, but… this feels a little brief for a full-blown meeting."

Koga gives me a look that tells me I wasn't being as diplomatic with my comment as I was trying to be. I can only shrug back helplessly. My head's in a weird place right now Master, please be patient with me!

The President is carrying on completely unbothered by any potential faux pas I've committed though, just carrying on grinning like nothing's wrong, "Ah! Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Wilson! I admit part of this was just me going to the effort of calling you all together so I could give you the news in person. It felt only right after all the trouble you fine trainers have been going to, especially since I was here to discuss matters with Koga and Surge already! But, given the circumstances, I also decided to get you all something! Now, where did I put them…?"

The President starts patting down his pockets, then after not finding what he's looking for there, rummages around inside his beard. "Was it maybe… ah? Aha!" He grins triumphantly as he produces a handful of discs, each inside their own shiny plastic case, "TMs for everyone! Unlimited use, of course. Think of it as a consolation prize!"

Surge is staring slack jawed at the discs, "Mister President, sir, even one of those TMs is worth more than double the one I prepared for the winner."

"Oh, no need to make such a fuss!" Goodshow passes the TMs off to one of Surge's trainers to hand out and pats the gym leader on the shoulder, "They all worked hard, I'd say they earned it!"

I nod in thanks to the trainer as he passes me a disc and I examine it, "Return?" I read, feeling a bit shocked.

"That's right, a move that will grow with you all as you train! Pretty appropriate gift for some promising rookie trainers, if I do say so myself!" The President laughs, looking extremely proud of himself.

I can only stare blankly. Return is an absurdly expensive move to get on a TM, especially one with unlimited use. It's one of those rare moves that can be used on basically every pokémon in existence, and like Goodshow said, gets exponentially stronger the more experience its user has and the stronger the bond between pokémon and trainer. This man just handed every trainer in the room unlimited access to the physical embodiment of the power of friendship. I'd have needed to budget like crazy to afford this thing even if I had twice as many badges as I do now.

"This is… extremely generous, President Goodshow. Thank you," I say, feeling a bit shellshocked.

"I'll say!" Keith chimes in enthusiastically, "I've always heard you were a great guy Prez, but now that I've met you in person, wow! You are seriously a great guy!"

"Well shucks!" The President chuckles, waving sheepishly.

"This is way too much to just be handing away for free," Vlad grumbles from his little corner, "What's the catch?"

"Shrewd one, aren't you?" President Goodshow says, an amused smile on his face, "No catch, young man! Think of it as an investment in the future of the Pokémon League. You all impressed me with your hard work and battling skills. That's the kind of talent that tells an old man like me that the future is in good hands!"

Vlad grumbles loudly, making it clear he's not convinced, but doesn't say anything further. The weirdo is probably going to be checking the disc for tracking chips or something later.

The other trainers all take a moment to thank the President as well, and once it seems that everyone is done speaking he claps his hands and hops out of his chair, "Well, now that that's all sorted, I think everyone here needs to get back to the matter at hand. I hope you all continue to work hard, and I look forward to seeing how strong you'll be at this year's Indigo League!"

"I advise everyone to keep as low a profile as possible once you leave," Koga instructs, "The media has whipped themselves into a frenzy, and will likely continue to pounce on anyone they can at least until Unova and the Pokémon League release their official statements. You may wish to head to the next gym sooner rather than later."

We all take that as our cue to clear out and start getting to our feet, but Koga stops me before I can go far. "Mr. Wilson, remain here for a moment," he orders.

"I'd like you to wait as well, Zachary," Sabrina says calmly.

Zachary and I look at each other, shrug, and take our seats again as the others file out. Mint emerges from underneath the table next to me, giving me a frazzled look. I give them a sympathetic smile in return. Must suck to have a psycho bitch for a mother. They squeak out an apology to everyone before leaving, but nobody seems to hold it against them.

"Janine, please ensure that Mr. Veris doesn't find himself lost anywhere else he isn't supposed to be on the way out," Koga says.

