Borne of Caution

"Everyone ready?" Lee asks, looking between Brendan, Marshtomp, Zinnia, and Shelgon.

In his and Brendan's hotel room, Lee gathered everyone for the 'lift investigation' about to take place. Just as Zinnia's Magma lieutenant had said two days ago, the cable car leading up to Mt Chimney went out of order today so they could transport cargo up to the volcano in peace, which unfortunately means Lee had to cancel on Mable today. Lee called his lawyer, Amanda, earlier this morning, and the two rehearsed the lines of legalese Lee intends to use if the cable car station tries to stonewall their efforts. Amanda played the role of the most stubborn, law-savvy busybody around, and after an hour of rehearsal, Lee feels that he has an answer to everything short of "Come back with a warrant." As both Lee and Zinnia expected, Courtney is absent and all her belongings in the room she and Zinnia were sharing are gone.

'Barely got a peep out of her in the weeks she's been with us. So much for trying to learn Magma's secrets…' Lee frowns.

On a stranger note, Brendan hasn't asked where the Magma admin is…

A nervous thrill runs down Lee's spine as thoughts of the upcoming conflict buzz within his head. His efforts to repair his old phone and replay the pokemon games contained within for a refresher on the events to come ended up being fruitless, as the electrical engineer he emailed never replied. 'Damn it all. Between all of us, it shouldn't be that big of a problem, but still… Maybe it doesn't matter too much. Canon is already off the rails as it is, so there's no telling what's going to happen. Unless…''

'Shush, Beloved,' Ninetales silently soothes beside him. 'You needn't worry. We can handle this.' Her confidence only eases Lee's nerves somewhat, rather than acting as the reassuring force they usually are.

'I hope you're right…'

"Ready as can be, I guess…" Brendan is the first to reply. The boy tries to meet Lee's eyes, but can't quite do it.

Zinnia is much more confident, a bright grin pulling her lips upward as she answers. "Hell yeah. Let's get going!"

Noting Brendan's unenthusiastic answer for later, Lee turns and slowly leads everyone to the cable car station.

The team makes their way through Lavaridge, parting the usual crowd in the streets with little issue. Several times someone tries to stop them to speak to Lee or Brendan, but each time the person is politely rebuffed, and the walk continues without issue. Once at the cable car station, the 'closed' sign is ignored in favor of Lee knocking on the glass door.

Within the building, a young-ish man with curly hair behind the front counter looks up from his computer and blinks at them. Realization passes the employee's face, and his face pinches as if he bit into a lemon, or perhaps an Aspear berry. Still, he reluctantly rises and walks to the door, pushing it open just enough to talk.

"I'm sorry, sir…" The man behind the glass door murmurs, his eyes shifting around. "I'm afraid the lift is closed today due to unforeseen maintenance needs. Please come back another day."

Before the door can be closed on them, Lee sticks his foot in the door sill, preventing it from closing all the way and rattling the glass when the cable car employee tries to slam it shut.

"That's what we're here about, actually," Lee ignores the smarting of his toes and plasters a polite smile on his face. "I'm Lee Henson, and I'm visiting today as a Pokemon League officer, as I've noticed a pattern of lift closures that have a worrying connotation of negligence, so in the interest of public well-being, I'm here to see what the League can do to help with that. May I come in and talk to you? Are you the manager on duty?"

The man's grimace only deepens. He looks over his own shoulder at the empty lobby behind him, but what he's looking for, Lee can only guess. Returning his attention to Lee, the man then looks down at Ninetales, who stares back impassively. Brendan, Zinnia, Shelgon, and Marshtomp are also afforded looks. "Sure…" The employee begins reluctantly. "Please come in. My manager isn't in, but I can talk for a while."

Holding open the door, the employee lets the group of six inside before he tersely retakes his place behind the front desk. "So uh…" the employee gulps. "What can I help you with?"

"Just some questions for now, and we'll see where it goes from there." Lee clears his throat and focuses on the lines Amanda drilled into him. "Mister Green, is it?" Lee asks, spying the nameplate reading "William Green" on the desk. "I want to let you know that due to the potential public welfare issues the lift's repeated closures represent, my partner Ninetales here will be acting as a psychic lie detector during our conversation today," he says, stroking the fox's neck with a hand.

Green stares at Ninetales, barely able to hide his dread. Beside Lee, Zinnia snorts derisively as she watches.

"Ninetales will not be reading your mind or looking at your memories, she will just be passively scanning any brainwaves you emit. You can decline to answer any question, but cooperation will be appreciated." Lee leaves out how silence for certain questions opens up the muddy waters of 'probable cause'.

