Thomas had arrived at Mt. Pyre. Throughout the meeting, he had been broadcasting what he had been seeing to his fellow Avatar. He knew that Adrian would want no part of the A.Q.U.A Initiative, at least not by force. Though he himself signed it, as a witness, and on behalf of Benoit Armaments, he was conflicted. Though he understood that this was intended to organize and protect Avatars, he could feel the potential for everything to go wrong.

Finally, Thomas quietly wrote a note denoting a meeting time for Mt. Pyre, explicitly telling Adrian not to bring any sort of technology that could be used to track him. Thomas himself left his cell phone at home, left any sort of technology behind, save for his Pokeballs.

Thomas, garbed in an olive jacket, beige pants, and brown boots, landed at Mt. Pyre on his Hydreigon. "Malcolm, good to see you again.", he told the Avatar, offering him a handshake. Seeing as they were alone, Thomas took off his eye patch, revealing the eye that Yveltal had restored, in a corrupted form.

"As you saw, the A.Q.U.A Initiative was signed. I could only send you brief glimpses of the document, but I brought a copy of the final contract.", he told him.

Thomas would produce a folder from a pouch on the Hydreigon's saddle. He would hand it to Adrian. "I'm not here to make you sign it. I just want to give you the chance to read it for yourself.", he told the red-eyed man.

Thomas would give Adrian the time he needed to drink it all in. "If it's of any help, I'm not outing you to the League. I'll leave that decision up to you.", he told Adrian. Though he did mention Kyle's exploits, that was based off of public action. Thomas and Adrian had yet to do anything publicly with their powers, and Thomas made sure that the few in the know kept their mouths shut.

---

tags: Adrian Malcolm
notes: tl;dr

"If I'll be honest with you, I'm not liking this one bit.", he'd tell Adrian. "The whole thing was the brainchild of former Councilwoman Olivia Abbiati. And given what I found about her, her connection to a cult from Sinnoh, that does not bode well.", he'd tell him.

"At the end of the day, no matter what they're promising Avatars, they're attempting to shackle the gods, whether they know it or not. I'm positive that it was Abbiati's intention the whole time. And though she's no longer Hoennian Council, I have to wonder how much involvement she has in the Initiative currently, behind the scenes.", he would tell him.

"I'll be honest with you, while it's starting out rather innocuously, I'm afraid as the situation gets more desperate, they will ratchet up recruitment procedures. I'm afraid of cait alfric, for example, being forced to fight for the League, against her wishes, if things get bad enough. The lines are starting to blur, it seems.", he'd continue.

As he speculated, he had to wonder just how far the League would go, and how similar to Rocket they'd become as things progressed.

---

tags: Adrian Malcolm
notes: tl;dr

"I'll do my best to cover for you. I've kept your name out of any reports regarding Mt. Pyre. I've done what I could to keep all your names out of this. Told them that an unnatural fog made identification impossible. Though I don't know if the others will do the same.", he told Adrian. Well, aside from Laurence Anderson. He could trust Anderson, but as for Lucas Lane, the girl, and that mystery man in leather, he didn't know if he could trust them.

"I'm gonna hold off on revealing myself as long as I can. They don't know I'm an Avatar yet, though they do know that I dealt with Yveltal on Mt. Pyre. Until then, I'm going to use Benoit Armaments to position myself so that I can keep watch over this whole operation, gather what data I can on the other Avatars, and if things go bad, try to stop it.", he'd tell Adrian.

"What about you?", he'd inquire.

---

tags: Adrian Malcolm
notes: tl;dr

"Him?", Thomas inquired.

Given the way Adrian said this, and the circumstances surrounding their meeting, Thomas had a feeling that Adrian was looking for revenge. The Kalosian couldn't really fault Adrian for that. Given his own history, and what motivated him to become what he is now, Thomas could sympathize with the Executioner.

Though the question remained, how far would he go in his pursuit of revenge? Thomas had barely been stopped from murdering the man who killed Shadow, all those years ago. Something he came to regret not following through. The man had been let off with what was effectively a slap on the wrist. Worst still, someone like him was likely to have joined Rocket, and razed Kanto under Silas.

Either way, it was a moot point. Yveltal had compelled Thomas to take two lives. His hands were forever stained with their blood, her blood especially. He was damned, and he knew it. It was the price of their pact.

---

tags: Adrian Malcolm
notes: tl;dr

Thomas was right, Adrian was seeking revenge for his fallen Pokemon. The Kalosian would place a hand on his shoulder supportively. "For what little it might be worth, I've been down a similar road before.", he'd tell Adrian. "If you need it, I'll help you however I can.", he'd tell him.

Thomas would fish out his flask from his jacket, quickly taking a swig of the whiskey held within.

---

tags: Adrian Malcolm
notes: tl;dr

Thomas would quickly retract his hand upon seeing the small signs that he didn't like the contact. Though he did tolerate it for the moment, Thomas didn't want to push it.

"Stay safe.", Thomas would tell the other Avatar, before turning to mount his Hydreigon. Before climbing onto the three-headed beast, Thomas would affix the eyepatch over his Shinigami Eye, disguising his proof of his status to the world once again. The Kalosian would quietly head back to Lilycove, back to collect his things from the Benoit Estate. Once finished, he'd make the flight back to Verdanturf, to spend the rest of his day with his little friends.

---

tags: Adrian Malcolm
notes: Fin