Michael hasn’t worn his Snag Machine in over a year. That was because he didn’t need to wear it anymore. He once managed to obtain a complete list of Shadow Pokémon with eighty-three of them in total. Once he snagged the last one, he stopped wearing the Snag Machine since no longer served any use.

He never thought that he would need it again. He counted exactly eighty-three Pokémon on that list. No more, no less. How another one could possibly exist he just couldn’t figure out.

As much he wanted to deny that he missed a Shadow Pokémon, all evidence was pointing to that possibility. The emotionless attitude and the invisible attacks were just too similar to the characteristics of the Shadow Pokémon.

The only explanation that Michael could think of was that the Munchlax was accidentally left out of the list. It was the only thing that made since, since Michael knew that no one would even dare to create another Shadow Pokémon after what he did to Cipher. Nevertheless, Michael wanted to find out just for sure, “Where’d you get that Pokémon?!”

“What?! That’s none of your business! I’m not going to tell you!” Miror B. yelled back, insulted.

Michael groaned, frustrated and impatient with his enemy. If the Munchlax was truly a Shadow Pokémon, then he couldn’t be wasting time by asking questions to somebody that would never give him an answer. Even if he didn’t have his Snag Machine with him anymore, he couldn’t let Miror B. keep that Munchlax. “Listen. You’re either going to give me that Pokémon willingly or…” Michael pointed to his two Pokémon, who were ready to burst into action. “They take it from you by force.”

Didi took Michaels’ threat seriously and began to head towards Pogo and Hunter with her claws out, heedless of her trainers’ orders. But Miror B. stopped her again, although with a calmer tone of voice, “Now wait a minute Didi.”

Miror B. didn’t seem the least bit threatened by Michael, which made him feel rather uneasy. He smiled deviously and said, “Now how about this, boy? I keep the Pokémon and you leave me alone about it!”

“What?! Stop joking around!” Michael snarled at Miror B.s’ insults at his intelligence.

“Ohoho! I’m not joking!” Miror B. laughed mischievously, waving his finger back and forth, “You see, I don’t think you want me doing what I will do if you take it from me!”

Michael sweated a little at Miror B.s’ words. There wasn’t much he could do as far as physical forced was concerned. But Michael was still worried about what Miror B. had up his sleeve. He was a tricky and scheming man, and Michael was scared of what he could do to him.

Jovi and Trudly were also interested in what Miror B. had planned. Jovi however, was more anxious and scared over what was going to happen; she quivered in place as she hid behind the scooter. Trudly cocked his eyebrow as he reclined on a tree, almost skeptical of his boss’ threats. Folly however, didn’t seem to be interested in whatever was about to unfold, as he kept his head down.

“Hmm? Still don’t get it?” Miror B. asked mockingly. He smiled and laughed as he began to pace back and forth, tossing the Munchlaxs’ Poké Ball in the air. “Well then! Let me tell you something very interesting I heard yesterday!”

Miror B. stopped moving to look Michael square in the face, “Remember a year ago when you beat Ciphers’ Grand Master? If I recall correctly, you told everyone in Orre that you trounced him! Destroyed him! Beat him into the ground!” Miror B. smirked, with a hint of vindictiveness. “But I heard that wasn’t the case at all!”

Michaels’ throat grew dry and his breath grew ragged. No… How… How could he know?!

“You see, what I heard was that the battle was far from the landslide you described it to be! You barely won! The only reason you came out on the victorious side was all because of dumb luck!” Miror B. laughed loudly, as if he was trying to announce to the whole forest of his knowledge, “You truly are a piece of work! You could’ve told everyone that you simply won, and everyone would be content with that. But instead, you decide to stretch the truth just to stroke your oversized ego! You really are quite proud, are you, you little arrogant brat!”

Michaels’ face was drenched with his own sweat and his heart was pounding loud enough that he could hear it over his shaking breaths. “D…Damn it… Shut up…”

He nervously turned his head towards Jovi, who was looking at her big brother with confused and shocked eyes. She stared at him, like she didn’t want to believe what she just heard. “Big brother…? He’s… lying… right big brother?”

Michael kept silent. He turned his head away from Jovi. He just couldn’t look her in the eyes and tell her that Miror B. was wrong. After hearing her ask him that the way she did, he felt too dirty and ashamed to say anything.

But he still saw out of the corner of his eye Jovi looking at him, disappointed and struggling to keep her eyes dry.

Miror B. seemed to relish the friction forming between Michael and his sister. He chuckled and said, “I can see your sister isn’t quite happy about that. So honestly, why should anyone have to hear that and suffer the same way?”

