The forest outside Metrolink City was vast. It was called the Passage Way of Truth, where a legendary pokemon used to live. A river surrounded this forest and the only way to get here is through Metrolink Bridge. Many trainers gathered here to train, but this late at night, no one will dare to step in.
However, Elias sat motionless on a rock overlooking a small clearing. He should have been training. The Metrolink City Pokemon Tournament was three weeks away, and Sandile needed every ounce of preparation.
But he couldn't move.
His mind was a reel, replaying the end of his battle with Rein on a loop.
He understood Rein's anger. He was beginning to grasp the shape of a shared dream, like Shan and his Totodile. But what he witnessed in Rein at the end… that was something else entirely. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't even a bond, not in the way Shan had.
That was power. A power born of lack, of failure, of reaching the absolute end of one's own capabilities and finding something else waiting there.
A soft crunch of leaves to his left broke his reverie. He didn't turn his head. The presence was familiar, though unexpected.
"You think too loudly." Anne's voice was a murmur in the dark.
She emerged from the shadows between two tall pines, her pink pigtails seeming almost to glow in the moonlight. She wasn't in her grunt uniform. She wore simple, white traveling clothes, a small pack slung over one shoulder.
"I'm supposed to be on a transport to Talroc City in two hours." She said, coming to stand beside his rock. "But I had a feeling I'd find you here. Debriefing with Sarah wasn't enough for you, was it?"
Elias remained silent, his gaze fixed on the dark water of the river below. After a moment, he spoke, his voice flat.
"Rein evolved his Magby."
"I heard." Anne leaned against a tree trunk, folding her arms. "The whole base is buzzing about it. But they're missing the point, of course."
"What is the point?"
"Rein lost. That's the point. He lacks bond with his pokemon, and it cost him to lose. Don't think too much about it."
"I don't think he lost... more like I won because he couldn't fight anymore."
"That's called 'victory,' Elias. He couldn't fight anymore, because he realized that it's hopeless against you. It's hopeless against your adaptability in battle."
"Adaptability?"
Anne sighed. A heavy sighed. She pushed back against the tree and approach Elias.
"Listen. I'm not here for this conversation. I'm here to teach you... how to smile!" She said, a smile formed on her lips.
Elias looked at her confusedly.
"Smile? Why?"
"Because you need to. Smiling is a step to understanding. And it'll help for your mission." She grabbed his cheeks, and stretched it to form an expressionless smile. "You need to show more emotions."
Elias stared at her, his cheeks stretched into an unnatural, expressionless curve by her fingers.
"You're pulling my skin."
"It's a start! The muscles need to remember the shape. You can't understand joy if you've never worn its mask."
"Joy is a mask?"
"Everything is, to some extent." Anne said, her own smile softening into something more thoughtful. "We wear the mask of a grunt. The mask of a trainer. The mask of a friend, or a rival. We choose the face that gets us what we need. Right now, you need the mask of a normal, eager rookie trainer. That mask usually smiles."
She sat down on the rock beside him, the moonlight painting her features in silver and shadow.
"Watch the other trainers here in the forest during the day. Watch how they celebrate a good training session. How they console their pokemon after a mistake. How their faces light up when their pokemon learns a new move. Mimic that. Start small."
She glanced at him, her eyes sharp even in the dim light.
"And stop thinking about Rein's evolution as some profound mystery. It was a natural pokemon response to extreme stress and a deep desire to not fail its trainer. It's complicated, yes. But not a cosmic riddle. You're overcomplicating it because you don't have a simpler frame of reference."
Elias was silent. She was right. He lacked the frame of reference. He was trying to build a theory of the human heart without understanding the fundamental axioms.
"Your transport." He said after a moment.
"In an hour and a half." She confirmed, standing up and brushing moss from her pants. "I'll be watching the tournament from Talroc. Don't embarrass me. Or the boss. More importantly, don't embarrass that Sandile of yours. It deserves a trainer who can at least fake a convincing victory smile."
She turned to leave, then paused.
"Oh, and Elias? A piece of advice from one mask-wearer to another. Sometimes, if you wear a mask long enough... it stops being a mask. You become the thing you're pretending to be. Be careful which face you choose to practice."
With that final warning, she disappeared back into the forest, leaving Elias alone.
He stood up. The weight of his thoughts was still there, but Anne had given him a task. He clipped the pokeball back to his belt. The tournament was in three weeks. The path to understanding "everyone" was impossibly long. But the path to understanding trainers... that started with pretending to be one.
***
The first week before the tournament was eventful for Elias. He stayed inside the forest for seven days whole, training his Sandile. During that seven days, he managed to caught a Starly, evolved his Sandile into Krokorok, and learn much about battling.
He also practiced his emotions by watching trainers. Alone by the river at dusk, he would move his face. A slight upward quirk of the lips for a minor success.
Krokorok and Starly watched these sessions curiously in awkwardness.
On the seventh night, as Elias reviewed the week's progress in his mind, the comm watch on his wrist emitted a soft, insistent pulse. He hadn't heard from the organization since his assignment.
He pressed the interface. A miniature holographic image of Sarah flickered to life above his wrist. Her expression was tight, the usual sharpness edged with urgency.
"Elias. Halt your training."
"Our Intelligence Team in Talroc City has been compromised. Their cover is blown. The local Gym Leader, Kieve, is actively hunting them and driving our operations out of the city." She spoke quickly, her words clipped. "We the Four Commanders are engaged in critical operations. I am managing three extraction protocols elsewhere. We need a stabilizing force on the ground to oversee the evacuation of our people before Kieve dismantles everything."
