Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Xisuma knew that being the Champion would come with a whole list of responsibilities, but he had no idea how much peacekeeping and maintenance went on behind the scenes. Any major issues that the local police officers couldn’t handle were put onto Xisuma’s plate, such as Pokemon trafficking, item smuggling, and Pokemon outbreaks. Sometimes it just couldn’t be helped, and he would be forced to fly or swim from district to district. Many times, he would be contacted on his day off for emergencies. But all of the time, he was depended upon.

One of his recurring issues was Team Vex. A year ago, they were barely noticeable on Xisuma’s radar. There were probably two minor reports of some Trainer’s Pokemon getting stolen, but that was the norm for most regions with criminal organizations, so it was nothing important. But in the last few months, Xisuma had been seeing more and more of Team Vex popping up. They seemed to be involved in illegal trading, but for all the times he’d been contacted, he never encountered a single grunt. By the time he got to all the locations, their stuff had been cleared out, their trace gone.

It was on his off-day that he finally got lucky…if luck is what you’d call it.

Xisuma was perched on the dock of a lake in the north tip of the Medieval District, Old Rod in his hand. He had found the secluded spot in the forest and decided it was going to be a carefree day of doing nothing but fishing, but his Pokemon were restless, so he let most of his team out. His last Pokemon—his trump card—sat in its Ultra Ball quietly. Xisuma had weighed over whether he should let it out or not since there was a low chance that people would find this spot, but his Pokemon didn’t seem to mind either way, so he decided to keep it tucked away while the rest of the water Pokemon took up the lake.

And that’s what Xisuma did until the sun began to set. Just as he recalled all of his Pokemon and pulled his fishing rod out of the water, a bush rustled from behind him. He glanced back in time to see a small Gible rush out at him on the dock, its mouth agape and arms raised. Xisuma hurried to sidestep it, but it didn’t seem to care. To Xisuma’s horror, it kept running past him and, unaware of the dock’s end, pitched forward and splashed into the lake.

“Oh my—!” Xisuma started forwards at the Gible’s yelp. Then came a new sound from the same direction of the bushes: human footsteps.

“Where is it?” a man’s voice yelled.

“I don’t know, keep searching!” a woman’s voice shot back. Two beams of flashlights were scanning left to right behind the treeline, nearly to the lake clearing. 

Xisuma got a bad feeling in his gut. Without another word, he shut his visor over his eyes and hopped into the lake.

Despite being constantly dressed in a suit made for underwater exploration, the water never stopped being cold upon first contact. His body stiffened up from the shock, but he forced himself to breathe deeply. He found the Gible right where it ran off the edge, struggling to stay afloat, so he reached out and hooked it under his arm. It struggled against his grip, snapping out with its baby teeth (which were actually more like sharpened daggers), but Xisuma maneuvered the Gible so it couldn’t reach down and latch onto him like a leech. He swam them both under the dock’s floorboards and listened as the footsteps got closer.

“Hush now,” he whispered to the squirming Gible, hoping it would understand that much. “Or they’ll spot you.”

The Gible went deathly still. Above them, the wood creaked. The pair of footsteps stopped in the middle of the dock, panting. Probably from running through the forest, Xisuma assumed.

“What the—where did it go? We were just on its trail!” the woman said incredulously. “They’re gonna have our heads if we can’t get it back! Thank Arceus it was only the baby and not the mother…”

There was a brief pause.

“It probably went towards the other side of the lake,” the man guessed. “Look, if we can’t recapture this stupid Gible, I’m not the one that’s taking the blame.”

Pokemon traffickers, Xisuma thought darkly. The Gible trembled in his arms.

“Then you better keep searching, 'cause you were definitely the one who let it bite through the bars!”

At the word “bite”, the Gible panicked. Before Xisuma could react, it opened its mouth wide—wider than he anticipated it could open—and chomped down on Xisuma’s arm, breaking through his suit and skin. Xisuma cried out and immediately regretted it. The two people above him shifted their weight, voices raised in alarm.

“That noise—!”

