With the roster of crazy trainers finally settled, the heavy tension in the briefing room seemed to drop. I let out a long breath and turned to the girls standing behind my chair. They were all buzzing with energy, ready to take on the world, but I was running on fumes.

  "You three need to head back," I told them, offering a tired smile. "Go get some rest in Prisma. I'll finish up the boring details with Looker."

  Nemona looked like she wanted to argue and stay, but Grusha put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. Lusamine stepped forward, leaning down to give me a soft kiss on the cheek.

  "Don't take too long," Lusamine whispered.

  With a bright pulse of light, the three of them vanished, returning to the safety of Prisma.

  The command center was suddenly very quiet. The shift in the room's energy was massive. Without the girls gathered around me, the space felt entirely too rge, leaving just Looker, Anabel, and myself at the long metal table.

  Anabel let out a heavy sigh, uncrossing her arms. She looked at me, shaking her head slowly.

  "Well, Landon," Anabel said, her tone professional and crisp. "I never thought I would say this to a wanted man, but I genuinely wish you the best of luck on that isnd. Dealing with Guzma, Courtney, and the rest of those maniacs is going to be a nightmare. I don't envy you."

  She turned to gather her files from the table, clearly expecting to stay behind and work the case from the safety of the underground base.

  Looker cleared his throat. "Actually, Anabel, you aren't staying here."

  Anabel froze, her hand hovering over a folder. She looked up at the older detective with wide eyes. "Excuse me?"

  "You are going to the isnd with him," Looker stated simply, walking toward the door. "You are going to be his shadow for the entire training camp."

  "What? Why me?!" Anabel sputtered, completely losing her cool demeanor. "I am an investigator, not a babysitter for a death match!"

  "Because I need someone I trust to keep a close eye on him," Looker expined, his voice calm but firm. "I need an objective set of eyes to document everything about this 'Pokémon Paradise System' and the world he created inside it. You are going to learn exactly what Prisma is, and you are going to report back to me."

  I leaned back in my chair, a grin slowly spreading across my face. This was actually perfect.

  "Looker makes a good point," I chimed in, catching Anabel's gring eyes. "And honestly, we have an advantage here that we haven't even used yet. Think about it. The entire internet knows who I am because of the Paldea broadcast. They saw me fight a monster, but they have absolutely zero idea what my life is actually like. They don't know what my home looks like."

  Anabel frowned, clearly not liking where I was going with this. "And your point is?"

  "My point is that the mystery is exactly why your muscur agent came to arrest me in the first pce," I said. "People fear what they don't understand. Iono has been begging me to do a massive live stream to give her fans a full tour of Prisma. She wants to show them the gardens, the homes, the whole setup."

  I stood up, resting my hands on the table as I looked right at her.

  "So, here is my offer, Anabel. You come to the isnd. You audit my life. Since you can't physically step inside Prisma without me catching you, you are going to do it through a lens. Iono will set up a private, secure stream directly to your phone. You look in every corner, talk to every person, and see it all from the inside out. If you truly believe it's a trap or a prison, you can shut it down and tell the world whatever you want. But if you see that it's a real home... you let Iono broadcast that truth to the entire world."

  Anabel stared at me for a long time. She was looking for the trick, the hidden catch in my words. As an investigator, she was built to doubt people, and handing over her trust to a guy like me went against everything she believed. But she also knew I was offering her the exact access she desperately wanted.

  "Fine," Anabel said, her jaw tight. "I will shadow you. But if I see a single thing that crosses the line on that screen, I am shutting the whole broadcast down."

  "Deal," I said, entirely confident in what she would find.

  "If you two are done making bets, we need to move," Looker interrupted, opening the heavy metal door. "The flight is ready."

  We followed Looker out of the briefing room and down a maze of quiet concrete hallways. The base was still on high alert, but the chaos from the prison break had faded into a tense, heavy silence.

  "So, who is actually running this isnd while we fight for our lives?" I asked as we walked.

  "You will have a small support staff," Looker answered, not breaking his stride. "My apprentice, Emma, will be your main contact. She is already there waiting for you. And to help you understand the crazy energy Colress is using, I brought in someone who knows a lot about dangerous technology."

  "Who?" Anabel asked.

  "Mable," Looker said casually. "Former Admin for Team Fre."

  Anabel nearly tripped over her own boots. "Are you out of your mind? You brought a Team Fre scientist to a secluded isnd?"

  "She was sitting in a cell doing nothing," Looker shot back. "She is brilliant, mean, and knows exactly how to manipute heavy battle energy. She is the acting professor for this camp. We needed her."

  "How are you even paying for all of this?" I asked, amazed by the sheer scale of the strings Looker was pulling. "Private isnds and secret bs don't come cheap."

  "Interpol shares the bill with a massive project in the Kalos region," Looker expined as we reached a rge set of double doors. "It is called the Lumiose City Urban Redevelopment Pn. They are trying to build a city that can survive giant Pokémon battles without crumbling to the ground. They use the other half of our isnd to test their new building materials. Once we finish with Colress, a lot of our attention is going to shift toward keeping that Lumiose project safe. You might even meet some of the big names running it while you're training."

