Ash's POV

"Agent Ketchum!"

I jumped in shock at how loudly Director Falon had yelled my name and swiftly covered the device with a pillow, straining my hearing for any signs of movement outside my room. When nothing caught my attention, I slowly removed the pillow to find an incredibly rare show of emotion from Director Falon. The look of obvious relief coupled with irritation had me biting my lip and unsure of what to say.

"Where have you been? You haven't checked in for five days!" Director Falon said, her face reverting to its usual emotionless mask. I grimaced when Pikachu bowed his head in a moment of shame.

"I had an unexpected altercation with Detective Aryan and ended up getting injured. Today is the first day I was allowed to leave the infirmary," I admitted with a bow to the screen. When I looked up again, Director Falon's eyes had narrowed and slightly and she let out a sigh.

"So it is true. Have you healed completely, Agent?" I was a little shocked to see that Director Falon had somehow already heard about the situation. Even more shocking though was that she was showing concern for my well-being over getting updated on how things were going.

"I have some scarring but other than that I'm 100%," I said quietly, trying to keep my shock from showing on my expression. Director Falon nodded slowly and then her expression hardened.

"I received a report from one of the International Police Chiefs that one of his detectives had engaged in battle with Team Galactic. And just last night our data analysis team caught several searches for your alias as well as your true name, Agent Ketchum." Nothing I could do could keep my mouth from dropping open in shock.

"What?!" I whisper yelled, glancing around me. "Did Aryan figure it out?" I asked in hushed urgency. Director Falon let out a deep breath and shook her head.

"We're not sure. It seems he found reference to you in an old International Police file when you and your friends helped take down Team Galactic the first time and he started researching you. Of course, there was nothing to find. Your existence has been practically erased from the internet, but Aryan is an unusually perceptive young man. It would not surprise me if he didn't suspect you. What I need to know," Director Falon said with a hard frown. "Is why he has developed such an interest in you."

I grimaced slightly and glanced down at Pikachu. To explain why Aryan had blown his cover and attacked me I would have to explain my friendship with Serena, but I had sworn that I wouldn't do anything to get her involved in all of this craziness. However, to not answer Director Falon would be tantamount to insubordination.

Unwillingly, I haltingly explained how Aryan and I had made a mutual friend. To my relief, Director Falon didn't press me for our 'mutual friend's' name and I was able to give her a full report without revealing too much personal information about her. Director Falon listened without interrupting and after I was finished she nodded her head slowly.

"We have a strict policy of keeping our undercover agents completely anonymous," Director Falon said with a slightly accusing expression. "You breaking character and trying to get him to flee could have ruined everything we have worked for Agent Ketchum."

I stiffened at Director Falon's words and bowed my head for a moment, but I soon looked up and met her eyes with determination. "My apologies, Director Falon. But I wasn't about to sacrifice an ally to Neptune. We're on the same side after all."

Director Falon stood motionless for a moment before she sighed and the tiniest quirk of her lips passed for an unobtrusive smile. She folded her arms and gazed at me through the screen and I felt my tense muscles slowly relaxing.

"Your loyalty is tremendous, Agent Ketchum. And I admire your sense of justice," I blinked in shock at that unexpected compliment, but Director Falon soon reverted to her normally stoic expression and she nodded firmly. "Nevertheless, the fact that Aryan is close to discovering who you really are is a danger to the entire mission. It may be in our best interest to encourage him to stop looking into Team Galactic."

I frowned at this and straightened my back. "As much as I agree, Aryan mentioned that he was looking for someone. And with what Neptune said before, I think she might have done something to Detective Looker. If that's who he is looking for then I doubt he would give up."

Director Falon frowned slightly but then nodded. "You make a valid point, Agent. I will consult with my contact in the International Police and we will decide what is to be done with Detective Aryan. For now, please update me on everything that has happened since you were injured."

I forced myself to swallow my revulsion as I explained about Neptune's "gift" to me and the loyalty genome she had created. Director Falon seemed appropriately concerned when she heard about the loyalty genome, but she was just as pleased as I thought she would be that it appeared Neptune was really bringing me into the heart of things. I felt a tiny kernel of hope that the agency might finally step in and take out Team Galactic like I had been hoping for for months now. But I knew I needed to continue to be patient and keep up my Satoshi persona with Neptune until the end.