“Someone’s under the dock,” the man said quickly.

That’s no good, Xisuma thought, cringing.

“Hey, who’s down there?” One of them stomped on the floorboards, startling the Gible, who only clenched its maw tighter around his arm. Lines of red started to run down his arm and mix with the water. Xisuma was quick to stifle his next shout. “Show yourself or we’ll start attacking!”

Through the pain, Xisuma unhooked a PokeBall from his belt and slung it toward the middle of the lake. Instantly, his Swampert burst from the ball and growled. “Mudshot!” Xisuma ordered. 

Swampert spat out a large ball of mud aimed at the traffickers above the dock. The second the shot made contact with the pair, Xisuma awkwardly waded towards the lake’s shore, one arm Gible-food and the other trying to support the Gible’s dead weight from adding more pressure. The traffickers were screaming and spluttering, but when he was nearly to the lake’s shore, they were beginning to pick themselves up. Their faces were blinded by mud, but he could recognize the distinctive wing-shaped V on their uniforms. Team Vex . 

So this was Team Vex’s doing—trying to recapture an escaped Gible so they could sell it off for a high price. From what they said earlier, they probably had its mother in their confinement, too. No doubt, these Pokemon were being mistreated. Xisuma’s blood boiled. He finally found an active Team Vex plot; he would not let them get away with this. If they recognized him, however, then he knew they’d just pack up and cut their losses before he could gain anything from it.

“Mudshot again!” Xisuma shouted. Swampert nodded and fired another ball of mud from its mouth, slugging the pair in the face. Effectively blinded for the second time in a row, they screeched indignantly and fell onto their backs, which felt rather gratifying.

“Well done, Swampert,” he said proudly. Then he frowned at the Gible. Its eyes were blown wide, too terrified to relax. His arm was beginning to throb, but he didn’t know whether it was safer to keep the Gible attached to him like this or pry it off. He would just have to get somewhere safe, first, and figure out everything later.

The sounds of PokeBalls bursting open behind him startled him from his thoughts. He returned his Swampert and held onto the Gible, grimacing. “Okay, little guy, now we run.”

~***~

When Xisuma finally shook the two grunts off his trail nearly an hour later, he was ready to call it a night. Thankfully, the grunts hadn’t called in reinforcements—he figured they were trying to keep the Gible’s escape on the down low to avoid getting into trouble. They had sent Mightyenas after him, which proved difficult to outrun, and even more difficult to hide from. His arm probably made it easy for them to sniff him out, so he had his Swampert hose him down (with the Gible still clinging firmly to it) and prayed that it would work. And it did, miraculously. The howls of the Mightyenas became more distant as he covered more ground until they eventually stopped altogether. 

Xisuma leaned against a tree. With his free hand, he pulled out his communicator and opened up his map. Judging from his current position, he had headed south from the lake, nearing the border between the Medieval and Industrial District. With any luck, the grunts will have assumed he ran further into the Medieval District, deep within the forest’s cover.

He pocketed the device and spared another glance at the Gible, shaking his arm lightly. “Hello, friend. Do you mind letting go of my arm now that we’re out of danger? I promise I’m one of the good guys.”

The Gible, in a truly incredible moment, snapped back to reality. Its eyes darted to Xisuma in comprehension and, sensing that he really, really meant no harm to it, relaxed its maw free from his arm. And then the incredible moment ended because blood began to rush to the surface of his arm, soaking into the green suit around it. Xisuma’s head swam, and he nearly slapped himself for being so stupid.

“I…shouldn’t have done that!” he cried. The Gible landed on the ground and watched him clamp his hand on the wound. “Why did I do that? Oh my Arceus, I’m such a derp. I-I shouldn’t have done that.” For one awful second, he considered asking the Gible to re-bite his arm to clot the bleeding but realized how insane he sounded.

