After throwing up everything I had eaten since being brought back to civilization, I was escorted into a building and led down a number of twisting hallways. Eventually, we reached a room that, once we entered, made me feel cold and numb.

  I was feeling awful from the teleportation, so I didn’t think to put up any sort of resistance, instead letting the two lead me to what I’m pretty sure was some sort of detention cell.

  “I apologise for the harsh and rough treatment you have experienced so far, but the seriousness of the situation warrants such a response,” Cynthia stated matter-of-factly.

  “It’s fine,” I managed to croak out, worried that saying anything more would have me throwing up again.

  “The nausea from teleporting will fade soon, although it may take longer than normal due to the unique nature of the room,” Lucian explained.

  “What even is this place?” I asked.

  “We’re at the Pokémon League. This room is used for high-level intel meetings. It’s coated in Dark-type TE and then Ghost-type TE, making it very difficult to infiltrate,” Lucian stated. “There are some other details, of course, but those are national secrets—and I doubt our Champion here would be too happy with me spilling them.” He finished with a light laugh.

  “So you’ve taken me to a black site. Cool. I’m sure this is going to go great for me,” I muttered. Focusing on my aura, I tried to regain control over my senses and my stomach. After a few minutes, once I was feeling better, I said, “What do you want to know?”

  “You recovered quicker than I was expecting. That’s good,” Cynthia said. “I need you to tell us everything you know about Team Galactic.”

  And so I did. It took many hours with countless interruptions for clarification, but I told them everything I could remember—from the Pokémon the admins used to descriptions of the buildings they used as bases. The cities in question were significantly bigger in real life, so I doubted my expert directions of “the big building near the statue in Eterna” would be particularly helpful, but I did everything I could.

  As we were finishing up, there was something I had been hesitant to bring up before, but knew I would have to. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t.

  “Say… we’ve spent a lot of time talking about Team Galactic, and to my knowledge they’re the only team operating in Sinnoh, but what about others like Team Rocket?”

  I saw the look on both their faces drop. “Are you telling us you have information on Team Rocket as well?” Cynthia asked.

  “I do. I’m not sure how useful it’ll be, but in the games that took place in Kanto and Johto the player would battle against Team Rocket—also in the Alola games, if I’m not mistaken,” I said.

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  “Team Rocket have a base in Alola?” Lucian asked, concern clear in his voice.

  “Well, it was Team Rainbow Rocket in Alola,” I replied.

  “Rainbow Rocket?” Cynthia asked this time.

  “Yeah. I think they came out of an Ultra Wormhole or something—still had Giovanni as the boss, just one from a different dimension.”

  “A different dimension… not sure we can do much with that,” Cynthia eventually stated. “Before we finish, is there anything else you think we should know?”

  “Well, Hoenn had Team Aqua and Team Magma—they wanted to awaken Kyogre and Groudon respectively to expand the sea and landmass. Then Unova has Team Plasma; they want to take away everyone’s Pokémon so their leader can rule the region as the only one with Pokémon. In the follow-up game that took place a few years later, I think they were looking to use Kyurem to take over the region or something. Kalos had Team Flare—I'll be honest, I don’t know what their deal was. Those are the big ones from the mainline games.”

  The look of dread on their faces was obvious. “What part of what I said is going to cause you both problems?” I asked.

  “Pretty much all of it,” Cynthia commented. “Aqua and Magma are both registered as eco-rights groups. While there have been some questions about their methodology, they have a lot of friends in high places, making any accusations dangerous without proof. As for Flare and Plasma, I don’t know much other than that the organisations exist in their respective regions. We will be having a talk with the Champions there to ensure they are taking the threats seriously, but this whole thing is going to be a big diplomatic mess.”

  “How so? Isn’t giving information on criminals going to give you a lot of goodwill?” I asked.

  “The problem is where the information came from,” Lucian explained. “Unless we let every region send their own team to examine you, they likely won't believe it without substantial proof. A lot of these teams, as Cynthia mentioned, have friends in high places—even members of local governments that will defend them and respond to any accusations with legal threats.”

  “I see… well, not really. Sounds a lot like a Champion problem,” I said, which got a snicker out of Lucian.

  “Indeed it is. I will ask that you remain at the League while we verify the information. In the meantime, we can get started on the aura training we promised you,” Cynthia told me.

  “That’s acceptable. But before we go any further, could I get a Poké Ball?” I asked.

  Cynthia looked at me before turning her gaze to Manaphy, who had quietly sat on my lap the entire time. She appeared to think for a while before agreeing to hand over a Poké Ball.

  “Hey, Manaphy—this is a Poké Ball. If I use this on you, then you’ll become my Pokémon. That means no one else can take you away. Does that sound good to you?”

  “Mana! Phy-phy!” Manaphy cried, reaching for the ball. She hit the center button and disappeared in a red light; the ball didn’t even shake once before letting out a clicking noise indicating she had been caught.

  With that sorted, Cynthia released a Pokémon—a blue jackal-like Pokémon that stood on two legs. A Lucario. It looked me up and down before turning to Cynthia.

  “Lucario, I will need you to help teach Roland here how to control his absurd aura,” Cynthia explained.

  I swear I saw a smirk on Lucario’s face before he schooled his expression. I felt a wave of force wash over me. Looking at Lucario now felt like looking at a solid metal wall. I also felt my own aura being clamped down on.

  “I will train you, child, until you are strong enough to stand against me,” Lucario spoke through his aura. Unlike telepathy, it was like I heard him with my whole body—like his voice sank into my bones.

  “Why do I think this is going to be bad for my health?” I laughed nervously.

  “Probably because Lucario’s training is,” Lucian laughed as I was led out toward a training hall.