When the call finally ended I laid back on the bed, feeling thoughtful. Pikachu curled up next to my head and I reached up to pet him absently as I went over everything that had happened. I felt a little bad about it, but honestly, I hoped that Director Falon would decide to tell Aryan about me being undercover. It was probably weak of me, but knowing that one normal person in this world knew that I wasn't a true member of Team Galactic made me feel unbelievably relieved.

Of course, thinking about Aryan obviously led me to think of Serena. I couldn't begin to explain how grateful I was to Director Falon for not pressing for more information. I was certain that Isla had already told her about the civilian I had given Misteon to, but she had never once mentioned it. Closing my eyes and listening to Pikachu's steady breathing near my ear, I wondered what Serena and her team were doing right now.

Serena's POV

"Keep it up, Squeaker!" I yelled as I watched her zipping around the stage at impossibly quick speeds using her Agility move. Theresa's Prinplup was desperately trying to follow after Squeaker's movements with Aqua Jet, but I wasn't surprised that she was lagging behind. Even with Aqua Jet, Squeaker had been increasing her stamina day after day in races against Misteon that they both loved and I was confident that she could outspeed almost any pokemon not fully evolved.

Just running away wasn't going to do much against Theresa's points though and I quickly came up with a strategy. Theresa and I were in the final battle of the Veilstone City contest. I had been worried about facing Theresa, who I assumed would use her water type starter as her battling pokemon, but I had already promised Squeaker to use her in the battle round of the next gym. So even though we were at a type disadvantage, I was going to use Squeaker's speed and attack power to even the playing field.

"Alright, Squeaker. Flame Wheel straight towards Prinplup," I called out firmly. Squeaker came to a screeching stop so suddenly that Prinplup flew past her before she could change the trajectory of her Aqua Jet attack.

Prinplup landed on the stage, panting slightly from her chase, and the two pokemon regarded each other for a moment.

"Use Aqua Jet, Prinplup! You've got the advantage," Theresa said, although I could tell she was a little confused why I had ordered that move. Squeakers jumped and flipped in the air, spewing out flames that engulfed her body completely in a whirling circle of fire. At the same time, Prinplup called up a wave of water that encased her body and then propelled her up into the air. The two pokemon headed straight for one another and I watched, feeling sweat dripping down my neck as I clenched my fists together tensely. Seconds before they were about to collide though I cupped my hands around my mouth.

"Veer off slightly and skim against the edge of the Aqua Jet!" I yelled frantically.

My eyes widened when the wheel of fire that had been going straight towards Prinplup suddenly tilted at a 30-degree angle. I watched in awe as the edge of the Flame wheel skimmed against Prinplup's shell of water, creating steam on the impact of the two opposing elements. I could hardly believe that Squeaker was able to keep her forward momentum at such an angle, but once she had passed underneath Prinplup's Aqua Jet she righted herself again and let her Flame Wheel go, landing back on her four hooves while giving out an excited, squeaking whinny.

"Well done!" I cried out in glee as the steam slowly dissipated.

"Prinplup, use Bubble Beam," Theresa said. I admired how focused she was and that she hadn't gotten upset that Prinplup had missed her attack, even though that had hurt her points quite a bit. As much as I admired Theresa though, I really wanted another win.

"Use Agility and Flame Charge together and get behind Prinplup!" I called out to Squeaker.

She raised onto her back hooves and kicked out her front ones in a show of rare aggression and passion upon my command, igniting her entire body on fire in the process. Just as the first bubble came close to her though, Squeaker jetted forward, galloping for all she was worth. Prinplup tried to keep up her spray of bubbles towards my oncoming Squeaker, but her Agility was getting so powerful that she actually appeared to phase out of existence for a second before appearing in another location in all her flaming glory. Which made it nearly impossible for Prinplup to aim her Bubble Beam at her.

Squeaker soon winked into view right behind Prinplup and I nodded firmly. "Use Stomp!"

