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Notes: Chapter Twelve's title is another quote from the 1993 report from Sandia National Laboratories.

What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

---

Once Sonia and Nessa left for the lab, Raihan got the bunks set up. They were separated by age; Hop, Gloria, Bede, and Marnie shared one room, and all the adults had to fit in the other. Oleana left for the night, but said she would keep in contact and return the next day.

After a sleepless night, Rose got up at sunrise and returned to the kitchenette, where he met Acacius struggling with the coffee machine. "I haven't had real coffee in years," Acacius grumbled, glaring at the device. "Don't think it's supposed to be this much of a pain."

"Does it have instructions?" Rose asked.

"What kind of man reads instructions?"

"Me, for one."

"Okay, but I'm not you." Acacius poured water in the top of the machine and shut every lid he had open. "Let's hope this works," he muttered, and looked up at Rose. "You're still glowing."

"I'm aware," Rose reached past him to grab a mug. "All night," he said, pouring himself tapwater. "Hopefully it didn't keep anyone else up."

Acacius patted his back. "I mean, it'll stop eventually. Just 'cause it's been longer than usual doesn't mean you're glowing forever."

"I could be," Rose said. "But, well, it could be convenient. I'll never need a torch again."

"Gotta look on the bright side, right?"

Rose gave him a withering stare. It took a moment before Acacius realized what he said. "Oh, God, that was *not* intentional, I swear."

"Ha!" Rose shook his head and smiled. "No offense taken."

Afer a moment's hesitation, he leaned in for a kiss. Acacius met his lips, only pulling away when the coffee machine beeped. "Does that mean it's done? Should've just picked up instant…"

The coffee was done just in time for Raihan to walk in. "Good morning!" he said brightly. "Oh, hey, you made coffee? Nice!"

He poured himself a cup. "I don't usually drink coffee," he said, dumping in sugar. "I'm surprised you found that thing, I don't think it's been used in years."

Acacius took a sip and grimaced. "I can tell."

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine." Raihan tried his own. "Wow, this tastes bad. Never mind."

"Do we have a plan for today?" Rose asked. "I'm assuming there's been no news overnight."

"Not to my knowledge," Raihan said. "Leon'll be up in a minute. I'm about to get your pokémon from downstairs, though. They're all good now."

"Really?" Acacius brightened up. "I was worried for a minute, Flapple wasn't in good shape."

"It wasn't too bad. Takes a lot more to take down a dragon type, I should know." Raihan poured his coffee in the sink. "I'll be back."

"That's a relief," Rose said as Raihan left. "I was worried about Roselia."

"That's right, the little brat's evolved!" Acacius smiled. "Should've known it would take hanging out with someone else to do it."

"I think she likes you more than she lets on."

Acacius shrugged. "She might be warming up to me, sure, but she definitely likes you more."

"Regardless," Rose said, "I'm glad she's alright."

Raihan returned and handed them their respective pokéball belts. Acacius turned Roselia's ball over in his hands. "Here we go," he said quietly, and sent her out on the kitchen counter.

Roselia shook her head and looked from side to side. When she saw Rose, she chirped at him. Rose smiled and held out his hand. "Hello again," he said. "You were very brave against Mable's pokémon, even though they were much stronger. That's–ow!"

She bit him. Rose yanked his hand away. "She has teeth now," he said with a wince.

The door opened. "Out of the way," Piers grumbled, shouldering past Acacius to the cabinets and taking a mug. "Raihan said there was coffee."

"It's not very good," said Rose.

"Don't care." He poured a mug. "Just need to wake up."

He brushed past Roselia, who hissed and swiped at him. "Whoa!" Acacius said, pulling her back before she made contact. "Can you stop being a brat for five minutes? Sorry about that, man."

Piers barely reacted. "Sure," he said. "By the way, I've got a question for you, Acacius."

"What?" Acacius was preoccupied with tucking Roselia under his arm. She was larger than a budew, and fought back more effectively–he soon gave up and recalled her instead. "Alright. What is it?"

"Now that you're not hiding and all, you think you'll talk to Patrick again?"

Acacius' head shot up and he stared wide-eyed at Piers. "How the hell do you know Paddie?" he said in alarm.

Piers raised an eyebrow. "Gloria's not the only one who can use Bulbapedia," he said. "I did a little looking myself. I take it that's a no?"

"It's–" Acacius sputtered for a moment. "Mind your own business! I don't have to justify myself to some punk!"

Rose put a hand on Acacius' shoulder. "Why don't we find breakfast somewhere else," he said, gesturing to the door. "Before tempers flare any further."

Acacius took a long breath through his nose. "Fine," he said, and crossed the room in a few long strides, his coffee abandoned on the counter.

Rose caught up to him in the locker room. Acacius sat on a bench with his head held in his hands. He didn't react when Rose sat down next to him.

"Acacius?" said Rose.

"What now?"

He hesitated. "You asked me a lot of questions when we were getting to know each other," he said. "I'd like to ask some as well."

