"I saw!" Johanna smiles, blushed and proud. "You were amazing out there! I haven't stopped talking about you to everyone I've met!"

Beside her was Roseanne, Professor Rowan's assistant researcher. And she looked incredibly frazzled and sleep-deprived. "She's not joking," she says, "she really hasn't stopped talking about you."

In a way, Luce felt a little bad.

Buneary huffs, standing right at the screen if only to show off the proud yellow barrette she'd gotten as a complimentary reward, alongside her achievement ribbon.

They'd won the Normal Rank for now.

"So what are your plans now?" Johanna asks. "Will you continue competing in the other ranks right away?"

At that Luce shakes his head.

Barry offers to explain. "For now, since my leg's fine, we're going to head off," he says. "The Professor wanted us to check out a place for Dawn for now, since she's–" he looks away, dryly, "well, it's currently not convenient for her to travel."

What a way to say 'hospitalised', but Luce doesn't express that. He'll get in trouble.

Instead, he writes. "[I'll be training with Fighter first,]" because they'll definitely need more than what they've got now if they want to go further in the contests. "[We'll come back later on to do the other ranks.]"

Monferno grabs Buneary away from the screen, earning a startled squeak, but Monferno held it nice and perfect in a way where Buneary's limbs couldn't hit him. And then Monferno carried her off elsewhere, toward Ponyta and the egg that was resting by the couches. Apparently, they were telling her all about it, and Buneary squints, tapping curiously at the incubator with her paws.

Psyduck and Munchlax were asleep, leaning on each other, a half-eaten Berry and a rubber ducky between them. Prinplup and Staravia were outside on their own, apparently taking themselves on a walk around Amity Park.

"Well, at least your Pokemon are getting along! They've really grown as a group since I've last seen them," Johanna beams.

"Grown, really? Well, General's gotten accustomed to living out of the rental," Barry says, looking toward his Ponyta. "I thought it was strange he was so calm when he was so restless back in the cave."

The Ponyta, albeit a restless little troublemaker back in Wayward Cave, was mostly calm now. He'd only ever been a problematic child because he didn't like the lifestyle of being a Ponyta walk, perhaps. Luce tried riding on his back a while ago and the speed they went still made his life flash before his eyes. You definitely could not rent that to children.

"I won't hold you up then," Johanna says. "Have fun, boys! Be sure to call home every once in a while, though."

"Gotcha, Mama Johanna!"

Luce waves an I love you as Johnana signs it right back.

The call cuts, and Barry sighs, relieved that it was over. Luce looks over to see Monferno staring at his hands, before clumsily miming the motions for 'I love you' and showing it back to Luce.

A little flustered, Luce signs it once more, helping him get it right. And then once he was satisfied, Monferno hustled off to wake Psyduck up so he could show it to her.

Barry snorts. Luce flicks him in the forehead.

"Alright then, it's about time to go," Barry says, lifting the strap of his bag over his shoulder. "Dawn says that she'll try to meet us there, I'm not sure how, but... ah, here it is," he retrieved a letter from his pocket. "Our introduction letter."

An introduction letter? The professor even sealed it with wax and an emblem...

"...where did you say we were going again?" Luce asks. He'd heard that it was a place to catch rare Pokemon, because Professor Rowan would like as much of that in the Pokedex as possible.

Whoever it was they were meeting also mentioned that they had gotten a rare Pokemon egg from a distant region, so if only to check it out, they wanted Luce and Barry to drop by for a visit.

Barry sifts through his Poketch for his notes. "Uhh... the place is called Trophy Garden."

-

"You came all this way to thank me? Oh, you really didn't have to!" Keira chuckles. But, smiling warmly toward Luce's Buneary, she nods. "But you're very welcome, Fighter. Mimi and I will really look forward to seeing you again when you return."

With a shiny Buneary on his shoulder, Luce still catches a fair bit of attention in the contest hall. It's not a bad thing, but Fighter was really eating up all the attention.

Mimi waves, miming a punch as Fighter angrily mimes one back, as if trying to say that it wasn't the right way to do it.

Luce wasn't sure if he was supposed to point out that Buneary should punch with their ears, not their hands, because that's much stronger– but oh well. It seems they've bonded over something.

