Locke hummed with distracted agreement over the Rotom’s health, but his attention was called back by the mention of missing time. ”Oh yeah, none of us remembered anything afterwards either…In fact, we’d actually ended up in a totally different room than where we’d started, so I guess we were out for a while.”

It figured del Mar had already been in touch with Hideo, like he’d said the man’s been a lot more involved in this mystery than he has. It was disconcerting though, that two children were getting dragged into it. Especially so now after their involvement in Bill Anderson’s disastrous church cleanup.

Part of Locke wanted to keep them both as far from this charm nonsense as possible, but he was still plenty young enough to remember the frustration of being left out of important conversations between well-meaning adults, even when the outcome directly affected him. He picked his brain a little more for anything else unusual (besides literally everything), trying to find some kind of useful information for the kid.

”There was…There was a book…” What had it been about? There had been a disturbing amount of his own blood on it. And even more disturbing amount of his Pokémon’s. ”It was pretty old, and there were three Pokémon in it. I dunno which ones, but they looked sorta like…um…a triangle, a circle, and a squid?” The last one was said with a grimace. ”Sorry. M’not too good with history or whatever. I’m pretty sure del Mar’s still got it though if ya wanted to ask him about it sometime.”

Hopefully he'd cleaned it up a bit by this point.

As if to save them from further embarrassing themselves, their own Rotom phone rang in their hand with a preset alarm. ”Ah. That’s lunch,” Locke sighed with a mournful look at the other half sandwich they’d bought, still wrapped tight in plastic. They passed it off to Hideo, who looked as though he’d done nothing but walk around all morning and probably needed the fuel. ”Here, I wish coulda been more help, but I gotta get back to work. Good luck, and try to stay safe out there.”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Getting to the Pokémon center didn’t take long, and soon enough a nurse was informing them the damage wasn’t nearly as bad as it had looked. She also assured them that both Pokémon were welcome to remain there until someone came to pick them up, whether it be an officer or a potential owner.

”I think maybe that was lesson enough for em…” Locke says when the topic of punishment comes up again. ”Hopefully they end up somewhere they can have their own gifts.”

Assuming they could still stand to look at presents after this.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

”Nah, nothin’ like that,” He laughed.

”Ya know the regular post office doesn’t actually deliver everywhere? There’re some places that’re just too dangerous; like parts of route 113 or Mount Chimney at certain times of the year. Or Sootopolis…”

He paused for a bit, trying to piece together an explanation that would sound at least somewhat reasonable to a normal person. ”I guess…I just think someone oughta? Even if it’s not always safe.”

At that, their Drampa flopped back over to jam his big dopey head in his trainer’s face. Everywhere was safe with Ji-Ji.

Even so, not even the old dragon could stop a little bit of melancholy from dripping into Locke’s next words. ”It’s not right, ya know? Being on your own like that…”

They shook it off not a moment later, covering Ji-Ji’s ears and turning back to Paxton with a mischievous look. ”Truth is-and don’t tell anyone-my favorite Pokémon is actually Dragonite.”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

”Oh gods I didn’t think it would go that big!” Locke cried, almost in tears himself. In his defense, the odds were pretty low. Even De-De looked shocked at the amount of oomph behind the blast. Locke jogged up to the pair, but stopped short as the Riolu growled at him between hiccupping sobs.

Fair enough.

Mercifully, Leva-Leva stepped between the Pokémon and her trainer, unravelling a web of string between her hands. She carefully wrapped the Meowstic with her String Shot to keep the wounds from worsening and cradled the cat in her spindly arms. The Riolu clung to the hem of her leafy coat, calmed somewhat by the mantis’ motherly presence, though it still shot the courier a withering glare from behind her.

With the thieves-turned-victims handled at least, all that remained was getting them some help. ”Right. Pokémon Center, Pokémon Center.” Locke spun in place, trying to reorient themselves. Thankfully, Oldale wasn’t a very large town. ”That way!” They pointed to where they could just barely see the top of the iconic red roof, leading the party in that direction with few furtive glances behind them to check if everyone was following okay.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

”Good idea,” he said with a quick glance around. Liza-Liza was off growling at some upright weasel-looking Pokémon that was making threatening stances at her. Locke whistled for his Charizard, and she returned to his side with one final glare back at her would-be opponent.

Del Mar’s concern once again took them by surprise. ”Oh! Um, you too…” They lingered on those words of for a moment, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, before swinging themselves onto Liza-Liza’s back and taking off.

That was enough exercise for one day, they think…

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

One second their Eevee was bouncing back towards them, and the next he was gone.

”Vee-Vee?!” They bolted towards where the little fox had last been, hoping to catch even a flash of brown fur, but found only a cold, empty patch of ground. Fear tore through them like a beast. They couldn’t lose another Pokémon like this; couldn’t take another empty grave.

Locke turned back towards the rest of the group with a look of panic, and was just as soon met with a crashing wave of darkness.

Everything froze.

Time, space, and everything but the excavators themselves.

Familiar pink mist swirled around their ankles, and it was only the sheer shock that kept Locke from stumbling back into the water behind them. Even if they couldn’t see all of them, they felt the prickling sensation of an uncountable number of eyes on them. Their breath caught in their throat and they hunched over, hand over mouth, trying to swallow back the bile that rose in its stead.

