Author's Notes:

100 thousand words.

I want to thank everyone for their support all this time. It certanly means a lot to me.

Other than that, I decided to make the next chapter a little bit special in celebration of finally hitting 100k words, so look forward to that. But thats all from me, I hope that you enjoy the chapter.

“That went really well!” Zoey said with a big, cheerful smile on her face. The teacher that Brawly had spoken with the day before had just finished her visit to their home. She had already spoken with and gotten permission from the principal before coming there, so that had just been a formality before they could go through with their plan.

“Yeah, I was surprised that they wanted to start as soon as tomorrow but I certainly won't complain. The sooner the better.” Ethan said as he looked over to the group of Pokémon that they had living there. Except for a few individuals, most of them still had the fright of ponies in that they had been placed there by Shady and his helper. He had tried to introduce them to ponies other than Mary Care, but without much success. Foals on the other paw, should be much better for them and it would be fun and educational for the foals as well.

“The children are coming here!?” Chii asked loudly as she jumped from her spot on the couch to rest on top of Ethan's head. She had overheard some of the conversation Ethan had with the teacher earlier.

“They sure are. And they are called foals here.” Ethan smiled as he corrected Chii. “You like kids, right?” He asked as he felt Chii finally settle down as she found a comfortable spot in between his ears.

“Yeah!” Chii cheered happily. “Mary used to take me to school all the time when she was younger. We had a lot of fun back then…” It only took a few moments before Chii's smile faded away, and she started shaking slightly.

“Hey, it’s alright, Chii. Dont think about it.” Ethan said as he lifted Chii down so that he could hug her. “Are you going to have lots of fun with the foals tomorrow?” Ethan asked as he put her down onto his lap and scratched her head.

“Y-yeah!” Chii smiled as she leaned into his paw.

“So what do you want to do today?”

“Spend time with you?” Chii looked up to him with a hopeful look on her face. She had been spending a lot of time with both him and Zoey the last few days. She was part of their family now, it was only natural that she wanted to spend time with them.

“Sure, but that means that you are going to have to tolerate Brawly a little as well.” Ethan told her as Chii pouted slightly.

“Can’t we just ditch him? Please?” Chii begged. She knew that Ethan had been tricking her into spending more and more time around Brawly lately and she did not like it one bit. But if they were both in one place then she could initiate her grand plan… if she had a grand plan that was. She hadn't really gotten that far just yet.

“Afraid not.” Ethan laughed as he lifted her up and put her down on top of his head where she quickly settled down. “He is training his new Pokémon body, trying to see if he can learn some new moves and I thought that I should do the same thing.” He told Chii before standing up, walking towards the exit.

“Can't you do that tomorrow?” Chii asked as they left their home and began walking towards the park where Brawly would be waiting for them.

“Afraid not. I have another session with Scylla then… and the foals are coming by too. Sorry, Chii. With all the Pokémon we are taking care of, I don't really have that much free time.” He was the one that mainly had to take care of the Pokémon. Zoey helped a ton, but he was the one that had to plan out their treatment and make sure that everything was alright. “That and I have to talk to Brawly about something else too.”

“But… but…” Chii slumped down on his head as she tried was slightly disappointed at how things had turned out. She wanted Ethan for herself that day. “Can I help teach you some moves too?” Chii asked, her tail dangling down in front of Ethan, who did his best to ignore how it swished back and forth. If she couldn't have him to herself, then she wanted to involve herself as much as possible.

“Sure you can, it will be fun.” Ethan told her, making Chii smile as they continued on their way to the park.

When they got there Brawly could clearly be seen, moving about as he was practicing. They were at the edge of the park, near the border to the forest so not to disturb any other ponies that wanted to spend time there and just relax.

“Hey there, man!” Ethan shouted out to grab Brawly`s attention.

“Hey! Took you long enough.” Brawly greeted his friend as he looked over to the two of them. “And hello to to you too, Chii.” Brawly waved at her but only got a cold glare in return.

“Come on now, Chii. Be nice.” Ethan told her as he reached up and lifted her from her little perch. “Remember what I said. You are part of the family now, but in a way, so is he. He is a great friend of mine, Zoey and Vernus.” Ethan told Chii as he put her down on the ground.

“...Okay.” Chii said with a pout before she looked over to Brawly who were still smiling at her. She hated to admit it, but he had been nothing but kind to her so far. That still did not change the fact that he had to go, though. She just had to figure out how. “Hi.”

“See, was that so hard?” Ethan smiled, unaware of what Chii was planning. “So what did you have in mind for this?” Ethan turned his attention back to Brawly.