Michael lifted up his head up slightly, to hear what Miror B. had to say now. Part of him didn’t want to listen to him anymore, but the other was still open to whatever Miror B. had to offer.

“So how about this? I keep the Shadow Pokémon and I’ll keep quiet about your dirty little secret. If you want it, then I’ll be more than happy to hand it over. But I’ll run off and tell everyone I see about what I just told you. And even if you have the balls to attack me right here and now, I can still run away a hell of a lot faster than you, so it would be a waste of time to even try.”

Michael’s eyes widened at Miror B.s’ proposal. While it didn’t surprise him that he would pull something so dirty, Michael was still shocked that he would offer him such a mean, nasty deal.

He stood silently, trying to soak in the situation. He needed the Shadow Pokémon. He didn’t care how the Shadow Munchlax came to be anymore. It needed to be purified and that was that. Ever since he first donned the Snag Machine a year ago, he felt he was obligated to obtain and purify any Shadow Pokémon that he came across.

But if Miror B. revealed to everyone that he lied, what would everyone think of him? Being so close to losing was an embarrassment in the first place, but he felt that no one would ever let him live down lying about it if they found out? He could almost see Lily and Prof. Krane hearing the information, then looking at Michael with disappointed look in their faces that they expected better of him and that he should be ashamed.

He couldn’t stand going through that. He buried his head in his hands at the thought of everyone he befriended and loved throwing all that into the back of their mind and labeling him as a dirty liar.

Jovi saw Michael struggling with such a decision and yelled to him, trying to convince him to give up his pride, all while fighting back tears, “It’s okay! Jovi still thinks big brother is the best trainer she knows! Jovi won’t be mad! Mommy and the Professor won’t be mad either!”

Michaels’ knees felt like they were about to collapse under such pressure. Either way, he would suffer the consequences. If he accepted the Munchlax, everyone would see him as a proud, arrogant liar. But if he played into Miror B.s’ hand and let him get away, he would have to live with the fact that he let a Shadow Pokémon get away.

He looked at his two Pokémon who were also facing him, doing so much as to turn their attention away from Didi just to try to convince him to not be proud. They stared at him, waiting for him to give an answer, the answer they seemed to be hoping for; they both appeared to know that purifying a Shadow Pokémon had priority over other peoples’ conception of Michael.

But still, Michael fought with himself over and over, and he just couldn’t bear to live with such a stigma for the rest of his life. It was just one Shadow Pokémon. It never had to happen; he never had to tell anyone he knew of it. He could even tell everyone that he was never offered such a chance to obtain the Munchlax and that there were no means of taking it from Miror B. The failure to obtain a Shadow Pokémon was a lot less jarring and tarnishing than the revelation that he couldn’t bear to be seen as anything less than an outstanding trainer.

Michael began to step back. He unlatched Pogo and Hunters' Poké Balls and returned them. He clamped his eyes shut and dropped his head.

Jovi saw him resign himself. She stared at Michael with her mouth open, disbelieving and shocked. Even with Michaels’ heartbeat banging in his ears, he heard her whisper, “Big brother…”

Trudly shook his head in disbelief at Michaels’ decision with a humorless laugh. Even Folly was shocked enough that his head lifted up slightly at the situation.

Miror B. was the only one smiling. He grinned triumphantly, and appeared proud of all things. After years of losing to Michael, it seemed like he finally won.

But within a split second, that win was hanging on a thread.

The sound of a quick fluttering of wings approached the area. Before anyone could get the chance to see what it was, it lowered itself low enough to grab the Munchlaxs’ Poké Ball right out of Miror B.s’ hand and take off with it.

Miror B. didn’t seem to notice the thief at first, but it didn’t take long for him to notice his Poké Ball was gone. He closed and opened his fist a few times before truly realizing that the ball was no longer there. He swiftly swiveled his head to face his empty hand and screamed, “Aaaaah! Where’d it go?!”

All heads in the vicinity turned their heads to the tree that the thief landed in. The Ninjask with a single black wing perched herself on a branch with the Poké Ball firmly in her claws.

For that moment, Michaels’ previous thoughts were discarded in exchange for Rias’ appearance, “Dammit! That idiot… Does he really have the nerve to come back here?!”

Miror B. immediately reacted with an explosive anger. He quickly rushed to the trunk of the tree and yelled up to Ria, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?! Give that back!”

He did so even though Ria scowled right back at him and began to vibrate her wings and buzz like she usually did when she was annoyed. But for Miror B., accepting a loss so easily was unthinkable. Miror B. even did as much as kick the tree, even though it did no good.

He snarled at the Ninjask and turned to Didi, all of his cheerfulness entirely gone. “Didi! Take care of it!”

