With the start of the Wallace Cup fast approaching, the Valor Lakefront was turning into more of a tourist destination than it already was. Small colorful stalls were set up in rows, vendors shouting their menus at passersby, preparing festival foods both native to Sinnoh and those that were more common in Hoenn. Ash found himself munching on a Lavaridge cookie as he walked with May, Pikachu and Glaceon leading them down the path as they inspected all the new and exciting smells.

  “Man, I wish these were easier to get your hands on here in Sinnoh,” he lamented as he took the last bite.

  May nodded as she swallowed some of her crepe. “Tell me about it! The food in Johto is nice and all, but it really makes me miss the stuff back home, you know?”

  “I definitely do!”

  It was nice, being able to fall into old times like this, even if only temporarily. It hadn’t been that long since he had parted ways with May, not in the grand scheme of things, but the time he’d spent recently with only Brock once more had put him in a bit of a… sentimental mood.

  “So, Ash…” May started, pulling him out of those thoughts, “are you going to be participating? You might be a little rusty compared to me, but you could probably make a good showing!”

  Ash hummed defiantly. “I’ll have you know there’s nothing rusty about us! Aipom and I took on a contest here in Sinnoh.”

  May gave him a knowing smirk. “And did you win?”

  “Well… no. But still! I think we were pretty awesome!”

  May laughed, playfully slapping his arm. “I’m sure you were! But you have to do better than that! How am I supposed to show my face to people if the person I share the Terracotta Medal with is out here losing small time contests?”

  Ash laughed right back. “Last I checked, the Terracotta Town contest was a small time contest as well! Or have the official ones started letting you split ribbons?”

  He reached into his bag, pulling out his half of the medal, and found that May had the same thought. The two halves became part of a whole for the first time since they’d last seen each other, the metal glinting in the sun’s light.

  “I suppose you're right,” May replied wistfully. “But this is my good luck charm. It’s a big deal to me, even if it’s not to most people.”

  That put a smile on Ash’s face. Even with all the hardships they’d gone through together, all the situations that she’d found herself stuck in because of him…. The Millennium Festival, Larousse, Rota, the Sea Temple…. No matter what had come their way, the friendship they’d made had held firm.

  The two halves of the medal were put away as they weaved through the growing crowds, and Ash gave her original question some more thought. He wasn’t necessarily against participating, but this was a contest and given that they’d run into Dawn back in Veilstone….

  He wasn’t quite sure he wanted to risk running up against her.

  “I think we’ll pass on the Wallace Cup.”

  She gave him a look he couldn’t quite decipher before letting out a huff. “Lame. Guess that just makes it easier for me to win, though!”

  “Don’t go getting cocky,” Ash warned her. “There are some pretty good trainers here in Sinnoh.”

  “But can they stand up to me? I don’t know if you’ve heard, but apparently they’ve started calling me the ‘Princess of Hoenn’,” she informed him with a smirk.

  Ash gave her a dubious look. “...seriously?”

  She squawked. “Don’t give me that! I’m totally princess material, aren’t I?!”

  “Well….”

  Scoffing, she turned away to pout. “We’ll see if you still have that attitude once you see me perform.”

  Ash knew better than to point out the fact that Pikachu and Glaceon were looking back and snickering at her.

  Eventually she turned back to him with a put upon, haughty expression. “Well, fine then. If you can’t give royalty like me the respect she deserves, then I won’t tell you about my plans for the Wallace Cup! Instead, you can tell me what you’ve been up to recently. Are Team Rocket still following you around?”

  Something about the topic change felt a little strange to him, but Ash didn’t question it. “Eh… kind of? They didn’t really bother us for a good while because they were scared of a Pokemon I was travelling with, but I think they’re back to their usual attempts at stealing Pikachu.”

  She laughed. “Scared of a Pokemon? Some thieves they are!”

  He nodded along. “Yeah, they’re nothing compared to….” he hesitated, not wanting to bring the mood down. But it’d been bothering him. May understood things. “Well…. A while back there was this situation… and just recently too, I ran into her again…”

  May grimaced. “When you say situation….”