“Well, Jenny told me that you used a Jump Kick to knock out a pegasus when the two of you were going after Shady. Why don't you show me that?”

“Okay… um, how do you want me to do this?” Ethan asked as he saw Brawly getting into a stance of sorts.

“Just try to hit me with a Jump Kick.” Brawly gestured for Ethan to come at him. “Besides, I doubt that you could really hurt me anyway.” He laughed with a cocky smile.

“Ooh, is that a challenge?” Ethan asked as he bent his knees slightly and got ready.

Like a coiled spring, Ethan shot forth towards Brawly. His legs carrying him across the ground. With a powerful leap, Ethan soared straight towards his friend with one of his legs reared back, ready to deliver a kick, similar to the one he had done in the forest. But for that was where the similarities ended. Just before it looked like he was going to hit Brawly, Ethan noticed the smile on his friends face before he simply leaned to the side. Effectively dodging Ethan and letting him pass straight by him and into the tree behind him instead.

“Urgh…” Ethan groaned as he slid down to the ground where he took a few moments to collect himself. “You knew that would happen, didn't you?” Ethan looked up to see his friend and his trademark grin. “Of course you did… So how was it?” Ethan asked as he stood back up.

“Well…” Brawly looked over to Chii who were looking at Ethan and was laughing slightly. “Do you want to tell him?” He asked Chii who looked up to Brawly with a surprised look on her face. She had not expected him to speak to her just then.

“You were terrible!” She said, making Ethan groan at how straightforward she was about it.

“She is right you know. You got those big powerful legs of yours, but you aren't using them properly. Dodging something like that is child’s play.” Brawly told Ethan who just nodded as he was getting ready once more. “Try again, but don't overcommit so much this time.” Ethan grumbled but did as he was told.

They continued for some time, and eventually Ethan begun to get the hang of it. Or at least he was betting better, he was still far from being what one would consider good. Chii had also climbed back on top of Ethan's head during the training and was giving him hints and the like. Ethan had to give it to his friend. He had known that Brawly was strong, but to think that he was that good at dodging? It felt like he was trying to hit water.

“You got to do the unexpected.” Brawly said as he slid by another of Ethan’s Jump Kicks. He had just let Ethan do his thing for a while, but after some time he had begun hitting back. Brawly unleashed a fast Double Hit, his whip-like fur snapping out, landing three lightning fast hits on Ethan's face who recoiled back from the blow.

“I'm trying, but you are just dodging everything anyway!” Ethan complained as he held his nose. It had just stung slightly as Brawly had not put any real power into his hits.

“Come on, you can get him this time.” Chii said to Ethan from on top of her perch.

“If you say so.” Ethan said as he committed himself to another attack. Only that this time, Chii decided that she would give Ethan a helping paw so to speak.

Her fur sparked slightly as she readied her attack. She had never managed to learn Thunderbolt. Mary had tried to hard to make her learn it, since she thought that it would look good in their contests, but no matter how hard she tried she never managed to do it. Every time she tried it came out as another attack, that she in time had gotten rather good with.

“Thunder Wave!” Chii yelled as sparks of electricity shot off from her body, zooming towards Brawly who was completely caught off guard by the attack. His whole body lit up for a moment or two as the lightning hit him, making him stay still just long enough for Ethan to connect with his Jump Kick.

Brawly`s body positively skidded across the grass after Ethans attack, sending him straight into the forest they had been practicing by.

“W-Chii!” Ethan lifted down Chii who were really happy with herself and wore a grin to show it. “What was that?”

“You were doing so bad. I thought that you could use a little help.” Chii smiled innocently.

“N-no… I’m alright!” Ethan and Chii could hear Brawly groan from within the forest.

“Yeah, he is alright, it’s fine.” Chii smiled as Brawly stood back up and brushed some leaves and twigs off himself.

“I have to say, I did not expect that one. Nice shot.” Brawly praised Chii after he had made his way back over to them.

“Yeah! I could take you anytime.” Chii puffed out her chest to look bigger or more intimidating, but only succeeded in looking even more adorable. Ethan could only smile and shake his head at their antics.

“I bet you could.” Brawly laughed. “How about we take a small break?” The three of them went over to one of the larger trees and sat down under its cool shadow.

“You really are getting better, dude, that last one really had some power behind it.” Ethan winced slightly as Brawly rubbed his jaw. He had been getting a little frustrated since he had been missing all the time and had been putting more and more power into his kicks as a result. He did not actually think that he would hit Brawly with any of them.