Didi nodded, itching for action. She reached into the husk at the top of her cap, pulled a bunch of seeds out and spat them at Ria like a machine gun.

The individual seeds looked like blurs to Michael. But despite that, the Ninjask reacted instantaneously and slashed her claws at the seeds at such a fast speed that they also appeared as blurs. When she paused, all the seeds dropped to ground in halves, not a single one making contact.

Didi almost tripped over backwards at the sight of such speed. She had dominated most of the incomplete battle with her quick reaction-time. Seeing a Pokémon who was even better at that caused her to stare upon the unfazed Ninjask in utter disbelief.

Even Miror B. was shocked at Rias’ speed. Throughout the many times Michael battled Miror B., he quickly found out that Didi was his fastest Ludicolo. As if Miror B. realized that Didi couldn’t match Rias’ speed, especially after taking hits from Pogo and Hunter, he returned Didi to her Poké Ball.

But before Miror B. could get the chance to draw another ball out, the Ninjask turned her head down the path. She took off gingerly, high enough so that no one could touch her. She only lowered her elevation when she approached the red-haired man that had been standing there without anyone noticing.

Eldes took the Poké Ball from Ria before she perched on his shoulder. He then turned his head towards Miror B. and began to walk towards him like he wasn’t a threat at all. Even as tall as Eldes was, he still had to look up at Miror B.. But he did so without showing an ounce of emotion. “Was that your Shadow Pokémon?”

Miror B. raised his eyebrows at the sudden appearance of the strange man, and didn’t seem to take him any more seriously as Eldes did of him. “What?! Who the hell are you?!”

Eldes didn’t answer his question. Instead, he said to him flatly, “Please come with me.”

“Who do you think you are?! Give me back my Pokémon and buzz off!” Miror B. didn’t feel like playing with Eldes, and made no effort to conceal such feelings.

But if Eldes was trying to conceal his feelings, he was doing a great job of it. He simply stared at Miror B. with the same static and dull look on his face, completely unaffected.

Perhaps he had a reason to not be threatened by Miror B.. Its’ green color effectively hiding it, Eldes’ Flygon walked out the woods calmly, and with the same unthreatened sentiment of his trainer, approached Miror B. and gently, but tightly, grabbed him by the neck collar. Dasn lifted Miror B. up in the air, not giving Miror B. the choice of complying with Eldes’ command.

Miror B. kicked and punched at the Flygon desperately the moment his feet left the ground. Even though Michael heard that his kicks were rather strong, they still couldn’t even make the Flygon flinch. Nevertheless, he still pounded at Dasns’ tough hide, “Damn it, you son of a bitch! Put me down!”

Dasn turned towards Miror B.s’ henchmen, apparently knowing that they were working for the one who announced just minutes prior that he had a Shadow Pokémon. They watched the actions of Eldes’ two Pokémon with their mouths agape, like they had thought their boss’ win was sealed.

Neither of them wanted to give themselves in, however; Trudly shouted a, “Run!” to Folly as they frantically stood up and began to take off. But even though Dasn was a big Pokémon, he was by no means slow. It only took a few steps for him to close the gap between him and the fleeing men, and grabbed the neck collars of Folly in his other hand and Trudlys’ in his mouth, making an effort not to harm them like he did with their boss.

With the three outlaws secure, albeit kicking and screaming, Eldes began to walk up to Michael. But Michael took the initiative to approach him himself by stomping up to the man in a hostile manner. “What do you think you’re doing here?! I thought I told you to stay out of my sight!”

Even though Michael bared his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows to intimidate Eldes, he looked back at him with his usual half-closed eyes and generally uncaring attitude. “I’m just going to turn these three in.”

“I don’t care what the hell you’re doing with those idiots! I told you that if you ever turn up here again, I’ll kick your ass! I got five Pokémon that are more than capable of fighting right now against your two! Who do you think is gonna win?!” Michael snapped back at him.

Eldes held one of his hands up defensively. “Please, I have no intention of fighting anyone.”

Initially, Michael was ready to ignore Eldes’ plea. But after the battle with Miror B. and what happened afterwards, he began to rethink his plan. Michael wasn’t really sure anymore if he or his team were really in fighting shape as he just claimed they were after everything that happened.

Still, he didn’t tone down the intensity of his hostility to Eldes. He shot out his hand and snarled, “Give me the Poké Ball! I’m not going to let you waltz away with a Shadow Pokémon!”

Eldes didn’t do anything but look at Michaels’ outstretched hand for a while. When that moment passed, he stretched his own hand out and lightly placed the Munchlaxs’ ball in Michaels’. “I’m sorry.”

