-----------------------The morning after the torture of Trip and Serena-------------------------------------

The brains head to their respective facilities on a minute less amount of sleep ready to handle their duties though to keep up the charade of faux anger Acerola leaves from Sawyer's room with him and meet up with the remaining traitors.

"Have either of you seen Serena or Trip? They weren't in their rooms and they're not answering any of our calls." Delia asks. "I haven't seen Trip since last night after dinner and last I saw Serena was just as I was leaving her room with Sawyer late last night." Acerola says.

"You had something to do with their disappearance. I know it." Khourey angrily accuses. "How could I have anything to do with that. I've been with Sawyer since I got thrown out of the elites' box yesterday. I'm afraid to go anywhere without him." Acerola says just as angrily.

"Dude, lay off her. Had you not opened your big mouth she wouldn't be here and our plans wouldn't have been discovered so chill the fuck out and stay in your lane." Paul says defusing the situation.

"What's with you all? Before yesterday we were all on the same side. Now it's like I'm fighting an uphill battle against a rockslide." Khourey shouts. "Lower your damn voice, you buffoon. We're against you for a damn good reason. You speak and act before you think. Had you actually thought through your sentence before you spoke after your battle with Marcus we wouldn't be in this situation. For all we know we might be watched now. Because of you we have to come up with an entirely new plan to deal with them in addition to all of the other competitors. We knew nothing to begin with about them and now our entire game plan has been flipped on its head and we're back to square one." Misty hisses out.

"Think about that. How do we know that Acerola isn't the one spying on us? How do we know this isn't a ruse to get us to lower our guard so she can pick us off? For all we know she could be trying to kill us. Serena could be dead right now." Khourey says.

"Boy. You really fixate on any girl who talks to you. Think about what you said. Really think. How would I overpower Serena if I'm with Sawyer the entire time and she's physically stronger and smarter than me? Not to mention how would I get Trip. My argument holds true for both cases. I'm constantly with my boyfriend so I have no time to make calls without him knowing." Acerola says. "You could while he's in the shower." Khourey argues. "If you think that then you need to think. I already said before that I don't go anywhere without him. We shower together, Numbskull." Acerola says forcing herself to blush as she lowers her voice.

"Dude, you need to drop the subject. If she is constantly with Sawyer, why hasn't he gone missing yet. You have no right to pry into their private lives. We'll just file a missing person's report with the police and let them handle it. We have other problems like coming up with an entirely new strategy for how to deal with Alola's elites." Delia says.

As they leave Khourey falls back to the love birds and whispers, "I don't trust you, heathan. You're behind the disappearance of Serena and I'll prove it."

"Dude, lay off my girlfriend. If you don't trust her then that means you don't trust me. I helped you get to where you are right now and if you accuse her one more time we'll need to have me arrested for murdering your dumb ass. Capisce?" Sawyer angrily says. Khourey is taken aback by that threat and backs off. 

"We need to tell Ash that Khourey might be onto us." Acerola whispers. "What can he do? If we take him out of the equation his theory will be confirmed." Sawyer quietly replies. "He can think of something. He needs to know." Acerola says. "How do we get away to make the call then?" Sawyer asks. "Tell them I need to go to the Battle Cave to handle my duties." Acerola advises. "Right.

"Misty Delia, Acerola and I need to head to Poni island. For the moment at least she's still a Frontier brain so she has to take on challengers." Sawyer says announcing the second part. "Fine but before you leave the island file the report. It saves us all the trip." Misty says. "Will do." Sawyer says before he and Acerola break off from the group. 

The two file the false report to start a paper trail before heading to her facility and making the call on the boat.

"For the moment we'll leave him be like Clemont. I'll rig the next round with our next two victim. For now play it cool and try to get the traitors to turn on him. I'll work on something to silence him." Ash says. "Got it." Acerola says before they head to the battle facility to handle the challengers.

Near the middle of the day Gladion shows up but so does Paul causing the former to start yelling at her for her blunder.

"What the hell is your problem, Dude. Leave her alone." Paul says coming to the rescue with Sawyer backing him up. "Stay out of this, Paul. This is between Alolans. Acerola should know full well the price of selling secrets." Gladion angrily says.

"You got a problem with her you've got one with me." Paul says. "Unsophisticated brat." Gladion says before leaving the front way.

"Thanks, Paul." Acerola says with false gratitude. "No problem. 

"Has this happened before?" Paul asks. "Well people have tried to scam Kazuki before and Gladion and Stanley are the guard dogs of the group. I expect that since you chased Gladion away I'll be speaking with either Lillie or Kazuki next." Acerola says. "We can protect you." Sawyer says. "That'll only get you guys caught in the crossfire. If I speak with Kazuki directly, he'll tell me my punishment and decide if I can keep my perks." Acerola says. "Fine. Keep us informed on the situation. If you get kicked out, we can all pitch in to help you get back on your feet." Paul says before he sees a line of challengers and takes his leave.

Once he's out of sight Sawyer hands her a folded piece of paper that reads, "Your probation will be over tomorrow. Handle your duties." In Lillie's handwriting. Acerola puts it in her pocket and starts taking challenges for the day.

Around the middle of the day Sawyer and Acerola have lunch before the unexpected arrival of the traitors.

"Hey, Acerola. Is everything okay?" Misty asks with concern in her voice. "Yeah. I'm sure Paul told you that Gladion stopped by to berate me. Shortly after that I got a call from Lillie saying that for the moment, I'm on probation but I'll be able to keep my position and my perks.  So it seems that my blunder wasn't too serious." Acerola says. "Moving on.

"We need to come up with a new plan for the next round tomorrow. We don't know who we'll be facing." Misty says. "With the exception of the group from Alola we have it covered. I used drones to spy on the other participants." Clemont says.

"What more can you tell us, Acerola?" Khourey asks. "Khourey, shut the hell up. She's on probation right now. If they find out she's helping us she's done for." Paul says. Khourey merely looks impassively at Paul and shrugs as if not caring.

"Let's just study what we have and work from there." Delia says. With that the traitors leave with Sawyer and Acerola following after.

During the planning session Acerola records the traitors and listens very carefully. After eating lunch the traitors disperse to go and train.

Sorry for the short chapter but this was simply to get a few things into the open. As always. Stay classy, Nightfuries.