  “No! No, not like that, I just mean… well, maybe I should start from the beginning. See, there’s this lady who calls herself ‘Hunter J’, and she seems to be everything Team Rocket wishes they were. Just the other day there was this thing with a Riolu, and I had forgotten about just how strong her Drapion was….”

  On and on he went, some of the tension leaving him as an old friend took up some of his burden.

  “We will have to look into him.” The first Shadow stated as they made their way towards the Valor lakefront, forest and dirt path opening up a bit as buildings and stone popped up in the distance.

  “His knowledge base is concerning….” Nobody else was visible on the path from their current location, making the Shadows presence acceptable in their own eyes.

  “It may not be as concerning as one might initially suspect,” the last Shadow suggested. “I’ve heard rumors that in order to keep his place as both a top competitor in battles and contests, much of his free time is spent researching potential opponents. Something about being blindsided by an upstart early into his career?”

  “Whatever the case, the dude is creepy. I don’ trust ‘im at all,” Mimikyu added on, causing N to nod.

  “Mimikyu is right. Research him regardless.”

  The triad bowed their heads to him. “It shall be done.”

  Something about Wallace didn’t sit right with N, even beyond the whole thing where he knew way too much about N and his travelling companions. This was the sort of thing that needed to be taken seriously. If his attempts to research them somehow led him to uncovering the truth about Plasma…. Well, it didn’t seem likely, but anything was possible and that meant N would need to prepare for it.

  Really, he should look into the man and start the counterintelligence as soon as possible. If he could quell certain suspicions immediately, before any of this would need to be reported back to Ghetsis, then that would be for the best.

  “Come ooooooooon! I wanna perform!”

  …which was why he was giving Mawile’s request much more consideration than he should.

  Wallace had invited them to check out the event. And given that it was named after him, it would only make sense for him to be around for the whole thing. That would give ample opportunity for observation.

  “Um, Mawile? I really think you should stop….” Marowak shyly suggested, only to be ignored.

  There was only so much that could be done from the crowds, though. And risking the Shadows getting caught in the act of spying seemed foolish given that there was an… alternative.

  If it was Wallace’s event, then wouldn’t it make sense for competitors to interact with him behind the scenes?

  “Rotom does not understand your sudden obsession. You did not know what contests were mere minutes ago.”

  “It sounds fun! And I’m super cute, so I’d win!”

  And yet, N was still finding the idea of participating extremely hard to stomach even knowing that. Even knowing how badly Mawile seemed to want it.

  Could he compromise his ideals just to spy on the enemy? He didn’t think so. What other options were there though, when he had set off so many red flags?

  “Ya do realize that bein’ in a contest means actually listenin’ to yer trainer instead of throwin’ a fit, right? An’ ya don’ even ‘ave one of those.”

  “I can listen! Besides, one of you could be my human for this, right?”

  One of them. He felt a surge of guilt at the idea of pawning off this responsibility, but…

  N took a deep breath to steady himself before looking at his human companions. “Lucas, would you be willing to act as Mawile’s trainer for the contest?”

  Lucas stopped walking. He turned to give N a look that clearly asked “Are you serious?” without even bothering to pull out a pen and write 本当に.

  There was a beat.

  And then Lucas pulled his bike out of his bag, not looking back at all as he sped off ahead of them.

  “What sort of reaction is that?!” Mawile complained. “Come back here and contest me!”

  “...contest you?” Rotom buzzed. “Rotom is certain you’re not making grammatical sense.”

  “I don’t think she cares…” Marowak lamented.

  Mimikyu ignored the peanut gallery. “....uh, N, ol’ buddy ol’ pal o’ mine… wanna explain yer thought process there? ‘Cuz I’m a bit lost…”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Ah. Right. That must have seemed rather sudden and out of place to the rest of them.

