The hotel room in Alto Mare was large enough to fit everyone comfortably, which was fortunate given the circumstances.
Annie and Oakley sat bound in the center of the room, wrists tied behind them, looking at Ash with expressions that were trying very hard to be defiant and not quite managing it. James leaned against the far wall. Jessie sat beside him. Sabrina watched from the corner with her arms folded.
"Let's start simple," Ash said, pulling a chair around and sitting backward on it. "Why did Team Rocket send you after the Legendaries here?"
Annie sneered. Neither of them spoke.
"Alright." Ash reached out and pressed his palm flat against Annie's forehead, his Sharingan shifting from three tomoe to the Mangekyō pattern in a single smooth rotation. The pressure in the room changed instantly. Loose items on the desk trembled.
Annie went white.
"What are you doing," she said, and her voice had lost most of its edge.
"Exactly what it looks like."
It wasn't a technique he needed to actually use. The killing intent threaded into the Mangekyō was enough on its own. Against two operatives with no chakra training and no combat ability beyond their Pokémon, the psychological weight of it was absolute.
Annie lasted about four more seconds.
"I don't know!" she blurted, dropping forward. "We were just following orders, we don't know why Ariana wanted the Legendaries, we just do what she tells us, please don't do whatever that is to my head!"
Ash looked at Oakley.
"...Same," Oakley said quietly, staring at the floor.
He believed them. Ariana ran her operations on a need-to-know basis. Field agents at this level wouldn't have the full picture regardless.
"James," Ash said, standing. "Have someone from Fantasy Island pick them up. They stay in holding until I'm done here. They're not useless, just not useful right now."
James was already on his phone.
...
"What exactly are you planning to do with them," Sabrina asked once the others had filed out to arrange a room for the two captives.
Ash gave her a look.
Sabrina's expression shifted. "I know what I was thinking and it's not that, I just want to know your actual plan."
"They're Ariana's direct agents. Once this wraps up, having two of her people in custody gives us leverage on whatever she's building toward." He paused. "That's all."
Sabrina nodded slowly. Then she leaned into him from the side, head against his shoulder.
"You missed today."
"I know." He put an arm around her. "Few more days. Then it's yours."
"Hmm."
...
Jessie handled the security arrangements for Annie and Oakley personally, which involved retying both of them with what James privately felt was unnecessary enthusiasm and an additional layer of tape.
Nobody said anything about it.
...
The next morning
The bath in the suite was genuinely impressive, large enough that Ash had no complaints about spending the first hour of the morning in it. He lay back in the warm water and let himself actually rest, thinking about Bianca and the meeting arranged for noon in the city square, thinking about the Soul Dew and what Latios had sacrificed himself to create, thinking about the power the ancient trainer had used four hundred years ago that still hadn't fully faded.
Ariana's people showing up here wasn't coincidence. She was tracking Legendaries systematically, the same way Archer had tracked Lugia. The pattern was getting harder to ignore.
He set it aside for now.
"System, current draw points."
[Current Draw Points: 10. Initiate draw?]
"Ten draws."
[Confirmed. Initiating draw sequence.]
The system space opened around him, the familiar roulette expanding outward with its new rotation of items. He watched the wheel settle and felt his attention sharpen.
The item that had surfaced was black, dense-looking, with a familiar energy signature.
Last time a Navy Six technique had appeared in the pool, he'd passed on it. The Tekkai had come up and gone unclaimed.
This time the wheel had stopped on it again.
Ash looked at it for a long moment.
Tekkai.
A technique that hardened the user's body to the density of iron at the moment of impact, nullifying physical damage entirely if timed correctly. Combined with his current physical conditioning and Sage Mode, the applications were considerable.
He reached out and took it.
[Tekkai acquired. Rokushiki technique unlocked.]
He'd have to find time to drill it before the Johto Conference. Two months wasn't much, but it was enough to get the fundamentals down.
Ash let the system space close and sank back into the warm water.
Noon. Bianca. The square.
He had a few hours yet.