October 7th (Somewhere in Sinnoh)

(Misty's POV)

"Dawn!" Paul shouted as he burst forward from adrenaline and caught her as she fell along with her outfit disappearing to what she had on before.

The pendant then disappeared and she looked horrible from the beating she took on a couple minutes before.

We all then gathered around Dawn and Drew checked her aura, "She needs a hospital now," he said sternly before looking at Paul. "So do you."

We then looked at Paul to see that the cut from the knife had caused blood to appear soaking his dress shirt and was dripping onto the floor.

"Gardevoir, teleport us to the place I'm thinking of," I said quickly.

She nodded and we found ourselves in the ER in Veilstone City getting the attention of the person sitting in front.

"I need a gurney," she shouted into an intercom and people ran out with one a few seconds later.

They took Dawn from Paul and told Paul to follow them so he could get patched up. The rest of us took a seat in the waiting room drained and worried.

"This is insane," I murmured sorrowfully into my hands.

Ash then rubbed my back and pulled me into a side hug, "Why is everything happening to Dawn, this is the third time she's been in the hospital within a week," I sighed.

"There's not much we can do about it," Leaf said sadly. "We should have been hunting down the idiot who took Dawn in the first place instead of being placed in that stupid security detail."

"We also should have been on our guard better," Maylene admitted and Lucario nodded in agreement.

I sighed, I was drained physically and emotionally along with the fact that I'm anxious and ready to burst into tears.

"I'm gonna get some air," I said as I stood up and walked out into the night air.

I tried to keep myself steady, but I could feel myself shaking and my eyes gathering tears. Soon tears started to fall and I tried hard to not cry loudly.

"Mist?" I heard Ash ask concerned.

I just covered my mouth and nose with my hand while hugging myself with my other arm and shaking my head.

"Oh Mist," Ash said sadly as he pulled me into a hug and I fell apart.

"It not's fair, why did this have to happen? May leaving, Dawn getting hospitalized, even Leaf was almost drugged," I sobbed. "What did we do to deserve this? Am I next with getting hurt?"

"Mist, stop," Ash said as I continued to ramble.

"It's happening to all of us, what if.....," I muttered.

"Misty, stop it!" Ash shouted as he gripped my upper arms while looking at me.

I shut up, but the tears kept falling. Ash relaxed his grip but still held me, "You are right, it's not fair that everyone is suffering and getting into these situations, but there's not much we can do about it. You have to remember that our kind of work gets us into these situations," he reminded me gently as he began to wipe tears from my eyes. "But we'll make it, just like we've done before. They can knock us down, but we'll never stop getting up and fighting back."

I was stunned at Ash's words, it was a rare occurrence to hear words of wisdom leave his mouth.

Ash gave a small chuckle and a goofy grin as he moved a stray hair to behind my ear, "Don't worry Mist, you'll get through it, we always do."

I just looked at him and felt my eyes start to water again. I then hugged him tight, "Don't you dare ever change Ash Ketchum, don't you dare!" I sobbed into his shoulder.

Ash said nothing as he hugged me back tightly. For the next few moments, we just stood there outside taking comfort in each other, no words needed to be said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Leaf's POV)

I watched as Misty stood up and walked out with Ash following her out. My heart went out to her because I felt the same way.

I felt a tear slide down, but I quickly wiped it away as Reggie, Maylene, and Lucario went to check on Paul while Drew left for a private spot to give a report to Lance and Johanna left to find some coffee.

"You alright Leafy?" Gary asked as he rubbed my back.

I shook my head, "No," I murmured as I crossed my arms to hug myself. "I can't help but feel all of us are falling apart. May left for whatever reason, Dawn's been beaten up and hospitalized for the second time, and I was almost drugged and raped. Misty's must be close to falling apart as I am because we don't know what to do."

Gary wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a side hug while kissing my temple, "There's not much you can do Leafy. We just have to do our best at handling what life throws at us, May's a good example of that."

I sighed, "But it's not fair though, there's so much we could have done to prevent Dawn from getting hurt."

"Such as?" Gary asked.

"Well.......um......," I said trying hard to give an example.

"It's just that Leafy, there's not much we could have done. We were knocked out and stuck in cells without our pokemon giving us no way to help Dawn," Gary pointed out gently.

