The battle was over. With a flick of his wrist his flip phone snapped close, and the Helicopters were on the way.

glitch maverick was going to be okay- Healing Wish was as powerful as pokemon healing got; between it and a quick trip to the emergency room via Heli-trip, the man would be fine. Hideo Kino and Eris were fine as well. Thank Gods.

The same could not be said for the mission. The aftermath was a complete mess.

Destroyed property, loss of pokemon life, grievous (if treatable) injury to one of their numbers, civilian interference, civilian minor interference, gross incompetence from teachers, failure to comply with officers' orders...

The list just went on and on. Worst yet however-

A unique species of pokemon- several of them, exterminated.

Elite 4 Thomas Benoit. Gym Leader Glitch Maverick. Eris Halla' mysterious teacher. These were the people who had direct contact with the Meltan.

Glitch could be ruled out; his predicament had only begun once everything had already gone to hell.

Thomas and the teacher however, were a different matter.

Normally, he would have just ignored the teacher as a particular brand of incompetent guardian, more concerned with sating his curiosity than looking after his charge.

But then he had proceeded to assist Eris, an 11 year old, to rig up explosives, had then recklessly fed these explosives to the Melmetal via suicide Magnemite...

Nevermind the fact he had actually used a explosive- he had put Eris up to it, which was illegal on so many levels Doug suspected he might need to consult a lawyer, and had known Eris could do it.

This wasn't something you learned in bloody school. For that matter, there were no schools that would authorize a single student field trip- much less allow a man this blatantly and unapologetically careless in charge of her.

Doug decided the blame was likely squarely on this man. He had fed the Meltan's something earlier. Whatever it was, he would get to the bottom of it, now.

If he could find the bastard!

He sent his still Mega Evolved Centiskorch to secure the remains before he decided to approach Eris, not able to locate the man by eyesight.

The hell was he?

"Eris!" His voice snapped, much more disciplinary than ever before. "Where's your teacher?"

If Reiner's growling made Cpt. Douglas at all reconsider, it must not have been for long, because he didn't even look at the dog.

His gaze gauged Eris Halla for a moment, before the memory of a frightened, crying girl in a forest flashed through his mind. After a moment, he breathed in deeply, grasping the bridge of his nose before slowly exhaling, and kneeling in front of Eris, trying to smile.

"Ya ain't in trouble, Eris... Even if Hideo is." He said, his gaze snapping sharply towards Hideo Kino and his mouthy Rotom for a moment before turning back to the girl. "Yer teacher has been kinda absolutely horrible at his job and at generally bein' a human being though, so I gotta take 'im in for questioning. I dunno if he's guilty of all this... but I can definitely make sure they take his teaching license."

His Centiskorch, meanwhile, advanced towards the remains, rounding around the vast majority of it.

Hideo’s Aggron’s defense proved to be enough; though he still took some hits, Aaron was able to help ensure none of the trainers were struck by any wayward blasts. With everyone else on the offensive, it was only a matter of time until the Melmetal was worn down.

However, Elga had taken notice of the Magnemite carrying an entire vending machine through its magnetism. Though he wasn’t sure what the plan was, he definitely realized it once Yuan Wright ’s Elgyem warned everyone. Though Hideo wouldn’t understand the message clearly - just getting a vague sense that he should wait a moment - Elga could guess what was going to happen. He made sure to push his trainer further into cover, and even Psychically pulled the Rotomdex down with them.

They’d all missed the Magnemite being swallowed up, but all could hear the explosion. Everyone else took the chance to get in one last attack, but Hideo had a different order for his Pokemon: “Get back here, Aaron,” he ordered, knowing his Aggron had taken quite a beating - courtesy of Elga’s information.

Besides, it sounded like the Melmetal had finally been defeated...though from the sounds of it, their efforts proved to be fatal. He understood that sometimes, there was only one way to stop a Pokemon from killing people, but he felt a pang of guilt that he somewhat contributed to its death. Unease that someone had been badly hurt before they could stop it.

And a small bit of disappointment that he couldn’t catch it.

Before he could think on it further, Josh Dragomir approached him, asking him if he was alright. “Yeah,” he replied, “Nothing hit me, and I don’t feel like anything’s hurting. But I dunno about my Aggron...”

