"That's ridiculous!" one of the senior officers spouted at the two anxious men.

"We're telling the truth!" Terry cried in defense. He heightened his stance as if to terrify the tall members before him despite his short stature. "I swear, the Pokémon was mutating yesterday! The thing was transforming before our eyes! There's more to that place than we realize!"

One of the officers, a woman, let out an entertained scoff. "It was probably a Ditto for all you know," she retaliated with her hands on her hips. Some of the other seniors began murmuring to themselves.

"It's their first days and they assume they know what they're doing?" muttered one. "This generation thinks they're so experienced."

"I can't believe the academy thought those three were their top students if he couldn't even knock out that thing," chortled another.

Rage flared in Terry's electric glare. "The hell?! I know for a fact my Incineroar can take down a mother f—"

"That's enough, Wolfhart," a gravelly voice resonated through the room. Charles trudged into the area, papers in hand and a cold stare replacing his usually composed manner. Behind him was a poisonous-looking Jaderine with her velvet arms crossed against her bust. Terry snarled, stepping back at the presence of the superiors. "We've told you, we need physical evidence before we decide to take any action."

"Evidence?! My Incineroar almost fainted! Shin was injured!" Terry exclaimed in wild anger. "Do you need any more evidence than that?" Shin cast a concerned look to his friend.

Terry...

Jaderine rapped her fingers like deadly claws. "Maybe that could have been a stray Pokémon. Maybe you all don't want to embarrass yourselves in front of us and are lying as we speak." Her frigid glower was like a bloodied blade. "The possibilities are inconsistent so long as we don't have solid proof." Cold shivers slithered up Shin's back, both of irritation and deep disquiet. He barely noticed himself clenching his fists to the point of them trembling by his sides. "Not to mention that these dealers weren't sighted at all yet at that site— our main concern."

Terry looked as if he were struggling to come up with a viable answer. He only stood, his lips quivering as they yearned to fight back against the chief's words. Charles let out a disheartened exhale, throwing away his gaze from the two men. What looked to be slight sympathy began exposing itself from his eyes. "We sent another dispatch of officers down to the area. If they find something of the sort, we'll take a look at it and decide from there," he proposed. With a quick motion of his finger, he, Jaderine, and the rest of the officers filed out of the room, giving last-minute peers at the humiliated Shin and Terry left alone to wander within their quarreling temptations.

_______________________________

"You idiot..." Terry grumbled as he grabbed the metal tweezers that lay next to him and pinched at a cotton swab.

Shin gave him a bothered glance. "What's wrong?" He watched the ripples in the puddle of umber alcohol dance the light around like a ribbon when Terry dipped the white ball, wondering what he could have done to deserve that chastize. "Look, I didn't think they would react like that. I was hoping at least someone would--"

"Why did you try to attack that Pokémon last evening?" Terry rectified halfway through his sentence, glancing down as if he were in some way embarrassed at his statement. His voice became hushed. "O'Malley could've gotten it no problem."

Shin caught his words at the unexpected statement. He gave a short sigh of distress before hardening his expression. "Because this—" he gestured to his lacerated chest that had been exposed, "—would have happened to you rather than me. And O'Malley was down then, remember? No way he could've gotten to you in time."

Terry averted his troubled gaze from Shin's, biting his lip. After a pause, the redhead turned back to him, a soaked cotton ball in hand. "Grab on to something," he warned.

Reflexively, Shin seized Terry's shoulder as he grimaced and squeezed his eyes shut. The disinfectant stung terribly when it touched his skin, seemingly torching him from the inside with each cut and burn it came into contact with. Shin felt his hot unsteady breaths reflect against his friend's body as he unconsciously hunched closer to him. He couldn't help but curse under his exerted gasping, and his hands clenched tighter onto the fabric of Terry's shirt, taking some of his flesh along with him.

"Ow ow ow! Stop!" Terry cried, pulling away from Shin with a rather heated and flushed face. He rubbed the shoulder that had been held so violently in an attempt to soothe his own pain. "Arceus, you grip hard..."

Shin felt himself sweat. "Sorry," he apologized. "I guess these wounds are still pretty raw."

"Damn right," Terry breathed, in a slight daze.