I sighed again before looking at him, "Guess you're right," I admitted.

"You know I'm right," Gary teased.

I rolled my eyes and gave a small grin, "You're still the one that has a bigger ego than me."

Gary smirked and kissed me as Misty and Ash came back in, "You alright?" I asked Misty.

She sighed and nodded before giving a small grin, "I will be, but I will be even more when I get out of this dress. I feel like burning it after all the events that happened today and yesterday."

"Ditto, especially since I felt like the guy raped me just by looking at me," I said in disgust while shivering.

Misty nodded in agreement as everyone else came back, "The doctor's keeping Paul overnight for observation," Reggie reported.

"And Dawn will be in surgery for a while," Johanna said worried.

"I wouldn't be surprised. The damage done from getting beaten up along with the amount of power Dawn used tiring her out banged her up badly," I pointed out sadly.

"Clair and Lance are upset with Dawn's actions, but they have Subzero and his gang of thugs in custody along with having agents on guard here," Drew reported.

Misty nodded, "I guess there's not much else we can do so we should get some rest."

She then called out Gardevoir and had her teleport the five of us back to the house, "Thanks Gardevoir, return," Misty called as she held out Gardevoir's pokeball.

We then split our ways and got ready for bed, but despite after everything that happened in the past few days, I was too worried to sleep. After being restless for half an hour, I got up and snuck my way outside for the beach. As I sat down, a breeze caused me to shiver and I cursed my stupidity in not grabbing a hoodie.

Suddenly one appeared in front of me, "Figures you would get cold Leafy," Gary teased.

I stuck out my tongue childishly before putting on his hoodie, "Thanks," I murmured as I hugged my knees.

"So what are you doing out here?" he asked as he took a seat next to me.

I sighed, "I just can't seem to put myself to bed."

Gary smirked, "Figuratively or literally?" he teased.

"Shut up," I moaned with a small grin as I elbowed him. "Both I guess. I know what's bothering me, but I can't seem to shut my mind off to get to sleep."

Gary chuckled as he pulled me to his side and I laid my head on his shoulder, "That always seems to be the case with you. Even when the two of us were in Pallet Town, you would always come outside when you couldn't sleep."

"And you would always help me get to sleep one way or another," I muttered.

"What do you mean by that?" Gary chuckled.

I looked up and glared at him, "How about the time you had Daisy's Spinda use Hypnosis on me or the time that you dumped sleep powder on me?"

"You remember that?" Gary said surprised.

"How could I not, I scared Marie half to death when I didn't wake up at home. I also got a kink in my neck," I huffed.

"Well I couldn't carry you back, you were heavy," Gary pointed out.

I yawned, "Sure Gare bear, even so, you were smart enough to at least try and figure out a way to get me home."

"Well since I didn't, at least I slept next to you to make sure nothing happened to you," Gary revealed causing me to lift my head up and look at him in surprise.

"Seriously?" I asked before smirking. "The high and mighty Gary Oak chose to sleep outside in guarding me than sleeping in his bed, I'm shocked."

Gary rolled his eyes, "Knock it off," he said as he shoved me gently.

I smirked, "Alright," I said as I stood up. "See ya."

I then started to walk away, "Oh come on Leafy, I was joking," he complained as he stood up and ran to catch up to me.

I laughed and ran away only to be caught a minute later with Gary hugging my middle and lifting me up, "Gary, put me down," I laughed.

"How do I know you won't run away again?" he asked suspiciously in my ear.

"Because I'm tired now put me down," I whined.

He set me down, but he didn't let go, "Gary, why aren't you letting go?" I scolded lightly.

"Because you said to put you down, not to let you go," he whispered teasingly into my ear.

"Jerk," I said with a light laugh as I let my legs give way so that Gary had to hold me up.

"You are terrible," Gary moaned as we sat down and I rested my back against him.

"I try," I said with a smirk before sighing in content and closed my eyes. "You're comfy."

I felt Gary chuckle as he leaned forward to gently kiss my cheek, "Night Leafy," he murmured as I let myself fall asleep in his embrace.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

October 8th (Veilstone City, Sinnoh)

(Dawn's POV)

I woke up slowly and looked around to find that no one was around and was shocked to find that I didn't feel agonizing pain. I still felt bruised, but I thought the pain would be worse. I tried to talk, but found that I still didn't have my voice. What the heck happened to me?