Perhaps he was beginning to get delirious from blood loss. However, it was clear that Xisuma needed to find shelter. He didn’t bring any Pokemon that could fly him back to the League or to his home, which meant he had to find someone he knew and trusted. He thought about going to Wels’s old gym, which wasn’t too far from his location, but that was probably in the direction the grunts would be headed. Xisuma almost considered trekking it to the ConCorp PokeBall Factory to ask Cub for assistance when he realized he knew someone closer—someone who was equipped to deal with things like this. Sort of.

He just had to hope they were home in the Industrial District instead of at the Shopping District Day Care.

Thankfully, they were. When Impulse heard the knock on his door shortly after dinner, he pulled it open with complete exasperation written on his face. He had expected Tango on the other side, ready to pester him out of boredom. He certainly wasn’t expecting the Champion of the Hermity region, openly bleeding with a Gible in his arms.

“Champion…Xisuma?” Impulse asked, blinking.

“Hello, Impulse,” Xisuma said casually. On Xisuma’s part, he tried to look put together, as if he hadn’t just sprinted through the forest for an hour in the dark. It didn’t work. “I understand this might be a bad time.”

Before Impulse could get another word in, Xisuma’s legs gave out. The Gible in his arms had a second to jump ship before his body thudded onto the floor of Impulse’s home.

Chapter Text

Xisuma woke up to sunlight.

When he cracked open an eye, he realized he was lying in a soft bed in an unfamiliar room. The curtains draped over the window were mostly closed, but the softest of rays peaked out of the opening and warmed his face. He noticed a few things, then: his helmet had been removed, his arm had been wrapped in bandages, and he was missing his PokeBall belt. It took him another moment to remember how he got there—the runaway Gible, Team Vex’s pursuit, and trekking through the forest to Impulse’s home.

Gingerly, Xisuma lifted his bandaged arm to inspect it, but it seemed patched up. There was only the faintest of pain compared to the previous stinging sensation. That was good. He didn’t enjoy that particular feeling very much. Further inspection of the room revealed his helmet on a nightstand along with his belt. His Pokemon seemed to be faring well, seemingly unbothered by the events of the night. Xisuma clipped his belt back on, swung himself out of bed, and left the room.

Impulse was busy with work in the living room, setting down bowls of a sweet-smelling curry on the floor. A tall Leavanny passed him each serving with its leaf-like hands. From beneath a table, Xisuma spotted Gible slowly approach one of the bowls, curiosity written on its face.

Impulse set down the last one and noticed Xisuma in the hallway. His face broke out into a grin. “Oh, Champion Xisuma! You’re awake! How are you feeling?”

Xisuma lifted his bandaged arm. “Much better.” Gible stopped sniffing the bowl to look up at him. “Thank you for helping me at such an odd hour. Erm, sorry if I startled you.”

“Hey, no big deal at all! But you know, the word startled is kind of an understatement. You looked like you fell into a pool of Carvanhas.”

Xisuma felt his face flush. “Now you’re over exaggerating.” This was a little too unbecoming of a Champion. The fact that Carvanhas were also water type Pokemon just added salt to the wound.

Impulse walked over to check his bandages. A splotch of blood had soaked through the top layer, but it was practically dried out thanks to whatever magic Impulse had worked. “Your arm will probably be all healed up by the end of the week, so you should avoid doing anything dangerous that could reopen the wound. Such as, y’know, getting bit by a Gible. Among other things.”

“I’ll do my best,” Xisuma promised. He glanced at the Gible again. “How is it faring?”

“Well, Gible tried to attack me after you collapsed on the floor,” Impulse said awkwardly. “My Pokemon managed to calm it down from its rage so I could treat its injuries. Cuts and scrapes and all that. But I’m assuming there’s more to this story than a simple Pokemon attack.”

Xisuma hesitated, then nodded. As much as he wanted to keep this encounter under wraps to regular people, he at least owed Impulse an explanation for helping him out. Plus, he seemed like a good person who truly cared for Pokemon. “Have you heard of Team Vex before?”

“A little bit?” Impulse said, scratching his chin. “Every region has its share of no-gooders. I’ve heard stories of young Trainers getting their Pokemon stolen by them, but it’s all just petty crimes.”

