My current suspicion is that Albrecht plans to trap Wally within the tiny vessel he has made in Tau.

What does Wally want? Want does he covet? Mortal experience. Sure, he can inhabit a being. But he's never truly them. He has none of the existential packaging of being mortal, stuck in one body for the rest of his existence. He can just hop around willy-nilly all over time, from body to body. Until he's granted true corporeality, he will never achieve the feeling of being mortal.

Stupid Pokemon doodles cuz I’m bored :)

Mega Gallade fainted! Kathy defeated Wally!

The Gallade was sent flying, knocking into Wally and sending them both into a wall. The battle was incredibly rough for him, something that he was promised wouldn't happen. After all, Kathy wasn't supposed to be here, let alone be in a position to challenge him. What happened to holding her hostage?

Kathy and Walking Wake stepped forward towards Wally. It's been nothing but surprises ever since she was compelled to come to this remote building in Johto's Mahogany Town. To think that taking the risk to break the rules of her punishment of the Great Dragon would lead to discovering that both Lauren and Jeanne had been captured and detained by Wally, but that he had turned his back against his own world, it was difficult to put her imagination around!

Wally recalled Gallade and slowly tried to rise, but doing so caused him to fall again. He wasn't made for this. "Sh—shoot." He panted in place. "Y—You were supposed to be out of the picture…."

Kathy paused to look to her left. There was a closed pod container. Lauren was inside, banging at the door, yelling things that Kathy couldn't hear from the outside. Kathy nodded at her before looking back at Wally. "You're a sick fuck for helping to lock everyone that you did like this, but even more depraved for leaving Lauren like this specifically." Kathy reached over and grabbed Wally by the shirt.

"Nngh! Y—You don't get it!"

"… I don't plan to."

Kathy punched Wally in the gut, causing him to yell out in pain, and for a card key to come out. She then slammed him to the ground and stomped on him with her shoe before pressing onto him with it.

"That one's for Aunt Lauren, asshole."

Kathy picked up the card key with one hand and, with the other, grabbed Wally's ankle. She dragged him to Lauren's chamber and used the Key Card to unlock and open it, freeing Lauren.

Lauren hopped out of her glass prison and quickly hugged Kathy. "Kathy… Oh, Kathy. I'm so glad that you're safe."

---

Yuki and Haruka were tied up by their arms and legs in the second floor basement, with Kaede, Celeste, and Biwako standing over them. The duo were doing their best to break free of their binds, but it looks like Kaede tied them incredibly tight… and with their Poké Balls confiscated by Biwako, they weren't getting up anytime soon.

The trio, on the other hand, were looking at the large room in horror. There were several pods within the central chamber, with Jeanne, Chrona, Rachel, Seth, Helga and Jacqueline each trapped inside. Jeanne and Chrona were banging on their glass. Rachel and Seth each were slumped down, seemingly exhausted. Meanwhile, Helga and Jacqueline were calmly leaning on their glass, as if they didn't seem to care at all. It was such a strange combination of actions.

Just as they were all settled, Kathy and Lauren chased after the group with Wally hunched over Lauren's shoulder.

Lauren turned to Kathy. "Go free them."

"Got it." Kathy ran to the terminal with the card key.

As Kathy went to mess with the console, Lauren looked down at the tied up duo before looking at the group. "… which of you tied them up?"

Kaede raised her hand.

"… Mind if you do one more?" She offered the fainted Wally.

Kaede nodded and accepted him to start her process of tying him up.

Celeste looked over at Lauren. "How did he become a part of this whole thing?"

Lauren crossed her arms. "Wally… they offered him power and a home, and wore him down over time. So, he agreed to join Team Rainbow Rocket and to capture us to use the fact that we're not from this world to extract our Infinity Energy to fuel… something. I don't know." She sighed. "I thought that I was treating him well. If I knew that something was wrong, I would have offered him to stay with Chrona and I."

"I'm so sorry."

Lauren shook her head. "It's… fine. What matters now is that we're all safe." Lauren smiled at the trainer before looking towards the chambers.

After a minute, each of the holding chambers opened, allowing each of the celled individuals free. Chrona flew over to Lauren and gave her a hug. Rachel and Jeanne ran after Kathy, who hugged them both before including moving over to include Celeste in that hug. Seth simply looked around to watch everyone, and both Helga and Jacqueline each walked over to join the group.

Looks like the day was saved.

---