The door then opened to reveal a nurse bringing in meds, "How are you feeling?" she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and made the motion of writing hoping she would get me a notepad and a pencil.

She gave me a strange look, but got me what I wanted. I then wrote and explained how I was feeling. She read it and looked confused and worried.

"I'll be back," she said with a frown causing me to sigh, this is going to be a long day.

The nurse then came back with the doctor from a few days ago, "Hi Dawn, it's nice to see you again," she said with a grin.

I gave a small smile back and nodded, "Nurse Hart says that you only feel slightly bruised. Do you have any pain in your chest, head, legs, or spine?" she asked.

I wrote down that my legs felt weak, but otherwise no causing her to look in thought.

"This doesn't make sense. When you came in, you were coughing up blood and suffered a lot of internal damage, it's impossible to heal this quickly."

I then wrote down asking how Paul was doing. She read my note and smiled, "His surgery went well in stitching up that knife wound. I'm actually on my way to his room to check on him."

I quickly wrote asking if I could come and she nodded with a smile before asking the nurse to get a wheelchair. The nurse returned with the wheelchair and helped me into it before wheeling me behind the doctor.

As we rolled down, I heard chatter from the hospital patients, "I'm tellin' ya, I saw an angel last night. She looked transparent while floating down the hall," an old guy argued.

"Shut up Charles, your mind's playing tricks on you," another patient snapped.

"I'm not hallucinating, in fact, I feel a lot better than I've felt in a long time, don't you?" he snapped.

As we continued down the hall, I heard more whispering of a ghost/angel. I quickly wrote on my notepad asking what everyone was talking about.

When we reached Paul's door, I gave the doctor my notepad and she sighed, "I'm not sure, I didn't see it myself because I wasn't here last night, but all the patients I've seen today have had their health improve slightly as if one did visit."

This caused me to be curious, but I placed it in the back of my mind as we entered Paul's room to find him still sleeping.

"Amazing," the doctor said as she checked him. "His wound is almost if not completely healed."

My eyes widened as I looked to see that the doctor was right, "Well, not much I can do until he wakes up, would you like to stay here?" the doctor asked me.

I nodded as the nurse placed the wheelchair closer to the bed, "If you need anything, just press the red button," the nurse said before she and the doctor left.

I nodded again before looking at Paul's face as he slept. I took one of his hands and squeezed it gently. Memories of what happened yesterday hit me and I shivered as I remembered Subzero cutting Paul. I felt tears appear. It was my fault for not finishing off Subzero fast enough. It's my fault that Paul's lying here and that he has a faint scar. I let go of his hand, crossed my arms on his bed, and silently cried. After a while, I felt a hand stroke my head causing me to sit up and wipe my eyes.

I looked over and saw Paul awake with a tired look in his eye, "Troublesome, shouldn't you be resting?" he said tiredly in concern.

I shrugged my shoulder and wrote on my notepad asking how he felt. He took the notepad looking at me confused.

"I'm fine surprisingly," he finally said. "I'd thought I'd be in more pain than this."

I nodded and wrote the talk of the hospital, "That's a load of crap, there's no such thing," he tiredly argued.

I frowned and shook my head before writing my hypothesis, "You think it's May?" Paul asked to clarify.

I nodded and wrote that she would make anything impossible possible and that her being the so called angel was no exception of the powers she had.

"You do have a point, but we'll never know," he grunted before looking at. "Why can't you talk, did those bastards hurt you?"

I shook my head and frowned, I then wrote that gaining power comes with a price.

Paul just looked at me angry, "Idiot, you traded your voice away so you could get the power you had before. This never would have happened if you just told Lance and Claire instead of trying to rescue us yourself!" he yelled.

I glared and furiously wrote that they would have captured and hurt everyone if I didn't show up and that I wasn't going to let that happen. That what I gave up was little to what I helped saved and apparently I can't do a good job protecting what I care about the most.

I felt myself cry and looked down at my lap, I heard creaking and a hand forced my chin up before I was kissed. After the shock wore off a second later, I relaxed and let my hands run through his hair. I then rested my forehead on his and he took ahold of my hands in his lap. After taking in the silence for a minute, I felt something wet on my hands and noticed that Paul was crying.