“Yeah? Well, it wouldn't have hit you anyway if there weren’t for a certain someone.” Ethan poked Chii who had been laying on the grass with her eyes closed. “Do you know who I’m talking about?”

“Nu uh!” Chii said as she nuzzled closer to Ethan with a yawn. She was not the one that had been exerting herself, but she still couldn't help but feel a little tired.

“She packs a mean punch.” Brawly commented as the two of them looked down at Chii`s resting form, her chest slowly rising and lowering as she breathed. “I still can't move properly.”

“Well unlike us, she is a ‘real’ Pokémon after all, it's to be expected. But you're not so bad yourself.” Ethan commented, Brawly`s hits had been incredibly fast, after all. “So how did things go with the mayor?” Ethan asked.

“It went as we expected. He approved of the idea, but you need to go over there to fill out a few forms. You are really happy about this, huh?” It had not been difficult for Brawly to notice how Ethan felt about it, especially not with how much he was smiling right then.

“Of course! I mean… this was my dream when I applied for school to become a Pokémon psychologist, after all.” Ethan thought back as he looked down at Chii. “Things did not turn out exactly as I had planned, but I wouldn't have it any other way… Still, to finally get the chance…” It had been his dream for so many years when he was younger, and Brawly had been the one to remind Ethan about his former dream when they came to Equestria.

Unfortunately, the two of them did not have too long to just sit there and relax before they heard someone call for them and two familiar figures approaching.

“Ethan!” Mary called out with Jenny running besides her. She looked really excited about something as she came to a stop just in front of Ethan and the others. “I… I remember where I saw that same symbol that was on the letter that Jenny brought back!” Mary said, slightly out of breath from having galloped all the way there. “W-we were going to go there right now, do you want to come with?”

“Well, yeah!” Ethan cheered. He had been curious about the letter since it had shown nothing that made any sort of sense. “Brawly, do you mind taking Chii back to Zoey?” Ethan asked as he carefully picked Chii up.

“Sure, mate.” Brawly stood up and carefully took Chii from Ethan. But the movement was enough to wake her from her sleep.

“Ethan?” A tired voice came from Brawly`s arms. Chii let out a slow yawn before she opened her eyes to see that Ethan alongside Jenny and Mary was walking away from her. “Where are you going?”

“Sorry, Chii. Something came up.” He said as having stopped as he looked back at Chii.

“B-but… I thought that you were going to spend some time with me?” She asked in a quiet voice. She had really hoped to get some alone time with Ethan after they were done with Brawly.

“I know… and I’m sorry Chii. Tell you what, when I come home the two of us will spend the entire evening together, just the two of us.” Ethan felt really bad that he had to leave so suddenly, and the look he was getting from Chii certainly was not helping.

“P-promise?” Chii sniffed, wiping her nose with her tiny paws.

“I promise. You can even decide what the two of us will be doing.” Ethan said before he turned around to catch up with Jenny and Mary who had gone on ahead, leaving Chii and Brawly behind.

“You ready to go back home?” Brawly asked Chii, who, if she had any qualms about being held by him, did not show it.

“Yeah…”

Ethan reached out to knock on Cursed Vision’s home after the three of them had walked there.

“So this is where you remember seeing that symbol?” Jenny asked Mary as they stood there, waiting for the old unicorn to come open the door.

“It… many years ago.” Mary started. “It was just after Cursed Vision had moved in actually. He was new in the town and I wanted to introduce myself. I remember several letters and papers with that very symbol on it… I wonder what it means.” Mary pondered as a creak could be heard from the door in front of them.

“Well, looks like we will be finding that out.” Ethan commented as the door opened up fully, revealing the small Litwick that they had met the first time they were there.

“Hello… Are you here to see master?” He asked with his adorable voice.

“Yes, we really need to speak to your… master.” Ethan could not figure out why it insisted on calling him “master”. But it seemed to please the little guy, and there was no harm in doing so.

“Come on in then. Master is reading in the library.” The Litwick said, letting Ethan and the others step into the house.

“He has a library?” Jenny whispered to them in surprise. The house was big, that much was true. Ethan only shrugged at Jenny`s question as the Litwick closed the door behind them and hurried ahead to take the lead.

“Master!” The Litwick cried out as they entered the room that he has called the library. To call it a library would be a bit too much, but it was in itself a room that was devoted to books and scripts by the looks of it. And near the middle of the room sat the old unicorn that they had met when they first arrived at Neighagra Falls.

“Hmm?” Cursed Vision looked up from the book he was reading. “Oh, it’s you again? What do you want? Did the spell wear off already?” He asked, perhaps in a little harsher tone than he intended.

