I had been exhausted after everything that had happened so when I finally fell sleep that night I more or less passed out. When I woke up in the early hours of the morning I jumped up from the bed, panicking as the events of last night came back to me.

  Likewise the three Pokemon sharing the bed with me were roused by the started gasp and my movement. Kira in particular I knew could sense how I felt, the quirk of his particular biology.

  He sent me some soothing feelings across to me through the connection provided by his ribbons. It wasn’t something he normally did. I didn’t enjoy the idea of being affected like that, but I appreciated it at this moment.

  “I’m fine,” I told them. “Just startled myself.”

  I’d done that once or twice, feeling myself falling while sleeping and waking up like this. It had happened when I had been particularly stressed. It’d been a good while since the last time.

  My words didn’t stop the group hug that ensued. I simply settled in and found comfort from the affection that was being heaped on me. Not for the first time did I consider how lucky I was to have such a close relationship with my Pokemon.

  We had important things to be doing today. Primarily it was about meeting Winona and apparently a bunch of the other Gym Leaders. I wanted to be at my best. I didn’t know much about Wallace, but I could take a good guess and say that I needed to at least be well presented.

  Leah and Kira were still clingy as I got out of bed, which wasn’t much of a change from normal. I showered and dressed and we went down to the Pokemon Centre’s cafeteria for something to eat.

  The Pokemon Centers were lots of things, technically hotels beyond their primary use as hospitals and appropriately the food was only a bit better than you’d expect to get in a hospital. There weren’t many Pokemon that specialised in food after all and those I knew were primarily Fairy types.

  I’d never favoured the food Pokemon. I didn’t mind cooking but it was just another skill in my opinion so I hadn’t ever sought out Pokemon that were related to it. Truth be told, they kind of creeped me out.

  Sure, I knew intellectually that you didn’t eat those Pokemon. At most you took parts from them for cooking which were willingly given or they helped you cook in some way. Of course people actually did eat Pokemon, Magikarp for example, and I wasn’t naive enough to think that Pokemon didn’t predate on and eat each other in the wild. But I didn’t need or want remainders to think about whether my lunch might contain meat from something that used to be sapient.

  As I headed out into Fortree to find somewhere to buy some new clothes and a new travel bag, I considered what I was going to do about my writing, because I would definitely need a new laptop.

  I’d lost a lot of material yesterday. Sure I could remember what I’d written, but it was going to be a lot of work to recreate what had been lost.

  Maybe I could rewrite it, but it wouldn’t be the same. There was no way it would be the same. But now I was faced with it with a clearer head, I found I was almost happy that I’d lost those files.

  I’d been sort of feeling this building up for a good while. Trainers Colliding had taken up a lot of my attention and I had already been starting to feel a bit burnt out on it.

  I wasn’t going to stop writing, but maybe it was time to start a new project.

  ***

  They’d got the message from Winona to come over today, but when they arrived the Gym Leader had given her colleagues some disturbing news.

  “What!? Someone attacked him?” Wattson asked incredulously.

  He’d just arrived via teleport, bringing Moore with him and the first thing the tired looking Winona had told them was that Harry had been attacked on his way up through Route 119.

  “He says it was two kids acting like olden style ninjas,” Winona told him. “I saw them briefly and they were dressed like that. It sounds crazy but I really did see them myself.”

  Wattson’s eyes widened in surprise and he exchanged a worried glance with Moore as Winona described what she’d seen.

  “Did you catch any of them?” Moore asked.

  “No… My arriving was the distraction they needed to escape after Harry had just about caught them himself.”

  “What Pokemon were they using?” He asked next.

  “A Ninjask and a few Nincada,” Winona told them both.

  “They’re not Poison types,” Moore observed thoughtfully.

  “Still, it’s surely too much of a coincidence,” Wattson stated, understanding where the other man was coming from.

  “What’s a coincidence?” Winona asked.

  “Better we speak in private,” Wattson said. “Is anyone else here yet?”

  “No, just the two of you.”

  “Good. Then can we speak in your office?” Moore suggested.

  Sensing the seriousness of the situation, Winona didn’t object in the slightest and led both men to her private office. It was fairly spartan with a simple desk and a few filing cabinets. There were some simple metal folding chairs placed opposite the desk. It clearly wasn’t a place that got a lot of use, but then the majority of Winona’s work was practical rather than administrative.

  “Okay, so what’s going on?” Winona asked as she sat behind her desk. The two men took chairs in front of her.

  “A few decades ago, someone tried to do what Harry’s doing now,” Wattson said. “Violet Iga was a Poison type specialist and… also a ninja.”