"Sir!"

The last to leave is DJ Fern, who bows towards the head of the table. "Thank you for inviting me to be a part of this tournament. Koga, Surge, it was an honor to work with you both."

"Good having ya," Surge grunts, "You did good work for me and I won't forget it."

"Indeed, you have true skill in battle casting," Koga adds.

The DJ looks genuinely emotional, which I suppose is only natural when you're being acknowledged by two of the most important people in the region. He bows one last time, quickly, and then leaves the room. Surge's trainers close the door behind him.

"Mr. Wilson, I'll make this brief," Koga says, the moment the door has closed, "Do you wish to return to Unova in light of what has happened?"

I stare blankly at him, "What?"

"In one hour, Leader Sabrina and President Goodshow will be traveling to Unova via long-distance teleport. Sabrina has the ability to transport one additional person through this method. She has graciously offered to allow you to go with her, should you so choose," Koga says, Sabrina nodding quietly at his words, "This is not an offer I make lightly, nor is it one that should be taken lightly. Choosing to travel back to Unova would be a setback for your prospects at the Indigo League this year. But if you deem this a small price to pay for the sake of supporting your loved ones in Unova then I owe it to you as your sponsor to aid you in that decision."

That's a lie, and he knows it. Koga's sponsorship is intended for active trainers. Abandoning the Indigo League halfway through to go back to Unova could be seen as grounds for declaring a breach of contract, not that I think Koga's cruel enough to do such a thing. Still, even if Koga's offer has been worded to give me as open of a decision as possible, I don't need to think long to come to a decision. "I'll stay," I reply, "I don't think there's anything I could do that would hurt Hilda more right now than to abandon my journey to go see her, after everything she's been through. Thank you for the offer, both of you. I truly appreciate it."

As soon as the words leave my mouth I start wondering though. Despite knowing how invested Hilda's been in hearing about my normal journey, should I really be making that a priority? Surely these are extenuating circumstances… At the same time though, it also makes me wonder about how close I really am with the three of them. Would it be too much for me to go back, or is that just social anxiety talking? The questions start buzzing around my head all at once, and I have to fight to tamp them down. When in doubt, trust your gut. Gut says Hilda would be pissed/horrified/miserable. Don't backtrack.

Koga nods, though I can tell from the way his gaze sharpens that he's got an inkling of some of the thoughts running through my mind. Sabrina, meanwhile, simply gives me a smile that is subdued, yet warm. "Think nothing of it," she says, before turning to Zachary, "Zachary, have your plans changed at all since beginning your own journey?"

"Not at all," Zachary replies.

"Then I must inform you that this incident has pushed our timetable forward. I will be working with the Unova League much more closely in the coming months than originally planned. With this in mind, I will be creating a new schedule for your training. Return to Saffron as soon as you can, and speak to my father. He will ensure that you are prepared for what's to come," Sabrina instructs.

"Understood," Zachary says, with a look of determination.

As Zachary and Sabrina finish their conversation, Koga has been drawn back into talking with Surge and President Goodshow. They seem to be discussing organizing aid to Unova.

"Bruno and Lance have already gone ahead, and the first plane from Viridian should be leaving within the hour. Blue is handling the arrangements for our people."

"How much staff remains at the Plateau?"

"Sixty percent, with Karen and Red remaining to keep things organized. They'll need you back there as soon as possible, Koga."

"Is everything gonna be alright in Fuchsia without him there to manage it though?"

"My daughter has already begun arrangements on her end. She has matters well in hand without me."

"Alright, alright, I wasn't trying to insult Janine. Just saying, this is a big deal. Not easy organizing this sort of thing. Brock and Misty were barely able to manage sending their trainers to help, and you can count how many they have on your fingers!"

"Their staffing shortages should have been handled long before this."

"Cerulean Gym's still in a tight place handling those renovations. And we all know how overworked poor Brock is. The man's just got too many obligations to have time for expanding."

