Daniel Surge.

You sit up in your sleeping bag, rubbing your eyes and grumbling under your breath as you wonder just what it is that woke you up. You assume it’s probably just a wild Pokémon, maybe curious to see what’s going on with the humans camping here or looking for food you may have left out. But as you gaze around the camp, you see no Pokémon. You see a person, sitting next to the nearly dead fire. He’s poking at the remains of the fire with a stick, sifting through the ashes absentmindedly and occasionally sipping something from a flask.

Taking notice of you, Daniel turns to you and smiles apologetically. “Shit, I wake you up? Sorry Casanova, I was trying to keep quiet.”

“It’s fine… What are you doing up?” You reply, stifling a yawn and looking around the campsite. Kayla and Blue both appear to still be asleep, with the former curled up beside her now sitting master and the latter on her own away from the three of you. Both are breathing evenly, seemingly undisturbed by whatever small noise the Vermillion boy made that woke you up.

“Couldn’t sleep. A lot on my mind.” The muscular blonde says, taking a swig from his flask. “*Phew* Strong stuff. Want some?”

Something feels… off about your friend. It could just be because he’s tired, but he seems… like his mind is elsewhere.“Sure…” You take the offered flask and bring it to your lips, before blanching slightly at the smell. “Oh, geez. You weren’t kidding about how strong it is. Thought you said you don’t like liquor?”

“No, I said I prefer wine. Doesn’t mean that's the only **** I’ll drink.”

“Fair enough.” You take a small sip of the strong-smelling liquid, and immediately regret it. “Oh, *cough* fuck. Tastes even stronger than it smells. Think you could probably use this as paint thinner… Have you been carrying this since we left Pewter?” You hand the flask back to its owner, more than happy to be done with whatever alcoholic beverage is inside.

“Yeah. It’s not the best stuff - as you’ve just discovered - and there’s not much of it. So I was just saving it for if I ever felt like I needed a stiff drink.” The golden-haired young man explains, a half-grin on his face.

The blonde’s easygoing demeanor isn’t fooling you at the moment though. It feels… ****. “Are you… okay, Daniel? What’s keeping you awake anyway?”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” Daniel replies, attempting to brush off your concerns.

You're having none of it though. “Dude, just talk to me. You seem…You seem like you’re trying too hard.” This is different than the last time you saw him acting strangely, after Kayla’s battle with Ed. After that he had been obviously upset, pulled back into himself and mopey. Now though? It feels like he’s just lost in thought, but trying to make light of whatever it is that’s bothering him.

“Seriously bro, it’s fine. No need to trouble yourself.” The Vermillion boy replies, doubling down on his attempt to keep you from hearing him out.

“…So I need to wake up Kayla then?” You say, raising an eyebrow at your friend.

“Wha- No no, come on man, let her sleep. You know just as well as I do how rough of a day she had…”

“Yeah, I do. So I’d rather handle this myself. But I can’t do that if you won’t talk to me.” You see Daniel start to speak again, but continue before he can get a word out. “We both know what she would do if she saw you acting like this, and that she would genuinely want me to wake her up right now. But I want to let her sleep too, so how about we compromise? Talk. To. Me. Daniel.”

A tense moment passes, before the muscular blonde lets out a quiet sigh. “Really twisting my arm here, eh Casanova? …Thanks.” He gives you a wry smile, then shakes his head. “Guess I’m just not used to this. Never really had many chances to just… talk about how I’m feeling. Not a big thing in my family, ya know?”

“Oh… Well, I’m sorry to hear that. You can talk to me and Kayla about anything though, all right? Anytime.” You find it hard to imagine not being able to be open with your family, you and your mother tend to share almost everything with each other. Even evading the subject of Team Rocket with her while texting earlier had felt a bit uncomfortable to you. Come to think of it, you haven’t really heard the Vermillion boy talk much about his family, other than his sister on occasion. You’ve heard bits about Kayla’s parents, but Daniel’s never brought his up. Are they even in the picture? Maybe you should ask… though it’d probably be better just to let him talk about what he wants to talk about instead.

