Adriano awoke with a start, instinctively grabbing his waist for a pokeball. But there was nothing there. Sitting bolt upright, he frantically glanced around looking for his team. Spotting his bag sitting on a bedside table, he relaxed for a moment before taking stock of his situation. He was sitting in an unfamiliar bed, wearing unfamiliar clothes, and he didn’t know what was going on. The room didn’t have a window and was only furnished with a bed and table facing a single door. Groaning, he threw back the sheets and swung his legs out, surprised at how sore he felt. As far as he remembered, the only direct attack he had taken was the final one from that damned Confarigus. A phantom shiver tickled the inside of his skull and Adriano shuddered. The feeling of someone groping around in your head looking for the off switch wasn’t something he was going to forget anytime soon.

Mustering the willpower to stand up, Adriano looked himself over. Other than some minor scrapes and bruising which had been wrapped and treated, he was physically healthy. He was dressed in a simple but well made T-shirt and pair of sleeping shorts. Picking his bag up, Adriano checked inside to make sure it was all in order. Everything seemed to be fine, barring an absolute lack of any of his Pokemon. Worriedly, Adriano quickly changed into his spare set of clothing before carefully easing open the door. The door opened about halfway before hitting something.

“Eeep!”

“Run!”

Adriano pushed the door opened all the way and caught sight of the backs of a few children as they scurried around a corner.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Adriano spun the other way to find himself face to face with a woman. Appearing to be around his age, the woman put a hand to her mouth and apologized.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I imagine you must be quite confused. Please, follow me.”

With that, she turned and walked away. Adriano hesitated for a split second before following her. Reaching the end of the hall and going down a flight a stairs, they reached the ground floor which strongly reminded Adriano of a Pokemon Center. Catching sight of the iconic machine in the back of the room, the usual counters were replaced with tables and chairs.

“This is the Battle Restaurant, the sister location of the gym in Striaton. My name is Shelly and I am the owner and manager here. Your Pokemon are waiting for you in the healing machine.”

“Thank you Shelly. If you don’t mind me asking, where exactly are we?”

Shelly frowned.

“I just told you, at the sister loc-“

“No, no. I meant what city are we in.”

“Oh!”

Shelly brightened up.

“We aren’t actually located in a city. Rather, this is a small town on the coast by Route 2. We’re not big enough to have a Pokemon Center, so this restaurant doubles as one. When I found you in the woods on my morning stroll, I brought you back here right away. I tell you, you and your Mienshao gave me a scare!”

“Mienshao? I thought Ace fainted…”

“Nope! Somehow he managed to drag you quite a ways, even while suffering from so many status conditions. You’ve got such an amazing friend there!”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

Adriano's guts twisted with guilt.

“So, when will everyone be healed up?”

Shelly smiled.

“They should be ready to go here by the end of today. You still had several Pokemon that weren’t severely injured, would you like to see them now?”

Adriano nodded.

“Yes, please.”

“Alright! Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll get you something to eat!”

Shelly turned to the open bar across the room.

“Manny! Get your ass in gear and make some grub for our guest!”

“Aye aye princess.”

A lazy voice drifted out from the kitchen.

“Now then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Adriano nodded and Shelly bustled away. Dragging a chair over closer to the healing machine, Adriano took a seat and looked at his Pokemon. Ella, his little good-natured healer. Adriano winced. She was going to be pissed when she woke up. Alto, his reliable soldier and makeshift bed. One that had stuck with him from the very beginning. If only he’d start to learn how to think for himself. And Ace. Adriano gulped. It was hard to reconcile with the fact that in their relationship he’d been the bad guy, but Ace had been willing to forgive him, going so far as to drag him to safety even while injured and exhausted.

Adriano was roused from his thoughts by the clinking of a plate being set on the counter next to him. Glancing over, a Drifloon waved nonchalantly at him before floating back to the kitchen. As Adriano dug in to some sort of scrambled egg and mystery meat affair, he pondered his next steps. He still didn’t know where Edward had gone. Wracking his memory, Adriano couldn’t remember seeing Edwards trademark bright red hair anywhere in the pile of bodies. ‘Or Morgana’s lilac hair either now that I think about it. Whatever. Probably the right course of action is to head back to the Dreamyard and see if they are still there. If not, Edward has his gym battle coming up here in the next four-ish days… Shit, how long was I asleep for?!’ Hurriedly pulling out his Pokedex, Adriano checked the date with a sinking feeling. Sure enough, more than a couple days had gone by while he was down and Edwards challenge was coming up in less than a day away. ‘But Shelly said my Pokemon would need another day to reach full health. I’m stuck here. Really wish I had an Xtransceiver right about now. But even if I did, I don’t have Edward’s number.’