“I’m afraid this is a lot more malicious, then,” Xisuma said grimly.

“You can explain while we eat. I made extra curry for your team, too.” Impulse dug into his trouser pockets and threw five PokeBalls into the air, releasing a Scizor, Vespiquen, Scolipede, Crustle, and Escavalier. They all cried out in joy and moved for their food bowls, so Xisuma tossed out most of his team to join them, too.

As they ate, Xisuma recounted the events of yesterday—his quiet fishing trip, the encounter with Gible, the appearance of Team Vex, and the subsequent chase through the forest of the Medieval District as he ran from the grunts. After he mentioned Team Vex, Impulse’s eyebrows kept furrowing until he was basically frowning into his curry.

“I didn’t think they would get into Pokemon trafficking,” Impulse muttered. “That’s awful. They can’t get away with this.”

“And I won’t let them,” Xisuma said. “I reckon there’ll be a hideout for them to store all these stolen Pokemon. Most organizations dealing with this sort of thing do that.”

”Do you have any ideas where?”

“Er, I’m not sure yet,” Xisuma admitted. “I’ll have to contact some Officers to be on alert near the lake while I do some searching of my own. Since this Gible’s mother is still being held by Team Vex, it’s my job to reunite them.”

Impulse glanced behind Xisuma towards his team of water Pokemon—which suspiciously only had five of them out. Xisuma could see a vague suspicion forming in Impulse’s head, but he only said, “I know you’re the Champion of our region, but I think you should take it easy for now, at least until your arm is healed. It would be pretty risky to head into danger if you’re still recovering. I mean, you lost a lot of blood, man.”

Xisuma winced. He was still wearing the same suit from last night, but it wasn’t too dirty. Maybe still a little damp, maybe a little torn from the Gible’s teeth, but not seriously bloodied. At most, it looked like he had been put through a washing machine on high. And then thrown into the spin dryer. “I’ll try to be careful. In the meantime, can I ask you for another favor?”

“I know what you’re gonna say, and I already accept,” Impulse said, waving his spoon. “You said your job is to rescue these Pokemon? Well, my job is to take care of them. If you find any other Pokemon, I’d be happy to watch them here until they heal up. I was at the Center before this, y’know.”

“Which is why I trust you,” Xisuma said gratefully. “It’ll need to stay a secret—if Team Vex realizes you’re taking care of the rescued Pokemon, it could put you and others in considerable danger. After all, there’s no telling how dangerous Team Vex is…or how badly they want those Pokemon back.”

“Right. Yeah,” Impulse agreed. “You should go and make your calls now. Also, your curry’s gone cold.”

“Ah.”

~***~

The Team Vex hideout was ill-prepared for him.

It was a day later when Xisuma found their base near the west coast of the Fantasy District. It was a large warehouse that would’ve been very conspicuous if it weren’t so cleverly hidden within the district’s forest and separated from the Concorp Pokeball Factory by a mountain range. It was unlikely that any Officers would have ventured far enough in to find it; Xisuma was lucky that he even spotted it.

Outside the steel double doors, two grunts were keeping watch, except they were doing a rather poor job of it. Their flashlights were hooked around their waists like dead weight and, since their eyes could not peer out into the treeline at night with perfect clarity, they were unable to notice the shadow inching closer and closer to their perimeter. Only at the sound of a PokeBall opening did they start up from their slouches, suddenly alert. But it was also their only warning.

A Cryogonal rushed forwards, the permanent frown on its face glazing over with frost. What little vision there was in the clearing was swept away with a white haze. The temperature plummeted around the grunts so fast that the leaves on the trees crackled. Any sounds of a struggle were quickly smothered. When the haze cleared, the grunts were frozen solid, their expressions of bewilderment preserved beneath a large chunk of ice. 

Xisuma did not waste time. He emerged from the clearing and ran past the grunts, flanked by Cryogonal. To preserve his anonymity, he had changed his water type team out to Pokemon from his young Trainer days and switched into a black armored suit. He figured if Team Vex got wind that the Champion of the region was becoming personally involved in their business, it might scare them into hiding...more so than any Officer ever could.