'He's already nervous,' Ninetales narrows her eyes and carefully watches Green's twitching face.

'Of course he's nervous. We barged in and said 'hey, we're value-brand cops loaded down with dangerous pokemon and we're going to grill you on the obvious criminal activity here.' That would make anyone jittery.' Lee combs his fingers through the fur on the back of Ninetales' neck. 'I just hope he was bullied into it rather than going along willingly. I'd be glad to argue against any charges dropped on him if that's the case.'

"Do you have any questions before we begin?" Lee smiles at the man running the lift.

Green licks his lips, looking between everyone again. From the corner of his eye, Lee can see Zinnia's knowing, borderline menacing grin, and Brendan's professionally blank face.

"If you get an answer you don't like…" Green begins slowly. "What happens to me?"

"It all depends on the context. I didn't come here looking to arrest anyone, and I would prefer to keep it that way," Lee nods. "Honesty will go a long way. Any other questions?"

Green shakes his head.

"Okay then," Lee smiles once more, doing his best to seem reassuring. He takes his notebook from his bag and flips to a blank page, his pen ready. "Let's get started."

Ninetales' eyes glow red, and Green lets out a sigh, his face going pale.

"...And that's everything I know…" Green looks away, hugging his arms. Shivers run up and down his body, making his curly hair bounce.

Lee looks down to Ninetales, who lets the theatric glow of her eyes fade. 'As far as I am able to tell, he provided no falsehoods,' she says to Lee. 'He genuinely believes his life would be in danger if he and his co-workers did not cooperate with Magma.'

'The manager of the place accepting bribes is probably going to land them all in court, though…' Lee clicks his tongue as he signs his notes. "Thank you, Mister Green. One more question; is the lift actually not working? As in, is it currently unsafe to use?"

The exhausted-looking man before them shakes his head. "No, sir. It's working."

"Can you take us up?" Lee closes his notebook and takes a moment to tuck it away in his backpack. "I'd like to see what exactly is going on."

Wordlessly, Green rises from his chair and walks to the rear of the room, where a large set of doors labeled CABLE CAR ACCESS in capital letters is. Pushing one door open, he beckons Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, and the pokemon along.

"C'mon everyone," Lee looks back to his friends and nods towards the doors.

Leaning against the railing of the cable car platform and watching the next car slowly making its way down Mt. Chimney to pick them up, Brendan crosses his arms and pretends to inspect the scenery. In reality, he's watching Lee and Zinnia from the corner of his eye as his spirit begins to sink.

The older trainers have been standing close to each other the whole time, and Brendan's watchful eye remains locked on Zinnia's face. It takes him only a minute to spy uncomfortable twitches and her expression shifting for no reason. Meanwhile, Lee remains straight-faced. Beside him, Ninetales also remains stoic.

Lee must be using Ninetales' telepathy to talk to Zinnia privately, leaving Brendan in the dark again.

Something in Brendan's chest hurts at the thought. He thought they were all friends…

They knew, Brendan… Courtney's phantom voice tickles his ear. They knew, and they didn't tell you. We don't do such things within Magma, for we all must stand together. Without unity, we are lost.

The pain in his chest stings just a little more.

Part of Brendan chides the rest for being upset. Lee is a worrywart to the bone with firm ideas on what children should and should not do, no matter how much it conflicts with the culture of being a trainer.

Zinnia, on the other hand, is from a reclusive tribe. Being open just isn't in her nature. In the months he's known her, clarity is something she struggles to provide anyone.

Another part of Brendan is still sore and resentful, though. For all his strides forward and proving he can keep pace with them, Lee and Zinnia still treat him like a dumb child, someone who isn't equal to them. Courtney isn't like that. She understands who he is, and the scale of his ambitions.

"We're alike in more ways than one, Brendan," she said as she finished her story, finished coming clean and being honest. Her soft-looking lips twitch, pulling upward into a smile as beautiful as it is small. "In more ways than you know, and that's why I need your help."

Just thinking of the magenta-haired woman and her gentle smile turns Brendan's stomach into warm mush. He gulps and wets his suddenly dry mouth with his tongue, looking away from the scenery and over to Marshtomp.

His blue, amphibious partner stares back with a nervous light in his beady eyes. Twiddling his large fingers, Marshtomp lets out a short, inquiring croak, and Brendan doesn't need to read a single bit of Marshtomp's body language to guess what the pokemon is asking.

"You'll side with me, won't you?" Courtney's phantom voice asks, each word as enticing as a sugary morsel.