I then stood up and hugged him letting his face lay on my chest, nothing needed to be said. I knew that he couldn't take the pain of knowing of all the beatings I've suffered and the times I've been hospitalized. And I knew he could only hold up his strong front for so long before it cracked and everything spilled out.

I then felt myself silently cry for giving him this much pain. After a few minutes, I felt Paul pull back and I let him go. He then looked away and I gave a small smile knowing he was embarrassed by his breakdown. I quickly wrote down that it was okay, everyone can't hold up a brave face forever and that we need to let it out. It doesn't make them less of a person for showing emotion.

Paul then hugged me, "Please promise you'll stop putting yourself in danger," he grunted.

I pulled away a little so that I could kiss him before writing down that I couldn't promise anything because of the fact that I'm troublesome.

I gave him my notepad with a smirk. After he read it, he sighed, "You have no idea," he huffed as he kissed me again.

I suddenly felt my legs ready to collapse of me so I quickly sat down in the wheelchair before I fell. Paul looked at me in concern and I quickly wrote my condition and what the doctor thought I would suffer. Paul read the note and looked at me concerned. I gave a small smile and said nothing as I took his hand and squeezed it assuring him that I was okay.

We then heard a knock on the door and I placed my hand back in my lap. The door opened to reveal the doctor along with Reggie, "Morning you two, how are you feeling?" Reggie asked.

"I'm fine," Paul grunted and I wrote down that I was okay.

Reggie looked confused and then concerned as he read my note, "We'll explained later," Paul said as the doctor checked him over.

"Well, I think you both are in okay shape to leave. Just make sure you both rest, I don't want to see you here for a while," she said.

We both nodded and the doctor took me back to my room so I could change out of the hospital clothes. A knock was heard and Reggie and Paul came in to take me to their house. I quickly wrote on my notepad asking Reggie where my mom and Maylene were.

"Your mom had to head to Jubilife City to judge a contest much to her dismay, but she couldn't find a backup judge in time to take her place. As for Maylene, she's feeling under the weather this morning, has been for a while actually," Reggie explained.

I nodded and frowned wondering what could be up with Maylene, "You alright Troublesome?" Paul asked.

I nodded and wrote something on my notepad before smirking and giving it to Paul.

"What's it say?" Reggie asked.

Paul shook his head with a slight smile and showed him, 'I'm fine, no need to worry'.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Leaf's POV)

I slowly felt myself wake up to feel something draped across my stomach and something warm against my back. I opened my eyes to find myself in my room and my bedside clock saying that it was 10:45 AM. I gently rolled over to find Gary a few inches from me.

I froze in surprise that Gary was in my bed. Suddenly, multiple questions were going through my mind, but all of them disappeared when I felt Gary pull me close so that his forehead was touching mine and murmured my name softly. I felt a small smile appear and decided to enjoy the moment instead of waking him up.

I closed my eyes and let myself rest til I felt Gary shift a bit a few minutes later. I felt his forehead leave mine as his fingers brushed some of my hair out of my face. I could tell that he was watching me and tried my hardest to not let on that I was awake.

He then kissed my forehead causing me to smile, "You need to do it right," I murmured as I kissed his lips causing him to chuckle.

"Morning," he said as he kissed me back.

I smiled sleepily, "Bet your pretty little mind is wondering why I'm here?" he teased.

I rolled my eyes and blushed slightly causing him to smirk knowing he guess right, "Well, I was the chivalrous boyfriend to carry you back to the house after you fell asleep last night. But when I tried to leave when I brought you to your room, you wouldn't let me go so I just decided to stay here than try to wake you up."

"How noble of you," I said with slight sarcasm as I yawned.

I then heard a beeping sound and groaned, "If that's Lance, I'm gonna kill him," I said annoyed as I reached to grab my compowder.

"Is it?" Gary asked as I read the text message.

"No, it's Dawn," I said quickly as I sat up and texted her back. "Apparently she and Paul have been released from the hospital."

Gary looked at me in surprise as he sat up, "How's that possible after the beating Dawn took yesterday?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Dawn said something about an angel, but we might as well go and see them," I said as I started to get out of bed.