The warehouse looked rather unimportant on the inside. In the dim lighting, Xisuma spotted shelves and shelves of boxes filled with Pokemon goods likely stolen from PokeMarts. Conveyor belt lines ran throughout the space. Loading equipment was scattered everywhere. Small storage containers sectioned off the room, but he could see that there were doors leading into different areas near the back wall. He could almost believe this was an average storage facility if not for the Team Vex grunts he had frozen at the entrance. Even more incriminating was a logo of a blue creature smiling, painted right onto the entrance floor of the warehouse. If Team Vex was beginning to get into branding their criminal actions, then that spelled serious trouble. 

Xisuma made sure there were no grunts lurking around before he inched his way to one of the shelves. He flipped open a box lid and peered inside: it was stocked with Full Heals, Burn Heals, Paralyze Heals, and Antidotes. Another box next to it contained empty PokeBall variants. Xisuma’s eyebrows furrowed as he continued to dig through boxes. Perhaps one of them would contain PokeBalls of abducted Pokemon. However, it became increasingly clear that the boxes were only meant to store regular products fit for PokeMarts, not criminals. 

Perhaps the Pokemon they kept would be held in a separate, more discrete room in the event that a nosy person like him decided to snoop around. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of multiple footsteps. “Hey!” a grunt yelled before Xisuma could fully duck down. The beam of a flashlight flicked to the shelf in front of him. “Hold it right there!”

“Ice Beam,” he said to Cryogonal. His Pokemon floated up between the gaps of the shelf and fired a jet of ice at the grunt, stronger than the move it used on the lookouts. Xisuma heard a yelp and peeked his head to see the grunt frozen to the wall. “Good shot!”

“What was that?” another voice said, muffled behind a door on the second floor. “Go check it out!”

“Ah, that’s not good,” Xisuma murmured. Just as a door flew open, he grabbed another PokeBall from his belt and tossed it in the air. “Beedrill, I need a distraction!”

Beedrill flew forward from its ball and brandished its drill arms. When the first grunt stepped into the main building, Beedrill made a beeline for him. As Xisuma heard more doors opening from different rooms, he could hear a different yelp each time his Beedrill pestered them with Poison Jab. Together, Xisuma and Cryogonal crept towards the back of the warehouse and studied the doors. Two of the doors had windows on them, but they led into narrow hallways and seemed to just require a metal key to open. However, the last room on the right had a passcode lock on the side.

He was no genius, but he certainly knew that whatever was behind that door would have to be their most important asset. He also knew that there was no way he would be able to guess the password unless he searched the entire building in the hopes that a grunt would have it written down, and that was not an option Xisuma had the patience for.

“Cryogonal, Ice Beam,” Xisuma said, pointing towards the passcode lock. Cryogonal gathered ice at its mouth and shot the beam dead center into the lock, breaking it off the wall. Immediately, red lights flashed overhead. An alarm blared on a speaker above Xisuma, almost as loud as a Screech. Xisuma grimaced through his helmet and flung open the now-unlocked door, darting inside with his Pokemon before the grunts could get to him. 

As soon as he stepped through, the temperature dropped to freezing. Xisuma’s breath immediately fogged up his visor, forcing him to flip it back into his helmet. There were icicles gathering near the ceiling and frozen pools of water splattered on the floor. The room was also extremely cramped, but it was large enough to hold two small cages and one large cage. In the small cages, there were tiny Jangmo-o in each one, but in the last cage…

A Garchomp glowered at Xisuma as he stepped forwards. Its eyes were sharp and full of rage, but it did not look as powerful as it should’ve in that moment. Its body was racked with shivers. There was frost coating its hide. Xisuma finally understood how Team Vex had managed to hold an adult Garchomp in captivity. He wanted to be angry, but he stifled it for the sake of this Garchomp.