"I'm… Still thinking on it, pal…" Brendan's voice is so quiet, he can't even hear his own words. He doesn't want to risk Shelgon, or Arceus forbid, Ninetales hearing him. "No matter what, we'll stay friends, right?"

Marshtomp grimaces, but nods his head without hesitation.

Without warning, there is a poke to the back of Brendan's head, one that isn't physical, and he feels everything in his veins turn to ice. He turns and looks over to the fox pokemon standing by Lee's side, and eyes like blood-coated gems stare back.

Ninetales wants to talk… With telepathy.

Brendan flashes back to just a few days ago, just hours before Lee's Corvisquire unexpectedly returned to the group.

Wakefulness comes to Brendan in just a few breaths, an unpleasant, formless dream of the events to come fading and leaving him disoriented. Sitting up in his bed, Brendan grumbles as he looks at the nightstand clock, which reads just a few minutes before noon. He lays back down, staring at the ceiling as his mind buzzes aimlessly. Courtney, Magma, Lee, Zinnia, The League, his thoughts flit from one thing to another, too restless to stay on a single topic for long. He'd turn and talk about it to whichever of his pokemon was playing night-guard and sleeping in his bed that night… but all of his pokemon are in their balls. They've been avoiding Lee and Zinnia's pokemon ever since he asked them to keep Courtney's secret, and oftentimes the privacy of a pokeball was the only haven away from the rest of the group.

Raising his head again, he takes in the room.

Lee and his bag are gone, and the curtains are pulled shut, likely a favor from Lee. It makes Brendan frown, though. He thought he was hiding his mood better. Apparently not if the older trainer knows Brendan is sleeping in so late. It looks like he's alone in-'

Fwip!

The sound of paper being overturned makes Brendan's eyes shoot over to Lee's bed, and Brendan realizes he's not alone.

On Lee's bed is Ninetales, splaying out in a relaxed pose as she reads a thick book laid out on the covers. She looks up from her reading and levels him with an even look.

"Oh, uh…" Brendan hesitates. "Good morning, Ninetales…"

The Fire-type dips her head in greeting, then returns to her book.

Silence fills the air, and Brendan fidgets before finally throwing the covers off. He hastily steps over to his backpack at the foot of his bed, takes some clothes from his bag, and quickly walks to the bathroom to get cleaned up and change out of his night clothes.

After showering, brushing his teeth, and changing his clothes, Brendan exits the steamy bathroom and sits on the edge of his bed, sighing. He checks his phone, and finds only a text message from Lee saying the man is going out training and that Ninetales is taking a vacation day. There's nothing from Courtney.

For a few more minutes he sits, wondering what he should do today. Just as he begins debating the merits of reaching out to Courtney first, he feels something touch him. It tickles the back of his head, so he pulls his hat up a little and scratches the spot only for the itch to remain.

There is a snort from Lee's bed, so he looks over to see Ninetales with a single eyebrow raised. In the back of his head, Brendan feels the phantom finger poke once, twice, three times. Then again, one, two, and three times. Before the third repetition, everything clicks into place.

Ninetales is reaching out to him with telepathy. What could she have to say? Why reach out to him? Should he let her in? Will she know something is afoot if he declines?

"Uh…" Brendan swallows heavily. "I don't know how to let you in."

Ninetales blinks, and the tickle in the back of Brendan's head is gone like nothing ever happened. For a second, the boy wonders if Ninetales decided against telepathy, then he hears it, and a shiver runs down his spine.

'Are you well, Brendan? You've been sullen for several days.'

Brendan stiffens and shivers. The voice of a woman with an unplaceable accent echoes from everywhere yet nowhere, from the corners of the room and the depths of his skull. The words he understands, but it's as if they lack all inflection, and he cannot hope to assign a meaning beyond literal to each one. In a place Brendan cannot see, there is a great non-human something close to a part of himself that he cannot name, so close that it's borderline perverse, coating him in the sensation of grime despite his having just had a shower. Within him, something primal shivers, wracked by the fear of being devoured by something he can't defend himself against. It takes a moment for his thoughts to clear and realize that the great thing is Ninetales.

Lee lives with this awful feeling every day?

"I'm fine," Brendan congratulates himself for keeping the warble out of his voice. "Nothing wrong, honest."

Ninetales' eyes narrow. 'You're certain? Everyone has noticed you've not been yourself lately, and Lee asked me to check upon you should you still be in the doldrums. If you don't wish to speak to me, then please speak to someone else.'

How much can she see? Can she tell he's not being truthful? "I'm sure I'm fine! I'll let you, or Lee, or Zinnia, or Courtney, or heck, anyone else know." Brendan smiles, but he knows it's going to look off.

Ninetales flicks an ear with a displeased huff. 'Very well, I will not push you. Both Lee and Zinnia have noticed, however. They will eventually want to know.'

Brendan just nods, and the room falls back to silence. For a moment, Brendan debates asking Ninetales what she would do if someone she liked were… on a path in life contrary to hers. Her kind are supposed to be instinctually wise or something, right? Then he stops. Even if he were to get her to swear she wouldn't say a thing, she could just lie to him and tell Lee anyway.

'Oh no,' his eyes widen. 'Can she hear my thoughts right now?' His stomach drops, and he turns to stare at Ninetales once more. "Hey, uh, Ninetales? No dig at your integrity intended or anything, but with telepathy, how much can you see? Or hear?" He asks before his nerves can get the best of him.

If the implication offends her, the fox keeps it off her face and out of her 'voice' like an expert. In fact, her narrowed eyes soften 'I can see nothing you do not wish to show me, Brendan,' She assures him. 'My mind is touching yours only enough for you to hear me. I would never dream of taking anything from you by force.'

'Is that because it would upset Lee, or because of your own morals? I think I know the answer.' Brendan wonders to himself.

The phantom thing that is Ninetales pulls away from his brain quickly, as if recoiling. Brendan goes still for a moment, wondering if Ninetales heard his final, parting thought.

Brendan blinks and returns to the present when he feels another phantasmal poke to the back of his brain. Meeting Ninetales' eyes, he gulps and nods his head.

The pressure is gone, and once more Ninetales' maddening everywhere-at-once voice can be heard. 'Brendan, you're jittering. Is something wrong?'

'I'm fine,' To himself, the young trainer wonders how Ninetales can tell what thoughts are meant for her. Once more, a single exchange leaves him feeling vulnerable in a way he can't put into words, and he hates the feeling. 'Lee suspects this is some kind of criminal negligence case, right? This is why we've stayed for so long in Lavaridge?'

'Indeed.' Ninetales then pauses. 'Brendan, Lee is about to explain in more detail. I wanted to speak with you briefly, just to inform you that what you're going to hear might be shocking. Please understand that Zinnia, and particularly Lee, did not withhold the information from you out of a sense of maliciousness. Lee looks at age before all else in matters where danger might arise.'

'I know he does…' Brendan crosses his arms. 'Maybe he shouldn't, though.'

Ninetales frowns, but withdraws her telepathic tendril, leaving Brendan blessedly alone in his head once more.

As the cable car slows down and turns the bend to the boarding platform, Lee turns and looks his way. The older trainer's face screws itself up into guilt. "Hey, Brendan? There's something myself and Zinnia need to let you in on, something pertaining to this little investigation and… to Courtney, as well."

Beside Lee, Zinnia shifts in obvious discomfort, but is stilled by Shelgon briefly touching his shell to her leg.

'Now they come clean, huh?' Brendan frowns, but banishes his darkening thoughts. "Okay, what's up?"

Zinnia takes the stage from Lee by clearing her throat. "Lemme frame this whole thing real quick. You're probably going to be upset that we've been keeping things from you, and that's fine. You can be pissed, we're expecting it." With a sigh, Zinnia hooks her thumbs in her belt loops. "Brendan, we've been tracking Magma for a while now, and we're heading right into the fire, here. We're expecting to encounter them on the volcano-" she nods her head backwards, towards Mt Chimney "-and Lee wants to give you the chance to back out. One, because of the danger, and two…" The Dragon Tamer sighs and looks around awkwardly. "Two, because Lee and I heavily suspect Courtney is some kind of official within Magma."

"We suspected her from the beginning, which is why we agreed to let her travel with us," Lee continues as Ninetales leans into his side. "I know this might come off as a shock, and we're sorry for not telling you. I know you and Courtney are friends." Lee hides his hands in his jacket pockets, but Brendan can still see him twiddling his fingers nervously. "We still haven't found a motive for her joining, but we figured we'd keep her close anyway in an effort to get her to spill her secrets and to force Magma to operate with one less officer." Lee steps forward and lays a hand on Brendan's shoulder. "Since she vanished this morning, I can only assume she's up there."

'She is,' Brendan's phone contains a single new text message for today, one from Courtney begging him to make the right choice on the volcano. Conflict boils within the boy's gut as the realization that the point of no return is upon him. He looks up at Lee, then to Zinnia.

Two serious faces stare back, faces that want only the best for him. The frustration of being looked at like a child still burns inside of him, though.