“Well… yes, but thats days ago. Mary here learned the spell remember?” Ethan told the old pony as they all stepped into the room.

“Really? I must be really getting old then. A spell like that would have held for weeks in my youth!” He hollered with a laugh before he doubled over with a bad cough. The Litwick hurried over to his master who just pushed him away instead as he gathered himself. “I-I’m fine…” He said before directing his attention back to Ethan and the others. “Now… what can I do for you?” He asked, slightly hoarse from the coughing fit.

“We are here about this.” Mary was the one to go forth and place the envelope of the letter on the table in front of Cursed Vision so that the symbol could be easily seen. “I remembered seeing this at your place before… we were hoping that you could tell us more about it.” Cursed Vision`s expression darkened the moment he laid his eyes on the symbol and Ethan could hear him curse himself in a low voice before he spoke up.

“Go get some drinks for our guests!” Cursed told the Litwick, who wasted no time and hurried out of the room to complete his master’s request. The moment he had left the room, Cursed Vision`s horn lit up and the door slammed shut, locking behind the Litwick. “Sorry… this is not for his ears.” Cursed said as he sunk back into his chair.

“So I take it that you know what this is then?” Jenny asked as she pointed to the symbol.

“Yes… yes, I know indeed. That… is the symbol of The Weavers.” Ethan, Mary and Jenny just blinked, no one having heard that name before. “How did you come across this!?” Cursed Vision positively demanded as he leaned forward.

“I found it at a house where the owner had purchased some Pokémon a-” Jenny was immediately cut off as Cursed started speaking again.

“You are wrong. If a letter like this was sent out then it would not have been to a buyer… let me see the letter.” Jenny looked over to Ethan who nodded in return. The letter was useless to them as it was anyway, so they had very little to lose.

“Here, it’s just gibberish that I can't make heads or tails of anyway.” Jenny said as she handed him the letter. Not even the warmth trick that had worked on Shady`s journal had any effect.

“Thats because it is enchanted. It will only be readable for the pony that it was intended for.” Cursed put the letter down in the table and used his hoofs to tear off a small piece of the corner. “And use magic on it-” His horn lit up and the small torn off piece started hovering in the air. But after just a few seconds it disintegrated, the ashes of the small piece falling down onto the table. “-and that happens.”

“Okay, you need to explain a couple of things now!” Jenny almost sneered as she leaned forward. “You know way too much about this. How?” She demanded of him while Ethan and Mary kept quiet.

“I… I used to be a member of that organisation. In fact,” Cursed Vision pointed down to the letter. “I was the one that made that very spell… I was honestly a little surprised when you showed it to me. I would have thought that they had changed the spell by now.” He said with a lowered head.

“So… what is this organisation, then?” Ethan was the first to ask. “We were just following the clues of what we thought was a simple poacher.”

“Shady…” Jenny muttered with distaste.

“The Weavers is basically an hidden organisation that specialises in obtaining rare or protected animals and magical creatures…if there is money to be made of it, then they provide it. It would be wrong to call them simple poachers with how organized and efficient they are.” Cursed Vision said, surprising all of them since they had thought that they were dealing with just a lone poacher, not a whole organisation.

“B-but Pokémon aren't animals… they are intelligent creatures just like you and I. Wouldn't they care about that?” Mary asked as she sat on the edge of her seat.

“Normally I would say that they wouldn't sink so low… but it appears that much has changed after I left, if that is the case.” Cursed let out a long sigh.

“What about this letter? Can you translate it? Since you were the one that made the spell, I mean.” Ethan inquired as he pushed the letter towards him.

“It would be foal’s play.” His horn lit up for a split second as a fizzle sound could be heard coming from the letter as Cursed Vision disabled the self destruct part of the spell. His horn lit up again for a few moments allowing Ethan and the others to see as the letters transformed and changed places to reweal its real meaning. “Huh… interesting.” Cursed Vision muttered as he lifted up the letter and took a closer look on it. “Where did you say you found this letter again?”

“I retrieved it at a place where I rescued some Pokémon that was being held captured and taken advantage off.” Jenny told him. “Only that it was not a pony, but a changeling.” That seemed to surprise the old pony, from the look on his face.

“Changeling… they are expanding their ranks then, it seems… it was only ponies and griffins when I was a part of it.” He muttered to himself before he spoke up. “But it seems like your changeling was a researcher for The Weavers. He was tasked with finding out how they could make money off those Pokémon. If they could be harvested over time or if they were better off just sold.” Jenny nodded as what he said made sense with what she had seen. They had been “milking” that Nidoran for poison, after all.