Then something heavy collided with them and paxton concordas, pressing Locke flat against the ground with a noise not unlike a broken bagpipe.

The sudden pressure grounded him, at least, though maybe a bit more literally than he’d have liked. Vee-Vee reappeared through the mist, hopping up to his trainer to lick at the tears that hadn’t quite left his eyes, and Locke scooped him up into his arms as soon as Alexei Ivanov untangled himself from the pair.

After a few deep breaths into the Eevee’s fur, he pushed himself to his feet, anxiously searching the room for an exit or explanation, whichever found him first. He instead landed on Eris Halla, away from the crowd and visibly panicked.

”Th-Thanks, but maybe next time!” He shot behind him, leaving Alexei and Paxton behind to hurry towards the younger girl.

He dropped down to Eris’ level the second he reached her, cupping one hand around hers and gently tugging it down so she could hear him. ”Hey, hey. Breathe.” Brave words from someone who was on the verge of collapse not five minutes ago. ”We’re still here. Everyone’s still here.”

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Locke met priam conrad’s optimism with an exasperated huff from where they trapped beneath his arm. Still, the other man’s unwavering confidence never failed to settle their nerves.

”Eh? These people…?” They took in the crowd again, trying to pick out any suspicious figures among them. Katherine Fairburne was as intimidating in person as she was by reputation. And maverick noah ryder definitely seemed like the kind of guy best left alone.

Locke gulped, but before they could respond with their newest assessment of the group, they were struck silent by Azelf’s sudden appearance.

Right. Azelf. Azelf, who they’d been shown with two others in Martín del Mar’ book. The one they’d left covered in their own blood and that of-

No. This was important. Locke took a deep breath, swallowing down the too-familiar feelings of fear and nausea, and found them met halfway with an unexpected bubble of frustration at the legendary Pokémon’s words, in his own voice no less.

Maybe it was because he’d already been told once in the past few months that their choices didn’t matter. That their futures held nothing but death and despair.

Maybe it was because he’d already proven those words wrong the last time.

”Then what was the point?” He asked, voice thick with uncharacteristic accusation. ”Why give us these?” He waved his charm at the blue fairy. ”Why give us any warning at all?”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

”Uuuuuh.”

Pop. Pop. Pop. Splat.

”…Yeah. Some weird stuff happened.”

Locke took a moment to think about how to paraphrase the events at POG bank in a PG-13 way (was this kid even 13? He looked even younger than that). ”Our Pokémon died,” they said simply. ”Mine, Eris Halla’s, and Martín del Mar’s. We ended up going to the hospital ourselves after and finding, um, some kind of bubbles? In our brains? I forget what the doctor called them, but we gotta avoid stress or they’ll pop.”

Not that they’d done a very good job of that.

”I’ll be honest, I’ve been kinda keeping away from this charm stuff since then. Del Mar’s been busy from what I understand though.” The other man’s parting words from their mountain encounter drifted through the back of his memory.

”I’ll be in touch… Stay safe.”

”I think he’s planning something soon. We could exchange numbers and I’ll keep you updated.” It was probably the most help he could realistically offer.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Security also wasn’t Locke’s usual gig. If anything, it was sort of the last thing anyone would expect him to do. But the check was good, he had dragons to spare, and it was for a friend.

He just hoped his partner for the night was a little tougher than him.

”Sorry we’re late!” They said as they entered the building a few minutes later, breathless from the flight over. ”Noi-Noi really doesn’t like the cold.”

The Noivern that followed them in gave a full-body shake, grumbling while he picked a corner to curl up and sulk in. His trainer patted his head apologetically, before turning towards the other man with a proper greeting. ”I’m Locke!”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Ok, so he’d maybe exaggerated his diving experience just a teeny-tiny bit when he’d taken up this job.

Locke had gone diving before, he was a Vermillion native after all, but he was about five years out of practice by this point, and his lung capacity was, admittedly, not what it used to be.

Sootopolis also wasn’t what it used to be.

They glanced nervously around at the other divers as they helped secure the last of the crates and barrels onto Mer-Mer. With the city under Rocket control now, it’d make sense that the organization would want to monitor everything moving in and out of the island.

Who’s to say there wasn’t one here now, keeping an eye on the latest shipment?

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

He shook his head. ”Worst of it won’t come ‘til December really. All the last-second deliveries are what really-Oh!”

Locke was quickly distracted by a familiar-looking squid Pokémon floating past. They smiled, knowing exactly who would appreciate one of these.

”Ji-Ji.” The elderly dragon raised a sleepy head to follow his trainer’s gaze. ”We’re catching that one.”

Their Drampa looked the Inkay up and down up towering over the little squid as he ambled up to it. The smaller Pokémon stared up at the dragon with wide, terrified eyes, before Ji-Ji lowered his head to the ground, lifted the cephalopod up with his snout, and let it slide all the way down his back and tail.

He turned around and did this a few more times, until the Inkay seemed to understand the game, climbing and sliding up and down the dragon with glee.

”…That works too, I guess.”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz