"Stop right there! Or we will use force!"
A voice boomed from a loudhailer. Two Swellow and a Skarmory streaked over Auron and the others' heads, arrowing after the Water—Shuihua Team grunts skimming the waves.
"Dive."
The leader threw a look back, unbothered, and gave the order.
At once, Blastoise and Dewgong slipped beneath the surface. The ocean swallowed them; not even a ripple of their wake remained.
"Heh. As expected of the Shuihua Team—their escape work at sea really is top-tier."
The middle-aged man riding Skarmory scanned the foaming swells, saw no trace of the fugitives, and spoke with a touch of contempt.
"Withdraw."
With a cold snort, he banked Skarmory and led his unit back toward the beach.
On Auron's side, just as the Skarmory and Swellow had whipped over them, two policewomen arrived astride Luxray. After running through the usual procedures, the officers stopped before Auron's group.
"The Shuihua Team's primary target was you, correct?"
"That's right. They were after us because of these two Shiny Charmander."
"Two Shiny Charmander? No wonder they chased you this far."
While Auron was answering, the Skarmory touched down. The middle-aged man swung off its back, and the policewomen snapped to attention.
"Sir, it's confirmed—the two Shiny Charmander were the Shuihua Team's main objective this time. However—"
"The Shuihua Team doesn't need Charmander themselves," the man cut her off with a wave, looking from the officers to Auron as if explaining to both at once. "But their long-time rivals, the Huoyan Team, would be drooling over them. If Shuihua got their hands on these two Shiny Charmander, they could trade them to Huoyan for a pile of good stuff."
He let his hand fall, then gave Auron, the Snorlax looming behind him, and the Crobat hovering at his shoulder a quick once-over. A faint smile tugged at his mouth.
"Still, you kids did great—held out against a Shuihua Team squad until we arrived. Not bad at all. You've got a future."
"You also got here really fast," Auron said modestly. "Otherwise, I don't think we could've kept it up. That said… the ones they sent didn't feel all that strong. And it was just three of them. Uh, they looked pretty young."
"Young?" the man echoed.
"Yeah—young. Couldn't read the leader's face, but going by his voice, he sounded young too."
"Heh. No wonder," the man sneered softly.
He didn't elaborate. Instead, he turned back to Auron. "We've got the details we need. Thanks for the cooperation. But stay on your guard. The Shuihua Team won't let this slide so easily. If anything happens, call our emergency line at ***** right away. We'll deploy immediately."
"Got it."
"Good. Keep it up—the future's yours."
He clapped Auron on the shoulder with a smile, offered a few words of encouragement, then vaulted back onto Skarmory and lifted into the sky.
"Whew—"
Only after the officers had all departed did everyone really exhale.
"Come on, it wasn't that scary," Auron said, amused. "And you, Jace—your aunt's a cop. What are you afraid of?"
Everyone rolled their eyes in unison. Jace Rowan huffed, "We've been good kids our whole lives. We've never seen a scene like that. And my aunt doesn't talk to me like that."
Auron's grin widened. "Good kids? You dragged me to a blacked-out net café when we were nine because you 'wanted to see what it was like.' Then at twelve, it was a bar—again 'just to see what it was like.' And most importantly, when you were seven—mmph, mmph!"
He didn't get to finish. Jace, mortified, lunged forward and clapped a hand over his mouth.
The others whooped.
"Let him finish! Why're you muzzling him?"
The fuss popped the tension like a bubble.
Even so, after what had just happened, no one felt much like playing anymore. The swing from adrenaline to relief left them all a bit wrung out. The fun had dulled.
Before five o'clock, they called it early and headed back to the hotel.
They changed into their everyday clothes, grabbed a quick bite together, and then split up to their rooms.
Back in his room, Auron called his dad. After telling them how the day had gone, his mom was beside herself with worry.
"No. Just come home for now. You can always go again later, can't you?"
Auron angled the camera and pulled a face. "Aw, Mom—there's no guarantee they'll even come back. We've only been here a day and a half. Going home now would be such a waste."
He knew his mother too well. When he was little and she took him to the park, after a short while she'd say, "It's close by anyway. We can come again anytime."
He believed her, went home with her—and then, the next weekend, when he said he wanted to go to the park, his mom changed tunes:
"All you think about is playing. Did you finish your homework?"
"Finished."
Mom: embarrassed-and-angry.jpg
"If you're finished, shouldn't you preview next week's work? Look at Jace…"
So this time, Auron wasn't falling for it. Sure, now that he was in university his schedule was his own—but it wasn't the same as the carefree break right after the college entrance exams, when he could play without a care in the world.
"Mom, how about this—why don't you transfer Dad's Gengar to me? I'll take him to the seaside too. And he can watch my back, right?"
Grinning, Auron pitched his plan to the camera.
His dad pushed his face into frame, teasing, "So that's why you called, kid—eyeing my Gengar as a bodyguard."
"Heh-heh."
"Alright. I'll send him over in the morning. The hotel's safe enough, right?"
"Yeah. We're right next to the police station."
"Good. I'll transfer him to you tomorrow, then. Does the hotel have a transfer terminal?"
Auron chuckled. "It does. It does."
"Haha. Came prepared, did you?"
"Heh-heh. Safety first."
…
The night passed without incident. Early the next morning—
Auron got his dad's call and headed for the hotel's Pokémon Transfer Device.
"Hm?"
"Hm?"
The moment he stepped inside, he ran into Tim Wynn. Both of them blinked. Tim glanced at the phone in Auron's hand, then at his own, and gave a wry smile.
"Your family's sending you a Pokémon too?"
Auron grinned. "Nope. I asked them to."
Tim's family butler completed the transfer in short order. The Poké Ball that arrived belonged to a stately, imposing Empoleon.
"My dad figured we're by the sea, so he sent me a Water-type," Tim explained. "He couldn't find a suitable Ghost-type on short notice."
"My dad's sending me his Gengar," Auron said. "Honestly, I thought Gengar alone would be enough to keep us safe. But now that you've got an Empoleon on top of that, our safety margin just went way up."
As he spoke, the door pushed open again—Youyu You and Hanling Yin stepped in.
They traded looks, all four of them caught mid-step.
Auron laughed. "Give it another minute and Serena Elm and Jace are going to walk in too."
He had no sooner said it than Serena Elm came in.
Everyone cracked up. "All that's left is Jace."
A short while later, right as Auron finished receiving Gengar's transfer, the door swung open again. Jace Rowan stepped in.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Jace: confused.jpg
…Emmm… can't get the chapter title to upload…
(End of chapter)