“T-that’s horrible.” Mary spoke up.

“But if you were a part of that organisation. Then you could help us tracking them down right?” Ethan asked, but as soon as those words had left his mouth, Cursed Vision started to laugh again.

“Are you a fool, boy? It seems that your friend has already understood.” Ethan looked to Jenny who were frowning and looking down. “You think that they would allow me to just leave if I knew something? Everypony is kept in the dark… that way, is somepony if caught-” He stopped as he started coughing again, but Jenny continued where he had left off.

“They keep their losses to a minimum… right? That is why that Changeling was in that town by itself like that.” She said with distaste as she begun to understand how they operated.

“Indeed, missy.” Cursed Vision said as he had managed to get his cough back under control again. “Bases are changed, and operatives are being kept all over Equestria only knowing what they need to know. Only the higher ups have knowledge about the bases or hideouts that they use…” A look of remorse came over his face. “I’m sorry that I don't know any more. I ain't no saint. I did a lot of bad things in my days… But if there is anything I can help with…”

“You said that everyone knows as little as possible… but would the one that supplied these Pokémon to Rigid Paper know of at least any of the possible temporary bases?” Ethan asked him. “Or rather, his partner or companion?” Ethan could see Cursed Vision`s face scrounge up as he thought deeply about that for a moment.

“His helper… he would know of at least one temporary base, I think.” Cursed Vision reached up and scratched his head. “I’m not really sure… it’s a possibility though.”

“Then that is our best chance to get Shady and uncover this organisation!” Ethan positively cheered. They had been thrown a curveball, but things were still going in their direction.

“But I thought that he was not able to talk anymore because Ethan…” Mary hesitated a little, shuddering as she imagined what had happened to that pony. “Shattered his jaw.”

“It’s been a few days since then… we need to at least stop by to see if he is getting better.” Jenny agreed with Ethan. She had assisted the local police and shared Shady`s journal with them to assist with retrieving the Pokémon that had been sold off. But if the lead they had just gotten would pan out, then it would be so much bigger.

“I’m glad that I was able to be of some help…” Cursed Vision sighed with content and shook his head before he looked back up to the group. “I hope that you will be able to fulfill your goals.” His horn lit back up again, opening the door where a frantic Litwick was standing, rushing inside the moment the doors opened.

“Thank you for your help. We will come back if there is anything more that you can help with.” Ethan said as he and the others stood up, Jenny tucking the letter back into her tails.

“Master, what happened? I did as you said before-” The Litwick was hopping around Cursed Visions hooves. Cursed Vision couldn't help but laugh as he looked down at the small Pokemon.

“Nothing is wrong, we just needed to have a little privacy. Will you see our guests out?” The Litwick seemed torn for a moment as he looked to Ethan`s group and back to Cursed Vision before he gave in.

“Of course, master.” He said, hurrying ahead so that he could take the lead as Ethan and the others left the room.

“Thank you for your visit.” The Litwick said with a small bow after they had exited the building.

“It was a pleasure, little guy.” Ethan smiled and waved back to him as the door closed.

“W-wait.” Mary spoke up. “S-shouldn't we do something? He admitted to having been a part of that organisation right? Shouldn't we…. shouldn't we report him or something?” She asked Ethan and Jenny who looked at each other before looking back to Mary.

“Well… it would be the right thing to do, you are correct there. But look at how old he is! If he is sent to jail, then that will surely be the place he dies… he is not a threat to anyone anymore either, so I don't see any harm in letting him go.” Ethan told Mary. That and, if Cursed Vision was sent to prison, then that might complicate things if they should need his help in the future.

“Mary is right, in normal circumstances we should report him. But... he may be useful to us in the future. In short, we need him.” Unknowingly, Jenny agreed with Ethans train of thought. Being a former police officer, she was no stranger to informants and the like. But that did not mean that she had to like it. If it had been a couple of days earlier… she would not have hesitated with reporting him.

Mary, on the other hoof, was still really torn about what to do. She knew that her friends had some good points and that it would help them and their cause in the long run. But she had never done something like that before. She wanted to hurry over to the police office and report him straight away. But that would also mean that she would be betraying her friends… and that was not something that she could do.

“I… but… okay then.” Mary sighed as she found her answer.

“Hey, don't feel bad.” Ethan said as he put a hand on her back. “It’s for the better in the long run.

Mary did not say anything else, she just faked a smile as looked up at him and nodded.

“Very well then. To the hospital!”