{With Ash}
The day after the group all had dinner, they had to talk about what paths they would be taking now.
Ash had already put it out there: he wanted to get to Hearthome City, both for the Gym and because there was a Contest going on there, so he would like it if they could go do that.
Barry and Lucas looked at the map, looking at the available Gyms. Now, Barry might be impulsive, but he was not stumped. If he went to Hearthome with the group, his team really wasn't the best for dealing with a Ghost-type team. He had a Fighting type and a Normal type, so it wasn't the best matchup.
He looked at the map and settled on going to Veilstone. On the way, maybe he could grab one of those Luxio that had chased them before. Catching one of them might be a good idea.
So, they agreed to split paths again. By morning, Barry and Lucas took off down the road, while Ash, Dawn, and Verity were talking about the path they would take.
Ash leaned back in his chair, looking at his map while he had a spoon in his mouth, "Hmm, alright, anything we want to do before we leave?"
"Mmmm…" Verity muttered, her head on the table. Oh yeah, Verity had been like this since last night, after she learned how much the restaurant cost. She had almost foamed at the mouth over how much it cost.
Dawn looked at her booklet, "Hmmm, not really. I'm good to go. What about you, Verity?"
Verity lifted her hand, grabbed the book, and slowly sat up to look at it, "Uhhh...okay, let's see…" She wiped her arms and read it over, "Isn't there a Contest here in Eterna City? Why don't we stay for that?"
"Yeah, but that was a week before we got here," Dawn explained, "The next one is in like a month."
"Yeah, which, I mean, if it's on the way, we could come back around here, but we might as well keep going so we can get all of our stuff."
"Hmmm…" Verity hummed tiredly, then sighed, "Alright."
She stood up and stretched, with one arm behind her head, "Okay, what's our game plan? How are we getting to Hearthome?"
Ash pulled the spoon out of his mouth and pointed at his map, "We can go down Route 206, then we can either find a ship or go through Mount Coronet."
Verity raised her hand, "Can I vote for finding a ship?"
"I dunno. I think going through Mount Coronet could be fun!" Dawn added.
They both looked at Ash expectantly. Ash took another scoop of his yogurt and shrugged, "I dunno, we'll see when we get there. First, we gotta get back down there." Ash pointed back at the map.
"Fastest way is to go down the bicycle path," Ash pointed out.
"Uhhhh…" Dawn and Verity said in unison.
Ash looked up at them, "Hm, what's up? You don't have a bike?"
"N-no, I have a bike," Dawn quickly said, waving her hands and looking away as she quickly started typing on her phone behind her back.
Verity scratched her cheek, "I, um...I don't have a bike."
"Hm." Ash nodded as he went to his bag, pulled out one of his foldable bikes, and tossed it over to Verity. Verity caught what looked like a normal rod. She looked confused, then Piplup jumped onto the table and pushed the button, making it quickly expand into a full bike.
Verity stared at the bike, "...What?"
Ash leaned back in his chair, taking another bite of his yogurt, "A bike."
"I can see that!" Verity grabbed the handlebars and examined it, "Why do you just have one in there?"
"I don't have one," Ash said, pulling out another, "I have two in here." Not really. He had more.
Verity blinked and sighed, "Okay, fine, so...uhhh, whatever, I guess we can go on the path now."
"Yep, totally, we can," Dawn said as a delivery person walked up, gave her a package, and left. Dawn quickly opened it and pulled out her portable bike, "See, we all have one," she said, but she was very obviously nervous.
"Why do you look so nervous?" Verity asked.
"No reason, no reason at all!" Dawn scratched the back of her head, laughing helplessly.
Ash raised his eyebrow, then got a small, slow smirk, "You do know how to ride a bike, right?"
"O-of course I do!" Dawn quickly said, putting her hands on her waist, "I am the best at riding bikes!"
Dawn immediately grabbed her bike and started pushing it toward the exit.
"See? No problem!" she declared, walking ahead of the others.
Ash and Verity exchanged a look before following her.
Dawn continued pushing her bike all the way to the biking trail that led to the Cycling Road on Route 206. She kept her head held high, acting as though she knew exactly what she was doing.
Once they reached the trail, she finally stopped.
"Alright!" Dawn announced, gripping the handlebars, "Time to show you both how it's done!"
Ash tilted his head, "You haven't even gotten on it yet."
"I'm building up anticipation!"
"Uh-huh."
Dawn shot him a glare before carefully swinging one leg over the bike. She sat down, placed her hands firmly on the handlebars, and stared straight ahead.
Okay, Dawn. You can do this. It's just a bike. People ride these things all the time! she thought.
She slowly pushed one foot against the ground, making the bike roll forward a little.
Her eyes widened, "Oh! Okay! I'm doing it!" The bike wobbled, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
Dawn desperately gripped the handlebars, trying to keep herself balanced as she slowly rolled forward. Her entire body was shaking, and she was barely moving faster than someone walking.
Ash watched her with a raised eyebrow, "Dawn, are you sure—"
"I'M FINE!" The front wheel suddenly turned to the side, "W-WAIT!"
The bike tipped over, and Dawn tumbled onto the ground with a small yelp.