Luce bows. "[I look forward to seeing you again,]" he says, and Keira wishes them well as they leave.

The two Bunearies wave at each other, a steely look in Fighter's eyes and a rather sad look on Mimi's– and Luce knew that the next time they met, it would be heartwarming.

-

They leave Hearthome in the early hours of the morning, when only Fantina, the Nurse Joy, and a few folks who were up early, were there to catch them as they went.

"You cause so much fanfare as you come only to cause as little as possible when you leave, huh?" Fantina muses. "I like it! It's the celebrity's way of life!"

"We do not want to be important! No thank you!" Barry says, insistent.

They were, by default, a big deal because of the Pokedexes already, but Luce understood that Barry just wanted nothing to do with it, as far as they could drag it out.

Luce clutches the incubator in his arms. Monferno walks alongside, with a dozing Buneary slumped across his head. Staravia rested on Ponyta's back, Munchlax struggling to climb up with a poffin in his hand. Psyduck and Prinplup stayed in their Poke Balls, vehemently refusing to be awake.

"Thank you for the hospitality, Miss Fantina," Barry says. Luce also signs out a 'thank you', which Fantina cheerfully accepts.

"I'd say 'take care', but I'm in the belief that there's really no control to have over it," Fantina chuckles. "Just come back one day, alright? I'll be looking forward to it."

Buneary cheers, resolutely promising a brawl. Luce chuckles at that.

"The Poffin house is going to miss you," Nurse Joy says, "you set a new record there for most Poffins made in one day. There'll be challengers."

Barry hums, "well, that's fine, I'll beat it again when I come back."

"What's with you and your obsession with being in the rankings of whatever new thing you've managed to find a billboard for?" Luce questions, and Barry rolls his eyes.

"It's fun."

And that was fair... if Barry didn't always hyperfixate on it until he got first place before immediately dropping interest in it forever.

"You're going to be on the walls of the Contest Hall too," Barry argues, and Luce crumbles. He'd been trying to not think of that. It's embarrassing.

All things aside, they managed to say their goodbyes. And, hopping on their bikes again, they set off for Route 212.

-

Needless to say, it was fascinating, watching Barry try to race his Ponyta over a long hill. Staravia flew over the treetops, while Monferno tried to keep up, swinging across the trees, staying in sight of Luce. Buneary, who's on Monferno's head, is keeping a lookout for the avian overhead.

Luce watches from afar, Munchlax carefully holding the incubator as Luce folds his bike.

They can see the Pokemon Mansion in the distance– but something was wrong. Monferno drops in and suddenly he's frantic, signing rapidly for 'bad, misbehaving' and then, for some reason, 'ugly', and Buneary was trying her hardest to say something as well, squeaking and miming something, but failing at it.

Did Staravia do something?

Barry and Ponyta return, the victor of their race evidently the horse. Luce immediately hops onto Ponyta, balancing carefully to get a higher view– and he finds that the main doors of the Pokemon Mansion are wide open, a suspicious amount of people– butlers, maids, people in suits– crowded in its front garden.

And then Monferno mimes a bowl-looking hairstyle and suddenly Luce understands.

"What's going on," Barry speaks up, receiving Staravia on his arm to see a frown on the bird's face.

"Ugly," Luce answers.

-

Barry yelps. They'd managed to get up on a tree nearby with Monferno's help, but the sight wasn't any better upon closer inspection.

The workers of the mansion were gathered outside, surrounded by Galactic grunts that were standing guard. It was impossible to tell the situation inside just from this, but by the completely drawn curtains and the nervous looks on each person's face— this wasn't good at all.

"I'm going–"

"Absolutely not," Barry immediately says, and Luce jumps.

"But we need to–"

"Hell no. We're calling Officer Jenny. Stop it."

"But they might be in serious danger there. We were told to meet him, right? What if we were overhead in the Pokemon Center and that's why they went there? To target us but they got them instead?"

"Luce, repeat after me right now– we are not going to–"

"He was going to give us an Egg. There's a baby in there."

"Stop trying to convince me, Luce! We are not going there, we are going back to Hearthome to call Miss Fantina instead!"