“Hello there,” he said slowly, raising his hands. As he got closer to the cages, Garchomp snarled. Its rows of teeth looked like a chainsaw compared to its child. The hair on Xisuma’s arms stood up, but he continued in a soft voice. “I’m here to take you back to your child. It’s safe with my friend. Do you want to be reunited?”

Garchomp’s eyes darted towards Xisuma’s arm—the one that Gible had bitten in a panic. Xisuma’s face fell, realizing how it looked to the Garchomp. Behind him, he could hear voices getting louder. His Beedrill buzzed angrily in the distance. The door shuddered. “Hah, your Gible got me good,” he explained softly, “but it was a misunderstanding. Your child is safe and you will be, too. I’m going to release all of you from these cages now, so please don’t attack me.” He pointed at the padlocks on the cage doors, instructing Cryogonal to use Ice Beam. The lock shattered like glass. Xisuma grabbed the door of the cage and swung it open for Garchomp.

“See?” he asked, relieved when it didn’t immediately maul him. It took one step out of the cage, then another. “Perfectly safe. Now let’s get you—”

Xisuma was cut off as the door burst open. A Mightyena pounced into the room. Above it, a Lampent trickled in and hovered over the door. A grunt’s voice shouted somewhere behind it: “Lampent, Shadow Ball!”

Cryogonal was too busy freezing the lock on the other Pokemons’ cages to counter the attack. A mass of shadow slammed into Xisuma’s chest and knocked him into the bars of the cage. Thankfully his suit helped protect him from damage, but the feeling of being hit by a Ghost-type attack was always disorienting. As his body hit the ground, a feeling that can only be described as soul-sucking spread through his bones. His body chilled up. His vision turned black—not in the fainting way, but as if the world was suddenly pulled into a dark and endless void way.

It lasted only a split second. When his vision cleared, Xisuma realized Garchomp was nowhere in sight. He struggled to his feet, coughing,  and spotted it outside of the room. It was swiping its claws into the Mightyena and the Lampent with a ferocity fit for its dragon typing. There were nervous yells and screams from grunts who must’ve realized their most powerful Pokemon was free. It was distracting them from Xisuma and the other Pokemon, who were just exiting the cages that Cryogonal had broken with Ice Beam.

He bent down to the two Jangmo-o and opened his arms. “Let’s get you guys out of here, okay?”

He thanked Arceus that they were a lot more compliant and trusting than the Gible and Garchomp. With barely any reluctance, they waddled forward and allowed themselves to be carried in his arms. They were so light.

“Cryogonal, clear a path,” Xisuma said, and they left the room.

Garchomp was rampaging throughout the warehouse. Shelves had fallen over each other like dominoes. There were boxes of medicine flung everywhere. Some Team Vex grunts were attempting to battle it with their Pokemon, but now that the Garchomp was out of the cold room, it shrugged off the attacks like nothing. His Beedrill was still fighting—it zipped between the grunts on their feet and poked them in the arm with its stinger, causing them to shout and drop back to the ground.

“Beedrill, let’s go!” Xisuma ordered. It flew back to his side and flanked him with Cryogonal, who had just Freeze-Dried another grunt in place with her Skorupi. The Garchomp was about to crunch down on a Mightyena when it noticed Xisuma carrying the Jangmo-o. Immediately, its eyes softened. It bounded after the group as they ran out through the doors, away from the grunts who threw curses and threats at their backs. Xisuma felt a bit of happiness in his chest knowing that Garchomp finally must’ve trusted him, though he forced down his smile as they passed the frozen grunts at the entrance. The ice around them had barely melted.

Poetic justice, he thought.

“Follow me,” Xisuma told the Garchomp. “We’re getting you back to your child.”

~***~ 

“Were there any other Pokemon inside the warehouse?” was the first thing Impulse asked after Xisuma returned with the abducted Pokemon in his arms. He had waited on the porch while Impulse looked over the Garchomp and Jangmo-o for any signs of injury, and once Impulse declared them healthy and free to roam the backyard, he began inspecting Xisuma's arm.

