Drew ran through the hallways of the Rubello Headquarters with an almost steady stream of curses, earning a few disapproving looks, while he tried to fix his hair. He was just beginning to pant when he stopped and realized that he had no idea where he was going.

"Fuck!" He said, and jumped when it sounded a lot louder without the noise of his boots hitting the floor. He glared at the 60-something janitor who gave him a dirty look, making her lift her nose up in the air and walk faster. He rolled his eyes before he looked around, trying to find someone else in the deserted hallway.

He grimaced when he found that everyone had seemed to disappear and ran after the janitor.

"Hey, uhm, excuse me?" She ignored him and kept walking. He gritted his teeth but tried again, "Please, ma'am?"

She finally stopped and turned to give him an enquiring frown. He bit his tongue before he asked, "Where is Kiyoshi Shimizu's office?"

She paused and gave him an assessing look. He tried hard not to tap his foot in impatience. "You're Shu's brother?"

"Yes." He answered tersely, linking his fingers behind his back to stop them from fidgeting. She didn't reply so he added, "Ma'am."

"He's a good lad. So gentle and respectful." She gave him a pointed look.

He gave her a forced smile. "Yes ma'am. He's a good brother."

She gave a small, satisfied smile at that. "Yes, I should think so. Now, what was it that you wanted, dearie?"

He exhaled quietly, counted backward from 3 and repeated the question.

"Oh! It's just that way, turn left at the 4th turn and then take the first right. Big doors?" Drew looked at the direction he just came from with a grimace. He then turned to the janitor, gave her a forced smile and then took off again.

O.o

"You're late."

"I am aware." He said and then paused, taking in all the occupants of the massive room.

At the head of the table, Kiyoshi Shimizu, the head of the Rubello Police headquarters, was banging his head on the table in front of him, earning several disapproving 'tsk's from Madam Suzuki sitting next to him. Next to her, Shu had his head buried in his arms and was apparently dozing off, judging by the snores. Ayame had her head on the table as well and she was talking to May. Kei was trying hard to pretend that he was not staring at Miyuki. Next to him, Daichi and Chiyo were carrying on an awkward conversation, trying very hard to ignore the cold aura radiating from Miyuki next to them. Carlos was trying to snatch the cigarette from Damon.

He walked over, replying absently to a few 'hello's and took his seat between May and Kei. He elbowed Kei and was slightly amused when Kei practically radiated guilt at being caught staring. Ayame elbowed Shu who woke up instantly with an alarmed expression, and with his hair sticking up in the front.

"Boss, are you done?" Daichi asked Kiyoshi after 15 seconds. Finally, Madam Suzuki pulled the soft leather file from in front of Shimizu, causing him to hit his head against the hard oaken table.

"Ow, woman!" The man glared at Madam Suzuki, rubbing at the tender spot on his forehead. "What was that for?"

"What was he doing?" Drew leaned over to ask Kei.

Kei rolled his eyes, "Carlos and Damon just reported that the Magma administrators escaped."

"What?" Drew stared at him.

"Along with Maxie and Brodie!" Daichi exclaimed, slapping the table with his palm, "I told you we shouldn't have let Mack go!"

"If you didn't notice, we did not have a choice, Daichi!" Shu snapped.

"But we did. We could have-"

"What? Fought Mack?" Shu started, "And then fight Tabitha as well?"

"He untied them! He helped them escape!" Daichi shouted.

"Of course he bloody did!" Shu screamed back, "He is a Magma admin! Of course he helped them!"

"He is a traitor!"

"We should be grateful he helped us!"

"Grateful! I'll be grateful-"

"Will anyone actually give me a full account of what happened?" Shimizu shouted over the escalating voices of the two men, making Madam Suzuki and Carlos wince since they were sitting right next to him.

"Here are the written statements." Madam Suzuki said quietly, sliding a thick bundle of papers across, "May, Drew, we will need you to write your account as well, please."

Drew closed his eyes and nodded. Paperwork. Great.

"Welcome to the joys of police paperwork." Kei muttered under his breath. Drew snorted.

"I am not going to read all of those!" Kiyoshi looked at the papers disdainfully and then turned his hopeful eyes on the gathered, "Now tell me. Take it from the top."

O.o

It took nearly 3 hours of talking, questioning and answering before Kiyoshi and Suzuki knew exactly what had happened. During the course of three hours, several fights had broken out, 13 life threats had been issued, and Ayame had finally kicked Daichi's ass after he proclaimed for the 9th time that Mack had led them to a trap. Alex had been called in after 45 minutes and he had told them of how Mack had taken down the rest of Tabitha's team. This earned him a few reproachful looks from Daichi, sure. Alex also informed Kei that Charizard was very embarrassed and sorry for the injury he caused.

Miyuki had nearly flown off in outrage that she was not informed that a Charizard caused Kei some injury. She demanded to see them and Kei dryly informed her that it was the stitches she had been picking on earlier. This led to some extremely awkward questions of why Miyuki was picking on Kei's stitches. Kiyoshi only stopped questioning it when Shu quietly promised to tell him later.

Carlos and Damon reported that they did catch a few of magma members and trainees but Mack had successfully taken Courtney, Tabitha and Maxie away. Mack was very smug about it as well, if the note they found could be trusted. They had nearly caught Brodie, but the Man of a Thousand Faces had slipped off.

