It was a very uncomfortable walk up Mount Lanakila. Everyone seemed to have a question of some sort, but they had all agreed to keep those questions to themselves until they reached Silver. In his presence, everything could be answered and confirmed.

        (Y/n) was especially looking forward to seeing the boy again. Gold's investigation had come to a surprisingly quick close which meant that Silver could finally pack up and come back into civilization. It had taken some convincing on Gladion's part, but Lusamine had finally welcomed Silver to Aether Foundation to stay until Gladion moved out. Though it would put him further than a mere walk away, (y/n) was glad that he would have more space. Gladion told her that once he left Aether Island, he'd take Silver with him and they would just be roommates. She found it cute how well they got along with one another.

        "That's strange. I didn't know that Murkrows live in Alola too," Crystal said loud enough for everyone to hear. They all followed her gaze to the lone pokémon walking much further ahead of them.

        "They don't," (y/n) said. Gold had already taken off into a sprint before she could even finish her statement. She saw why when he released his Typlosion which immediately attacked an Absol that had been moments away from assaulting the injurued pokémon. "That's Silver's Murkrow," (y/n) realized. She had been hoping that wasn't the case, but she had already known the moment Murkrow was spotted.

        "His wing is broken," Crystal noted with a grimace. "Here, let me help." She reached for the injured pokémon but Murkrow hopped away from her and towards (y/n).

        "What's this?" (y/n) took the tag from Murkrow's beak and felt it spark in her hands. "Something is wrong," (y/n) whimpered as her heart dropped, already figuring as much the moment Murkrow was spotted. She picked up the pokémon and rushed ahead of everyone. The only one unaware of what (y/n) had realized was Silver's father.

        "(Y/n), wait! It could be dangerous!" Gold called after her. She refused to listen as she dashed up the rest of the way towards Silver's hidden camp. It wasn't even near the main path. How could anyone have found it? They had been careful. She and Gold had gone so far as having their pokémon cover any traces of tracks left behind by their coming and going. There was no way!

        (Y/n) arrived there before anyone else and was met by red. It was a form of red that she didn't want to see. "No," she whispered. "No, Silver no." Gold appeared behind her next with his Typlosion and paused with her to survey the scene. "You said he would be safe!!" she turned around and snapped at Gold. If she weren't holding on to Silver's Murkrow, she would have grabbed the boy.

        Crystal and Mr. G arrived as she was yelling. "What's going on here?" Mr. G, the only one who was blissfully unaware, asked. (Y/n) handed him the injured Murkrow and immediately released her Lycanroc.

        "Find him, please find him," she begged her pokémon, not bothering to listen to Gold who was trying to calm her down. Crystal reached out and grabbed her arm to get her to listen, but (y/n) was already doing whatever she could not to snap at the girl as her first mind had told her to. That action had been enough to send her over the edge. "Don't touch me!" she screamed at the girl. "None of you touch me, get away from me!" She erupted into electricity, all of it releasing itself from her body as she began to lose control of it. A bark from her Lycanroc alerted (y/n) that her faithful pokémon had found the boy's scent.

        "(Y/n) listen to me!" Gold yelled back at her. He ignored her dangerous sparking and took hold of her shoulders, wincing from the shock. "Stop, calm down. We're going to follow your Lycanroc. Wasting your power like this isn't helping. I need you to be focused." His words got through to her only because he was right, but also because he risked his own safety to get through to her. Her power quelled itself on its own as she began to think logically again. "Now let's go." Gold looked at Mr. G. "I need you to stay and search the camp for anything important. Call the police too."

        Once Gold was done deligating, (y/n) didn't waste any time in ordering her pokémon to search for Silver. A blood trail had been left behind, and (y/n) thought of everything she could to avoid the one thought that the trail suggested.

        Lycanroc continued onward, dashing through the snow. They were starting to descend the mountain which only grew (y/n)'s stress levels. She had begun to leave Crystal and Gold behind as she ran after her Lycanroc. They had been dealing with any wild pokémon that had the audacity to leap from their hiding places while they were on the chase. None of them knew how long they had been trekking across the mountain in the cold, but eventually they ended up back at the bottom having followed Lycanroc all the way there. Ever so often, the tag in (y/n)'s hand would spark.

        The blood trail had long since ended, but Lycanroc had kept going with the scent that her nose had caught until they crossed into more crowded areas of the island. Lycanroc was leading them through back trails and greenery, but she seemed to be losing track of the scent.

        "Come on, you can do it. We have to find him," (y/n) spoke to her pokémon when Lycanroc stopped and gave whines of distress. The scent was gone.

        "No, this can't be as far as we go. They're still on this island somewhere," Gold said. "They have to be!"

        "I'll call the local police again and have them shut down all the island's ports. No one enters or leaves. They're out there somewhere, both Silver and the suspect. I'm not letting Team Remnant Rocket get away with this," Crystal told them as she pulled out her cellphone. She stepped away from the group to make the call.

        "Wait, I haven't even tried calling him!" (Y/n) almost smacked herself in the head at the realization. "What was I thinking??"

        "No, you're not in the wrong. He doesn't have his phone on him. We took it so no one could track him with it, remember," Gold spoke with a sigh. "This is my fault. I should have been more careful."

        "It isn't your fault." She did want to blame him, but she knew that Gold had been just as persistent as she was about Silver's safety. "If we can just figure out where to go from here, then I'm sure we can find him."

        "Are there any places where anyone would be able to go undetected on this island? Anywhere you can think of will help," Gold suggested. Before she could answer, Crystal returned.

        "I got someone on the phone to start sending search groups around the island as we speak. The only places they say that can't be search immediately are the mountain we just left and Po Town," Crystal said as she joined the conversation.

        (Y/n) knew then where he was. "We have to go to Po Town. It's an entire abandoned city. That has to be the place." She had both good and bad memories there, so she didn't have any particular reservations about going. "The law practically doesn't exist there. It's the perfect place for someone to hide."

        "That's exactly what the suspect wants us to think," Crystal denied.

        "We can't ignore the possibility. There's no time," Gold interjected. "Besides, if everyone is searching everywhere else, and (y/n)'s Lycanroc couldn't find Silver on the mountain anyway, don't you think one of the search parties will find him? Even if it isn't us, all of our bases are covered. Let's get going."       

        Crystal found no reason to object to the idea. Even if she did, (y/n) already made up her mind to go anyway. It was a race against precious time for the trio as they started their rescue mission right then and there. They were already growing tired from having raced down a mountain, but they pushed themselves to keep going until they reached the edge of Po Town.

        "Always raining," (y/n) commented in dismay as she took a moment to rest. "Lycanroc can't track anything in the rain."

        "We should split up. We'll cover more ground that way. Here, quick, give me your numbers. If anything happens, we meet up and figure something out," Crystal spoke. "I'll call you guys if I find him."

        "Right, then let's go," Gold said. He released his Aipom and took a right. Crystal released her Azumarill and went straight. That left (y/n) and Lycanroc going to the left.
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The countdown to the end of this book begins. Are you all ready for how this turns out? Until next time you beautiful readers!