“Thanks, Casanova. I’ll try and remember that. As for what’s keeping me up, well…” Your friend pauses, taking another swig from his flask before finishing his thought. “I was just thinking that I understand my sister a little better now, actually.”

“Lieutenant Surge? How do you mean?”

“It’s just… there was something I never got about her, no matter how hard she tried to explain it to me… This is a bit of a tangent, so I hope you don’t mind me talking your ear off.” You wave your hand in a gesture for him to keep going, and he smiles at you before turning to stare back into the low-burning fire. “The Surge family is originally from Unova, but we moved here to Kanto fourteen years ago. I was only four at the time, so I barely even remember life before living here. Kanto is my home. But my sister was already sixteen when we moved, so she spent a lot more time thinking of Unova as her home. It’s where her childhood was, her memories and friends. That’s why…”

As Daniel trails off, you take the liberty of finishing his sentence. “Why she joined the Unovan military?”

“Yup. But even though I knew all that, I still never really got why she went out of her way to go back ‘home’ and fight against Kalos. ‘Kanto is our home now, so why go out of your way to do something so dangerous for a place and people that aren’t yours?’ I was only six when the war started, so I didn’t really know what was going on then, but that’s how I’ve come to think about it over the years. I mean… that war wasn’t fucking pretty. She joined up right at eighteen, then served up until she was twenty. And she made it all the way to Lieutenant in that time. Do you think that was just because she was some sort of military prodigy? I mean, she absolutely was, but that’s not the only reason she climbed so fast… It’s because the people above her kept dying. Officers dropped like flies, and field promotions and rapid rank ups were all that kept the chain of command intact… That war was bloody. And my sister willingly threw herself into it, on behalf of a country she didn’t even live in anymore. I never understood it…”

The blonde young man goes quiet for another moment, and once again you prompt him to continue. “But you understand her now?” You’re doing your best to be here for your friend, but being here is all you can really do. The Unova-Kalos war didn’t affect Kanto all that much - or most people in Kanto at least - and it happened when you were very young. So you don’t really know all that much about it, or what to say about all of this. You just need to be here for him.

“Yeah… In some way, at least.” Daniel takes yet another drink. “Even though it wasn’t happening right there in front of her, she knew that people she cared about were in trouble. Even though she couldn't see the threat, she knew it was there. Even if it wasn’t necessarily a threat to her, it was a threat to others. Innocent people, that she chose to protect, no matter the cost. I… I get that now. Because I feel the same way.” Taking the stick he had been using to poke at the dying fire, the blue-eyed boy chucks it into the low flames with a glare. “Inferno… Stupid fucking name.”

Goosebumps form on your skin as you hear the venom in your friend’s voice, the Rocket Agent’s name leaving his lips like a curse. “So that is what this is about…”

“Heh. Of course it is… Even though he’s not here right now, I know he and his people are trouble. Trouble for the people I care about, and trouble for innocent people all over the place. They’re still a threat, even if they’re not a threat to us right this very second, and he’s already hurt someone I hold dear. I can’t forget that, I can’t forgive that, I can’t ignore that…” The golden-haired young man’s fist clenches hard, and his eyes come up to meet yours full of anger and resolve. “And things like that will keep happening as long as Team Rocket is left unchecked. So… I’m gonna be going to war myself. Against them.”

“Daniel…” It’s not like you find this particularly surprising. The blonde boy was furious about what happened to Kayla, and he’s never been the type to shy away from confrontation. Still though… “How exactly do you plan on ‘going to war’ with Team Rocket? What are you going to do?”

“Still working on that part.” He admits with a lopsided grin. “I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I know the first step at least; train. Get stronger. Strong enough to fight against monsters like Inferno. Strong enough to protect Kay, to protect you, to protect anyone I need to.” The smile fades from his face, and an earnest look of anticipation replaces it. “But I know I can’t do this alone, I’m not stupid. I need Kay to get stronger too. Strong enough to avenge what was done to her, to protect herself in the future, to protect me, to protect you… So what about you, Casanova?”

