Geist knew that Annie stretching was a bad sign. It was one of her many quirks that preceded the execution of a highly questionable plan. With her by her side, at the mouth of the cave that hid New Mauville, he could hazard a guess at parts of her plot. She didn’t quite get why they were standing and not talking (or acting), but Annie was never one to leave her partner in the dark.

“We’re about to get ourselves into a big bash, Geist! Lots of electric-types in there need to be relocated, and I’m not counting on them going quietly. I figure a little force will show them that this isn’t a good place for them to stay anymore. Not enough to kill, and probably not even enough to knock them out. Just enough of a pain that they get annoyed and leave. Anyway, you won’t be doing most of the fighting. Rangers are sending backup, or a buddy. One of them. They’ll help out.”

In true Annie fashion, she was loud. Loud enough to be heard by any passers-by. Definitely loud enough to be heard by any approaching ranger.

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A sudden purr from the Luxray told that he had found his prey. He turned to Annie, offering her a chance to choose his tactics. In return, she offered him a biscuit from her pocket, much better suited for Pokemon than people. It was a sign of a good day, that she’d had the money to spare to buy treats for her team and its soon-to-be new members.

Annie broke the cookie in half, and gave one piece to him. He carefully held the cookie in his mouth and slowly approached the Eevee, leaving it on the ground once she knew he was watching. A few steps back gave the fox a chance to move in without much fear, and realise that it was… actually pretty good! So when he spied Annie waving the other half a few feet off the ground, he had a lot of incentive to approach the trainer.

He stopped two feet away from her – close enough to scan her body language, and far enough to flee if he didn’t like what he found. Fortunately, Annie was nothing but genuine as she spoke: “How about it, little guy? Eat this biscuit, join my Camp, and we’ll go change the world together.”

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It had been a long time since Bolt had acted as Annie’s herald, but it was as if he had last done his duty the day before. Careful steps and glowing eyes led the two away from danger and gave prying eyes a warning. The Luxray spotted the Applin, hiding within the tall grass, but both parties much preferred to be left to their own devices. The Applin continued to pretend that she was the master of disguise, and Bolt led his trainer closer to treasure.

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Something about Annie’s lack of reaction to her Pokemon questioning her told that she was very used to being second-guessed. The lack of surprise on her face played a part, but it was mostly how quick she was to elaborate. “No, it’s a great plan!” She bent down to get closer to eye level with her partner. “You’re, like, a Big Boss Mareanie! They’re not going to mess with you! Just go down there and tell them what’s up! ‘Hey dummies, if you keep eating all the Corsola, soon there won’t be any Corsola left to eat!’ If you tell them that, won’t they, you know, slow down?”

The deadpan, monosyllabic response from Tox said it all. She was right on at least one point. The Pokemon was strong, even by the standards of its sea-crawling brethren, and unusual colours served as a warning sign to threats long before she used a move. Still, if reports were to be believed, the Mareanie were nothing short of an invasive force, too large to be peacefully reasoned with by any single Pokemon. Not unless they had a few days to waste trying, anyway. Of all the things Annie had asked of the spiked dome, public speaking was a first, and it wasn’t eager to start by asking a squad of Pokemon to stop eating what was, in her opinion, a delicious snack.

But Annie could only be counted on to make a sensible plan half the time. She stood up straight, looking to Pokenger for support. “Help me out here, dude. I think Tox can go in there, whip up the speech of the decade and send those guys packing!”

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Annie paused. Blinked. Looked over her shoulder. The man’s explanation sounded reasonable. Simple, even. “Well, at least half of that sounds like a good reason. If somebody’s said that earlier-“ She paused. Tensions were high, she’d realised too late, and there wasn’t much for her to gain from adding more to that fire. That, and she was tired. Very tired, now that the threats had passed and the adrenaline had stopped flooding her system. In any given situation, she was a rambunctious tyke, but the night’s events had left her drained and… oddly calm.

She didn’t like being calm. Still, it had its benefits.

When Orion returned to her side (and she realised that she’d completely forgotten about him), he was spared the rushing hug that normally accompanied her relief. Her smile was weaker than it should have been, and beyond the lie that was “I’m fine,” she kept her words to herself.

When Balder attempted to explain his powers, she didn’t bother asking if he’d taken any drugs before the attack, or even question how or why a steel body was possible. It made about as much sense as anything else that night, and nobody else seemed to be questioning it. For once, that was good enough for her. The money would stay with her for a little longer, and he received a little more than a nod.

When her eyes found Stormy, one sentence away from a stomping tantrum, she realised there was no reasoning with her. It was a rare sight, a homeless, jobless, penniless child pitying another person, but the look was there if anybody paid her mind.

When Pokenger arrived with a pair of boots for her, she laughed! Or meant to. Instead she smiled and gave a short exhale, then decided that laughing was too much effort. “Hey, that’s what I thought too…! Thank you, but I’ll be alright. That nice man already gave me money, and it’d be rude to take anything more. All I’ve got to do is not step in anything bad until tomorrow morning.” Much easier said than done, of course, but she’d endured worse.

She finally regarded Orion again, giving him the once over. He looked pretty good – which was to say, he looked about as terrible as the best of them. “We’re all fine… ish. Bit of acid-“ She stuck out her shoeless foot. “Lots of dodged attacks. Had to stop Frankie from getting himself killed. Got threatened over a shoe. This… This night had a lot of firsts for me.” Wide eyes showed themselves as she dwelled on those thoughts, nodding to herself. As quickly as they came, she wiped them off her face, snapping her focus back onto him. “But I’m good!” She was not, but between her bloodshot eyes, a relatively quiet voice and her unnaturally restrained self, that much was obvious.