"Hmm. True. The real problem is Blaine…"

"Does that old firebrand even have staff anymore?"

That's the last thing I'm able to catch before Sabrina takes note of my eavesdropping and gestures towards the door, "I'm sure you can find better things to do with the rest of your evening than to listen to this."

"I'm not so sure," I mutter, "This is pretty damn interesting."

"Your interest in politics does you credit, Mr. Wilson, but Sabrina is right. You are dismissed," Koga says, looking back in my direction, "Talks such as these are beyond you as you are."

I frown a little at the wording of that. It's not like they're discussing anything too complicated for me, after all. But Koga's actual meaning doesn't escape me: this is a conversation for Kanto's elite. Even if I have the smarts for this conversation, I'm sure as shit not up to par in achievements.

In the future though, could I have a place at that table? Once I've become a champion and my team is strong enough, could I be the sort of person to stand there with the best of the best?

I still have a lot to do before I decide what my end goal will be in this world, but I can't deny the idea is appealing. Maybe that could be an end goal for me, once I've had my fill of travelling. Find a nice place to settle down, open a gym, eventually aim for primary status… I could see that being a good life.

My daydreams are brought to a sudden end when my pokégear starts ringing. Bianca again. I waste no time answering. "Bianca. You still doing okay?"

She isn't. After hearing her news, I'm not doing okay either.

"While we believe that some members of Team Plasma have escaped in the confusion, we have apprehended most of the members. This includes their leader, Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius," Alder announces to a sea of reporters, looking exhausted, but confident.

"Champion Alder, your list doesn't include the so-called King of Team Plasma, one Natural Harmonia Gropius. Has he also been apprehended or is he one of the members who has successfully escaped?"

"Through the Unova League's defeat and capture of Team Plasma, we were able to determine that this individual has no real power within the organization. Natural, also known simply as N, was nothing more than a figurehead, while the seven sages held the real power in the organization, and are responsible for the events which occurred here in Vertress City."

"Champion Alder, is it true that the remaining members of the Seven Sages were able to escape before you could capture them?"

Alder frowns at that, "The other six members of the Seven Sages were successful in teleporting away once it became clear that they were no match for the Unova League's strength. We are already taking steps to capture them. Any individuals who see these criminals are not to approach them under any circumstances. They are still considered extremely dangerous by the Unova League, even if they no longer have the leadership and resources they once possessed."

I'm sitting in the living area of the suite, eating cold leftover pizza, more for comfort than for actual hunger. The lights are out and my volume is low, since I don't want to wake anyone up. But apparently I wasn't being quiet enough, because after a while Keith emerges from the darkness and crashes on the couch next to me. "You really shouldn't be up this early, you know?" Keith comments, "Sun hasn't even risen yet. Get back to bed man, you've earned a morning to sleep in."

"Couldn't sleep," I reply tersely, "Been up all night."

"Damn," Keith sighs, "That sucks."

"Yup."

We both stare at the little screen of my pokegear in silence for a minute. "So, this is the official response, huh?" Keith asks after a moment.

"Yup."

"They're asking a lot of tough questions. Seems like they know more about how the battle went down than the Champion does."

"Somebody in the Unova League probably tipped them off. They don't like him much,"

"No kidding?" Keith looks over at me with interest.

"His starter died. He took some time off. Lots of it. No notice. Don't think it went over well with the higher ups," I explain, before amending, "This is just a personal theory though."

"Matches what little I've heard Koga mention about the topic, at least," Keith shrugs, "And it makes sense. When Red won against the Kanto League and then vanished for a few years it earned him a lot of distrust with people. If he didn't have Blue smoothing things over for him I doubt he'd have been accepted as Champion so easily when he came back."

"They also didn't have any other options."

"True. Kanto and Johto tend to split their best trainers between them as needed, so we don't have a lot of extra trainers to fill in gaps. It's why Blaine still has a job despite always screwing around," Keith jokes, "At least until Agatha's granddaughter kicks him to the curb."

"Right," I say, smiling half-heartedly.

"...Geez, there's no pulling you out of this funk, huh?" Keith says, his smile fading as he gives me a properly concerned look.

"Appreciate the effort, but no. Not feeling it," I reply.

"Still worrying over Hilda and Cheren? Or… did you get bad news?" Keith asks, growing properly serious.

"They're fine. Mostly. Hilda fainted a few times, so they're holding her in the hospital. Cheren's sleeping like the dead. Their teams though…"

"Oh no…" Keith groans in horror.

"Yeah. Cheren's unfezant, Zephyr, broke a wing in three places. He's probably never going to fly again. Short distances maybe, if he's lucky. Cheren didn't realize how bad the damage was at first, so he didn't activate stasis in time. Paris, Hilda's bisharp, took some bad hits to the head and torso. He's still in surgery. No clue if he'll recover. And Cole… his arm was…" I stop for a moment, taking a shaky breath, "I can't go into it man, I really can't. Just… they couldn't save it."

"No…" Keith moans. He's probably feeling that one personally. After I showed him that battle Cole was in the other day he probably became that simisear's biggest fan. I caught him poring over every one of Hilda's battles one evening looking for more footage of him battling.

…That was last night. Or two nights ago, now. Feels like a century. That's probably the lack of sleep talking though.

"Bianca was hysterical when she told me," I continue, "She could barely breathe. Had to talk her through a panic attack. Not qualified for that, but she had nobody else to talk to. And just… when Koga kept me yesterday, he offered to let me go back to Unova. And I said no. Figured me dropping everything I worked on to support them would have just been like… one more thing they lost. One last piece of normalcy down the drain. Not so sure now."

"...No man, you were right," Keith says, "I remember how much she was stressing about all the pressure she's been under. It was obvious even to somebody who's never spoken to her before. They might feel better having you there right now, sure, but once they've had time to recover from all this? It'd gut them to know you gave up everything you've worked for."

"...Yeah, probably. In my head I know that, I really do. Just… feels shitty anyways," I reply.

"Of course it does. That's… having bad things happen to people you know is awful, but when it happens to their teams? It's so much worse. It's like losing a piece of your soul. I've had nightmares about that, you know? Having something happen to a member of my team is literally my greatest fear," Keith says seriously.

"Don't know if I've thought of it before," I admit.

"Most people don't. But my team started years ago, when I pulled Checkers out of that river. He was barely breathing. Looked at me with… so much desperation," He stares off into the darkness of the hotel room for a moment, then seems to come back to earth and shrugs at me, "I've had a long time to reflect on just how vulnerable our Pokémon can really be. They seem so impossibly strong, but shit can still happen, you know?"

"Yeah," I croak, "So… what should Cheren and Hilda do?"

"I wish I knew, man. But as much as I've stressed thinking about it over the years, I never had to actually experience it. Not the way they are right now. Meeting Checkers was scary, but he got better. Honestly, they've already got somebody there who's way more suited to talk to them about this than either of us."

"Alder," I realize, "He would know better than anyone, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah," Keith smiles a little, clapping me on the shoulder, "So don't stress about everything, alright? There are people there who can help them. People who are more qualified than you are. And you are still helping from here. You're giving them a listening ear. And showing them that things can still be normal after what happened. That's important, even if it doesn't feel like it right now."

"Maybe so," I allow. The admittance brings a feeling of relief that, while small, seems to let something buried deep inside me untense. "Thanks Keith. I think… I think I'm ready to sleep now."

"Good," Keith's grin broadens, "because it is way too early for either of us to be up and the sound from your pokegear was keeping me awake."

I chuckle at that, then the two of us each head for our rooms. I pause when I reach the door, looking back, "Hey, Keith. Thanks."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Keith replies with a yawn, before waving lazily and closing the door behind him.

I make my way to bed, glad to finally feel tension giving way to exhaustion. Gotta be sure to rest properly. I'm going to need to prepare to start travelling again tomorrow.