Michael snorted and snatched away the Poké Ball. “Yeah, you should be.”

Michael began to turn around with the Munchlax secure, but he still kept a close eye on Eldes. He knew that he couldn’t be trusted in the least bit. He may have been acting calm, gentle, and submissive now, but Michael was sure that if he let down his guard for even the slightest moment, Eldes wouldn’t hesitate to launch his attack.

The man didn’t make a move even as Michael started to turn away, but Michael did hear Eldes speak to him quietly, “Your sister's right. I don’t think anyone would’ve been mad at you.”

Michael snapped back around. He instantly knew what Eldes was talking about; he wouldn’t have been surprised if he had watched the whole battle beginning to end. Although his comment was shrouded in the disguise of a piece of advice, Michael took it as an insult. “Shut up!”

Now that Eldes was there and he wasn’t defenseless anymore, Michael began to think of what to do with him. He ground his sneaker across the ground trying to figure out something. He could send out all of his Pokémon at once at him and get him out of the picture. But even though Eldes was severely outnumbered, he was unsure if that would be a wise course of action. There was no way that Michael could let Eldes go free, that was for sure. “Look. I can’t in good conscience let you walk away! I’m not taking my eyes off of you! You can tell me that story about being given a second chance by your prison all you want and I’m still not going to believe any of it! I’m taking you back to the Lab so the police can throw you back where you belong!”

For the second time that day, a look of shock suddenly appeared on Eldes’ face. He bent his head back a little at Michaels’ announcement and gave a small exclamation in the form of a quick gasp. This time however, Michael could find a trace of fear in his face. “The… Pokémon HQ Lab?” His voice shook very slightly, but it was still obvious when compared to his normal, monotonous speaking pattern.

“Yeah. That’s right. And if you try anything funny, you can bet my Pokémon will be all over your ass in a second.” Michael spat at him as he turned around completely. “Problem?”

Eldes was unresponsive at first, but he eventually answered Michael without the emotions of shock or fear and in an even smaller voice than before, “No. There isn’t.”

Michael walked back to the scooter with Eldes in tow, swiveling his head back distrustfully every now and then to make sure Eldes didn’t try to pull anything. As he came close to the scooter, he looked Jovi, who had her back turned to him and her arms crossed. Michael tried to get her attention, but the most that she did was turn her head enough for Michael to see the angry and betrayed look on her face before turning back around.

He was reminded of the reason Jovi was suddenly so upset. His stomach nearly flopped upside down; just thinking about it made him feel a little sick inside. No matter what he would’ve done, Michael wouldn’t leave unscathed. He thought that letting Miror B. keep that one Shadow Pokémon and never speaking of it again would avoid such a letdown among his friends and family. But in Jovis’ case, that plan turned out to be a total failure.

He was forced to push those thoughts away for the moment. He needed to get home now for more reasons than before. He drove slowly enough to keep Eldes and Dasn carrying the three men that had by that point given up close and to react if any of them tried to escape. Michael wasn’t going to let any of them get away for their crimes. And as long as he had the power to do so, he wouldn’t let them have that chance.

* * *

Lily sat on the front steps of the Lab, staring anxiously into the forest path. She sighed and looked up to the orange sky; the sun was setting now and it was getting late. Michael had been gone for far too long and she couldn’t stop thinking of the worst possible scenarios.

She stood up and tried to calm herself down. Lily had the faith and trust in Michael that he wouldn’t waste time and be gone longer than what was necessary. Still, she began to worry if something had happened to Michael, if he needed help, and what she could do.

Just as she began to panic like she did earlier in the day, Lily saw movement in the path. Without wasting a moment, she ran closer to get a better look. Erasing all of her fears and worries, she saw Michael on his scooter with Jovi riding on the back. The moment the scooter stopped, Jovi jumped off and ran as fast as she could towards Lily, crying, “Mommy!” Lily bent down quickly to embrace her daughter, relieved beyond comprehension that she was perfectly safe. Jovi hugged her just as tightly and didn’t let up for the longest time.

Lily lifted her head up to thank Michael for bringing her back. But before she had the chance, she noticed two other figures behind Michael. One was a large Dragon-type Pokémon holding an odd man in clothes from the disco era and an enormous afro and two grisly-looking men in their late teens. The other was a straight-faced, red-haired man in an elaborate robe that stretched beyond his knees.

Lily started to stand up a little at the sight of the unfamiliar figures and looked at them warily. Michael seemed to be fully aware of their presence, as he gave a sheepish smile as Lily looked in their direction.

“H… Hi Mom. I… uh, brought company…”