"There's a baby in there."

"LUCE. Quiet about the baby!"

"Infant creature, precious child, small."

Barry glares, arm crossed. Luce straightens his back, scowling at him. Monferno and Buneary, as well as Ponyta and Staravia, share a very affronted glance.

Barry throws his hands into the air. "OKAY, FINE."

-

The Mansion consisted of hallways upon hallways, multiple floors, and well... at least all the main activity was on the ground level. It's rather different from the games, which made sense seeing as this wasn't... a game.

"Super ugly," Monferno signed, "small forest. Fancy house."

Barry and Luce had to take a very long moment to realise he was trying to say that there was the ugliest of uglies in the back garden.

"Why on earth did you teach him to substitute 'criminal' for 'ugly'?" Barry accuses.

Luce is offended, "I thought it was you."

Luce didn't need all the information, though, he knew the general situation. One of the Commanders had Mister Backlot hostage, and they were here to capture rare Pokemon, hence they're in Trophy Garden, where rare Pokemon tend to converge.

They held the guests and workers of the mansion hostage for now, stations of multiple patrol members on each floor, guarding each room to the horror of some terrified guests. They've also held some Pokemon hostage— were those Clefairy?

Barry folds the notebook paper into quarters, setting it in Staravia's beak before sending him off in the direction of Hearthome.

"Commander's the only non-robot," Luce says. That's the general pattern now, and they're fairly accustomed to that sight. He pulls the incubator over his shoulder, wondering if it was better to have left it after all. Well, no choice now.

"Then, I'll take the East wing, you take the West," Barry signs. "Secure the guests."

"Hit and run tactics only?"

"If you're found, gather in the middle."

A vague agreement signed at each other, they part ways, Pokemon tucked back in their Poke Balls, with only Monferno and Prinplup by their sides.

-

Luce snuck into rooms, first, finding solace with the guests that were kept confined in their rooms.

The first room he finds half a dozen guests, huddled in the centre of the room. There was a Galactic goon standing robotically at the doorway, keeping watch. Strange, weren't they supposed to keep all the guests in their own rooms?

...but alright, he supposes this made more sense than what happened in the game.

Wait, no. This event only happens in Renegade Platinum, not in the basic game. This is bad news, and the main one would be the fact that Luce has very little knowledge of it. He knows it's much harder, and there are new events including this one... but he doesn't know much else, like Pokemon team combinations.

Not that the knowledge was useful to begin with. The moveset restriction is realistically only for official matches, and usually only encouraged in gyms to create difficulty.

The Galactic grunt at the door is definitely staring straight forward, so it would be impossible for Luce to attempt to communicate with the guests.

Barry would have been able to come up with something smart.

...well, whatever then.

He points at the window, then turns to his Monferno. "Spitfire, smash this."

"And smash the ugly?!" Monferno asks, almost enthusiastically. Luce hasn't seen him this happy since the last meal of spicy berry gruel.

He pats him on the head and gives him a thumbs up.

Monferno cheers, and somehow, Buneary also escapes her Poke Ball, cheering in unison. Then they drop down into the window and chaos ensues.

Luce reaches for his bag as a loud shatter is followed by a terrified yelp. Luce looks around for his Poke Balls, releasing Buneary to just wave her off to follow the Monferno.

"A Pokemon?!"

"Where'd it come from?"

"Initiating Battle Formation Tw–" is sharply cut off by what sounded like a punch to the face. Then, the loud thud of a body dropping.

Battle Formation Two, huh... according to Barry's Vs. Recorder, One started with debuffs, and Five started with a smokescreen. Would Two have been to immediately attack, then? It would have worked if he wasn't programmed to be so long-winded.

Monferno makes his way back toward the window.

"Ugly is gone," Monferno says, looking incredibly satisfied. "Ugly! Is! Gone!"

Luce swings into the window to see baffled guests parted like a Red Sea, looking upon his arrival all grateful and teary-eyed like some coming of Jesus.

Atop the unconscious Galactic grunt, Buneary sits smugly.

Wow. My Pokemon are terrifying.

