"Ten minutes!" Blue yelled as the elevator door closed, both her and Green disappearing downwards.

Hearing the time update, I frantically ran out of my room, then paused to pat down my hair. The recent humidity had made me feel inclined to let ChuChu just fry off the growing locks.

Before I could get to 7C, the room where we now held meetings for the case, I noticed Red slumped with his back against his door.

"Red!" I exclaimed, then bit my tongue to quieten down,"Are you okay?"

This was our first time alone together since that incident. Not that it mattered anymore, our priorities were different.

He looked up at me with an unreadable expression, as if there were screws still turning in his mind. "I don't know."

"It's your entire situation with Rose, isn't it?" I sat down beside him and looked at the hurt scarring his face.

"I just feel horrible about it. None of this would have happened if I hadn't encouraged her to join the DAPP."

"That's wrong, and you know it." I frowned, and peered at his face, "You can't blame yourself for her actions, that's her free will at the end of the day. Besides, you're not psychic, and I'm sure things were better when you first dated her."

"That's true," I felt a mixture of relief and jealousy as Red broke into a small smile, "We made quite the pair when it came to battling and our dates were always fun."

We were silent for a few long seconds, but then he turned to meet my eyes, "I still feel like part of the problem was me, I could've been the trigger to all her anger. What's worse is that I actually cared so much about her."

"I know you're not happy about the situation," I sighed, "but what else could you do if she was cheating?"

He paused, then nodded in agreement, "You're right. I just can't believe the extent of her destruction. All those innocent Pokémon, they're not little chess pieces for her to use, they had lives."

I could feel the recurring twinge of pain in my chest arrive at the mention of casualties.

"And your uncle for Arceus' sake," Red now turned to face me with a scowl, "How the hell is she fine with causing so much chaos? I don't know how you stay so calm Yellow, don't you hate her?"

"Trust me," I raised my eyebrows, "Regardless of your past with Rose, I despise her. But all I can do with that evil feeling is channel it into catching her."

We were sitting too close to each other, and I was tightening my arms to stop my shoulder from touching him. The heat from the sun had already made me flustered, so I quickly stood back up to avoid the warmth of his body.

He watched, dark eyes following me curiously as I looked down, pretending to be distracted with straightening my stockings.

"You've grown, Yellow."

I turned back to face him in surprise, "Really? Blue still says I have the height of a Venonat."

Red chuckled, "Sorry, but you're still a munchkin. I meant you're adapting to the entire situation so well; I'm a bit jealous."

I beamed at his acknowledgement of my progress, "Thanks, but don't be." Reaching out my hand to help him back up, I murmured, "I think it was a group effort."

~

I held in a sigh as Lance continued to speak, trying my best to ignore the multiple cameras angled at us.

The DAAP's public statement urged people to be on the lookout for Rose, and was being broadcasting through Kanto Today, the most popular news channel in this region. Though it was only virtual, Lance figured that the five of us here could symbolise a unified front; Rose was bound to see us.

It was incredibly boring, considering we'd been regurgitating the same information to different audiences. On top of that, Lance had promised to be completely candid about Rose's history to prevent another scandal from News Flash.

"Some of you may be aware that Rose Dubois was shortly employed at K-Z, but I'd like to confirm that she is not affiliated with out company since being fired."

Lance looked at Red, whose face paled after realising he'd have to speak, "In terms of personality, Rose is confrontational..."

As he trailed off in thought, I looked at Blue in confusion. We were live right now, he couldn't go blank. She returned my stare, then nudged Red a little; gaining no response.

"We advise that if you encounter her, don't engage in a conversation. If anyone has updates on her location, we strongly appeal that you come to us. Rose is a threat to both citizens and Pokémon." Green swiftly spoke, regaining the previous tempo.

Green's words drained away as I looked at Red in concern. He was falling. Hearing everyone discuss the girl who had stomped on his emotions for the hundredth time must have been draining. His knuckles were strained white as they clung to the cold bottle of water; temporary relief in the heat.

Something about his sadness made me feel inclined to help.

I silently placed my right hand over Red's with a gentle squeeze, and as he looked up at me in surprise I smiled. For a split moment, the room disappeared, our eyes sharing a promise of comfort. His expression relaxed a little, then his head lowered to stare at the table.

But it wasn't quick enough to hide the new colour on his cheeks.

I wanted to speak, to tell him he was stronger, but instead I stayed quiet because of the ongoing broadcast.

That's when I remembered the cameras.

Jolting back up, I inwardly groaned at myself and moved my hands to my lap.

Stupid Yellow, stupid. All of Kanto had just seen me hold Red's hand.

~

The common room was the only place in our department that had functioning air conditioning. We'd found refuge in this place, apart from Yellow, who had disappeared a few minutes ago after getting a text. Lance was here too, but he hadn't talked to any of us and instead, seemed to be in a flurry of sending emails. As if we weren't struggling enough to find Rose, the additional heat made it worse.