  “You think this was her doing?” Winona asked, a bit startled at the revelation and somewhat sceptical. Wattson didn’t blame her for it. The events surrounding Violet Iga had occurred before Winona was even born.

  “I honestly thought she was dead, or at least gone from Hoenn,” Wattson stated flatly.

  “Never assume,” Moore chided tiredly. Wattson levelled the man a flat look. It had literally been decades since they’d seen hide or hair of the woman. Then he said something that really surprised the Electric type trainer.

  “She hung around long enough to take part in the war.”

  “Oh,” Wattson stated. He didn’t know that. Based on Moore’s expression it wasn’t something he was really meant to talk about either. Wattson could imagine what someone with that kind of training would have been involved with back then and he grimaced in displeasure.

  “Hey, getting back on track,” Winona interrupted. “Just who is this lady? Can you please tell me everything that happened back then?”

  Wattson smiled apologetically.

  “Okay, so like I said, Violet Iga was a Poison specialist. She went around the rest of us Gym Leaders wanting to make a ninth Gym. We were all a bit surprised, but at the time it seemed like a really good idea to have a new member join our ranks. She went about speaking to us all to get our endorsement like Harry is doing now. You know, a few battles, a couple of favours traded here and there. But when she got to Liza it all fell apart.”

  “Liza as in the last Mosdeep Gym Leader?” Obviously Winona had met the woman, albeit she had been a much calmer figure in her later years. Tate and Liza had no idea what sort of woman their Grandmother had been once upon a time.

  Or maybe they did. Who knew how things were with psychics behind closed doors.

  “Indeed,” Wattson said in reply to Winona’s question. Moore then took the opportunity to continue the story.

  “She was a ninja, but she didn’t have any defences against psychics. Liza found out that Violet had been put to the job of joining our ranks by an official in the League. They wanted her to help break our control over the Gyms.”

  “She didn’t have any mental protections at all?” Winona asked, surprised.

  “This was a long time ago,” Wattson said. “Security about these sorts of things was pretty lax back then, psychics were still fairly rare outside their little communities.”

  Winona nodded, probably thinking about the training she’d doubtlessly had to go through to be able to detect and try and repel a psychic’s influence. It was common practice these days amongst government officials. Exactly how effective such training had been on any single person was up in the air for the most part. Dark emitters and other Pokemon abilities were used in conjunction to prevent misuse of those particular powers against important individuals or at secure locations.

  Moore leaned forward, recapturing both of their attention.

  “Regardless, she didn’t have any protections back then. So obviously after the truth was revealed things went sideways from that point on. Liza had given her a sound thrashing before sending her away and we were all informed about it ourselves and that was more or less the end of it.”

  Wattson remembered his own personal outrage after he’d found out. He’d been a very young Gym Leader then, taking over for his father. He’d been incredibly put out at being confronted with some of the corruption and politicking that affected their positions as Gym Leaders.

  Moore notably hadn’t mentioned what Liza had gone on to do with those in the League who were responsible for the events, Wattson thought to himself. But perhaps it was better not to paint a less kind picture on the deceased. The majority of the people involved would be old and retired or in many cases deceased by now after so long.

  “Damn, this sounds like a mess,” Winona said tiredly, leaning back in her seat. “Is there anything else we can do? I might find something more tonight when I head out. The weather shouldn’t be nearly as bad as it was yesterday.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Maybe. It doesn’t hurt to try and investigate, but I honestly doubt you’ll find anything,” Moore said.

  She was being really serious about all of this, in contrast to how many Flying type specialists often behaved. Winona was always a bit of an outlier in Wattson’s experience. She loved to fly of course, all Flying specialists did, but Winona was also surprisingly grounded in her responsibilities. Stratus had taught her student well it seemed, which was for the best. The area surrounding Fortree required regular oversight and was not for the laid back.

  “Nothing for the moment beyond telling him to keep an eye out. Ninja types have good training and they’re clever sorts but they aren’t invisible, regardless of what they might prefer people to believe,” Moore said cynically. “If these ones are able to hide from psychic senses then we’ll probably have to wait for them to show themselves again. It’s catching them that’s the trick.”

  The old Fire type specialist sighed.

  “Believe me when I say that above all else, the thing Ninjas are best at is running away.”

  ***

  I found somewhere that sold a good bag and a couple of storage cubes and then bought a few extra sets of clothes and other necessities. That would do for the time being. I probably wasn’t going to need to camp out for some time yet and I foresaw spending more of my immediate future in populated areas, provided I got permission to become a Gym Leader.

  Then with some fresh clothes, although not ones I was entirely comfortable in, it was time to head to the Fortree Gym.

  We arrived at the Gym and it was an impressive sight.