Just as the meeting was to be adjourned, Alex also bought in Brodie's Ditto who had attached itself to Drew and refused to let go. Roselia proved that he had Drew wrapped around his little finger, uh, bud, when he convinced him to keep Ditto.

As they were leaving the halls, Shu, Carlos, Damon and Daichi very physically, and painfully, pushed Kei at Miyuki after he refused to stop staring at her, causing both of them to tumble to the floor. Just as Miyuki was about to end the four men's life very painfully, Kei finally grew a spine and kissed her.

Kiyoshi and Suzuki were most astonished at the latest development but did say that it was a long time coming. Kiyoshi congratulated Miyuki, which made her blush very hard and stammer. Kei made an unfortunate comment, something about showing emotions for the first time and crushes on older men which made Miyuki chase him down the hall. They had not been seen since.

Carlos and Damon, and later Daichi and Shu, flat-out refused to go and search for the two.

May's wartortle was not at all pleased to know that his mistress will now be travelling with Drew. He had made his displeasure known very clearly when he hosed down the green-haired young man very publically. Drew was most irritated by the 'cabbage in a hurricane' comment which received a unanimous agreement, much to his chagrin.

Drew demanded that Shu promise not to stalk him. Shu claimed that it was not stalking, thank you very much and that he was just a concerned older brother. Chiyo said that he had a big-brother complex. Everyone agreed except Shu. Drew threatened to tell mummy about it and had very nearly called her when Shu finally conceded to the demands.

O.o

He will never admit it, but Shu cried when it was time for Drew and May to leave.

"Hey." Ayame said quietly as she entered Shu's room and found him sitting on the bed, elbows resting on his knees and head hanging down. His raven hair, not tied for once, formed a curtain around his face. She sat down near him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you crying?"

"No." Shu replied, his voice thick.

"Shu." Shu choked a little but turned around, hugging Ayame. Ayame held him as he calmed down.

"It's just….it's been so long and now…"

"He will still be in Hoenn, ya know. We will see him around. And imagine, this time, you won't have to disguise yourself to watch his contests."

Shu gave a small, hoarse laugh at that and Ayame patted his head. "Come on, get up now. They are leaving soon, ya know."

O.o

The sun was still high in the sky as everyone gathered to see us off. The air was dusty and the surroundings noisy as the workers hurried to repair the damages Team Magma and Aqua had inflicted on the headquarters. But it was still the most peaceful I had felt in years as nii-chan ruffled my hair and gave me a totally manly hug.

"Tell mom I miss her, alright? And dad as well." Shu muttered in my ear.

"You have to call home sometimes." I replied, gripping his jacket tighter, "Grace and Hannah miss you."

He made a breathy sound and I took a deep breath. He patted my back and released me. I took a step back, blinking hard. Shu sniffed slightly and I smirked at him. He smirked back. May slipped her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers tightly.

Kei and Daichi pounced on us, and I swear this is what it feels like to be group hugged by wild Ursarings. After they released us, Ayame and Chiyo gave us a much more tamed, and less rib-crushing, hugs. Carlos and Damon shook our hands politely and gave us a wide grin.

Being hugged by Shimizu was…interesting. It was unexpected and so, when he stepped forward to give us a hug, I stepped back which, needless to say, caused an awkward pause. Thank Arceus for May, who stepped forward and gave him a hug around his middle. He laughed and hugged her back, and patted her head. He even kissed her head.

And then, quite determined, he stepped forward again to give me a hug. Which I returned. Sort of. He patted my bicep as he stepped back and I tried hard not to wince. I wasn't successful, I guess, if Shu's smirk is anything to go by. And though I won't swear on it, I think I saw Miyuki crack a smile.

Madam Suzuki, thankfully, did not try to hug us. I don't think I could have survived that. She gave us a polite bow (which the admins, except Miyuki, and Shimizu copied). May and I bowed deeply and returned her smile.

Kei pulled Miyuki by her hand, and I say we all saw the half-moon indentations on the back of his hand, and made her stand in front of us. She gave us an awkward smile, which looked more like a you-ran-over-my-puppy-with-a-tank grimace. The others started laughing. I gave her a grin, biting on the inside of my cheek to suppress my laugh. May gave her a genuine smile and said,"Hey, it was nice to meet you."

Everyone was surprised when Miyuki's grimace turned into the smallest smile and she said, "You too." Kei kissed her cheek and Miyuki's flushed, shocking everyone even further.

We hitched up our backpacks and walked backwards, waving our arms in the air for as far as we could see them, returning their shouts of 'Bye!' and 'We'll see you soon!' with same enthusiasm.

Finally, we turned around to walk the right way.

"Man, my arm hurts!" I moaned. May chuckled, walking forward with a bounce in her step.

"That was fun!" She chirped, turning to look at me, her eyes shining as a gentle breeze ruffled her hair.

"Yeah, almost getting killed was fun." I said, fingering the scab on my cheekbone.

"Hey, don't do that!" May swatted my hand away. I swung it over her shoulder and pulled her closer. She looped her arm around my waist. "Your brother's nice."

I rolled my eyes, "I am nicer."

"You are a jerk." She said and stepped away, poking her tongue at me.

"I am a jerk?"

"The biggest jerk." She grinned and took off. I laughed and ran after her.

And it ends. Oh God, I can't believe how long I took to finish this one. The format of this chapter was pre-planned. It was not something I got too lazy with. Anyway, this is the epilogue and the end of this story which turned out to be hell of a lot longer than intended (as it happens with most of my stories).
Thank you for reading.

SA2208