Licking his lips, he looks up at the distant, smoky peak of Mt Chimney. Up there, a woman who makes him feel special and wanted awaits. She wishes for him to be by her side as they reshape the entire world.

He can pick only one side. He knows neither Lee and Zinnia nor Courtney will bend to the other.

Taking a deep breath, Brendan gives Lee a hard stare, his brown eyes locking with Lee's blue.

"I want to go along."

The ride up the cable car to the top of the volcano is quiet, with the silence enforced by the building anticipation of the conflict to come. After Zinnia sent Swablu ahead to check for guards at the landing point, the only real noise is the creak of the cable overhead pulling the car along, and the tapping of Brendan's foot.

Tap tap tap!

Everyone's eyes are drawn to the window, where Swablu hovers just outside.

Grinning, Zinnia opens the window just long enough for Swablu to flutter in before rolling it shut again. "Any advance guards?"

Landing on Zinnia's outstretched arm, Swablu shakes her head with a trill.

"Heh," Zinnia raises Swablu's pokeball. "Magma sure is full of themselves not guarding the way in. Thanks, girl. Return!"

Swablu lets out a pleased tweet, then is drawn back into her pokeball for a rest.

As the stopping platform at the very top of the volcano comes into view, Brendan observes his friends once more, because… Because today might be the last time he sees them.

I'm… more than I say I am. I'm on a mission, and… I need your help.

I need your help.

The youngest Birch withholds a shaking sigh and tries to will his heart to be still. He glances over to Marshtomp. "You ready, pal?"

Marshtomp looks down at the steel floor of the car, saying nothing.

"I'm not, either…" Brendan murmurs.

Once the car comes to a stop at the station on the volcano, Lee takes a deep breath and once more takes the lead. "Alright, everyone. Best foot forward, and be ready to fight."

"Be ready? I'm already ready for a scrap, Dolittle." Zinnia smiles and pats Shelgon on his metallic shell. "You aren't?"

"Not really," Lee says, pushing the lift's squeaky door open. "I'd rather be relaxing in my own private lab somewhere."

Lee and Ninetales step out first, followed by Zinnia and Shelgon. Sharing one last troubled look with each other, Brendan and Marshtomp bring up the rear. Immediately, the boy's face wrinkles as his eyes and nose are assaulted by hot air smelling of burning plastic and sulfur.

The 'closed' station atop Mt Chimney is, as far as Brendan can see, abandoned. Off to the side and near the high fence that keeps visitors away from a deadly tumble are a number of wooden crates, some open. There are a few food wrappers on the ground and an overturned trash can by the door leading into the volcano visitor's center, along with a large pavilion where picnic tables sit in the shade.

'The rest of the volcano isn't accessible from here,' Brendan looks at the visitor center to the left. Behind them is the lift, and to the right is a high wall of rock with a painted mural of various fire pokemon upon it. The wall extends into the distance and wraps around to the left, encompassing the pavilion and meeting the visitor center's wall, forming an enclosed square. 'So we've only got one way in, and one way out…' He eyeballs the double glass doors off to the left.

Walking forward as a group, the three trainers and their pokemon approach the visitor's center, stopping when someone pushes the door open.

Stepping out of the building is a man whose face is mostly covered by his red hood. On his red shirt is Team Magma's stylized M logo, and on the belt holding his gray pants up is a single pokeball. At the man's side is a Purrloin, a small, cat-like pokemon covered in creme and purple fur.

"Who the hell is using the lift?" The Magma grunt grumbles. "I thought we go-!" The Magma underling and his Purrloin freeze like a pair of Deerling caught in headlights when they spot Brendan, Lee, Zinnia, and the cadre of pokemon with them. The man's hand shoots to his side, where a radio is strapped. "Purrloin! Fake Out!" He cries, pointing at the group with his free hand.

A command for Marshtomp is on Brendan's lips, but he hesitates even as his partner's eyes bore into him.

"Shelgon, Rollout!" Zinnia counters in his place.

Before the grunt's Purrloin can get into position to attack, Shelgon rolls into a ball and flies across the cement ground like a runaway boulder, kicking up chunks of cement as he goes.

Purrloin can only widen his eyes before Shelgon slams into him with crushing force. There are a few cringe-inducing cracks, and the dull thud of Purrloin's head rebounding off of Shelgon before the poor cat is thrown away like an abused toy. He flies through the air for a long second, then lands on the concrete in a boneless heap, bouncing once. Purrloin coughs through battered lungs and tries to stand, but falls to his stomach and wheezes helplessly as Shelgon unrolls and looms over him.