I then felt a hand on my shoulder pulling me back, "Wah! Gary, seriously?!" I complained. "How old are you?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Dawn's POV)

After I texted the girls, I immediately got frantic responds and had to text them to calm down. I silently sighed as I put away my compowder and Gardevoir suddenly appeared causing me to flinch.

"Sorry to have scared you, Misty said you might need me to help communicate so she sent me ahead of everyone else," she explained telepathically.

I nodded and smiled as Maylene came out looking a little pale, "Gardevoir, can you use your psychic ability so that I can talk to her telepathically?" I asked.

Gardevoir nodded, "Maylene, are you feeling okay?" I asked causing Maylene to flinch in surprise. "Sorry, this is the only way I can communicate with everyone."

Maylene gave a small smile and nodded, "It's okay, it just took me by surprise. As to how I'm feeling, I've been feeling under the weather for a while now, for at least a month or more."

I raised in eyebrow in surprise, "Shouldn't you see a doctor?" I asked.

Maylene shook her head, "It's nothing too big that won't go away on its own."

Hmmm......., "Gardevoir, can you call Lucario over here, I want to ask him a few questions in private," I said quickly.

She nodded and soon Lucario walked over and looked at Maylene before looking at me, "Has Maylene been feeling ill for the past month or so?" I asked.

He nodded while muttering in his mind how training has been slacking as of late because of it.

"I think I might know why she's feeling the way she is," I said causing him to look at me with full attention.

"Everything alright?" Maylene asked concerned as Reggie and Paul sat down.

I gave her a smile and nodded before looking at Lucario, "I want you to look at Maylene's aura closely for me?"

Lucario gave me a weird look causing everyone to look at me, "Dawn, what are you saying to Lucario?" Reggie asked.

I ignored him as I nodded at Lucario to do as I asked, he nodded and then placed a paw in Maylene's direction before closing his eyes and his flaps levitated.

A minute later he opened his eyes in surprise causing me to smirk, "Troublesome, will you tell us what's going on?" Paul asked miffed.

I placed a hand to quiet him while still looking at Lucario, "Let me guess, you saw two aura's right?"

He nodded before we looked at Maylene, "I figured out why you're ill," I said as everyone frowned slightly.

"How did you figure it out?" Maylene asked.

I gestured to Lucario, "I asked him to read your aura and his facial expression said it all, instead of seeing an aura, he saw two."

They looked confused and I shook my head in disappoint, "In other words Maylene, you're pregnant," I said in blunt terms.

Everyone looked at me shocked, "What?!" they shouted.

"Well, a person normally has a single aura, but women who are pregnant show two. One is their's and the other is the baby," I explained looking smug before smiling. "I'm surprised you didn't catch on sooner. Anyways, congrats you two."

Maylene looked stunned, Reggie looked surprised, and Paul looked indifferent causing me to roll my eyes at his reaction.

I then stood up and yanked Paul by the arm so that we could give Reggie and Maylene some space, "You can let go Troublesome," Paul muttered as we could a good distance away.

I dropped his hand and collapsed under a tree because I was exhausted from the short walk I just did, "Troublesome, you shouldn't have been walking," Paul muttered as he sat next to me.

"Well I wanted to give them some space," I retorted as Gardevoir walked a little past us to give us space.

"How did you figure she was pregnant?" Paul asked with a frown.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Everyone said she felt ill for the past month or so but it never lasted long in the day so I concluded that she must have morning sickness. But to prove my theory, I figured that when Lucario looked closely at her aura, she would have two instead of one," I explained before smirking and elbowing him gently. "Looks like you're gonna be an uncle."

"Joy," he said indifferently.

I rolled my eyes at his response, "You are so predictable," I muttered.

Suddenly I found myself being kissed catching me by surprise, "You just like to get me flustered, don't you?" I accused while glaring.

Paul closed his eyes while leaning back against the tree trunk before smirking and opening one eye slightly, "I don't hear you protesting," he pointed out.

I turned my back to him, crossed my arms, and huffed, "Jerk."

Paul just chuckled as he gently pulled me back that I was laying against him slightly, "Then I'm doing my job right," he teased.

"Hmph," I grunted as I crossed my arms and frowned.

The gang then appeared and looked at me and Paul weirdly.

"Did you guys switch personalities because Paul is grinning slightly and you're frowning?" Leaf noted with a raised eyebrow.