Silence parted the two as Terry plucked the gauze bandages from the pile of medical supplies on the cushion beside him. With some adhesive medical tape, he placed the mesh over each wound that littered his torso.

Shin had insisted previously that he shouldn't be put into the infirmary, despite Terry's desperate advances. He found that his energy had begun to replete itself over the night, and the soreness of his chest from the minor scratches and burns he received died down as the disinfectant Terry applied worked its job.

Shin found his actions as he tended to him uncharacteristically gentle. Terry would usually be so brash and hasty with his movements, yet now, he worked with such tenderness and concentration that Shin had never seen before.

It puzzled him, to say the least, but he was relieved that his injuries were at least being nursed.

"How's Wendy's luck?" Terry finally asked. Shin shifted his sight to a corner.

"Not good," he replied. "They think she's a lunatic, especially since she was so intimidating before."

Terry scowled to himself. "Can't anyone in this damn place believe us?!" He positioned the last bandage on Shin and taped it down, almost vexingly. Then, Terry abruptly pursed his lips. He drew a breath. "Why didn't you say anything back there?"

Shin's head perked up from his daze. "What?"

"You weren't backing me up when I was talking with those guys. Hell, you weren't even helping me at all." His voice was clearly aggravated, yet something in his tone tried to suppress that indignation that he meant to express. Shin kneaded his fingers against each other, recalling the ominous details he had witnessed the day before.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking, I guess," he answered.

"Of?"

Shin began to button up his shirt, subconsciously trying to avoid speaking of his discoveries with Terry. Something inside of him told him not to reveal his suspicions, not yet at least. It was a gut feeling, but Shin decided it was finally time to start listening to them for once in his life.

"...I don't know. I'm sorry." Not a muscle in his face seemed to move had he spoke so colorlessly.

"''I'm sorry,'" Terry repeated quietly. "You've been saying that so much."

Shin bit the sides of his mouth in deep thought. He had to leave, at least to distance his warring thoughts from his friend for a while...

...He just needed to remember.

"I'm gonna go take a walk. I think I need to clear my head for a little bit," he announced, standing up from his seat.

Terry looked as if he were about to object, but he stopped himself, glancing at the heap of papers and alcohol-drenched cotton balls. "...Okay. I'm going to clean up then."

And with that, the two separated themselves from each other with a dense feeling of unwanted emptiness.

_______________________________

Alone, Shin strolled through the perimeters of the police station. It was much bigger than it seemed; it even had somewhat of a courtyard behind the building that hosted many plants for the local Pokémon to nestle in along with a few benches for the officers to rest on. The trees and shrubbery swayed in the gentle breeze of the dying day, singing a gentle lullaby for Shin's restless mind.

It was so peaceful... Just like back then.

Back when he would amble about the supposedly endless forests of palm trees and hibiscuses on a daring adventure of hide-and-seek.

Back when the tranquil tapping of the rain would silence the world, and the stories of times before would vocalize like a melody through his bedroom.

Back when the waves would crash against the sandy shore, and the seafoam would scare away the pitter-patters of the Rockruff exploring endlessly beside him.

It never occurred to Shin that his mind had tried all those years to push away these memories for his own sanity. He recalled how he would seclude himself from the throbbing pains of seeing a Pokémon and its partner together side by side, and these precious experiences rolling into his thoughts like a ruthless tsunami.

Yet, it seemed like now they were comforting to him in a way. It was almost intoxicating how the scent of the fresh evening air mingled with the blissful memories of his past.

He wished it could have lasted forever...

But, like an Absol to a disaster, his nightmares kept resonating despite the happiness that surrounded him. Persistent torments of the dark new moon cast an eternal scar on the man's heart.

I shouldn't have hit him... This never would have happened if I never hit him...

He burned those phrases into his mind every night in a pit of regret. It served as a constant reminder of his stupidity and selfishness, his willingness to be so independent at that time in exchange for the loss of his most treasured companion. The desire of showing his resilience after the truth of his father had been revealed.

His father...

It felt like it had been so long since he bothered to remember him; How he might have treated his dear friend before they had met. It sickened Shin, but at the same time, he could never believe someone like him would do such a terrible deed. He had to have had a reason, or at least a reason not to. Or maybe, simply, he was really just that selfish... like his son.