"Shit shit shit!", the Magma grunt pulls his radio free and goes to raise it to his lips, but before he can depress the transmit button, the radio glows violet, then is ripped from his hand with such force that the man cries out and trips forward.

The radio flies over to hover in front of Ninetales, whose eyes glow the same color as the corona encasing the device. With a growl, she crushes it in her telekinetic grip, throwing sparks and littering the ground with shards of black plastic.

"Please don't resist-" Lee begins as the Magma grunt scrambles back to his feet and tries to run. Tries, being the keyword, because the red-clad man only gets a few steps before Shelgon throws himself into the grunt's path, making the man gasp and fall to his rear. He turns back to stare at the group in undisguised fear.

"Or do resist and make this fun," Zinnia grins a manic grin, one that promises violence. "C'mon, get up and run. Try your luck!" She takes a step forward, her hand grasping a pokeball. "I wanna see how far you'll get!"

The spooked grunt crawls backward, only to run into a glaring Shelgon and flinch.

"Zinnia, please," Lee puts a hand on her shoulder and pulls the tanned woman back. Lee gives the grunt a smile, and after pushing the disgruntled Zinnia back a bit, he steps forward in her place. "Sir, in my capacity as a Hoenn Lab Trainer, you're being placed under arrest at this time for suspicion of involvement with gang activity. Everything you say and do can and will be held against you in a court of law, so you have the right to remain silent if you wish. If you cooperate with us, though, I promise you I'll do everything I can to secure leniency for you." Despite his kind words, Ninetales still adds an air of menace to Lee's words just by standing next to him with her narrow-eyed leer.

Brendan has to wonder if Lee and Zinnia rehearsed this Good Cop, Bad Cop, bit.

The grunt doesn't resist when Lee steps forward and takes his arm, pulling the other man to his feet. Lee produces a pair of zip-cuffs from his pocket and cuffs the grunt's hand behind him, then takes the pokeball from his belt.

"Hey, wait!" The grunt twists in Lee's hold to look at the pokeball the scarred man seized. "What are you going to do to Purrloin? None of this was his fault, he was just following me!"

"I'm going to keep Purrloin with me for now," Lee calmly explains, returning the unconscious cat pokemon to his ball in a flash of red. Once Purrloin is returned, Lee holds down the pokeball's button to lock the ball, then shrinks it and drops it in his pocket. "Once this is all figured out, he'll be returned to you pending your trial and any resulting convictions." Lee's expression twists into distaste. "It's… more likely you'll be reunited faster if you cooperate," he says pointedly.

Brendan can't help but frown himself, looking at Ninetales as he does so. That seems like something she would say, not Lee.

The grunt's face falls, and his shoulders slump. "Okay…" He allows himself to be led over to the side of the building and sat down against some railing. Once sat, his current set of cuffs are cuffed to the railing so he can't escape.

After pulling the grunt's ID from his wallet, jotting a few things down, and asking a few questions, Lee gets to the meat of everything as Brendan and Zinnia stand by.

"Lawrence," Lee addresses the grunt by his name. In Lee's hands are his pen and notebook, the latest page of which is filled with the grunt's info. "You said you were the guard for the visitor center and the lift, right? You don't work in pairs or teams or anything?"

The grunt shakes his head. With his hood down, there is nothing hiding the miserable look on the youngish grunt's face. "No. The Admins want everything set up faster and lowered guards and patrols down to one man to free up workers. I'm covering both the visitor's office and the lift stop."

"What exactly are they working on?" Zinnia asks, leaning over the grunt with her hands on her hips. "With all the bogus closures, you have to have moved a lot of materials up here, right?"

"I don't know what they're working on," Lawrence denies. "I just know it's some big machine that dips down into the lava at the mouth of the volcano. It should be done today after they get the power source."

"Power source?" Brendan finally asks a question. Courtney didn't really fill him in on what was going on up here, only to make the right choice. "What's the power source?"

The grunt shrugs his shoulders as best he can while cuffed and sitting down. "I don't know. Some kind of meteorite filled with pokemon energy, I think? A team had to rough up some doctor named Cozmo to get him to adapt the machine in the volcano to use the meteorite. The Admins couldn't find a better power source, I guess?"

Brendan watches Lee's face when the scarred man's expression becomes forcefully neutral, tipping him off that Lee knows something about what's going on.

"Interesting," Lee murmurs, jotting another note down. "About how many people and pokemon are on this volcano operation?"

Again, the grunt shrugs. "Twenty? Twenty-two with Admins Tabitha and Courtney. Most of the guys only have one or two pokemon."

Zinnia hisses, and Lee gives Brendan a searching look.