Anyways, he leans down to give them a much-needed hug of praise. Monferno cheers. Buneary screeches, wanting to be let go.

-

No one comes to check the room where the guests were contained, even through the noise. The grunts were programmed to do their own jobs, so they would never come check if someone isn't doing it right, they would just assume so.

They stand stoically, staring straight forward at their posts.

A Monferno comes jetting in with a running kick to the face. Another grunt turns in alarm, only for his face to get whacked right back in the other direction by a furry ear.

-

After a bit of communication, Luce managed to get the guests to give him a brief about the layout of the mansion, how many grunts were in the building (estimate,) and also the appearance of Saturn.

"He sent a dozen people to the upper floors, so if we split that up, there'd be six in each wing."

"It'll be much heavier security on the first floor, where he is."

"I wonder if Mister Backlot is okay..."

"Regardless of that, we are grateful for your help, kid, but I think we're better off calling for help from Hearthome..."

"They've cut the landline, and every worker in this mansion is captured outside. Are we sure no one's going to notice eventually?"

"The way this mansion is designed, along with its size, makes it incredibly difficult to see anything in the main courtyard without entering the premises, so since all the guests for today's tea party have arrived, we'll be completely left alone for a while."

"My poor Clefairy! It must be terrified."

They were panicking, but at least they were staying in one place, knowing they were useless without Pokemon. All of the grunts, if they were like this one they knocked out, were armed with one Pokemon each.

Luce only has three, so he'll have to figure his moves carefully. He can't brute force through sheer numbers, he'll run out of health and power points, especially since he doesn't have many super effective moves. Or healing items.

Monferno and Buneary open the door, silencing everyone immediately.

Luce had sent it out to 'check around', so why have they returned with Monferno lugging two bodies behind him?

"Fought a lot of uglies!" Monferno happily reports, and Buneary on his head salutes in affirmation. "No more uglies here!"

Luce covers his face in shame. I did not raise him like this! I swear!

He realises, belatedly, that there's no need to plan around Pokemon battles if you just take out the trainers before they can send them out.

This world really is different from the game, huh.

-

The motive here was to buy time and slowly shave down Saturn's forces, rather than confronting him directly, so Barry and Luce went the long way around instead of attacking the core immediately.

After all, Saturn could just send the army to the kids at once, and they wouldn't ever stand a chance either way. The Galactic Eterna Building taught them as much.

Barry takes a breath.

He abruptly opens the door, grabbing the grunt stationed outside by the collar, dragging him in before he could react.

He falls forward, right into Munchlax's waiting mouth.

The guests of the room squeak, terrified at the sight of a Munchlax trying to swallow someone's head. The grunt struggles for all of a second before he seizes, paralyzed, falling unconscious.

"Ah, don't worry," Barry says, as Ponyta gently closes the door. "Major just used Lick. It's a Ghost-type move that paralyses the opponent."

Everyone looks very ready to ask why 'lick' consisted of half-swallowing a human head, but no one knew how to bring it up. In fact, Munchlax was spitting the man out now, almost like he was appalled at the taste. Prinplup patted it on the back, and Ponyta looked confused by his repulsion, reaching down to chew on the grunt's hair.

"Alright then, I'm off," Barry stands up. It sure was convenient that they kept guests holed up in a corner of the mansion. Now that the guests were secured, time to go find the precious baby egg Luce wanted to protect.

"Wait, you're better off sending for help in Hearthome—"

"Already did that."

"Then, wait here with us!"

"Can't. My pal with absolutely no self-preservation instincts is coming from the other end. I need to go stop him before he does something idiotic."

"Stop making sense, child! It's dangerous!"

Honestly, Barry should be annoyed, but all he can think of at this moment is the fact that he's very grateful there are adults with common sense in this world.

"Why do you look so happy that we're berating you?"

"Kid, you okay there?"

"His eyes are shining! Are you even listening to us?!"

Barry is very thrilled at the existence of adults who understand and are furiously worried for him. He almost wants to cry.

"If I bring my pal here, could you lecture him too?" Barry asks, pointing at the door. "Actually, lecture him a lot more than me. Loudly. I don't think he's ever been scolded in his life and that's why he's such a moron. Please."