  “I’m thinking that if someone participates as a contestant, they’ll have more chances to see what Wallace is really like. For obvious reasons I’m hesitant to do it myself, and I figured that Lucas would make for a good spy given that he won’t let something slip.” You couldn’t say something stupid and give yourself away if you didn’t say anything at all.

  Mimikyu hummed. “I s’pose there’s merit ta that idea, but I ain’ sure yer really gonna get that much more doin’ that than ya would jus’ watchin’ from the stands. Do ya really think he’ll let ‘is guard down jus’ cause he’s ‘round other coordinators?”

  N sighed. “Perhaps not, but I thought it might be worth a shot.” Left unsaid was that it would shut Mawile up for a little while. “I guess that idea is a bust, though. We’ll have to find other ways to research him.”

  A shadow cleared his throat. “Not… necessarily….”

  Rotom flitted in front of the man’s face. “Are you suggesting that you’ll make your presence known? Rotom thought better of your operational security….”

  The Shadow shook his head. “The presence of us Shadows will not be revealed. However, there is nothing stopping one of us from participating as a random no name trainer. Granted, Mawile would have to control herself so as to not give away the fact that she is the one travelling with us. There are many Mawile in the world, who is to say that there are not two in the area right now?”

  Mawile’s eyes lit up. “Really?! Yes! I’ll do it! Whatever it takes!” She jumped up and down, her maw bouncing with her before she suddenly came to a stop. “Um, I mean…. Good! I’m just a normal, totally not awesome Mawile! Don’t mind me!”

  “...you need to work on that…” Marowak pointed out, causing her to pout, but not refute the claim.

  Mimikyu let out two shadow tendrils that shaped themselves into claws that he used to frame her. “Eh… maybe if we dress ‘er up a bit? If we focus less on ‘er cutesy attitude ‘n’ lean into the, er… other aspects of her appearance, she could probably pass for another Mawile, even ta ‘is eyes….”

  “But I need to be cute!” Mawile demanded.

  “Do ya wanna be in this thing or not?”

  She went back to pouting, but didn’t say no.

  N was focused on something else, though. “If you think you can pull it off, then I won’t say no to you trying my idea out, but…” he eyed the Triad up and down. “When you say no name trainer… are you planning to go as your civilian identity?”

  The Shadow closest to him gave him a flat look. “Lord N, we are fully capable of disguising ourselves. We pull this look off, don’t we? Just give us a bit of time, and you won’t even be able to pick us out of a crowd.”

  “...well that should be interestin’....” Mimikyu muttered.

  N sighed. He would believe it when he saw it. And if they didn’t manage to fool him, he’d just call the whole thing off.

  Lucas knew better than to involve himself in any of that mess. What was N thinking? The weirdo wanted him to enter Mawile? No way. Contests weren’t really his thing anyway, and with the rest of the group distracted with whatever N’s ridiculous plan was… well, it made a perfect excuse for more treasure hunting, didn’t it?

  So he hopped off his bike only after reaching the lakefront, meandering through food stalls, hotel rooms, and hordes of people in the area for the contest, keeping an eye on the ground so he could pick up any items that had been misplaced.

  That’s when he noticed a blonde woman resting her head against the door to a higher end suite, her fists balled in frustration. “What am I to do? I’ve gone and dropped my Suite Key somewhere again…” She rummaged through her purse in what he supposed was another attempt to find a key that wasn’t there. She had a bit of an accent… Hoenn, maybe? “The hotel people won’t be happy with me… I’m sure I had it when I left the reception counter earlier!”

  The reception counter? Lucas wasn’t typically the sort to go around returning the items he found, but even he would feel a bit bad about finding something that someone was actively looking for and keeping it. He made a mental note to make his way back here if he stumbled upon a key. It wasn’t like he’d ever have a use for it anyway.

  Much to his surprise though, he found a whole lot of nothing as he searched and searched and searched. Were all the people here for the contest taking the treasures before he could get to them? That was so rude of them!