Brendan looks away, not wanting to see how Lee and Zinnia regard him with pity. Marshtomp touches his elbow with a webbed hand in a silent show of support.

"Right, thank you…" Lee stands up straight, shoulders his bag, and stows away his notebook. "Stay here, Mister Lawrence. We'll be back."

The grunt is left as Lee takes the group a few paces away and gestures for a huddle.

"We could be looking at twenty to forty pokemon to fight, assuming a max of two per grunt, and that's not counting Courtney or this Tabitha character," Lee begins, giving Brendan and Zinnia hard looks. "Any suggestions on how to go about this?"

"We should have all of our pokemon ready from the get-go." Zinnia clicks her tongue and grabs her other three occupied pokeballs from her belt. "They'll probably try to pair off and hit us one on one, but if they're stupid, they might say to hell with it and try a dogpile. We should be ready for either, even if the latter is unlikely," she says, hitting the buttons on her pokeballs and enlarging them. She tosses the balls up, and all three pop open at the apex of their flight, depositing Swablu, Goomy, and Tyrunt at her feet.

Swablu trills out a neutral note, ready to go. Tyrunt snaps his jaws with a loud pop and hops from foot to foot, eager as can be. Goomy, meanwhile, just shrinks in on himself, quivering.

"Pair off? You really think there's any chance they'll play by any rules and fight one-to-one?" Lee asks, disbelief clear in his voice. He crosses his arms and shakes his head. "There's nothing stopping them."

'Lee always seems to expect the worst…' Brendan rolls his eyes.

Zinnia smirks, and it's a knowing one. "I forget you're still a novice in some things, Dolittle. This isn't a war or anything, so they aren't going to cross any lines that we won't. They know if they take desperate measures, we'll take desperate measures, and they have no way of knowing if our pokemon are more powerful than theirs. It's Pro Crook 101 to play it safe in battles unless you know for a fact they're weaker than you."

Lee hums to himself in thought. "So kind of like one of those hypothetical dilemmas you hear in school eh? Don't press the red button, because that genie won't go back into its bottle." He looks to the horizon with unseeing eyes for an uncomfortably long minute. "Is there any merit to non-lethally disabling the trainers themselves? I think I already know the answer, but…"

"That's the logical end of the desperate measures I was talking about," Zinnia mutters darkly. She looks up at the sky with something Brendan can't quite place in her red eyes. "Hurt the trainer, and what's stopping their enraged pokemon from returning the favor?" She asks.

Lee calmly nods like he expected nothing else. "Okay, let's make some final prep, then hop to it." He takes his pokeballs from his belt and tosses them up. Like Zinnia's, they snap open, and in flashes of light, Grovyle, Octillery, and Corvisquire are in position around him. Catching the falling pokeballs, Lee puts them back on his belt.

Grovyle and Octillery stand ready with little fanfare, looking towards Lee for instruction, while Corvisquire's beak is pulled back into a nasty, eager grin. The raven ruffles his feathers, and it sounds like steel rubbing on steel.

'It's my turn,' Brendan takes Mawile and Breloom's pokeballs in his hands. For a moment, he thinks about also taking Elektrike's, but stops short. 'Naw, he's too young.' He tosses the balls up, and both pop open. In flashes of white, Mawile and Breloom take form on either side of Marshtomp.

Both pokemon look up at him with open worry. Mawile's large, expressive eyes are already prickling with tears, and Breloom's tired face seems even more exhausted than usual.

Mawile steps forward, tenderly taking one of Brendan's hands in her tiny ones. She doesn't need to say a thing. Her disheartened face says more than words could anyway.

I'm… more than I say I am. I'm on a mission, and… I need your help.

I need your help.

Courtney's words echo in his skull again, and Brendan grits his teeth and pulls his hand away from Mawile's to ball it up in frustration.

He knows none of his pokemon agree with him.

"So, we're clear on formations and such?" Lee asks everyone, glancing over his shoulder to the visitor center doors. They need to move, and soon before someone in Magma notices something amiss.

The lift station atop Mt. Chimney is different from the one he remembers in either the games or the anime. In the anime, Lee swears the cable car had an indoor drop-off point, not an outdoor one. The pavilion and the location of the office are throwing him off as well. At least there wasn't a load of goons waiting for them…

The pokemon around the trio of humans give their confirmations to Lee's question with nods, yips, tweets, hisses, croaks, burbles, and other, single-syllable answers.

"Ready!" Zinnia smiles a smile that is perhaps a touch too eager.

Lee looks over to Brendan, who is lost in his thoughts for what seems like the tenth time today. The boy is staring not at him, but past him. "Hey, Brendan? Ready to go?"