"Dawn!" Ash and Verity shouted together.
Ash immediately rushed over, crouching beside her, "Hey, hey, are you okay?"
Dawn sat there, staring at the ground with a stunned expression. Her knees and palms had a few small scrapes, and she looked like she wanted the earth to swallow her whole, "I…" She swallowed, "I meant to do that."
Verity stared at her, "Really?"
"No…" Dawn looked down, embarrassed.
Ash carefully helped Dawn stand up before guiding her over to a nearby spot where she could sit down. He knelt in front of her and gently checked her scrapes, "Hold still for a second, okay?"
Dawn looked away, her face burning, "...Okay."
Ash pulled out a few supplies from his bag and began cleaning her small scrapes before gently patching them up.
Dawn winced slightly.
"Sorry," Ash said, keeping his movements gentle, "Almost done."
After he finished, Ash looked up at her, "There. Nothing too bad, thankfully."
Dawn glanced down at her patched-up knees, then looked away again, "...Thanks."
Ash smiled softly before giving her a light pat on the head, "Just be careful, okay? You don't have to rush into things."
Dawn pouted, "I wasn't rushing!"
Ash raised an eyebrow.
Dawn looked away, "...Okay, maybe a little."
He chuckled, "Look, it doesn't matter if you don't know how to do something. We can teach you. There's no reason to pretend you already know how."
Dawn's shoulders slumped a little, "But I said I was the best at riding bikes…"
"Yeah, and now we know that's not true." Ash grinned.
"Ash…"
"Hey, I'm just being honest!"
Dawn puffed out her cheeks while Ash laughed, but his expression soon softened again, "Seriously, though. There's nothing wrong with not knowing how to do something. Everyone has to start somewhere."
Dawn looked down at her hands for a moment before nodding slightly, "...Yeah, I guess."
Beside them, Verity had been unusually quiet. She stood with her fingers poking together, her eyes fixed on the ground as her cheeks slowly turned pink, "Um…"
Ash looked over at her, "Hm?"
Verity fidgeted awkwardly, "I, uh...I don't actually know how to ride a bike either."
There was a moment of silence.
Dawn slowly turned her head toward Verity, "...What?"
Verity's face turned even redder, "I said I don't know how to ride a bike. I didn't have a bike, so I didn't learn."
"Alright, I guess I'm teaching you both, then," Ash said, looking back at Dawn and holding his hand out, "How about it? You ready to learn?"
Dawn looked at his hand, then slowly smiled and took it, getting up from her seat and nodding, "Okay!"
—
{Meanwhile, at the same time}
Mr. Berlitz and Professor Rowan were traveling on a boat, being pushed by a Floatzel to get them to Canalave City.
"There it is, Professor," Mr. Berlitz said, looking at the approaching city, "Canalave City, site of the academic conference!"
"I heard plenty of research papers will be presented this year," Rowan said.
"Well, this session is two weeks long, if I'm not mistaken," Mr. Berlitz added.
"What a wonderful opportunity to exchange theories with the nation's leading Pokémon experts! We have so much to learn." Rowan rubbed his beard.
"I believe the conference is being held in the Canalave Library."
"That's right, in the first-floor hall!" Berlitz nodded as he led the way.
As they walked, they passed a man with his hood up. He walked past them, and once they went their separate ways, he stopped and lowered his hood, revealing Byron.
He looked back and watched them walk away, letting out a low chuckle, "Looks like all the professors are coming here, huh?"
But that wasn't his problem. He kept walking to get to where he was going. As he did, he pulled out his phone and called Roark again, putting his phone up to his ear, "Roark, where were we…?"
—
{Back with Ashtwo}
D went to the side and pulled out his mask. After all, Hiori had seen him with the scarf covering his face, so it was better if he just kept the mask on.
When he walked out with the mask on, he walked over to see what Hiori was looking at. As he did, Hiori turned and saw him, his eyes lighting up.
"Oh, 3, you're here too?" he said excitedly, "How have you been?"
"I've been fine, but what are you doing here? I thought you'd be preoccupied with other things," D said, mentioning the article that had been published about Pokémon 7, claiming that Pokémon 7's identity would soon be exposed. However, it never went anywhere, probably because he had dealt with the Mako situation.
Hiori scratched his head, "Ah...yeah, things have been...weird. Oh, that reminds me, have you run into some guy called Rock? He calls himself another Pokémon thief, but, like, not a hypocrite. Whatever that means. He's been annoying me, saying he's my rival and stuff, but...I dunno."
D raised his eyebrow under the mask, "That's interesting...I don't think anyone like that has contacted me. Then again, I don't have a place where people send me mail."
"Ah, that's fair…" Hiori muttered, "Anyway, you asked why I'm here. Well…" He leaned closer, "I got a request to try and help people get their Pokémon back after they were stolen."
As Hiori was explaining the job to D, D's eyes scanned the crowd and stopped when he spotted a cloaked figure standing in a corner, waiting for the auction to start. The cloak was black except for a G on the top of the hood.
"...And that's everything," Hiori finally finished explaining, "So, what about you? What are you doing here?"