Prinplup whirled around, but Squeaker had already raised her hooves well above Prinplup's head and came crashing down onto the water type's shoulders, slamming her back onto the stage. Just as Squeaker backed up to prepare for the next attack, the horn signaling the end of the battle sounded. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that Theresa's points had zeroed out, while I had a little less than a quarter of mine left. Although most of those had been taken early in the battle.

"Serena and her Ponyta are the winners! Congratulations, Serena!" Marian said from her spot on the sidelines of the battle.

I waved to the cheering audience briefly before running over and wrapping Theresa in a big hug. She seemed startled by the embrace, but she soon was squeezing me back and laughing.

"That was amazing, Serena! Your Ponyta is super fast!" Theresa said with a grin when she finally pulled back. Squeaker and Prinplup walked over to us together and I made sure to hug Prinplup too before going over with Squeaker to accept our newest ribbon.

After we left the contest hall, Bree took us all to her favorite udon restaurant in Veilstone for a celebratory lunch. Theresa and her travel companions, Richard and Scott, all lavished me with so much praise for my performance and battle rounds in the contest that I felt legitimately embarrassed. Richard, the oldest of the three friends at 12, was also an aspiring Pokemon Coordinator, but Theresa had beaten him in the first round of elimination battles. Scott, who had apparently been Theresa's friend from elementary school, was aiming to be a pokemon trainer and had been peppering Bree with questions since the moment we met up with them.

We ended up visiting with the young friends for more than an hour after we had all finished eating. I wasn't sure if Bree could just tell I was anxious to move on or if she also was feeling the pull to finish what I had started and make our way to my next contest. But whatever the reason, she brought our visit to a close by announcing we were going to head to the next contest scheduled.

"I wanna go too!" Theresa said exuberantly and Prinplup chirped his agreement from her spot next to Shinx.

"But we were going to go to Sunnyshore City to get my next gym badge," Scott responded immediately with a frown.

"Yah. And you promised you would take me on in the Wallace Cup next, Theresa," Richard said with a competitive spark in his eyes. "I'm not letting you beat me again like today's battle."

"I could make it to the Celestic City Contest with Bree and Serena and back before the Wallace Cup starts," Theresa said, but her hesitant expression didn't match her confident words.

"Come on, Risa. We've talked about this, right?" Bree said while reaching out and patting her sister on the head. "You have to keep your promises with your friends. And after the Grand Festival then I'll take you on an adventure through Alola and you can try your hand at the Luau Showdowns they have over there. Okay?"

Theresa frowned heavily up at her big sister but then she sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll miss you though," she said while hugging her sister tightly. Bree smiled broadly while returning her hug, and I noticed that both Richard and Scott looked slightly jealous.

Looks like Theresa has become quite the little heartbreaker, I thought with an amused smile. We parted ways outside of the restaurant and I wasn't surprised to see that Theresa was already sprinting away from the boys in eager anticipation with Prinplup peeping angrily after her as she tried to keep up with her trainer.

"Theresa never changes, huh?" I asked with a chuckle that Bree echoed.

"I hope she never will," Bree said with a fond expression before turning the opposite direction. "Let's get going to Celestic City!"

Later that afternoon, Bree and I decided that we would set up camp early and get some training in. The Celestic City contest wasn't for another three weeks so we had plenty of time to get there from Veilstone City and I wanted to let my pokemon run around and play for a bit. To my delight, we found a campsite right next to a river, so I was able to let Milotic out for a swim along with everyone else. Unsurprisingly, as soon as Misteon and Squeaker were out of their pokeballs Misteon started goading Squeaker and soon they were off and racing around the clearing.

"Don't wander off too far, please!" I called out to the two, chuckling as Misteon floated swiftly through the air with Squeaker hard on his heels.

A familiar presence came up alongside me and I smiled as I reached down and pet the back of Absol's neck affectionately. He let out a small rumble that I had come to think of as his content growl. We both watched over Misteon and Squeaker in their race while Shinx and Majestoat played along the edge of the river, keeping Milotic company.

"It feels so nice," I said softly to Absol as we watched everyone entertaining themselves. "Like we're a big family."