Acacius sighed. "You want to know who Paddie was, huh?"

"Yes."

"My boyfriend," he said. "Ex-boyfriend, I guess. His name was Patrick, but everyone called him Paddie–except my sister, I don't think they ever got along." He raised his head and started at the ceiling. "We got together while I was a gym leader, and split when I got in trouble with the whole gym funding thing."

Rose waited for Acacius to elaborate, and spoke again when it was clear he wasn't going to. "Was that the reason you broke up?" he said.

"You want the honest truth?" Acacius said. "That was barely even part of it. Paddie and I had a huge fight when I was caught stealing, sure, but…" He shook his head. "I was the one who left him, not the other way around."

"Why was that?"

Acacius shoulders heaved up and down as he breathed. "You might not like me as much if I tell you," he said. "It's way worse than stealing two million."

"I'll be the judge of that."

He shook his head. "Paddie got custody of his sister," he said, "and I couldn't deal."

Rose blinked. "His sister?"

"Half-sister," Acacius said. "She was way younger than him. Like, toddler age; four years old?" He squeezed his eyes shut. "And I just couldn't deal! Yeah, our relationship was serious, and yeah, it wasn't kind of an emergency situation, but I wasn't–God, I was dealing with the criminal investigation on top of everything, and I just wasn't ready for that. So I left."

That explained why Piers had brought it up, at least partially. Piers had been in a similar situation, raising Marnie on his own; if he knew that Acacius had abandoned his boyfriend at such a time…

"And all of that was on Bulbapedia?" Rose said. "That seems invasive. I think you can get that removed."

Acacius rubbed his nose. "That's what you're focusing on?" he said.

"It's a problem that can be solved. I've had to speak with the administrators before, it's not that difficult of a process."

"So? You're just not going to address everything else?"

"What is there to address?" Rose said. "It's clearly not a moment you're proud of. I don't need to admonish you for something you've been beating yourself up about for years."

He put an arm around Acacius' shoulders and pulled him close. Acacius stiffened, then slumped against Rose's chest.

"A lot of people would hate me for what I did," he said. "They'd probably be right to."

"I'm sure there's people who would," said Rose, "but there are people who hate me for what I've done, too. I don't think I'm in the wrong for still liking you."

Acacius sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Oh, God," he suddenly said, sitting up straight and pulling away. "I'm going to get snot on your clothes. My nose runs like a goddamn faucet when I cry."

"I don't care about that." Rose looked down at himself. "If I'm being honest, this suit is already so filthy, I don't think I could salvage it. I'll have to throw them out once I'm… home."

The word was awkward in his mouth. He hadn't been to his designated home address in several weeks; even before the championship match, he had been too busy running all over the region to spend a night in his own bed. It held no sentimental value to him.

"Might be bad timing," Acacius said, "but once Mable's dealt with, you think you can cover a hotel for me for a few weeks?"

Rose refocused away from his own thoughts. "What?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I could go and camp again, but it'd be nice to have running water until I figured out my own living situation. Might take a bit though, but hey, you have money, right?"

"Of course," Rose said, "but Acacius, you are more than welcome to stay at my home."

Acacius' eyes widened. "Really? I mean, I didn't want to assume…"

"If you're comfortable with it, I have a guest room." Rose smiled. "And if the league successfully negotiates a house arrest for me, I'm going to be spending a lot of time there. I would enjoy your company."

"Ha!" Acacius laughed. "Well, then I can't refuse. You've probably got a nice place, right?"

"It's nice enough," Rose said. "It can get lonely. I imagine it would be much nicer to have you with me."

Acacius shook his head, a smile spreading across his face. "God," he said. "You're really… I dunno. You're really serious about me? Even after what I told you?"

"You've cared for me throughout this," said Rose. "I would be honored to take care of you in return."

---

Once everyone was awake, Leon called them together for another meeting. Oleana was there, to Rose's surprise; he had expected her to message him when she had returned to the stadium. He smiled at her and raised a hand in greeting. She nodded back, her expression unreadable.

"Okay," Leon said once they were seated. "So, good news. Sonia found a way to track where Mable takes Eternatus."

Gloria's eyes widened. "Are you sure?" she said. "I thought it was still in its pokéball!"

"See, that's the clever bit." Leon glanced at his phone. "The way Sonia said it, Eternatus takes up close to the maximum energy limit of a pokéball, and even while recalled, it shows up on the scanners we already have measuring Galar particles all over the region." He paused. "The unfortunate bit is that it won't work if it's already near a power spot; too much interference. Still, it narrows down our options, and I still think Mable came back to Hammerlocke."

Hop elbowed Gloria. "Told you it was something good!"

Bede crossed his arms. "If she's in Hammerlocke, what are we doing here?" he said. "Shouldn't we be looking for her?"

"The police are on it already," said Raihan. "Plus, it's not a guarantee she's specifically here. We've notified the police at the other possible locations, but we haven't heard anything yet."

"We could have an answer soon," said Leon. "Sonia and Nessa are coming back here with the equipment. Said she'll get better readings the closer she is, so if Mable is in Hammerlocke, we'll know by end of day."