  The trees in Fortree were tall, tall like those red trees in America. But despite that the Gym was big. It was probably about as tall as some of the trees even, at least twenty metres high. It wasn’t tall enough though, at least in my opinion. This was a Flying type gym. Unless it opened up to the air I doubted that Winona’s Pokemon would have enough air to fly in and be comfortable.

  While I was looking up at the building, the double doors at the front opened for us.

  There was a man waiting for us, a Flying type trainer.

  “Hi,” he said casually, glancing towards Leah. “You Harry Hemming?”

  “I am.”

  “I’m Jarred. C’mon, Winona’s waiting for you.”

  He started to lead me through the gym.

  “Gotta say whatever you’re here for I hope you’re up for it,” the Gym trainer told me. “There’s Wattson and Moore here already. I don’t think I’ve seen more than two Gym Leaders in the same room together before.”

  “Thanks. I was surprised too when she told me last night that they were coming,” I replied.

  “Either way good luck, the psychic twins from Mossdeep are supposed to be arriving soon too so look out for them. Gotta say, psychics give me the heeby jeebies.”

  I shrugged noncommittally. If I encountered say Sabrina from Kanto, then I’d probably be a bit more worried. But the Gym Leaders from Mossdeep I hadn’t heard anything particularly scary about.

  It was a surprise that they were coming, but I guess of all the Gym Leaders they would have the easiest time coming on short notice with teleporting Pokemon available like the Abra line.

  “They’re just through here,” Jarred said, having led me to the door.

  “Thanks,” I told him.

  I entered through the door to see we were in a small lounge type room. There were some tables and seating and a kitchenette on one wall. It was a bit like what we’d seen at Norman's Gym.

  There was the Manetric I’d seen before and also an older looking Typhlosion and the Altaria we’d briefly met yesterday all sat together to one side. It seemed that all of their first Pokemon were out in anticipation of my arrival with Leah beside me.

  The other two gym Leaders turned to face me. It was then I noticed the other Pokemon in the room.

  “Hello,” I tried to say confidently as I strode up to the group of trainers. Leah silently drifted off to the side where she went to greet the other trainers’ Pokemon.

  “You’re looking a lot better,” Winona complimented, looking me up and down. “A lot dryer too.”

  “Soaking through isn’t my best look,” I replied. I held out my hand to her.

  “It’s good to meet you properly and thanks for the lift last night.”

  Winona grimaced.

  “You probably would have had everything in hand if I didn’t interrupt at the wrong moment,” she said.

  “It’s fine,” I said, repeating what I’d said last night to the woman who had some deep bags under her eyes. “I really don’t hold anything against you.”

  “Mistakes happen, and this one didn’t seem like one you could have avoided” Wattson spoke up placatingly.

  “Indeed,” Moore agreed. “In the heat of the moment things often go wrong. You just have to adapt to the situation. In that environment it’s no surprise they escaped. People often talk about their ability to sneak into spaces but the real skill Ninjas have is their ability to escape once they’re caught.”

  “Thank you,” Winona said, seeming at least a bit cheerier for the supportive words.

  “But anyway,” Wattson said. “Enough about that for now. I’m looking forward to seeing you battle properly, Harry. I bet the twins will be excited to meet you too.”

  “Liza and Tate?” I asked for clarification. The Gym Leader nodded.

  “They should be here any minute.”

  ***

  The two young Gym Leaders of Mossdeep City had been very excited for an opportunity to go out and visit Fortree and meet the new Gym Leader. Tate and Liza were more than fine with being Gym Leaders, but boy did they need a break. So visiting Fortree was something they’d desperately wanted to do.

  Psychics were often annoying, condescending, rude and a bunch of other things and many of the ones in Mossdeep didn’t think Tate and Liza were good enough to be Gym Leaders at their age.

  Well it sucked to be them, because even on their own Tate and Liza were pretty strong psychics and together, even without all the experience others had, they outclassed almost everyone else they’d ever met.

  The Gym trainers were nice enough at least. They were chosen because they were the smarter, mostly normal ones. Like Fritz who could actually talk without getting super dramatic about every little thing…

  But it was unfortunately Tate and Liza’s job to keep all the other psychics from making a big nuisance of themselves and it sure was tiring some days. So this trip away, even if it was just for a few hours, was just what they both needed. An opportunity to get away from it all and meet the other strong trainers that had to do jobs just like theirs.

  “Come on, hurry up!” Tate said with exasperation. Choosing to voice the words instead of pushing them along their mental connection. It was something they did for emphasis when they were alone because otherwise they were better able to communicate via their connection.

  They did speak normally, obviously, but that was mainly when it wasn’t just them. It was so those other people didn’t get weirded out by their only speaking psychically.