  And though he could never let N know that it had happened at all, even his attempts to search inside the hotel suites didn’t turn up much. A weird clown gave him a TM for Trick Room, but the only other interesting encounter he had was some old guy who introduced him as the game director, refused to specify which game he directed, and asked to see his Pokedex once it was filled up. Maybe he did Wii games or something? Lucas wondered if he’d ever played one of the guy’s games. Or maybe the old guy was just crazy….

  “Now, Whirlpool!”

  Lucas paused as some water splashed out from an alleyway he was passing by. That voice had sounded familiar, hadn’t it? He took a risk and stepped into the splash zone.

  Before him was a familiar head of blue hair covered by a white beanie. A Piplup, Buneary, and Pachirisu were gathered around her, with the Water type looking sheepish and the other two having water dripping from their fur.

  “Pachi-pachi!” The Electric type’s cheeks sparked menacingly.

  “Bun!” The Normal type scolded.

  “Piplup didn’t mean it!” Dawn pleaded with them as her starter hid behind her legs, her own outfit looking a bit damp. “Come on, we have to get this figured out! I need everyone to bring their best for this contest, so would–”

  That’s when she seemed to notice him.

  “Lucas?” she blinked. “What are you doing here?”

  He shrugged.

  She frowned. “Don’t tell me you’re participating in the Wallace Cup too.”

  Lucas grimaced, shaking his head no.

  “Bun!”

  “Oh! Um, right, sorry Lucas but I don’t have time to chat! I really need to get this performance down, so….” She smiled at him in that awkward sort of way where you want someone to leave but don’t want to explicitly kick them out.

  Given the state of her and her team, though, it seemed she really did need that time to practice.

  Lucas rolled his eyes as he walked away. People cared way too much about this contest stuff. Though maybe… if there wasn’t any treasure out here, maybe he could find some if he searched the contest hall? It might not turn up much but it could be worth a shot…

  It was as he pondered that possibility that he stepped on something that definitely wasn’t the smooth brick of the hotel’s lakefront property. He took his foot off of it, hoping that he hadn’t just broken something valuable…. Only to find that it wasn’t much of a treasure at all. It was a key. That blonde lady earlier had been looking for a key wasn’t she? And he supposed he was near the reception area, like she mentioned. He should probably bring this to her.

  …or he could keep it….

  Shaking his head, Lucas picked it up. He could return a single lost item. It was the right thing to do. He could totally handle that.

  Right?

  Upon reaching Valor Lakefront, the Shadow Triad had taken Mawile with them as they went to undergo their visual transformations.

  That left N, Mimikyu, Rotom, and Marowak to explore the festivities, passing by stalls and through throngs of strangers.

  “This is a lot of people…” Marowak nervously pointed out.

  “Bzzrt. You’ve never been to a city before, have you?” Rotom asked.

  “Well, no. I was always in the forest, so….”

  “Ya get used to it eventually,” Mimikyu reassured.

  N wasn’t so sure of that though. He could feel the cruel, greedy stares all around them. People were bad enough with pokemon they knew, but an eclectic group like this? Rotom was seemingly native to Sinnoh, but few had truly seemed to recognize the Ghost so far. That wasn’t even getting into the odd yet vaguely familiar appearances of the other two.

  And yet, even with all the eyes on his friends, he got the odd feeling that he was being watched. It unsettled him. Had Wallace decided to come for him now that Lucas was gone? If he truly had been doing his research, then he’d know the younger boy was the muscle of the group if push came to shove. That would be just like the League…

  It wasn’t turquoise hair that caught his attention, though. Instead, it was lavender.

  Dressed in an Alolan style shirt and some khaki shorts, James had hidden his face with some large sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat. N tensed upon recognizing him, but didn’t cause a scene immediately.

  “Excuse me young man!” James called out as he approached, as if he weren’t a member of a criminal organization. “Would you and your Pokemon mind helping me for a minute? You see I’ve dropped something important and I could really use some extra eyes trying to find it!”

  N wasn’t quite sure of what to do. Did James think they didn’t recognize him? Was he just trying to play it cool in case others were watching?