"Sol." I smiled tenderly down at Absol, still beyond grateful that he had chosen to stay with me. It had been heartbreaking leaving him in the forest, but I was so glad he had come to trust me after everything we had gone through.

"Hey, Serena. You think Absol is up for a practice battle?" Bree asked with a wide grin. Absol immediately tensed, but I could tell from the gleam in his eyes that his competitiveness had been triggered by the challenge.

"Seems like it," I said with a chuckle. "Who did you have in mind?"

Bree tossed one of her pokeballs up and released her Houndoom. I had only slightly gotten over how intimidating the pokemon looked with its bone horns and collar. But seeing how affectionate he could be with Bree had eased some of my fear over time and Absol seemed up for the challenge.

"Dark on Dark, huh?" I asked as I backed up a few paces in order to give the two pokemon room for a battle.

"Gotta have a strategy for every type matchup possible," Bree said with a wide grin, skipping back a few paces herself.

Bree may call them "practice battles" but whenever we battled she always went hard. Out of all my pokemon, only Absol really had the power to go toe to toe with her pokemon though, which made sense since he had years more experience than my other pokemon.

Absol and Houndoom had just fired off twin Dark Pulses when something on the outer edge of the clearing caught my eyes. Turning my head slightly, I saw that Misteon and Squeaker were STILL chasing after each other. I was about to turn my attention back to the battle though when something about Squeaker changed. Her normally white fur was beginning to have a blue tinge to it, and as I watched her whole body began to shimmer with a blue light.

My mouth dropped open wide and I stared in disbelief as Squeaker continued to gallop after Misteon, not even noticing the changes that were beginning to occur to her body. Bree also stopped mid-command as Squeaker's shimmering caught her eye. We watched in shock as Squeaker's body lengthened. Her stubby flame mane exploded out into luscious rivulets and I could see her muscles developing as she continued to run. A horn in the center of her forehead sprouted, completing the transformation and ending the evolution process.

Squeaker lengthened her new stride and I gasped as she thundered past Misteon so fast that he spun end over end in several flips from the force of the wind she generated. Misteon came to a screeching halt when he had finally righted himself in the air and we all watched as Squeaker, who was now a glorious Rapidash, let out a joyful neigh as she galloped in circles around the edge of the clearing we had set up camp in.

"Oh my gosh. Squeaker! You evolved!" I cried out excitedly, abandoning my practice battle and racing over to my newly evolved friend. Squeaker tossed her long mane over her shoulder and let out an excited whinny that didn't contain even a semblance of a squeak anymore.

She cantered over to meet me halfway and I laughed when she pushed her much larger head against my chest and snuffled excitedly against my stomach. I tenderly held her large cheeks in my hands and pushed her back so I could tilt her head slightly to look into one of her large eyes.

"You look so beautiful," I breathed out in awe as I reached up and ran my fingers through her much longer flame mane. To my relief, I still wasn't burned upon touching her flames, and Squeaker whinnied excitedly as she shuffled her hooves around from her pent-up energy.

"You lost your squeak, Squeaker," I said with a chuckle and she gave a horsey grin as she lifted her head proudly.

"Will you change her name then?" Bree asked, coming up behind me to admire Squeaker as a Rapidash. I looked up into her orange eye, which was regarding me curiously, and I slowly shook my head.

"Jeremy was the one who named Squeaker. We'll keep it until we see Jeremy and then we can decide together if we want to change it," I said with a smile. Squeaker nodded her head firmly, seeming to agree with my decision.

And then everyone was surrounding us. Majestoat, Shinx, and Misteon all ran around and through Rapidash's legs in awe of her transformation. Milotic even slithered up on land and came over with Absol to congratulate Squeaker on her new form. Even Houndoom seemed excited to see another powerful fire type around. That evening was filled with celebrations and Bree's horribly off-pitch singing. I could hardly believe that I had reconciled with my mom, won my fourth ribbon, and gotten to see Squeaker evolve into a Rapidash all in two short days.