It’d started raining again, as if things couldn’t get bad enough. She’d only just started to dry off from the first round of rain. Unfortunately, the night had done much more mental damage than physical to her, and few moves could fix that. It helped a bleeding ear hidden under her hair, that she’d likely only notice in the morning, but it mostly reminded her:

“I need to keep moving. That always fixes things. Yeah. This place is too noisy. I’m gonna go get my bag, go to the Center, find somewhere to sleep, buy some shoes in the morning… Yeah, that sounds like a plan.”

The Yanmega beside her was far from the sympathetic sort, but even he gave a concerned buzz at her words. She didn’t acknowledge it. After two steps past the man, she stopped, turned around and gave him his late hug. Whether it was supposed to comfort him or her, she wasn’t sure. “I’m gonna go, okay? You… take care of yourself, Oreo.”

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What, were they all hiding? Her hunt was going to take all night at the rate they were going, and finding the right Pokemon wouldn’t get any easier under the cover of darkness. She called in support – more specifically, a Luxray sent out in the space in front of her. “Bolt, time to put those eyes to use.” She pulled out her PokeDex, and with a few taps, presented the feline with his newest target. “We’re gonna catch these. Like, a lot of these. Nothing else is important right now.” Her partner nodded and set his sights on the field ahead of them. Golden eyes glowed, piercing through the growth to find Annie’s mark – and disregarding the other critters that were hiding in it.

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She hadn’t heard a command, and yet, her beast killer was bowled over by the not-so-stranger. Buzz went from lazily floating behind her to zipping to her side in the blink of an eye, both of his trained on the new threat.

A voice tinged by both surprise and confusion called out her Pokemon’s name, but it had its piercing eyes set on its new opponent. It had barely been thirty seconds since Annie had spoken to it about obedience, and that fact was all that kept a claw coated in blue out of the Manectric’s throat. Still, it was close. Dangerously close. She only needed to say the word.

She wouldn’t, of course. The man was a bully, and insane, and an asshole, and her eyes said as much, but she wasn’t about to risk her friend over that. Not after all they’d been through that night. Still, she was in no rush to respond, channelling a newfound frustration into her fists as she glared at him. In that moment, she couldn’t remember the man, but she decided that it wouldn’t be the last he heard of her.

Intervention stopped her short of having to act on that thought. A stranger – a wealthy stranger, apparently – offered her too much money in exchange for her prize, or maybe just to leave. Either way, he’d earned much more confusion than malice in the look she gave him. Why a single shoe meant so much to people, that still had two on their feet, she’d never know… But being able to buy shoes that actually fit was a much more appealing offer than giving into intimidation.

Before she could accept, the charging roar of a man she did recognise drew her attention. There was a twitch of a smile on her face as his fist greeted her attacker. It was cathartic, but it wasn’t enough to make him pay. It’d be a while before Annie forgot the first person to call him out.

The next face was familiar too, which made it all the more crushing when she heard its words. Scathing mockery for her, and nothing but sympathy for her aggressor. She’d expected better of her, if only because they’d met before, but it was clear she’d chosen her side. If the woman couldn’t see that her eyes had been tear-stained for much longer than she’d been talking to Kyle (or perhaps she’d chosen to ignore that much, if it meant he could be the hero in hers), then she had nothing polite to say to her.

The rest of the talk flew over her head. Portals. Matt-Tio. Some stranger charging in. Her only favourite masked vigilante jumping in and hadn’t Balder been glowing a few minutes ago? Why was he glowing again? She had too many questions, but she’d much rather get far away from the chaos than try to get answers out of it. Instead, she realised that she’d been standing in shock for too long, her beast stuck in a standoff the whole time. She’d like to have hoped that it wouldn’t lead to blood shed with the crowd around, but then, she also wouldn’t have hoped that a man would threaten her Pokemon’s life over a single shoe.

She turned to Stormy first, her gaze unsure whether to show betrayal or disgust or disappointment. She settled for the latter. “Your friend wants Frankie dead over a shoe, and I’m the only problem that you see here?” She wouldn’t bother wasting more words on a woman that showed her no love.

“I don’t get why it’s so important to you, but… sure.” Annie was in no position to turn down the cash, and so Thomas earned her treasure. “Thanks. For, you know, being reasonable. And nice.” Her attacker seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown, but Annie only cared that Frankie was set free. She dropped to her knees beside her chimera, making no attempt the concern in her eyes. Her tears had long since stopped falling, but for a brief moment they threatened to show themselves again. A slow blink from it confirmed that it was well (enough), and she whispered an apology before returning it to its ball.

Annie stood back up, knowing that she should have taken her leave. And yet, against her better judgement, she and her now-guarded Yanmega carefully made their way across the field. She tapped Balder from behind; if he turned, he’d see an oddly meek child, worn out by the night’s events, but still drawn to do the right thing. “I’ve only got one shoe… But that’s better than no shoes, right?” She offered him the money Thomas had just given her. Money that she needed, and she knew that she’d regret giving away, but who was she to stand by and watch somebody that had helped her struggle? “I think that you might need this more than I do, and that’s really saying something.”

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The next Pokemon to here was familiar to her only through the board that announced the safari selection. It, too, was placed under the PokeDex’s all-knowing eye. A Pokemon that could survive off snow would take her a fair bit of trouble… For the few weeks of winter that they had left. Even then, Hoenn’s climate meant they had seen the last of snow (and she was in no hurry to wish it back), so there was nothing to gain from her catching the little beast, even for fun. She left it to its own devices.

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First up to bat: Not an Eevee. Or at least, not one that she’d ever seen. She put Florian’s gift to work: the Pokedex identified it as a Woobat. A Pokemon that used nose suction to stick itself to walls and people? Cute, but it wasn’t quite Camp Annie material, nor was it what she’d come for. The Woobat would be left to live free another day.

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