  “Hold on, I’m still finishing my hair!” Liza replied irritably.

  “You’ve been working on your hair for an hour…” Tate reminded her.

  Tate was fully aware she knew how annoyed he was at Liza holding them up, and she knew that he knew that she knew too. He could stop other people reading his feelings but his and Liza’s connection was too strong for that. They’d never been able to completely cut each other off, even when they were both trying at the same time.

  “Yeah well I wouldn’t expect a boy to understand,” Liza replied. Like he somehow didn’t, because unfortunately for him, he had a third eye’s view right into her head.

  “It’s basically the same as it always is,” Tate muttered, rolling his eyes.

  “Shows what you know.”

  He did know, because he was stuck with his annoying bossy sister’s thoughts brushing against his own all the time and she knew that he knew. And he knew that she knew that he knew too!

  “Yeah? Well Brawly isn’t coming anyway, so what do you care?”

  Liza’s embarrassment was palpable as it burst across their connection.

  “Shut up!”

  “Finish doing your hair!”

  Liza scowled at the mirror.

  “This was so much easier when mum was around to help.”

  “Yeah,” Tate agreed and both of them felt each other’s frustration over their absent surviving parent.

  It should’ve been her who took over the Gym, even if they were both the stronger psychics.

  Instead of that, Theresa was over in Unova doing reality TV or something and wouldn’t ever be coming back. She didn’t want to come back…

  She didn’t care.

  She didn’t love them.

  She di-

  Liza shook her head, forcefully pushing the negative thoughts away before she and Tate fell into a depressive spiral, feeding off each other’s negative thoughts. Tate took a deep breath, recentring himself.

  Being a pair of psychically connected twins wasn’t all fun and games.

  They decided to concentrate on what they were doing today. It was gonna be great, both of them were sure of it.

  “Alright fine,” Liza finally said, giving up on her hair. “Let’s just go then.”

  They both grabbed their Pokeballs, because it was always important to have your Pokemon with you. Then they were properly ready.

  On the way through the Gym they left a couple of orders with some of the proper Gym trainers to keep things going and call them if anything went wrong. There shouldn’t have been anything needing their attention in the next few hours, they’d checked, but there was no guaranteeing it. Trying to look into the future was always a spotty mess even for them.

  In one of the teleport rooms there was one of the Gym Pokemon waiting for them, a Kadabra. This Kadabra was an old Pokemon they’d inherited from their grandma, but he was mainly a transport Pokemon, not a big battler. He was only used for trainer battles at the third badge level. What he was really good at was long distance Teleportation and he knew his way all around the country.

  “Okay Kadabra, take us to Fortree!” Liza said enthusiastically.

  “Kada!” The old Kadabra nodded, smiling in that odd vulpine way of the species.

  The Teleport engulfed them, feeling fuzzy to their senses and a second later they had arrived outside Fortree’s Gym.

  “Alright we’re here!” Liza said enthusiastically while Tate was taking in the sight of the super tall trees that Fortree had originally been built amongst and the houses that had been built amongst the branches. The Gym and newer houses were on the ground but the twins could bet that it’d be really cool getting to live in a treehouse all the time.

  They headed towards the electric doors but they opened before the twins could get there. A man came out dressed in jeans and a red top waiting for them. He also had some sort of brace on his arm.

  “Hi I’m Jarred,” the man introduced himself. “Come on in, Winona and the others are waiting for you.”

  He seemed friendly enough on the outside but the guy radiated a professional indifference and probably a bit of fear to their passive senses. That was pretty normal. Most people were intimidated by psychics, regardless of how strong they were, but Tate and Liza were known to be strong. Grandma had made sure of that so they wouldn’t have so many troubles after she passed away.

  Tate and Liza followed Jarred through the Gym, coming out into a large lounge room and inside they spotted the people they’d come to see.

  There was Wattson, kind of big and jolly looking with beige pants and a brown fluffy looking jacket on and then there was Mr Moore, the Fire Gym Leader dressed in a traditional kimono. Winona was in her cyan coloured aviation outfit with white leggings and a helmet with some wings on the sides.

  The helmet didn’t look particularly aerodynamic, Liza’s thoughts came out. Although it probably wasn’t that much of a problem if she did choose to wear it, Tate thought.

  Standing with them was the new guy though, Harry Hemming. Unlike the other Gym Leaders he stood out to the psychic twins because his mind wasn’t protected at all.

  In fact it wasn’t just unprotected. It practically invited the two kids to read it. Suddenly as they were considering this strange phenomenon they discovered that it was more than just that. The twins found themselves being sucked into Harry Hemmings mind.

  And that’s when things went really weird.