Xisuma shook his head. “I don’t think so. The room where I found all of them was the only secured room in the building. The others didn’t seem to lead anywhere important or have the capacity to store Pokemon.” He suppressed a yawn. “Regardless, I’ve already contacted a few Officers to sweep through the warehouse for anything odd.”

“Those grunts are probably long gone by now, don’t you think?” Impulse asked.

“Most likely.” Maybe he should’ve just stormed the place and rounded up all the grunts before searching the entire building. Would that have been a better option? Or would that have allowed the grunts enough time to sneak off with the Jangmo-o while he battled through the warehouse? Xisuma couldn't be certain.

Being a Champion shouldn’t be so hard.

“Your arm seems okay,” Impulse said lightly. “It should heal sometime next week, assuming it isn't aggravated. I’m glad you heeded my advice and took it easy.”

Xisuma thought of the Lampent’s Shadow Ball and coughed. “Yeah…So, what are you going to do with Gible and the others?”

“Garchomp and Gible are completely fine, so they can be released into the wild whenever they want. I’ll talk to Professor Scar about the Jangmo-o, since they were probably taken from their family. Once they get a little older, we can find a good place to release them.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Xisuma said, smiling. “I really can’t thank you enough for your help, Impulse.”

“It’s nothing,” Impulse said. “It’s the right thing to do, you know?”

“Still, it is appreciated,” Xisuma said. He ran a thumb over his sleeve and felt a twitch of irritation from the wound. “Anyway, I should be heading out now. The League will probably want to know where I am. And I have to check in with Bdubs on that situation in the Fantasy District.”

(Sometime after Xisuma had called the Officers to search for Team Vex’s hideout, he had received a request to quell a dragon-type gone wild in the Fantasy District. He had assumed it wasn’t related to the current Team Vex situation with Garchomp, but he couldn’t be in two places at once, which is why he sent Bdubs to check on it for him. He was hoping that Bdubs would have updated him on it by now, but Bdubs was always an early sleeper. It was most likely he took care of it and immediately went to bed.)

“Oh, just stay the night, man,” Impulse said easily. “Your team must be hungry. I got a little extra food for them juust in case.” He hurried into the kitchen and produced six food bowls, all ready to go. Xisuma blinked.

“Just in case,” he echoed, but he was very amused.

“Just in case,” Impulse agreed, so without much debate Xisuma followed him outside and released his team of five: a Cryogonal, Beedrill, Polteageist, Mandibuzz, and Tyranitar. Impulse’s backyard was situated up against the slope of a bay, so the fenced-in backyard was barely spacious enough to fit Xisuma’s Pokemon (on top of the dragon-types). His Tyranitar, especially, took up more space than his other four Pokemon combined. When they all saw the food bowls, they cried together in one harmonious “thank you!” and began to dig into their meals.

Xisuma turned to thank Impulse again, but there was a look on his face like he wanted to say something. After a brief moment, Impulse spoke up. “Can I ask you something?”

“What’s up?”

“Your sixth Pokemon,” started Impulse. “You didn’t release it yesterday morning with the rest of your water team. And you’ve got an entirely different team of five Pokemon, but you still have your sixth tucked away.”

“Ah,” Xisuma said. “You’re curious about my ace.”

“I mean, it’s a pretty odd thing to do,” Impulse admitted with a shrug. “Your ace has got to be very incredible if you always keep it on you but never out of its ball. I mean, do you ever let it out?”

The PokeBall in question grew heavy on his belt, as if the Pokemon inside was nudging Xisuma to acknowledge it. It was no surprise that he had a sixth Pokemon—the Champion of the region always had a full party. However, it wasn’t common for Champions to keep their ace Pokemon a secret. Many of them wouldn’t hesitate to throw them out during non-Champion battles or for leisurely activities. But no Trainer had ever challenged Xisuma in the League and had gotten to see it. He preferred it that way.

“In private, I do,” Xisuma answered, trying to be as honest but discreet as possible. “It’s…well, showing off my ace to everybody could cause a lot of problems.”