Acacius spoke up. "Hey, Rose," he said. "Remind me where you first met Mable?"

"It was…" Realization dawned on Rose as he spoke. "…the energy plant right below us."

Piers glanced at them, his brow furrowed. "They let you in the energy plant?"

Raihan shook his head. "There's no way," he said. "Practically the whole plant's closed off, and we have guards at every entrance after we found out the chairman got in. Don't do that again, by the way."

"You didn't change the locks," Rose said. No one laughed.

"Look," Acacius said, "I didn't know her very well, and she obviously wasn't filling me in on her criminal endeavors, but I wouldn't be surprised if she had a way to get in that no one else knew about."

Leon sighed. "I can have security check, but I doubt she's there."

"Hang on," said Hop, "what do we need to check for Eternatus' pokéball?"

"Hell if I know," said Leon. "I don't think it would be faster to try and throw something together here."

"Probably not, but did anyone ever figure out why the chairman's glowing?"

Rose instinctively put a hand on his chest, still glowing a faint red. "It's happened before," he said. "The day Bede was kidnapped. We assumed it was because of a nearby dynamax den."

"The day Bede was kidnapped," Gloria echoed. "You mean the day Raihan and I were in Hammerlocke, trying to train Eternatus? Weren't you right on the border of the Wild Area?"

Silence fell over them as everyone processed Gloria's words.

Cold horror gripped Rose's heart. He stood up. "We need to shut down the energy plant," he said, "and we need to do it now."

Raihan and Leon stood up with him. "What's the hurry?" Raihan said. "We don't even know if she's there yet, and shutting down the plant would kill the power in a lot of the city."

"Anything nonessential needs to be cut until Eternatus is no longer in Mable's possession," Rose said. "If there's even the slightest chance she's going to the energy plant, we cannot have it running."

"And why not?" said Leon.

Rose took a deep breath. "When I first attempted to harness Eternatus' power, I greatly underestimated the energy it would generate," he said. "Had I not performed an emergency shutdown, the explosion could have brought down the entire building."

The group collectively sucked in a sharp breath. Oleana clapped her hands to her mouth. "I didn't know that," she said, her voice shaking. "You didn't tell me that, Rose!"

"I didn't think it was at risk of happening again," Rose said. "But if Mable is trying to replicate what happened to me, it stands to reason she'd want to recreate the exact scenario as closely as possible, which might mean hooking Eternatus to the energy plant. We cannot let that happen."

Piers raised his voice. "Are you sure we're not throwing this guy in prison?"

"Not now," Leon said. "Raihan, get an announcement out to the city. They'll need as much warning as we can give them."

"Roger that. You need me to do that now?"

"Yes. Meet me at the entrance to the energy plant afterwards." He paused. "Gloria–"

Gloria rose from her seat. "Do you think I'm not coming?" she said.

"Is there anything I can do to stop you?"

"No," Hop said, standing next to Gloria. "Not Gloria, and not me either, Lee. You'll need us. We're the ones who beat Eternatus the first time, remember?"

Leon sighed. "I know," he said. "Alright. Who else is coming?"

Marnie opened her mouth just as Piers spoke. "Sis, no," he said. "You're a good trainer, but this is way too dangerous."

"I'd go even if I was a crap trainer," Marnie said, a slight tremor to her voice. "I want to be there for Gloria."

Gloria shook her head. "You can be here for me, too," she said. "I don't want you hurt, Marnie–and not you either, Bede."

Bede crossed his arms. "I have the type advantage against Eternatus," he said. "Even my psychic types are strong against its poison. You'll need me."

Marnie's voice steadied. "If Bede goes, I'm going. We can both help you, Gloria."

"It was my screw-up!" Gloria snapped. "I'm the one who has to fix it, okay?"

Rose cleared his throat. "If I may, Gloria," he said. "This was not your screw-up. It was mine."

Gloria raised her head, her mouth hanging open. Rose met her eyes.

"Not only was I the one who awoke Eternatus," he continued, "it was because of my mistake that I gained Mable's attention, it was because of me that Bede was targeted, and it was because I was not capable of handling the situation that the rest of the league was dragged into this. I can't change what I've done, and I am still unable to take care of the consequences on my own, but–" He glanced at Leon. "–I don't want to rely on children to carry my burdens anymore."

Gloria clenched and unclenched her fists. No one spoke. Rose could feel Leon's eyes on him, even as he maintained eye contact with Gloria.

"I'm still going," she said.

"I don't believe anyone could change that," said Rose. "I only have to insist I come along."

"I have the access keys for the plant," said Oleana. "You'll need me as well."

Acacius put a hand on Rose's shoulder. "And I'm not gonna be left here all by myself," he said. "Looks like we're all going."

Marnie gave Piers a stern look. Her brother huffed and stood with the rest of the group, his arms crossed.

Hop grinned. "Mable will never know what hit her."

Such childlike confidence; Rose wished he could share it.