I shrugged my shoulders, "He's just being a jerk in getting me flustered."

"You guys definitely switched," Leaf concluded as she sat down and everyone else followed suit.

I just rolled my eyes, "You said you lost your voice, did it happen when you got beat around by those thugs?" Drew asked.

I felt Paul's hold on me tightly slightly and I squeezed his hand to calm him down, "No, as I told Paul, every power given comes with a price," I muttered.

"Is that why your hair was short when you rescued us?" Misty asked.

I nodded, "I had to sacrifice something I cared about and I decided to sacrifice my hair since it'll grown back anyways," I said as I fingered a lock of hair.

"But it was only for a fraction of power?" Leaf asked to clarify.

I nodded again, "I didn't have much of a choice. There was no way I could get Lance involved, he wouldn't have let me help."

"With good reason," Paul muttered.

I turned to frown at him before looking back to everyone else, "With the small power I had, I created ice clones that could mimic a move or two of my powers, but I couldn't keep it up forever. When I was smashed into the bars of Paul's cell, Arceus came to me and said that I could obtain full power, but again with a cost," I said with mental sigh.

"Your voice," Misty filled in.

I nodded, "Mew knows I talk so much and I figured that it was worth the loss to save everyone," I explained.

"Is it permanent?" Ash asked causing Paul's hold to tighten a little more causing me to wince in pain.

"No, Arceus said it would be gone for a lunar cycle," I said tiredly.

"We wish you didn't have to do that," Leaf said guiltily.

I gave a small smile while grabbing her hand and giving a small squeeze, "It's okay, you guys are more important than my chatter box."

Leaf chuckled before frowning slightly, "Speaking of injuries and such, how are you walking around like you are?"

I sighed, "When Paul and I left this morning, patients were talking of an angel that came to visit and that they felt better. The only thing that fits that profile along with our injuries being almost completely healed is May."

Drew frowned but said nothing, "May, but how could it be her? We haven't heard anything from her and she told us not to find her," Misty protested slightly angry.

"She may have said that, but she still cares about us despite whatever it is she's doing," I argued. "It fits May's character to have helped mine and Paul's healing process."

Misty frowned but said nothing as I noticed two people walking up to us and was surprised to see Lance and Clair.

"Lance, Clair? What are you doing here?" Leaf asked confused.

"To see how Paul and Dawn are doing," Clair said as she looked at us.

"I take it you're pissed?" I asked Lance causing both him and Clair to flinch slightly in surprise at my voice in their minds.

"Dawn traded her voice for power," Misty summarized still frowning.

Lance and Clair gave me looks, but I said nothing to explain, "Here to punish me?" I asked dully looking at Lance.

"You have broken protocol. You went into a bad guy's hideout without telling anyone what you were doing along with not having back-up," Lance said sternly.

I scowled, "I didn't tell you because you would have made me sit out when I could have helped," I retorted.

"You would have been in no condition to help," Clair reminded.

"But I figured out a way to bypass that," I argued.

"You still wound up with a bunch of injuries worse than the last time," Clair scolded. "Speaking of that, how are you as healed up as you are and out of the hospital?"

"I have the theory that May is responsible for that," I said bluntly ending any further talk about it since I was tired of repeating myself.

"Speaking of May, where is she?" Clair asked.

We all frowned causing Clair to frown as well and Lance to groan, "Hopefully she doesn't interfere with any of our business," he muttered. "She's a nuisance enough as it is."

I glared at him, "Keep your opinions to yourself. I understand that she has her faults, but you constantly ignore the fact that she has always helped us when we needed it," I snapped. "The reason you bad mouth her is because you're in denial about how she goes about saving people and how she does things differently than you do. Well news flash, she is. You make it impossible a third of the time to help people because of the protocol that you deem necessary to follow. Makes me close to quitting and free lancing like May does. Reason I don't is because I'm under Clair's command and not yours."

Everyone looked at me in different levels of shock as to what I said, "In other words, just grow a pair and deal with it."

I ignored the looks I got from people as I removed Paul's arm and began to walk away back to the house with Gardevoir following me. I made it to the family room before I lost all energy again and reached for the wall to hold me up.

"Dawn, you shouldn't have walked that far," Maylene scolded lightly as she and Gardevoir helped me to the couch.