It doesn’t take you long to decide, as there’s hardly even a decision to make. Hearing about Team Rocket’s wrongdoings has always made your blood boil, and after experiencing them firsthand… There is no other choice. “I need to get stronger too. Even if we don’t go hunting Team Rocket, I’m sure we'll see them again. So I need to be stronger, strong enough to protect my idiot of a best friend who’s set on charging headlong into danger.”

Daniel chuckles softly, doing his best to keep it down and not wake the girls up. “Good, this idiot needs someone to watch his back. Thanks Casanova… Thanks Red.” The golden-haired young man gently runs a hand through his sleeping ****’s hair, staring down at her lovingly. “I’ll talk to Kay about this sometime soon, see if she’ll be down to join this barely thought out crusade.”

“She will. You know she will, because she loves you.”

The Vermillion boy actually blushes at your response and oh sweet Arceus HOW ARE THEY STILL LIKE THIS!? “I… Well I mean… Sure. Yup. Uh-huh. Hmm…” Daniel is suddenly looking everywhere but at you or the sleeping brunette, and his face splits back into a grin once they land on your rival. “What about you and her, huh? Wanna protect her too? What’s going on there anyway?”

“I… That’s… complicated.” Is all you manage to get out, and you sigh as you try and think of a way to explain you and Blue’s ‘relationship’.

The blue-eyed boy’s smile becomes a sympathetic one, and he relents in his counter-teasing. “Yeah, it seems like it. Everything you’ve told me about her didn’t really prepare me for seeing you two interact in person… Complicated seems like the best word to use.”

“Definitely. But…” You stare over at the sandy-blonde, at her peaceful face as she sleeps. “I want to protect her too. I know that, at least.”

“Got a funny feeling that the feeling is mutual, Casanova. Call it a hunch. And hey… Thanks for hearing me out. I… needed that.”

“Anytime man, seriously. It’s not good to keep that kind of thing bottled up. I hear it can keep you up at night.” You reply with a smirk.

“No shit? Couldn’t be me.” Your blonde friend chuckles once again, then lets out a big yawn. “Damn, now that you mention it though, I’m real tired all of a sudden. Guess we should hit the hay for the night?”

“Probably a good idea. We should hit Cerulean City by late morning or midday tomorrow if we get an early enough start.” Any more discussions on Team Rocket can wait until later, when you’re all rested and Kayla has been filled in. It’s not like you’re going to be doing anything involving them tomorrow anyway. This is a long lasting affair, and one that you’re all going to need to prepare for thoroughly.

“Sounds good. ‘Night, Casanova.”

“Good night, Daniel.” The two of you lay down, heads simultaneously swimming with thoughts and yet much clearer than before. The decision you’ve made together… There’s no question about just how much of an impact it will have on your lives going forward. But there’s also no doubt in your mind about following through with it. Someone needs to deal with Team Rocket, and if it’s not going to be the police or government, then it’s up to normal people. The criminal organization may have its talons in some high up officials, but that doesn’t make them invincible… Probably. Hopefully. You’ll all figure out something, at some point. Once you’re stronger, and maybe once you have more allies. For now though? Sleep.

Word from the author: And with that, we are 150 chapters deep. Woohoo! I hope everyone is still enjoying, and please feel free to let me know how you’re feeling about things in the Q&A chapter that will be posted after this one. I’ll also be doing a fifth Character Profiles chapter, and I’ll be putting a poll at the end of this chapter! I’ve been wanting to do another poll for a while, and finally thought of something to ask your opinions on. This poll will be about whether or not Red and Kayla’s Pikachu should evolve, something I haven’t been able to come to a decision about on my own. I haven’t decided quite how long I’ll be leaving it up yet, but it will be a while. Please, vote if you’re interested, and thank you all for all the support, it’s how I’m still going <3

Poll: https://strawpoll.com/polls/BDyNEzXp8ZR