I had just curled up in my tent to go to sleep when a familiar ding sounded from my Pokedex. Reaching over Misteon, who was sleeping on a pillow to my left, I picked up the device and clicked on the two notifications. One had come hours ago from Theresa. It was a text to congratulate me on both my win at the contest and Squeaker evolving. The second one was from Aryan and I clicked on it with a happy smile.

Seems like your journey is going well. Good for you, Serena,

I giggled, thinking back fondly on the day Aryan had listened to me in the bakery and spurred me into action. It felt nice to have someone looking out for me during my journey, even if he couldn't travel around with me like Bree.

Thanks, Aryan. I can't believe how amazing it is being a Coordinator. I am so glad I took your advice. I responded as I glanced around my tent. Absol was curled up next to my feet with Shinx pressed against his side, while Misteon and Majestoat were on pillows on either side of my head. They were all sleeping peacefully and I wished my tent was big enough to fit both Milotic and Squeaker in here as well. But just touching their pokeballs brought me a sense of security and happiness.

Apparently, you have a knack for it. I'm honestly surprised you have managed to get 4 ribbons so quickly.

I stuck my tongue out at the device then giggled at myself for my childishness.

It's all because of Bree's training. She is absolutely amazing and has taught me so much about battle strategies.

Bree has definitely become an epic trainer. Our battle was insane, Aryan responded almost immediately and I couldn't help but grin. I was holding out hope that Aryan might start liking Bree romantically, but I doubted anything would happen until he got off this case that was keeping him so busy. Feeling a little hesitant, I chewed my lip as I tried to think of how to phrase my response.

I'm sure she would love to battle you again. Have you found any leads on your case? Do you think you'll be able to come travel with us again?

I hoped that didn't sound too needy. It's not that I didn't understand what Aryan was doing was super important, and I hoped he would be able to save the kidnapped researcher as soon as possible. But I also wanted him to know that he was missed.

Aryan's response took so long that I had nearly fallen asleep. When the soft ding sounded though I blinked the sleep from my eyes and read the text anxiously.

I'm not sure what to think about this case right now. Have you ever heard of Team Galactic?

I frowned as I looked at Aryan's strange question. Not only had he ignored my question about coming to travel with Bree and me, but he was asking me something that seemed related to the case. But... Team Galactic?

Sorry, no. I typed slowly. Are they the ones who kidnapped the researcher? I hesitated before hitting the send button that time. Aryan was quicker to respond this time though and I frowned even more when I saw it.

Don't apologize, I'm glad you haven't heard of them. Yes, they are an evil organization that has attempted to destroy the world multiple times in the past. If you ever see someone wearing a gray suit with a fancy G stitched onto it promise me you will run in the other direction. Got it? Even if it's someone you think is your friend.

What does he mean by that? I wondered anxiously. His suspicious behavior when I had brought up Satoshi came to mind but I quickly shook my head. No way. He couldn't be talking about Satoshi. That's crazy.

While I was battling my thoughts another message came through and my brow furrowed deeply when I read it.

Serena? Do you promise?

I really didn't understand why he was insisting so much, My whole body was tingling with an unpleasant sense of danger, but I slowly typed an answer.

Alright. I promise.

Good, Aryan responded less than a second later. Followed a little later by another message. It's getting late so you should go to sleep. I'm going to log off. But if you are ever in trouble, call me on my PokeCom and I'll come over as fast as possible. Okay?

What does he think will happen that will put me in that sort of position? I wondered, starting to feel a bit of panic going through me. I reached out and touched my foot against Absol's side and he let out a calming sigh in his sleep. Feeling better just with that, I nodded to myself encouragingly before typing out one last message.

Sure, Aryan. Good luck with your case.

Good night, Serena, he responded before his availability turned off. There was no point in responding to his good night text so I just placed it back in my backpack and snuggled into my sleeping bag. It was a long, long time though before my worries had exhausted me to the point that I fell into a fitful sleep.

A/N Tsk tsk. Aryan's making Serena all nervous right before bed, what a jerk :P Albeit a well-meaning one. Wonders of wonders I actually updated within a week! I hope I can keep this trend up, but who knows what life will bring. I hope you are all doing well!