"You are the closest operative. Rein is already en route. His transport will arrive at Talroc City terminal in four hours. But you will not wait for him. Your mission is to assist in the extraction of the Intelligence Team Leader Marly. Do not engage the Gym Leader unless absolutely necessary. Your priority is the safe withdrawal of our people. Understood?"
"Understood." Elias nodded as he recalled his pokemons back to their pokeballs.
"Good. I will send your transport coordinates. Do not fail." The hologram winked out.
Elias turned and began to move swiftly through the trees, not towards the bridge and the city, but towards a secluded coordinates now blinking on his wrist.
The coordinates led him to a pathway, deep in the northern part of the forest where a narrow bridge made of wood was put over the river. The moonlight did little to pierce the dense canopy here.
A transport truck was parked across the bridge, its engine silent. Three figures stood beside it, their forms rigid in the gloom. They were Senior Xycle grunts, their black and white uniforms making them look like ghosts in the shadows. As Elias approached, all three snapped their attention.
"Who are you?!" One of them barked, his voice too loud in the quiet.
Elias gave them a look, his eyes scanning the area. There was no sign of the driver, no other vehicles. Just the truck and these three, waiting for him.
"Wait, you are one of the new member. Elias." The same grunt said, his bravado faltering under Elias's blank stare. He gestured to the back of the truck. "We're waiting for you. Come to the back of the truck."
Elias walked around to the rear. Lying inside was a metallic suitcase. He pressed his thumb against the latch. It scanned his print with a soft beep, and the locks disengaged with a heavy clunk.
He opened the case.
Inside, neatly arranged, were the trappings of his long, trench coat. But beside it, laid out on a bed of gray foam, was something new.
A mask.
It was a full-head covering, molded from a smooth, matte-grey composite material. It was featureless save for two dark, opaque lenses for eyes. He shrugged out of his leather jacket, folding it and placing it to the side. He swung the trench coat around his shoulders. The familiar weight settled on him, heavy with purpose.
Finally, he picked up the grey mask. It was cool and surprisingly light. He turned it over in his hands, then lifted it to his face.
It fit perfectly. The world through the dark lenses was tinted and slightly reduced, but he can see enough.
When he turned back to the three grunts, their reaction was immediate. They stiffened, their casual posture evaporating. The one who had spoken earlier gave a curt, respectful nod.
The driver's side door of the truck opened, and a fourth grunt climbed out, their face also obscured by a balaclava. They gave Elias a silent salute before climbing into the back of the truck.
Elias moved to the passenger side and got in. The two other grunts piled into the back seat.
The engine roared to life, a guttural sound in the forest. The truck pulled onto the narrow road, its headlights cutting twin beams through the perpetual twilight under the trees. Elias watched the landscape transform, the forest giving way to rolling farmland, then to the outer suburbs of Talroc City—neat rows of houses and small businesses that gradually grew taller and closer together.
"We have a problem."
The driver pointed a thick finger through the windshield.
Ahead, at the intersection before a large, blocky building marked "Warehouse 7," chaos had erupted. Two police cruisers were angled to block the main entrance, their doors open as cover. Several officers crouched behind them, pokeballs in hand.
And in between the cruisers and the warehouse, a battle raged.
Three figures in the black and white uniforms of Xycle Intelligence were locked in combat. A Liepard darted, slashing at a Growlithe that lunged with Fire Fang. A Kadabra used Psybeam to hold back an officer's Staravia. But the Xycle agents were outnumbered and being pushed back towards the warehouse door.
"The locals got tipped off." The driver grunted. "Kieve's work. He's flushing them into the open."
He didn't slow the truck. Instead, he gunned the engine, veering sharply down the alley beside the warehouse. The truck screeched to a halt behind a dumpster, hidden from the main street.
The driver killed the engine and turned to Elias, his eyes serious.
"I'll wait here. You need to get Marly and the remaining Intelligence Team out through the back of the warehouse. We have five minutes before more units converge. The other grunts will provide a diversion at the front."
He jerked his thumb at the two grunts in the back seat. They nodded, faces grim, and unclipped pokeballs from their belts.
Elias gave a single, slow nod.
He pushed the passenger door open and slipped out into the alley. Behind him, he heard the two grunts moving, their footsteps quick and light as they headed back towards the sounds of battle.
Elias walked down the alley, his coat blending with the shadows. He found the door behind the warehouse. A faint green "X" was etched near the bottom corner, almost invisible. He pushed it open and stepped into the gloom of the warehouse.
It was a cavernous space, filled with dusty tarps, piles of rusted metal, and tall windows. The sounds of the battle outside were muffled here, echoing strangely.
A flicker of movement by a stack of crates. A Xycle grunt, young and pale-faced, spun around, a pokeball raised defensively.
"Identify!" He hissed, his voice trembling.
Elias didn't speak. He simply lifted a hand and tapped two fingers against the side of his featureless grey mask—a recognition signal Sarah had teached him.
The grunt's shoulders slumped in relief.
"Marly is pinned inside her office! Please, help her!"
Elias was already moving. As he neared the front of the office, the sounds grew clearer. He could hear a woman's voice—probably Marly's—strained and almost clumsy.
"A-Ah please, don't t-take anymore files!"
Elias stopped in front of the door. His hands wandered to the straps of his coat, fastening it to covered his clothes. Then, his hand hovered over the knob. He was about to open it when he heard a voice inside, a hoarse voice.
"Team Xycle. You are a criminal organization, right? I heard about you from a boy who came to challenge me yesterday."