“It might put people in danger,” Impulse guessed. Xisuma nodded. The nervousness practically slipped off of Impulse’s face. “Well, I won’t bother you too much about it. I can pack this serving for it so you can take it back with you to the League.”

As always, Impulse was thinking about the well-being of Pokemon—even a Champion’s. Xisuma frowned and looked around the backyard. His Pokemon were still chowing down while the refugee Pokemon ran around the perimeter. Compared to the restless events from a day ago, Xisuma also felt at peace there. And in the dead of night, surrounded by steep slopes where it would be hard for someone to snoop from a vantage point…well, maybe it wouldn’t be such a risk.

Impulse watched with amazement as Xisuma plucked his sixth PokeBall from the belt and tossed it up. It exploded into light, forming the shape of a Pokemon that Trainers could only dream of challenging.

“No. Way.”

Despite himself, Xisuma snorted.

~***~

Eventually, Bdubs called him early the next morning, confirming Xisuma’s suspicions that he promptly fell asleep after handling the request.

“Morning, Bdubs,” Xisuma greeted. Most of his smile was hidden behind his helmet, save for the crinkle of his eyes. “Did it go well?”

“Oh, it went fine. Great, even,” Bdubs said, waving his hand lazily. “It was a Salamence wreaking havoc on the forest. N-Not a problem, really. I handled it! But I found out why it was raging in the first place.” Bdubs shifted, lifting a strange, pronged device into the view of his communicator’s camera. “It was because of this thing. Some lunatic stabbed it into the bottom of Salamence’s hide. And they drew a weird caricature on it, too.” 

Xisuma’s eyes narrowed, trying to study the object. Despite the camera’s inability to capture a clear image, he could still make out the image Bdubs was talking about. A strange blue creature with a cheeky smile. Just like the one at the warehouse. A sinking feeling weighed in his chest. “I recognize the symbol.”

“You do?!” Bdubs exclaimed. “I mean, you do? What is it?”

“Team Vex’s new symbol,” Xisuma said. He balled his fists. “They’ve been…causing a lot of trouble recently.”

Just beyond the door and down the hall were four examples of Team Vex’s transgressions on innocent Pokemon. To think that they were also involved in orchestrating the Salamence’s rampage was infuriating. Xisuma could not—would not—let this slide in his region. 

“I’ve heard that name before,” Bdubs muttered. “Lots of young Trainers saying they got their Pokemon and items stolen. I thought they were just a bunch of losers!”

“Not anymore,” Xisuma cautioned. “I’m heading back to the League in a bit. We’ll discuss this Team Vex problem with the rest of the Elite Four.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Bdubs said. “You’ll be coming back soon though, right? Where are you?”

“Had to take care of something in the Industrial District,” Xisuma said. “Thank you for helping me out while I was away, my friend. I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime!” Bdubs beamed. “All I ask is that you get the band together already! We’re all itching to battle for the new order.”

“Keep your schedule clear and we’ll see,” Xisuma said with a wink.

“My schedule isn't the one that needs clearing,” Bdubs grumbled. “Anyway, I’ll see you when you get back.”

“See you then,” Xisuma said, and Bdubs ended the call. He set down his communicator on the bedside table and sighed. He could already tell that Team Vex was going to be a huge pain to deal with; evil organizations often plagued regions for years, and some of them never truly got disbanded. Hopefully, he would be able to stop Team Vex before they grew in number and power.

It would be really frustrating to have all of his days off end in disaster.

~***~

“One Trainer escaped with four of our Pokemon?”

“Yes. The grunts claim that he was very powerful. Only used two Pokemon to hold them off.”

“Which ones?”

“Uh…it was a…Cryogonal and a Beedrill.”

“A...Beedrill?”

“We’re still not sure how the Trainer found the base. Two grunts reported he had a Swampert, too, but not at the base.”

“I see. I think I get it now.” Cub rested his head on his elbow. “So the Champ is getting involved. That’s not good. It'll be tricky, but we’ll just have to be more careful in the future.” He nodded. “We can proceed as usual. That’ll be all for now.”

“Of course, Boss.”