But why, he thought, was he reminded of these times?

Why did he feel so peculiarly linked to everything all at once?

Why now...? At this moment? When he had tried so hard to forget about it for all these years?

The feeling digested him into its ugly, twisted stomach, leaving him in a convoluted mess, devoid of his much-wanted understanding. It was too important to disregard at this point. He could feel it. He had to know some way.

Shin shut his eyes, now numb to the calmness of the present.

"Officer Harper."

A familiar voice called from across the courtyard. Shin turned to face the valiantly-standing Jaderine who began pacing towards him steadily. She never tore her gaze off of him as she positioned herself only a few feet away from the tense man. "Cheif Executive Jaderine. I wasn't expecting you to be out here." Shin greeted unsteadily. The woman placed a ruby red fingernail on her bottom lip.

"I told you already," she hummed. "Just. Jade."

Shin gulped. "S-sure," he responded, a hint of perspiration forming on his forehead.

Jaderine let out a short exhale from her nose before she spoke again. "I was looking for you. They have news on your... 'discovery.'"

Shin stiffened at her emphasis on the word that he dreaded to hear all day. "Yes?" he asked nervously.

Jaderine kept a narrow smile on her face as if she was amused by Shin's every reaction. "They found some drugs left behind on the scene near where you three were investigating along with traces of scattered material.

The final verdict is that the dealers have fled already... And that you are all responsible for letting them get away."

Shin felt his breath hitch.

When did any drugs ever get there in the first place?! We scanned the entire facility!

No... No that can't be it...

Possibilities and consequences began bouncing ferally through his mind like never before.

Something wasn't right. Something was never right.

"Chief, please, you all have to believe us. Terry and Wendy are telling the truth, there was a mutating Pokémon at the vicinity! It almost killed us!" Words came spilling uncontrollably from his mouth. "I know we're more inexperienced than the others, but we would never make this up, I swear to you!"

Shin locked on to her juniper orbs. He had never felt so helpless as he looked on with determination at the woman. All he wanted was to make her see the truth, to somehow get her on his side.

At least if he could do that, he could save Terry and Wendy. He could finally resolve that perturbed feeling that had started building up inside of him.

Her next words surprised him immensely.

"I believe you."

Shin flinched, making sure he understood what he had heard. He wet his lips. "Then why did you scold Terry?" he questioned feverishly.

Jaderine suddenly crept up towards the man, her nose inches away from his disturbed face.

"I believe you, honey."

Honey?!

She then curled a finger against his chest, tracing his collarbone with an allured expression. "Shin Harper, the officer with such an intriguing tale of a mutating Pokémon..." she purred in his ear, sending tingles down his neck with her hot chocolate breaths. "Claims he's nearly escaped death. What a worthy story for such an individual as yourself."

Shin began sweating profusely. He felt the buttons of his shirt loosening, sending a shock of alarm through his system as his skin became exposed. Jaderine chuckled huskily.

"You're cute when you're ruffled, you've always been as soon as you came to talk to me." She pressed her palm onto his heated cheeks and her thumb found its way to the tip of his lips. His head felt dizzy.

This is wrong.

At that moment, Jaderine let out a sly grin. "Maybe I'll believe your 'friends' too if you be a good boy..."

This is wrong!

"Jaderine, stop!" Shin forcefully shoved the older woman off, leaving her astonished at his violent action. He stood, trying his best to isolate himself from her reach. "I don't want this at all! I never did!" He found himself struggling to come up with his next sentences, but the adrenaline in his body seemed to scatter them in an admissible line. "I just need you to have faith in us! That's all I ask, please!"

But Jaderine's expression only hardened. She looked upon the man with what was assumed to be disappointment and shame at his response. It hurled into him like heated knives sinking into his core.

"What a shame. Now I guess no one will believe you."

With that, she brushed herself off and stormed off in the other direction, leaving Shin alone once again, completely stunned. He quickly fastened the collar of his shirt and cringed with disgust as he watched her walk away from him towards the building.

He began recalling the small conversation he had heard days before.

"I wonder who it'll be next,"

...Maybe that was what they meant. he pondered weakly.