Said Aggron had made its way back to him - having reverted back to its non-mega state along the way. Hideo reached up to him, and could feel the cracks all over his body. There was even some blood dripping out of a few. “I gotta take him to a Pokemon Center,” Hideo said, returning Aaron back to his Pokeball. Nothing crippling, so he could tell, but he wanted his Aggron treated as soon as possible.

Of course, there may be a few delays.

Hideo could practically feel John Sullivan stare at him, and quivered slightly when Doug said he was in trouble. But it sounded like the more pressing issue was with Eris Halla and her teacher; Hideo didn’t know the full context, but he felt compelled to try and help cover for her.

Hideo approached Doug, guided by Elga. “Is, uh...is Glitch gonna be ok?” he asked, “Did he get hurt bad?” It was a genuine concern that he had, even if he didn’t even know glitch maverick until today; Elga didn’t tell him the extent of the injury, and Doug probably would’ve been angrier if he’d died, but still.

Also, maybe if he changed the subject, Doug might forget whatever punishment he had planned for Hideo.


Summary
- Elga pushes Hideo and pulls his Rotomdex into cover
-- The Rotomdex recording misses the Magnemite being eaten, as well as the explosion.
- Hideo is unharmed, but his Aggron is moderately injured, and is returned to his Pokeball
- Hideo tries to divert John Sullivan 's attention towards glitch maverick 's condition, to help out Eris Halla (and himself)

Thomas Benoit Josh Dragomir glitch maverick John Sullivan Yuan Wright @hades Eris Halla

push pop had instructions, as all of glitch's pokemon did, to act on the behalf of rocket when they could get away with it. and while she wasn't very smart she was pretty sure that she could get away with it for now. stamping her feet she tried to do one of the few things she could to help cover tracks at the moment, summon the rain. with the rain dance complete clouds began to form above them, rain began to drop. slowly at first as the drizzle started but then more and more gathering from the static in the air from all the explosions. a storm was forming now. as torrents began to fall.

- glitch passes out fully
- push pop uses rain dance under the guise of being an idiot pokemon

"Glitch's fine. Nurse Joy can heal anything- don'tcha worry 'bout him." Doug said as Hideo Kino approached, reading the empathetic boy like a book as his hand planted itself on the boy's head and ruffled his hair, sighing. "Worry 'bout yerself, mister. This kinda mess is exactly what I was hoping to avoid."

If they had all stayed away as ordered- well, there was no assurances that nothing would have happened, but they would at least know what hadn't caused the issue.

As things were, any of their singular interactions could have been what drove the Meltan berserk, even if Doug was 100% pinning it on the worst teacher in history.

Fortunately for Hideo, his behavior was far from the worst thing to happen that day; his punishment could wait.

As Reiner attempted to pull Eris Halla away, Doug resisted the urge to snap at it; at least it was pulling her towards Josh Dragomir, instead of trying to run for it.

He turned his gaze to Josh Dragomir.

"Mind lookin' after the kids? I'll go get the rest of this mess sorted up." He said with a sigh, grabbing the brim of his hat before preparing himself to face the carnage- so to speak.

And then it began raining.

"What in the- when did that happen?" Doug said, brows furrowing tightly at the sky. It had been clear only a few seconds ago. "Just great- bloody rain, right now?"

He began to run, palming a netball and his phone, flipping it open.

A few moments later, he arrived to the site of the kill, were fresh, metallic biomass and massive, golden bolts were strewn about. His Centiskorch hung above preventing the rain from touching much of the 'corpse'. To his ear, he held his phone, finishing speaking a few words before flicking it closed.

"Good job, Manda." He said to his fire bug with a nod, before throwing his net ball, releasing an Orbeetle into the field. "Yer up, Dot. It's going straight to Eva Morales's laboratory- only for Dr. Eva's eyes. She's waiting for you! Make sure to guard them proper once yer there."

To that, the Orbeetle nodded, before its eyes shone and psychic energy began to gather all around biomass and nuts, both its frisk ability and confusion taking hold of it and seizing it into the air- before Doug reached for his wrist.

Fascination Ufo

And then it, along with the Orbeetle, were all completely gone, poofed away, off to League's Headquarters and Head Scientist' Dr. Eva's Laboratories.

---

-Hideo Kino's head, Patted.
-Melmetal's biomass/chunks, acquired and sent to Eva Morales's labs.