I pushed my hair upwards and let the breeze cool my damp forehead, then closed my eyes and tried to relax the tension in my shoulders.

Today had been hard, but when my friends all approached me after the broadcast I finally figured it out.

It was Green who had rolled his eyes and told me to stop mourning over past memories instead of focusing on the future. I didn't expect something so cheesy from him, but it was true. Rose was someone I used to know and we hadn't talked in months, our ties were severed already. She couldn't dictate how I feel, she'd done that long enough.

"K-Z." Lance disrupted the peaceful silence, "I'm planning to temporarily relocate you across neighbouring regions."

I opened my eyes just as Yellow darted back into the room to perch on the sofa arm beside me.

"What do you mean relocate?" I demanded.

"And what do you mean regions?" Blue raised her voice with a hiss.

"It's not safe for you to stay here whilst Rose targets the DAPP, I'm worried the four of you are going to be next in her list of casualties. K-Z is the most experienced and skilled group from the Z-Force; I don't plan to jeopardise that. With confirmation from the other leaders, you'll be moving as soon as possible. Yellow will go to Johto, Red and Blue to Hoenn, then Green to Sinnoh."

I closed my eyes again, trying to process this information.

"Lance, that's ridiculous, you can't take us off a case you initially assigned to us. How do you expect to catch Vespiquen without us?" Green was the only one who remained rational, the rest of us refusing to stay calm.

"Exactly!" Yellow leaned forward frantically, "And this is my first case, how can I back down when I'm the one who initially suspected Rose? I can't run away from the person who killed my uncle."

"And tell me why," I clenched my fists at the specific allocations, "Why do you want to leave Yellow alone in Johto? Why can't you just pair her up? Let her come with me to Hoenn."

I felt her her eyes shift to me as I bit my lip in anger.

"Nobody is going to Hoenn!" Blue snapped, "You aren't splitting us up."

"Arceus, I didn't realise the four of you were so good at causing a ruckus too," Lance glared at us, "Yellow can go to Johto because she's already acquainted with the members and I think Kris would be helpful. Steven needs more in Hoenn because there are only two teenagers that have made it into H-Z. Green is going to Sinnoh because the three there haven't had enough experience, and could use his mentoring."

"You can't split us up!" Yellow's eyes darted around the room to push back tears, and I found myself taking her small hand into mine.

"Why do I need to mentor some kids, what's the point of Cynthia then?" Green groaned.

Yellow's hand tightened around mine, and I met her despairing eyes as I spoke, "Lance, we're adults. You can't just make these decisions without our input."

"Well-" Before his tone could take an angry twist, an abrupt sound disturbed us.

The ping of the elevator.

We all froze, looking at each other in confusion; the only people who entered this floor were all here. So who was coming?

Lance took action first, gesturing for us to get on our feet as he moved to the side of the room door, drawing his gun.

Was there a way Rose had got through the harsher security in the building?

"They have soft footsteps." Yellow murmured under her breath to me.

She looked eager to see who was here, so I quickly pulled her small figure behind me, "Be careful, idiot."

In that split second, I could feel her face pressed against my back, the little bump of her nose lightly poking me. One of her hands had moved to my waist for grip after the sudden shift. If it was hot before, it was boiling now.

"Um, sir, please don't shoot." The figure that followed the low voice instantly dissipated our suspicion as one of our fellow colleagues, Sakura Ito, entered the room with a sealed envelope in her hand.

"Sorry," Lance lowered his weapon and then drily laughed, "We're not used to company here, what do you need?"

"I was doing a security check through our recent mail, and one of them was directly addressed to Red, I thought it might be important."

"Here, let me check." Lance assertively began to open the mysterious envelope.

I opened my mouth to complain about privacy, then closed it, realising Lance already knew everything about me. He probably knew I had fallen for Yellow before I figured it out.

We all crowded around to look at the content of the anonymous note, and Green read out the two lonely words that sent a numbness to my chest.

"Check Mate."

She should've just signed Vespiquen below too.

"What does that mean? Has there been another crime?" Lance looked up quickly at Sakura.

"No, no new reports."

"Well she must have done something, how else could she 'check mate' us?" Blue clicked her tongue.

"Let's see if we can track this note and trace fingerprints," Lance wiped the sweat from his brow, then walked down the hallway with Sakura closely following. "You guys should eat and then get some rest, like it or not I'm sure about relocating you now."

His words were still ringing in my head as I imagined trying to move my Pokémon to a completely new region. Impossible. I'd never travelled far from both Green and Blue, and even though she'd only been around for a month, I didn't want to leave Yellow's side.

Besides, what was Rose so certain of succeeding in that she could send us a preemptive letter?

"Um, you guys?"

Yellow stepped in front of us, stealing my attention again as her face creased with concern. "There's something I've been keeping from you."

A/N:
Thanks for reading! What do you think Yellow has to announce?

We just got out of a mega heatwave here in London, so I had to incorporate a teeny little parallel with the weather in here.

Until next time,
Baii!