Brendan blinks, coming back to reality. "Oh, uh…" He grins sheepishly and adjusts his hat. "Can I get that one more time?"

Lee resists the urge to sigh. Part of him wants to include Brendan, both because of the young Birch's ability as a trainer, and because of the guilt of lying to him, but it's clear the news of Courtney being a Magma member unbalanced him. 'I guess I can't blame him. First crushes are hard to overcome, and this is probably the worst way to do so…'

'He's been distracted all day, remember?' Ninetales says telepathically, replaying her own memory of Brendan's listlessness this morning for Lee. 'Perhaps it wasn't your revelation that is doing this?'

'Then what is doing it?' Lee grumbles then clears his throat. "If they all try to gang up on us, Octillery will hang back and snipe, with Goomy and Mawile as guards. Marshtomp, Shelgon, Tyrunt, and Breloom are going to be our linemen and stay in the front so we can keep the brawl contained on our terms, Corvi and Swablu will deal with fliers and help out below once they've got the sky under control, and Ninetales is going right into the thick of things to keep them disorganized. If Courtney or the other admin get involved, then Ninetales will break away from the main fight to hold them off. Once the grunts are cleaned up, everyone supports her. If things really start to go pear-shaped, Corvi will take off and get back up. Got it?"

At Lee's side, Corvisquire frowns and snaps his beak at his auxiliary role, but his ire dies near-instantly when Lee places a gentle hand on his head.

Brendan nods, but he still seems a little distracted if his wandering eyes are a reliable tell. "Got it."

"Okay…" Lee sighs and turns towards the visitor center, steeling his nerves. "We've gotta move fast, so let's go!" Lee throws the double doors open and heads inside, Ninetales only a single step behind him.

The large group of trainers and pokemon file into the office on Lee and Ninetales' heels (after Goomy hitches a ride on Shelgon's shell). They quickly march through the halls, and Lee silently laments that they aren't here for a day trip, as the exhibits regarding the pokemon of the volcano they pass look so enticing. Resolving to come back one day, Lee glances at a map on the wall they pass and hangs a right, leading everyone to the 'front' foyer of the office. Once the double glass doors leading out to the mouth of the volcano come into view, Lee holds a hand out behind him and stops the group.

Outside is a large, flat swathe of smoothed-over rock, serving as a courtyard of sorts before the building. From the doors, everyone is given a view of several smaller buildings that have also been erected on the mountain, such as a small eatery, another office, a gift shop, and an open shed with several volcanic rock exhibits on display, to name the prominent ones. Along those buildings, a number of Magma members mill about, either moving large crates on dollies, idly playing on their phones or with their pokemon, or in the case of one poor man, getting yelled at by a larger grunt. What the smaller, red-wearing man is getting smoked about is a mystery since the argument is too far away to hear.

'Nine?' Lee barely needs to ask, as he feels Ninetales stretching her mind out already, covering damn near the entire volcano.

'Courtney is out there,' the fox at his side grimly confirms. 'Near the mouth of the volcano, if the unearthly mass of Fire TE I sense is the lava pool. Besides her, there are twenty-three other people and seven loose pokemon.'

Lee takes one deep breath and screws his eyes shut, sending a prayer to God, Jesus, Arceus, Mew, hell, even Giratina is fine. Whoever is listening is good enough.

"C'mon, Dolittle!" Zinnia hisses, drawing Lee's attention to her. At Zinnia's feet, Tyrunt is practically slathering at the mouth for the fight to come, and Zinnia has her foot stomped on one of little dino's own to keep him from lumbering into the fray. "Are we doing this or what?"

With a grunt, Lee looks over his pokemon.

Ninetales smiles reassuringly, and Lee can feel the phantom sensation of hellfire in his chest, which is surely bleeding over from his fox. She gently noses his side. 'Ready when you are.'

Grovyle's leaves are already humming with danger and a glowing, razor edge. The gecko lightly bounces on his feet and gives Lee a simple nod, needing to say nothing else.

Octillery is laser-focused, his eyes locked forward on the nearest Magma goon with deadly-serious intent. Already, Lee can see the octopus thinking ten steps ahead.

Corvisquire's eyes gleam with unfettered violence and the desire to prove himself with it. He looks up at Lee, almost begging for the chance with his gaze alone.

Letting out his bated breath, Lee sets his face into as authoritative a scowl as he can. "Go in fast, demand they surrender, and respond quickly to the ones who don't. If they freak out, take formation and give them hell. Got it?" Without waiting for a reply from his friends, Lee steps forward and throws the doors between them and Team Magma open.

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