She then brought in tea and frowned, "What's wrong, you look annoyed?"

I sighed, "I'm just annoyed at Lance's opinion of May along with some of the rules he deems necessary for us to use at PHPA."

"Does it also tie into your frustration with May leaving?" she asked.

I looked at her surprised that she knew, "Gardevoir gave me a short summary when you were outside," she explained.

I nodded, "I'm not as annoyed by May's actions as I am with the others, but she still frustrates me as to how she just up and leaves us without telling us anything half the time."

"Didn't she tell you what was happening with her and Max a couple of weeks ago?" Maylene asked.

I nodded, "I figured that the reason she up and left this time is because it's personal and she doesn't want PHPA to be involved since one of the rules Lance created for PHPA is that we have to report everything we hear."

Maylene nodded in understanding, "It makes sense. Now I don't know the way PHPA works, but sometimes not knowing something is sometimes better."

I nodded as I heard footsteps and turned to see Clair before looking back at Maylene and drank my tea, "Would you like some tea?" Maylene offered.

"No thank," Clair said politely as she took a seat in a nearby chair.

After a minute of silence, Maylene stood up, "I'll let you two talk," she said as she left the room.

"I take it I left before I could be given punishment," I said sourly.

Clair sighed, "Lance deemed you should be suspended for two months and be demoted to working in paperwork during your suspension."

I gave her a look asking if she was serious, "I'm not joking. Anyway, I find it completely ridiculous. You have too much talent to be stuck doing paperwork. So your punishment is that you're suspended til Thursday and you have no access to your compowder, poketch or any gadgets," Clair explained.

I nodded in understanding, "I don't blame you for being upset at Lance. I actually applaud you for being straight forward and stating the truth. Mew knows the man needs to hear it," Clair muttered. "I understand your frustration in the rules of how the agency is run. The thing is, PHPA was started by a man named Cornelius Barton. His principles on founding the agency were to deal with any form of criminals and helping everyone much like they are now, but his way of running things was different. For one thing, the champions were not involved in PHPA business causing a rift in knowledge and lot of frustration. Eventually, PHPA landed in the hands of the champions and Lance was immediately appointed in charge because of his status as Champion in Kanto and Johto. He then appointed me as second in commander because he didn't really get along well with the other champions. Thankfully, a recent board meeting has raised my status higher and gives me command of the female agents since Lance has a tendency to not have much knowledge in understanding the female mind. Point is, Lance changed some of the principles because they were faulty to him, but the problem is that his methods aren't the right way either."

"So no compromise has been reached in PHPA's principles," I concluded.

Clair nodded, "We are just too busy to have time to just sit down and rethink them along with reconstructing the agency so we're stuck with what rules have been set."

"Just don't expect us to follow the rules if it goes against what we think is right in a course of action," I warned.

Clair grinned, "Something May taught you?"

I nodded and smiled a little, "May taught us that if we have a gut feeling about something, follow it even if it's wrong because in the end, you may save someone's life."

Clair nodded, "It is an instinct agents should have, Lance just hasn't really given much thought into all the skills agents should possess. He's too busy running and helping with the government of two regions."

"The agency really needs to be reconstructed," I muttered.

Clair sighed, "I agree, but in the meantime, we'll have to deal with how it is now. Since you guys do a lot of work with May, I'll be less strict with the rules than Lance at times as long as a job gets done and lives are saved. You clear with your punishment?"

I nodded and gave her my compowder and poketch, "In the meantime, don't overdo yourself and get some rest," Clair said as she put a hand on my shoulder before leaving.

I nodded and finished my tea as Paul sat next to me, "Surprised I blew a fuse?" I asked.

He shrugged, "You were ticked and I'm sure someone would have said something. What did Clair say your punishment was?"

"I'm suspended til Thursday and that I had to turn in my compowder and poketch," I said tiredly. "Where's everyone else?"

"They left," Paul said bluntly giving no further explanation as he wrapped an arm around my waist and dragged me down so that we were lying on the couch.

"I shouldn't be lying on you, I might hurt your chest," I scolded lightly.

"Let me worry about how I feel," Paul muttered. "Just rest, Arceus knows you need it Troublesome."

I wanted to retort that I didn't because I yawned causing Paul to chuckle, "Shut up."