“Hey there, here are your Pokemon!”

Shelly’s bright voice made Adriano jump again but he smiled gratefully over his shoulder and accepted the tray of pokeballs. Mentally counting off Audino, Tor, and Zoura, he smiled.

“Thank you so much Shelly. I’m not sure how I can repay you for all the help you’ve given me.”

Shelly turned red and waved her hands in the air.

“Don’t worry about it! I love to help other people and I’m glad that you weren’t seriously injured.”

Adriano nodded along to her flustered outburst.

“On the topic of helping people, I don’t suppose you have an Xtransceiver or Pokemon Center phone here I can use?”

Shelly paused.

“This restaurant used to be an old Pokemon Center. I know we cleared away a lot of the hardware, but we still have a few of the phones hooked up in the back. Would that work?”

“That would be great, thanks Shelly.”

Shelly turned red again before grabbing another chair and sitting down next to him.

“But first, eat up! A full stomach is important!”

Adriano put up with Shelly’s barrage of questions as he shoveled down the food. As soon as he was done, Shelly somewhat reluctantly took him to the back and showed him where the phones were before giving him some privacy.

‘Lets hope this works’, Adriano thought as he turned the dial. It used to be standard practice for professor’s lab to be connected to the wider network, same way the police and rangers were. If he was in luck, the phone would be old enough to have that number stored but not so old it had been removed from the network entirely. As the screen flickered to life, Adriano pumped his fist.

“-lo, Hello? Adriano, is that you?”

“Professor Cedric, I have important news!”

“What? Where are you? The network doesn’t say which PC you’re at? And where’s Edward?”

“I’m currently recovering in a small town by Route 2. They didn’t have a working Pokemon Center so this is the only way to call you I found.”

“Recovering? What happened?”

Cedric’s voice was tinged with concern.

Adriano shrugged.

“I got my ass handed to me by a bounty hunter. I don’t suppose the name Obscuro means anything to you?”

Cedric shook his head.

“Never heard of him. And don’t swear in front of my godson.”

Adriano grimaced.

“About that, I actually have no idea where Edward is right now.”

Cedric’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to respond but Adriano beat him to it.

“I left him at the Dreamyard for a night while I went to pick up supplies to help him beat the Striaton gym and when I returned he and the rest of the trainers there were gone. I tracked his Purrloin through the Dreamyard and found the rest of the trainers but Edward unconscious. Then Obscuro showed up and absolutely crushed my best Pokemon before knocking me unconscious. The next thing I know, I’m waking up here having been brought here by my Pokemon.”

Adriano paused for breath and Cedric took the pause to ask a question.

“Are you sure you didn’t see Edward?”

“Positive. I scouted out all the other trainers there to make sure he would be safe and I saw all of them piled up except for Edward.”

He confirmed

“And one other girl named Morgana.”

Adriano added as an afterthought. Cedric slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Alright. Do you have any idea where he might be?”

Adriano nodded.

“He had an appointment to have a rematch at Striaton tomorrow morning. I’d fly over immediately myself but most of my Pokemon are still recovering and won’t be healed in time.”

“I’ll come get you then.”

Adriano blinked and the professor disappeared from the screen before he heard a pop behind him. Spinning around, he saw Cedric and a Gothitelle standing behind him.

“How the hell…”

Cedric chuckled.

“I’m a professor. It would be weird if I didn’t have access to cutting-edge Pokemon moves and abilities. Now, lets go. Gothitelle will heal your Pokemon up all the way and we can go find Edward.”

Cedric fixed him with a sharp stare.

“I’m also docking your pay, of course.”

Adriano just gestured for him to lead the way, picking up his remaining Pokemon from the machine and placing them in his bag.

“Hey, I just remembered that I never got your na-“

Shelly’s words twisted and distorted as the world spun around Adriano, before disappearing with a pop.