Shin soon spotted the familiar sight of Terry, almost hastily making his way towards the center of the courtyard from a windowed door. When he passed Jaderine, the two seemed to glower at each other for only an instant in pure, unspoken hatred. Terry then looked to his friend, bounding over to his side.

"Shin! Are you alright?!" he demanded urgently, inspecting him over. Shin swallowed, unable to ingest or convey what had just happened to him; heat spun like a blender in the temples of his brain. He eventually only blinked confoundedly in response, and Terry's anxious expression intensified. "What did she d— say to you?!"

Shin staggered backward, eventually being caught by the wooden bench near him. His face darkened. "They found other evidence of drug dealers," he said, sapped of all hope. "We're done for."

Terry's eyes widened in horror. "No! They can't just...!" He suddenly shook his head as if to erase his mind of intruding thoughts. "Forget it. That doesn't matter anymore." He faced Shin with a serious stare. "Shin, I'm sorry, but you've been acting so strange lately. It's really been scaring me." Terry took a seat on the bench beside him, his demeanor troubled in Shin's peripheral vision. Shin refused to look at him while he was in deep thought, causing Terry to form a pleading appearance on his face. "I can't take seeing you like this anymore. Please, just tell me what's wrong."

Shin exhaled in defeat: He knew that Terry would never do this unless he really meant it. His head was spinning from all of the events that had been pummeling him at once.

Maybe it was time to tell him of the doubts that had begun to plague him. Maybe it was time to finally tell him of all those times before. Of why he truly wanted to join the police force all those years ago. Maybe it would make him feel the least bit more relieved.

Despite this, the words kept getting stuck in his throat before he had a chance to convey them. And whenever it seemed like he had the perfect statement, it would crawl back into his body with a revolting aftertaste of guilt.

This was his problem, his mind kept telling him, blurring all means of thought. There was something wrong, and it was up to him alone to fix it. This was his destiny.

Shin finally spoke, ebbing away bits of honesty that he craved to let break free.

"There's something at that place that's been bugging me," he uttered, taking his face into his hands. "It's like there was a bigger picture behind the whole thing. Those drugs weren't just dropped there-- I won't believe that, not in a million years. There has to be something more to this." His expression became bitter as the truth finally began surfacing from his mouth. "And most of all, it almost feels like I was called there for a purpose... and I haven't fulfilled it yet."

As he finished, he looked to Terry, who was completely taken aback by the absurdity of his partner's words. The redhead could only shift his eyes, processing the madness he had just heard. They were filled not with understanding like Shin had hoped, but with heightening fear.

"Shin, what are you talking about? You're not thinking about going back in there again, are you?" Terry let out short clusters breaths as if he was trying to make out a sarcastic laugh.

However, Shin couldn't help but notice the clear worry in his expression. He shook his head, disheartened. "Don't you realize, Ter?" he pondered morbidly. "That 'Pokémon' could be a sign of something more threatening than these drug dealers— if there are even any drug dealers at this point." Shin droned on like he was in an unbreakable trance. "I've never seen anything like it before... Did you see how corrupted its eyes looked? It's entirely alien, even to the others. They think we're crazy, but I know what I saw. It's something unspeakable...

...It's almost beckoning me back," he described.

There was a pause of hesitancy as indecisiveness began to cross Shin's mind. His expression was calculated, measuring out the repercussions of what he was about to choose, and when it finally broke, he knew there was no going back.

"I think I'm going to sneak out tonight; when the department least expects it. I'll slip in the alleyway and get as much information as I can and get out. No one will know."

Terry jerked up at Shin's abrupt proposal, utterly in shock. His features began to slim in denial.

"Are you even hearing yourself?" he exclaimed with a pang of alarm in his voice. "What you're saying is completely insane!" Shin gaped at him with a glimmer of tenacious finalization.

"I have to," he answered rigidly. "I can't ignore this anymore. I've ignored things for too long now."

"Well...! No!" Terry suddenly cried, which made Shin jump slightly at the fire in his voice. He noticed Terry catch himself, but the redhead kept his stern expression plastered onto his hot face. "No. You can't."

"And what makes you think I can't go back there?" Shin's voice became flat with a sharpness of a Gumshoos' teeth. He could tell that Terry did his best to not to reveal his fight to come up with an answer.