  Mimikyu hummed on his shoulder. “I think it wouldn’ hurt ta ‘ave a chat with ‘em, N. They were the only other ones who got outta the Lucian thing without havin’ their memories affected after all.”

  “Their memories…?” Marowak half inquired, but was shut down by a harsh tone from Rotom.

  “...lead the way,” N eventually replied.

  Between buildings and stalls, James led them through a veritable maze. N was certain they passed some areas more than once, but he didn’t say anything about it. Eventually, they stopped behind one of the many food stalls, where for some reason Jessie was serving customers? Before he could question it, she saw her last customer off and pulled some fabric over the front to hide them from view.

  He must have been making a face, because the first thing Jessie did was frown at him and sternly demand “Don’t. Ask.”

  N frowned. “Can I at least ask why you’ve dragged me over here?”

  Meowth popped out from beneath a table. “Cuz we have things to discuss!”

  Marowak jumped back in fright, drawing the Rockets’ attention to him.

  “Is your Marowak sick?” Jessie asked.

  James squinted. “No…. no, I’ve seen this before. It’s the Alolan variant, right?”

  “Seems kind of familiar, though…” Meowth pointed out.

  Marowak peeked around N’s legs, his voice carrying more resentment than N thought him capable of. “Aren’t these the jerks who tried to kidnap my friends in the forest?”

  Meowth paled. “Wait, you’re–?!” He laughed awkwardly. “That’s all water under the bridge now, isn’t it? We didn’t mean nothing by it, truly!”

  Rotom let out an electronic laugh. “Rotom doesn’t know…. This might be a story worth hearing!”

  Jessie practically growled. “Look, I’m already in a bad mood over having to give up Dustox, so can we move this along?”

  N frowned. “You gave up your Dustox?”

  “I wasn’t about to get in the way of true love!”

  “She left for Mount Coronet recently during the Dustox Crossing…” James hesitantly added.

  “Don’t go poking at that Beedrill’s nest!” Meowth suggested.

  N felt like he only had more questions now, but he wasn’t going to push any further. “So what do you actually want with us, then?”

  The Rockets shared a look, and after a moment, James took over again. “We’ve been hoping to run into you. I know we’ve had our… differences, but after what happened in Veilstone, I think you can appreciate the fact that it’d be better if we work together?”

  N frowned. “You’re Team Rocket. Working together against Galactic once doesn’t mean I’m suddenly okay with anything else you do.”

  “As if we want to work with a twerp!” Jessie hissed. “But sometimes we have to set aside our differences for the greater good!”

  “And you think I should just believe a bunch of scumbags like you?” N asked incredulously.

  “Just hear ‘em out, N. They ‘ave a point.”

  N frowned at the fae on his shoulder. In N’s eyes, Mimikyu’s opinion on Team Rocket was very questionable. And yet….

  They seemed to genuinely care about Pokemon. Jessie had apparently just released a Pokemon she cared deeply about so it could be free in the wild, if he was understanding them correctly.

  “What exactly are you proposing?”

  He felt Marowak stiffen against his leg, but the Fire type said nothing.

  “What we’re proposing is us against the League and Galactic!” Meowth suggested. “Or at least that Lucian guy and Galactic. You can’t tell me that him siding with those bozos after all of that isn’t suspicious beyond belief! We can hate each other on everything else, but we have a common enemy!”

  That was certainly an idea. He wasn’t sure that he trusted the Rockets as far as he could throw them, but he trusted Lucian and Galactic even less after Veilstone…

  He sighed. It really would be best to have a Shadow for this, but he was certain they could set up another meeting later.

  “Fine then. But we need to discuss exactly what this means. And given your dramatic exit from Veilstone, we need to fill you in on something more disturbing about Lucian. Are you familiar with any techniques more advanced than basic Hypnosis?”

  Hotel Grand Lake is cruel for having so many items available and in plain sight but only accessible if you have Rock Climb.

  As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)