  Looker pushed the double doors open, revealing a massive, dimly lit hangar bay. The air smelled like heavy metal and old fuel. Sitting in the center of the room wasn't a jet or a helicopter, but a giant bird.

  It was a Skarmory, but it was massive—easily forty feet across the wings. It had a sleek, enclosed passenger carriage strapped securely to its back.

  "A giant bird?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "It flies under the radar and doesn't leave a heat trail," Looker said. "It is the only way to get you out of here without Colress tracking an engine signature."

  Before we could take another step toward the giant Skarmory, a figure stepped out from the shadows near a stack of shipping crates.

  It was Officer Jennifer.

  She looked a little pale from the gas attack, but her muscur frame was as intimidating as ever. She wasn't wearing her standard uniform; she was dressed in a simple tank top and cargo pants, her blue hair tied back in a tight ponytail.

  Anabel immediately put a hand on her hip, gring at the other officer. "Jennifer, you are supposed to be in the medical wing resting."

  Jennifer ignored Anabel completely. Her intense eyes were locked solely on me. She walked forward until she was standing just a few feet away, her jaw set with stubborn pride.

  "I heard what happened down in the cell block," Jennifer said, her voice rough. "I heard that you fought a monster and had to fall back. I also know that you are the only reason I am not sitting in some hidden Team Psma cage right now. They were going to capture us both."

  I rubbed the back of my neck, letting out a small ugh. "You don't owe me anything. I was just in the right pce at the right time, even if you dragged me there in the first pce."

  Jennifer let out a short, breathy ugh, but her intense eyes stayed locked on me. "I don't care about that," she said, stepping closer. "I want the power. I want to be able to fight things like that dragon. I want to pay you back for saving my life."

  She took a deep breath, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

  "Catch me, Landon. Put me in that System of yours."

  Anabel gasped, taking a step back in pure shock. She looked at Jennifer like the woman had lost her mind, and then she turned to look at me, fully expecting me to pull out a Paradise Ball and cim my new prize. After all, Anabel thought I was just a guy obsessed with collecting strong women.

  I looked at Jennifer. I saw the desperation in her eyes, the heavy guilt of needing to repay a debt, and the raw hunger for strength.

  "No," I said quietly.

  Jennifer blinked, entirely thrown off bance. "What? Why not?"

  Anabel's jaw actually dropped. She stared at me, completely unable to process what had just happened.

  "Because that isn't how this works," I expined, keeping my voice gentle but firm. "My home isn't a prize box, and it isn't a mercenary camp. You don't even know me, Jennifer. You just feel guilty that I saved you, and you want a quick shortcut to getting stronger."

  "I can fight for you!" she argued, her pride clearly bruised. "I am stronger than half the guards in this base!"

  "I know you are," I agreed. "But entering Prisma means giving up your old life. It requires total trust. We have to actually care about each other, and right now, we are just strangers who survived a bad day. I am not going to catch you just because you feel like you owe me."

  Jennifer stared at me, her tough exterior cracking just a little. She didn't know what to say.

  I gave her a small smile. "But I will make you an offer. Come to the isnd with us. Pack your bags and get on that bird. You can train with us, fight beside us, and see exactly what my family goes through every single day. If we survive this camp, and you actually get to know me... and you still want to join Prisma for the right reasons? We can talk about it then."

  Jennifer let out a long breath, the tension leaving her broad shoulders. She gave me a slow, respectful nod. "Give me five minutes to grab my gear."

  She turned and jogged back toward the barracks.

  I looked over at Looker. The old detective was wearing a knowing smirk. He had figured me out a long time ago.

  Anabel, on the other hand, looked like her entire worldview had just been flipped upside down. She stared at me, her purple eyes wide, completely rethinking everything she assumed about my character. I wasn't the selfish collector she thought I was… Or maybe I wasn’t going to py into her hand.

  Still, I wasn’t going to just start adding randoms. Catching new pokemon was already a shock, and I had to go check on the two new ones that I had absorbed. I still didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I had no paradise ball for either the Liepard or Tyranna.

  "Are you coming, Anabel?" I asked, walking past her toward the giant Skarmory. "Or are you going to keep staring at me?"

  Anabel snapped out of her daze, her cheeks flushing a faint pink. She quickly adjusted her suit jacket and hurried after me.

  "I am coming," she muttered, climbing up the metal dder into the passenger carriage.

  A few minutes ter, Jennifer returned with a heavy duffel bag slung over her massive shoulder. She climbed in and took a seat across from me, giving me a silent nod of thanks.

  Looker stood on the hangar floor, waving a hand as the carriage doors sealed shut.

  The giant Skarmory let out a sharp cry. Its massive metal wings beat against the air, lifting us off the ground. We shot out of the hidden tunnel and burst into the dark night sky, leaving the ruined prison far behind us.

  I leaned my head back against the leather seat and closed my eyes. The real test was waiting for us in the ocean, and I needed to get back to Prisma and get all the rest I could get before the crazy trainers arrived.