"I guess you could say I'm here to deal with some garbage," D said, and Hiori blinked, but he slowly nodded, remembering that D worked differently from how he did.
"I see...well, then, maybe we can help each other. You wanna team up?" Hiori asked hopefully.
But before D could say something, someone approached them, pointing dramatically at them, "Stop right there!"
They looked over and saw a tall man in a suit and top hat pointing at Hiori.
"Ah, you're that guy from the other day!" Hiori exclaimed.
"That is Rock-sama to you," Rock said. Then he approached them and pointed at Hiori, "I heard about the job, and I definitely won't let anyone other than me get famous for stealing Pokémon! I alone am the only mysterious Pokémon thief!"
Thankfully, this was the black market, so nobody really cared about someone yelling about stealing Pokémon. It wasn't their problem. Why should they do something about it? So, no one cared. Besides, most people there had stolen Pokémon.
Hiori blinked and shrugged, "Um, dude, I don't really care about fame, but if we're after the same thing, maybe we should work together?"
"Like hell!" Rock exclaimed, crossing his arms and turning around, "As your rival, why should I help you?"
Hiori blinked and shrugged, "Alright. Hey, 3, let's go over there to get a better look!" Hiori walked off, and D had no reason to stay there, so he followed.
Rock quickly turned around, "Wait! If you insist, then I guess I have no choice but to assist you."
D and Hiori both looked at him, then looked at each other and shrugged. They moved together, getting closer to the auction location. On the way, Rock tried to see if D was another rival, but he just shook his head. Technically, he wasn't a Phantom Thief.
But when they got to the front, they saw that this was one of the auctions set up by Hunter J, which matched the job Hiori was there to do. When they found a place to sit, a Poké Ball on Hiori's waist opened, and his Lucario stepped out, looking around with him.
D, meanwhile, looked at his tracker and noticed that Hunter J wasn't there, meaning it was probably just another henchman she'd sent to sell off all the Pokémon. That made things easier. After all, Hunter J was stronger than most trainers there; otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten as far as she had. Having her not be there would make things a little easier.
Plus, screwing over the operations there would be good for him in the long run, so helping Hiori do this would benefit him.
Shortly afterward, the auction started. A few people slowly pushed some carts covered in Poké Balls out to the center of the stage, all of them filled with Pokémon that had been stolen or poached.
Then D finally leaned back and asked, "So, what's the plan? How are we doing this?"
Immediately, both Hiori and Rock froze, and D slowly turned to look at them, "You guys don't have a plan, do you?"
They both looked away embarrassingly while Lucario covered his face.
As the auction started, however, a figure suddenly moved out of the shadows. The cloaked figure from before got onstage and, with one swipe, sent all the people flying backward.
Immediately, the people around them stood up and grabbed their Poké Balls to attack, but behind the figure, Mismagius and Dusknoir appeared and fired [Shadow Ball] attacks into the crowd, sending the people scurrying like rats.
Then the figure packed up all the Poké Balls and began moving, running through the black market.
Rock blinked and was the first to point, "Hey, someone's stealing all the Pokémon! I was supposed to do that! We need to go after them!"
Rock immediately took off after the cloaked figure, practically vaulting over the seats in his haste, "WAIT FOR ME, YOU RUFFIAN! ONLY I AM ALLOWED TO BE THE MYSTERIOUS POKÉMON THIEF AROUND HERE!"
Hiori stared after him for a moment before looking at D, "...Is he always like this?"
"I've known him for approximately five minutes, and I'm already tired of him."
"Fair enough."
The two of them hurried after Rock as they ran through the black market, with Lucario running alongside Hiori. Hiori looked at Lucario, "Track their auras."
Lucario nodded and tried closing his eyes, but when he did, his eyes shot open in shock.
Hiori didn't notice immediately. They just kept running until they saw the cloaked figure jumping across rooftops, and there, they had a clear shot at them.
Hiori pointed up, "[Aura Sphere]!"
But Lucario didn't attack. He just lowered his head and clenched his eyes shut.
Hiori looked over, "Huh? Why aren't you attacking?"
But as he looked away, the Mismagius fired a [Hyper Beam] directly at Hiori. He looked up and saw the beam heading straight toward him.
But D was next to him. He whistled, and Meowth jumped up, using [Protect] to block the hit.
"Phew, thanks!" Hiori gave a thumbs-up.
Rock moved up next to them, "What's wrong? Why didn't your Lucario attack?"
"I dunno." Hiori looked at Lucario, who still had his head down, "Unless…"
He shook his head, "No, it can't be…"
"Can't be what?" D asked.
"Nothing, nothing important. Anyway, we need to go after that person." Hiori moved on, then looked at Lucario, "Follow their aura. We need to get to them to confirm 'that.'"
Lucario nodded once and led the way, and the trio followed. Eventually, they exited the black market and got outside into the woods, where they saw the figure jumping through the trees.
The trio moved in separate directions. Hiori would follow directly, Rock ran to the side, and D ran ahead to cut the figure off. As D went off on his own, he quickly texted his squad that he would be busy for a bit. Then he took off. He had a feeling he knew who this was, and he needed to confirm it now.