"Going out unauthorized... It's against the rules—!"

"You always broke the rules, and you never gave a damn. Don't give me that excuse," Shin found himself snapping.

Terry's eyes narrowed painfully. "You want to risk losing everything you've worked hard for all of your life? What about our promise, huh? Or have you forgot about that like the rest of your sanity?"

Shin pitched himself up from his seat and began to pace around. He felt his limbs go numb with mania as he began spouting out his theories without even stopping to think. "Terry, the Pokémon had a collar. I've seen that collar before; it can't mean anything good for anyone, I know it."

Terry's nose twitched with bafflement, and Shin has realized what he was about to reveal before he caught himself, shutting his eyes in dismay as he kept reassuring himself.

This isn't his problem.

"...You wouldn't understand," he finished, his rapid hand motions ceasing.

Terry's eyes suddenly ignited with insulted fury. His fists clenched tightly together as he, too, stood onto his feet. "I wouldn't understand?! I'm the only one who's been at least trying to understand you until this whole thing started! And truth be told, you always seem like you're hiding something from me!" he yowled without restraint.

"Even if I told you, what difference would it make?" Shin retorted. "You'll never know what I had to go through as a kid. You can't even understand any other point of view except for your own."

"What, and Jaderine will understand you instead? Is that it?!"

Confusion and vexation boiled within Shin's ears. "What the hell are you going on about? What does this have to do with Jaderine?" At that moment, Terry bit his tongue as if to stop himself. His lips quivered erratically, almost visualizing the turbulent fire that had been set in his head, but Shin found himself tuning it out as he trekked back onto the previous topic. "I've never felt like this before. I'm so confident in what I can do-- What I'm about to do! And you're going to just take that from me?!"

"Listen, I--!"

"Honestly, Terry! Who says I can't go back there?!"

"I DO, ALRIGHT?!" Terry suddenly roared, silencing Shin completely. His cheeks glowed with blushed anger, and Shin could see something glassy forming at the corners of his eyes that plunged a sword into his unfeeling heart. "You promised me, Shin! You promised me that we'd be together through everything! If you get yourself killed, I'll never forgive myself!" Terry's voice was breaking now, nevertheless, Shin shot him a cold glare, failing to find the sympathy within his sea of rage.

"So that's why you need me here so much? Just to keep some oath we made? So I can be there as your 'stress reliever' like I've always been?" he spat, his heart petrifying into stone with each word. The redhead shuddered at his harsh words, his confidence shattering.

"No, you know that's not what I—! Shin...!"

I have to end this here. It's for his sake.

Shin's voice grew quiet.

"...I have more important things to take care of than you, Terry. If you're really my friend, you'll understand that."

With that, Terry stumbled back gauntly. His pupils became the size of needles as his entire world seemed to crumble before his very eyes. Shin could only behold, for the first time in his life, as a great tremor overtook his friend, sending floods of hot tears down the sides of his rounded jawbone. The sound of suppressed hiccups and gasps cut through the air, and a vivid scream soon followed.

"I REGRET EVER TAKING YOUR HAND AT THAT STUPID TRAINING SESSION, YOU SELFISH BASTARD!"

The man took off in the other direction toward the parking lot, his strawberry locks waving behind him. The footsteps soon faded into the sound of a car engine, disappearing into the setting sun that no longer gave off a glimmer of hope like it used to.

Shin had become completely desensitized to the world around him, with the only feeling being a lonely gash in his stomach that bled with pain. The terrified voice from within cried out to Terry in anguish to the dark void.

He expected himself to fall prey to the heavy feelings of remorse for doing such a thing to his dear friend, but it never came. Not even for a second. It frightened him, but he let the coolness of inevitable relief wash over his troubled soul.

I'm sorry.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to clear his racing mind. He focused himself on something else...

And for a brief moment, Shin could see those menacing eyes through the alleyway as if he were back there once again. They stabbed through him, slowly and excruciatingly... yet a part of him wanted to go closer.

It sparked that flame again.

He let the feeling take over him like a parasite. It was finally time to heed the call of that fiery desire he once questioned so long ago.

The man began to discreetly make his way into the building towards the supply room, reminiscing intriguingly.

...How familiar those eyes were.